Wisdom Teeth Adventures

With Cadence graduating this next year we knew it was only a matter of time before she heads off to college.  We wanted to make sure we took care of everything we possibly could as parents before she leaves so she starts her adult life on top of things without anything creating too many hiccups along her way.  We decided it was time to get wisdom teeth removed before school started so it could be done & over with.  Plus our insurance covered it so it was the perfect time to do it.

The problem is that we have to go to a German dentist office here.  They don't see military families on base so we have to adhere to customary German protocol.  Here, they do not put you asleep for wisdom teeth extraction.  I've been worried about this from day one, but Cadence didn't seem to shaken up by it, until the morning of surgery.  She insisted that I got to stay in the room with her, sweet girl.

So Cadence either doesn't have top wisdom teeth, or she's missing one set of molars & has her top wisdom teeth. . . the dentists & orthodontists can't tell which is true.  Either way, the "molars" on top that are awaiting their entrance into her mouth might be her 12 year molars & they might be her wisdom teeth, but either way, because she's missing one or the other, there's plenty of room for them to grow in easily.  So she only had to get her bottom wisdom teeth removed.  They were impacted & completely laying on their side so it was going to be a rough surgery.  But she was optimistic & smiling. . . I love her so much.

The surgery proved to be eventful.  I was able to stay in the room with her, but the minute the doctor took the scalpel & put it to her gums, she screamed out in pain.  I about turned into momma bear & went off on everyone in that room.  For some reason, Cadence has the same weird reaction I do to numbing medication.  Her left side numbed just fine, but they absolutely could not get her right side numb.  Poor thing.  She screamed out twice during surgery until they finally came up with the solution of giving her 3 shots to numb it for 30 seconds.  During that time they'd work as fast as they could on her tooth, & she'd hold her hand up when the pain got unbearable.  Then they'd do 3 more shots.  She probably had about 24 shots just on that one side of her face.  But she got through it.  The left side was a breeze.  She didn't feel a thing & everything went wonderfully.

She was such a trooper.  That was NOT fun at all, but she withstood all that was put in her way, she got out with a smile on her face & she's doing great.

We had a wonderful few days of liquid diets, watching nextflix & disney +, & girl talk, but now she's back to her normal self eating everything she loves, laughing, smiling, & being adorable.

Cadence is so brave.  You did awesome baby girl.

Biosphärenhaus Pfälzerwald & Baumwipfelpfad in Daun

The Baumwipfelpfad (pronounced b-ow-m-veep-ful-pf-odd) was one of our first travel outings of the summer.  The town of Daun Germany is about 40 minutes from our house & lies just on the outskirts of the beginning of the Black Forest.  They had an amazing Biosphere Natural History museum as well as a huge treehouse to explore.

Inside the Biosphere there was hands on science exhibits that taught the kids mostly about animals in our area.  The kids loved each little area they explored.

Cadence especially loved the hedgehog exhibit.

Our favorite part of the trip was the treehouse course (baumwipfelpfad).  We climbed up into the treetops & explored the area from above.  It was BEAUTIFUL.

There were little obstacles all along the route ehich the kids loved.  They especially loved the swinging step bridge.  It was kind of scary being so high off the ground on swinging platforms.

There was some fun places to take family pictures overlooking the beautiful forested area around us.

And cute exhibits about animals all along the way.  The kids liked hearing how owls hear.

But the highlight of the entire trip was the 100 foot slide sliding from the highest point of the treehouse, down the hillside twisting & turning the whole way down.  ONE HUNDRED FEET.  When you're up there, it's actually kind of scary, but SO MUCH FUN.

It definitely took some MAJOR courage for some to go down, but once they did, they wanted to ride it over & over & over again.  Sometimes you just have to take that first step through your fear to conquer it in the end.

After playing in the treehouse for a while, we wandered around the woods a bit & found some really cute areas for the kids to play in & places to relax.

It was a great way to spend a free Saturday.  We loved it & will probably go back. . . that slide was epic.

Globus Tour

So here in Germany, we don't have convenient stores like Target or Walmart.  It is a weird adjustment & one of the things I do miss about the states.  I miss being able to jump in my car at 11pm & run to Walmart for last minute things I need for a birthday party or a school project.  Everything in Germany closes pretty early (5 or 6 pm) & nothing opens until 8:00 am at the earliest.  So if you forget something at the store, you're up the creek until the next day.

We do have one giant store (not as big as a Target or Walmart, but huge for German standards where a grocery store is the size of a large gas station in the states) called Globus.  Our church congregation was able to talk to the store & get the employees there to give us a Globus Tour.  Each tour is 3 1/2 hours long & walks Americans through the ins & outs of shopping in Germany.  I've been here for a year now (& 3.5 years 10 years ago) so I know the basics, but this tour goes into extreme detail about customs, products, etc.  I've been wanting to do a tour for a while & was thrilled when our church group was approved to do it.  There were so many of us, we had to divide up into 2 tours.  Half the ladies did the tour one week, & the other half did the tour the 2nd week.  I was in the 2nd tour.  

We had so much fun!!  It took nearly 4 hours, but we learned so much.  I loved learning about the different cleaning products in Germany.  They are SO much better than American cleaning products.  I loved the stories the tour guide told about WWII & why our flag was put on several German products (out of gratitude for ending the war).  I loved seeing the bakery & how they make the magic happen with all their delicious breads & pastries.  I loved learning about all the different German meats & how to order them correctly.  Everything was AMAZING.  Our tour guide was INCREDIBLE.

Then at the very end of the tour, they put us in the eatery area & gave us a whole tray of food to sample.  We had freshly made pizza, 2 slices of cheesecake, hot dogs, tuna salad, cheese, & sushi.  It was incredible.  They also sent us home with a grocery bag of products to try at home.  

It was seriously one of my favorite days here in Germany.  SO much fun with friends too.  Thank you Globus for hosting us.

Happy Father's Day Trek

Happy Father's Day to the best dad I know.  I love this man so much.  He's such an incredible husband & father.  

For Father's Day I made him his favorite breakfast, breakfast burritos with what I call "Train Wreck!" which is eggs, hashbrowns, veggies, cheese, bacon, & sausage all mixed together.  He loved it.

For Father's Day my friend Nancy sent Trek a Star Trek lunch box, a coloring book, & several pacakges of beef jerky.

Then each of the kids presented him with a gift they picked out themselves that they thought he would like.  Canyon picked out a Nintendo T Shirt.

Craiger gave him an "Incredible Dad" T shirt.

Bladen knew he needed a new bike helmet (his was 22 years old) so he got him a really nice one with a light for night biking.

Taya found this shirt & thought it was funny for Trek.  Everyone in the family calls Trek

"Trek Support"

because he's practically the only one in the family that can fix their computer & electronic problems.

Lorien gave him a cool little computer gadget that allows his laptop to fit more USB & other ports that it doesn't have on it's own.

And Cadence got him the funniest shirt ever!

"I don't need google, my daughter knows everything!"

If you lived in this house, you'd totally laugh at that.  It was a perfect gift from Cadence to her dad.

For dinner we made Mock Chicken, funeral potatoes, & apple slices.  Trek's FAVORITE.

Happy Father's Day to my Prince Charming.  I love you.