A Random Smattering

I realize that I am woefully behind (once again!) in my blogging activity.  There are two factors at play here, really.  The first is that I really have been very busy.  (A testament to this fact is that it is now 11:10 p.m. and I am just now sitting down to do this.  And honestly, if I hadn't made a promise to my mom, it would have been put off yet another day.)  The second factor contributing to the lack of new and exciting material on my blog is my perfectionist streak.  I have real issues with quality control.  As in I like to be in control.  Like, all of the time.  And I have a really hard time making something public that hasn't been thought through thoroughly.  (How do you like that alliteration?!)  Writing papers in college was AGONY for me.  I never could just push through a rough draft.  I probably re-wrote every sentence in every paper at least 3 times.  Of course by the time my "rough draft" was done, all I had to do was make a few corrections and it was ready to hand in.  The point is, it took me FOREVER!  And that is how blogging is for me.  I can't just spew it out.  (Not that I'm creating masterpieces here - I just can't stand the thought of a poorly constructed paragraph.) So, tonight my goal is to be done with this post by 11:30.  (I need some time to read before bed after all!)  You'll all just have to be forgiving  - I'm going to try and type without hitting the backspace key too many times.  The results could be frightening. 

Because I'm behind, I'm going to throw together a smattering of pictures from the last month or so.  We'll start with St. Martin's Day.  St. Martin's Day is a holiday in Germany that is primarily for young children.  The children make lanterns (or buy them!) and participate in a parade while carrying said lanterns and singing traditional St. Martin's Day songs.  (Come on, don't you all know the classic "Laterne, Laterne?" )  Ian made his lantern in school.  If I had found a pre-school for Naomi by now, she would have made one too, but I haven't.  I tried to buy her one (I went to 4 German stores) and they were all sold out.  Thankfully Ben was quite handy with twisty ties, glue guns, and the rod from our blinds and threw together a lantern for Naomi in just a few minutes.                  

                                           

Here are the kids with their lanterns. Ian had learned the songs in class, so we had fun listening to him sing in German as we paraded behind the brass band.  There were probably 250 children with lanterns in the parade.  It was a beautiful sight.  By the way, folks, those are real candles (with flames!) in those lanterns.  It made the night exciting!

The next topic in our festival of randomness is wiggly teeth.  Ian has had 2 or 3 wiggly teeth for a very, very long time. After much pulling and tugging and yanking one finally gave way.  Ian lost his first tooth!  Here are some pictures as only a dentist can take them...

                       

Ian was thrilled to have his first visit from the Tooth Fairy.  Did you know that she also pays for teeth in Euros?

*Note - these pictures were taken only a day or two after Ian had lost the tooth.  Much to our dismay, the permanent tooth grew in behind the baby tooth long before it came out.  Dang it!

Our final, and also completely unrelated, subject is winter.  As in COLD weather.  As in, after 3 years in Georgia my system is completely in shock.  We've already had snow TWICE!!!  That's twice as much snow as we got during the entire 3 years we lived in Augusta!  I must say I am not thrilled to have to scrape car windshields again.  Neither am I thrilled to constantly have cold hands and feet.  I DON'T LIKE BEING COLD!  The one good thing about snow is that the kids love it.  They were ECSTATIC to wake up one morning to see everything covered in white.  Of course, we went outside to play.  Well, truthfully, Ben played with them while I documented.  Here are a few pictures...

                                     

                                            

                                                        

Well, that about wraps it up!  Unfortunately I didn't make my self-imposed publication deadline.  It is now 11:55.  Still, that's record time (as in short!) for one of my blog entries.  I guess I don't have time to read....maybe next time I'll be faster! :)

Halloween - in Germany?!?!

Yes, we did celebrate Halloween here in Germany.  I guess one of the perks/disadvantages (depending on how you look at it) is that you get to/have to celebrate all the American holidays.  So, this year we got to celebrate Halloween.  I think it was a really good thing for the kids.  Ian, especially, is old enough to have expectations of what Halloween should be like, and I think it helped him feel less displaced to be able to carve pumpkins, dress up, and go trick-or-treating.  I was excited to tackle another costume project, and we were ALL happy to eat homemade doughnuts with friends at the end of the day.  There are a few tricky things about celebrating Halloween here, however.   For instance, coming up with costumes is a challenge - even if you make them yourself.  I was worried that this year Ian would request a costume that:

1 - I could not make or order in time, and/or

2 - would not fit into a scheme with Naomi's costume choice (princess, of course!). (Okay, this could have been a problem anywhere - I just like having their costumes fit some kind of theme.  It's just that finding a costume here is hard enough - let alone finding two that go together.)

Fortunately Ian's teacher requested that the kids dress up as story book characters rather than something scary.  That narrowed down our options considerably. As I listed a few, Ian settled on Robin Hood.  (It is possible that I may have steered him just a little bit in that direction.  After all, Maid Marian is a princess, right? That covered Naomi's costume request.   And I had patterns for both costumes - it was just too perfect!)  I was able to convince Naomi that she wanted to be Maid Marian the princess and we were set.  I loaded up my patterns and headed to the craft shop here on post, excited to get started on the costumes (this was around the first of October) only to find that they only sell quilting fabric.  Hmmm....no good.  So (and I really think that this is the most impressive part of the whole project) I looked up fabric shops in Heidelberg online, found the address, converted all my yardage requirements into meters and centimeters, drove to downtown Heidelberg and purchased the materials I needed.  I do have to admit (why must I be so honest?!) that there was a very kind lady there that spoke English, so I didn't have to try and communicate my needs with my very few German phrases and a bunch of numbers written down on a scrap of paper.  But had she not been there, I was prepared to try.  

And here are the results:

                                                           

                                                                          Robin Hood and Maid Marian

                                        

Robin Hood - isn't he dashing?  He was very, very disappointed that he didn't have a bow and arrows.  Unfortunately I just ran out of time.  I should have relegated the construction of a bow and arrows to Ben.  In fact, I meant to. Lesson learned.   Of course, next year, he'll want to be a Pokemon character, or Spider Man and rather than sewing I'll spend some quality time at  target.com.  And that is fine with me.  Naomi will just have to be something on her own.  I'm just not ready for her to be Mary Jane. 

                                       

Beautiful Maid Marian.  Naomi was ECSTATIC to be Maid Marian.  ECSTATIC.  We went to a Halloween festival here on post for most of our trick-or-treating.  (It was raining outside and the festival was inside - plus, there were games and non-candy prizes.  Definitely a win-win situation.)  Anyway, as we approached each booth, Naomi would run ahead yelling "I'M MAID MARIAN!!!  LOOK AT MY COSTUME!!!  I'M MAID MARIAN!!!"  We had a great time.  Oh, and when we returned from trick-or-treating, we walked in the door and saw this:

                                          

                                                   Doughnuts anyone?  The perfect end to a perfect day!

Back from Bavaria pt. II, or, the Madness of King Ludwig

I know that our Bavaria trip was awhile ago....let's just say that life has been crazy.  Really, when is it not?  I feel like I begin each week with a fresh outlook and a relatively clear schedule.  By mid-week I am embroiled in multiple projects and feeling overwhelmed by the number of things I need to accomplish before the weekend.  As I reach the end of the week I sink, exhausted, into bed wondering where the week went and how it is possible that I got so little done.  Time passes so quickly.  I am hoping that as I get into more of a routine here, and become more familiar with my surroundings, my life will begin to feel less frenetic and over-scheduled.  On the other hand, I am a compulsively busy person.  Maybe there's no hope! 

Anyway, the last two weeks were filled with birthdays, Halloween activities, and church responsibilities and blogging (out of sheer necessity) got shoved to the back burner.  I'm in a pre-Thanksgiving lull right now, though, so I'm planning on getting all caught up.  So, back to Bavaria. 

After our day on the Zugspitze we decided it was time to do some castle gazing.  In two days we visited 3 castles owned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The first, Hohenschwangau, was his parents' place. (Ludwig was born in Hohenschwangau, but decided (when he ascended the throne at the ripe old age of 18) that it was too old-fashioned for his taste moved out.) 

                            

                                          

I don't know - if I'd been born in a place like that I'd be looking to upgrade.  Wouldn't you?  Because the 20 minute walk to the top only took us 5 (with kids!!!) we arrived in plenty of time to walk around the courtyards and enjoy the views from each side of the castle, all of which were spectacular.  It is, after all, about location, location, location...

        

       

I have to insert here that visiting the Alps this fall was such a balm for my homesickness.  After living for 7 years in relatively flat places it is so wonderful to live near some real mountains.  If we hadn't encountered several crazy German motorists, and seen the pristine woodstacks on the pristine farms filled with immaculately groomed cattle, I almost would have believed myself to be back in Utah.  It was great to be in the mountains again.

The second castle we visited is the most famous of Ludwig's castles, and possibly the most famous castle in Europe - Neuschwanstein.  This is one of several newer, hipper place Ludwig built during his reign.  It never was finished.  Ludwig (by the time he was in his early 30's) had bankrupted the treasury and was found drowned in a pond next to the castle.  Very mysterious...

    

 

      

The third castle we visited was Linderhoff - Ludwig's mini-Versailles.  I swear the guy spent his life trying to escape it.  He had grottos, a Moorish Kiosk, the mini-Versailles, a Wagnerian hunting lodge.  Way too much money, way too much power.

                                                             

Our last stop (and this was the one that pushed the kids to their limits) was at a monastery in Ettal.  We'll have to go back.  But, we did run into someone who took a picture of the whole family together (we got 3 in one trip!!!) so at least we can document that we tried.

                                  

 

And that's it.  We had a really, really long drive home (taking the scenic route wasn't the best of ideas) and are now trying to decide what to do for our next 4 day weekend.  Trier perhaps?

Oh, and mom, I PROMISE the Halloween pictures are coming soon!

Shameless Bribery (a.k.a. Back from Bavaria pt. 1)

This weekend was a long one for Ben and Ian (one perk of army life is that Ben gets a 4 day weekend for every federal holiday  - even minor ones like Columbus Day) so we studied our maps, packed up our bags and headed to Garmisch.  Determined to cram as many unbelievable sight-seeing experiences into four days without compromising our childrens' ability to behave or our sanity, we scheduled as many child friendly activities as we could.  And resorted to shameless bribery.  It started out so innocently.  "If you guys are really good today, maybe we'll stop for a pastry at the bakery," and "Please remember that you have to hold one of our hands at ALL TIMES if you want to earn your treat tonight."  By day two phrases such as "It is time to put on Castle Manners - if you can be really good today we'll stop at that Chocolaterie we passed last night and get some really fancy chocolates" were heard on occasion.  As day two waned it was more like "If you can be really, really good during this tour of the castle, you can have a treat as soon as we get back to the car - please keep on walking."  And after four days of hiking, touring castles, visiting churches, and traipsing through museums, we made the unfortunate mistake of taking the scenic route home.  Now, I acknowledge that using food as a reward is not the greatest parenting strategy, and as a general rule, I try to avoid doing it.  However, after a few hours in the car, and hearing one too many high pitched shriek, my parenting devolved into, "If you will just use polite voices and not require any parental intervention for the next hour, I'll give you a mint from my purse."  Shameless. 

All kidding aside, the kids were amazingly well behaved and we had a great time.  The weather was beautiful, we didn't get lost, our hotel wasn't a dive, and really, the kids were excellent.  They were troopers.  We walked A LOT, and we saw A LOT in a short amount of time, and they, for the most part, were cheerful, obedient, and excited to see and do new things. It really wasn't until day 4 that their ability to restrain themselves really declined.  So, as Ben and I realized, next time we travel (especially when we take longer trips) we'll need to have a day or two where we do nothing but play in a park or stay at the hotel and color, or watch movies.  Taking a tram up a mountain doesn't count as kid time. 

Okay, enough with the jabber - here are some pictures.  I'm posting this in two parts because there are just too many pictures to include in one post.  So, for today you will see documentation of our trip up the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany) and sometime soon you will be treated to a tour through the castles of Mad King Ludwig - Patterson style.

Here are Ben and the kids ready for a trip up the mountain...

                                          

...at a stop along the way...

                                                          

...and at the Glacier (just below the summit).

                                            

                                

And, to prove I was there too....

                                            

And finally, some pictures of pretty mountains (okay, I'd call them spectacular)...

             

...and the view from the top.

                                          

Ballerina in Training

Here, as promised, are some pictures of Naomi in her ballet clothes.  Because I have had a hard time finding someone here to photograph our kids, I have been messing around with my camera and with photoshop.  I'm still not sure on the B&W conversions.  I think it will take a lot more practice.  So, those of you who are really good at this, DON'T LAUGH.  You know who you are.

                                        

                                         

                                                              

                                            

Amsterdam

So, this trip was actually back at the beginning of September.  The very beginning.  Like, Labor Day Weekend.  We went with some friends and stayed in a very fun, very family friendly resort in the Southern part of the Netherlands (it was only about a 4 hour drive).  We stayed in a little bungalow (very basic, but also very inexpensive) and had at our disposal a huge indoor water park, a lake with paddle boats and canoes, bowling, tennis, ping pong, mini-golf, restaurants (although the food was REALLY not so good) and lots and lots of playgrounds.  It was a perfect spot for us to spend the weekend.  I was recovering from an illness (I'm fine now) so I was able to relax while Ben played with the kids.  Although the trip was mostly centered around family play time, we did manage to drive up to Amsterdam for a day.  It was wonderful.  I had never been to Amsterdam, and didn't really know what to expect.  I've heard some pretty sketchy things about Amsterdam (the city of pot and prostitution) so I was a little worried about the environment.  Turns out, the red light district is very defined (it's actually a tourist destination), so it is easy to avoid, and if you avoid it, you're pretty much fine.  Amsterdam is really a beautiful city.  I really want to go back - one day was not enough.  The things we were able to see:

The Anne Frank House

                                                                

I didn't take any pictures of the actual house (the outside is not much to look at, and there is no photography allowed inside). This is a statue of Anne the is right around the block from her house.

                                                                  

This is the church around the corner from Anne Frank's house.  I really enjoyed visiting the Anne Frank house.  Having visited Auschwitz as well as the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, I've witnessed the horror of the Holocaust on a large scale.  Seeing the Frank family's hideout and reading their letters, as well as quotes from Anne's journal, and imagining trying to keep my children quiet for 2 years, hidden in a tiny space and never letting them outside was touching in a more personal, more intimate way.  I think sometimes we see tragedies unfold in the news and they are so huge, and so horrible that they are literally mind numbing.  I think it is good to see how world events (historical and contemporary) affect individuals because through doing so we develop more empathy and a greater desire to effect change.  On a lighter note, I read Anne Frank's diary when I was in elementary school, and it was exciting to see a place I had imagined as I read.

The Rijksmuseum and the VanGough Museum

                                 

           

Okay, so only the first picture has anything to do with the museums.  (Once again, no photography inside.)  I loved both museums.  A big plus for us was that 80% of the Rijksmuseum was closed for remodeling, so all of their treasures were packed into one wing of the museum.  Had I not been traveling with young children, I would have enjoyed a lengthy ramble through the entire building, however, with kids in tow, the condensed version was perfect.  We saw the Vermeers and the Rembrandts and we did it all in 90 minutes or less!  Between museums, we took a break for lunch and some play time on yet another REALLY unsafe playground.  We went to the VanGough museum after lunch (Ben carried a sleeping N through the entire museum and all the way back to the car) and then headed back to our bungalow.  We had a great day. 

*Oh, and for any music nerds out there - here is a picture of the Royal Concertgebouw.  It is right across the plaza from the museums.  If you look really, really closely, you can see the golden lyre.