We go to JAG Prom and Castle country...

Every year the JAG in Europe have a big ball (JAG Prom) in Heidelberg   We went last year, and had so much fun, we decided to go again this year.  We have heard rumors that this will be the last one held in Heidelberg.  Not sure where it will be next year, so it was a little nostalgic for those that have been before.

Here we are, all decked out and ready to go...

 Look at that plate of desserts!

All mine, and it was heaven!

 Heidelberg is up near "castle country" by the Rhine and Mosel valley. We had to hit some awesome castles if we were going to be up that way!  We decided on Burg Eltz.  This castle has stood in this valley, away from everything, virtually undisturbed for almost 1000 years.  It has avoided destruction from wars and bombings, and remains intact and owned by the same family still, for the last 850 years.

 It was pretty majestic.

 o.k., this made me nervous!

 Next we drove up the Mosel River valley to Cochem, to see the Cochem Castle.

 I thought this castle was very picturesque as well!

 Our last day we stopped in Darmstadt on our way home.  I have family from Darmstadt, but it was hard to pin point exactly from where.  It is a big city now, not a small farming town like it probably was back when my ancestors lived here.  so we looked around, and then went to a nearby castle that was standing when my ancestors lived here...

 Burg Frankenstein!

Urban legend has it that this is where Mary Shelly came when she wrote her book, and got her inspirations from legends of this area.  Not sure how accurate that is, but it is a fun story to tell...

 Getting ready to storm the gates.

 Storming the castle with their "swords"

I think ruins are my favorite.  You can just run and roam around them, letting your imaginations run wild.  We had a really great time in Burg Frankenstein!

Baseball!!

We did it!  We signed the boys up for Pee-wee tee-ball.  Wow, did the boys love it.  Every week, all they could talk about was "baseball".  It was a rough start, but once the kids learned how to run to a base instead of chase the ball, it went a lot smoother.  What a fun way to spend our evenings though!

 Don't you love how their hats make their ears fold down!

 The whole team

I think the boys are ready for next season!

May Day

May Day!

The First of May!

This is a huge celebration here in the Bavarian region of Germany.   I am not sure how much the rest of Europe celebrates it, but here everything closes and all the towns from a tiny dorf to a big city, puts up a May pole.  It is the time for spring and the tradition of the traveling vendor.  The may pole has a sign or insignia for each trade the town offers...that way traveling vendors new if their trade was needed or not.

We went to our town of Eschenbach for the May pole this year. The pole is brought in with much fan fare, led by a marching band and pulled by a cart all decorated with ribbons and flowers.

 Here are the Gents that brought in the pole.

That hole in the ground is where the pole will go...

 This next series of pictures show the art of lifting the pole.  I thought this was fascinating.  The use a series of different length poles to lift the huge may pole up.  Then they just shimmy it up.

There she is.

The May pole for Eschenbach.

Monkey Mountain and Cream Puffs

Back in April my sister and her new husband came for a visit.  They were only able to stay a week, but we packed that week full traveling from Prague, Czech to Strasbourg  France. One of the activities we did that the kids loved was visit Monkey Mountain just on the other side of the German border in France.

 One of the ways we kept the boys safe from the free roaming monkeys

 You get a handful of popcorn and instructions on how to feed the monkeys at the beginning, once you enter you are supposed to stay on the trail and wait for the monkeys to come up to you.  The monkeys are free roaming, walking all around and in all the trees above you.  It was fun to watch all the little babies play!

 The boys were a little bit nervous!

 Sweet little monkey family.

 My sister and I

I loved this little street.  It was in the little french village you drive through before you get to Monkey Mountain.

 All the houses had carvings in the wooden beams.  

I am going to miss the character of Europe so much!

 A few days later we took my family to one of our favorite castles to see the ruin and get some cream puffs.  It is close and fun and yummy!  A great combination!

You can't beat that yummy, gelato filled cream puff!

Cora Turns 8!

I can't believe my last baby girl has turned 8!  The age of accountability, where they verge from being a "little" kid to a "big" kid.  It kind of makes me sniff a bit.  She is a brilliant 8 year old now, and she is so glad she is since being 7 was getting kind of boring.   Her words, not mine.  We kept it pretty low key.  We let her have one friend sleep over, since that is when the kids are allowed to have sleepovers.  After her dinner of choice (chili and rice) we ate some delicious peanut butter cup cake and rocky road ice cream.  It was a great celebrating all things Cora!

Mom has a birthday!

Yes...It's true.  Mother's have birthdays too.  I am lucky, in that I have a husband and kids who think birthday's are a big deal.  I always feel like I get the red carpet rolled out for me on my special days. 

 On friday, Matt brought home this lovely bouquet for me.  So springy, I LOVE it.

I am learning to take photo's in the manual mode on my camera.  As many of you know, it is a huge trial and error process.  This is one of 20 photos I took, and really the only one that turned out...still I am pleased with it.

 Matt and the kids made me a birthday cake.

Not just ANY birthday cake, but my FAVORITE birthday cake.

Grandma Gale's Red Velvet cake....from scratch.

That's right, no box products were used, it was made completely from scratch, frosting and all.

and it turned out delicious!

 Cake and flowers

(remember, I am learning how to take photos in manual mode using as much natural light as possible...no flash!)

 The floating candles again...I think they add a lot to the ambience!

 How old am I now?

I was spoiled.  I got a leather purse from Italy, earrings that Cora picked out and bought with her own money, The other girls each gave me a bar of my favorite chocolates, Plus I got dinner out (on a real date!) and had some fabulous Indian food.

Out of it all though, my favorite was this card...

 The kids (girls) picked it out, and I LOVE it!

ENJOY!

It was a great birthday!

Hannah turns 11!

Our sassy, little spitfire is 11.  I still can't believe it!  She has always had a strong opinion, which I think is a strength.  She will never let anyone run all over her, and will always stand up for what she believes and thinks.  However, I am so proud of her growth this past year.  She has really learned in the last few months, how to temper her opinion and listen to others.  I think she is realizing that while she has an opinion, other's do to, and how to respect that.  It has been really fantastic to watch her start to grow up and mature, at the same time it makes me a little heartsick.  I will always miss that cute, chubby cheeked baby with a smile as big as half her face with one dimple poking in one cheek...that baby is still somewhere in my beautiful little girl who is maturing in to a lovely young lady!

 We had an Oreo themed birthday...kind of.

Hannah picked an Oreo cake, Breyer's Oreo ice cream and she took Oreo's to school as her birthday treat for her class.

 The girls had a combined birthday party for friends a couple of weeks ago.  It was Harry Potter themed, and we left some of the decorations up.  One of those were the floating candles.  The kids want to put them up every year now...we will see.

 Blow them out Hannah!

She got a new lego set for her birthday, and was soo super happy about it.

However, I think her brother's are equally super happy about it.

Watch those pieces Hannah...if any go missing you know where to find them!