Adorable!!!!

Mia and I walked to the grocery store the other day and came apon this little guy. You can bring your dog into most places here (restaurants, clothing stores, and other businesses), but you can't bring them in to a chain grocery store. This is a new store that just opened and it was the first time I had ever seen this. The little sign with a "P" on it, says: "Hund Parkplatz". The translation is: Dog Parking. His owners went into the store to shop and he stayed outside like a good dog, in the designated parking area for dogs - so funny! Only in Germany!!! 

The Duck Race

We had a nice weekend here in our town. They had several things going on - the biggest being the celebration of 500 years of the German Brewing Purity Law (you can only use Water, Hops, and Malt to brew beer here). 500 years - is quite the tradition for sure! The weather was a little (ok ALOT) funny. We had sun, rain, warmth, cold, and SNOW!!! So weird! Anyway... one of the things that we participated in was "the duck race". You could buy an adult duck, a baby duck, or an entire family of ducks. The duck had a number on it and was brought to the starting line to be dumped into the River to see which duck came in first (all for charity of course). We bought ours last minute, so we didn't decorate it, but some of the ducks were decorated adorably! We didn't win, but did enjoy it a lot. They even had a nice festival for kids at the finish line. It was a fun weekend!

This was the sky on Friday morning. The trees are blooming, but it looked like snow! Then on Sunday came the real Snow Flurries - Crazy!!!

Celebrating 500 Years of the German Purity (Beer Brewing) Law

The beginning of the duck race. All of the little ducks were put into a box  behind the blue sign on the bridge. The big ducks were the business entries...

People did a great job in decorating their ducks

Our little duck (poor thing) had to go naked :-)

The box of ducks to be dropped

And the big guys went first...

And then it ws time for the little guys...

And they are off!

They were cute as they headed down the river...

They all seemed to be pushed to one side by the currant

Lots of spectators...

Mia cheering for our duck :-)

They had a nice festival at the finish line - lots of old fashioned games. 

And at the end, they collected all of the ducks and dumped  them on the ground in hopes that their owners would find them. Miraculously (even with over 6000 ducks) Mia found hers. Sadly, he wasn't a winner, but lots of fun anyway :-)

And the "Stadt Brille" - (City glasses) - you can see the reflection of the "spectacles" and if you look closely, you can see the poor guy in waiters having to push all of the straggling ducks up stream!!!

Random Stuff

Bailey and Camden were on Spring Break this week and it was the first one in a long time that we just stayed close to home. It was quite relaxing for them though and I think they both got a much needed rest. Because we live in the city, one of Camden's favorite things to do is to spend time with his friends in the country. Over the break, he and his friend had an interesting adventure in the forest late at night when they saw 2 wild boars. I think it is a cool story and will become one of those stories that is amplified as he gets older (he'll tell his Grandchildren that they were 800 pounds and running right for them ;-). ). It is interesting though, as I looked it up on the internet, more than 1 in 3 Wild Boars in Germany are too radioactive to eat (as a result of Chernobyl) - makes you stop and think for a minute??? Yikes!!!

We did get to Bamberg for a few days (did I mention how much I love and miss Bamberg? :-)). We ran into to some old friends on the the bike path and stopped to chat for a while. As we were chatting, Mia and her friend were using the zipline on the play ground. There were a couple of guys a few years older than Bailey there speaking English (on the zipline too - yes - it was the weekend and they had had a few drinks :-)). After we left our friends, we went over to chat with this group of kids. It is funny because now that Bailey is looking at colleges, we have discovered that lots of schools in the U.S. have exchanges with the University in Bamberg. These kids that we talked to were students on exchange from the U.S., Canada, and France. It was super interesting talking to them and hearing their perspective on; University, living in Europe, costs of living, Bamberg etc. After living in Bamberg for 7 years, I had no idea that so many American (and international) students were there on student exchanges. The kids sounded very wise and had very interesting perspectives - and then they brought up this little point and I think my heart sank... The 2 guys from the U.S. go to a top 50 school. They were majoring in Political Science (same as my undergrad) and they pay $60,000 a year!!!! Yes - you read that correctly - $60,000 per year! After a Semester overseas, they realize how ridiculous that is and wish they had done things differently. The school in Bamberg is free, but their school still charges them the same rate as if they were there. The Students in Bamberg get to go to their school back in the U.S. on exchange for free tuition. Crazy!!! 

Bailey and I had a nice time one day shopping in Nuremburg. We were just about to head home, when I suggested that we go down one more street to see if it had any good shops. We saw a bunch of Police officers and a very long red carpet. I asked a Policeman what it all was for and he told us that the King and Queen of the Netherlands were about to arrive to go visit with the Mayor in the City Hall. We found ourselves waiting in a great spot to see them (we were right by the Sectret Service). It was funny too because the German Police and Dutch Secret Service had to speak in English to one another (because even though German and Dutch have some similarities, they are completely different language). We could understand everything they were saying to one another. A really fun experience!   

Klose mit sauce! (a favorite of  German kids - it is pronounced: kloza mit Soza)

The first ice cream of the Season :-) in our favorite city!

And the first outdoor prost too in Bamberg (Even if it is still a little chilly :-)) 

Nuremburg

It was so nice spending the day with Bailey!

I love this girl!

Ok - enough pictures Mom :-)

And this is what we ran into  (if you see the little blue sign on the left - this is where we ended up standing...)

They allowed us over by the blue sign, and then when we looked around us, it was just police, secret service, and us - so funny!

Here is our view from the signpost..

The only bad thing is that when the King and Queen got there, they walked up this row of people shaking hands... Another funny thing was that the Windows all around had people peaking out of them. Bailey and I talked about how relxed it was

Almost here (we could listen to these Secret Service guys speaking in English :-)

The Motorcade

And finally - the arrival. Funny enough - I didn't even know the Netherlands had a King and Queen (had to look up information about them when we got home :-)). Here is Quenn Maxima

... and King Wilhem - Alexander to her right

And on the way, I had to take this picture as Bailey and I are talking (and as we are stuck in traffic) to remind me that it is pretty neat to go shopping in a town that looks like this and to just happen to run into a King and Queen. Such a great day with such a great girl!

Congratulations B!!!

Both the Principal and Assistant Principal (together) walked into Bailey's classroom at school yesterday and asked her to stand up in the middle of class. A lttitle nervous, she did so reluctantly. She was so happy when she found out that they had come in to congratulate her on individually making the All European Second Team for Cheering. Their school does not usually fair so well in the European competitions because they are one of the smallest of the D1 schools, so it is really an honor (there were over 21 schools). Congratulations B! We are are so proud of you! (Sorry for the proud Mom moment, but had to share :-))

An older photo of her and her team! So proud of you B!!!

Forever Family Day!

We just celebrated our 10th "Forever Family Day"- It seems like just yesterday! After Bailey and Camden came home from practice, we had a little Chinese Dinner and then watched old home movies. Such special memories!!! One of my favorites was the video of the phone call that told us Mia's name and information. We had pulled Bailey and Camden out of school for the afternoon so they could be there for the call. Their excitement was adorable! And here we are 10 years later - my how time flies!!!

Chinese take-out :-)

Even to this day, that face make me melt

And even 10 years later - she is still such a happy and nice girl -  She definitely makes me a better person!

Such a nice weekend!

We hit 70 degrees for the first time this weekend and it was so nice to finally spend time outside! Bailey and Camden both had soccer games on Saturday. It was the first game of the Season and Camden's first game on his High School Team.  On Sunday, the kids were busy, so Bryan and I decided to go on a bike ride to another city that had a festival going on. We ended up in this little house with an accordian player and 80 year old dancers (dancing to the accordian player). It was so cute and so typical for Germany. After a long Winter, it reminded us of why we like it so much here :-)

Bailey playing (I had to work in the snack shack during her game, so I only got a couple of pictures of her :-( )

 

Camden is really enjoying playing this year. 

And had to throw a photo of Frank in here too.  He has discovered that he loves to snuggle in this blanket - so funny! Bryan is by far his favorite and he loves to get head rubs from him daily :-)

I had my camera in my pocket for our entire bike ride and kept taking it out to snap pictures. I like this one because it shows my bike bell (which is a mandatory thing by law here) - it is completely tacky, but it just makes me smile.

Such  pretty bike paths to ride on!

I thought this was interesting to share. Germans consider Grafitti "Art", so you often see it around. We saw several of these sentiments written in this town. Interesting too, that it was written in English.

This is the typical sign that tells you what town you are leaving and what town is ahead (it is very easy to find your way)

The cute little Festival was spread throughout this small City

Beer, Brawtwurst, and an accordian player - doesn't get much more Bavarian than that :-)

We just happened apon the little bier garten above. It turns out that it is only open 3 days a year. The Historical Society renovated the cute little building in the late 90's. The waitress invited us in to show us around. She showed us the scrapbook of the entire renovation process. It used to be a Shoe Repair place and they still have artifacts from its origins. 

This was funny! Bryan said it weighed about 30 pounds. The waitress insisted he pick it up :-)

She also told us to sit in these "Chairs of Royalty" for a photo. They were donated to the Historical Society by a lady who has now passed away. You never know what you are going to run into here - I love it!

This is the outside of the little building (the old Schuster/ Shoe repair shop)- so cute!

Then we headed off to the "town" Bier Garten - which is a lot bigger than the previous place we went. On a nice day - the Bier Gartens of Germany are full!

a cool little tower off in the distance

This place was self catering (meaning, no waitresses, you just go up and order it yourself) - Yummy!

Another sign in the town - "No Human is illegal"

And as we left,  you can see the City up on the Hill

Finally, Spring is here!

And this was really cool. It was a Garden on the bike path that was still open from Easter. It has thousands of Easter Eggs and the kicker is that they are all real (no plastic!!!)

So many eggs and so intricately decorated!

Lots of different themes and colors!

So pretty!

Some were religious based...

And some were just cute!

Eggs everywhere!

And it was free to wander, just leave a little donation :-)

And then we headed home...

Such a great day!