Eurocation 2019
So… spring break in Germany. It was most likely the most exhausting trip home I have taken in decades. And, when I still had a corporate job before kids, I did go there quite a bit for just a week at a time. But, doing that with four kids, two of whom had never been there, and a man who is not content to just sit on his computer in my parents’ living room past 10:00 am, is craziness 😉
My wonderful better half is so wonderful because he gets sh*t done! This is a man who makes plans and sticks to them. He actually enjoys the process, too. I absolutely love that about him. While I myself am an ENTJ, according to the Myers-Briggs test, my J preference is not nearly as strong as James’. I am leaning toward the J preference, but I still do have quite a bit of S preference in me, as in that on some days, I can get lost between the front door and my car. Which is probably how and why my Ex’s really strong preference toward Sensing didn’t bother me too much before we had children, because I could find me-time and us-time around his schedule by being flexible. Once you throw kids into the mix who have set schedules on their own, that’s not so easy anymore. You see, I come from a marriage where I planned and he laughed. That is, if he got out of his pyjamas early enough to have time to laugh 😀 I would have a Sunday day trip to a state park planned and he would wake up late, then spend an inordinate amount of time getting himself ready while I got the kids and myself into clothes, fed the kids breakfast, packed lunches, and pulled up a map. When he was ready to go, the kids were cranky – not surprisingly, especially when they were little, because it was time for a nap by then. And my Ex didn’t mean to cause any of the fights that this would inevitably bring; this is just how that very laid-back man operates. Needless to say, it created stress for me and I was eventually just fed up with it.
Fast forward to three weeks ago: After James finally communicated to me that it was stressing him out to not have an exact plan on where we would be going when, what we would be seeing where and when, and how we would get around on a day-to-day basis, I made him a plan. I listed everything we could do, depending on the weather and what the kids were like on any given day. Oh, I had had that plan in my head for months! I just hadn’t written it down. And my guy likes actual lists. My bad. (Now I’m wondering if my marriage had been less stressful if I had written down those plans for any given weekend with the kids… but then again, the tickets to our wedding back in 2002 were very clearly written down – yes, no e-tickets back then LOL – and my Ex still managed to make us miss the flight! So I will stick with the “that’s just how he has always been”-explanation 😉 )
What I am still learning is that James doesn’t only like general lists… he LOVES very detailed, specific lists! But, like I just said, I’m still learning, so I didn’t add any detail. Here was my list:
Sunday did end up being a bit rainy, but the kids still had a great time just riding bikes around the neighbourhood and running around. My kids were happy to show James’ children the town where my parents live and my step-daughter found the French puzzle book that my daughter has over there and had the best time doing each of the 10 puzzles in the book – twice! I admit, Sarah Kay is still adorable, even though it’s been a little minute since I had Sara Kay wallpaper at the age of 5… it makes me so happy that our little one seems to love it as much as I did.
On Monday, as the rain started to let up, we were able to do the first thing that was on my list for Monday: Freilichtmuseum Kommern. In retrospect, maybe part of James’ fidgeting when looking at my list was that he didn’t really know what the German words meant LOL…
The museum is a little village from the 18th and 19th century. The little adorable houses are well-preserved and there is a school, a store, a windmill, farm, etc. The kids had a blast, running around and chasing the chickens. I brought them there to check out how people lived back then. We don’t have anything that even comes close to this in the United States. There was a house from the same year as our constitution! They liked it, but my history lesson kind of fell onto deaf ears. As our bigs (currently 5th and 6th grade) are starting to have to learn about history, I thought this would bring it more alive for them. Unfortunately, since American history classes mostly only cover the wars since the civil war, I don’t think pointing out how they brought water from the one well in the middle of the village and how the ancient cobblestone roads had the groove on each side for the waste to run down before any indoor plumbing back in the middle ages, made ANY sense to them. My first year of many MANDATORY history classes in German middle and high school started with Ancient Egypt in 5th grade, then came Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire (of which the kids got to see many different parts of still standing wall in Germany), the Middle Ages, and then the World Wars, Weimar Republic, and – in 13th grade – more modern history. American history was covered in – again mandatory – English classes, and the French Revolution in the mandatory French classes. Had I taken Latin, I’m sure I’d be even more knowledgeable concerning the Roman Empire. But our 6th grader has just learned about 200 years of history in 1 year! HOW is that even possible? *Shakes head*
Run kids, run! 😉 
God bless this home 1777 
Boys working the wine press from the 1800s
Ashley@Shakenstirredandblended
Hi, I'm Ashley and I am a freelance writer and editor for one local and one national publication. In my spare time, I teach foreign languages and manage two households. Oh, and raise four children. It's a crazy life that I chose and I love every second of it :o)
