best decision ever

My brother-in-law, Jeff, asked last week if we’ve yet had a moment where we thought, “Best Decision Ever!” in terms of our move to Germany. At the time, it hadn’t yet happened. In my head I knew (and have known all along) that this adventure would be incredible, challenging, wonderful, scary, etc etc etc. And I knew that there WOULD come a moment where we were so very thankful that this opportunity was presented to us. But my heart hadn’t yet caught up with my head, so when he asked the question, it was a pretty easy, “no” at the time.

That said, this weekend has been a beautiful series of times where both Wen & I have looked at each other and totally had the “best decision ever” moments we’ve been waiting for. And the best part is, they weren’t about anything truly major. I have a feeling that once we start traveling and seeing more of Europe, those moments will feel grander. But for now, these little moments of gratitude helped affirm our decision to come, which actually feels pretty grand in and of itself.

The first of these came on Saturday morning – we had originally planned to go on an overnight trip this weekend, but at the last minute decided to just stick closer to home and explore some of the neighboring towns & villages. One of our stops was a town called Erlangen, which is a quick drive from Nuremberg. Cute little town – we walked through the city center, had lunch, explored the farmer’s market. Nothing major – in fact, it’s similar to our Saturday mornings back home when we would do the exact same thing at the Lake Oswego farmer’s market. But something about it seemed sweet & magical & surreal – just considering the fact that we are SO far from home, yet starting to feel AT home here. I can’t articulate it adequately, but wandering with the girls and seeing them so happy and snacking on big croissants just made me feel incredibly peaceful. Best Decision Ever.

On Sunday we took the girls to Playmobil Fun Park – A.MA.ZING. I’m not sure if it’s really as great as we thought it was, or if we are just so thankful for anything that will get us out of our tiny little flat, but we loved this place. It’s essentially huge playmobil “scenes” – noah’s ark, castles, pirate ships, etc. And an enormous indoor play area with every playmobil toy you can imagine. Needless to say, we all had an amazing time. Best Decision Ever.

Sunday afternoon we went on a 2.5 hour walk – this is my favorite part of living here; we walk EVERYWHERE. We plopped the girls in the strollers and just wandered – we started at the Imperial Castle (forgot my camera – GRRR) and then just meandered our way through the city center. As it was Sunday, everything was closed, but it was fun to window shop, and stop here & there for the girls to run around a church or a fountain. Perfection.

Today is a bank holiday, so no work for me! Super lazy day for the Maxeys – we just returned from a short walk to the Alstadt (old town) where we wandered and enjoyed a latte & snacks at Starbucks on the Pegnitz river. The bells were ringing, the latte was perfect, the girls were laughing with big blueberry muffin crumbs flying out of their mouths. So grateful to be here. So happy. Best Decision Ever.

Kisses from Nuremberg. xo.