Schedules....

We have such a weird schedule this year. Bailey goes to the American school and has one school calendar, Mia goes to the German School and has a completely other schedule, and Camden home schools. With the exception of 2 weeks at Christmas, I don't think there has been one common day off between the 2 different school schedules. With regard to the German school, it is against the law to miss school (I have been told that the Polizei will literally come to your door). When we go on vacation, Bailey is the one that has to miss school, because her school DOES allow for excused absences.  At the end of March, Mia had 2 weeks off for Easter, and so that is when we went skiing and to Vienna. Mia started back to school last Monday, which was in turn the first day of Bailey's week off.  With regard to after school activities, when the Germans have no school, they don't have activities outside of school either (which I truly think is the best idea since the invention of the bicycle).  I love the fact that they get a true "pause from life" during their breaks. With all of that said... now that the German school is back in session, Bailey and Camden have this week off, but still have to go to all of their activities, because the activities obviously don't "pause" for American school.  For the last 3 weeks, we have kind of/sort of been on vacation - yet really not so much, because we have been in school too. So weird!!!!!

Happy Gotcha Day (a little belated :-))

I didn't take any photos on Gotcha Day, but went back and found this one from our trip to Ireland....

Last Friday was our Family "Gotcha Day." Gotcha Day is the anniversary of the day we first held Mia in our arms. I try to make it more of a family day - just because it is a special day in many ways for all of us. Most of all, it was the first day that our family was complete. Shockingly, I did not take any photos from this years'  Gotcha Day, but we did celebrate with a little Chinese take out, fortune cookies, and as always, watched videos from the original "Gotcha Day." It has kind of become our little tradition. What was especially funny, was I definitely realized I need to update my wardrobe a little bit, as I was wearing the exact same jeans last Friday, as I was the day that I met Mia for the first time - 7 years ago :-) We all laughed a little at that :-) Anyway, really, for us, Gotcha day is a great reminder of how happy and lucky we are to go through this journey of life together. I think living in a foreign country has made our family bond pretty tight - and I am so grateful to have all of these guys in my life!!!! Happy Gotcha Day!!!

German Kitchens - kind of different....

We are still (very slowly) working on our little apartment that we bought. It is really pretty much finished, but we are just very slow to do anything with it. The one last big piece that was missing, was a kitchen. It is funny, because in Germany, a kitchen does not usually come with a house. Even if you rent an apartment, often you will have to bring/purchase a kitchen - VERY different from what we are used to. ... When people leave an apartment, they take their kitchens too. And so, we have been "kitchen" shopping... They have all inclusive kitchens, where you buy what you see, and then they also have self designed kitchens, where you can pick and choose exactly what you want. Of course, the ladder option is much more expensive. Being that our apartment is not a permanent residence, we definitely opted for the 1st option.  With the language barrier, it was also the much easier option (and the least expensive option by far). The kitchen we chose is extremely basic, but it works. We laugh at the fact that by finally having found what we were looking for, at a great price, and having an appointment to have it installed, has brought us such peace and closure. (only in the sense that everything is so much harder to do here with the; language barrier, appliance differences, metric differences, cultural differences etc.- it is so nice to have this step behind us.) And so, now we wait, and hopefully the installation will go smoothly - (you never know, what we may have misunderstood in the transaction :-))  The differences are always so funny!

Our little kitchen (as seen in the store).

Good Friday

When we were in Jerusalum, we walked all 14 stations of the Via Dolorosa. It wasn't any type of a procession though (just our family and tour guide). My friend told me that they have a procession in Bamberg on Good Friday, and I wanted to go. Friday morning, we woke up bright and early (had to be there at 5:00 am) to gather with the arch bishop (and about 4000 other people -literally) to make the walk all of the way from the town up to the castle and back down, stopping at the different crosses to say prayers. It was a very moving experience. At the beginning, the cobblestone streets were dark, only lit by candles, and then as the sun came up, the fog still kind of covered the city. I kept thinking about the annual tradition, and how Bamberg has probably done this for over 1000 years. A very neat experience!  *as a random side note, I was especially impressed with the fact that many of the 4000 represented, were over 60 years old - to walk hills for 3 hours really showed their fitness level :-)

This is a map (actually a puzzle) to show you the castle up on the hill... (just left of the letter "B")

Random photo (Mia wanted me to share the Easter egg photos) :-)

Meeting in the city at 5:00 am

A cross along the way (one of the stops) lit by a lantern

Almost to the castle....

The cross led the procession

The arch Bishop at one of the stations...

along the way...

The top of the hill, over looking Bamberg - covered in fog...

The highest point along the way

I was amazed at how many people participated...

(I was probably a little "paparazzi - ish", but I really wanted to remember this...:-))

Austria - Vienna

The bakery at Demels (a famous coffee house in Vienna)

One of the Easter markets - beautiful eggs - covered (ruined) with snow

Mia was in heaven with all of the horsedrawn carriages :-)

The kids at the top of the Stephansdom

View of Vienna from the top of the Stephansdom

The Jewish memorial in the Jewish Quarter of Vienna - the walls look like books, on a shelf, that are turned the wrong way (symbolism for stories that will never be told)

The kids got to make Easter bunnies out of Marzipan - super cute!

Mia at another Easter Market... (with all of the snow, it really felt like a Christmas Market :-))

Inside the Schönbrunn Palace - the summer home for the Hapsburgs (not too shabby :-)

Bryan and I at the Schönbrunn Palace

Beautiful grounds at the Palace

My 2 favorite girls :-)

Bailey at the Schönbrunn Palace - she was particularly excited to learn that this is where Marie Antoinette lived as a young girl (she is learning about the French Revolution in school). Camden just finished learning about World War I, and thought it was very cool that this was the same family of the Arch Duke of Austria - Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination sparked World War I. Lastly, an wierd fact: Hitler, Stalin, and Franz Ferdinand were all here at Schoenbrunn at the same time in 1913.

Camden - taking in a little fun sledding with his new buddy (not seen)

After the weekend skiing, we went to Vienna for a few days. The cousin of my best friend growing up lives there, and he and his wife were super kind to host us. My kids all had a great time with their family, and we really enjoyed touring the city with "locals" :-). The funny thing was that Vienna had record cold temperatures that had not been seen for over 130 years. They are somewhat famous for their Easter Markets (very similar to our Christmas Markets), and the displays were completely covered in snow. Luckily, after skiing, we were prepared clothes-wise, so it wasn't too bad. I thought that it was actually kind of neat to see all of the famous sites covered with snow. I didn't realize that Vienna had over 2 million people - such a beautiful city!!!

Austria - Skiing

Last weekend, a friend invited us to go skiing in Austria with a bunch of other families. Skiing here is definitely a family activity - very affordable and super kid friendly. We stayed in a really neat "Alpen" Hotel that seemed to cater to the school ski trips (it was perfect for a group of families). The weather was perfect - not too cold or too hot, yet still plenty of snow.  Even Mia was able to keep right up - definitely memories to cherish!

Bailey - at the top

Camden and Mia - proud to be alone in the Gondola ahead of us

Had to get the family photo :-)

Mia (in the pink) heading down the mountain

A cool igloo in the kids area....

Beautiful Alps!

This car was parked beside us - "Mia's Car"

I love this little guy! He had such a fun weekend - and cannot wait to ski again!

Those hardy Germans :-)

Over the last almost 5 years, there have been many occasions in the Winter here, when the schools on the base would be closed, early released etc. due to the weather. Our neighbors would inquire why the kids (or sometimes Bryan too) were home. The reason it is so funny for them, is because nothing is ever cancelled because of weather. They are a  hardy bunch. Poor little Mia has never reaped the benefits of a 2 hour school delay or cancellation. It is quite an unusual situation (and really comical). The Germans can handle it, yet the Americans can't - why is this? Is it liability? Drivers training? Such a funny thing....So last night, it was freezing cold, dark, and a thick rain/snow combination was pouring down from the sky - and Camden was scheduled to have an 1 1/2 hour soccer practice (they just moved back outside, after a winter of indoor soccer).  As the American, I had to ask myself, will it be cancelled? Surely they would melt outside :-). The answer was an easy one - of course they will have practice. They will even have an extra "running to the top of a huge mountain" type cardiovascular training. - Those Hardy Germans - gotta love it!