A Decade In a Nutshell

A decade has gone by….

This has taken me a few days to write. I have deleted and added and deleted and added so much. This is a very very small look at the last 10 years. Enjoy. xo

At the beginning of this decade I was a lost soul/college kid. I was getting out of a very toxic, abusive, disaster of a relationship that started in High School and went on for completely too long – with a guy who was actually my best friend before he was my boyfriend. This timeline is all a little blurry by this point in my life. Mom brain. Can you believe I never wanted kids? I was dumb, haha.

I moved to Kalamazoo in Fall 2009 for college (after deciding to stay home the first year after HS because my boyfriend was, great choice Amanda … Andi, please take notes on what not to do with your life baby girl). I’m aware this isn’t part of the decade but I have to get there with a little preface of what happened before the amazing adventures that came along.

My boyfriend at the time also moved to Kalamazoo and that is when our relationship started to spin more out of control than it already had. My new roomates wanted to kill him after a month of living with me (they had good reason… especially after he literally cut my nikes in half with a saw and set them on our front porch with basically a death wish note). That’s nothing but I won’t go past that. He would later go to jail on Halloween for breaking and entering into our house and my bedroom. But, it didn’t end there unfortunately… time went on and I tried my best to move on but I was weak and had zero clue of what I was doing.

My friends and I rang in 2010 in Kalamazoo. Things got a little better but he wasn’t completely out of my life. I spent the year ‘going to school’ (barely) and drinking 3 to 4 days a week with my roommates and friends. I was unhealthy, overweight, desperately needing change in my life but too young to even understand that until now. I think by fall I had finally woke up one day, decided to change my phone number and move on. My roommates and friends most likely cried tears of joy.

Fast forward to December of 2010 – I’m going to be very honest, which is pretty taboo these days, I know… I went to Virginia to visit a long time friend of mine that I had met while on a family vacation when we were very young. We stayed in contact for all of those years and I decided to go see him for Christmas and his birthday. It was nice, his family is amazing and I still speak to them to this day. I actually came back to Kalamazoo with full intentions that I would pack up my life and go there to be with him/start a new life. Maybe part of me really wanted that but now as an adult I think that I was so desperate for anyone to love me and take care of me. Not to mention I was so desperate for an escape and fresh start. I was known for making impulsive decisions and it came as no surprise to anyone that these thoughts of going and leaving my Michigan life behind were crossing my mind.

January 2011 – A couple of weeks went by and my feelings had changed dramatically. I was not going anywhere and had dropped most communication with him. I decided I wasn’t ready for that.

February 2011 – Don’t worry, I won’t do this for every month of the last decade. My endometriosis was in full force. Hmm, I wonder why Amanda? Maybe the alcohol or binging at 3 AM every night…. my endometriosis landed me in the emergency room… a lot. I was in bed with a horrible flare up when a notification popped up on my facebook from, Jerry Kuhn. Long story short this is where it started. A couple of days later I met up with him and the rest is kind of history.

Jerry would finish up his last college hockey season at WMU and then head to Boise Idaho, to help them finish playoffs. I had no idea of the wild adventure we would go on for the next 9 years…

2011

I am keeping this post mostly hockey and related to Jerry and I… through this decade so many things have happened and we have experienced so much outside of hockey and even some during hockey but I want to keep it as short as possible. Birthdays, friends getting engaged and married, babies, our families growing older, vacations, SO much stuff…. but I want to keep this mostly related to our hockey life. 

Fall 2011 – Hockey took us to Boise, Idaho (ok Greenville to start but we just don’t even need to mention it) we were in Boise by October which is pretty early for the ECHL season. I remember thinking… Idaho? Ew…. and now I can’t think of anywhere else in the USA I’d rather raise my family. I’ve missed it since the day we left… this will come later but it’s no coincidence our friends we meet in 2015 that turned into our best friends are from there. Life is funny. I was a young gun in Boise. Very young. 21 to be exact. I said and did dumb shit. I would say I don’t even know that girl anymore. My now, “veteran” status would punch that girl in the face (ok not actually but I’d consider it). Boise is where we found our Miika girl. Jerry had an amazing season and we thought for sure we would go back.. or at least have something else… but it turns out God had other plans for us.. did you know that hockey exist in Europe? I didn’t… LOL. 

2012

Off to Slovenia. 

Jerry’s American agent handed us off to his guy that does the European stuff. What a blessing he was (I mean that in the most sarcastic possible way)… oh the hockey stories I have saved for post hockey life on here (wordpress, you know all my secrets). Another long story short, like all of these will be…. he got Jerry a job in Ljubljana, Slovenia (I couldn’t even pronounce the city….). Uhhhhh… okay, great! We heard good things about the league but what I wish we would have known was that he was setting us up for two very stressful first years of hockey in Europe. A lot of good people, a lot of good things, a city that stole my heart, seriously another place I would raise my family…. but a WHOLE LOT OF SHIT. Had I known anyone in the European hockey world back then, we probably would have never ended up there because everyone in the league knew about the serious financial and professional (or lack thereof) issues the organization had, so did Jerry’s agent…. yeah, awesome.

Just to give you an idea… when Jerry did get paid, it was in paper bags.. that we hid in our apartment because he could no longer have a bank account there because the government started taking it out due to the team not paying taxes, that they are legally supposed to. (taxes that a few years later we would get slammed with while living in germany and it would cost us our entire savings account). Shit show. Disaster. Things that if you never experience in the hockey life.. well, lucky you.

ANYWAYS. We met amazing people in Ljub. When you set all the hockey business aside we had an amazing time there. It was Miika’s favorite home. We are still very close with a lot of friends from there. I tell EVERYONE to go visit, it is a must. Slovenia is one of the most beautiful hidden gems in the world. We went back a year after leaving to tell all of our friends that we were expecting Andi (before we told family!!!).

Jerry proposed that season, in Venice, on a gondola.

2013 – our second year in Ljubljana 

Oh yea, we got married that summer (7/11)… at the courthouse in Detroit. Followed by gambling and dinner, just us… and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It will be 7 years in July!

This hockey season was harder than the first one in Ljub. Hardly anyone was getting paid and we had all went about 3 months with no paycheck by the new year. It was very hard on everyone and very stressful.

2014

If this next story doesn’t fit us well, then you don’t know us much at all. Jerry got the OK to leave Ljubljana and go back to the USA to finish off the season (it was February) but the ECHL had a lot of hockey left to play. Well, he was heading back to Boise… I was crying tears of joy to head back!!!!! I had to stay back in Ljubljana as we were promised to get all of Jerry’s money and I had a lot of people to hug and kiss goodbye. Well, I got Jerry on his plane to head to Boise… and while on his long flight… his agent called my phone. He had just found a team for Jerry in Germany (DEL). Wait, what?! He is gone. Long gone. ‘He needs to call me as soon as he lands in the US’.

I waited for Jerry to land.. he called me…. and I didn’t even get to finish before he hung up on me and called his agent. Yup, Jerry was on a plane the next day back to Europe. I can’t make this stuff up.

Off to Krefeld, Germany. He wasn’t promised a chance to play but… the world works in mysterious ways, they say. Unfortunately, their starting goalie got an injury and Jerry had to back up a game which actually led to him playing his first DEL game. I have to tell you that this was Jerry’s goal… to play in the DEL before he finishes playing in Europe. Well, he got to do that – he stopped 31/31 shots. Little did he know he would go on to play at least 3 more DEL seasons.  

The girls there were amazing. I’ll never forget them and still keep in touch here and there with almost all of them! They hugged me and screamed and cried as that clock counted down to zero and it was one of my favorite hockey memories. We were in Krefeld for such a short time but we were surrounded with really fun, awesome people. Good thing we lived it up… because it would be the last season I was able too… 

2014 would take us to Bruneck, Italy. 

Yeah, we got to live in Northern Italy and it was magical… just a dream. There is no place on earth like Süd Tirol. Some magic would happen while we were there… some surprising magic!

We made baby Andi. Our Bruneck baby.

2015 – We rang in the new year with our bestie meg milly.

Jerry had an amazing season. They wanted us to stay.. we wanted to stay too but the timing of our life and Bruneck wasn’t right.. Jerry had other things in store, hockey-wise.

                             

2015 – Jerry got a new agent, got his german passport and we were off to Bremerhaven, Germany.

Andi was born 4 weeks before we left (7/2)!

Bremerhaven would bring our best friends into our life. Two great hockey years. A lot of great people. A lot of fun. Some minor struggles in between but mostly happiness.

2016 – another season in Bremerhaven!

Except a big change happened over the summer. Bremerhaven was originally in the DEL2 and over the summer a DEL team dropped out so this meant Bremerhaven would go up to the first league. WHAT?!?!! I still remember thinking it was all a joke when Jerry’s agent called. It wasn’t and it all happened very fast.

Andi did her first year of ‘krippe’ and I got a small job at a hotel a few hours a week and also finished my Associates degree online!

What we thought might be a long season.. I mean… first season in the DEL that is a lot! Turned out to be quite the opposite. Wow we were all wrong. The boys impressed and shocked SO many people. We didn’t win a championship but it sure felt like it. Bremerhaven ended up making playoffs their FIRST year in the league! I will never forget the night we beat Ingolstadt in pre playoffs to go to playoffs, you would have thought (from inside the rink) that we just won the Stanely cup. My girlfriend and I just hugged each other screaming and crying (it ended up being in the promo video the next season, lol). Anyways, it was truly magical and a very proud moment in hockey for all of us. If we never win a championship, this was our championship.

During this time (in february 2017) Jerry had signed a contract in Wolfsburg for the next two seasons, we were so excited and I was so proud of him!

2017 – off to Wolfsburg….

This would be our last flight with Miika but we had no idea.

Oh yea, I was pregnant with Brixen… 

I had him in November (11/27)… our life kind of just slowly started to fall apart after.. very slowly but this is when it started.

We say he was our sunshine before the rain.

In November Miika started to develop a tumor on her nose, under her left eye…. that would soon basically take up her whole left side of her face. I haven’t talked about this much on here and I’m not ready for that yet…

January 2018

We Rang in 2018 from our couch with our newborn and Andi! The hockey season ended in the first round of playoffs and we decided we were going to do a summer in Germany! 

June 2018 – June came and after a lot of money, medicine, doctors and tears…. we would ultimately be forced to put Miika down. A couple of days, two days to be exact we would head home to Detroit for a small 3 week summer trip.

While home… we lost Jerry’s little brother Dalas to an accidental drug overdose. Trust me, the last thing you want to see is your husband lay his baby brother to rest. This, I’m not ready to write much about either. The turn-around was quick, we were on a plane back to Wolfsburg to prepare for a new hockey season.

The hits didn’t really stop there. We returned to Wolfsburg and received some bad news about Jerry’s goalie partner…he would be out for the season. The season would go on and Wolfsburg would have their worst season in history … injury after injury, loss after loss, different coaches, first year not making playoffs in a long long time …. everything you could imagine going wrong, basically did.

Lay that on top of a guy who is grieving his family dog and brother….with basically zero time to actually process and grieve before the season started. It was a lot on his shoulders. Jerry started seeing a grief counselor in October and continued to see her until he left for Kassel in February 2019.

(please remember I’m keeping our years and months very very brief….)

2019 – The new year came and I prayed to whoever was listening to make our life stop sucking. But… just because January 1st comes doesn’t mean things will automatically change in your life. Plain and simple. 

Jerry found out he would not be returning to Wolfsburg after the season and actually was able to leave in February to help another team try to make playoffs. He needed that so badly, more than he or anyone else knew, I just wish it could have happened much sooner. A change of scenery and environment helped him so much and Kassel was a breath of fresh air for all of us.

– When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. – 

The kids and I stayed back in Wolfsburg. For many reasons, despite me really needing to get out myself. We visited Jerry on the weekends.  The season ended sometime in March, we packed up our life and moved out of Wolfsburg in May and spent the summer in Detroit. 

Which would bring us to August 2019 and we are in Kassel for the the season! We are very happy here. I started a big girl job!!!!! My kids are loving their school …Andi is basically fluent in German, she is doing ballet lessons and ice skating, brixen would be on a hockey team if he was old enough. Jerry is having an awesome season with the boys. We finally feel at ‘home’ again. 

We are so thankful for these good days…. that is what happens after a lot of bad days – you will learn to appreciate the good days… so. much. more.

Sidenotes!!!!

Travel: In this decade we have traveled to SO many places….. Hungary, France, Austria, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Netherlands, U.K, Czech Republic… and so many cities! Some before the kids but a lot of the places with them.

Lived: We have lived in 3 different countries in Europe and 3 different cities in Northern Germany…

I have spent 8 years of this decade in Europe. How did that happen? I’ll never know. I have learned so much and continue to learn as I go. I’ve made amazing friends, lost a few along the way… but I don’t believe that everyone is meant to be in your life forever. We meet so many people in this lifestyle, some stay and some go and that is just the truth. The good outways the bad 100%.

I got married, had two babies, traveled to places I only dreamed of going to as a teenager. I don’t know how or why I ended up on this adventure with Jerry…. but I am so glad I did. It hasn’t always been easy… but it has been worth it. I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store over the next few years.

Europe, Germany specifically, is home to me. I know it is difficult for my family and friends to understand that sometimes…but imagine spending most of your adult life here, like I have… I have ‘grown up’ here and all of my important milestones have happened while I have been living here. My heart is here and I don’t know if it will ever want to leave. 

If anyone reads this, thanks. I have a lot on my mind and I often write on here but I never publish it for other people to see. So, this was a lot of word vomit and rambling. I appreciate you reading my thoughts and a very small snippet of our life over the last 10 years. 

2020, the next few years, this decade, be good to us… continue to give us good health and happiness and please give the same to those we love most. When we go through bad days, help us to stay strong. When we have good days, help us to be thankful for them.

– Amanda 

Turns Out I’m 100%… Back!

I’ve decided to stop being quiet over here.

I’ve basically been silent on here for two years and boy have you missed a lot. I have a lot of blogs saved that I never posted, I should start there. Although some are for many years from now when hockey is over… for many reasons (haha). Or maybe I’ll save those and write a book….

I have a little updating to do on here. Some new photos, maybe a new layout. Give me some time.

Today starts Jerry’s NINTH hockey season!!!! We are all so excited for this new season and new adventure here in Kassel. LET’S GO HUSKIES!

I used to keep a private journal on top of doing this and then I had kids and well, that all went to shit. Two summers ago my dear friend from college, Whitney Bauer, brought me over a couple of feel good gifts when life was feeling pretty damn hard. One was this journal that I have kept since but I haven’t had an ounce of energy to open it up and write in it….

Sidenote: The front of the journal has a cheetah on it and it says, ‘don’t let them tame you’… and wow, do I feel that.

Today…I went and grabbed it out of my closet and well, I wrote in it. Thanks WB. There are going to be some good memories in there. ❤

Everywhere you look right now people are talking about writing things down. Right now there is a big ‘trend’ on writing down things you are thankful for every day. They say it’s ‘life changing’.. ‘magical’ even. Sounds cliche, maybe lame to some. I’m guilty of having those thoughts… but I did it. That is what I did today. I kind of felt the magic. So, don’t mock it until you try it, I guess.

Well, wish us luck for the next nine months. 

All we can hope for is a FUN, healthy, successful season. It’s not too much to ask for, right?! (Jesus, is that you? Can you hear me? I’m begging you!!!!!!). But seriously… GOOD VIBES only. If not, please… exit the building.

I leave you with this friendly/positive reminder:

Liebe,
Amanda

Happy belated 1st Birthday, Brixen!

It happened. Our baby turned ONE. I know you’d have no idea from this blog because I REALLY slacked this past year. I’m promising myself with the new year to hop back on this!

Wow, did that year fly by. Lightning fast. Way faster than Andi’s first year.

We had a few of our hockey friends over to sing happy birthday and share some cake with us! It was a perfect night for this little bear! But first, he had pancakes for breakfast!

 

Brix is so sweet. Everywhere we go the omas and opas just tell me how friendly he is and how much they love his smile. Everyone notices his smile before anything else. He truly does light up a room. He’s a mama’s boy (like the rest of them). Which used to make my eyes roll but now that I have my own, I’m okay with it. The bond I have with Brixen is so different but so the same to the one I have with Andi. Each special in their own way. Brixy (jerry hates that nickname, haha) is the little boy I never knew I wanted or needed. He completed us as a family and we are thankful for him in every way. He is a special little guy.

Most of you know the year we had wasn’t the best. When I was looking back on photos and videos … it made me realize how lucky we were to have Brixen through all of it (Andi too, of course). I truly feel that Brix was put into our life, right before the hardest months Jerry and I have ever experienced… on purpose, for a reason. Someone knew we needed him then. We needed that permenant smile that he wears on his face (even when he is pissed… crying…). He was our bright bright light, to get us through some terribly dark days.

WE DID IT. One year and counting of nursing. So proud of that little boy and myself! I successfully nursed another kid… no bottle.. just me.. the only thing that could give that kid life… what was I thinking 😉

Brix traveled some pretty cool places in one year:

Paris, France (worst trip ever and I have zero pics of brix):

Mallorca, Spain:

Detroit, USA:

Prague, Czech Republic:

and of course, Berlin (about 50 times because it is moms favorite city!):

Brix is taking after his sister and in no rush to walk… but watch out when he’s crawling because he will legit knock you down! Brixen loves his sister more than anyone on the planet and it’s the sweetest thing ever!

At the end of this month our little guy will be 14 months! Time flies when you’re loving on babies! I know this was short and sweet but the point is I got to the bottom and published, right?

WE LOVE YOU, BRIXY! And we love you even more because your favorite Christmas gift was your sisters LOL surprise dolls. You’re the best, buddy.

I’m Still Here!

Wow, to say I have some catching up to do on life is an understatement.

I fell off the wagon when it comes to blogging about my second kid! Poor Brixen. Well, I fell off the wagon when it comes to writing on here at all. I blame…life.

I love this space.. for a lot of reasons. For example, the other day I was questioning when Andi did something as a baby and I was able to come on here and see exactly when she did it! How sweet is that? I need to have that for baby B too!

So, I truly plan on coming on this space more often and writing again. Not for anyone else but for myself! (but please, feel free to read… <3!)

A lot of things have happened in the Kuhn family since November. Good, bad, pretty and ugly. 2018 has been a whirlwind for us, the first 6 months at least. We are hoping (and praying) that the last few months of 2018 are good to us. In the nicest way possible.. I can’t wait for this year to be behind us. It’s been tough but of course, it could always be worse. Just looking forward to a fresh start.

We headed back to Detroit for only 4 weeks this summer. We managed to squeeze in some family photos despite the chaos going on around us. I’m so glad we did! An old friend of mine has found her passion in photography. We spent a few years at good old, 177 (American Eagle store #).. slanging credit cards and getting yelled at by crazy christmas shoppers in December. I touched base with her hoping she had time to fit us in and she did!

Metro Detroit friends, please check her out if you are interested in family photos!

Peppy + Beck Photography

Before I back track and get all caught up on here can you believe we are starting our 7th season overseas? WHAT IN THE ACTUAL WHAT! Time seriously flies. So cliche but so so true. This squad is ready to cheer on our favorite grizzly again! Praying for a successful season for this guy who truly works harder than anyone I know. Another cliche saying (at least in hockey world) but… I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The guy takes zero, I mean zero, days off. Keep Jerry in your prayers and wish him and the Grizzly’s good luck this season!

Now I’m going to try to get this space caught up with my real life time frame.

I’ve missed sharing all of this stuff with everyone.

Stay tuned.

❤

Willkommen in der Welt, Brixen

HE is here and arrived on November 27th, 2017.

November 27th holds a special place in my heart as it’s the day my beautiful great grandma got called home to Heaven.

As God takes… He also gives. So, He gave us this beautiful baby boy.

Brixen Vale Kuhn 

Brixen is a small town oustide of Bruneck (where we lived when Jerry played in Italy). So, as we did for Andi (her middle name is Jana after Ljubljana) we wanted to do something similar for him. I wasn’t sold on Brixen and we didn’t decide until the nurse came in for the 10th time right after my c-section (when I was quite miserable) to ask if we had a name. I finally gave in and told Jerry to pick so I didn’t have to hear this nurse ask me again, haha. So, he chose Brixen. Vale is Jerry’s middle name. Which comes from his great-great grandpa whose name was Valentine.

I’m so thankful for Jerry who helped me through my second c-section. I wouldn’t have made it without him next to me. C-sections are quite literally the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life. I love him and we make unbelievably cute humans AND I know he would love 50 children … but I’m so glad I never have to do that again. Although watching my tough guy shed some real tears are two moments I’ll never forget. ❤

He is so sweet, so handsome.. we love him so much!

Our family is now complete and he is the perfect last puzzle piece. ❤

[Shout out to my bestie: Ellie Lampl, for capturing these amazing photos for us to keep forever!] << she also spent the whole week with us to help with andi and was a total life saver!

We Are Alive!

Wow, it’s been too long.

Have I STILL not blogged about our last November trip to London? Maybe I’ll get to it before our next November trip, ha! Mom-ing ain’t easy ya’ll.

I’m pretty sure my last post included a photo of me looking pretty decent in a gym mirror in Bremerhaven. Well…. that ended quickly because I’m currently 20 weeks pregnant and feeling like a f’ing moose. Yep — baby kuhn #2 coming early December!

The happiest big sister ever!

A lot has happened since my last post, which was around Christmas time. Shortly after Christmas we were walking through the mall when Jerry got the phone call he had worked so so so hard for. A new team called wanting to sign Jerry for this upcoming season. We were in shock, it was really early but Jerry was having an incredible season that was not going unnoticed…. we were so excited!

That team was, Wolfsburg (Germany)!

It was so unbelievably hard to keep this secret for so long!

Speaking of hockey — Jerry and the Fischtown Pinguins made some serious history! It was their first year in the league and they made it to playoffs. Something I’m sure no one saw coming at the beginning of the season. On top of making playoffs, Jerry was nominated for Goalie of The Year! We were so proud of him. That last month of hockey was something special and something I will truly never forget. So many happy tears and a lot of f-bombs during games. It made Bremerhaven that much harder to say goodbye too. Our last week in B-haven was emotional and full of tough “see ya laters”… it holds a lot of special things for us, Andi has grown up there for two years, we found our best friends there, and Jerry played his first full DEL season there. We will miss you fischy town but you are just a hop skip and jump away. ❤

THE BEST FANS — we rocked that rink so hard those last few weeks!

Last game of the season with my girls.

And to end the season….. Uncle Jerry & Harbor Rae Lampl-Kuhn. The best of friends, forever.

Our summer flew by but here are a few highlights:

-Uncle DJ Graduated from WMU

-Andi went to her first Tigers game

-ANDI TURNED TWO!

-Jerry won his second GOLD medal with team USA inline!

• -Jerry and I celebrated FOUR years of marriage!

In very very very short, that brings us to now. A few days ago we packed 5 hockey bags, 1 carry on, 3 back packs, 2 car seats, 2 strollers and a dog and we hopped on a plane to Wolfsburg! It was so hard to say goodbye to my family and friends that have grown so close to Andi this summer. Luckily we have people in our life who understand our journey.

Here’s to our SIXTH year in Europe. 

We are so excited to be here and looking forward to making many good memories here in Wolfsy! So far we have had a very warm welcome from the Grizzly staff and team/families. ❤

I’ll try to keep in touch. I have no idea how I even found the time to write this. I miss this little space! August will be a very busy month for Jer and we won’t be seeing much of him as his preseason schedule is stacked. Andi will be heading back to school next week and I’ll be hopefully heading into a gym….or my bed, a girl can dream though.

Be good to us hockey season, auf gehts!

— Amanda xo

Mini Amsterdam – Groningen

Hi there!

Yes, I’m alive. (#momlife)… I’ve been neglecting this space and I miss it. I’ve promised myself to get on here and write at least once a month. I always have people mentioning they love that I have all of this too look back on and in the back of my head I’m sad that I haven’t got to writing much this “year” or  rather,”season” as we hockey families refer to years. I have a draft on here for London, life update, breastfeeding, the list goes on… I’m the worst!

(PC: Carina Conrad Photography)

Andi and I (and Jerry) are so lucky to have found friends here in Bremerhaven that we consider family. Andi’s babysitter and her family have been wonderful to us all year. I just wish we would have met them sooner (last season) because they have truly been a blessing to us. Liia is Andi’s babyistter, I don’t even really like referring to her as that because she’s so much more than that!… they have the cutest little relationship.

Andi and Liia on Christmas:

We had planned to head down to Augsburg (about 30 minutes from Munich) to watch Jerry’s team play Liia’s dad’s  (he is the assistant coach in Augsburg) team back in January. It’s not very close and would have been a lot for just a couple of days. So, we settled on going to Groningen (Netherlands). I’ve been dying to head that way so we made a girls trip out of it while the boys were out of town. Groningen is about 2 hours from here (1 hour before Amsterdam).

We stayed at the cutest little hotel right in the city (The Student Hotel). It is actually half hotel/half short-term lodging for students. SO many students in Groningen from all over the world! It was great to hear people speaking English for a change.  We didn’t need anything special as we were just spending the night. The decor throughout the entire hotel was beyond amazing! The rooms are decorated as if you are in a dorm room. A really cute dorm room! There is a restaurant downstairs that has an amazing breakfast and at night you can get drinks at the bar. At night all of the college kids were downstairs hanging out in the common areas, drinking beers & doing homework. Overall, great place! AND to my surprise… very very quiet.

The hotel is in the perfect location so after Andi was in bed, Liia stayed with her so Anke and I could grab some drinks. There are some cute bars very close to the hotel.

De Garage – So cute! Renovated space in an old garage (hence, the name).. and throughout the week they do a “pot luck” style lunch. They were closing but the nice lady let us come in and have a beer.

De Toeter – An amazing whiskey bar! Over 300 whiskeys to try and over 100 different beers! Definitely a spot to hit in Groningen if you are looking for a fun time.

We had the whole next day to explore! It was still pretty cold out but we were more than happy that the SUN was shining!!!

I was dying to check out this “kids” store that’s home base is in Groningen (A Little Lovely Company)… it is every bit of lovely! I’ve followed them on Instagram for a long time. So I was happy I finally got to check it out for myself! They have two stores in Groningen. If you have kids, the flagship store is a must stop. They have a play area for kids and a mini cafe for coffee and relaxing! I wanted to live in this store….or buy everything.

AMAZING! Right!? Check out the link to the store I posted above. You won’t be disappointed.

Groningen is a lot like Amsterdam. If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with Amsterdam….so that is quite a compliment. Canals, coffee shops (and by coffee, I mean joints), amazing stores, great restaurants, delicious cafes, bikes & more bikes… everything good. The Dutch people do everything right! Not to mention they are all very, very nice people. I just LOVE everything about the Netherlands. I have nothing negative to say about that country. Whenever I’m in the Netherlands, I hope to never leave. I fall in love a little more each time.

I’m so happy we did a mini trip with Liia and Anke! It made for good memories that we will never forget.

I traveled a lot before Andi came along and it was great, really great. But… there is something so so so special about doing all of this with her. One day I hope she looks back at all of these memories and it makes her smile. I hope it pushes her to travel and maybe even visit all the places she was when she was little and living in Europe. We are lucky, that’s for sure. ❤

Until next time, Netherlands!

What Day Is It?

I truly never know what day it is. I guess we call that, #stayathomemomprobs. I woke up on Wednesday and thought it was Friday. So, that’s that. Here we are, it’s December… and we’ve done a lot since I last posted. Halloween, LONDON!!!, Thanksgiving and now it’s almost Christmas… a lot to catch up on.

One of our favorite markets,”Freimarkt” is in October in our bigger city, Bremen. It basically represents the beginning of the fall/autumn season. Very similar to our Christmas markets minus all the Christmas-y stuff. So we get to enjoy hot wine a little before the christmas markets begin!

We have always carved pumpkins one night in October as a tradition. Then we bake all the pumpkin seeds and drink wine! This year we added a member (Harbor) and let her join in on our pumpkin carving.

What she really did was: eat all my fruit and watch all my cartoons.

What we told her mom she did: carved the best pumpkin ever!

No surprise that andi was happy to dig her hands into the pumpkin and pull out all the guts. The child loves being messy.

We got to celebrate Halloween the night before we left for London! Surprisingly German peeps are really starting to get into the “American Halloween”. The stores have Halloween stuff (costumes, candy, decorations). It’s fun to see people getting into the holiday in a different country where it isn’t really celebrated. Andi was the cutest puppy dog! We had Taco Night with our Lampls and by then our babies were ready for bed and we had to finish packing anyways. I loved seeing everyone’s kids dressed up on social media, so fun!

Our original flight to London was bright and early the following day but got cancelled in the middle of the night and got pushed back to later on. It was a bit of a bummer to the start of our trip but we made it work! I will do a completely separate post for London. I could probably do 10 posts on London but I will spare you from too much information. London needs a hockey team ASAP and to hire my husband. Because, I’m IN LOVE. Jerry is going to laugh when he reads this, because I seriously fall in love with every place we visit. But, I fall in love with them in different ways.

Anyways, London is an amazing place and I can’t wait to share what we got to see and do while we were there!

We celebrated “Martins Tag” with Andi’s classmates and school. All of the kids make “lanterns” and we went through park singing songs to celebrate St. Martin. At the end we had tea and pretzels (naturally). It was really special to me to partake in a german tradition with Andi and her school.

Our Miika girl turned FIVE! Can you believe it? Actually some days I feel like she’s ten and I’ve had her my whole life. So far miika has spent her birthday’s in Slovenia (2 years), Italy, and her last two birthdays have been here in Germany! Lucky dog.

I had planned for Andi to throw some confetti and get this super cute photo but … that was a fail. So here is Andi, crying at Miika’s birthday party.

Happy Birthday Miika Kuhn! 

We had a chill Thanksgiving this year. Andi wasn’t feeling great (thank you, school) and Jerry had a game the next day. Hockey life at it’s finest y’all. My bestie, baker extraordinaire,  made us pumpkin pie and apple crisps so, we were happy. I did my annual Skype the fam at night-time. Of course they were all disappointed because Andi was sleeping already. Schedules people, schedules! Can’t believe this is my 6th holiday season away from home. Sadly, it’s starting to not really phase me anymore. It used to be much harder on me. I think the fact that we have started to create our own traditions has made it  easier for us.

The past couple of Saturdays I’ve been taking Andi up to the rink to see Jerry after his practice. I’m glad I have been.. the first time she was freaking out about the ice (I mean it’s a little intimidating!) and she still gets a little nervous around Jerry in all of his big gear. Last weekend she was ready to full on jump on the ice! Can’t wait for Andi to get her first skates and get out there one day.

It’s hard to believe it’s December and were just a short time from Christmas! We have our tree up but someone’s little hands keep taking all the ornaments off. I won’t mention any names. We have been enjoying our Christmas market and all the yummy gluhwein (not andi, she sticks to her water cup)! But she suckered her dad into letting her try a candy cane and now she’s addicted!

Last weekend Andi and I went to her babysitters house to make cookies with her and her mom! It was a great time! Andi was surprisingly behaved for not being in her own house. It felt so good to walk into a nice, cozy home. For a little while I felt like I was “home”. Andy’s babysitter never really gets to see her since by the time she gets to my house on game nights Andi is tucked away in bed. So it was so cute to see them together!

I found myself feeling a little down in the dumps, slightly depressed and having little episodes of anxiety. All things I have never really expereinced, especially feeling depressed. So, I truly didn’t know what route to take. We don’t see the sun much here, I learned that last year. So, this little fam is all fuled up on Vitamin D. It can suck the life out of you when you don’t get any sunshine! Also, I know that many changes were/are happening in my body since I stopped breastfeeding andi 2 months ago. On top of that I think life has just changed drastically since having a baby and I’m really trying to find my way right now. That can be a little overwhelming. No one ever talks about that stuff and I didn’t ever expect to have any of these feelings. I think it’s something that should be talked about because I know that it isn’t just me.

Anyways, I had only been to the gym about 3 times total since having Andi. If you remember… I worked out until I was about 37 weeks pregnant and then I couldn’t breathe easily anymore, lol. Even after that I walked 4 miles a day. I didn’t know if I was really missing the gym and thought it wasn’t really my thing anymore. I was totally wrong. I got back into the gym about a month or so ago. It took Jerry going with me on his day off for me to realize that it was what I needed back in my life again. Luckily my hubs writes me everything to do before I go. I miss my workouts with him but enjoying it as my own thing now. I’m going 3 or 4 days a week and I’m finally starting to feel a little bit better. Much different from the way I was feeling a few weeks ago.

And incase anyone needs proof: here’s me feeling better at the gym.

We are halfway through the hockey season which is insane! Time is flying. It has been really amazing to watch all of Jerry’s hard work from this summer show in his hockey games. We are proud of him, always.

Now it’s time to get Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree. Where does the time go?! We have our team Christmas party next week which is always a nice time for everyone and this weekend the girls on the team are doing our own little “white elephant” christmas party, wine included. Should be a great time!

I’m so glad I got on here to catch up a bit (can you believe this small post was created over three days…..lol, #momlife). I just don’t have the time like I used to but I want to make sure that I have things to look back on. I always go back in read my old posts and most of them put a smile on my face. So, it’s important that I do small posts like this (even if I’m the only one reading). Next, some London posts – so I don’t forget all the great spots we got to see!

I hope that everyone takes some time to enjoy the holiday season. I know it can get stressful and we forget to just sit back and relax. But it’s important to find the time to enjoy the “holiday cheer”.

XO

Summer To Fall

It’s been very quiet over here because we’ve been enjoying our LONG summer. To our (very big) surprise, we had two months of pure sunshine here in Bremerhaven. Everyone enjoyed it to the fullest. We were outside all afternoon soaking up every inch of sun. We knew that it wasn’t going to last forever and that rainy Bremerhaven days were just around the corner. Andi loves the sunshine and enjoyed playing outside with the kids every day.

Flying with daddy!

We stumbled across a farmers market here that is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, year round! It’s great for fresh flowers, fruit, eggs… meat…. or just a nice walk through to catch some fresh air with the kids.

Since we’ve been back we’ve managed to hit up some of our favorite nearby towns, with our best friends in tow of course.

Hamburg:

Bremen:

Oldenburg:

The season is in full swing, we are about 4 weeks in! The boys had a “fan” day to finish off their last weekend of preseason games. Andi was happy to go and support her daddy!

Ellie and I got to enjoy our first game with NO babies! Thank you, babysitters! It was a crazy feeling but felt good for this mama to get out. Friday night games are way to late for baby Andi who hits the hay at 7 PM. Wine, please!

A lot has changed at the Kuhn house since I last wrote. I have officially stopped nursing Andi, it’s been over a month now since we stopped. I’m sure my family still can’t believe it but it’s true! I woke up one morning and decided it was time. Cutting out nursing little by little wasn’t working for us. So unfortunately for Andi, it was cold turkey for her on the boob milk. I have a post saved in my drafts to talk all about this so I’ll keep this part short. It’s getting harder for me to post personal things now.  I’ve become more private, quiet and less opinionated. Part of growing up? Yes (maybe some other people should take notes?). But also something that has happened to me over the past five years of being an expat. So I keep blogs and never post them. Anyways, Andi did great and we made it!

Naturally, a few days after I cut out nursing Andi got very very very sick. So sick that we ended up at the hospital one night at 3 AM with a 104 degree fever. She was tested for everything and all they could tell us was that she had a 7-10 virus because everything came back negative. Which is great but.. we were worried about her. She had a fever for NINE days! It was awful. We enjoyed the snuggles and really enjoyed learning all the words to Peppa Pig (sarcasm). Andi got better on the 10th day and finally woke up with no fever but a heavy addiction to a pacifier. UGH!!!!!

We kept andi home from school one extra day to make sure she was 100% – we got out and headed downtown to enjoy the sunshine and Fish & Chips with daddy! He usually has Monday’s off so we like to spend the day with him. This little chick LOVES fish. Which is.. great!

AND THEN WE BLINKED… AND IT WAS FALL!

It’s officially fall here in Bremerhaven. Were barely hitting 60 degrees and the sun is going down so early that we can barely keep our eyes open past 5PM.

With fall weather in Germany comes… festival season! Yup, food, beers, chocolate, ferris wheels… need I say more?

The girls and I hit up our first festival this past weekend while the boys were out of town!  “Kramerfest” in Oldenburg.

Fall weather = Fall clothes!

Seriously.. these little girls are beyond beautiful… how’d we get so lucky?!

Today I had a meeting with one of Andi’s teachers and they say she is doing great. Her teacher said she loves to observe and watch what all the other kids are doing and then she follows. A couple of weeks ago they sent home her sippy cups because she is drinking out of a regular cup at breakfast and lunch with them. She seems to learn something new every week and always comes home doing the cutest things!

We are missing family and friends back home but love being able to keep in touch with everyone thanks to FaceTime. Andi loves calling Oma & Opa… okay, mostly Uncle Zach (since Uncle DJ is busy finishing up his last year at college!!!). We know before we know it, it’ll be summer again.

I hope to catch up again before the next season, (blah) winter hits us. But I’m sure I will be since we are heading to …. LONDON! For our November break this year. Stay tuned! ❤

Sending love and hugs to everyone back home.

XO

Back In Germany!

We are so happy to be back in Germany. It’s always nice to be home in the summer to see our family and friends (especially now that we have Andi) but to be honest, it’s a lot of work. I always feel like were being pulled in 500 directions trying to see everyone and fit everything in before it’s time to pack up and head out again. Life at home can be a bit stressful but gosh, do I love Sunday dinners at my parents house! That makes it all worth it. I’m drooling just thinking about it!

One of my favorite pics from summer: My Crew ❤

I think we were mostly happy to be in Germany after that terrible flight with a one year old. I rather poke my eyeballs out than go through that ever again … but I better get used to it. Andi did great for the first 2-3 hours… but then she was basically up for the next 10 hours. :insert cry face here:… tears were shed, and not from just Andi.

We obviously couldn’t wait to be reunited with our Lampl girls! We ran over to their apartment as soon as we got back.

It was so nice to come back to our same apartment. Everything just the way we left it, it makes for a MUCH easier transition. The easiest we’ve ever had for sure. There was no stress of finding a grocery store, buying all the essentials (soaps, laundry detergent, etc.) it was all here!

We brought back a lot of Andi’s books from our baby shower – they are so special because inside is a special message from people that came to the shower. So that makes us smile when we open them each time!

The team management put on a special lunch for all the guys and families last week. It was at one of our favorite places here in Bremerhaven, so that was a plus! It was good to meet the new faces and see some old familiar faces too.

I had to snap a family pic since it’s probably the first time I put on real pants and did my hair since we got here! (haha)

On Monday Andi started “krippe” (which is essentially like day care in America). She will only be going a couple of days a week right now from 9-1130 (for now)… She really has loved it so far but it’s throwing off her schedule quite a bit. Usually by 9 Andi is down for her first nap and right now were getting to school then. So, to say shes exhausted by 11:30 is an understatement. Yesterday was the first day they had me actually leave her. I left at 10 and she was there all alone like a big girl! I knew she’d do just fine because she LOVES other kids and plays really well. And is one of 8 kids in her “classroom” and is the youngest by one month. There are three teachers in every classroom which is amazing. I think this is going to be wonderful for Andi! I haven’t had a second to cry because I haven’t really “dropped” her off and left… I’m sure that day is coming.

Andi is starting to take more steps on her own. Finally.. not that I was ever in a rush but it’s been frustrating for her. So we are excited about that and have been practicing a lot! Her teacher told me she was “walking all over” but I’ll assume we were lost in translation. Haha! When Andi isn’t at school or taking a nap.. she loves being outside and playing at the park. No surprise, the kid has loved fresh air since day one. Remember… she used to only nap outside? So glad that has changed.

We needed a break from cooking at home so we headed downtown the other day. We went a little early to take a stroll by the water. It was a windy afternoon! The weather here has been shit.. for lack of a better word. Last year around this time it was still summer. I was so excited to take Andi to the beach when we got back but it doesn’t look like that will be happening. Boo! Oh well.. They say were getting some warm weather next week. I’ll take anything warmer then 55-60 like we’ve had!

The boys preseason is in full swing. Which means two-a-days .. which means I feel like single mom, professional dog walker. Next weekend the boys head to denmark for some preseason games and the following weekend they head to Belfast! (jealous? yes! me too.) Wish me luck on those weekends alone. I’ll need A LOT of coffee.

Until next time….