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!

A Last Hurrah Before School Starts

We have wanted to visit Northern Germany since we moved here three years ago.  A lot of Germans visit the North Sea or the Baltic Sea during their summer holidays and we wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  We thought the weekend before school started we would head up and spend a few days on the beach.  I guess Germans have thicker blood than us wimpy Americans...the water in Northern Germany is not exactly warm and we spent three days wondering why we hadn't spent 6 hours in the car heading South (toward warm and sunny Italy) instead of North!  With this said we did have a fun trip and the bonus part was we got to spend the entire time with Becky Platt and her boys (seriously DON'T know how she puts up with the crazy family we are but it was lots of fun to have friends along).

Day One:  We stopped for lunch about 4 hours into the trip.  Here is Brecon and Emerson walking around the beautiful gardens on the Freundschaftsinsel in Potsdam.

This is the only shot I had of all 6 boys (just pretend I'm not there).  Connor, Julian, Brecon, Emerson, Cael and Townsend

This is the house we stayed in Kroepelin...super cute.  We got used to the train that went by every 45 minutes or so, just across the driveway from the house.  Julian LOVED the train...I'm not so sure the rest of us loved it in the middle of the night!

Day Two: At the beach in Kuehlungsborn...too cold, too cloudy

The cool air didn't stop those Platt boys from trying out the boogie board!  We went home after about an hour or so hanging out that morning.  We put the babies down for naps and by 2:30 or so...

...the SUN came out.  We hopped back in the cars and drove to the beach again, the afternoon was much nicer...not HOT but at least sunny.

Cael and Emerson being sculpted into the sand.

Daddy helped the boys build a sand castle with a deep moat all the way around.

Connor and Julian hanging out in our rented beach chair/bungalow.

Day Three: Started off cloudy again so instead of hitting the beach we decided to take the old steam train to Bad Doberan.

Emerson is part monkey.  Here he is showing off his talent while waiting for the train to show up.

Julian and Connor enjoying the world as it passes by out the train window.

Brecon and Emerson watching the train track and enjoying the scenery from the back of the train.

Cael and Townsend, buddies on the train.

Favorite picture from the whole trip.  I love how Julian's face is all scrunched up, "not the kissy Mommy!"

The sun came out later in the afternoon and so we stopped for a bit of refreshment.

Cool old convent in Bad Doberan.

Inside the Gothic Muenster in Bad Doberan

After the whole day on the train and wandering around an old city I was ready to call it quits but the boys wanted to hit the beach one more time.  I'm so glad we did.  This last evening at the beach was the best time we spent at the ocean.  I think we stayed and played for about three hours!  Look how happy Julian is!

The big boys spent the better part of an hour building and then trying to protect this sand structure from the oncoming waves.  They worked really well together and tried many different tactics to keep the waves at bay but in the end the ocean won...bye bye sand structure.

Look at these kids...they totally LOVED the ocean waves.

Day Four:  It was pretty much rainy the whole day.  We found a great indoor pool about 30 minutes from the house and played there for about 5 hours.  That's the longest we have ever stayed at an indoor pool but this pool was pretty cool.  There were about 6 different water slides the boys could go down, all by themselves, and they had a wave pool and a pretty cool baby area.  We were all worn out after the pool so that evening we just stayed inside and watched movies.  Sometimes it's good to take a minute and actually RELAX on your vacation.

Day Five:  Headed for home.  It was a fun trip but we still aren't quite sure why the Germans love to vacation in the rainy cool Northern country.

Temple Trip (and then some!)

Hyrum had Friday off this last week so we planned a trip up to Freiberg to visit the Temple and to have some fun in that part of Germany.  We invited along my friend Becky (whose husband has recently deployed) and her three boys.  We also had another friend, Miranda, along to help with kid control.  Becky and Miranda went to the Temple Friday evening and then Hyrum and I went on Saturday morning.  It worked out great so we could always have two people watching the 6 crazy boys at all times.

Saturday we spent the day in Seiffen, a cute town known for it's wooden toys.  Sunday we spent at the castle in Augustusburg.  I think everyone had a fun time, there were only a few meltdowns with the boys but mostly they all had fun together.

Julian playing in the water at the park in Stollberg.  This is our favorite place to stop for lunch on our way up to Freiberg.

Townsend playing at the park.

Julian and Connor at the playground.  These two were so cute together this weekend.  I even caught them holding hands once.

Emerson, Cael and  Townsend at the outdoor museum in Seiffen

Cael, Julian and Townsend playing in the water trough at the outdoor museum.

Julian and Connor on the steps inside one of the farmhouses on display at the museum

The real reason I come to Seiffen is to look around all the shops at the German woodwork

The very cute town of Augustusburg

Family photo outside the castle in Augustusburg

Miranda and Brecon on the roddelbahn outside of Augustusburg

Munich (or München for you die hard German speakers)

Summer vacation lasts a little too long for me.  My kids get bored, they get grumpy and I go insane.  I have to get out and do something with all this time on our hands.  I just can't stay at home for more than a few weeks without getting the itch to go and do something different.  Last weekend I went to Munich, dragging along a helpful 10 year old girl with me (thanks Victoria Briskin).  We drove down Friday morning, ate lunch at McDonalds and then hit the Deutsches Museum.  We have been to this museum twice already but the boys love their exhibit on mining and I knew Julian would love the children's museum exhibit.  After the museum we walked around the old city a bit and then got some bratwurst on rolls for dinner.  All in all it was a fun filled day.  Hyrum came down on the train after work on Friday and met us in Munich around 8:00PM.  Saturday we had a blast at the zoo and after lunch we went to a great outdoor swimming pool.  We got home Saturday evening tired but happy to have experienced something different than our day to day routine.

Julian loved the children's museum

Townsend and Emerson playing around at the children's museum

Julian and Victoria relaxing at the playground

The Victuellen Markt where we always go for yummy bratuwurst.

The boys usually just eat the bratwurst and save the roll to feed the pigeons.

The Munich zoo has a great aquarium.

Hello...crocodile?

We were so lucky to see many baby animals.  We saw this cute baby elephant but there were also baby giraffes, monkeys and ducks to be seen.

We were lucky enough to happen upon the sea lions during their "show."  Townsend said this was his favorite part of the zoo.

Julian feeding the goats at the petting zoo.

Here we are in the University district enjoying what is probably the best gelato in Munich.  They had the craziest flavors to choose from.  I got a scoop of chocolate/ginger...it was fabulous!