Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

After living here for three years I finally made it to the pumpkin festival.  I found out about this festival in 2008 after moving to Germany and I have wanted to go each year we have been here but it never worked out.  Yesterday we woke to clouds and rain but I was determined to go because it was my last chance!  Lucky for us, after 2 1/2 hours driving the rain cleared up and we had cold but clear weather for our walk around the gardens.

The pumpkin festival is held in the gardens of the Ludwigsburg Schloss (or palace).

There was a restored carousel that the boys enjoyed.  The horses were life size and they had real horse hair manes and tails with real riding saddles.  The only sad part was there was no music...what is a carousel with no music?

The park had a "fairy tale" path.  The path led you through the forest with little houses displaying different fairy tales.  Here are the boys looking out of Rapunzels tower.

Julian makes a cute little woodland nymph sitting on his toadstool.

This was the Little Red Riding Hood display.  You could push a button and the characters would tell their story and move around a bit...the boys loved it!

There was a little train you could pay to ride.  Julian was in heaven, he loves trains.  As soon as we got off he asked to go again.  For the rest of the time we were in the park he kept asking to go on the train again:)

There was a display of different varieties of pumpkins.  The boys loved looking at these.  They each had a tag with the name of the pumpkin and the country they came from.

The pumpkin festival has a different theme each year, this year it was dinosaurs.  Each dinosaur was decorated with pumpkins.

I couldn't resist a photo of these cute pumpkin creatures.

Julian was so proud of the pumpkin he picked out, he wanted to hold it on his lap even though it weighed about as much as he did!

I told Townsend that if he kissed the dinosaur it would bring him good luck, too cute!

A shot of our delicious dinner.  They had pumpkin soup, rice with sliced pumpkin and pumpkin spice cake.  

One last family photo in front of "kurbi-sauris"

A shot of the gardens as we were walking back to the car.  

I am so happy that we went to the festival.  It was worth the long drive and we had fun despite the cold weather.  I love when we can find fun things to do with the kids to make memories of our time here in Germany.

Our last few weekends

Before I talk about our last few weekends, a friend asked me if I actually bought anything at that fantastic bazaar I went to, so I decided to post a few photos of my favorite purchases.

This is a wall hanging I bought called "the tree of life" which I love and which will look so great hung up on my wall with all my family photos.  And you can also see the two polish pottery mugs I bought, I really like the blue and white design.

This is an amber necklace I bought.  When I wear it I feel like an elf from The Lord Of The Rings.

OK, now that you have seen the awesome purchases I made I will move on to the last few weekends here in Germany.  To start, the weather has been absolutely fabulous the last few weeks.  Sunny and warm with no clouds in the sky...very rare for Bavaria this time of year.  Saturday, September 24th, we headed to Nuremberg for a fun outdoor market and a great dixieland concert.  Hyrum and I both got very emotional when the band played "Midnight In Moscow" which was one of Opa's favorite songs, how wonderful it would have been if he could be around to hear great music like that again.  

Emerson and Townsend walking around the outdoor market in Nuremberg

Not only was the band absolutely fabulous but just look at the outdoor location they were playing in!  Some of the members of this group have been playing together since the late 60's...they were a real treat to listen to.

The following weekend, Saturday October 1st, we headed out for a hike with some new friends, the Layton family.  Miles Layton went to medical school in Kirksville, Missouri (just like Hyrum) then did his residency at Madigan Army Medical Center (like Hyrum) and is now in the same clinic as Hyrum here in Germany!  They are a super fun family to hang out with and we can't wait to do more fun things in the future.

Here is a shot of the tower we hiked up to.  It was only about a 15 minute hike through the forest to get to the tower but with all the little kids we had along with us it was just about the perfect length for a hike.

Daddy and the boys looking out from the top of the tower.  It was so cool to look out and see the tops of all the trees around you.

Here is a shot with all the kids.  Those Layton girls are super cute, Emmy and Towns were walking together and talking for most of the time and little miss Paige was such a helper with Julian...man I wish they were old enough to babysit!

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!

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.