S T R E P, seriously?

Coleman just tested positive for strep. Seriously, happens every year. Taking his tonsils out a couple years ago helped but if someone is going to get strep, it's Coleman or Ty.

He's quite content chilling on the couch for a day or two. He looks thrilled above, doesn't he?

Y E A H... first day of school

6:00 came early. However, this day did not come too soon! With an extended summer {getting out of school in Germany the end of April} this mom and dad are enjoying the silence this morning!

We are experiencing not only a lot of change at this transition in our lives, but also many firsts.
The first full summer Jim has been home to see the craziness behind what makes a summer.
Today, he is experiencing for the first time the excitement of sending kids to school.

That sigh of relief knowing that for the next nine hours, messes will not be made!

As every parent does- we love our boys. They just need to be in school. We think they are in for a fantastic year.

While registering them their new principal gave a tour of the one-level grade school.
She also placed them with what seem to be wonderful teachers- ready to take them on.

What a contrast from Germany. There are six classrooms in each level rather than eighteen or more.
They will have PE three times a week.

Caden gets two recesses a day.
There is no Spanish or German.

Rather than having 55 school busses, rural route 3 picked them up in our driveway.

No more smoking or cell-phone talking German bus drivers. I think Caden is most happy to be done with them.

It is pretty special to have our first-day-of-school pictures back on our front porch.

Caden thought it would be his first picture since he started school in Germany. Actually, he used to hang with the big guys when they had their first days...

Y E A H ... school is in session

Maybe things can calm down now.... maybe...

Ty started college last week.
So grown up.

Well, too grown up except his mama still has to drop him off and pick him up from school every day.
Oh, well.
I think he'll survive.
The downside of living in Europe.

W O R L D cup ski jumping

I'm SO happy for the fun we had during our winter break.

If you are going to live in Europe, you have to travel.

That’s all there is to it. It’s a trade-off being so far from family in the states and makes it worth being over here.

We are absolutely amazed each time we visit a new place.

This time with Justin home and the boys out of school, we planned another trip to one of our favorite spots: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian region of southern Germany. 
 

Staying at the military resort, it is the most central, most convenient spot. With a small base, we can shop at the commissary and get our rationed gas {saving a ton of money}. 

As a bonus, we always seem to meet up with friends staying there at the same time. It makes it so much fun for the kids to hang with their friends.

 About the only thing we do the same each time we visit Edelweiss is the hot tub and pool. There are so many things to do that our day trips and sightseeing is different every single time. 

 

For this three-night, four-day trip the survey of favorites ended up as follows:

Jim: Italy/Ötzi
Sheila: World Cup Ski Jumping
Justin: Italy
Ty: Olympic Arena Ice Skating {duplicate from a trip last year}
Coleman: Ötzi
Caden: Olympic Arena Ice Skating

I think it is super important when trip planning {especially with kids} to balance the busy with the relaxed. It is tempting to plan an agenda getting up at the crack of dawn every day to get as much in as possible.

 

This time around, it was nice to sleep in a little. It was nice to watch movies at night. Other than our four-hour drive down to Garmisch, it was nice to stay within a two-and-a-half hour drive radius of our hotel. Needless to say, we still saw a lot.  

Day One was my favorite hands down.

 

We drove straight to the hotel, parked and called a taxi to take us to the venue. With 30,000 people attending, we decided not to try to find a parking space.

The Germans were so excited. I loved the energy in the air. They were especially excited when their German competitors were up to jump. They started singing and waving their flags. It was great. The jumpers were amazing- even from a distance to see them take off and go so far was incredible.

It was cold.

It was even a little crowded.

The boys were a little bored, but did alright. They were much better with a hot cider in their hands and German kuchen in their mouths. It was fun to have our friends Randy, Michelle and Ryan to hang out with too.

The taxi let us know where he would pick us up in an attempt to avoid some traffic.

We called him and what was supposed to be a 15-minute wait turned into an hour. The boys might have liked my plan a little better had we not froze waiting for the taxi.

Oh, well.
 

It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that we can check off our list. No regrets, right? 

Check out this brotherly love- melts my heart.

deciembre C A L E N D A R

Think someone is excited for his brother to come home?

I think we all are. Less than ten days to go...

 

 

Here's the close up on Coleman's December 14.

JD BDAY My brother Justin is coming home

 

S C H N E E {snow}

Happy December!

I was just commenting that for me, it doesn't seem like Christmas without snow.

December seems to sneak up on me when the ground is still brown and the grass remains green. Pansies having recently been planted in our village really throws me off.

I'm not sure what I'll do if we ever get moved to San Diego or Texas where the sun is still shining.

That doesn't necessarily mean I miss the snow.

I just think that after living most of my life in a state that snow is a definite, I am programmed to associate snow and the holidays. It is pretty. I just prefer not to drive in it, or shovel it or scrape windows.

I'm happy for two little guys who are eager and excited to get out and shovel the {less than one inch} trace of snow we received last night.

I'm sure it would be a different story if we were in Alaska and shoveling was a chore.
A really different story.

It's never a question of if it is going to snow in Alaska, but how much snow are we going to get.

In Kansas and here in Germany, there are winters where there is snow and others {last year for us} that not a flake falls. It's a dark yet mild winter in Deutschland.

Rain just doesn't trigger the thought that I better get out and start shopping or baking.
Maybe now, I'll get into the holiday spirit.

This is the view we woke up to this morning.

These scenic pictures were not changed to black and white. At 9:00am, my camera on auto needed the flash to get enough light. If you look closely, you can see the brown or the green on the fir.

It is the grey of Germany.

The grey of winter.

Happy December!

a little R A C Q U E T B A L L ?

Jim has been studying like crazy.
He tests for his job next week.
We are also at the end of two very difficult classes.

Throw a little work in there and it hasn't been too much fun around our house.

We can't wait until it is over.

We're ready to play.
We're ready to travel.

We're really ready for Justin to come home so we can hit some Christmas markets.

Last weekend, we took Coleman and Caden to the gym for a little racquetball. They loved it and woke up begging to play every morning of their long weekend. Three days in a row and they still didn't get enough.

So much fun. We even wore the goggles. Aren't we cute? It's all about the memories.

H O T cookies after school

I've got warm cookies straight out of the oven ready for these little guys to get home from their first day of school!

Chocolate chip chunk.
Chocolate chip, oatmeal.
White chocolate, cranberries & macadamia nut.

Yum.

Oh happy day!

I might possibly been the one who enjoyed back to school the most.

Can't wait to hear what they thought.

Justin took a picture of himself (for me) last week on his first day of school.
As soon as I get it, I'm sure I'll have to share.

N A K E D really is the norm

I don't think this falls into the negative or positive category as far as our experiences in France. It's the culture. No big deal.

I spent quite a bit of time researching the beaches of southern France.

Knowing this would be our focus, it was difficult with so many to choose from. Before we left, I found a guide to the beaches of the area we were visiting- Languedoc.

With more than forty to choose from right in our immediate area, we had quite the variety.

The review I had rated each beach as excellent, good, ok and bad. I'm still not sure I believe there is such thing as a bad beach.

We managed to hit four beaches in the area.

All were different.

All were fun.

All were wonderful and memories were created.

Not bad for a week-long trip.

First up, we hit the beach closest to our house. Marseillan Plage was a quick 20-minute drive and first up on our agenda.

The review said, "The beach at Marseillan Plage looks and feels very much like Cap D'Agde's- except that its bathers aren't nude." Remember my posting about Cap D'Agde- I told you we were right next to it.

The sand was fine, it was close and wasn't a naturist beach so we decided to go for it.

In my mind, I thought that not being listed as a naturist beach, everyone would have a suit on. Boy, was I wrong. It's hard to go anywhere here without boobs hanging out.

All kinds of boobs at that hanging at all different levels. 

our happy Coleman swimming in th ecrystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea

The beach was beautiful- boys were happy. Sun was shining and warm, but the water was freezing. We were in the Mediterranean Sea after all.

My friend Stacey and I decided to go for a walk down the beach. Into our conversation, I looked up and noticed a completely nude couple getting out of the water.

Then, we gazed across the sand to see that everyone else was completely nude at the same time we noticed the sign saying we were leaving Marseillan Plage and now on the naturalist side.

Hilarious.

We turned around knowing we wouldn't be welcome with our suits on.

Taking ours  off wasn't really an option either.

The funny thing is, after day one, we didn't really care if they were listed as naturist or not.

We hit both and saw all types. I don't think any of the boys were really shocked at seeing anything.

After about the first hour, I'm not sure they even noticed as a set of exposed boobs walked by.

They were too busy playing in the sand, swimming and collecting treasures.

At least the little boys that is.

Marseillan Plage was only listed as ok.

The other three beaches we would visit were all rated excellent.

Oh, I love an excellent beach.

Oh, I love a good one, too.

a kid's L I F E

While sipping his bedtime tea with warm blankets having just finished reading bedtime stories, Coleman announced just moments ago,

"Dad, just to tell you. A kid's life is much harder than an adult's."

Wow.
Did he really just say that?
This kid?
I'm thinking maybe once he gets to college, he'll think differently. Maybe.

F R E S H is fabulous

Justin's now on two-a-days practicing in the triple-digit heat of Kansas. He was prepared to work hard, but I'm not sure he was prepared for the competition. They're definitely in a pressure cooker.

Yesterday, he messaged that there are 55 spots for the game roster and 125 kids trying out. He also said, "Thanks for the support cause I really need it right now."

Our messages back have been to sleep, eat, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK and stay strong.
I'm trying to stay calm. Feels like I'm at camp too- it's been an exhausting week.

I thought today I'd switch my thinking and focus back to our trip to southern France.

Markets are popular in Europe.

France is no exception.

In our week there, we were able to catch a couple of them. 

The fresh farmer's market was amazing- perhaps our favorite. You had your pick of fresh meats, fish, fruits and vegetables all on one square.

As a port village, seafood is especially popular specifically the mussels and oysters. If we knew how to cook them, we would have bought them.

Instead, we focused on the amazing fruits and vegetables. We were not disappointed.  We first hit found the cantaloupe and artichoke guy.

 He tossed the melons to pick the best. His baby artichokes were 10 for 1 euro, or about $1.25. Delicious.

With stands all around, Jim happened upon a small corner inside with an old farmer and his produce. He bought a couple nectarines and a huge tomato.

Jim made the comment the old man knew how to garden- his stuff would be good.

We ran home, sliced open one of his white nectarines and are convinced it will likely be the best nectarine we will ever eat.

our favorite old man in France with the best fruit- hand's down

I don't think I've ever tasted a more perfect fruit. Love at first bite.

Of course, we ran back down before he closed up to grab up some more. He smiled when he saw us. Jim picked out another bag of nectarines and we tried our best to let him know how fabulous they were.

Merci, Merci, Merci is about all I know how to say.

As we paid our one or two dollars {or whatever insanely low price it was}, Jim told him {with hand-signal mixed with English, or course} to keep the change.

The change amounting to maybe 40 or 50 cents- very, very little.

The old man didn't know what to do as he tried to hand it back to Jim and Jim tried to let him know to keep it. In a little scurry, he reached over and grabbed two more peaches and handed them to us. It was very sweet. 

As we were leaving Marseillan, the market was open once again so we had to peek in and visit our favorite grower.

His eyes lit up as he saw Jim and he reached over to shake his hand, then mine.

We let him pick out a bag of peaches for us, then he showed Jim how to pick the sweetest cantaloupes.

As others had fancy registers and a little more modern technology, he had none of that.

With only his scale and a broken-off piece of chalk, he wrote out and added up the amounts of our purchase on the corner of his little plywood stand.

Shaking, his hands were huge and fingers almost as wide as two of Jim's showing a life of hard manual labor.

This time, as Jim paid- he looked around for someone to find with change. Jim let him know to keep it. Only a few dollars, he was obviously touched. Best money we spent all week.

With a complete language barrier- not understanding a word of what he said, I mostly watched the old man's eyes as he worked with Jim.

As he accepted our payment, his eyes filled up to the brim with tears.  

As Jim spoke in English and the old man in French, they seemed to understand each other. 

Sounds silly as we were just buying fruit, but for some reason- it was a little more than that.

trying on H A T S

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

We've been out of touch and off the Internet and enjoying the last couple days trying on hats, eating German food and traveling a little between Germany and Austria in beautiful Bavaria.

We haven't checked email, answered a phone or turned on a tv for a couple of days. It's been nice.

Sometimes, it simplifies things a little to be unplugged from the computer with no knowledge of what is going on in the world around us.
In just a couple of days on the road, I already have plenty to document once we settle back into real life.

In the meantime, we'll continue to play, laugh, {fight} and make memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

Great memories as we continue in an effort to focus on what really matters while strengthening our little family.

That's the goal.

Life is good.

lichtenstein C A S T L E

It was day three of our trip. Already, we had covered some distance and about to cover more in search of a couple castles to the east.



It was finally a beautiful, sunny day- the weather was delightful. Not super hot, but clear and beautiful for castle viewing and touring. No snow or rain was a plus. Sun was a bonus.

Up first: Lichtenstein Castle. Count Wilhelm of Württemberg had it built in 1840-42. We took the tour and were happy to have a guide give a little of it in English as well.


check out this view...

What a beautiful castle!
Most of them are, I suppose.

Also as with most of them, it is up on a hill overlooking a huge valley. The view went on for miles.

The boys loved the armour and weapons room.

I most enjoyed the view and the sun.

By the end of our tour, the boys were ready to get on with it. Little did they know we were heading to another castle after lunch.

Once again reminded of the lack of convenience in Germany, we struggled to find a place to sit down and eat a quick lunch.

We found a couple places open with prices of plates in the $30 range. Not in our budget.

Many places close down for lunch which was another problem. Fast food in these villages is non-existent.

We ended up hitting a small grocery store called a Netto and buying sandwich fixings. Perfect.

Out in the parking lot with the back door open, we ate picnic style: Edelsalami, turkey and white cheese on brotchen.

Everyone was happy!

F R E I B U R G

Next up on our schedule was a day trip to Freiburg. To our surprise, we woke up to snow! Actual snow flakes falling- as many as we saw all winter combined.

Not the warmest weather for what is supposed to be Spring Break. Our day went on as planned.

More history and more of Germany... we had some miles to cover!

At the center of the old city is the Münsterplatz or Cathedral Square. Another beautiful cathedral built between 1200 and 1530.

The whole square with surrounding buildings was amazing- so much detail in every single building- kinda a theme going on throughout Europe.

chasing pigeons...

After visiting Strassbourg, we figured we'd take a look inside. Following other people, we slipped into the side door only to realize {again} they were in the middle of mass.

In Germany, Good Friday is a holiday, Easter Sunday {of course} and also the Monday after Easter is a holiday, which is the day our visit fell on.

It wasn't until we exited the back of the cathedral that we saw the sign saying it was closed at the moment for their service- no tours.

They even had it written in English. We weren't trying to break the rules- just came in the wrong door. Oops.

 We did enjoy the moment of reverence and the singing within the massive walls. 
As with all of these cathedrals, the stained glass is absolutely stunning. 

 The whole city has gutters running on every street. They add a lot of character, but also made me crazy wondering which little guy was going to fall in first.

Upon our return home, I read that these gutters, once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock, are constantly flowing with water diverted from the Dreisam. 

They were never used for sewage, and such use could lead to harsh penalties, even in the Middle Ages. During the summer, the running water provides natural cooling of the air, and offers a pleasant gurgling sound{Wikipedia}.

It is said that if you fall or step accidentally into a Bächle, you will marry a Freiburger, or 'Bobbele'. If I had known that, maybe I wouldn't have stressed so much.

No one got wet- fortunately. I'm still not sure how that happened.

 Ricky {our friend} took these pictures of the boys and a bunch of others that he graciously shared.

Look at these goofballs making this mama crazy! We did see a woman filling a bucket with the water- a good way to water plants.

The sweetest thing was watching little children with toy boats on a string running along the water as their boats floated down the gutters.

We enjoyed a traditional schnitzel lunch at a lower-level bar/restauraunt, then made our way in search of cuck-coo clocks. This is the Black Forest after all!