Trunk or Treat!!!!

The Incredibles

"Little Miss LadyBug" and "Violet"

"Dash"

Mr. Incredible and Elastic Girl

Hi All –
Well as all of you know we LOVE Halloween---the years of all the great party pictures. Guess what, Germany doesn't really do the Halloween thing--shocking I know. BUT FIS does this thing call Trunk or Treat. I guess it is catching on in the states but I was new to it. This is how it works: You come dressed up and then you decorate the trunk of your car. The kids go “trunk or treating” from car to car. They have a parade to judge costumes and then there is contest for the best Trunk…..

And the Winner is…………..
THE VANHOWE’S


Our costumes were all Jack’s idea, if you can believe that. The kids had a great day and were so excited we won. Here are a few pictures from the day.



BTW we are doing great – making new friends and staying very busy. We miss you all and can’t wait to see you next summer. As always we love hearing about the “stuff” at home.

Smiles –
Jen and Kev

We are still here---sorry it has been so long!

Hello all –
I am sure by now all of you probably think we have fallen into some dark Germany crack and can’t get out—not the case just a bit busy. So let’s recap:
- The kids are doing great in school. They are learning all kinds of fun things. Every day on our way home there is a shouting match in the car to see who can tell me the loudest and first of the fun things they did that day.
- The Hot Lunch – is always a big topic. At first, Jack and Stella were excited to eat in the cafeteria with all the great German food. Not so much the case anymore. They don’t have syrup for their pancakes (they dip in applesauce—yuk!) All they have is “cow milk” – yuk! So now I pack a cold lunch – so far so good!
- Stella was invited to her fist birthday party. It was great, expect for the fact nobody was speaking English. So after 20 minutes of playing with all the kids on the grass the moms decided I was OK and they then starting talking to me. I tell what though you’ve got to love a birthday party that has Champignon to drink for the adults
- My mom came for her visit. It was great she was the biggest help. She arrived the same day as our sea container. A bit crazy but we made it!!! To all that come for a visit take note- she brought with her Jack’s Salsa, Vince & Joe’s Mexicali dip and Fat Free Hazel Nut Cream 
- Because I have so many more funny stories to share - I will save them until another blog. I just wanted to say hi and love and miss you all so very much!!!!!

Smiles
JEN

Magic Well of Bad Soden

Most of you know that we are living in Bad Soden, Germany....but did you know what Bad Soden is famous for??

Well, legend has it that the water that runs from the Am Tannus mountains and down through Bad Soden has magic powers. A long time ago the villagers dug wells in order to get to this magic water. These wells are still around, but they are hidden and very hard to find. Fortunately, Jack and Stella stumbled upon one of these wells, and you can see what happened...





In reality, the water sorta smells bad and best that I can tell it doesn't really have any magic power, unless turning your hands brown qualifies. But hey, the kids think its cool. And since everything is sooo expensive here, we have resorted to going to the well on the weekends and filling up the kid's water bottles for school. So now they are super both inside and out...I'm sure the diarrhea will stop eventually...kids gotta tough up to live in Badass Soden.

This is my first blog entry…24 days into and I’m getting a lot of pressure to put a guy’s perspective on life in Germany. Let’s start out with the things I miss and the things I like about living here:

First and foremost, I MISS STARBUCKS. If you know me, then this will not be a surprise. Mind you there are a few Starbucks here, but they are NOT the same. Maybe it’s the beans, maybe it’s the water, not sure, so I have resorted to home brewed coffee, a new low point in my life L ((actually, jen is making killer coffee at home, thanks Jen!!))
Oh, the thing I like MOST about Germany…the autobahn. Within 5 minutes of leaving my driveway I can go 220k/ph legally, yeah! For all those that are troubled by the metric system, like all the girls reading this and Ray, that’s about 140mph. Now I did that in Detroit on I-75 almost every day, but it made me sweat profusely for fear of getting yet another ticket (btw, no tix in the vette, that is truly amazing, thank you Michigan state troopers). And what little speedster do I get the pleasure of driving? Here it is, the kids call it the race car. Its an Astra OPC (Opel Performance Center) Nurburgring edition. Small but fast, I barley fit in it but I love it.

Ahh, whoops that's not my car. That's the care that Ondre and I are going to rent. My care is right here....almost as cool:

Other things, I miss about home:
- plastic bags. I mean, come on, I am not bringing my own bags to the store. I don’t care how environmentally friendly it is. My first shopping experience was the worst, as all my goods are piled up at the end of the counter, I pay for my stuff and I literally cannot carry everything. What do you do? Carry the beer and wine and leave everything else. Kids didn’t need milk that week anyway.
- Garbage disposal. We’ve been told they are illegal here (disposal nazi anyone). I frankly don’t care. Ever scoop a whole meal’s worth of soggy remnants out of the sink with your bare hands. Seriously, gag me. A 50hp garbage disposal is coming back in my carry-on next trip home.
- Ice. Like any modern society, you’d think the Germans would have discovered ice. Nope, doesn’t exist. Fortunately, jen found the last 2 ice cube trays in the country. Now we can make our own ice…downside is each individual ice cube is as big as thimble. Hardly satisfying.
- Dollar bills. The smallest euro bill is 5€, which means you end up with a lot of change. Since none of our credit cards are working, I use cash. My pockets were so heavy with change, that I have resorted, and I AM embarrassed to say this, a man purse. I bought a little black purse to carry my change, god that’s sad.

But there are some other things I do like about being here:
- really cheap wine. We found a local brand of wine called Dornfelder. It’s like 3 bucks a bottle. So needless to say we’re downing about a bottle a night on average. Everyone will get a very nice cork wreath for Christmas…we are so generous.
- Job hours. Its not that I’m working any less, but dinner has shifted to 8pm so at least I get to eat with the family. We feel very European with our small portions, and later night dinners.
- And probably the best thing, is how well the kids have adjusted. They really seem to be having a good time and it looks like their school is going to be great. I predict Stella will be expelled within a few weeks, just because, well, she’s Stella. But barring that, watching them get into the German experience has been cool.

Love and Miss Everyone –
Kev

Hail to the Bugles!!

Hello love-ones -

I was thinking today I needed a bit of a pick-me up so I ventured to a new market - Rewe and wow, the clouds have parted and this wonderful bag of Bugles begin yelling for me on the shelf.

Mind you, I have not so much as smelled, tasted or bought a bag of these in the states ever....but I think I have discovered GOLD I tell ya!!

When you take junk food and diet coke away from a person that doesn't partake that often in these indulgence you begin to get the shakes...not kidding. I was so jonesn' for a bag of chips and these are what I found. They are crunchy, salty and have a great shape that fits on every finger and they come in nacho cheese flavor.

Well you all know about the diet coke problem so I needed something cold to wash down the entire bag in which I have just consumed---beer---- it goes great with everything.

So my friends back in the states that can go to Target for ANYTHING they want, I ask you this question - "do you think I have a problem--I just ate this entire bag and downed this beer in 20 minutes flat--and btw it is only 4:55 pm?????

I also have stopped shaving my legs, my pits and no longer wear deodorant--oh and also have died my hair black and cut it all off (just kidding) but a girl has her moments:)

Just thought I would share this one with you all

Smiles - Jen

The Quirks of the Country

Yesterday was garbage day - yeh! The reason for my excitment is because they do NOT pick up garbage weekly here. Instead they retreive it every two weeks. Well I am not sure how your households opperates but a family of five with Syd poop, Corona poop and Tag poop makes for a very stinky situation.....So we have been here 2 weeks and have accumulated a ton of trash. The garbage can they give you is about the size of a frikin thimble--I am not kidding.

We filled our thimble and had extra bags around the thimble. If you can believe it they did not take the garbage---we aren't supposed to be throwing that much trash away...The green thing about Germany is they are very conscience of recycling.

I hadn't gotten the hang of it until today. So now I am the "GARBAGE NAZI." I now inspect everything to cut down on trash for our thimble. Paper, glass, plastic all has a seperate recpetical--just call me the green lady from Bad Soden...

The kids and I went into town yesterday to play in the park and soak up some culture. And boy did we get some culture. You all now how vocal Jack can be, so we are cruising along and a lady is headed our way. Jack shouts "mom, what is wrong with that lady's shirt?" I look up and all I see are a GIANT set of boobs swinging high and low under her shirt (she wasn't wearing a bra!) At this point I am only praying this lady does not speak English as I am pushing everyone to get past her....

Now that our phone is down I can't talk to any of you so if you have a web cam please sign up for SKYPE. You then can read about us but you can see and talk to us over the internet (it is free). My mom calls every morning and night it is great. Hope you all are doing well, keep the comments coming they make me laugh!

Love and hugs
The VanHowe's

Rainy Day in G Town!

Hi all - We have had a crazy change in weather around here. I had to go and buy Syd a jacket because it has been raining so much and the temp has changed, so maybe our summer is just about over. Hope you all are doing better then me today. I think I should have stayed in bed all day and rented movies and ate popcorn and drank diet coke---but then I woke up from this amazing dream...

So I am trying to plug in my ipod adaptor like I do every morning so I can listen to some music. Mind you, I am plugging an American plug into a 220v adaptor. Well when I did that this morning I must have gotten some skin caught in the plug and holy shit I zapped myself. I thought I was having a freekin heart attack!!!!! I can now say 220v has a lot of steam behind it. I now have a burn on my middle finger that is in the shape of a 220 plug. Well I always wanted a tattoo:)

I started the begining of this blog to let you know what the weather has been like. So it is super wet and slippery outside and I only have flip flops (remember the car issue), well this story is even better. The nanny, Jill, came today so I could go into town for some things kid free. I parked my car and was headed to the ATM when I slid across the parking lot into a parked BMW smashing my second toe--so painful and bloody--nice, I really should have stayed in bed.

Next I headed to Real (Re All), my favorite store, it is like our Meijer. I was coming back to my car yet again when the same damn shoe (flip flop) went out from under me and I slid into my grocery cart, smacking the SAME F-n TOE!!!! I was laughing so hard I just kept saying, "ok bring out the hidden cameras":)

That was it, I headed to the mall to buy ugly German shoes that cost way to much money, but they tie and hey I can drive with shoes on now insead of bare-foot. On my way to the mall I almost ran off the road laughing because a man was off to the side taking a leak---not behind a tree or his car but just there peeing right in front for the world to see--oh how i love it here!!!:)

Love and hugs to all
jen

Some Photos.....

Our trip over - eating cookies, at the airport, arrive at the house, playing at the park and eating time!

Sunday Morning 8/10/08

Good Morning All - since most of you have heard I figured I would share this tid-bit with the rest of you----yes me, the perfect one;)----did something not so great BUT IT REALLY WASN'T MY FAULT....we had to return my rental car to the airport so Kev brought me my Zaifera (my car) and it is a stick again (my automatic is still on order) but in order to drive this car I think you have to have size 5 feet. My size 9 boats are no doing so well, especially with flip-flops on. As I was getting on the motor way my shoe got stuck and I looked down trying to unstick my shoe when I turned on the wrong way!!!

My navi system is shouting you are going the wrong way, you are going the wrong way.... A car was coming head on to us and stopped the man was throwing his hands in the air probably yelling stupid American (but I couldn't understand him). All is well now, I drive barefoot and haven't done it since. Visiting tip number two bring other shoes to drive in other than flip-flops:)

Yesterday was our first trip to IKEA. As you can imagine how overwhelming that store is in the states imagine that times 1000 because you can't read any of the signs.

So our first stop was bedding, Kev and I needed new pillows. As we finally found the area we noticed people did not have any carts or merchandise. I personally have never been to IKEA so I have no idea what the heck I am supposed to be doing. As the kids are jumping on all of the beds with their shoes off screaming "no more monkey's jumping on the bed" and Syd is running up and down the isle I leave for a tutorial---everyone that works there speaks English--yeh!

Well, 3 hours later and 4 hotdogs, 1 potty break, 3 lemon-limes, 2 ligonberry's and 400 euros later we were done!!! Kev and I were so tired we wanted to go back up to bedding for a nap:)

We are going to the zoo today and building all of our IKEA stuff--
Love Us

Moving right along....

Hi all - so as promised more funny stories....I have to still learn how to post the picture thing, work in progress.

After arriving everyone was exausted so we took a small nap and ventured to the market. For those of you coming to visit, Germany is not a credit card country so bring lots of cash. I of course should have taken my own advice and changed out my money at the airport while I waited for Kevin for 3 hours but of I didn't. So we are at the market and putting everything in our carts that looks or smells good but we realize we don't have the funds to pay for it all. Some things went back on the shelves and we learned a great lesson;)

The girls had a really hard time adjusting to the time change so on Saturday night they both were up all night crying and in and out of our bed. Jack came down to wake us up on Suday morning it was really Sunday afternoon---it was 12noon we all had slept in!!!! I can't remember ever sleeping that late;)

The babies are doing great, they love the yard and all the different rooms in the house. I feel like Jack has grown up so fast in a week---he is taking care of all of us. He is constantly yelling at me to put that down mama it is too heavy for your hernia... (with his little accent though). And Stella is discovering herself. She has decided she likes sleeping in Jack's room better so now she wants to share a room with him not Sydney (she says Jack keeps her safe and makes her bad dreams go away---how cute is that). And Syd the kid, well I am not sure if she is speaking English or Germany but she is speaking something. She is constantly talking and trying to talk louder then Jack & Stella--oh how our neighbors must love us. As you know when you would call the house how loud it was in the background--well multiply that by 1000 because we don't have carpet or a lot of furniture so everything eco's..

Things I miss right now besides all of you are DIET COKE, HAZEL NUT COFFEE CREAM and ICE......funny I know but you all are laughing right now!

Love you all-pleasant dreams...I am starting my day (GOOD MORGAN!!--just a little german for you)

BTW you can call us on our same number 586-992-1034 (for those of you that have Vontage we will talk free, nice)

Love The VanHowe's

7 Days In

Hello everyone----yes we are alive and doing great. As we speak (not German) Kev and I just got the computer and phone situation working. Wow I have so many funny things to share thus far. So first - thank you to all that came to the going away party we had a GREAT time---not feeling so great on Sunday but that is what I expected:)

So we packed up all 15 pieces of luggage and headed to the airport with 3 babies in tow. My mom, Deb, Mark and Meechele were there to send us off--you guys are great thanks for being there!!

Denise being the crafty person we all know and love was able to go to the gate with us because I had a wheelchair for the hurnia thing and couldn't lift anything. The plane ride went great the kids did amazing. They ate dinner, watch a movie and then slept the entire flight. NOW comes the funny part....

So we get to Frankfurt Airport with no help 3 babies and all of our luggage...I will post the pictures soon-they are priceless. After 4 trips later Kevin finally got the kids and me in my rented car and away we went. BTW I have not driven a stick since college--couldn't find reverse at first ---Jack was laughing at me the whole time, mama do you know what you are doing?

4 hours later we arrived to our new home.....please stay posted for more to come. We miss and love you all!!

Happy Anniversary Tim and Bridge--(tomorrow) 10 years!!!!!