Army Mail

When we get mail from the United States, it is delivered to our post office box at the Army Post Office (APO) on the local military base.  As a benefit to citizens living overseas on military orders, the cost of mailing things to overseas locations is subsidized (the cost to the sender is the same as mailing the item to New York City).  This means APO mail is a lot cheaper than other international shipping services (FedEx, UPS, and others).  We get a fair amount of mail via the APO and are grateful to have this convenience while living in Germany.

Brussels, Belgium

Last week a coworker and I drove to Belgium for some meetings at NATO in Brussels and at SHAPE in Mons.  We spent the night in Brussels at a hotel that was a five minute walk from Grand Place.

Auf Wiedersehen, Frau Bauer

The local Army base offers German lessons for Americans that want to improve their German language skills.  I started taking classes with Frau Bauer in early 2010.  I took four of her classes and was looking forward to a fifth this fall.  Tina had also taken two of her classes and was signed up for a third.  Her classes were really good for me and I learned a lot.  I always felt like I got more out of the classes than I paid for.

Soccer, Fall 2011

The boys played soccer again this fall.  The league is sponsored by the local army base with volunteer coaches.  Each team gets to choose its own team name.  Oscar's team was "The Dragons" and Calvin's team was "The Little Green Monsters".  Calvin's coach was somebody we know from church.

Halloween 2011

Tina made costumes for Calvin and Sara (Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse).  Oscar's costume (Harry Potter) was purchased.

Sara at the park

Sara at the park, 30 September 2011.

S is for Salzburg

Starting on October 10th, Oscar had a two week break from school so we took advantage of the time off to go on some trips.

License plates in Germany indicate the city in which the vehicle is registered.  When I see a license plate that starts with "S", I know its driver is from Stuttgart.  We saw lots of "S" license plates during our recent trip to Southern Germany and Austria.  In this instance, however, "S" stood for Salzburg instead of Stuttgart.

London with Tina

Tina and I spent three days in London during the second week of Oscar's fall break from school (in October).  Sara stayed with a family from church and the boys stayed with a different family (also from church).  I cashed in the last of my Hyatt points so we stayed at the Andaz Liverpool Street for free (same as when I took Oscar to London in July).

Calvin turns five

Calvin's fifth birthday was on October 9th.  We had a Lightning McQueen party at the house with some of his friends from church.

Hyandrea buds

Hyandrea plants grow buds in August and September.  The buds lay dormant over the winter and then new growth (and eventually flowers) comes from them when the weather warms up in March and April.  I noticed today that the potted hydrangea plant we have on our front porch has set its buds for next year.