Schloss Neuschwanstein

We went to Cinderella's Castle the day after Christmas. It was a nice day with the sun shinning. But what we didn't know was how cold it was still going to be or how far we would have to walk to get to the castle. There is about a 30 minute walk from where we parked to the castle. The boys had it great and Stewart kept warm by pushing the stroller. We got about 3/4 the way up and I realized I had forgotten the Camera in the car. (I did remember the video camera which we never used.) So I jogged back down the hill, while Stewart went on with the kids. At the top he got lunch for the kids, as I raced back up the hill. I was sweating by the time I got back up to the castle, but at least I was warm. I had to take off my gloves and unzip my coat. The kids were all bundled with their gloves and hats Grandma Grover had made for them. We knew we were not going to take the tour inside the castle, just too much for Zachary and Thomas. But it was so cold outside, the kids were cold and Zachary was starting to fuss. So we walked around just a bit, waited in line for the bathroom then hiked back down to the car. Oh yeah Thomas had a fever and wasn't feeling well, so he stayed in the stroller the whole time. Zachary explored a little and Cassidy wanted to ride on the horse cart. They had horse drawn carts to take you up or down the mountain, but there was a long line to get on. It was a quick trip, but it was still fun. We will definitely go back when it gets warmer. They have a lot of hiking trails that were closed because of the snow.

Zachary is a German!!

It is official we all speak German now. Zachary said "bitte" yesterday for the first time. It is the one word you want every child to say. It means please.

Bowling with Santa

Stewart's work hosted a kids bowling party tonight. We only made it through one game. I have no idea what their scores were. The kids had fun, but we found out there is just too much lag time in between turns. Especially when the kids balls go so slowly down the lane. So going bowling once a year is good enough for now. As you can see Cassidy gets a running start, and she does pretty well. She got one or two spares. I should give credit to the Wii, but I think it was the side gutter rails that really helped. Thomas and Zachary just have to give the ball a push and hope it doesn't come back and squish their fingers. There is a little lip on the edge of the ramp that they have to get the ball over before it goes down. The kids then ate pizza and had cupcakes, or as Thomas calls them "pupcakes". Then Santa came, OK he wasn't all that impressive as Santa, but my kids didn't say anything. I think they just liked the presents he came with too much to care about what Santa looked like.

The really bad thing was we ran into a "real" Santa at the grocery store right before we went bowling. It was real cute though. In this store they have little shopping carts for the kids to push around. Usually Thomas goes crazy running these carts around the aisles. But when we walked in I saw Santa around the corner, so I whispered to Thomas "He had better be good and not run around, because you know who is always watching." Then I pointed over to Santa. Thomas just looked at him, then at me, then walked with his cart very slowly into the store. It was the best shopping experience I have had in that store.

Bowling with Santa

Making Christmas Cookies

This is a family tradition of ours, to bake and decorate Gingerbread cookies. It started in my family before I was born. My parents and brother had moved to Germany right before Christmas. They did not have their furniture, household goods, or any Christmas decorations yet. So they decorated thier tree with Gingerbread cookies and strings of popcorn. So we have been doing this ever since.

It took a while to get the cookies on the tree this year. It seemed the cookies kept disapearing beofore we could decorate and hang them. Well they are now on the tree and no one has eaten them yet. Except for the ones that have fallen off their strings. It suprises me that Zachary hasn't eaten them. He just points to them and says cookie.

Snow Day

Thomas,Zachary and I walked to the school bus stop. And again, it took us an hour to get home. But we just had to stop to make a snow man, snow angels and have a snow ball fight. It is still snowing now. We have about 5 inches. Zachary didn't get the idea of snow angels, but he liked the snow flakes falling in his eyes. Thomas took some coaxing to get him to lay down in the snow. But after he did it once he did it again and again. Cassidy was the instructor, trying to teach them how it was done.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

St. Nikolaus

December 6th is St. Nikolaus Day. It is celebrated in Southern Germany by kids polishing their shoes and setting them by the door or the window, then St. Nikolaus comes the night before and fills their shoes with nuts and candy. Well St. Nikolaus came but the kids didn't know he was coming. In the morning Cassidy, Thomas and I were watching TV and Zachary kept coming into the living room with his hands full of candy. Thomas followed him and came back with candy too. Cassidy finally noticed and asked Thomas were it came from. He said they were in my shoes. They pulled all the candy out and thought it was just crazy. Thomas thought it was Santa and wanted to go open presents. Cassidy asked if I had done it, then figured Stewart had done it. I denied it on both accounts. Stewart was working that night. Then I read a story about St. Nikolaus to Cassidy and she was so excited to go back to school to tell her teacher that St. Nikolaus was still alive and he came to her house. They had learned about him in class. They even made paper shoes.

On Monday both Thomas and Cassidy came home from school with their shoes filled with candy and nuts. St. Nikolaus went to school over the weekend.

Christmas is coming

Zachary finally has piece and quiet. He gets to spend the mornings with mom, all by himself. I take Cassidy to the school bus at 6:55 then Thomas to school at 8. Then Zachary and I come home, clean up the house. He gets to play with whatever he wants and doesn't have to share. Or we go to the store. Grocery shopping is a very different experience with only one child. Lately Zachary has been helping me wrap Christmas presents. OK he is not so much help, but rather strings the ribbon around the house.

Cassidy's Homework

Cassidy comes home from school each week with a list of about 25 things she can choose from to do for homework for the week. She is to complete at least three assignments. They range from a practice spelling test, making riddles using spelling words, to making pictures. So far she has made a globe, a family tree, a paper chain with spelling words, she made a book about her family, made a food pyramid, made flash cards and lots of science experiments and nature pictures. For her latest science experiment, she dug up some dirt and sand from our backyard and placed it in a baggy, then she placed it in the freezer to see what would happen to it. It is now in the freezer at school. These pictures are from her latest nature picture. She loves going into our backyard and finding things, rocks, acorns, leaves, berries, twigs and apples, luckily she leaves the mushrooms alone.

Thomas' First Day of School

Thomas had a very cold walk to school this morning. He was a little scared to walk into the thick fog. We have about a mile walk to his school at 8 in the morning. Usually he will be staying until 2pm, but I picked him up early today @ 12:30. It is his first day and all. He seemed to like it. He said he played with marbles, and toys (they of course have LEGOs and lots and lots of wooden toys). They also played outside in the garden. He said he played with friends, so that is good. He will be learning German, because all his friends speak German and his teachers speak very little English. Thomas said he cried a little, because he wanted his mom and to go home. But then he played with more toys and was happy. He is ready to go back tomorrow. So we have a picture of Thomas walking to school this morning, going into his school and in one of the playrooms. I spent a few hours with Thomas last week in the school and my first thought you would never see all these toys in the US schools. They have so many little bits and pieces to play with. They even have hammers and nails (pegs) out for all to get into. But it seemed the kids knew just what to do and to put things back where they belong after they are done. The class ranges from 3-6 years of age and there are about 20 or so kids. We had to buy rain pants, rain jacket, rain shoes and house shoes for school. So the kids go into school hang up their jackets and put on their house shoes. They each have a peg and cubbie that holds their things. Thomas' is labeled with a Tannenbaum. And he knows right where to go. They have singing time, story time and once a week they walk down to a gym for tumbling. So I guess we will see how it all works out and how he likes it.

Trick or Treat

Our friends came up from Switzerland to go Trick or Treating with us. It was a cold night with a little spotty drizzle. The kids had fun. Thomas went to the first house and wanted to eat his candy. When I told him to go knock on the next door for more candy, he took off running. He ran from house to house, until he got tired, then he walked with us. Cassidy found some classmates from church and school along the way. Zachary rode in the stroller for part of the night. Then when the crowd dwindled down he got out and walked up to the door to get his candy. By the end of the night we had loads of candy and lots of cold hands. Zachary wore gloves for the first time. He chewed on them, so his hands were not only cold they were all wet too. They had a great night, then they even had their friends sleep over. What a great night.

Thomas and I made cookies today. It was his first time making cookies with mom, he got to add ingredients, turn on the mixer and lick the beater. Cassidy usually does all that, but

she is in school. Zachary was sleeping for most of it. Then he woke up and wanted to help decorate.

Schloss Lichtenstein

We visited Lichtenstein Castle on Saturday. It is about an hour from our home, still in Germany. We took a tour of the inside but were not allowed to take pictures. It was filled with armor that was pretty cool. The tour lasted about 20 minutes and well Zachary still doesn't like castle tours. He wants to get down and play with his cars on the very old wood floors or climb on the furniture, or bang on the glass doors and windows. But the kids had fun running around outside in the courtyard. Cassidy found a cool painting of a man holding a bow and arrow, it looked like he was going to shoot it out of the painting, and everywhere you stood looking at the painting it looked like it was aimed right at you.

7th Annual Pumpkin Drop

Cassidy's school had a Pumpkin Drop on Friday. Physics students from the High School had to design a box that would keep a pumpkin from breaking when dropped into it. The catch is that the pumpkin would be dropped from 25 meters up. Each Physics student worked with an Elementary class decorating and filling the box. Each box represented a pumpkin producing State. Cassidy's was Florida, so she has been spending the last month learning about Florida. They filled theirs with styrofoam cups, leaves and pillows. It was a lot of fun, but it was cold. By the end Thomas wanted to go back to the car to get warm. Suprisingly a lot of pumpkins survived the fall. Cassidy's did not. Her pumpkin landed in her box then both the box and pumpkin flew up into the air, then landed upside down. And there were a few pumpkins that didn't land in the box at all, the kids liked those the best.

Picnic in Switzerland

We have friends in Switzerland!! We didn't know it, until Stewart happened to find a childhood friend's blog. If you look close you will notice that the quilt we are sitting on is made up of T-shirts from Spanish Fork Baseball, Basketball and the Dons. They have kids about the same age as ours, so they had a great time. We just went for a night, but were able to go up into the countryside for a picnic. We threw leaves and rocks in the stream and petted Swiss cows. They all had cow bells on. You heard them constantly clanking. They used a small string around the pasture to keep the cows in. It had a small wire with an electrical current. Zachary liked sliding his hands along the string. Cassidy couldn't figure out what kept shocking her as she walked by it and occasionally brushed up against it or just got too close to it.

Walking home from the bus

We have seasons again. Cassidy is in heaven. She goes around collecting leaves and rocks for her collection. Zachary loves the leaves falling on him. Thomas just like to throw them at me or Cassidy. Our 10 minute walk from the bus stop took us 50 minutes. Cassidy is learning a few words in German and is singing songs she learned at school. Thomas has it figured out too. He knows nein (pronounced nine) in German, it means no. Well then eighteen means yes! Well at least it does to a three year old. Zachary is talking, well asking for a drink, snack and yes he know the work nein too.

Keeping Busy

Well we are unpacked. I have been setting up shelves and unpacking toys and scrapbook materials. But I think the majority of the time I have been putting the batteries back into the toys. The moving company don't like to move items with batteries. They say the batteries can corrode and damage the items. SO, I removed them all. It is hard to imagine how many batteries we actually use until you have to pack them in your suitcase. So the boys are happy and making lots of noise. Thomas will see something new and he asks "How did that get here" then he laughs. So that has been my life for the last few weeks, unpacking and cleaning. I have been trying to give this house a good rub down. Germany has lots of spiders, so it seems. I find webs everywhere.

Cassidy's Day

Cassidy has started the third week of school. She is in the Second Grade and was able to get into a German Immersion class. They are starting on some German vocabulary, then by the end of the year everything will all be taught in German. Cassidy loves hotel life she has found a few good friends that are in the second grade as well. She starts her day at 6:15 to get ready for school and go catch the Schulbus at 7:25. Then she does who knows what at school and comes back home on the bus at 3:05. She does homework, then it has been so beautiful outside we have been meeting our friends at the park to play in the sand, water and on the slides. Then back to the hotel for dinner, bath and bed.

I drove on the Autobahn!!

Might I add I survived and so did the car. Well actually it wasn't all that exciting, I only got to go 120 km/h. I took my driving test last Thursday and well, passed. (Stewart took his last week and passed). So I drove myself and the kids to church yesterday. All I can say is thank goodness for the GPS, I went into the Favorites and selected church (Stewart had programmed it) and off we went, no problems.

Today the boys and I walked to the Marketplatz in Sindelfingen. We were searching for raincoats. We had lunch at a local bakery and window shopped. We found a bookstore, grocery store and a kids clothing store. Then we played around the water fountain. It is cool you can play with the figures and pose them. Then it was time for naps and to pick Cassidy up from the bus. We will be moving into our house on Friday, our days of room service are limited.

Our first castle

A friend from church/ work let us borrow his car for a while, he doesn't use it often. So, we traveled to Ludwigsburg, Germany last Saturday. We ate Wurst and Pommes (sausage and fries) and took a 90 tour of the Residenzschloss, Ludwig's Palace. It was built by Eberhard Ludwig, not the same man who built Neuschwanstein. Cassidy was amazed by the paintings on the ceilings. She also liked the Queen's sleeping chamber. The boys were getting tired of it all, so I think that will be the last tour for a while. We will just go visit the castle grounds from now on. (Did anyone notice we cut Zachary's hair?)

We have no car

So life without a car is alright I guess if you don't have to go school shopping. We walk to the mall, Burger King, McDonald's. There is a park behind the hotel, it has a playground, a duck pond and an Aviary. So we get along pretty good. Our sponsor has picked us up and driven us to get Cassidy registered for school and to do a liitle shopping. Today he drove us to the store so we could do our school shopping, then we walked the 2.2 miles back to the hotel. Most of the walk was on a nice forest path, and part was through town. It took a little over and hour (we had to stop and smell the flowers, and look up German words in our dictionary). Stewart took a German driving test today and passed, so now we are just awaiting our cars arrival, hopefully in the next two weeks. Stewart has been taking the German bus to and from work, and I might take the bus Monday morning to go to Cassidy's school. They have a school bus that will pick her up and drop her off just up the street from the hotel. There will be a lot of kids at the stop Monday Morning. The hotel will be quiet for a few hours.

Life at the Marriott

Well it has been a week since we arrived in Germany. We are staying at the Marriott in Sindelfingen, just outside of Stuttgart. There are a lot of Americans here waiting to find a house to move into. I met someone today that has been here 6 weeks, thats the longest I have met, but I have heard people have stayed here up to 6 months. There is little housing available and it is hard to find a house to rent, at least one that is close enough to work and within the school bus district. Anyway that is not going to be us, because we have a house. Stewart's department has a few houses that they lease and they had one available, we looked at it and took it. We will be in the hotel for a week or two before we get settled. So life in the Marriott is good, we order room service for dinner, play in the pool and they have a play room with free Pepsi, Pepsi Light and Apple Juice. Cassidy discovered carbonated apple juice and did not like it, but Thomas and Zachary do.

Buckhorn's Hall of Horns

This is like the largest collection of horns/ antlers in the world I think that is what it said. Anyway there are a lot. They had a Mammoth there that looked life-like Thomas and Cassidy really liked it until it made a noise then they both came running over to me and would not go back for a picture. The had a few circus mirrors in a hall that made Thomas laugh and laugh. Zachary took one look at the skinny mirror and cried. I had to hold him and show him the different mirrors before he finally decided it was fun.

Still in San Antonio

We took a boat ride down the riverwalk and spent the morning just walking around while Cassidy looked for Lime trees. The tour guide pointed one out on our ride and she wanted to find it again, we never found it. Then we walked to San Fernando's Cathedral where we found some fountains to cool off, so we ate lunch and got wet, very wet.

Living Downtown

Well without a car, we walked. It wasn't too bad, except the 100 degree heat. So we would come home and play in the pool, which was too warm to really cool off. We spent one day at the Alamo. Cassidy had never been there. Then we met a friend and went to a children's play, Alice and Wonderland. The boys fell asleep, but Cassidy and I enjoyed it.