Ausfahrt Germany

I am sitting in the terminal lounge in Rammstein Air Base attempting to burn time till take off.  It dawned upon me that I had not written in my blog in so long I would actually have to go back and read some of my posts just for reference.  There have been so many developments since I last wrote that I would have to cover more than a years happenings, which isn't going to occur.  So I will hit the most important thing that occurred, and outline where life is and is headed to.

  

Baby Girl

On 30 December 2014, God gifted Kayla and I with the most precious baby girl, Mrs. Gemma Rae Wilder.  Kayla did so remarkably well through the entire pregnancy and birth, she is truly a tough, loving, and wonderful mother.  I never could comprehend how mother and father become so obsessed with their babies that all they can post on Facebook or talk about is the rugrat in their lives.  I understand now, from the moment I got to hold my baby girl she has become just as important part of my life as Kayla.  Every time I see a picture of them together, or get to talk to them my life is always improved.  I just pray that God helps us to be the best parents we can be.  

Time spent apart

I say getting to see a photo, video, or talking with them, because unfortunately we did not get to travel back to Germany after the birth of our baby girl in Kentucky.  The great commonwealth of Kentucky is a little slow on their processing of paperwork.  To the extent that Gemma did not receive her social security number until very recently.  I would have to say that of all the time that Kayla and I have spent apart, whether due to deployment, necessity, or other reasons, this was by far the hardest.  Being stuck in Germany without them, having to watch as Gemma has grown at an extraordinary rate, has been miserable.  There is only so many hobbies, projects, and time that can be spent in the gym.  I suppose that any more time spent apart past this point in our lives will be very difficult.  

 

Goodbye to Friends and Return to others

With the departure from Germany comes the inevitable goodbyes to colleagues and friends.  New friends that were made, and unexpected so close to leaving, were Tony and Suzen.  I really appreciate and am thankful for them coming into my life.  They never ceased to include me in their family since they knew I didn't have mine here.  And Tony always was motivating me to improve myself in the gym. He helped to to understand the concept of programing workouts to fit the goal and was always making me feel like I had been hit by a truck the next day.  But, "If it isn't challenging you, then you aren't improving."  Saying a temporary goodbye to Don and Mary was also hard.  They have been such great friends the whole time, receiving us here and also ensuring that we had help doing anything.  Don is easily one of my best friends, from helping me deal with personal issues to just dorking out together, couldn't be a cool dude.  Luckily, both couples they will all be retiring in TX so hanging out again will just be a short time away.  We will also get the chance to see some of the friends that left us last years that are already down in Texas.  Rick, Wendy, and Cheyenne will be the first ones we get to see, but hopefully in the near future as well will be Antonio, Roxanne, and kids.  Exciting to get a chance like this again.  

Respect for Germany

I will truly miss Germany and the adventures that can be had there, but I do feel like we did a lot of what could be done.  Bavaria was exploited to the fullest, climbing the Zugspitze, visiting Rothenburg, and attending all the different fests have been the highlights.  If I had more time here I would like to go north and west and experience more of what the rest of Germany had to offer.  But all things considered, I think we got all the best experience that were available to us.  I will also miss Germany for it's structure, train system, and recycling programs.  And let's not forget the beer!  Least missed aspect, the vehicle inspections.  

Adventure Time

Leaving right now aligns with a great opportunity!  I am getting a chance to go to Colorado and meet some people that I feel like I already know because I have listened to so many of their conversations.  The Trail Show crew is being hosted by the Leadville Hostel for a remote radio broadcast.  I am really looking forward to meeting the crew in person, hiking a little in the Rockies, and drinking some good American beer.  The hiking may be a little dicey when getting there since the jump in altitude is huge.  Leadville, CO is above 10,000 ft and I haven't got to train as much on cardio as I should have.  We will just have to see, more to follow on that adventure.  After Colorado I will head home to Kayla and Gemma to spend Derby with the family and friends.  We will also be getting things set up for our next station.  

Next Destination

We are headed to Fort Sam Houston to take a position with North America Command and get a real jump on some solid staff time.  How this will effect the career path in the long run is yet to be seen.  Kayla is excited to be moving somewhere interesting and warm.  We will be an hour from the Gulf and I am sure she will be working on her tan.  I am excited to possibly get to hike the Lone Star Trail and maybe some other trails in other adjacent States.  Regardless of everything lost or gained, it will be nice to be back in America.  

Summertime drawing to a close.

Frustration=German Doctors.  We still have no real clue what our little baby is.  Our first two visits where they were able to clearly see the baby the doctor stated that he thought the baby looked like a boy.  However, most recently we were seen by the head OB/GYN and he contradicted this statement, but was not able to confirm the baby's sex either!  I am truly bothered by the attitude of these doctors though.  They seem very dismissive and happy to just check the box and send us on our way.  The most infuriating part of this situation is getting the same question from the doctor, "Is this your first child?"  YES!  It has been every time since the first time you asked!  Doctor: "Do you have any questions?"  Ok.  We just established that this is our first child.  Let's just try and give some information to these parents who don't know what kinds of questions to ask, instead of letting them flounder in their ignorance!  

Rant complete.

But from everything we can tell the baby is healthy.  Kayla thinks she feels it kick her every once in a while, but it is difficult to discern because the placenta is on the front of her uterus's wall.  It's definitely getting bigger.  Week 21 and the size of a 10.5 inch pomegranate and probably addicted to spicy food since that is what Kayla is consuming nearly every meal. 

Sad to say, my warrant packet was reviewed but I was not accepted to the program.  I was found fully qualified, but not selected.  I will be updating my packet for resubmission for the November board, but the outlook is not improved.  That will be the last time I will submit my packet.  Things are in the works right now for the contingency plan of taking a position down in Texas that should help me progress in my career as well as being around some more great friends of ours.  

One of the things we are working on before coming home is reducing our number of vehicles down to one.  The jeep finally got licensed, but is waiting on some parts that have been ordered to get it back to top running condition.  The toaster is doing well and continues to be the main vehicle for the family.  The plan is to toss a for sale sign in both vehicles and see what happens.  We are alright with either one of them selling, and really, I wouldn't mind if the jeep sold first.  I never would have expected it, but I love that toaster.  It's such a great vehicle and it has so much function.  

Oktoberfest is right around the corner, so anyone who would like to visit you need to let us know so that we can make sure we will have room and can anticipate you coming over.  Last chance while we are still stationed in Europe.  

I was down and out for a little bit do to an unfortunate event.  Kayla tried to kill me.  Yes, people the woman I love most in this world tried to end me.  And she did it in such a cruel fashion, I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive her.  She tried to kill me with pizza!  My favorite food.  In 2006, I got dysentery from some bad water and just before the violent gastrointestinal display set in, I ate a spicy penne pasta MRE.  Mentally this two things were linked and therefore every time I smell or think about eating a spicy penne pasta MRE I get very queasy.  It's happening right now.  So when Kayla feed me tainted olives on my pizza, I have now linked the horrible event with pizza!  I am very concerned about the next time I am going to eat pizza and it makes me sad.  And nauseous.  

Hmmm.... Well I guess I will wrap this one up.  Summer seems to be drawing down here rapidly in Germany and it's just barely halfway through August.  I do hope it extends itself for a while longer as I was looking forward to getting in a few more decent hikes before the real cold weather sets in and maybe even getting in a nice weekend out stealth camping out on the trails around here.  We will just have to see, look for the pictures.  I am currently catching up with a lot of my friends and posting to instagram.  Look for me @wildermanbear.  Miss everyone.  Happy Birthday again to my lovely wife!  And God Bless!

The Big Trip

It's been far too long since posting anything on here, but the positive side to this is that there sure is a lot to write about.  And I mean a lot, so this will probably be a long one.

Kayla and I recently just wrapped up a multi-country vacation with our family (Gerald and Chelsea) during this most recent block leave period.  It was an amazing experience, filled with memorable times and wonderful recollections.  All this would not have been possible though without the patience and support of my lovely wife.  I am little crazy when it comes to planning long range.  Something about all those flight times, people bringing too much baggage, and travel mishaps make me want to climb a clock tower.  Thankfully, my amazing wife took the lead on this after I asked her to and did such a great job!  There were a couple hiccups, but we learned from them and the next time it will be even better, some things just cannot be anticipated. 

A trip driving would take more than 2 days and cross over 3,884 miles!

The basic concept for the trip was to have Gerald and Chelsea link up with us in Shannon, Ireland and travel from west to east across the Emerald Isle for five days, finishing in Dublin.  After Ireland, we would fly over to London for three days of excitement, followed by Paris for four days.  After the City of Light, we would travel back to Germany to explore some of Deutschland that Chelsea and Gerald had not seen yet.  From here, we would send Gerald and Chelsea back across the pond, while Kayla and I continued on to Rome for five days. 

The first amazing feat for this trip would be convincing people not to over pack, and by people, I mean Kayla and Chelsea.  Chelsea set the standard by packing a truly minuscule bag, but ended up harboring items in other peoples’ bags.

Nice try Chels!

The second feat was renting a car in Shannon and learning to drive a right side driver car on the left side of the road.  Ohh and did I mention, it was a stick shift as well?  After a few scary turns, some interesting interactions with other drivers, this was overcome and we made our safely throughout Ireland. 

The first stop was the Castle Bunratty, which was a great time.  The evening was a reproduction of a medieval feast in the dining hall of the castle itself.  Complete with singing, mead, and of course entertainment from the castle’s residents. 

The next day we roamed over to King John’s Castle in downtown Limerick, set directly on the Shannon River.

King John's Castle Limerick, Ireland

Bridge across the River Shannon

Having fun in the castle tour.

Atop the towers of King John's Castle

After wrapping things up in Limerick we headed out to a much more rural section based on the recommendations of some locals in Limerick.  We went to a place called Lough Gur, which is 6,000 years old and one of the oldest stone rings in the world.  

Lough Gur Stone Circle

Chelsea kissing the Blarney Stone

 After that we headed to the town of Cork and enjoyed the sport of Hurling and checked out Blarney castle and kissed the Blarney Stone. 

Blarney Castle

 Since Kayla and Chelsea already are blessed with the gift of gab, we will just have to see how it effects Gerald and I.  

The Rock of Cashel

Hore Abbey

  

After hanging around in the Blarney area we head northeast to check out the Rock of Cashel and Hore Abbey. 









 Ireland is lousy with castle, I don't think you can travel more than a few kilometers up there without running into something castle-like.  

















Ended up taking a short break from writing this.  Some things came up and got pretty distracted.  Anyway.... back at it.

We wrapped things up in Dublin before hopping a short flight to London.  Dublin was great, excluding (in my opinion) where we stayed.  It was reminiscent of the West End of Louisville, very down trodden and rough around the edges.  The Guinness Storehouse however, was absolutely amazing!  Most definitely I could have stayed there and wandered each floor several times had it not been for the need to get to the airport and turn in our crazy right-side drive car.  But alas, all good things must come to and end.                                      So we closed it out and caught a much delayed flight into London.



Upon arriving in London at 2330 at night one comes to realize, the numerous modes of transportation that are normally available are few and far between.  We ended up flying into Gatwick as well, not Heathrow so no where near as busy.  Our taxi driver had already come and gone, having given up on us.  But the B&B that we were staying are was still up and sent him back to us.  The ride was long and somewhat awkward, the cab driver having revealed that his nationality was Afghan, and well we all understand that I have had a couple difficult days in Afghanistan.  But he seemed a decent fellow and delivered us promptly to our destination.  Which luck would have it was directly in his neck of the woods, along with the majority of London Middle Eastern population.  We stayed in Edgware, which still to me is a very curious melding of many different religious group in one small  footprint.

Big Ben and Parliament from the London Eye 

We did have a really great time in London, but certainly the highlights of the trip was making some new friends, getting to see Gerald dance, and getting to see a great old friend from back home!  We caught the aftermath of the Queen's Jubilee and had some excellent fish and nasty chips (in Kayla's best Smeagol voice)!














Our plan was to take the Chunnel from London to Paris, but after looking at ticket prices and the scare of service work strike on the train line from France, we opted to fly.  Flying back out from Gatwick to Charles DeGaulle wasn't too much trouble, but the drive from there to our apartment was an adventure.  Our previous trip to Paris for New Years, Kayla and I stayed outside the city and took the train in each day.  Kayla found a site that rented out owned apartments to traveller for this trip though.  This place as directly in downtown Paris and when we were driving to it, but ran into the packed street night-life that was Paris's club scene.  That cab driver had to almost push people out of the way with his car, and even then he was still having trouble.  Eventually, we got in the vicinity of the apartment and decided to walk the rest of the way. 

Once we got to the apartment it wasn't bad, you could actually see the top of the Eiffel Tower from the small balcony, but the fold out couch was broken.  So for the duration of the stay Chelsea ended up sleeping on the couch and Gerald on the floor.  Paris was nice to see again, but was considerably more dirty and unclean in the warm months.  We did end up going up in the Tower this trip as well as the Arc De Triumph. 

At the end of that stay we hopped onto another plane back to Nurnberg and headed up to the house to wash some clothes and take a day to reset.  After a day of chilling out at the house we took Chelsea down to check out Edelweiss Lodge for a night (the night Germany beat USA in the World Cup), a day in Berchtesgaden to check out the Eagle's Nest and lastly a trip over to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles.  It was a really great way to finish out their trip.  At the end of this we ended up going with them to Nurnberg airport and flying actually before they took off and Kayla and I headed to Rome.

Rome was easily one of the best places I have been.  A little crazy around the tourist places like the Vatican and the Colosseum, but when broken up over a five day stay it was awesome!  And as nice as it was to see all these amazing places in Rome, the best was just getting to spend time with Kayla.  We so much love trying the amazing food and wine from around there, but just exploring with her was so much fun.  She did such a great job finding a place for us to stay as well.  We ended up being amazingly well placed to explore all of the great places in Rome and the lady who ran the place was so accommodating as well.  Truly a great trip and an awesome way to spend our 4th wedding anniversary.

We wrapped up leave with the last few days spent at home so get somethings done around the house, but after all that travelling it was just nice to sit around and chill for a bit.  I don't know how people who have to travel that much for their jobs do it.  That pretty much wraps up the leave and vacation portion of this post, so now on to something even more important!





We are having a baby!

Yep, most of you all know this, but come Monday we will know, probably, what sex the baby will be.  We are so excited about this, especially since so many of our friends are having kids right about the same time.  Eli and Malinda will be having their kiddo just about a month ahead of us!  The baby bear is due to arrive on 28 December, but I think he will hang in there till New Years.  We will just have to see.  Whatever, whenever it comes we just pray that it is healthy and that Kayla and I are good parents for it.  I can hardly believe this is really happening, and like I said it's awesome and exciting, but scares the hell out of me too.  But God never would give us something we couldn't handle, that is what is great about Him. 

There is more stuff to write about i.e.: Warrant Officer stuff, next move, where the baby will be born, but I think I am gonna go over that on the next post.  For now just know Kayla, baby bear, and I are doing fine and we miss everyone back at home.  God is great, love your family and friends, live life.