It was another long, quiet week at home for the three of us. Ryan was still at the Civil Air Patrol Encampment, and we wouldn’t pick him up until Sunday. It’s been in the 90s all week. When we are home, we have to stay in the family room, where the AC unit is hooked up, except when we’re sleeping!
One of our more exciting parts of the week was getting our dryer fixed. It’s been clunking along and taking forever to dry things for some time now. We finally had a technician come out on Wednesday and it turns out it had a broken pump and circuit board. Not only that, but it was almost 100% clogged at the back with lint, which could have become a fire hazard. We are glad we called when we did, and now the dryer is working sooooo much better! I had not realized how bad it had gotten. I almost cant believe this was worth writing down, but it was really exciting for us!
Thursday night, we said goodbye to our dear neighbors who were returning to the US on Friday. Luckily, they are heading back to Virginia, so we will see them lots in the future!
On Friday, we had dinner with friends in Sindelfingen on the Marktplatz, where they had the usual accordion player. It was a beautiful breezy evening after a hot week. We were grateful for a break from the heat.
Saturday, I started the day with a friend who invited me to try Vinyasa yoga with her. Vinyasa is basically yoga done in a sauna. It was so hot but also a great way to start the day. We followed it up with coffee and a chocolate spritz at Kevin Kugel’s. If this is what yoga is like, I’m ready to sign up for more classes.
In the afternoon, Matt, Brooklyn, and I planned a bike ride on the Seven Mills trail. We set out from our house and made it about 15 minutes before Brooklyn had a bike crash! As we were cycling on a gravel path downhill, her back tire slid out, and she was thrown from the bike. At first, we were most concerned about her hands and forearms, which got nasty road rash and were bleeding a lot. So many Germans stopped to offer assistance and give us bandages and help clean her up. We got ready to get back on the bikes to head home when Brooklyn suddenly fainted. In hindsight, we think it was shock, but at the time, we thought it could be a concussion and were pretty scared. Matt raced home on his bike and returned in the car with the bike rack within about 20 minutes. We covered Brooklyn in ice packs when we got home and set her next to the AC. She was fine the rest of the day, but we decided to all stay home and watch a TV marathon together.
We finally got to pick up Ry-Guy from CAP Encampment at Ramstein Airbase on Sunday. There was a graduation parade to celebrate the end of the camp, and the Air Force Band even came and played. When the cadets walked out, we scanned the hundreds of kids for Ryan before realizing he was carrying the guidon (the company flag) at the front of the parade. We were so proud of him!
After the parade, we waited with all the other parents to collect their kids. When we caught up with him, we could not believe how much taller he was and how much deeper his voice was! It had been over two weeks since I had seen him, and he had changed so much! The kids are growing up fast!
Ryan told us about all the activities they did at the encampment. They had to wake up at 4:30am every day for an hour of exercise and then drilling. During the day, they visited the hangars on Ramstein to see the planes, spent time in the air traffic control towers, drafting aviation maps, and learning about aircraft maintenance. One interesting thing is that in addition to not having their phones, everyone had their watches taken away, like at boot camp to reduce distractions. Needless to say, after we left the camp, Ryan was glued to his phone and watch again 🤣.
We stopped at Ramstein’s huge PX for Panda Express and some shopping and then made the two hour drive home. We had time for a nap and then we headed to the horse farm Biergarten for a final “Sunday in the Biergarten” with some friends who are moving back to the US soon.
On Sunday night, pictures from the prior week’s JROTC JCLC were finally published. Turns out Ryan carried the guidon for his company there too!
They did so many activities there, including kayaking, canoeing, zip lining, and rock climbing. He said rock climbing and rappelling were his favorites, and he wants to do much more of that as soon as possible. They also had to wake up at 5 a.m. for PT and drilling. There were no phones, but the cadets could keep their watches.
We asked Ryan which he liked better and he said JCLC, but that was due to the food being better, and the barracks having AC.
Now that we are back together again and Brooklyn’s on the mend, we are ready for summer adventures!
Gilcrests Abroad 