We pretty much camped out at our house the last few weeks!! Air mattresses are not fun!!
The last item of business was getting Molly's 10 day Pet Certificate to allow her to fly to Germany and tell the Germans that she is vaccinated, healthy, etc. We had to car loaded up and made this pit stop at the vet. The vet came in and did some routine checks, scanned her german microchip, and filled out some lengthy paperwork. It was super easy and we were on our way to Indiana!!!
In Indiana we really spent most of the time with our families. I even got to go to the county fair!!! Oh did that bring back memories of me as the Shelby County Fair Queen!! I showed Ryan all over the barns, 4-H buildings, and fair grounds! I even ran into some old friends! We had a great time with both of our families and celebrated the 4th of July with both of them!!
After a week with family, it was time to go to Germany!! I really think its harder for our families. I've talked to several military families and we all agree that for us, we are always moving and usually living far away. While the distance is greater here, we are still far away just like we have been for the last 5 years. However, for our families they take a bigger emotional adjustment hit than we do. I guess it's just adaptation for us to our lifestyle.
At the Indy airport drop off with our loads of baggage and a pup!
Ryan booked our flights on post through the travel office. Of course when we got to the airport, one of the flights was delayed and would have made us late for our overseas flight. They quickly put us on a different airline and route to Baltimore, which never happens in the civilian world!! We flew Baltimore and had to get our bags from baggage claim. From there we made our way to international section and checked in their for our military flight. We had to pay $100 for the civilian flight for Molly and another $100 for the international flight. It was interesting going through the airport with a dog. Molly surprisingly did very well!!! People loved her and would come up with their kids to pet her. It was like being with a celebrity, kind of:) The hardest part with the dog was being on the planes. She hated being in her carrier and fought like crazy to get out of it!!! Luckily, on our 8 hour flight the staff did not car if we took her out of the carrier. She was whiny and crying and so she just slept our laps most of the flight!
Once we arrived at Ramstein the spouses were put in one room and the Service Members in another room. They were briefed and we met back up again to line up for customs. After customs, we went to get our baggage. This process was quick, but it took forever to find one of those carts for our bags!! We also had to check in with the German vet at baggage claim. They reviewed Molly and her documents and we had to pay 55 Euros to allow her into the country!
We then made our way to a room where you had to wait to be called. After our name was called we were allowed to exit the airport because our sponsor was waiting to pick us up. We were greeted with water and muffins!! We headed over to the Ramstein Inn where we had reserved a room for the next 30 days. Apparently, they had booked us for July 7, not July 8 and so since we did not arrive on the 7th they canceled our reservation. I think I was too tired to freak out and I knew it would all work out anyway!! More on that later.
We made our way to Kleber Kaserne about 20 minutes away to do some paperwork. This paperwork allowed us to start in-procesing and get to the housing briefing early the next morning. I really wanted to get to that briefing because they don't allow you to sign a lease or even really look at houses until you've attended this 2 hour class. While Ryan was doing that paperwork he called several pet friendly hotels and we quickly got a room!! We headed out to The Barbarossahof hotel. This place was super cute and pretty close to base!! It also had an amazing breakfast and restaurant that we ate at several times!!
front of our hotel
irish pub across the street
outside our room
eating at our restaurant
We were determined to make it through the day without sleeping and I did an ok job with that. Ryan did not and took a 3 hour nap!!! Needless to say, I still had jet lag for about 3-4 days!! I finally got on track and it was glorious!!
The worst part of moving here is not having a car or license. I hate relying on other people to drive us around everywhere!! From getting groceries, to looking at houses, getting to work, doing in processing it all takes transportation and it gets super annoying to ask people! One of those blessed people, I met on Facebook and I am so happy I did!! Not only is it great to have and insta friend in a new place, but she is a wealth of information!!! I met C. for coffee and we chatted and went shopping for things! She showed me around Ramstein and K-town a little and it was so refreshing! She even gave me some house hunting tips before we started that venture!!
The first weekend here, we had dinner with the JAG that Ryan is replacing and his family at an Italian place in K town called Milano's. It was amazing pizza!! I was so hungry I ate almost an entire "gros"/ large pizza!! The next night we hate dinner with C. and AJ also downtown K town! It was nice to walk around and see downtown. We had amazing German food and wine!
On Sunday it was the big World Cup game and as you know, Germany played! We went to a friend of Ryan's house for some BBQ and to watch the game!!! We met some more JAG people that night and I met another from E. who I had also met on Facebook! People laugh at me, but seriously thank God for Facebook!! I have met so many Army Wife friends through that avenue and I wouldn't trade any of them!! More on life in Germany to come!!! So happy to be here and have the opportunity to explore.
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