Independence Day (2-Day Holiday) - (Germany) Day 191 & 192

A view of the setup at PHV for the 4th of July...lots of vendors and lots of people

Wednesday: We were not able to sleep in as much as we thought we would be able to. The kids are still a little off because of the jet lag and were all up pretty early. In fact they had already had cereal for breakfast and were watching TV by the time we got up.

We hung out and took it easy for a while before making a run to the commissary, then off to SPC Whirlwind's house for a BBQ. We then headed off the the center of PHV to check out the setup for the 4th of July. At the center there was a stage with a band playing and vendors all around the outside. Across the road in the bowling alley parking lot there were a number of games and rides that you see at your normal town fairs. The weather was a bit hot and my kids were still a bit jet lagged, so we headed back to the house to let them rest until it was closer to fireworks time.

We headed back out to see the action near dusk and watched the fireworks show along with some guys from my shop. It was a decent show along with music, which had to be selected by a Star Wars fan…because there several selections were from Star Wars movies during the show.

Thursday: We again took it easy today. My wife had to work, and the rest of us basically just stayed in. The weather was too hot and melted my kid's desire to head outside. We just stayed in and watched some movies. "Iron Man" and "Drillbit Taylor" were the selections as well as some home made movies we made from our previous vacations…always fun to look back on.

We headed over to the skate park on post and watched my son scoot around on his razor, then headed back to the house for dinner and a family movie…"Jumper".

The two days off were nice and it leaves just one day of work left before the weekend!

The Kids Arrive - (Germany) Day 190

This morning's PT was muscle failure. I was able to do a lot of the exercises, so I got a pretty good workout. We went from one exercise to another and the only things I couldn't do were sit-ups and jumping jacks, but there were plenty of others such as push-ups and such that wore me out.

At work I checked my email and surfed the net a bit until 1100 when I finally got up and left for the day. I headed home and ate lunch, then headed off to the Frankfurt airport to pick up my kiddos. I think I was just a little too excited because I ended up getting there a good 2.5 hours before they landed. I spent the time reading my book and pacing back and forth waiting for them at the gate. Finally the plane landed and I continued to pace back and forth at the gate like a caged lion. Every time I saw a blond person my hopes would rise, only to be dashed when I realized it wasn't one of my kids.

At last they all came out…almost the last ones. We paid 90 euros for a chaperone that never came, so my kids kind of wandered around eventually figuring out where to go. I'm going to have to see about getting my money back on that one. Right now I'm not mad though because I'm just so happy to see my kids. I haven't seen them for 6 months now and it was an awesome reunion.

We took off from the airport and they were a little amazed (like I was when first driving in Germany) about how fast people drive on the autobahn. Once back at the house we all went out for dinner at The Village Grill (the restaurant here on post). One the way though I had to stop at my supervisor's house. Since we have a two day holiday in the middle of the week, I had to sign a counseling statement stating that I will not get into trouble. That's too bad because I planned on getting in all sorts of trouble on my days off, but now that I signed a silly piece of paper I'll have to be a good little boy.

We didn't plan a lot for the kids first night here, just the dinner out and watching a movie to wind down the night. My kids love movie nights with me, the only problem is picking one out that everyone agrees on…tonight's flick "X-Men: First Class". You can't go wrong with an X-Men movie. My oldest was asleep before the movie started, my middle child was asleep within the first few minutes and the youngest stayed awake for a good hour before succumbing to jet lag.