More Photos - Cavalese and Bolzano

The village of Cavalese - so pretty! 

This shows you the hair pin turns that exist throughout the entire mountain range (you can see the curvy road at the top of the picture). It was good we were able to hike a lot just to give our poor brakes and transmission on our car a rest :-)

fresh milk

Bees (for making honey) along our hike

The Italians seem to always require swimming caps at the pool :-) Funny!

You can see the snow capped mountains on the Dolomites

This is really sad... Cavalese (the town we stayed in), was traumatized in 1998, when a U.S. Fighter jet was flying way  too low within the mountain range and clipped a cable car wire. 20 people were killed. We asked a man we met about it and he said it is still a huge source of contention with the locals and their feelings towards America :-(  This is a photo of the new Cable car in the town.

Bolzano - a gorgeous city that is now famous for housing Otzi (the 5300 year old mountain man that was found in 1991 in the Austrian Alps)

We ordered a takeout pizza to eat in the Piazza (a public square) - you can tell Camden looks thrilled - he is the only human I know that does not like pizza!!!

Yummy!!!

Gelato!!!! Every corner seems to have a Gelato store!

Grocery shopping in other countries is quite fun and interesting. Here, Bryan found one of the biggest chunks of Parmesan  I have ever seen. (We didn't buy it though - even in Italy - it was too expensive :-) Tempting though...

An animal track on one of our hikes. We think it was an Elk, a Mountain Lion, perhaps a bear (or maybe just a deer :-))

My Hikers :-) We thought we were hard core, but really we ended up getting lost and covering the same ground for 2 hours - it was actually hiarious!!! (Although Mia was quite upset that we walked 2 hours, just to be 100 feet from where we started)

Bailey and her daily .40 cent chocolate cappuccino

We are a very goofy bunch - here is a family "selfie" in the town

I thought this was funny. This is a wine juice box - only in Italy!!! It looks like a juice box, but it has wine in it (.50 cent at the local grocery store :-)). I guess you could carry it in a lunch box???

Yes - we really are a goofy bunch!!! "The hills are alive with the sound of music...."

This was a hike that we took up to the top of the village. The view was beautiful!!!

Cavalese  (the view from the Gazebo in the photo above)

Bailey and Mia in Cavalese

Northern Italy

Last week, we drove to Northern Italy to spend the week in the Dolomite Mountains. It is only about a 5 1/2 hour drive from here, and as you head into Italy, it is truly one of the prettiest highways in the world. You have the mountains, topped with snow, but green fields (because it is Spring), you have castles and churches along the entire route, and vineyards and apple orchards the entire way too. It is so pretty! We stayed in a town called Cavalese, which is a ski town up in the mountains. They still had a few runs open, but we only hiked (no skiing this trip). There is something so unbelievably peaceful about the mountains, and I especially loved having no internet/electronics for the week. We had a very relaxing week, with lots of walking/hiking, a stop in Innsbruck, Austria, and a day trip into Bolzano. Lots of Board games, pizza and gelato too!!! We have a rule in Italy - you  have to have Gelato each day (we can feed our family for a total of 5 euro for 5 cones - so it isn't expensive, just a treat! :-).  They also had a Coffee machine in the local Supermarket (The Italians love their Cappachinno and Espresso). It only cost .40 cents for a coffee! That was a delicious daily treat too!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to travel with my family - my favorite memories are these times together!!!

On the way down to Italy, we stopped in Innsbruck, Austria. The clouds covered the mountain in the back ground, but it is a beautiful city

Innsbruck is so pretty! 

Bryan got the photo! It is always a joke of ours to see if the border crossing photo will come out or not :-)

This is a sample of the highway into Italy - gorgeous!

And tons of castles along the route too!

Yahtzee! By the end of the week, we exhausted the board games, but I relished the fact that we had no internet for the week!!! The kids - not so much :-)

I love these girls!

A tower across from where we stayed - so pretty all lit up

One of our hikes. Each day the kids moaned and groaned, but once we had some fresh air and exercise, all was much better :-)

This was at the bottom of the valley from where we stayed - such a pretty hike!!!

I was excited to translate a few Italian words - Cascata means waterfall (cascades) - hence the picture of the waterfall :-)

Still just a bit of snow (I am sure the winter was gorgeous - not much fun driving though! You need chains on your tires in the winter!

The Cascade (as advertised in the sign above). Gorgeous!!!

Complete and utter Randomness

Life has slowed down tremendously, but only to speed up very soon once again. After 4 months of working, I finished my long term subbing position and have found a huge new appreciation for time! It is amazing how much having time makes a difference in ones life. I could go on and on about time, but will spare you the lecture :-). Bailey's chaotic month has ended too, and we are now on Spring break. The funny thing is though - we have 3 weeks of Spring break - our Calendar is a bit ridiculous because Bailey and Camden are off this week, and then Mia is off the following 2 weeks - crazy!

In preparation for our upcoming move, we broke down and bought a car (a used car). After almost 6 years as a one car family, it is REALLY weird having two cars. It will definitely take some time to get used to. With other American friends having to buy and rent cars over here, one lesson that I am super grateful for, is that my parents required me to take Driver's Ed on a manual car (stick shift). I really didn't want to learn on a manual transmission. We have friends that had to pay 400 extra euro with their car rental to get an automatic (because it is very rare here to find an automatic). My poor kids will face the same requirement, but hopefully, when they are in their 40's they will look back and be grateful too :-) Our used car purchase would have been MUCH harder, had we needed an automatic car...

We celebrated forever family day (AKA. "Gotcha Day") on April 5th. It was officially 8 years since we became a family of 5. So hard to believe!!! We had a very simple little celebration with a Chinese take-out picnic on the river. I am definitely so grateful for my family - can't even imagine what life would be like without our 3 kids!!!

We just had "Sperrmull" here once again. I may have mentioned it before, but I took a picture this time (see below). It is really a comical addition to the complete orderliness of Germany. Germany has an unbelievable recycling program. It has to be one of the most progressive programs in the world. They have hardly any trash after all of the recycling has been sorted, but then comes in the "Sperrmull"... Twice a year, any odd sort of extra trash (specifically old wood, furniture, and other "stuff" ) gets put out on the street. You know it is Sperrmull time when you see heaps of "stuff" on every corner, with big Vans from Poland and Czech stopping at each corner to collect possible treasures to bring back to sell in their country. It is such an odd thing to see, but I guess it is tradition and the only way to get rid of all of that stuff that can't be recycled.

Along with everyone else that is affiliated with the base here, we are on the lookout for a new house. We will be moving this summer to another town, and as a friend of mine said, it is a bit like House Hunters International. The questions are... Should we go with a big house with a yard in the country, a smaller apartment in the city,  a cool house with character, but  a longer commute, or a boring house with a short commute. So many things to think about. I do wish I had that TV show to help us find these different places (it isn't quite as easy, when you have to try to find the places on your own :-). The other thing that is so weird here, is that the buyer/renter is responsible for any real estate fees (not the owner/seller). We are waiting to hear about one place that all 5 of us LOVE, but sadly, someone else is looking at it too, so we may be heading back to the drawing board :-)

Lastly, (I warned you this would be complete and utter randomness :-)), I have to mention the Germans love of the 80's. My kids have been brought up listening to REO Speedwagon, Journey, the Police etc. It is not because we love it, but because each of the radio stations are all a complete mix of "today's" music with all of the 80's music mixed in there too.  It is so funny and always cracks me up. The other thing that Germans love (especially the younger ones) is the Disco. It is common and perfectly acceptable and normal for University students (and younger) to go to the Disco. One more obsession that they have is with David Hasselhoff (You remember - he was the guy from Night Rider and Baywatch). We have seen similar posters (see the picture below) for 6 years, but I finally took a picture of it to share - SOOO FUNNY!!!!!

Our Chinese takeout picnic

Had to throw this in here too - I love the eis cafe's here. They make it so reasonable, that you can go often!

This is the Sperrmull that I was talking about. The streets here are usually meticulous! This is what they look like twice a year :-)

O.K. This just makes me laugh... David Hasselhoff in a Speedo with a hairy chest?????

   

Bailey

I haven't written very much about Bailey lately, and I thought I'd update myself (for keepsake purposes :-)). I am so proud of Bailey. She is really such a great kid. She has been super busy this last month with lots of activities. She started on the track team at the beginning of March, which requires daily practices. She also has been preparing for the big Cheerleading Competition with her German team (which required her to go to Cheering practice in the evening after Track Practice - yikes! She has maintained straight A's and also went to the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) competition in Garmish for a week. To cap it all off, she had the Prom last weekend too. It has been exhausting for her (she is quite used to a simple little life :-), but she has done very well with all of it, and I am really proud of her.It definitely was not easy to juggle everything last month  - and there were a few well deserved tears of exhaustion mixed in there too. Her Cheering team got 4th place out of 11 teams (which was quite good, because her competition was from much bigger cities, such as Frankfurt and Munich). Her FBLA team did not place, but she; observed how everything worked, had a fantastic time, and hopes to go again next year - she wants to do the Public Speaking forum next time. Our school is so small this year, that all of the 9th - 12th grades were invited to the prom. It was at a Castle that we all really love (near where Camden played soccer).  I probably don't say it enough, but she makes us REALLY proud and we are so grateful her!!!

B's Cheering Competition - If you have never been to a Cheering competition, it is quite something! It lasts ALL day, with over a hundred teams - The funny thing is, you  are there all day, but your routine only lasts two and a half minutes!!! 

Bailey's team (in the grey) - they were quite pleased with 4th place!!! (My zoom didn't work so well - sorry for the blurriness :-))

Getting ready for Prom! Can't believe that she is old enough to go to a Prom!!! Had to include the photo without heels, because with the heels, I am way too short!!! I love this girl!!!

After dropping her off at the Prom, I took a little pause to take this picture. Wish I could make time freeze :-)