Dunn Diaries

Another Tooth!

2012-01-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

Daniel has had a really loose top tooth for a while now. It got so loose that he could completely push it horizontally with his tongue. It was really creepy!

I've been trying to pull it daily for over a week but it was just too strong for me. Tonight I tried the "dental floss trick", wrapping a piece of floss once around his tooth far enough up so that it slipped above his tooth and around the root. Then, on the count of 3, I pulled the ends tight. Actually, I pulled on "2". and the tooth literally popped out. Daniel started crying (more startled, I think) and then stopped and said, "Is it out? Wow, that didn't even hurt!" Yay, success! #3 is out and the Tooth Fairy is 2 Euros poorer.

Boys Speaking Deutsch (videos)

2012-01-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

The boys had a friend over to the house last week for a play date. Marcel is Mikey's age and in Mikey's Kindergarten class. They are best buddies and I almost always find them playing together when I pick Mikey up from school, often with Legos. While Marcel was at our house, the boys spoke almost entirely in Deutsch. Mikey even spoke to me in Deutsch a few times. (I understood some of it.) It was a great opportunity to video them while they were talking. I LOVE listening to them speak a foreign language! Enjoy!

Yoda, Anakin, and Clone Trooper Fight Scene

2012-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

For your viewing enjoyment, my boys let me video them during one of their very typical light saber/blaster fights. Daniel is Anakin. Ezra is little Yoda (check out his "Force" skills and his candy cane light saber!). Mikey is an unidentified Clone Trooper who is really good at dying and coming back to life.

Boy Readers!

2012-01-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

I love reading! It's almost an obsession with me like TV, video games, or chocolate are for some people. I easily loose sleep over a good book. In fact, as I write this, I'm listening to my first audiobook on my PC only because I finished book one in the Maze Runner series today and I don't have book two. I've requested it from interlibrary loan but I don't want to wait for it and I don't want to pay $10 for the Kindle version. But I found it free from the library in audio format. (Saving money just barely ranks higher than reading for me.) So, I'm "reading" even now as I write this!

Reading has been an important part of raising my boys, too. We have always had a wide variety of books at home. Reading together in the boys' room before bed has been our tradition for as long as I can remember. We are currently reading book 2 in The Chronicles of Narnia together now. And the library has always been one of our favorite places in each of the different towns we have lived in. Daniel is a beginning bilingual reader and Mikey and Ezra are "emergent" readers. They have recently gotten really into comics, especially Star Wars comics. Our library has a decent selection. I won't discourage them from reading comics because I remember my phase of loving comics when I was growing up and it didn't affect how much I love all genres of reading now as an adult.

Here's a cute picture of the boys at the library on Saturday reading together in Kids' Room.

Hide and Seek

2012-01-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Ezra is hidden somewhere. Can you see him?

Hmmm, maybe if I move this pillow here...

Aw, there he is!

Ezra's brothers gave up naps when they were 4 years old. Ezra is 4 and going through it now. Most days, he can make it to bedtime without a nap and it's been great getting him to bed early (7pm) and waking at a decent time in the morning (7am) instead of the 10pm-6am sleeps he often gets on his nap days. But every once in a while, he can't make it to bed time and I'll find him konked out on the couch. He sleeps through just about everything! So cute!

Bosiland!

2012-01-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

We have found 3 big indoor play grounds in our area. They aren't cheap (up to $35 for entry for the boys and I plus food and any extra games) but it's fun during school breaks when we want to go somewhere for the day but the weather isn't good enough for an outdoor excursion.

Our most recent trip was with the boys' school friends to Bosiland at Bostalsee (a lake about a half hour away).

Bosiland is the nicest of the 3 indoor playlands but also the most expensive. They have a couple bouncy house-like structures and a huge climbing structure. There are foosball machines, pinball machines, and air hockey. Lots of table for hanging out and a little cafe area for ordering snacks, meals, and drinks. Good coffee!

And, obviously, they have trampolines!

I'm not sure why but the trampolines are just about the only things I got pictures of. And not very good pictures, either. Sorry!

The boys spent a bunch of time in all the other play spots, too. There was a huge ball pit with ball suckers that drew the balls up to a holder near the ceiling and dumped them back down on the kids as well as air guns for shooting the balls.

There were a bunch of slides, too. One of the "normal" slides is in the next picture on the right side. And then, there is the CRAZY free-fall slide on the left. Yikes! People let go at the top and totally free fall down until the slope of the slide slows them down. Like I said - CRAZY! And, no, I did not try it. But I did get a picture of some brave teenager flying down it.

Bosi showed up while we were there and he was a hit, too!

There are other pictures at Bosiland's site here.

Random Fun With Cups And Cameras

2012-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

We have Legos. We have Hot Wheels. We have Wii. We have all kinds of creative play kits like Dominoes and Pattern Blocks and Play-Doh. In addition to all these favorite play choices, the boys love to play with their set of cheap-o Blue Solo Cups.

What they do with those cups is never ending. They stack 'em, line 'em up in rows, build houses and forts out of them, play bowling with them...

They started on this day by building a commander droid army like in Star Wars. I'm not really sure what it turned in to.

The boys were passing my camera around and took a few cute perspective photos.

When I was a kid, I loved the Tintin comic series. I read them all. So, when the movie came out recently and showed at a local theater, I enjoyed taking the boys to see it. They all liked it and we picked up a couple of the books at the library.

Tintin made it into the day's photo collection.

This was just another normal winter day in the house!

Presents from Daddy

2012-01-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

December is "gift month" for us with Mikey's birthday, Christmas, Daniel's birthday, and our anniversary. It didn't end in December, though.

Steve's Christmas package for the boys and I arrived a little late. The boys were so excited to hear that they had even more presents and, better even, that they were from Daddy!

Steve sent a little something for each boy. Steve has a gift for ... well ... giving gifts. I think it's one of his stronger love languages. He speaks it well. He is so creative and personal when he thinks of gifts.

Each boy got their own Boonie Hat in a different camo pattern. They were proud and thrilled!

Daddy also sent each of them a special necklace with a carved fish or turtle. A special memory from the vacations we have taken together as a family.

And there was more...

They were so excited!

What is it???

"Ah! Star Wars - The Clone Wars! Our favorite! I think I'm going to explode from all the excitement!!!!"

We love you, Daddy! You're the best! Come home soon!!

Just another normal Saturday morning...

2012-01-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

Just another quiet Saturday... I found the boys reading together. Daniel was reading one of his Dick and Jane beginning readers to his brothers.

Daniel made breakfast for us. Cereal, meat stick, hard-boiled egg, crackers, cheese stick, and milk. Big breakfast! He set a place for each of us.

Check out this cute drawing of the 4 of us that was the centerpiece for our breakfast.

And he even arranged the crackers, egg, and meat stick to look like a face. How cute!

Later that morning, the boys played one of their favorite activities: stacking cups. These are from an inexpensive 50-pack of drinking cups. Cheap fun and easy clean-up! The boys lined up the cups like a Battle Droid Army from Star Wars.

December Wrap-Up: Friends, Moon, Cuddling, Funny Boys

2012-01-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

We had a play date with some of the boys friends from their schools. From the far left: Luis (2nd grade, same school but different class than Daniel's), Tom (1st grade, Mikey's Kindergarten class last year), Daniel, Hannes (Luis's brother & Mikey's Kindergarten class), Mikey, Ezra, Finn (Tom's brother & Mikey's Kindergarten class). These boys and their moms have been some of our closest friends here in Germany.

One evening, as we were driving to Ramstein, we saw a huge moon rising over the trees. Blurry, but the best I could get...

The next is Mikey cuddling with his kiki (blanket). Cute!

I caught the boys totally playing silly & still in their PJs one day. Mikey had wrapped his blanket around his head like a pirate eye patch.

Ha! I see you!

"You have to do what I tell you!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Lego Mania!

2012-01-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

One of the gifts the boys each got for Christmas was a Lego Star Wars watch & minifigure. Ezra has dressed as Yoda for the last 2 Halloweens (and Fasching/Carnival). Poor kid, I'm totally living vicariously through him. But he really does love Yoda! Really! So, he got a Yoda watch. Mikey got a Luke Skywalker watch. And, since Daniel's favorite color is red, he requested a Darth Vader watch. The little minifigures fit onto the pegs around the watch. Cute! If they had a Princess Leia watch...

"Luke, I am your father."
"Noooooooo!"

One afternoon, the boys lined up all their minifigs (or as many as they can find) like chess figures - civilians on one side, Star Wars figs on the other.

"Give us all your money!"

"Ahhh! We give up! We surrender!"

My boys are awfully cute!

Daniel's 8th Birthday

2012-01-28T07:24:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Daniel's 8th birthday at the end of December. After a month FULL of celebrations including Mikey's birthday, a joint party for Mikey and Daniel, Christmas, Daniel's birthday, and our Anniversary, December always ends up feeling like we've been opening presents and eating sweets every day. We kept Daniel's actual birthday day pretty low key. It just about the only time of the year that I will buy the nasty blue donuts the boys love so much. Add some candles and edible markers and we had ourselves a party!

I told Daniel to smile. This is what I got... I promise, he really was happy and excited!

I love candles. They make even small celebrations seem a little more special.

"Happy Birthday, dear Daniel. Happy Birthday to you!"

He got a book (in Deutsch) from our neighbor, the dentist.

And some books from Grandma. "Mom! We have the Noah book like this!"

Such an exciting day. I love my 8-year old so much!

Christmas morning

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

I told the boys not to touch the tree or the presents when they get up until we were all ready. I caught them in this cute post waiting so patiently!

Oh my! Talk about morning faces! Yikes!

As usual, we started with stockings. I think Daniel needs a little more sleep...

They were so excited to get puzzles from Grandma in their stockings. I think I caught Ezra right as he was saying, "Cool!" They like puzzles!

And they love Legos!

I set up an Amazon Wishlist for the boys this year for the family to refer to when they were shopping for presents. When they opened their presents and found things they had wanted quite a while back (like Daniel's Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia and Mikey and Ezra's Star Wars and Lego sticker books), they were very excited!

"Yessssss!"

After presents, we ate a big Christmas breakfast. We had orange sweet rolls, turkey bacon, and skillet eggs & hashbrowns.

Yummm!

Mikey couldn't pull himself away from his Lego minifigures book long enough to eat!

Christmas Clothes & PJs

2012-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

This kids always get special jammies from their granparents for Christmas. We opened the PJs from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Patty (Steve's parents) on Christmas eve. What cute blue bear jammies! And so snuggly. Daniel loves that he again has footie pajamas. He's almost getting to big to find ones that fit him.

Grandpa and Grandma also sent the boys special (matching) Christmas outfits, which they wore to church on Christmas morning. Handsome little rugrats!

Grandma (my mom) also sent the boys new pajamas. (The new jammies are actually the best of all the Christmas presents they get, in my opinion!! They last them all year!)

I found Daniel and Ezra asleep like this in Daniel's top bunk a couple days later. So sweet!

Farwell, Kait!

2012-01-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Kait 2 days before Christmas. It didn't work out exactly as we had planned but we definitely saw God working through the whole thing and she got to spend Christmas with her family, which was a real blessing for them. In the end, she was with us for 4 months and it was wonderful having her here!

Here she is on the last morning she got to come with us to take the boys to school. This is Mikey and Ezra's kindergarten in front of their Nativity creche.

We took her to Ramstien AFB to see her off. The boys looked so cute in their hats from Kait!

Ice Cream & Hats

2012-01-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

We went for ice cream with Kait when she was still here right after she had given the boys their awesome monster hats. (That she made herself! Talented girl!!) Mikey has a cool orange had and got yummy orange ice cream to match.

Cute boy! I love the messy hat hair look!

Daniel chose cookies and cream. His red hat is on the table next to him.

Crazy Ezra got chocolate. Yeah, sure, he needs more sugar...

Snowy Bus Stop

2012-01-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

Daniel's morning bus stop is a place where the moms talk and the kids play. It's definitely a neighborhood "hang out" in the morning. As the kids arrive, they line up their backpacks to keep their order in line for the bus and then they run off in twos or threes or four to talk or chase each other. It's a fun time and it was so pretty in the snowy, pre-sunrise hours this winter.

Ezra was enjoying a big, packed snow bank this morning, seeing how far in he could stick his hands.

Mikey (near right, blue coat) and Daniel (middle, red coat) got quickly involved in a snowball fight.

Cute snow boys!

Snow!

2012-01-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

No, we don't have snow now. This has been an unusually snow-light winter. These pictures were all taken back on the 18th of December during one of our rare short-lived snow days.

We saw this beautiful snow scape after church as we were driving off post.

It was cold enough to snow and stick around for a day but warm enough to enjoy. The boys got all geared up and headed outside to play in it. Oh, and to shovel the front parking area of the dentist office we share a driveway with. They did a great job shoveling! It's too bad we haven't had more snow for them to practice with!

Mikey (shoveling) and Daniel (napping?) got a little goofy.

Ezra is just plain super-cute!

They had a lot of fun and the rosy cheeks to prove it!

Trier Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)

2012-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

In early December the boys, Kait, and I visited the Trier Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market). We went last year with Steve and it is both a lovely, lovely city as well as a super Christmas market -- not too big, not too small.

We arrived on St. Nikolaus day. To our delight, St. Nikolaus was there! And he was singing!

There is nothing like the wonder in the eyes of a 4-year old (holding a delicious German bratwurst) as he watches St. Nikolaus sing Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer (in English! or trying to...).

St. Nikolaus also regaled us with Feliz Navidad (in Spanish!) and Let It Snow (in Deutsch!). Who know that St. Nikolaus was trilingual? It was magnificent!

We walked the market and saw all the neat booths.

Part of the loveliness of Trier is it's ancientness. It was a seat of the Roman empire, founded before the birth of Christ. Many of the historical buildings still stand. This is one cathedral that sits in the city center. So beautiful!

It was a wet, rainy evening. This spot was packed because it is the only enclosed, covered spot in the market. I think the only thing they sold was Gluhwein (hot mulled, spiced wine) and maybe Kinder Gluhwein (spiced hot grape juice, nonalcoholic), but they were doing steady business.

Here are a couple more booths in the shadow of the cathedral.

We had a fun hour or so walking around the market, eating brats and Eis (ice cream), and enjoying the evening with just a little mist. After about an hour, though, it got really windy and started raining harder and we made a run for the car. If I remember correctly, all the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. Good thing, since it was a school night!

November Wrap-Up: Thanksgiving, Bank, Foggy Morning

2012-01-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was quiet here. We went to the Festaburg, a Hospitality House that is part of Cadence Ministries for soldiers and families here at Baumholder. The had a full house and lots of yummy food. After lunch, we went for a walk to a nearby castle ruin. It was a very foggy day. We followed a path through the woods that was almost completely obscured by the fall leaves on the ground.

This is a beautiful valley with a village at the bottom ... really.

And there is a castle at the bottom of the hill in the next picture ... really.

We made it to the castle. The next picture is of me (with really humid fog-hair) in front of the castle.

This next picture is pretty random but I'm adding it because I think it's awfully cute. I had an opportunity to run errands one day with only Mikey. It was kind of a date. One stop was the bank and he very happily drew in a notebook while I waited to take care of my business. What a cutie!

I had reason to drive early one morning (I don't remember why). There was some lingering fog and the sun was rising. It was a really beautiful morning.

The fog lay like a blanket over the fields.

It was such a beautiful look at our little part of Germany. It is the quiet morning drives and tranquil village scenes like this that I will really miss when we leave this lovely place.

Daniel's St. Nikolaus Party 2011

2012-01-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of November, Daniel's class had a Christmas Party/Program.. We all met in the kids' classroom where a lot of parents, siblings, and grandparents all squeezed in.

Daniel made one of the gold stars in these photos. We have it here at home now. So pretty! In the next picture, Daniel's teacher (Frau Henn) is wearing the black sweater dress and boots and the class helper (Frau Merker?) is standing next to her.

I gave Mikey the camera for a bit and he got a (blurry) picture of Ezra, myself, and Kait.

After some chatting in the classroom, we filed down the hall where all the family members crowded into a stairway to watch the class put on a cute little talent program.

There was singing, candles, choreography, ...

... more singing, guitar strumming, ...

... some poetry reciting, more singing, and (the cutest of all) a skit in which St. Nikolaus visits kleine (little) Klaus (my awesome Daniel in the bright blue shirt below) and they say a lot of things to each other in Deutsch. Daniel did such a great job. He studied his script (quite a few lines and even a poem) for a couple weeks and had it memorized. Good job, Daniel!

Here is Daniel's awesome class. It mostly unchanged (including the teacher) from last year and the continuity and camaraderie has been great! Daniel is in the front row in the light blue shirt.

And, for your viewing pleasure, a video of the class singing a St. Nikolaus song (in which I'm a little surprised they did not break glass with their incredible pitch!).

Basketball Round-Up

2012-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

We ended all our extracurricular sports in November. The boys had fun in Basketball Fundamentals and really showed progress! In the next picture, I think Coach is telling the kids than anyone who's ball come of the cone and falls to the ground will do push-ups. He's a good guy! (Below, Daniel is in a white shirt & Mikey is in an orange/blue shirt.)

Catch that pass, Daniel! I love how Mikey is watching him. I can see him silently cheering his brother on. They are such awesome brothers!

And charge the coach! Go ahead - you can take him!

Coach had a couple helpers with him this day. It was nice for the kids to have some extra hands to practice with.

Next up: Mikey...

I think he is smiling in every picture where he's handling the ball. He is having so much fun!

Catch it, Mikey!

Nice catch!

Time for some jumping action...

Oh yeah! He's catching air!

Time for passing. Still has a smile on his face!

Even with his head turned, I can see his cute cheeks smiling.

Ah, no smile. Now he's concentration hard on dribbling. Those cones are almost as tall as he is!

And what does Ezra do during all this fun? He gets his own big, hard (I've felt it too many times), red ball and tears up the court on the sidelines. He's getting quite good at dribbling, himself!

Breathtaking! Autumn Sunset Walk

2012-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of November, we continued to have beautiful weather and one afternoon we took advantage of an open schedule and a beautiful afternoon and went for a walk up a hill near our village. The sun that day was amazing!

Our walk took us past a large cattle farm. Next to the cattle farm is a place with horses, pastures, and a corral.

From the hill, we could see our whole valley laid out in front of us.

I had the boys bring sacks with them as a "treasure hunt", encouraging them to look for special leaves, rocks, or sticks on our walk. We didn't end up doing anything with their treasures but it was a good way to get them excited about the walk and give them a purpose. In the next picture, you can see Mikey carrying his sack.

The hill we walked on is the same one that has a bunch of windmills at the top. This is the view across the hill. Such a pretty sky behind those windmills!

The boys got into a "Wrestle me!", "Tickle me!", "Chase me!" mood during our walk and Kait was gracious enough to oblige them.

I love "straight-up sky shots" like these next two!

And, of course, photos of other people taking photos are always fun.

We turned around and started walking back as sunset was setting in (and the temperature was dropping) and it was a stunning sunset that evening.

In the next picture, you'll see the best shot of our little village in the valley at the foot of the hill and more windmills in the distance.

The warm colors of the autumn sunset bathed the whole land on our walk back, turning everything a delicious golden orange.

Turkey Crafts & Cursive

2012-01-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of Thanksgiving, the boys did a couple turkey crafts at home. This next picture was a free online printable. Daniel wrote what he was thankful for on the feathers. I'm pretty sure they say, "Mommy, Dady, Mikey, Ezra".

Daniel was very proud of his finished product! (And can I just say ... look at those eyes! Such a cutie!)

In between crafts, Daniel practiced some of the cursive writing he has been learning at school. Very well done!

Our second Turkey Craft was entirely homemade out of paper plates and construction paper. In the next picture, Daniel is coloring his turkey's body (with the help of his tongue which, when stuck out just the right way, makes all the difference in the world!)

Here is Ezra's finished turkey. "Mommy, My Dad Steve, Scooby (our long-dead dog), Mein Oma (grandma) and Grandma, Mein Opa (grandpa), Miss Kait"... What? No brothers on his Thankful List? hmmm...

Daniel's turkey: "God, Doges (dogs), Mom, Dad, Me, Grama, Granpa"

Ah! Look out! It's a scary turkey monster!!!

New Village Square

2012-01-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

We used to have a recycling station in our village. It was on a busy corner and had a dozen dumpsters for glass, a dozen for paper, and a few for Red Cross clothing/shoe drop off. It was a popular spot and the dumpsters were often full.

A few months ago, the recycling station was suddenly and unexpectedly closed, all the dumpsters were removed, and the lot was cleaned up. The reason for it was a mystery as we watched men and equipment come and go and our busy street occasionally close. And then, in November, we found out the reason for it and had the grand opening celebration of our new town square park (or something like that). I still haven't figured out where they want us to take our recycling now and I have to haul it on post when my baskets are full. (Mikey is wearing the funny red hat in the next picture. It's actually a red Spiderman ski mask that he can't see out of so he folds it up around his head.)

The whole town turned out for the celebration. There was a beer/gluhwein/brat tent, photographers, and some important looking people in suits and ties saying important sounding things in German into a PA system.

Daniel's class had a special choreographed presentation. His teacher, Frau Henn, is very active and athletic and put together a whole musical thing with jump ropes, hoops, balls, and kids running and skipping and jumping and throwing things. It was very cute! (Daniel is 4th from the left in the next picture next to his friend, Lea.)

Daniel was super excited to be picked for the 4-square ball team and had a choreographed routine with 3 of his friends.

Also in the park are some stationary exercise equipment. They are both functional (I guess) and artistically decorative.

One corner of the park has a climbing wall. Ezra was excited to have Kait help him up to the top!

Some of the recess toys were brought over from the Kindergarten across the street. They had a corner for tricycles. You can see in the next picture that the whole center area has an edge around it. Someone told me that it was designed to hold a few inches of water and freeze during the winter, creating an ice skating rink! Sounds fun but it's been too warm this winter for any ice.

Ezra showed me his super trike moves!

The had a bean bag toss in one corner and these balance wheely things next to them. I've tried them before and had NO success. Too old? Too clumsy? Too high center of gravity?

Another corner has built-in benches around a fountain and next to it is this cool built-in chess set. My boys love chess!

St. Martin's Day

2012-01-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

On November 11, we celebrated St. Martin in our village. This is a very popular holiday and school children throughout Germany spend quite some time learning about St. Martin in school and creating special lanterns for St. Martin's day. I was excited to help in each boys' classes this year when it was time to make lanterns. Here's how they turned out: Mikey's owl, Daniel's owl, and Ezra's hedgehog.

We walked the few blocks through our village to the church.

Mikey was part of a Schulkind (school children) group from both the Kindergarten and Grundschule (primary school) that put on a special presentation for the children and their parents. He sat in the front of the church with his group while the rest of us were in the pews.

Here's a close up of Mikey in front. He is smiling at the camera with his dark green hoody pulled up over his head. Reminds me of a mini Grandpa Rice!

His group stood in front and sang some songs and put on a skit. In the next picture, Mikey's head is directly over the glowing owl in the center.

Here is a short video of Michael's group singing. Mikey is in the front row of the singers with his face occasionally being lit up by the lantern. The video also pans to Ezra on Kait's lap and Daniel sitting behind them.

After the song, Mikey held the house up for the skit.

Ezra saw with Kait, who was in charge of our family's candle.

After the celebrating at the church, the kids all lit their lanterns and the families walked together a few blocks to the village Festplatz (festival square) where a HUGE bonfire had been lit. The festplatz was roped off and monitored by our Freisen firefighters (who were stoking the fire as needed) and junior firefighters (some as young as 9 years old!).

We were contained behind a rope a considerable distance from the bonfire, but it was big enough that it thoroughly warmed us up even from that far away. In then next picture, you can just barely see at the far end of the crowd "St. Martin" on his horse.

Here's a closer look at St. Martin.

We couldn't hear them from where we were but we could see the brief skit of St. Martin as a Roman soldier who, happening upon a beggar dressed in rags, cut his cloak in half to give to the man.

After St. Martin and the bonfire, brats and gluhwein were for sale. Gluhwein is basically hot spiced wine. The boys each got a cup of Kinder Gluhwein (like hot spiced grape juice - nonalcoholic).

Returning home, we lined the lanterns up on the window sill together. Such a pretty, peaceful, lovely night!

Pirates, Fall Evening, and Rice Sock Buddies

2012-01-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

The boys had a Pirate Day with Miss Kait after which we went for a walk in our village. The boys wore their new Pirate Hats on the walk. Arrrrh!

It was another beautiful Fall afternoon. We had a long, lovely Autumn this year. The above picture was taken on November 5 and we were still just wearing sweatshirts in the afternoon. Last year, we broke local records for the amount of snow we got during November. It has been fun experiencing such extreme differences!

We walked down to our village's new "mall". It's got everything: a couple clothes stores, a shoe store, a grocery store, and more. It was fun watching it being built and evern more fun having it complete and just a couple blocks away from our house! On this evening, the sky was gorgeous and the moon was rising over us.

We had an even better look at the moon on our walk back to our house.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In November, Mikey had a run in with a really awful Otitis Externa (external ear infection, a.k.a. Swimmer's Ear). All those swimming lessons took their toll on Mikey's ear (little scratching, picking fingers didn't help, either) and it was so bad that I ended up taking him to the ER one weekend. To ease his pain during this ordeal (he had some rough nights with lots of discomfort), I had him put hot compresses on his ear. Hot, moist washclothes worked well but had to be reheated frequently. I read about homemade rice sacks that stay warm longer and could be reused and made one for Mikey.

He loved it so much, I made one for each of the boys. It was easy. I used some Jasmine rice (I think any long-cooking rice works well) and filled an old, clean, calf-length sock with about a cup of it. I knotted the sock about half-way up, folded the top half over the bottom half and drew a cute face on it with a sharpie.

These cute rice socks can be microwaved (about a minute on high for one, 2-3 minutes for all 3) and warm up so nicely. The boys love to snuggle them and often ask me to heat them up before bed so they can fall asleep with their warm rice sock buddies.

Swimming Lessons - Daniel

2012-01-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

Daniel was in Level 1&2 Swimming Lessons for 16 weeks. Because he was in a different class from his brothers, we had the unspeakable joy of hanging out at the pool from 3-5pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for a month and a half!

One of his lessons was devoted to life jacket skills.

That boys can float like a champ!

With the jackets on, the kids practiced their crawl stroke and raced for balls.

Then they took the jackets off and practiced real swimming. In this next photo and 2 after it, Daniel swam from the wall to Miss Liz, all the way around her, and back to the wall doing the crawl stroke with his face in the water. Great job, Daniel!!

Next was the back stroke.

Daniel did great in lessons and graduated to Level 3 at the end.

Swimming Lessons - Mikey

2012-01-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

Mikey was in Preschool Aquatics with Ezra for 16 lessons in October and November. He was the oldest in the class, missing the age cut-off for the next level by one month and he was the best in the class, too. It was great watching him learn to float on his back and swim backstroke during his class.

Look at Mikey! He looks just like his daddy! hee-hee

No, Mr. Mike is not holding Mikey under the water. I think he was counting while Mikey was doing the Dead Man Float and tapped him when he got to 10 ... or something like that.

He swam from the wall...

... and to the wall.

And from the wall again but this time on his back!

And here is a video of Mikey swimming and then floating on his back. At the end of his lessons, he graduated from Preschool Aquatics (obviously, since he was too old for it then) passed Level 1 and graduated to Level 2. Good job, Mikey!

Swimming Lessons - Ezra

2012-01-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

One of our busiest activities during October and November was swimming lessons. All three boys had lessons every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for 8 lessons and then we signed on again for another 8 lessons. It was great fun and did wonders for the boys' energy!

Swimming lesson placement is determined entirely by age, so Mikey and Ezra had lessons together in the Preschool Aquatics class, even through Mikey was definitely an advanced swimmer. For some reason, Ezra never let his teacher, Mr. Mike, see is full range of abilities. I think it was a mixture of the cold water, lack of a shallow end where he could touch, and restriction against goggles. The kids were not allowed to wear goggles during class, since they were taught basic water skills with the idea that they wouldn't have any "helps" like floaties, life jackets, or goggles. It's a good idea for basic survival skills lessons but it threw Ezra off his game. Mike enjoyed Ezra but never did get to see the little fish.

For the last lesson, the parents were brought in so the kids could show off their new skills. Ezra started with bubble blowing.

Then He did some floating with Mr. Mike.

The pictures were blurry and hard to get but I couldn't leave them out since they looked like they were having so much fun!

Then it was time for some rocket-fetching. First, a deep breath...

Under they go...

And back up with a diving rocket!

Well, there weren't a whole lot of new skills gained for Ezra, but he had fun and it was a great use of his extra energy.

October round-up: Sunset, Halloween, Rugs

2012-01-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

I think I have finally reached the end of October's pictures. So, as we start a new year, I am still 2 months behind. I guess I am resolving (or at least hoping) to get the blog caught up during 2012.

Back in October, we had some beautiful days and picturesque sunsets. This sunset was seen right outside our house one evening. Love the flame-kissed clouds!

Looking the other way down the street in front of our house, the late-evening sun was coloring everything so beautifully, highlighting the autumn colors on the trees of the hills above our village and turning the windmill pink.

Halloween was a bit of a rerun from last year, when Daniel was a Jedi (Anakin), Ezra was Yoda (and a cuter Yoda has never been seen), and Mikey was supposed to be a clone trooper but his costume was shipped too slowly and so, at the last minute, I bought an adult Darth Vader costume and (assisted by paper clips and rubber bands) MacGyvered him into it. This year, with the addition of the clone trooper costumer that finally came, we dressed as a family for Halloween. Look out Baumholder!

Kait was with us. We didn't plan well for her (sorry, Kait!), so she popped on a pair of bunny ears before we left the house and she was adorable! Yoda, Clone Trooper, Anakin, Darth Vader, and Vader's pet bunny ... makes perfect sense to me!

Lastly, I'm including a couple pictures of 2 of the rugs Steve has sent home from Afghanistan. These are silk Chinese (I think) rugs. These two are my favorites because of their brilliant red colors. They are in our entry area.

Fall Bike Rides

2012-01-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Back in October, when we were still having our beautiful fall days, the boys and I walked to our Festplatz (where festivals and carnivals are held) here in Friesen. It's a great open spot, perfect for riding bikes.

Daniel and Mikey did a lot of racing.

Daniel has a big bike in his favorite color - red. We got it for him this year when he grew out of his smaller one, which has been passed along to Mikey.

Mikey rides Daniel's smaller blue bike. He's quite an accomplished biker!

Ezra has a balance bike without pedals. These bikes are quite popular here in Germany and are usually what kids start riding after their trikes. Most kids don't use training wheels, going directly from a balance bike to a normal 2-wheel bike. Mikey learned to ride a 2-wheeler after just a few months on a balance bike. Ezra is very good on his balance bike - I need to get a video of him zooming along - but I haven't taken them time to transition him to the small bike that Mikey has grown out of. (Our boys do wear helmets any time they ride. I caught Ezra in this next picture as he was bringing his helmet to me to help him put it on.)

After riding for a bit, the boys de-biked to do some exploring.

Such a lovely day, great weather, & fun playing!

Pumpkin Patch and Autumn Labyrinth

2011-12-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

On Halloween day, the boys visited their first pumpkin patch! It was the last day of the season for this farm, so all the pumpkins had been harvested and were waiting in front of their market for us to choose from.

Everyone got to pick their own pumpkin to take home.

They had a corn maze next door. The boys were excited to start their labyrinth adventure.

Which way do we go?

Daniel took the lead.

And Ezra held up the rear.

Daniel is a man who knows where he wants to go! And Mikey likes sticks!

Three handsome boys!

Look out ... They're loose!

It was a beautiful day for running around outside!

This pumpkin farm had a sandbox in one corner with benches around it. The boys spent a while playing.

Like I said, it was a gorgeous fall day!

Ezra's 4th Birthday

2011-12-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ezra celebrated 4 years with us way back in October. Before our small family party, Ezra got to pick a friend to invite swimming with him. He chose Jack, an Army friend who also is in Ezra's Kindergarten group. I made this cute Swimmer Boy cake for us.

The boys wore matching shirts to the pool that they got from Dada in Afghanistan. This next picture was taken in the swimming pool locker room. What a trio!

I brought food for sandwiches and, of course, the Swimmer cake.

Here are Ezra and his friend, Jack. Cute!

Jack has 3 older sisters. Two of them came with us, which was a lot of fun because they are Daniel and Mikey's ages.

Later, at home, we had a family party with our dear Kait. Here are Kait and Ezra with his "Jack smile".

Kait gave Ezra a fun game the boys have all enjoyed playing!

The day Ezra celebrated his birthday at school, he got a cute Igel (hedgehog) crown to wear for the day.

Ezra also got a special birthday box from daddy.

In the box was this special dry-erase board with a note from Dada.

And these awesome fake teeth, just in time for Halloween!

The teeth were a hit! The dentist next door loved them. :)

Mikey drew a beautiful picture of Miss Kait on the dry-erase board.

Daniel & Mikey's Birthday Party

2011-12-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

Mikey turned 6 a week ago and Daniel will be 8 in almost 2 weeks. Oh, and Christmas is in between the two, also. Busy month! We don't often do big birthday parties with lots of friends. Usually, it a family celebration with maybe a special play date with a special friend or, as in Ezra's case this year, a pool party with a special friend. But since we will probably be leaving Germany this summer and the boys have made such special friendships with the German kids at their schools, we all decided to do a shared birthday party with some friends from each of their schools. Four of Mikey's and five of Daniel's friends came over today to celebrate with them. Added to my 3 boys, we had a house full with 12 boys between 4 and 8 years old.

After reading a great idea on a friend's blog, I decided to have a "gingerbread" (graham cracker) house decorating craft for the boys. To simplify the process, I made the houses the night before roughly using this guide and whipped up a batch of Royal Icing before the boys arrived.

The table was set with a graham cracker house for each boy and the centerpiece was made of clear containers with the candy the kids would use to decorate their houses.

I divided the icing fairly evenly into 12 snack baggies, which were sealed and a small bit of one corner was snipped with scissors to make a pastry tube. Each child got a bowl to put their candies in to work (and snack) on. A couple friends hung out to help the kids with their houses. Sabrina and Sonja have been so sweet to me and my family since we have been here, inviting the boys over for play dates and birthday parties and me for coffee.

This is Alex from Daniel's class. He is a big boy! But so gentle and nice. He even tolerates Mikey and Ezra when they see him on the playground after school.

Finn and Joshua (from Mikey's group) sat next to Mikey. All of the boys were concentrating SO hard on their masterpieces!

I love this picture of Mikey. I could just kiss those unicorn cheeks!

Tom is in first grade. He was in Mikey's Kindergarten last year and is in Daniel's school this year. The boys have been to his house quite a lot for play dates.

Ah! More sweet cheeks to nibble! And that's Hannes (from Mikey's group) sitting next to Ezra.

Time for some Twizzlers on Ezra's house.

Dennis is in Daniel's class, as is Elias, next to him.

Oops! Caught Joshua with a mouth full!

After the craft, it was time to open presents. It's always slightly chaotic in our house and so very hard to take decent pictures of!

Then the boys had some free play time. Hannes, Daniel, and Marcel are playing with Legos. Marcel is one of Mikey's buddies and they love to show me their latest Lego creations when I pick Mikey up from school each day.

I printed off some coloring pages of Christmas trees, gingergread houses, and nativity scenes for the boys to color. Finn is super at coloring!

Hannes's brother, Luis (in Daniel's grade at school), also colored for a bit.

About half of the boys ended up downstairs in the play room playing swords, light sabers, and soccer ... all at the same time. It was a little crazy, but fun!

After some play time, we gathered back in the dining room for cupcakes, candles, and songs. The kids sang "Happy Birthday" first in Deutsch and then in English. I couldn't pass up a chance for a video. In the video, you can see another very good friend of mine, Simone. She is 30 weeks pregnant with her 3rd boy (hee-hee!). She stayed to help with the whole party. She was basically my translator and SUCH a huge help!! I couldn't have done the party today without her!

I had a big plate of fruit available to balance out all the cupcakes, frosting, and gingerbread house candy. Oh, and we had mulled apple cider for the kids and coffee for the mamas.

Then the boys had a little more free play time before the parents showed up to pick them up. I only scheduled the party for 2 hours, since I was a little overwhelmed by it (and everything else that has been going on lately) and I wasn't sure how long I would be able to survive a bilingual birthday party. It was the perfect amount of time and such a hit with the boys!

Mikey's 6th Birthday!

2011-12-10T12:26:00.001-08:00

Six years ago, Steve was deployed for a year (turned out to be 16 months) to Iraq. Hmmm, he's deployed for a year to Afghanistan now. He does that a lot...

Anyway, Mikey was due on January 10. On December 9, I felt crampy contractions, quite unlike anything else I had felt during my pregnancy. I went to the hospital to get checked in the early afternoon and was told to go home and rest. Fortunately, I was uncomfortable enough that I asked to stay a little longer. Good thing I did, because 4 hours later, I was transferred by ambulance to a hospital across town and 15 minutes after arriving at the hospital, Mikey arrived. He was 5 weeks early and paid for it with a 9 day NICU stay. He's been doing everything his own special, passionate way ever since. And he is such a blessing!

While the boys were at school yesterday, I set up the dining room for Mikey's special family birthday celebration and baked his Peanut Butter M&M Cookie Cake.

Most of his presents were from his grandparents. He was so excited to open them! Look at the sparkle in those eyes!

Mikey is so proud of his "waterproof Lego watch" that he has been telling EVERYONE he sees about it - most of them are complete strangers!

We had a lot of fun playing with his Cloud Clay today. It's amazing stuff!

More modeling clay.

And a gnome... Looks just like him!

For the last year and a half, Mikey has been looking forward to his 6th birthday with great anticipation because it would mean he is finally old enough to go down the big yellow slide at Ramstein AFB's pool. So, last night I took Daniel and Mikey to the pool for a special birthday swim. He went down the slide quite a lot! I wanted to take pictures but it was too steamy.

Tonight, I tried to take the boys to Chili's for Mikey's birthday dinner. The hour and a half wait for a table quickly changed our plans to Macaroni Grill, where we had some yummy pasta and pizza and a gigantic piece of chocolate birthday cake topped with ice cream.

Even with all 3 boys helping, we were unable to finish the whole thing!

Keyboard Lessons

2011-11-28T12:28:00.001-08:00

The boys started quite a few new activities in October. All three of them started swimming lessons three days a week, Daniel and Mikey were taking Basketball Fundamentals on Monday evenings, and Daniel had the opportunity to take keyboard lessons, something he had been asking about for a while. He seems particularly interested in music and has asked for piano, guitar, and drum lessons. We decided to start with keyboard and he had a good first month.

Daniel's teacher was a very nice German man, quite a character! He taught using a German piano book. Ode To Joy was one of the first lessons.

Unfortunately, posture was not one of the key elements of the lessons.

Daniel had a good introduction to reading music and very basic music theory.

Unfortunately, the number of activities we started in October was too much. We had to cut something and, because of scheduling, keyboard lessons was the first to go. We have an opportunity to take it at a different time, which would be easier and workable, so we will hopefully see that happening in the near future.

Another hole in the head, just what Ezra needs!

2011-11-28T11:53:00.001-08:00

As if one extra hole in his head wasn't enough...

Ezra was playing with a skateboard in his usual, carefree, "nothing can ever hurt me" way when it popped up and hit him in the face. Check out that cute face!

At first, it was all crying and screaming and blood. When the blood stopped and I got a closer look, it turned out that the skateboard had punched his tooth all the way through his top lip, maybe in a couple places. It was pretty nasty.

Knowing that simple puncture hold wounds in the mouth can't be stitched or closed, we washed it well here and put some ice on it. He had a fat lip the next day and a few days later, it got a little red and yucky, but salt water rinses took care of the yucky and it healed well. This all happened in early October and now I don't think there is even a scar. What a tough kid!

Hoops!

2011-11-28T10:29:00.001-08:00

In October, Daniel and Mikey started Basketball Fundamentals through our SKIES program on post. Once a week, on Monday nights, it's been a great way for the boys to learn more about basketball techniques with a good coach and also a super way to channel some of their excess energy. Last week's class in particular was a much needed end to an "antsy" day for the boys.

During their first class, the kids learned how to shoot and dribble. The first lesson was flicking their wrists to throw the ball. (In the next pictures, Daniel is in the white shirt and Mikey is next to him in the red.)

After a couple classes, the kids were moving on to passing and shooting. It's Daniel's turn for the pass. He runs to his spot on the floor...

... catches the pass ...

... and shoots the ball!

When the kids aren't listening or step out of line, they do PUSHUPS!

Yay, pushups! (Mikey is at the end of the line on the right.)

So, they stay in line but they do goofy things like this...

Now it's Mikey turn to catch the pass...

and shoot the ball!

Good practice, kids!

I'm not sure what they are saying, but they sure are excited about it!

After this practice, they had 10 minutes free and a whole bunch of balls. Free time!

Ezra got in on the dribbling action.

Mikey is really focused on his dribble technique.

Fall Fest

2011-11-26T12:02:00.001-08:00

In early October, Freisen had a festival with 4 days of carnival rides, games, food, and booths with toys for sale. The final day also had a market in the streets where one could buy everything from kitchen knives to Christmas cards, socks and scarves to tableclothes. Each evening was a special musical performance and since it was only a couple blocks from our house, we could hear the music while we fell asleep. One afternoon, we walked to the festival so I could blow 30 Euros on rides and snacks. Steve was deployed this year, of course, and last year he was away for the month for training. Last year, the boys were too young to do the bumper cars by themselves and I didn't have anyone with me who could take them. Not so this year! Mikey and Daniel were able to ride together.

Daniel was a little shaken up by a rough first ride so I went with Mikey for his second ride while Ezra and Kait rode together.

Next, the boys ran to the cars that drive around a track. Ezra and Daniel picked the Black Panther motorcycles with the tassel roofs. Ezra was so proud of his ticket in the next picture.

Mikey chose to ride in the semi with his class friend, Joshua. I think it was a little loud back there.

After the cars, it was time for flying pink elephants.

Daniel's class friend, Andre, was there. They rode together in a spaceship.

And it was a blue elephant for Mikey.

Germans are not as big on safety as Americans are so there were no seat belts or safety bars on the rides. Both the guy who was running the ride and I were yelling at Ezra when I decided to stand up mid-flight.

He got the picture!

Daniel's Dada tie

2011-11-25T13:10:00.001-08:00

For church one day, Daniel wanted to wear a tie but all of our "kid ties" are too small for him. (Or he has gotten too big for them.) He choose one of Steve's ties to wear instead. Looney Tunes, of course. He's such a cute big boy!

Certified Lactation Counselor Training Program

2011-11-25T12:36:00.001-08:00

One incredible blessing of having Kait here was an exciting opportunity that I got in September. For the last 7 or 8 years I've been increasingly interested in the field of maternal-newborn health and especially breastfeeding and lactation medicine. The Healthy Children's Center for Breastfeeding hosted a week-long course here in Germany and I got to go! It was about 4 hours away, so I drove there on a Sunday afternoon, stayed all week, and returned after the exam on Friday. It was a long, exciting, mentally stimulating, really great week. We had a couple clinical competencies and an exam, after which we had to wait 6 weeks for the results. I passed! And I'm now a certified Lactation Counselor. It's a great addition to my Physician Assistant certification. So far, I've been doing mostly social support with friends and friends of friends. It's all I can do now, as busy as the boys and I are with all our other activities (which will take up quite a few separate blog posts on their own).

I took a few pictures that week of things I thought were interesting. Here is a little ... car? ... I parked next to at the hospital one day. Three wheels and room enough for one person. Super cute! (Don't think I could fit 3 booster seats anywhere in there...)

This cool fountain was in the middle of the village. It had detailed images around the whole thing. I think it was something of a history of the town.

Behind the fountain was this interesting building with a false top.

And across the street was this building.

I spent some time walking around during the afternoons, since my days were spent mostly sitting in class and I needed some air and exercise. Across town on a hill I saw a tiny little church that reminded me of all the many churches on all the many hills in Crete that we saw with Steve during his R&R this summer.

While I was driving Friday afternoon, I followed a beautiful sunset home. The colors kept getting deeper and more brilliant. It was breathtaking!

Autumn Pumpkins (Hokaido)

2011-11-25T11:57:00.001-08:00

During our trip to the apple orchard, we had the opportunity to buy a fresh Hokaido squash. It looks a lot like a pumpkin and it makes delicious soup, which I decided to try to recreate at home.

After hollowing out the inside, we separated the seeds and coated them with a little olive oil and seasoning salt and then set them aside for roasting later.

The squash was roasted and then cubed. It is one of the few that can be prepared and eaten with the peel, which completely softens when it is roasted.

The seeds turned out absolutely delicious. But then, I've never met a pumpkin seed that I haven't liked. What a yummy snack. And very healthy. They are used for all sorts of holistic/herbal remedies.

The squash was cooked in veggie broth with a bunch of other vegetables and pureed with a stick (immersion) blender before we ate it. It was okay. Not great, just okay. No one else was very excited about it. I hope to try again sometime with a different recipe because it was a lot of fun to make and the seeds were delicious!

And here are a few other decorative squash we picked up for our house this fall.

Seal, Meerkats, and Dingoes ... Oh my!

2011-11-16T12:08:00.001-08:00

We visited a nearby zoo in Neukirchen on a beautiful day at the end of September. We arrived right at the start of a seal training and feeding session.

We saw a lot that day. Bears, baboons, giraffes, zebras, wasps, cows, ostriches and emus, rabits, birds of prey... I'm not sure why I took so few photos. There were a lot of hills. In fact, I think every path at the zoo was either up hill or down hill. We brought the stroller, so the whole afternoon was quite a workout. Maybe that's why I forgot the pictures?

Anyway, we did get a few nice pictures. The next picture of meerkats is an example of the differences between a German zoo and an American zoo. It had a plexiglass wall, about 3 feet high separating the sidewalk from the meerkats world. These little guys were within arms reach. If I had the notion, I could have scooped one up and put him in my purse.

The only other picture I have is of this Dingo. Cute fellow!

St. Stephen's Church

2011-11-09T11:58:00.001-08:00

After our apple pickin' fun, since it was mid-afternoon and we were in Mainz, Germany, we decided to find something cool to look at for a couple hours. I dialed in St. Stephen's Church to our GPS and we headed out. Check out this big front door!

I found out some cool info about the cathedral. The original church building was built in the 10th century on the highest hill in the town. The current building is from the 13th century and is the oldest Gothic hall church in the area. But the part I liked the best were the windows.

There are nine beautiful, luminous stained glass windows in the cathedral that were created by Marc Chagall. Here's the cool part. Chagall was a famous Russian Jewish artist who was living in France during WWII and fled to America when the Nazis invaded and occupied France. He made these windows depicting Old Testament (Torah) scenes during the 70s and 80s. So, what are Torah windows by a Russian artist who evaded capture by the Nazis doing in a Catholic church in Germany? Chagall was friends with the priest of the church at the time and he contributed the windows as a gesture of Jewish-German reconciliation. I think that is amazing sign of healing and forgiveness!

The church was full of beauty, including the ceiling in this hallway.

I am beginning to really like (what I call) "robot rooms". I think I will look for these, take lots of pictures, and make a collage when we leave Germany.

The church had lots of open side rooms with various decorations but empty of people. We had fun looking around. In the next picture, the boys are checking out one of the many "God-died-on-the-crosses".

Below is the beautiful Gothic cloister with the late afternoon sun shining down. So pretty!

After that, we stepped back inside. Chagall once said, "I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it. Ever since early childhood, I have been captivated by the Bible. It has always seemed to me and still seems today the greatest source of poetry of all time." More Chagall windows...

About America, Chagall said, "I lived here in America during the inhuman war in which humanity deserted itself... I have seen the rhythm of life. I have seen America fighting with Allies... the wealth that she has distributed to bring relief to the people who had to suffer the consequences of the war... I like America and the Americans... people there are frank. It is a young country with the qualities and faults of youth. It is a delight to love people like that... Above all I am impressed by the greatness of this country and the freedom that it gives." Wow - those are qualities for a country to strive for!

We walked a few blocks from the church. The neighborhood is beautiful. We stopped and ate dinner at the restaurant in the picture below.

The restaurant was across the street from this arch (below).

Near both the arch and the restaurant was a pharmacy (Apotheke). It had the neatest window display of old apothecary miniatures!

Check out this mini bath scene.

The Apotheke was closed, but I got a look inside through the windows. I love all the jars and containers and mesuring devices! It stirs to life the chemist in me!

Here is another bath scene in miniature.

Back at the restaurant, Daniel was trying to finish his homework while we waited for our food.

Mmmm, what a beautiful salad!

Pasta for Daniel. He is SUCH a pasta boy!

One of our favorites in Germany: Flammkuchen! Flammkuchen (flame cake) is thinly rolled dough covered with creme fraiche, onions, and bacon. It is SOOOO good, like really yummy thin-crust pizza.

We also had potato soup. Check out the giant spoon! Everyone loved it!

On the way home, we continued our current tradition of listening to audio books while we drove. I usually try to get the books (especially if they have pictures) to go with the CDs. This time it was Swiss Family Robinson. Check out Ezra - he's totally into the story!

Apple Pickin'

2011-11-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful afternoon in September, when I picked up the boys from school, we drove to a local apple orchard in Mainz. After living most of their lives in Alaska, where fruit trees freeze and orchards simply aren't, this was the boys first Fall Orchard experience. They were excited!

We picked a box and a barrow and headed into the orchard.

The rows of trees went on and on. There were a dozen different varieties of apples as well as pears and plums.

The boys thought it was pretty cool picking their own apples straight from the trees.

They really wanted to pick them all. Each and every apple they saw!

We selected some eatin' apples and some cookin' apples.

Oh, and a dozen or so pears.

A couple cute haystack ... clowns? ... guarded the fence line and made for a fun picture.

After we picked apples, we sampled some of the absolute best fresh-pressed apple juice hands-down that I have ever tasted. So yum!

By this time, without a nap, Ezra was getting "cuddly". He laid down on a picnic table for a rest while I took a couple more pictures.

The farm is called Apple Happle. All the magic "happles" in this building. ha-ha That's where we found fresh organic produce, juice, wine, and other deliciousness.

Near the picnic table was this climbing structure. Kait and this kids did some "brain re-circulation" by hanging upside down from it.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day?!?!

Craft Market

2011-11-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

We found a lovely craft market in September in the little village of Berglangenbach. Everything for sale was handmade, including the metal crafts from this blacksmith. He was fun to watch!

Look at all this yarn! The lady spins it all herself. As the boys said, it's just like Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel!

They had a darling portable carousel that the boys enjoyed. So quaint!

In addition to all the crafts for sale, there were free pony rides. And the line was fairly short! The boys loved it. Mikey and Ezra went out with the first group.

Ezra seemed totally comfortable with his horse but I think Mikey felt that at any moment he was going to slide right off.

Then it was Daniel's turn.

After the ponies, we wandered back to the craft stalls where we found a sausage vendor selling horse sausage! Ew!

Shortly after that, the sky totally opened up and it rained all over us and everyone else! We huddled under a stall awning until it seemed to ease up, when we made a run for it and ended up in the car wet and out of breath. Another fun day in the rain in Germany!

Camp Out!

2011-10-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, based on a good idea from a friend, the boys had a camp out in the living room. Steve and I used to camp a lot, so we have all the supplies. But it had been so long that I had forgotten how BIG our tent is.

It's a good thing that we have a big living room!

The boys were thrilled with the idea and their excitement built as they saw the tent going up. We filled it with cushions, pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags. It was such a fun fort!

After a dinner "camp tray" with crackers, meat, cheese, and pickles (I think Ezra ate 10 pickles!), we moved to the table for microwave s'mores and hot chocolate. Yum!

Then it was back into the tent. Since it was Daylight Savings "Fall Back" Night here in Germany, I let them stay up a little later than normal. First, we watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charley Brown. I'm not sure if the boys had ever seen it before. It was definitely a hit. Then, since we are going to have a Jedi and a couple Clone Troopers (or maybe Yoda) for Halloween, we watched the original first Star Wars.

We had a fun camp out! The boys got to bed about 9, which (after we Fell Back) became 8. Ezra slept good and long this morning. After ending up in my bed sometime in the middle of the night, he slept till almost 9am. The other two were awake sometime between 5am and 7am (I lost track). Daylight Savings is not a friend of mommies with young children!

Castle Break

2011-10-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

On our drive home from our weekend retreat in September (see previous post), we broke up the 4-hour drive by stopping at a castle we could see from the road in (I think) Mainz. It's on the top of a tall hill with a remarkable view. Kait is giving Mikey a boost to see the view in the next photo.

And then she gave Ezra a boost to see the view. I think the whole city could see Ezra in his orange shirt!

From the sunny view to the bricks to the old paving stones, it was a photogenic day.

We followed a path down to one of the old gates and looked back up at the castle above us.

These very Bavarian houses were just below the castle.

This was one of the elaborate entrances to the otherwise fairly simple architecture.

I believe this round structure was a gate house just inside the castle wall.

Further on the past outside the castle wall, we found a lovely garden with late-blooming roses.

While Kait and I looked at the roses, the boys raced up and down the paths enjoying the sunny weather and the chance to stretch their legs.

This small entrance led down a spiral brick staircase to what was probably ammo storage.

To the right of the doorway in the next picture, you can see flat spots where artillery were placed to defend the castle, the city, and the river below.

The garden continued into a peaceful, forested area.

We found a very green (algae) fountain that the boys immediately wanted to play in.

While we were walking, Daniel did a little treasure hunt of his own. This is what he found in the garden. What a great travel break!

Retreat Weekend

2011-10-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

One of the special ministries our chaplains have is hosting family/marriage retreats. During deployments, it can be ... tricky ... to host a marriage retreat with only half the spouses available. They still manage it and they do a great job!

In September, I drove 4 hours with Kait and the boys to Willingen, Germany to a beautiful resort hotel in beautiful Bavaria for a weekend Deployed Spouses Retreat hosted by the Brigade rear-detatchment chaplain and his assistant. During the winter, this is a popular ski location. During the summer, the ski slopes in the next picture become just as popular for mountain bikers. They ride up the ski lifts with their mountain bikes and sail down the hills. It's a lot of fun to watch.

The Sauerland Stern Hotel was where we stayed. I was here with hundreds of other women for the PWOC Europe Region Fall Worship and Study last year. (PWOC is Protestant Women of the Chapel - a women's Bible study available on most military bases around the world).

Here's a look at the view of the village from our hotel room.

Next to the hotel is an indoor water park with a kids pool, a warm salt-water pool, a cooler pool, a big hot tub and a bunch of slides. The slides were very popular with the boys, especially this crazy one. I tried it a couple times ... I think I'm definitely too old for it! Daniel and Mikey are in the next 2 pictures.

There are a couple enclosed tube-style water slides, too. One of them is dark most of the way through with occasional neon lights. Daniel is popping out of that one below.

And Mikey is right behind him.

We had such a fun weekend together. I learned more about The Five Love Languages. The boys had fun in their kids' program. And we enjoyed a family vacation. It's a neat ministry that the chaplains have.

Umbrella, Swings, & Bookstore

2011-10-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

One sunny day, while we had some construction going on in front of our house, Mikey took some paper and markers outside with his umbrella for shade to watch the workers. It was fascinating. All the sidewalks in our village are made from paving stones. Each paving stone along the stretch of our sidewalk that was being worked on was individually removed, brushed off, and stacked for later. A ditch was dug along the length of the sidewalk for some new cables. The cables were laid and the ditch was filled in and covered with gravel that was packed flat and level. It was all covered up again by the original paving stones. There was one crew of about 3-4 men with a tractor who did all the work. They worked on about 50 meters of sidewalk each day, just enough to get everything done on that stretch during each work day so they can start on a new stretch the next day.

One sunny Thursday early in September, while Mikey was in his speech therapy session, I took Daniel and Ezra outside to the school playground to wait. I caught Daniel teaching Ezra how to pump his legs so he can swing himself. How sweet!

We have a paper store in our village. They carry so many things! Magazines and comics. Greeting cards and calendars. Small toys and trading cards. Textbooks and paper supplies. It's the local place to buy German lottery tickets and mail packages (similar to FedEx). It's such a curious store, not large, but packed with fun things to look at.

Elmo, Grover, and Cookie ... Yippee!

2011-10-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of August, the USO came to Baumholder with Sesame Street Live. Kait and I took the boys, who were full of excitement and anticipation. At the door, the boys were each handed a bandana and a light-up Elmo spinner.

The spinner was a big hit with all three boys!

Mikey has a silly pair of Spider Man sunglasses that he loved. He loved them even more when he lost both lenses. It was all I could do keep him from wearing them everywhere we went. He managed to sneak them into Sesame Street Live. Isn't he just the cutest!

Watch out for Mikey and his spinner!

It was a half hour musical extravaganza with lots of dancing. The boys were mesmerized by the "real live" Sesame Street characters.

Daniel got in on the dancing, too.

Who wouldn't want to dance with Grover, Elmo, and Cookie Monster up there leading?

The characters ran into the crowd for hugs and high-fives a couple time. I don't remember this guy's name but I think he's about to smother Mikey!

The boys thought it was so cool to hug Cookie Monster!

In the next picture, Mikey is trying to get his hand in Cookie's mouth and I think Daniel is trying to get his head in Cookie's armpit. Crazy kids!

Wandertag (Hiking Day)

2011-10-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

On the last Saturday in August, Daniel's school held a compulsory Wandertag or Hiking Day. Classes were to spend the afternoon hiking together and then meet back up at the school for a school party and the dedication of new school playground equipment. I signed up as a parent volunteer for Daniel's class.

Saturday came and brought with it heavy rain showers. Rain doesn't seem to bother people here, especially if there is the prospect of walking somewhere. They love walking. The whole class showed up for the hike (it was compulsory, after all) and we headed into the forest.

The area we live in is very hilly. The Pacific Northwest, where I grew up, is full of hills and mountains. Alaska (where we were stationed) has magnificent mountains. The area of Germany does not compare at all where mountains are concerned, but the hills here blows everyone else out of the water. There is no flat space anywhere. The most common comment about PT or exercise at Baumholder are comments about running the hills. This route was equally hilly and, though it was wet and rainy, we all worked up a sweat quickly as we hiked up and down and up and down. After a short time, we paused for a rest and snack break. Daniel is wearing the green rain jacket on the right side of the picture below.

Once their snack was eaten, the boys set out digging a ditch down the hill to direct the rain water into a dammed up area. Boys and mud ... so cute!

We emerged from the woods at the site of a car rally that was taking place that same day. The kids had fun looking at all the "race cars".

At some parts of the walk, the kids had to walk with a "buddy". In the next picture, Daniel (with the red umbrella) is walking with his buddy, Leah. She is a sweetie! Daniel and Leah have had play dates at each others' houses. Leah's mother Ute is very nice, also. She speaks absolutely no English but tries her hardest to communicate with me in German.

After the rally, the walk turned toward the direction of the kids' school and it started raining again.

It was raining so hard at this point that we all ran to the nearest barn and crowded in to wait for the rain to let up.

This big boy (and he was huge!) shared his space with us, but he didn't look very happy about it.

A handful of calves were at the other end of the barn. Cuties!

The rain let up a bit and the class started toward the school. They had already walked a couple kilometers and were about halfway to the school. At this point, I left the group and retraced my steps back to where I had parked the car so I could drive the car to Daniel's school to pick him up. The sun was starting to shine through the clouds. It was warm and beautiful!

I got to the school with my car just as the class was walking up. Perfect timing! The school was fully set up for cake and coffee. There is ALWAYS cake and coffee if people get together midafternoon! While the parents socialized, the kids swarmed the new playground Spider Web. Daniel is on the left side of the next picture in a white t-shirt and shorts.

And here is Daniel in his cammo sweatshirt at the top of the spider web.

As cake and coffee time was winding down, all the kids were gathered to the middle of the playground for the dedication of the climbing structure. There were some formal speeches. I think there was a camera recording the occasion and maybe a reporter. It was a big deal!

Daniel is still at the top of the climber on the left side hanging like a monkey.

The climbing structure was blessed by the local priest. The next picture shows the priest in black and another man carrying the bowl of holy water.

After all that walking, hiking, and playing, Daniel was hungry. I took him into the school and let him pick something to eat.

We had a fun, memorable day and got lots of good exercise. I was grateful to have Kait with us to stay home with Mikey and Ezra, so I only had to worry about one wet, muddy boy. It was a special time for Daniel and I together.

A Day In Paris

2011-10-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I've properly introduced Kait on this blog. For the last couple months, we have had a lovely young lady staying with us. She was our babysitter at our last duty station. She is taking a year off after graduating from high school and has been living here helping me with the boys and having a "European experience." She is really remarkable and we've enjoyed having her here.

We have not had an opportunity to go anywhere outside Germany with Kait, so she decided to plan a Paris weekend for herself. We went to Paris last March with Grandpa Rice and loved it. The boys have frequently asked to go back. Since we couldn't spend a whole 3-day weekend there, we decided to go with her for the first day for another chance to see the exciting city and to introduce Kait to the Metro and other unique aspects of being a tourist in Paris (It helps that I studied 5 years of French ... but I can't believe how much I've forgotten!)

We visited the Louvre last time and really enjoyed the experience. I made plans this time to go to the Musee d'Orsay, which is known for it's Impressionist collection. It takes up where the Louvre ends in the 19th century world of art. As I like to do for trips like this, we did a little pre-trip learning in anticipation of going to the Orsay. We read up on the Impressionists and even packed this great book with us in our backpack to refer to when we were walking through the museum.

The Orsay has Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait, so we learned about drawing portraits. I encouraged the boys to use a mirror to draw their own self-portrait. This is Daniel's self-portrait, "Me as an elf", that he created for daddy.

Mikey choose to draw a portrait of Kait instead of a self-portrait. That's her with glasses and purple hair.

Saturday morning finally came, the day of our trip. Ezra woke up with a loud, seal-bark cough (not croup, just his hallmark sign of getting a cold.) We left the house at 6:30am. ~~The day dawned bright and clear.~~ It was so cold, I had to scrape the frost off the windows. It was so dark the boys thought it was still night. It was so foggy ... well, you get the picture.

We drove to Saarbrucken, about an hour away, where the super fast train would take us to Paris. Being unfamiliar with the station and short on time, we parked both vehicles (Kait drove separately since she will be returning late Monday night) in front of the station in short-term parking and headed inside. The train ride was uneventful. The boys drew pictures, played with Hot Wheels cars, and played War with the deck of cards we brought. We got to Paris in a little less than 2 hours and it was simple to find the local Metro station and the branch line that would take us to the Orsay. We slipped onto the train we needed and into a half-empty train car with lots of extra seats. Literally, slipped. Right through a fresh pile of vomit on the floor. Blugh! So, that's why the train car was half empty! It felt like a long ride but we managed to keep smiling and not add to the vomit. We made it to our station and climbed the steps above ground, breathing in the refreshing morning air. Nothing ever smelled sweeter!

Paris was cold, foggy, and windy. The boys were wearing coats and gloves but they were still cold walking from the metro. By the time we got to the Orsay, the boys were already complaining. ("I'm cold. I'm tired. My legs hurt. How much longer? When can we go home?") It's amazing to me the remarkable experiences we get to have here in Europe that the boys completely take for granted because for them, a day trip to Paris is just normal. What a life!

We were in front of the museum full of eager anticipation -- camera in one hand, Impressionist book in the other -- and found that the museum staff were on strike and the museum was closed for the day. (grrr)

So, we tromped across the Seine to the Louvre and found a long line outside for entry. While Kait took Mikey off to answer the call of nature I waited in line and, since it was almost noon and the boys were hungry, I pulled out the PB&J supplies from my backpack and started making sandwiches. (I am SUCH an American tourist!!) Peanut butter is not very popular outside the US and PB&J sandwiches are not common. Here in Europe, it's more typical to see people pulling fresh rolls out and stuffing them with meat and cheese, but the boys like PB&J and it's what we had at home. I overheard whispers and laughs around us, but the boys enjoyed their lunch while we moved along the line.

We made it down through the big glass pyramid and into the Louvre. After a few minutes of warming up and resting our legs, we bought our tickets and entered the museum. There were no impressionist paintings (sad) but it is such a beautiful place anyway. I think the building is as much a work of art as the actual works of art.

We made the obligatory pass by the Mona Lisa and "ohh"ed and "ahh"ed at many other paintings, but it was really a pretty quick pass through the museum.

Since the Louvre was a last minute decision, I didn't have time to plan our visit, which really helps me take full advantage of our time. Ezra was still feeling a little under the weather and Mikey was having a full-blown tantrum day. It was pretty ugly. They all cheered up when I told them we were leaving. We followed the signs for the Metro exit in the lowest level of the museum and found a whole underground network of shops and restaurants. That was fun because the boys were a little more free to talk and move (less "shush"ing and "don't touch"ing). They were especially excited to find "the upside down Louvre" in this next picture. And look! There are rainbows on the floor, which means the sun has finally broken through the clouds outside.

It was a good time for a snack break for the boys and that was the same time that we found the Louvre McDonalds! We don't eat McD's very often ourselves, but who can pass up a chance for French fries in France?

I ordered "Le M" and I wasn't disappointed. It was probably the best McD's I have ever had.

After our snack, we went back to the Metro. Here is Daniel waiting patiently for the next train.

Ezra is a baby something (Lion? Cheetah?) I can't remember ... he does it so often. It's currently his "thing".

Mikey waiting.

We took the Metro to Abssess station, near Montmartre, the highest hill in Paris and a location that we didn't visit on our last trip. The exit from the Abssess station was crazy. After leaving the train, we found the Sortie (exit) signs and saw signs for stairs and for an elevator. Well, being healthy young-ish women (with 3 bags, 3 kids, and a stroller), we choose the stairs, of course. I had no clue... It was a spiral staircase, really beautiful but it kept going up and up and up and after a couple hundred steps (I think it's about 12 flights - seriously!), I thought we must be getting close to heaven. Of course, the boys were thrilled with all the stairs (insert sarcasm here...). The sights when we exited the station made up for the climb, though. What a beautiful neighborhood! I want to go back to Paris just to spend a day in the Montmartre area!

Immediately in front of the metro entrance was a small market with a carousel, petting zoo, and a few vendors. The boys cheered up right away when they saw the animals.

Here's a look at the front of the famous Abssess Metro station entrance.

Our destination from there was the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. It's at the top of a hill, so more walking, climbing, and steps. Fortunately, it has a cool funicular rail that took us part of the way up and was a nice break for the boys.

At the top of the hill, we found more stairs. And on a section of the stairs, we found a film crew shooting a scene with the basilica in the background. By this time, the weather had cleared, most of the coats were off (hence the 3rd bag now full of coats that we were hefting along with us) and it was beautiful!

The view from the steps is beautiful and the place was absolutely packed with people. It would be such a fun place to stop for a couple hours, relax, eat a baguette, and watch all the interesting people.

The basilica itself was very beautiful with all it's white travertine rising against the blue sky.

The boys took a moment to chase the pigeons at the base of the basilica.

Inside the basilica, the dome mosaic, Christ in Majesty, is one of the largest mosaics in the world. We saw a lot more worshipers in the basilica actually in prayer and meditation than we usually see during the day in other cathedrals we have visited. I found this info from Wikipedia: "Since 1885 (before construction had been completed), the Blessed Sacrament (a consecrated host which has been turned into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ during Mass) has been continually on display in a monstrance above the high altar. Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has continued uninterrupted in the Basilica since 1885. Because of this, tourists and others are asked to dress appropriately when visiting the basilica and to observe silence as much as possible, so as not to disturb persons who have come from around the world to pray in this special place." Interesting theological history!

I like this next picture. It well represents our day. Ezra is cuddly, Daniel is smiling, and Mikey is obstinately refusing to smile or put his hands down, insisting instead on creating the image of the Eiffel Tower with his hands. Those are my boys! And I love them so much!

Look at all the people on the steps. Lovers in the near left. Musicians in the near right singing Hotel California. It's such a great people place!

See the guy in the next picture standing on a pillar balancing a soccer ball on his head? He had some cool moves, lots of moonwalking and other footwork.

The neat statue below the basilica is no statue at all, but another street performer. The boys couldn't stop staring!

Here's a closer look at statue man during a quiet moment.

It was time to head back toward our train. At the Abssess station again, the boys watched this street musician while I bought some pears and an orange from a fruit vendor and a baguette and pain au chocolate from a patisserie for our train ride home.

I love the streets of Paris. So beautiful and full of life!

Instead of walking back down the 12 flights of stairs to the Abssess station, we walked a few blocks down the street to the next station where I took this picture. I like the feel of motion behind Daniel as he walks to the train platform.

Our ICE train home left at a little after 7pm and the boys were worn out. Just before falling asleep on the train, each of them, in very cuddly, sentimental moods, said things like, "I love you mommy. Paris was so fun. I love going to Paris. I had a really good time. Thank you for taking us to Paris today." So sweet!

Ezra fell asleep on my lap and I ended up transferring him back into his seat. The way that kid sleeps is impressive! He got lots of comments!

For some reason, when we booked the train tickets, first class tickets were cheaper than 2nd. So we ended up in first class, which came with free food, free beverages, and free really grumpy old people who complained loudly (in English) about having to sit next to children. Well, my kids were quiet and slept most of the way (unlike the loud German kids behind us). And the old lady who complained was traveling with (married to?) some high-ranking Army guy (who was much nicer than the lady) stationed here in Germany. She fell asleep before the boys did and slept with her mouth open the whole time (which made me smile inside) except for when her cell phone rang (with a loud, annoying Close Encounters of the Third Kind ring tone) and she carried on a conversation with her grown son about when she was going to be home and what kind of sweater she bought him in Paris. She ended up being much louder and more annoying than my boys!

Anyway, the boys got free orange juice and I got a free glass of wine. We were offered food, but after already eating our baguette, pears, orange, and chocolate pastry we were all full.

When we got back to Saarbrucken (our originating station), we first took the Tahoe (Kait's vehicle) out of short-term parking and to the nearest parking garage. It ended up being across the street but at 10pm, the garage was empty and, although we easily found a place to park, we had a tough time finding an unlocked pedestrian exit. It was a lot more walking through the garage and up and down stairwells (with locked doors at the bottom) till we made it out. Funny way to end our long day of walking! I left my GPS in Kait's vehicle so she can find her way home and ended up driving home a different way than I had planned, a route I was aware of but had never driven. It made me again grateful for Germany's logical, well planned traffic signs and road system. It was so easy getting home, even without knowing the route. The way they plan their autobahns, highways, and signs makes it a pleasure to drive here.

We made it home at about 10:30pm. The boys slept most of the way home in the car and pretty much went straight to bed and back to sleep within minutes. True to form, Mikey and Ezra woke up promptly at 6:30am this morning. After a nice service at church, we all came home for naps and had a relaxing recovery Lord's day at home. It was a blessed, special weekend!

The Dino Park Welcomes Autumn

2011-10-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

We made one last late-summer visit to the Dino Park in August. An indoor area hosts rotating exhibits and displays and, on this visit, they had a wonderful hands-on math museum set up inside. We all loved it and spent quite a bit of time there.

The giant bubble-maker was a hit. The boys quickly figured out exactly how to pull it to get a bubble taller than they were.

Blocks are always great!

Outside in the park, the autumn decorations were all in place and so very creative. Here is Puss In Boots.

I don't remember who this king is, sitting with Mother Goose or maybe the goose who lay the golden egg in the background.

The Pied Piper was calling his little pumpkin mice home.

The Prince was chasing Cinderella into the pumpkin coach.

And the old woman was enticing Hansel and Gretel to her gingerpumpkin house.

We took snacks to the park and, in the interest of continuing my German cultural education, brought these chips with us. Interestingly, the flavor is "Western Style". I expected it to taste something similar to our BBQ chips. No, instead, they tasted like MEAT. Yes, beef-flavored chips. I am a big fan of chips of all kinds but these will not be in my pantry ... ever. The boys liked them, though. Bleh!

Our last stop in the park was the giant sand box, always a favorite place of the boys.

It was about this time that it started sprinkling.

The sprinkles turned into a torrential downpour. Absolutely torrential. Monsoon-style. Within minutes, rivulets were running through the park and swampy areas were forming. We took cover under tents in the food area and ordered some pizza thinking that the rains would let up shortly. We thought wrong. After about a half hour of hard rain, we made a run for it when it eased up slightly. Dashing from one covered area to another, we made it back to the car pretty wet. The experience was definitely a memorable one!

End-of-Summer Class Picnic

2011-10-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of August, Mikey's Kindergarten met just outside of town for a class picnic. Mikey's class is really wonderful. He has a handful of great friends and I have become friends with a few of their mothers. They have been so welcoming.

They park we met at overlooked our village below and our windmill skyline.

The park was next to a wheat field. The boys had a great time exploring it and chewing on wheat kernels. Mikey, Finn, and Ezra are together in the next two photos.

The boys in the next picture are Marcel and Hannes, two of Mikey's best friends.

It was a beautiful, hot summer day and there were lots of water toys, which were a hit with all the kids.

This area has a popular late summer fruit, a mini plum called a Zwetschgen. We find them everywhere locally and the trees are full of them. Zwetschgentortes (plum cakes) are in all the bakeries. The kids found some low branches and helped themselves to the plums.

The gang is checking out their plum harvest and deciding on their next choice of play.

After 3pm cake and coffee it was time to get out The Meat. These people know how to grill! One of my German friends said this was a normal Saarland (our state) BBQ. Everyone brought their own meat and threw it on the swinging grill. One husband was somehow designated the grill-swinger-and-meat-turner. By the time all the meat was on, there was no room left on the grill. We brought brats and brotchen (rolls). They were quite good!

After the grill, one of my friends opened a big bowl she had brought that was full of a water-flour dough. The kids were given sticks wrapped in the dough and stood around the coals cooking their treats.

The boys loved getting a chance to grill their own food.

Ezra wanted his "blacker and blacker."

After the food, it was time for some soccer. A couple of dads set up the goals and brought out a ball. The boys were quick to follow.

That was a long, fun afternoon with such great summer weather and play.

All Giant Things: muscles, dinos, flowers, zucchini ... Oh my!

2011-10-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is a catch-up post with pictures from August. Let's start with a couple "too-cute" pictures. Ezra likes to show us (and anyone else who will look) his muscles because he is such a big boy. The way Ezra shows his muscles is hilarious. It's a full-body display. He clenches his teeth, his whole body shakes, and his face turns red. Daniel likes encouraging him.

We made another visit to the Dino Park a couple months ago to meet up with a friend. Her family and mine were stationed at Ft. Wainwright for 3 years while our oldest two were just babies. It had been over 4 years since we had last seen each other. Her family is stationed in Germany now, not too far from us. It was great seeing her again. My boys had a lot of fun playing with her girls.

I was surprised in August with a delivery of this big, beautiful bouquet from Steve. Very surprised, since the knock on the door from the delivery man came at 9pm. Living in a small village in a foreign country, I don't get many late-night visitors. Apparently, he had attempted delivery earlier in the day but as we weren't home at the time, he brought them back later. Very nice of him! And such a sweet gift from my love!

That same day, we made literally our largest harvest from our garden... this giant zucchini. It was huge! I made a few loaves of sourdough zucchini bread and chocolate zucchini bread. I think I used some of it for a dinner or two. And I still had some left over that I eventually found in the fridge (it became a bit of a science experiment).

Also in August, Daniel started his 2nd year in German Grundschule (elementary school). He is in 2nd grade and he's doing so well. His German is fluent. He has the same teacher from his 1st grade class last year. It's exciting watching him grow.

In the following picture from his first day of 2nd grade, he is second from the right (in back by the windows).

His teacher, Frau Henn, is in the next picture wearing gray and white. The classroom aide is next to her.

Jesus & Pizza

2011-10-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

I found this school assignment in Daniel's religion folder and it touched me. I wanted to share it with you.

Fact Sheet

Name
Age
Parents
Birthplace
Birth Date
Place of Residence
Place of Death

I also wanted to share this pizza because it just looks so good. A friend passed along a Sourdough Starter to me a couple months ago. I pulled it out for the sourdough crust (which I hand-tossed myself - that's a first for me!). It's topped with BBQ sauce, mozzarella & provolone, bacon, pineapple, and parmesan. Yummers! I haven't attempted homemade pizza dough for a while and I thought it turned out pretty good. I learned the Pizza-Tossing Technique here. And this is the recipe for the sourdough crust.

More fun at the Dino Park

2011-10-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

After we visited Worms with Grandma, we drove to the Dino park for the afternoon. And it was a gorgeous afternoon! Sunny. Hot enough to look for some shade as soon as we got there. We found shade next to the creek where the boys promptly joined 2 German girls who were building a dam. Busy, busy!

They soon had the ankle-deep creek MUCH deeper. And, boy, were they proud of themselves! And wet!

Next on the agenda ... the giant sandbox and the cool swing. I don't remember any swings half that cool when I was a kid!

And then the ropes course; one of Mikey and Ezra's favorites.

When they try to smile, the boys have such cute little flat smiles.

This is the coolest basket swing. The kids enter through a hole in the center of the bottom. Can you see Ezra peeking out?

And then it was time to visit the Dinos. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these at home to ride around the back yard?

More lovely summer flowers.

"Don't look now, Grandma, but there's a giant dinosaur right on top of you!"

We stayed until sunset and had so much fun. Ezra kicked the ball up the ramp with the setting sun in front of him.

This sunset-kissed flower greeted us on the way out.

Tschus!

Worms (the city in Germany, not slimy fish-bait)

2011-09-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

My mom is interested in church history and, especially, Martin Luther who was the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation here in Germany. Part of Luther's history took place in Worms, Germany, which is about an hour away. We spent part of a day there during mom's visit. We started with lunch at a restaurant facing this obelisk monument.

We passed some historically beautiful buildings on our walk through town.

Worms had these cute dragons all around, individually decorated by different people or businesses.

Aparently, dragons are a big deal in Worms. I found this little tidbit of info:

This is the tale of a widowed queen who fruitfully reigned Worms in pre-Christian times. One day a horrible Lindwurm (dragon) lay down before the city walls and threatened to destroy the city, unless every day one of the inhabitants was offered to him. The victims were chosen by lot, and one day it decided that the queen should be offered. However, a courageous locksmith had made an armour of iron set with shearing blades from top to bottom, and suggested to the queen that he be surrendered to the dragon, on condition that she married him and made him king. The queen agreed and the locksmith was thrown to the dragon in his armour. Hardly had the dragon pitched into the man when it cut itself into pieces with every movement it made. The victorious smith worked his way through the carcass, everybody was happy and in Worms a locksmith became king.

Supposedly, the town was named Wurms after the wurm (dragon) and it eventually became "Worms".

The town was beautifully bedecked in colorful summer flowers.

The Luther Memorial was impressive and inspired more interest on my part in the Protestant Reformation. It's staggering to realize all the history this area has seen.

On our way out of town, we stopped by St. Peter's Cathedral, over 1000 years old! In fact, the first cathedral in this location was built in the 7th century A.D.

What a magnificent building!

I love the oh-so-dramatic Gothic, Baroque, and High Romanesque styles throughout the cathedral.

And I always like stained glass windows.

This is one of five intricately carved late-Gothic tympana.

There is also a lower level crypt, which is the resting place royal families. Cool but creepy!

Luxembourg, part 2

2011-09-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

The same day back in July that we visited Luxembourg's Vianden Castle with my mom, we also drove into the capital city (conveniently named Luxembourg, imagine that!) for the afternoon and evening. Our first stop in the city was in a restroom, which was a great example of a typical pay-WC. It cost 50 Euro cents to use the toilet but because of this, there is always an attendant on duty keeping clean and safe. It's a nice trade.

The pedestrian zone of the downtown area was lined with restaurants. We found it quite humourous when we came across a Chi-Chis in this very French-German city.

The city has ancient Roman ties back to the first century A.D. and is cut by forested gorges and crossed by many bridges. It's really a beautiful city.

Government buildings can be seen across this gorge.

I love that Europe still has these classic phone booths!

The city is famous for it's Notre Dame cathedral. We've been to the one in Paris and now the one in Luxembourg!

The cathedral was in the middle of a service when we were there, so we were unable to look inside.

This cool fountain was on one of the outer walls of the cathedral.

We explored the oldtown pedestrian area, Place d'Armes. These old cities are so photogenic. I love the juxtaposition of old and new.

We passed by this Protestant church and peeked inside. It's fairly unassuming on the outside but the inside was elegant.

This statue is Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg during the 20th century. She ruled during a lot of political and social upheaval, including occupation by Germany, during which she was exiled to England and later to Canada and became a symbol for unity in Luxembourg, broadcasting encouragement regularly on BBC radio throughout the war.

Another cool fountain downtown celebrates 2 poets who wrote the words of the national anthem.

We almost ate dinner here. It looked yummy. But after waiting almost a half hour without even our order being taken, we decided that a typical long, leisurely European dinner was not what we were looking for after such a long day on the road. So, we grabbed some pizza from Pizza Hut (yuck!) and took it with us to eat while we drove back home.

As we walked back to the car, it started getting chilly and the boys were worn out. They turned my double stroller into a triple!

A Japanese Garten (ala The Magic Treehouse)

2011-09-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

The boys and I have enjoyed using The Magic Tree House books during our before-bed reading time together. The best part is the historical or geographical base for each book. If you aren't familiar with Jack, Annie, and their Magic Tree House, the tree house transports the kids to different times and places, both historical and fictional. They are great for basing lessons around. Even though we are not formally home schooling as we have in the past, I springboard off them to explore new places, times, and ideas with the boys.

After our trip to Paris in March we read one of the books (#35, I think) about the Paris World's Fair. It included such characters at Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Gustave Eiffel. It would have been even better to read it before our trip, but even after the trip we became much better acquainted with Paris and learned about the 4 inventors and scientists through even more library readings.

Our latest Tree House book was Dragon of the Red Dawn, set in Japan. After finishing it, we made a visit to the Japanese Gardens in Kaiserslautern to compare it to the Imperial Gardens we read about in the book.

It was cool to see the same rock bridges at our garden that we saw in the illustrations in the book.

In the next picture, the boys are smiling and looking handsome ... all except Mikey, who insisted on showing us what the waterfall looked like behind them.

One of our favorite parts of the garden was the koi pond. The koi were great! Some of them were huge! Bigger than Ezra?

Kait and the boys ran ahead to check out the fish...

Yeah, definitely as big as Ezra!

The fish (and the boys) were hungry! The fish were even munching on leaves and spitting them out. And when the boys finished their sandwiches and pretzels, they eagerly shared them extras with the fish who eagerly fought over them.

Kait and Mikey cuddled up during picnic time.

The garden has a refreshment area where tea can be bought as well as beer, pretzels, and Eis (ice cream), of course, and this cute tea house.

Since it is fall, there are very few flowers blooming, but the leaves are starting to change and the colors were very pretty.

There were a couple flowers hanging on for the last colors of the season.

At one point, we stopped and looked through the pictures in our Magic Treehouse book (which we brought with us, of course) to see what we could find that was similar. Daniel found this little stone pagoda in the book.

In this next photo, Mikey is eating a PB&J bagel. I'm not exactly sure what Ezra is doing...

There were beautiful streams and ponds throughout the garden.

There was a small grassy amphitheater that the boys used to practice their Sumo wrestling. I think Ezra may have a Sumo future...

The weather today was beautiful and, combined with a great post-unit-lesson field trip, we had a perfect afternoon.

Luxembourg trip: a cafe & Vianden Castle

2011-09-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

While Grandma was visiting, we planned a day trip to nearby Luxembourg. It was about a 2 hour drive to our first planned stop and on the way we had to make a potty break. I love having boys. Their "breaks" are so easy! We stopped near a bike/walking path and, after heeding nature's call, walked a bit on the path to stretch our legs. It was a beautiful day and the path was full of families biking together, a very popular German Sunday (family day) activity. A couple hundred yards from the road down the path, we happened upon an ideal German restaurant located in a private home. It was so quaint!

It was filled with antiques and apparently they host an antique market once a week, too.

They had a selection of homemade desserts. Many of the ingredients (including the berries in this cake) were from the owner's personal garden.

It was "cake and coffee" hour, so they didn't have any food ready. They would be open for dinner later. But the owner was happy to put together soup and a sandwich for us. We brought food with us in the car to eat, but it was fun to stop for a small snack.

Our cake, soup, and open-faced quark sandwich...

And then it was on to Vianden and the very picturesque Chateau (Castle) de Vianden. We were fortunate to be there on the day of a Medieval Market with lots of fun vendors and lots to see. Unfortunately, it meant for some serious walking from where I finally managed to park the car.

There were live shows all day. One was a fun caper about a sleepy guy and three drunk sword fighters. Lots of physical comedy. The boys laughed a lot!

We saw the actors taking a break in their tent outside later. I love seeing everyone in their period costumes! It almost makes it possible to imagine what it might have been like back then.

These renaissance folks were having cake and coffee in one of the great halls. Love the tapestries on the wall!

Much of the castle has been very well renovated and furnished with period pieces, like this kitchen.

I believe this was the "small dining room".

Daniel is checking out the well. Considering that the castle is way up on top of a very high hill, I imagine the well had to be really deep.

We tried out the stocks.

There were lots of handcrafted items like these baskets.

The architecture in the renovated castle was stunning. The windows, the arches, the massive fireplaces... All amazing.

I thought this room looked like a robot.

I believe this was called the "Upper Chapel". Very small. But, oh so pretty!

There was a cool bird guy doing a falcon demonstration. Love his outfit!!!

The boys took turns in the Ergo. I love that Mikey can still (kind of comfortably) ride on my back in the Ergo. It's such a great hands-free mama's helper!

Ezra used the Ergo, too, but I didn't get any pictures of that.
I'll wear my Ergo any day over this stuff. It looks so heavy and hot!

Of course, there was a Taverna.

The stone work inside the Taverna was just beautiful!

There was a real, live blacksmith at the castle.

And this guy was making amazing birds out of mud, straw, and sticks. He was next to a demonstration of how straw and mud (wattle and daub) was used to make walls for houses with thatch roofs.

He was giving the birds away free. We waited in line for a bird for Daniel. The boys weren't interested in sharing the bird. Mikey wanted one of his own.

So, we waited for Mikey and then for Ezra, too.

The castle was on such a high hill. The view was breathtaking.

We were in just the right place for a parade of castle costume people. Super cool!

After the castle, we drove out the small, lovely streets of Vianden...

... and on to Luxembourg City... (next post)