Ramstein Bazaar

I have been in Germany more than 3 years now and I have heard of the Ramstein Bazaar as "THE ONE" you want to go to while in Germany.  Since this was my last chance to attend I was determined to make the 3 hour trek and go to this bazaar.  I knew I didn't want to bring my kids, trying to drag three kids around a huge bazaar is no fun.  I knew I didn't want to go by myself.  This left me with the brilliant idea of leaving my children home with Hyrum and snatching a friend to come with me (while she left her boys with a friend.)  It was a fabulous idea and we had a wonderful time.  When Becky dropped me off at home after our trip I said goodbye at the door and she said, "time to get back to reality!"  Yes, Becky, it was so fun to take a break from reality for a few days with a good friend.

We began Saturday with a wonderful breakfast, courtesy of the German bakery inside our hotel.

Here is a shot of one of the airplane hangers that housed the bazaar.  There were 2 airplane hangers full of vendors plus a full sized Army tent full of vendors.  It was paradise to walk around and look at all the things to buy and not have little kids pulling on our arms and saying they were tired.

We got tacos for lunch.  I made fun of Becky for choosing the grape soda, "what, are you in 3rd grade?"  I got the diet coke, very grown up of me...(our difference in age was to present a bit of an awkward moment later in the day...)

 After the bazaar we enjoyed a relaxing pedicure.  Now for the awkward moment: we sat down to get our pedicures and the lady that was doing Becky's feet asked her, "oh, are you here with your mom?"  OK, so either Becky looks like she is 13 or I look like I'm 50?  Come on, are you kidding me?

After our pedicures we went into Kaiserslautern for dinner.  There is a fun fountain outside of the restaurant and we had a few minutes to kill before our reservation.  Here is Becky posing...

And here's my best shot.  You gotta love the Europeans and their total acceptance of the human body.

Becky at the restaurant.  It's called "Himalaya" and I totally recommend it for anyone visiting Kaiserslautern.

This picture is for my sister Paige.  This was my first trip to Himalaya without her, we always got the chicken farsi...yummmmm.

So there you have it.  A girls weekend full of shopping and laughing and eating and sleeping in and shopping (did I say that already?)  Thanks Becky for a fun time:)

Labor Day Weekend

Hyrum was on call this long weekend so we had to stick close to home in case he got called into the office.  We still had lots of fun though, and the weather was perfect!

Hyrum had the day off work on Friday but the boys still had school so we got to hang out together with just our little man Jules.  We took the opportunity to go on a 3 hour bike ride around the countryside near our house.  It is fabulous to hook up our bikes and head out from our driveway and have miles of trails to explore.  After the first really big hill I was sure glad Hyrum was pulling Julian and not me:)

Here I am in front of the gate that leads to an old convent in Speinshart.

Inside the church in Speinshart.

We rode a loop that took us past the lake in Eschenbach.  Here is Hyrum's bike and...what's that?  Could it be a naked Julian splashing in the water?

Saturday was another fabulous day, weather wise.  We took the boys up to Amberg to play at "pirate park."  We were meeting Becky and the boys but they were running a little late so we walked around Amberg a bit before heading to the park.  The water in Amberg was quite brown but I liked the little covered bridge in the background of this photo.

Quick story about gelato in Amberg.  We went to the first gelato stand we found in Amberg and each got 2 scoops of ice-cream.  After just the first bite we realized it wasn't the best gelato in the world but it was a hot day so we continued eating.  After walking around a bit more we found ANOTHER gelato stand and just had to try it out...so we each got another scoop of ice cream.  Hey, it was a pretty hot day, three scoops of ice cream is NOT unreasonable on a hot day:)  FYI: The second gelato we tried was way better...I'll have to remember this if we go to Amberg again.

Cael and Emerson playing on the rocks at "pirate park."

All the boys having fun on the raft.

Really?  Could Julian be any cuter?

We struck out with the weather on Monday.  Fortunately I had arranged for Townsend to have a play date with his friend Abby.  Abby was in Townsend's kindergarten as well as 1st grade class.  Unfortunately they are not together for 2nd grade but they did have a lot of fun playing together at the house. 

First Day of 2nd Grade

I can't explain how happy I was to send those boys off to school.  Kindergarten was a bit hard to see them go, 1st grade I was a bit apprehensive but 2nd grade...no worries.  See you later boys!  The boys were also happy to start school.  I think they were anxious to get into the routine of the school year, meet their teachers and make new friends.  All around, Monday August 29 was a pretty good day!

How can you NOT have a great first day of school if you start the morning off with cinnamon rolls!

Emerson lined up with his class before they all headed off into the school.

Here is Townsend waiting for school to get started.

Emerson with his teacher, Mrs. Hall at the end of the school day.  We continued the tradition of bringing the boys a schultüte on the first day of school.  

Townsend with his teacher, Mrs. Goodfellow.

So far they both love school.  They both lucked out with great teachers and I look forward to this school year and all the things they will learn and come to understand this year.  I love my grown up boys!