Christmas Markets, Birthdays, and Staus

The boys have arrived in Frankfurt. They got in a little earlier than scheduled and were able to get breakfast and their rental car with plenty of time to spare. This is a good thing, as when they were returning down A-5, they got stuck in a 3 hour long stau (scht-OW), the German word for their horrific traffic jams. If you ask me, this is what you get when you allow mach ten speed limits and the minimum speed of 45kms/hr on the same road, but I'm getting ahead of myself. In honor of their stau, however, I am snacking on the requisite peanut M&Ms and will make a point to purchase some nacho cheese doritoes later today.

Anyway, they made their way up to Giessen, stopping at KG along the way. It is, for those who are interested, nothing more than the church and the church hall across from it. Butzbach housing area is still there and when they got to Giessen, they found Marshall and Dulles housing areas under tight wraps. Both areas (including the PX/Burger King area) are entirely fenced in and require admittance by an MP guard. Needless to say, they did not get to go in to see our old apartment. They did, however, make their way to St. Josef's Krankenhaus, the hospital where the Boy was born---12 years ago today! They were able to get pictures there and some video. Unfortunately, right as my husband was videotaping (do they call it that with a digital recorder?) the Boy looked up and said, "Dad, I don't feel so well..." Fortunately, he turned the camera away just in time to miss the Boy leave a little of himself for posterity on the sidewalks of Giessen. When I spoke to them later, once they had checked in to the four star hotel they are staying at, their conditions sounded much improved. As a matter of fact, the Boy seemed to have his appetite back, brought on no doubt by the FREE executive mini-bar that occupies the ENTIRE floor above their hotel room! They were making plans to head out downtown. They could see the Christkindlmarkt from their hotel room window and were headed down for some gluhwein, I'm sure. We expect to talk to them once more in Germany before they depart in the morning for Ethiopia. We miss them both lots and can't wait for them to get back home. And I just had to include this photo for my newly 12 year old boy (see what happens when you boys leave me alone with the computer--nothing is sacred!)

Happy Birthday, sweetie! I hope you and Dad are having a great time together. I can't even believe it's been TWELVE years already. You are such a great kid and your Dad and I are so blessed to call you our son! We love you!