Decisions, Decisions...

It is 6 am Germany time.  This means most of you who are reading this are tucked snugly in your bed fast asleep, at least this might be true, it is 11:00 PM in Minnesota.   We just spent a great night with our dear friends Keith and Missy Pritchard in a town near Stuttgart, Germany.  The Pritchard's are stationed here for at least 3 years with the Army.  As Jim stated so eloquently last night, coming here is like putting on an old, favorite shoe.   It just makes you feel good.  When we were in Europe 16 years ago,  Keith and Missy were also here with the military.  We  spent many nights coming and going from their apartment in Baumholder.  It was a great comfort to us as  inexperienced travelers to have a "home base" and do a load of laundry now and then.  True to form, I did get to wash 2 loads of clothes last night.   The Pritchard's understand the meaning of the word Gemutlikeich (I cannot spell it however!) .

Decisions, decisions... Apparently, I made the mistake of complaining to Jim that he always decides where we go and what we do when we travel.   Consequently, he wants me to decide where we go for the rest of the rest of our camping trip.  The decision is between going South to Bavaria, Germany, or West to France.  Nice problem to have, I know.  Do we travel to a known entity in a land somewhat familiar to us (Germany, Austria) where Jim speaks the language or do we head West to France where we know very little about, don't speak the language, but can experience something new?  I know, I know, nice problem to have.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

So far, so good.  The camper we have looks bigger on the outside than it seems on the inside.  Isn't that always the case once you get all of your stuff unpacked?  We had not arranged for bedding until last night, so the children (and us) have been using towels for blankets.  Pretty funny.  Such good parents we are!   Fortunately, the Pritchard's are loaning us bedding so no more towels for us!   The kids have managed to find food they like almost everywhere we have gone.  The one exception is that Michael is completely dissatisfied with German ketchup!  I think he will survive.   What kid doesn't like sausage, Germany is a good place to find great smoked meats.    It also happens to be a place to find great, great beers, we love that too!

We went to a department picnic with folks from Jim's work.  The hospitality was  wonderful and the kids had a great time.  They played with a little German boy who liked doing cartwheels and handstands as much as Connor!  They decided to draw pictures to communicate.  Kids are amazing, I love how they are so uninhibited when it comes to making friends.   I will post pictures when I can (I am borrowing a computer to write this...).  The night of the picnic, we parked our camper in a nearby parking lot.  Funny to wake to the sounds of people parking their cars around us going to church!  For those of you who know about my "public sleeping" phobia, you will understand how I felt!  

We also took the kids to one of our favorite towns, Rothenburg.  A cool old town with a Medieval wall that we walked around.  The kids had fun pretending they were stopping attackers from invading the city, again, I have great pictures...  I will get them up here soon.

Well, I am signing off for now.  I need to go plan my entire families future... oh the responsibility!  I have to admit, it is kind of nice having someone else do all the planning and just complain a little to make my point.  That darn Jim had to go and call my bluff!