First Halloween in Germany

I know, I know.  Halloween was a long time ago, and was even before Thanksgiving.  But you were just dying to know how it went here, right?

We arrived here October 17th, and moved right into TLF on base.  We began crazy house-hunting, paperwork, getting in-processed, etc.  Luckily we found a place and moved in pretty quickly (with a LOT of help from our friends in the house-hunting, translating, and ride-providing!!).  I knew that they didn't celebrate Halloween in Germany the way we do in the States, but there were a lot of Halloween activites planned on base.  We decided to go on base to base housing so that the kids could go trick or treating.  So did almost everyone else who lives off base!  We took a few pictures at home before heading to base.

My little Tinkerbell in the outfit my friend Michele got for her in Korea!  Didn't you know Tinkerbell wears purple Crocs?

The busiest ketchup packet you've ever seen.

This is as good as it gets.

We got to base housing right at 5 when it started.  

By 5:15 there was quite a crowd, and you had to wait in line for candy.

By 5:30 there were so many people you couldn't even walk around, and I said "We have to get out of here!".  Mdx had candy and was happy, so she didn't care.

We came home and Mdx and Marshall sat outside to see if any trick or treaters came to our house.  None did.  :(  They still had fun drinking beer (Marshall) and eating cookies and candy(Mdx).

First Thanksgiving in Germany

We feel very fortunate to already know a few families here in Germany, from previous duty stations.  One family in particular has known Marshall since his first tour in Korea.  Emily and Jarad invited us to their house for Thanksgiving, and we happily accepted!  Last Thanksgiving Marshall had flown home from Korea after his grandfather passed away, and the children and I ate at the Officer's Club.  It was nice to be in a home this year, and not at a buffet!

Maddox put on her party outfit and was really excited to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving if I don't get to watch a little of the parade.

The boys stayed outside to fry the turkey.  It ended up taking much longer than it should have because the automatic timer on the fryer kept turning off after 15 minutes.  Mav fell asleep.

Emily didn't realize that her 22 pound turkey wouldn't fit in the fryer, so she had to do some butchering!  Then when she put the main part of the body on the part that holds it, it wouldn't stay put, so she rigged it with toothpicks.  It worked!

Their house has four flights of stairs.  Maverick is pretty good at going up, not so good at going down.

The fried turkey was delicious!

Mama and Mav.  

Maybe we will host next year!