Trip to the States: Virginia

Our big trip started on June 17th.  We drove to Munich to catch our flight to Washington D.C. and from the airport we rented a car and went down to Westmoreland State Park in Virginia for a Johnson family reunion.  The trip was long but the boys did remarkably well during the flight and long drive to our destination.  Once in Virginia we got to spend 5 days with most of my family (my sister Eryn and her family were not able to make the trip)  We had a lot of fun but for me the best part was watching my boys play with their cousins...and Uncle Del, they really loved playing rough with Del.

Emerson peeking out from inside of a tree on one of our hikes around the park.

Auntie Paige and some of the little cousins climbed out onto a fallen log that was perched over the trail.  It was pretty high up, I'm really glad no one fell!

Townsend, Ethan Israelsen and Emerson climbed out on the log.  The boys loved playing with their cousin Ethan, he is about 6 months younger than the twins.

The pink ladies, Riann, Paige and DeNae.  Why didn't I get one of these shirts?  I guess I missed the sale at the Gap!

Leah Israelsen playing in the water at fossil beach.  The boys spent a lot of time digging through the sand at the beach and they each found at least one shark tooth.  I don't know why this particular beach has so many shark teeth but it was pretty exciting for the boys to search and then discover those treasures.

Daddy and the boys swimming at fossil beach.

The boys in "attack" mode on Uncle Del.  They really loved tackling him and being thrown into the water.

Mommy and Julian at the pool.  We were so lucky to have great weather most of the reunion.  One of the days was pretty rainy and so we all headed into town to the movie theater but for the most part we were able to enjoy being outside.

 Did I mention it rained?  Well, at least the kids had fun playing in the giant mud puddles the rain created:)  L-R: Matthew Isrealsen, Emerson, Townsend, Ethan and Leah Isrealsen.

Julian at the beach.

Paige and Riann attempted to build a raft out of multiple floaties, it worked pretty well but they did look pretty ridiculous.  

Enjoying a family dinner around the campfire.

Emerson found a turtle on one of our hikes.

Townsend found a teeny tiny frog.

Hiking around the forests of Virginia is pretty rough because of the heat and humidity.  You feel like you are completely drenched with sweat after only a few short minutes.

 What are those Durtschi brothers doing at a Johnson reunion?  It just happened to work out that Hyrum's two brothers, Jason and Emmett were in D.C. during the reunion and so they drove the 3 hours down to Virginia to hang out with us for a few hours.  It was so great seeing Emmett this trip, he lives in Wisconsin and we thought we wouldn't get to see him this summer.  We got to hang out more with Jason while in Utah but it was still great seeing him in Virginia.

Our little Durtschi family photo

A great sibling shot, I wish Eryn could have been there!  L-R: Riann, DeNae, Tanya, Paige, Del, Rachelle and Kristen

The whole family (minus Eryn and Stan and their 6 kids, oh yeah, we are also missing DeNae's husband Stan).

Overall the reunion was a success.  We played at two different beaches, went swimming in the pool, ate yummy food, played frisbee and made homemade ice cream.  We sang songs as a family and my Dad accompanied us on his ukelele.  We had a family talent show that was super cute, especially Ethan and Auntie Riann doing a joke routine.  I learned a lot about what my siblings have been up to and got to catch up on what my fabulous nieces and nephews have been doing.  I love my family and I'm so glad I got the chance to spend some time with them this summer.

Fun Times

We are heading out to the States Friday morning at 7:00 AM.   It is now Friday morning at 12:30 AM and we are still packing but I wanted to get this posted so that when I get back I don't have to catch up.  Today was the boys very last day of 1st grade.  They have made so much progress this year with reading and math.  I was really happy with both their teachers, they made learning and going to school fun.

Emerson with his class during his end of year concert.  They sang about 5 patriotic songs, including the Army song...which I think all the dads appreciated:)

Oh yeah, it's that time of year again.  This is Emerson enjoying the slip n slide!

Here is Townsend coming down the slide...wheeee.

Grafenwoehr recently celebrated it's 650th birthday.  We headed downtown to join in the festivities.

They had a big pile of hay at the playground for the kids to play on.

You can't attend a German birthday party without having bratwurst!

Did we buy those boys some more wooden weapons?  Ummmm....that would be a yes.  

Last Sunday the weather was fabulous so we headed to Weiden for their concert in the park series.  The music wasn't that stellar so we ditched the concert and headed to the wading pool.  Julian started off wearing a diaper...

...but it didn't last long.  Hey, we live in Europe, don't judge.

The boys stripped down to their undies and had fun splashing in the water.

Emerson and Townsend at the 1st grade end of the year barbeque.  They did each have a hot dog as well as the huge plate of cheetos you see pictured here.

My friend had a bunch of baby bunnies that we got to go and hold.  Emerson liked holding the bunny but didn't like the sharp little claws that came along with the baby bunny.

Townsend got to hold one of the chickens.

I had to take a picture of Julian pushing his little grocery cart around.  Every time we go to REWE he grabs his little cart and pushes it all around the store.  He loves helping mommy get cat food and other necessities at the German grocery store.

Townsend and Emerson helped Daddy pin on his rank when he promoted to Major.  I think they felt very important helping out while everyone stood at attention and watched.

Townsend with his teacher, Mrs. Martin, on the last day of school.

Emerson with his teacher, Mrs. Smith.  If you look closely you can tell she was crying.  This was her first year teaching and I think she got really attached to her class.  By the way, Emerson's whole class went to school in their pajamas...in case you were wondering about his outfit.

OK, I am officially caught up.  The next time I post anything it will be to describe our great trip to the U.S.  Stay tuned for some more fun times with the Durtschi's coming up in July:)

Weekend with the Platts

Our friend, Ben Platt, is going to be deployed at the end of July sometime and since we are headed to the States for a few weeks we have been trying to squeeze in as much "Platt family fun time" as we can.  This past weekend we went camping together on Friday, saw a movie together on Saturday and then did Family Home Evening together on Monday.  I don't know how they put up with our crazy family but when we get together it all seems to work out nicely.

Did I mention we camped in teepees?  Pretty interesting.  No floor, just grass.  It got pretty cold at night but I think overall the boys thought it was a lot of fun to camp in a teepee and the bonus for us: we didn't have to pack up a tent the next morning!

Roasting hot dogs around the fire.

Cael and Townsend having dinner.

It happened to be Cael's birthday last Friday as well.  We all enjoyed the cupcakes Becky brought.  Julian would eat the frosting off his cupcake and then give the rest to Mommy...I didn't mind:)

Saturday, waiting in the theater for Kung Fu Panda 2 to begin.

Before we headed out for our Family Home Evening trek through the forest the boys all got dressed up in full battle gear and had fun "fighting" with all the toy swords we have acquired since living here in Germany.

After such a fun weekend we had some serious scrubbing to do to get these kiddos clean:)

Memorial Day Weekend, Prague and Bayreuth

We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Friday, May 27th, after the boys came home from school and Hyrum came home from work we headed out to take pictures of the boys.  After photos we had dinner at Burger King (Julians favorite place on earth) and then went bowling.  What a great way to start a fun weekend.  This little video shows Julian honing his "bowling" skills.  Love that little man!

Saturday, May 28th we headed out as a family to Prague.  I had been to Prague with my sister Paige and Hyrum had been with his brother Jason but we had never taken a family trip out there.  Prague is a great little day trip for us, it's only about 2 1/2 hours away.  The weather was nice and sunny and we all had a great time.

 Prague is one of the best cities with kids, it seems like every place we walked we found a fun playground

 

We rode a funicular up the hill outside the main city to what we called the "mini Eiffel tower"

 

I forgot to count the steps it took to get all the way to the top of the tower but I know it was a lot.  Emerson and Townsend hiked up the whole way with me while Daddy and Julian waited below.

Townsend looking out the windows at the top of the tower.  It was a great place to go and see all of Prague at one time.

Right next to the tower is a building that has fun house mirrors as well as a maze of mirrors.  Needless to say, the boys loved this!

We stopped at the miniature art museum.  The artwork was all so tiny you had to look through a microscope to see it.  There was a flea with real metal horseshoes and a human hair with a verse from the Bible written on it.  

We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked around Prague.

Here were are on the Charles Bridge.  The boys are rubbing the dog on this sculpture relief, it's supposed to bring good luck.

The "band on the bridge" was lots of fun to listen to.  They played some great blue grass and dixie land music.  The boys favorite instrument was the wash board.

When Hyrum went to Prague with his brother they found the best gelato place so I was really excited to try it out.  I was not disappointed:)

We were lucky to be in Prague on a day they were having a music festival.  Here are some dancers doing traditional Czech festival dancing.  We had a great time and I'm sure we'll back to visit this fun city.

Sunday, May 29th.  After church we went and hiked around near the "water wheel."  We have been on this same trail lots of times but it's close to home and it's lots of fun.

Our good little hikers.

Julian and Daddy, what a beautiful day for a hike.

Relaxing after the hike.

Monday, May 30th.  We were trying all weekend to decide where to go for Memorial Day.  We thought about going to Legoland, which is outside of Munich, but we decided that we should just keep it simple and find somewhere close by that was fun.  So, we were off to Bayreuth for the day.  Our friends, the Platts, came along as well as Bill and Kathleen Goodbaudy, who have been staying with us the last few weeks.  We all had a great time and once again we were blessed with good weather.

Hyrum let the boys play with his ipod on the train ride out to Bayreuth.

There is a gazebo in the Hof garden in Bayreuth.  For some reason the boys decided it was the perfect location for waltzing...pretty cute to see those kids all dancing together.

Feeding the ducks in Bayreuth.

The little boys playing together...

...and the big boys playing together.  It's so great to have a friend that has kids about my boys age, it's so fun to watch them all have fun together.

On our way back to the train station we found this fountain.  It was such a hot day we decided to let the boys enjoy the cool water.  We told them they had to strip down to their undies but they weren't going for that so we ended up purchasing new shorts for the boys so they would have something dry to wear on the train ride home.

They were like little lizards.  When they got too cold in the water they would find a nice warm piece of concrete to lay on for a while.

We hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend and we hope you could spend time with your families and those you love.