Gutentag!

I will have to learn how to spell that.

The Holstein clan has arrived in Germany and everyone seems to have survived.

As you know, Amy set out on 1 May, only to have her trip delayed 24 hours, due to lack of pilots.  I'm not sure who's running this operation called the Air Force, but you'd think that this was something that would have cornered the market on.

Regardless, Amy set off on her merry way, with Bucky in tow.  Both Amy and I had been under the impression that Bucky was going to be a trooper when it came to travel...and not coincidentally, we were both wrong.  My heartfelt prayers go out to the passengers of Amy's flight, and I hope that they all manage to strive for some kind of normalcy in their lives after having to endure eight hours of howling, peeing, pooping trained Siamese attack cat.

If it is any consolation, Bucky seems to be doing fine now (although there have been a few reported escape attempts...it's a small apartment and she has few places to hide).  Bucky has also begun a whirl-wind love affair with the dryer.  I hope it goes well for her.

The dogs ended up leaving on the same day as Amy, due to her delay, and it seems our fears regarding airline travel and our pups were without merit. Both dogs arrived in good health and in clean crates (we had heard horror stories about animals being covered in all sorts of ick once they got off the plane.  There is a long story in regards to the process Amy went through to retrieve the guys up in Frankfurt, but I don't think I could do it justice.  Just know that it involved multiple offices, random cash payments (sounded like bribes to me) and hours of running around.

Ari and I spent the third through the fourth up at my dad's before coming back to Frederick for one last night in the house.  The fifth, was a mess of a day.  We had packages to ship, a car to return, more luggage to buy and laundry to do...none of which would have been possible without the help Summer, Brandon and Gail of the Duncan / Larson clan (also, hello Emma and Campbell...it was great to see you guys before we had to leave!).

When the cab finally came on Friday night to pick Ari and me up from the house Ari thought it was Amy coming home...it was really sweet.  He had been asking where she was all week.

The ride to the Airport was uneventful...although slow.  I was worried we were going to be late for check-in.  It's not that there was a lot of traffic...we just had a 400lb driver who just didn't want to exert himself that much (who knew pushing the gas peddle was such a workout?).

However, we managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so Ari, daddy and five checked bags made their way to the check-in counter with great confidence.  We checked in our luggage.  Showed our IDs and asked which gate we should head to...which was when we were told that we wouldn't be going to the gate.  It turned out that as a result of Amy's flight getting delayed, every flight that week ended up getting delayed.  So Ari and I got an all expense paid trip to the BWI airport Hilton (which wasn't as smooth a trip as I would have thought...the van for the hotel never showed up, so I ended up bribing the driver of the Marriot bus to take us, and a few other stranded travelers, to the Hilton instead.  Once we arrived at the Hilton we were told that they were full up and that a bus would then take us to the Hilton Garden Inn a few miles away.  This bus also never showed up.  So, I went to the front desk and asked them to take mercy on a weary two year old and a few stranded soldiers, and to my surprise, they did ...and we all got VIP rooms).

The next afternoon we headed back to BWI and fro that point until we landed in Germany, things were exceeding uneventful.  Ari slept the entire flight, all our bags made it (although it did take an hour to get them) and I got to watch Captain America twice...without the sound, so truly, I have no idea what was going on.

Ramstein is a very nice...sorta small base and there seem to be playgrounds every 100 yards or so.  I'll get into that more later.  We've done some driving around, had some good schnitzel, some good German beer and even some good pizza (and some not so good pizza).  We got new German phones...so expect e-mails and calls from us so you know what the numbers are.  It looks like Ari is going to start daycare next week...normalcy is returning. More, when we get there.

Amy / Ari / Ben