It’s been a while since I’ve written any kind of exciting post about our European adventures. I wish I could say that it’s because we’ve been so busy, but as many of you know, we are still in the middle of an extended, restrictive lockdown here in Germany. The details are too boring and depressing to get into – I keep trying to come up with entertaining ways to describe it, but it’s just not a super entertaining time, which is why the long delay on a good post. But these four observations perhaps best sum up our lives:

1. We recently had to quarantine at home for 6 days after a recent trip (details below). We tested out of quarantine on the 6th day, which meant: we could go to the grocery. Otherwise, nothing else changed.
2. All public restrooms are closed, including gas station restrooms. So driving farther than about 45 minutes from home becomes a bit of a risk. I have a friend with a 5-year old daughter who is now wearing diapers wherever they go, even though she was potty-trained at age 2. Being out with her daughter was making everyone so stressed out that she figured the regression is worth it.
3. Germany is thinking of relaxing rules for people who are vaccinated (which we are, now – details below). This means: I will not have to get a COVID test at an official test center before getting a haircut.
4. Setting up a walk with a friend over the weekend, she asked if we could drive somewhere to walk, because her dog is now so bored with their own neighborhood that he refuses to walk in it. He happily walked 2 hours with us in a different spot. Even the dogs are bored!

In short, everything in Germany has been closed since November 1 and will remain closed until the end of this June, at least. That means that all of these places have been and will continued to be closed for eight months: indoor/outdoor dining, shops, stores, hotels, AirBnBs, borders, zoos, museums, gyms, swimming, skiing, all indoor/outdoor sports, practices/lessons/extracurriculars, offices, races, festivals, clubs, school campus, school parking lot, public restrooms, etc. We are allowed to meet with 1 person from another household, but we can’t gather with a family, not even outside in our backyard. Schools are in and out, depending on the day and the incidence (our kids’ grade levels have been in for about 3 months of that time, thank goodness, but they have to take COVID tests 2x/week). This is all on top of the first several months at the beginning of COVID, which I think were also pretty bad, but honestly can’t remember.

With all that in mind, a few days before the kids’ 2.5-week Spring Break that started on Good Friday, we started tossing around the idea of trying to escape Germany for the USA. With our parents and sisters fully vaccinated, it seemed like a worthwhile risk – and while we weren’t crazy about the idea of traveling in the midst of this third and highest COVID wave, we weren’t crazy about actually going crazy, either. The fact that we still had plane ticket credit, twice cancelled already, was another big advantage.

So, we became probably the only people in the world to travel from Frankfurt, Germany, to Frankfort, Kentucky, for Spring Break 2021, and I am so glad we did.

We got to spend time with my mom and sister on the farm in Kentucky, riding the four-wheeler, shooting BB guns, going hiking, watching the sunsets, and drinking lots of great Kentucky bourbon.

We got to see Matt’s parents off as they began their next big adventure, in which they are moving to Washington state for the next phase of retirement. We got the J&J vaccine at a a mass-vaccination clinic in Dayton (woot, woot!!!).

We filled shopping carts at Kroger with bags of chips and boxes of desserts and sacks of doughnuts. We got takeout food from all kinds of favorite spots (including Skyline, pizza buffet, Cookout, Bruegger’s, Coffee Emporium, Jimmy Johns, Mazunte, and Graeter’s), and we did some major Target runs for OTC medicines, underwear, and clothes.

We got to eat outside – twice!! We set off fireworks. We gorged ourselves on Mexican food. We binge-watched all the shows that are blocked on German Netflix, and we played new games, put together new puzzles, and made some crafts. My mom got to take Cara shopping for her First Communion dress.

And after seven glorious days of all of this, we decided it wasn’t nearly enough time, so we extended the trip to stay an extra week. Honestly, two weeks wasn’t enough, either, but at least at the end of that time, we were more mentally prepared to face the prospect of returning to Germany.

Of course, it wasn’t the easiest trip – so many borders, so many COVID tests, so much waiting in line and getting poked and prodded by non-English-speakers in spacesuits, so much paperwork and online forms and signatures and ID cards and questions from German border control – so much scrutiny. (check out the strip mall Urgent Care in Frankfort where we found someone who would custom-print all the information we needed to get on the plane back to Germany, including a signature in blue ink and a stamp saying ‘official’). But it was all worth it, to give ourselves a break from the monotony and the isolation and the stress and anxiety that is still the feeling here in Germany.

We are so excited for our next trip – back to the good ol’ USA for June-July 2021. We would absolutely LOVE to see anyone who is in the Kentucky-Ohio-ish region during that time – we have missed you all so much!!! In the meantime, stay healthy, friends – and enjoy all the freedom you have in the US – it’s a big deal!!!!!