Most of my emails I need to respond to somewhere include "Curt- did you find a job?". Short and sweet- No. Before we left Turkey, I was diligently applying for jobs weekly. Many of them were the same type of job I was doing in Turkey- routine and less than challenging. I have since pulled my application for many of the jobs and searching for something that better suits me and my desire to have my own career back. Though the job was fine for Turkey, it just isn't going to work for Germany. As most of my friends know whose spouses are in the military, many jobs offered for us are just that- jobs. Something to keep us busy and out of the house. Since Paula is in the military, I get a 1-time "Military Spouse Preference" to be used to apply for a government job while in Germany. Since I can only use it once in our 3 years, I have decided to wait and only apply for jobs that relate to my interest and where I can potentially build a career. Time will tell, but for now my life is a full time Stay at Home Dad.
Let's first change that title "stay at home dad." For anyone who knows me well, knows that I can barely sit through a 30 minute TV episode without getting antsy. Staying at home probably isn't the best option for me. In the 1st month of my new job, I've developed quite the schedule. May not last as the days are getting colder (and Carter's probably getting sick of being on the go).
Paula works with over 30 other dentists. In that mix, I was sure to find some dads to hang with and get Carter some time with other kids. Our first "dad" meeting was at the Kaiserslaughtern zoo.
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| Colton, Carter, Gaige |
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Carter and I meet Paula at the pool on base for lunch. The pool is awesome and Carter loves it. He is very independent in the water and goes down the big waterslide in the kid area all by himself. It's also a great break for me to swim some laps.
Our last few months in Turkey were primarily spent saying goodbye to our friends we made. We did little but go to each other's houses, have dinners, etc. With no traveling or no other Turkish stuff to buy, I saved almost 4 months of my blow money and bought a new Kona bike and bike trailer for Carter. It is quite the ride. 2 days of the week we hit the bike trails and come home exhausted and usually muddy. There's a horse ranch in our town we stop at that has 50+ horses. Carter particularly likes Pinocchio and feeds him hay. Donkeys, chickens, goats, ducks, turkeys, and sheep also graze the ranch area. Carter's really learning his animals- I was proud he was able to say his animal sounds to Grandma Schu Schu the other day on skype.
To Paula's disgust, we made our 1st mini-van purchase. It's nice to have 2 cars again- some days, Carter and I take out with the GPS and just explore the neighboring towns. He's probably more interested in Elmo playing on the DVD player, but it still makes for a good ride. We have taken the van to a couple weekend festivals- now we just need some of you to come visit and fill this van up!
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| Wine Festival in Bad Durkeim |
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| Pumpkin Festival in Hitscherhof |
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| CeCe enjoying the dog bar |
too bad william and carter can't pal around! maybe we'll come to germany in 2014!
ReplyDelete1. I love the Kaiserslautern Zoo. It's small so manageable and the kids could just run around while I sat and watched.
ReplyDelete2. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Germany pool. IT IS AWESOMEEEE. If Carter has not put on the lady bug or frog life preservers, do it! My boys could actually swim by themselves with it. LOVE IT.
3. I am going to be in Germany next week with Abigail. Maybe we could do a playdate?
P.S. Have you tried the big park on the base in the housing? It's awesome. There are also two indoor play areas I found that were REALLY fun off Base.