Rhodes5 in Deutschland: November

The time seems to be flying by. I can't believe November is over and Christmas is almost here! It is crazy! I wish some of the festivities of Thanksgiving and Christmas could be spread more evenly throughout the year, but I guess that is all part of the fun of it! Here are a few pictures from our Month (including a gazillion photos from the original German Christmas Market... :-))

Camden dragged me to a Turkey Trot 5k on the base, on a rainy and cold Saturday morning. I was actually quite impressed with his motivation!

Trophies and Turkeys!

I love to run, but am NOT a fast runner, so I was SHOCKED to win second place (ok... to keep it real, I still had a slow time and it WAS the Senior division ...but I was happy none-the-less :-)

We had a fun time with friends at the "Lichthof" in Bamberg

Here is photo that Mia sent to me when she was "babysitting" Frank. He spilled all of his food on the floor - his little expression says, "Yea... this happened, but I can't stress about it" Looks quite guiltyif you ask me :-)

Mia made pom poms for her slippers - Youtube crafts is the ultimate in entertainment for her :-)

We had Thanksgiving at our house...

Our good friends from Hong Kong...

Czech and Australia celebrated with us!

And our table cloth of thanks is pretty much packed fulll - not many more years left on this one!

And crazy enough - the 1st of Advent is already here! Germans celebrate Advent in a big way!

Mia with a German Kinder egg! Illegal in the U.S. (for safety reasons) , but cherished by kids in Germany!

We are extremely goofy! We decided that we look alike (with the exception that I don't have flawless skin or shiny healthy hair - oh yeah - I have a few extra wrinkles too :-))- what do you think???

Yes - this is the one and only family photo that I was able to get! I tried to be a bit artistic, but not quite sure it worked!

We went to Dresden (located near the Polish Border)...

to the famous Christmas Market...

German Christmas Markets...

are famous, but the Dreden Christmas Market....

is REALLY famous...

because it is the OLDEST Christmas Market in Germany....

around a mere 500 years old!!!

It is definitely my favorite ....

Christmas Market ....

So far!...

so much character....

so adorable...

so cozy (even though it is very cold)...

so traditional (this iswhat they call a Pyramid)...

Not sure if you can make this out, but it is a Nativity seen built from wood...

Almost looks fake - it is so adorable...

and always completely bustling though the Advent Season..

The Market is called the "Striezelmarkt"

a bit cold! (My oldest 2 (for whatever reason) refuse to wear normal winter coats and hats. Mia being "German" has no problem with it - not quite sure why, but the struggle is real!!!! :-)