Exodus

Dictionary.com defines exodus as

noun
1. a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment

This exodus was not made by a large group, only Jakob. But I still think my title is appropriate because he definitely made a strategic escape from a very hostile environment. Our house.

Jakob left ten days ago for a business trip to Amsterdam, as well as a leisure trip to Germany to visit his friend, Randy. He had three solid days of work (which included work dinners to some very cool local restaurants) in a small town, Dordrecht, an hour outside of Amsterdam. He then had a day to tour around Amsterdam. In the top picture he is in Dordrecht, where they have the traditional Dutch windmills. The second picture is him standing in the city in front of the buildings and canal.

He had a good time there, but it was very cold. He walked around the city, visited a few art museums, and took a tour of the canals. Before he went on his trip, we rented a video for tourists about Amsterdam and watched it together. Well, we watched half of it and fast-forwarded through the rest. The video made it seem that unless he was interested in the 'Red Light District', smoking pot, or the gay parades, there wasn't going to be much for him to do. But it was a very beautiful city with much more to offer.

He then was able to take a plane and train to Wurzburg, a little town outside of Frankfurt, Germany to go and visit his childhood friend, Randy, his wife, Nia, and his boys, Sam and Jack. Randy is stationed over there as a dentist with the army. He loved spending time with his friend and seeing their beautiful town. They ate at a local restaurant and had schnitzel, which is deep fried pork, breaded and smothered in mushroom sauce. Yummy!

The next day Randy showed him around the city, but I guess it was FREEZING there. Here he is standing in front of a church. They saw a lot, hung out, and played games. I'm so jealous. But I am really happy that Jake got to visit his friend.

We are glad to have Daddy back. He brought home a lot of chocolate which is nice. These last ten days were tough, but we survived. Jake has traveled tons since we've moved here. But it gets harder and harder every time. I think as the kids get older and we have more going on we just need our dad around. Plus, the fact that he was in Europe certainly didn't help my psyche much.

But the number one factor in this horrible week? Daylight Savings Time!!!! What the heck?!? This used to be the 'good' time change. Fall back. But any parent will tell you that no matter what time you put your children to bed, they will always awaken to their internal alarm clock. So my kids were waking up at the new 5:00am. Three hours till school starts? You gotta be kidding me. The day seemed fifty hours long and when it finally ended and was time for bed, I was too exhausted to have any alone time and just crashed. I am not loving Daylight Savings.

The boys are glad to have their daddy back. He got to go in a little later to work today and they asked him, "Are you tracked off?" (Because they go to year round schools and 'track off' for a few weeks.) So cute! Not yet. But soon. I can't wait for some days off!