Ramstein & A Taste of Home

We originally had plans to spend the weekend in Trier and Spangdahlem Air Base, but it didn't quite pan out and for no good reason other than we just didn't feel like it.  Instead, we decided to go someplace closer and spent the afternoon/evening at Ramstein Air Base.  The base is about a two hour drive from Stuttgart and the last time we'd been there was when we flew in from the states in January. 

Now, the best PX that I've ever been to is the one at Fort Bliss, which was our last duty station.  I mean the place is like an outdoor mall with a huge PX, a movie theater, and good restaurants (i.e. Buffalo Wild Wings, Smash Burger, Einstein Bros. Bagels and the other usual restaurants).  I just found out that they recently opened Denny's and just when I thought no one could top that one, the Air Force steps in (as usual) and shows us their PX at Ramstein.  The actual PX is humongous (with the biggest Vera Bradley collection I've seen) and it's got more stores, a spa, a hotel, tons of restaurants...even, a Macaroni Grill.

Apparently, this place is the happening place to be on the weekends.  I thought it was just because it's a long weekend, but we talked to a few people who told us it's always like that there.  I mean, the place was crowded.  You would have thought it was Black Friday the way people were parading around in there, buying up Christmas decorations and stuff.  It was complete chaos.  We also ran into folks from Stuttgart over there.  Apparently, they think Ramstein is the bees knees too.

Um....we bought a lot.  Most of it was Christmas decorations and Malu needed some clothes.  Notice how Sina is practically buried under our merchandise.  She was less than pleased.  I was less than pleased that all the Christmas decorations were so darn expensive.  I got so frustrated, I considered putting everything back and not putting a Christmas tree up this year.  I didn't have the heart to do that to my little girl.  Plus, what's Christmas without a tree?  Stupid me...it's my fault we left a perfectly good tree and decorations in storage back in the states.

And...we actually got a taste of home.  They have a Chili's--not at the PX, but not too far from it and, truth be told, it was my true reason for going to Ramstein.  What a treat!  It was a little bit of a wait and the service was under par, but my Southwestern Eggrolls and fajitas were just as I remembered them!  Heavenly!  Sina seemed to enjoy Chili's too.  In fact, she finally learned how to drink from a straw there!

All in all, a good day.  Why do weekends have to go by so quickly?  Tomorrow's our last day to relax.  Hope you all are enjoying your weekend too!

Five on Friday (Sina, the new PX, & other stuff)

Since I didn't get to follow along with Mrs. Gambizzle's Thursday Five blog hop, I'm just going to list five great things about my week on this beautiful Friday morning!  You guys, things have been pretty busy lately, so I haven't been in much of a blogging mood.  I'm going to try to get caught up on everyone's blogs over the weekend though.  So since it's been a while since I've blogged, expect this to be a tad lengthy.  Here are my five:

First.  Baby V slept through the entire night last night.  Growth spurt, I suspect.  She's usually a good sleeper at night anyway.  But we usually put her down at about 8:30 p.m., she'll wake at about 3:30 a.m. to eat and then she'll be wide awake at about 7:00 a.m.  And she sure lets us know it...because she'll be laying in her crib talking up a storm...really loud.  In any case, she slept from 8:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. this morning.  She probably would have slept longer had I not woken her up to feed her.  Not only that, she pretty much fed herself this morning.  Yup, she grabbed right onto her bottle and held onto it pretty much the whole time. 

Oh my Sina...you're growing up so fast.  Stop it!  Here's a picture that I took of her last weekend.  She and I were doing tons of shopping, so the shirt was very appropriate.

Second.  I got my orders to Germany this week.  Now I can officially start clearing and we're just that much closer to getting all packed up and starting our PCS leave.  We'll be taking about 43 days to visit with family and friends in Colorado and Utah before we leave the country.  In any case, being that this is my third move since 2007, I'm a pro at all this PCS stuff.  I already have everything set...gave notice that we're vacating this house earlier than expected, scheduled all utilities and services (i.e. TV and internet) to be terminated not long after we depart, scheduled household goods pick up (which will span an entire week), renewed my passport and got new ones for Malu and Sina, and the list goes on.  The great thing about this move is that I have Malu to help me with it.  I've had to do the previous two moves on my own.  Not that it's too hard to do alone, it can just be a little overwhelming. 

Third.  I love the new PX on post.  Oh and it's not even called the PX anymore, which stands for Post Exchange.  It's just called Exchange now.  Fancy doo!  Let me back up...okay, for my civilian friends out there, the PX is a store on post.  It has everything that your typical retail store, like Walmart, has...only a lot of things are cheaper and everything is tax free.  The PX usually also has a food court and just about every installation in the Army has the same restaurants (i.e. Burger King, Charley's, Anthony's Pizza).  Well, since Fort Bliss is becoming a premier post with the arrival of the 1st Armored Division and thousands of new Soldiers and their families, the Army saw fit to develop the first PX of this kind.  It has the same features of a standard PX all in a beautiful new package that makes you feel like you're not really on post and more like you're at a mall off post. 

Ours is called Freedom Crossing.  And forgive my pictures...they're not the greatest.

The main exchange store is huge.  They have everything set up like a department store...like the purse section.  They have this entire section dedicated to Coach.  And they sell them a lot cheaper than you'd normally find them off post.  I'd say about 30% cheaper.

Now they've always sold Bath and Body Works products, but look how they have them set up.



And the same goes for the Victoria's Secret merchandise, although this is the first time I'm seeing actual underwear and the Pink clothing line.  They used to just sell the perfumes and lotions.

One thing that also surprised me about the main store is that they now have a section, like in the Walmart, that sells hand guns and rifles.  Really.

Okay, now check out the food court.  Tell me you don't feel like you're in a mall?  I know my Army friends are amazed because you honestly never see things like this on post.

We have all the same restaurants, but in addition to those, we have Subway, Junga Juice (like a Keva Juice), Taco Bell, Arby's, Sarku Japan (which is a hibachi grill), and a full-service Starbucks.  We also have...

An Einstein's Bagels!

Also new to this facility is restaurants with outdoor seating because they have stores outside the main PX facility--like an outlet mall.  Like the Smash Burger, which is like a Fuddruckers.

and, no joke, a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.

And the kicker?

We have a full-service theater, just like Carmike or Tinseltown.  It has 10 screens with stadium seating.  And yes, we get all the new releases ON TIME.

Not only that, the place has a huge seating area with a fireplace

And in the outdoor mall, you have the clothing and sales store (where we buy our uniforms), a beauty and barber shop, the class six (liquor store), and a Game Stop (video games).  And more stores/restaurants are going to be built, as well as the brand new commissary.

So things are really looking up here at Fort Bliss and it kind of makes me sad to leave.  Kind of.  And since I work just down the road from this place, I'm always hanging out there...either for coffee at Starbucks in the morning, or for lunch. I love it!

Fourth.  Malu and I have had date night, like, three nights this week.  Not really.  Sina is always with us.  Usually to us, date night is any night that we don't eat at home.  And we've been doing this because we really need to go to the grocery store and just haven't had time.  Anyway, we've eaten at the new PX, and at The Magic Pan (which is a restaurant downtown...yummy!).  This is a picture of my two loves when we ate at Pei Wei's the other night.  So good!

Um...we're going to the commissary today.

Fifth.  My Auntie Daisy is back in town!  She'll be here until her son finishes the semester at UTEP.  So she got to meet Sina for the first time on Wednesday night. She's one of Sina's godmothers.

Yup, Sina's got the double chin action going on.  We actually went bowling that night too.  That's where the picture was taken.  And for the record, I beat Malu at one game!

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.  We've got tons of stuff going on here the next few weeks.  Along with prepping to move, Malu's sister and brothers will be visiting for Thanksgiving (I'll be making my first turkey ever).  So definitely stay tuned you guys!  Have a great weekend!