A little bit of snow

Brian woke me up at 6:45 this morning to have me look out our bedroom window. The sun was slowly rising and the ground was covered in a dusting of snow. Our terra cotta roof tiles were covered with white powder and snow was swirling around sideways through the air. It was beautiful. By the time I decided to trudge downstairs to get my camera the sun was a little higher and the snow had stopped falling but it still looked pretty so I snapped a few pictures. All the pictures were taken from the third floor of our house. The view is great from up there. We can see the rolling hills and the town down the road, Lupberg. I also took a few pictures looking out our back window so you can see what the houses in our neighborhood look like. Do you like the way our windows open? They are only like that on the third floor because the ceilings up there slant with the roofline.

Rothenburg

Yesterday was a beautiful day here is southern Germany. We decided to venture out to an antique store about an hour away from us. We had a good time looking in the old barn that held tons of old cabinets, tables, trunks, chairs...you name it, they had it! I took a bunch of pictures of the items, including some old fashioned children's sleds and gigantic 150 year old wardrobes but we didn't purchase anything. Maybe next time. As we were leaving, we noticed that we were pretty close to Rothenburg, so we decided to drive a little further and visit.

This city is AMAZING. The entire city is surrounded by a huge stone wall with watch towers. Here is a description of Rothenburg's amazing city history taken from wikipedia.com.

"In 1274, Rothenburg became a Free Imperial City and at the time one of the 20 largest cities of the Holy Roman Empire. The populaion was around 5,500 people within the city walls and another 14,000 in the 150 square miles (390 km²) of surrounding territory.
In October 1631 during the Thirty Years' War, Catholic Count Tilly wanted to quarter his 40,000 troops in Protestant Lutheran Rothenburg. Rather than allow entrance, the town defended itself and intended to withstand a seige. However, Tilly's troops quickly deafeated Rothenburg, losing only 300 soldiers. After the winter they left the town poor and nearly empty, and in 1634, the Black Plague killed many more. Without any money or power, Rothenburg stopped growing and preserved its 17th century state.
Since 1803 the town has been a part of Bavaria. Romanticism artists of the 1880s rediscovered Rothenburg, bringing tourism to the town. Laws were created to prevent major changes to the town.
In March 1945 in World War II, Nazi soldiers were stationed in Rothenburg defending it. On March 31, bombs were dropped over Rothenburg by 16 planes killing 39 people and destroying 306 houses, six public buildings, nine watchtowers, and over 2,000 feet (610 m) of the wall. American John J. McCloy knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg, so he told though US Army General Jacob L. Devers that the bombing would stop it it was not used as a base. American troops occupied the town on April 17, 1945, and in November 1948 McCloy was named Honorable Protectorate of Rothenburg."

Since the city was spared from most of the heavy bombing and destruction from WWII, it is one of Germany's best preserved walled towns. It is one of Germany's largest tourist attractions. We saw Asian faces, heard American accents and all the shops spoke English. It was actually nice to not feel like such a foreigner. We spent a couple hours there, walking the cobblestone streets, admiring the shops window displays, hanging out in the town square and visiting some of the many, many stores. It is so hard to describe the "feel" of the town - it was full of visitors but did not feel overwhelming, there were restaurants and cafes that were open and had outdoor seating at small, round tables at the storefront in the market square. People were enjoying coffee, beer and light lunches while watching the horse drawn carriages that would pass by. People were mulling around, taking pictures of the streets and admiring the huge Rathus (Town Hall). Just to let you all know, if you plan on visiting us, we are taking you to Rothenburg. It is magical and I promise you will fall in love with the town. I found out that they have walking tours, guided by an English speaking guide dressed in character. They have walking tours at day and at night where the character is the "Night Watchman" and he tells more colorful stories about the city, the wars and battles it has been through, and says that when you walk through the streets at night you can still hear the cries in the city's walls from the Thirty Years War. I also discovered you can walk the city's wall - it is a 1.5 mile walk looking down on the city and out to the surrounding territories. We had a wonderful time there and I can't wait to go back. Maybe we'll even be lucky enough to spend a couple nights there, I heard it is near impossible to get hotel rooms (or zimmers) during the summer months but we will try. Enough of my rambling, here are our pictures from Rothenburg. Enjoy.

Part of the Old City WallMarket Street
Horse drawn carriage
Market Street again
Luke on Market Street
Posing with the Knight - medieval themes are pretty popular here
Luke is fascinated with the knight
The Rathus (Town Hall)
Under the Town Hall
On the steps of a museum
Inside the Kathe Wohlfarht Christmas museum - no cameras were allowed - oops! This is all we saw - we didn't pay the 4 euros to tour the whole museum and shop - there were stairs everywhere and Luke was in his stroller, content in his stroller, and he didn't want to release the beast so to speak. :) Next time we'll tour the place.

Inside the Kathe Wohlfarht Christmas store across the street from the museum
Window display of Kathe Wohlfahrt
Another window display
The Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas truckBrian and Luke in the Town Square
Walking down Market street on our way out of the city

Walhalla

On this cold, rainy, foggy, not pretty day, we decided to venture out and discover some more German history. Fun, no? We decided to stay close to home and headed towards Regensburg to visit the Walhalla. Remember the Hall of Liberation from Kelheim? Well, the Walhalla was the idea of and commissioned by the same crazy (?), mad (?), King Ludwig I that imagined and commissioned the Hall of Liberation. (A little historical clarification in case some history buff tries to beat me up - King Ludwig actually had the idea when he was just a mere Crown Prince. Creating the busts of the great figures of Germany started then. The Walhalla was completed when he was a king.)
The Walhalla is a temple intended to commemorate all the great figures and events of ethnic German history. Although the busts were created as early as 1807, it wasn't until 1826 that the Walhalla building was commissioned and Ludwig wanted it modeled after the Parthenon in Athens. The inauguration was October 18, 1842 and there were 96 busts plus 64 plaques on the wall for people who no picture was available to make a bust. A quick fun fact for you - the qualification to be included in the Walhalla, besides being great was to speak in the German tongue so the busts in the Walhalla are not all from modern day Germany but also from Switzerland, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the Baltic States. Since inauguration only 31 busts have been added, including Albert Einstein in 1990. We found him and he is all shiny and new compared to all those old guys who have been sitting in there for 150 years.
Here are our pictures - enjoy!

The Walhalla from the road along the Danube

It's a nice day to be a tourist

One of the highlights of Luke's visit to the Walhalla - the stairs

The back of the Walhalla

The view from the side - that is the Danube through all the fog - the drop from the front and sides of the Walhalla is HUGE. There were warning signs saying that serious injuries have occurred here and we have to be responsible for ourselves and our children. That was a little freaky. And no, there are no guard rails, anywhere so the fall really could be deadly.

The massive and impressive columns

Inside the WalhallaMarble busts, angels and chairs line the walls
Plaques of some of the greats along the wall near the ceiling
The inside, again - look at those massive doors! (And that little booth is where they took our 8 Euros so we could visit our marble friends)
King Ludwig I himself - commemorate me!
An ode to all my piano lessons - look! It's Bach!
And here is Albert, all shiny and new. (And kind of goofy looking)

These guys are originals - love the do's.

The Walhalla from the front stairs (there were 62 steps to the first platform)

Closer shot
By the massive front doors to the Walhalla
He totally wants to hug me.Time to leave the Walhalla

Was the visit worth 8 Euros? Well, it was pretty impressive but the Hall of Liberation was way cooler and only cost 6 Euros. The Walhalla didn't have any staircases or nooks to explore so we just stared at the heads and tried to find some familiar historical people. Since it was a gloomy day, there was little tourist traffic so for the majority of our time there, we were the only ones in the Walhalla. Which leads me to end with this...was it worth the 8 Euros? It was, if not for the simple fact that we got to see Luke do this (over and over and over).

Did the ticket lady enjoy it? Probably not, but I'm sure she's heard it before. But we thought it was pretty funny but that probably was because there was no one else in there with us that would be bothered by it. The acoustics in there are insane and he was LOUD! It was a nice visit and we get to check the famous Walhalla off our list.

A hack and a cough and a zizzle zizzle - oooo

Today's update is going to be a quicky due to the fac that I have caught some crud and am not feeling that energetic or bloggy.

Oh, but before I start - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! It's a big one - 60! And he made it there despite the fact he has 3 rotten kids that have caused him heartache and pain throughout the years. HAHA - just kidding! We are fabulous kids, duh. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Okay, continuing on...

I have been sewing again, notice the link to my Fray Baby blog over there? ----->
I am making bibs, burp cloths and blankies, all which require ironing before pinning and sewing can commence. All day long Luke was telling me "hot iron, no touch, owwies." Yes, smart little one, irons are hot and can give you owwies. Upon ironing completin, I unplugged the iron, set it on the counter, closed the door to the room and put the ironing board in front of the closed door. Luke was occupied and happily playing in his room so I began sewing in the room next to his. It wasn't a couple of minutes before I hear a scream and then "oooooooooooooo". I get up and find the previously blocked off door wide open and Luke standing in the doorway grabbing his hand and howling "iron hot!!! hurt da hand!!!" Holy cow, the howling continued for at least 20 minutes, followed by almost an hour of crying, eventually winding down to sniffles, before the pain subsided. Luke received his very first lesson in how hot the iron actually is, I guess he just couldn't fully believe it until he lived it, and man, did he live it. In all his pain I hate to giggle at him, but while cooling his hand with ice wrapped in a towel, he would get distracted for a second and start walk away from me. The burn would come surging back and he would run to me with panic in his eyes going "ooooo mommy towel! cold towel!" and he would lunge for me resting his hand gently on the towel. By bedtime he had recovered and we read books together. For those of you who know Sandra Boynton books, we read "The Going to Bed Book" all the time. And it starts out like this -

"The sun has set, not long ago,

now everybody goes below..."

and ends with -

"The day is done, they say goodnight

and sombody turns off the light -

Did you get that? Anyway, he looks like a happy camper doesn't he? He is too tough to let that burn bother him (bother him longer than 2 hours at least - ha!)

Um, did anybody get my Sandra Boynton knock off for this blog post title? No, okay, nevermind.

Brian wants to go explore Regensburg again this weekend, or at least the outskirts of the city. Something about old castles? I can't remember with all this crud in my head. Anyways, just wanted to let you know that I'll be back to blogging about German history and landmarks soon in case any of you are going through withdrawal. Until then - peace out. :)

Oh, and to translate Luke for you all - "The moon is high. The sea is deep. We rock, and rock, and rock to sleep."

Keyholes and meeting the neighbors

So, does anybody know what this is? Hmmm? Hmmm? Guesses? Ah, yes, that is right, a keyhole! But what is in the keyhole? That's right - it's money.

This is our money door. Didn't you know that money grows in doors? Luke has been fascinated by "monies, peddies, nicols and kortars" and apparently the keyhole of our hallway door makes a fabulous piggy bank. If you ever need any spare change, just visit the money door. And make sure you let me know how you got those suckers out because I can't get them out for the life of me.

I met some more neighbors yesterday. The street that we live on as well as the one right behind us is chock full of Americans. I opened my bedroom window yesterday and I smelled the aroma of a BBQ grill, heard kids laughing and playing, and I heard people speaking English. I took Luke out in the backyard to put together his slide and let him wander around to check out the kids. I met the lady who lives behind us and she filled me in about the neighborhood babysitters, pets and kids. I can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so we can play outside more often. I have a feeling that hanging out there will be the majority of my adult interaction throughout the days and I look forward to chatting with other women and getting tips about traveling and shopping and getting answers to my many questions about this place.

Didn't you know?

Toy boxes are not only for holding toys, but you can sit in them while playing with your toys!

Why having a hubby really pays off - reason 173

We got my car today! WOOHOO! And all I had to do was tag along for the ride.
I pretty much can handle anything - from scooping gunk out of the garbage disposal to traveling overseas with a toddler, but there are certain things that I just don't want to do. And one of those things is go to the Vehicle Processing Center to sit around and wait to sign papers, papers and more papers and after signing said papers, walk into the car holding area and inspect EVERY SINGLE SQUARE INCH of my car before driving it off the lot. So hubby does it, willingly. Brian proudly drove my car over to where Luke and I were hanging out in the Beemer (haha, that sounds so pretentious, it is a little old used BMW. BMWs here are like Hondas in the states). I hopped out and ran over to my lovely (filthy) baby (a little excited, no?) but alas, hubby was not finished with his services - he said the car needed to be cleaned (true), that the tires needed air (true), that the car needed gas (true) and that there was a minor injury to the car (what?!?!?!). I peered around to the drivers side and looked where he was pointing - to the wheel, actually, the rim. He was asking me if that small gouge (scratch really) hidden in all the filth was there before we moved. I hadn't a clue but it was the wheel so what did I care? Turns out if it was there, the car transporter people didn't document it (and these people document EVERYTHING) and if it wasn't there and the damage occured en route, well, who cares! It's a boo-boo on the rim (the wheel, the bottom of the car where things become dirty and stay dirty) of the car, oh no, now my ride isn't pimp! Anyways the Vehicle Processing Center lady wrote Brian a small but nice check. Sweet! Now I have my car and enough to have a mini shopping spree. What a great day. This, my friends, is why having a hubby really pays off. :)
This entire process took a couple of hours, a couple of hours in which Luke and I got to hang out, sing songs, walk around the PX, eat a cheeseburger and read a book or two. He even read to me which was a special treat and I just happened to capture it on video. Enjoy.

Not much else excitement today. We decided to head up to Schweinfurt (yet another Army base in Germany) to check out their Spring Bazaar. They had a lot of really great stuff - from trinkets to antique furniture and it was all so cool! We didn't get anything though - tons of stuff we wanted but nothing that we needed, or what we were looking for I should say. So we munched on some coconut macaroons and chicken sandwiches and headed back home. It was a looooooooong day filled with way too much driving but it was nice to get out there again and of course, it is great to have my car. Time to sit on the couch and do a whole lot of nothing. Peace out.

Blast from the Past

As Luke gets older and older, and I continue to be a stay at home mom, I watch him grow and change daily and I hope that I have some sort of influence on his growth and development (in a positive way, of course.) I am always wondering if I am doing enough - enough playing with him, enough leaving him alone to develop his imagination, enough reading, enough social interaction, etc, etc. And most of the time I think we have a pretty good balance. I read to him, he reads to whoever will listen, we play with trucks and blocks, he mixes up all his toys and plays in his imaginary world, we take walks, he hones his artistic skills with markers and crayons (any surface with suffice), he watches PreSchool Prep DVDs (okay, and Finding Nemo). When I run errands I try to give him as much independence as possible while giving him rules and guidelines. He likes to help do everything - throw things in the trash, take his dish to the sink, open the car door, push his own stroller and it is cute seeing him do all these things and it is amazing how quickly he catches on to it all. And still, I wonder if I seize all opportunities he presents to me. When I was little I remember doing so many fun things with my parents: finger painting, dyeing Easter eggs, making homemade applesauce, playing catch in the backyard and shooting hoops in the front yard, baking cookies, learning to draw, conducting science experiments, playing board games, singing silly songs, among so many other things. I think of these things often and I always try to put an age to each activity and I fall into the trap of thinking that he is too young and we can always do it when he is older. Sometimes I'll test this theory and have him help me put things in a bowl or hand me a spoon when I am cooking and surprise, surprise, he does exactly what I ask of him and he does so with so much pride. I'm not whipping up batches of homemade applesauce with him but I do break out the Play-Do (just like mom did, but hers was homemade), we're fans of art projects (although I need to start being a little more daring, finger paints anyone?), we read books all the time (just like my dad did with us) and instead of Wee Sing Silly Songs, we rock out to Ralph's Word and Raffi. Recently I read a blog post by a fellow mommy who was raving about High Five, a Highlights Magazine for little ones, ages 2-6. I was intrigued because 1) I have been searching high and low for a magazine or subscription geared toward the toddler set and 2) I LOVED Highlights when I was young. I think mom got my brother and I a subscription once or twice and I know we would pick up a magazine here and there. And let's not forget all the times I read Highlights at the doctor's office or dentist's office. I found out more about High Five at blog.parentbloggers.com and at the Highlights website and I'm sold. I can't wait to see what High Five will bring us. As Luke and I read and explore the pages, I hope he will grow to love Highlights just as much as I did. We'll work on science experiments and shooting hoops a little later.

Excuse me, but whose bad luck is this?

As previously mentioned, nothing was horribly destroyed in this move but there were a few sad losses. One of the ill-fated items is this lovely mirror, shattered all over my bathroom floor. It's not an expensive mirror and there is absolutely no sentimental value placed on it. However, it was fairly new and the damage was entirely the packers fault. They wrapped it in a rug. Not a large rug, a fluffy rug or a padded rug, but a small 2 foot by 4 foot door mat. That's it. Gee, I wonder why it broke. Anyhoo, the bad luck is not mine. I don't want it and I'm not taking it. I unwrapped the rug and voila, broken (actually Brian did the initial unwrapping, but that is irrelevant). No bad luck here, just a sad broken mirror.

Moving on...

I took a couple of pictures for you today! Here is our family room area. It still needs a little TLC and some finishing touches but this is how it is going to look for the most part. I have this large mirror I want to hang but the walls here seem to be metal covered in drywall. Sigh. That means my ginormous 50 pound picture hanger hook and nail will not fit into the wall. I have yet to find a solution but I'll pass it on to Brian and he'll think of something ingenious, I'm sure. These Army pilot types are very crafty and resourceful.

Ooooo - and as an added bonus - a picture of our kitchen!! It is on the small side but it is so new and clean and wonderful. The cabinets are nice (not enough of them though), the countertops are perfect and deep and the appliances are fairly new. YAY! No more wondering exactly how many critters are crawling through the holes under the kitchen sink into my house! NEW! CLEAN! ROACH FREE! Doesn't that sound gross? Roaches are a wonderful part of life in Hawaii and they are not your ordinary roaches. These suckers are pumped up on steroids and scare the bejeezus out of you when you see them, with their spiky red legs and their HUGE disgusting bodies. They come out at night and my heart would beat out of my chest in fear and anticipation when I went into the kitchen at night for a glass of water or milk for Luke. The odds were once I flipped on the light I would see one scurrying around and I would feel feel panic, then annoyance, then resignation that I have to now hunt the darn thing down because if it found it's dirty way into my bedroom I would die. Roach bait traps work for exactly 4 months and then start to lose their effectiveness and the roaches would sneak back in so then I would chase then down with a can of Raid and pick up their upside down little carcasses with approximately 15 paper towels wadded up in my hand. Growing up in Wisconsin I never saw a roach. Does Wisconsin have roaches? Maybe they were there but I never saw them and if they were there I bet they weren't the size of a small dog. Anyways, I love my kitchen in all it's splendor and newness. Oh, and the kitchen is it's own room and it has a door that I can shut when the dishwasher is running or I can lock Luke in there when he is being a booger! (kidding, kidding!)The following pictures are of our stairs. When Brian first sent me pictures of the house and I saw these stairs I freaked out and envisioned Luke slipping between the steps and landing on the flight below it. And what if we had another child and he or she was crawling around the house only to fit his or her self between the slats and fall an entire story below??? Now that we are here, my fears are unfounded. Nobody has fallen through the steps and as far as that future baby sliding through them? Well, it's not as big of a worry as I had blown it up to be. Our house has 4 stories - the basement (which is 3 storage rooms and our laundry room), the first floor (living room, kitchen, eating area, front hall and half bathroom), the second floor (3 bedrooms and a huge full bathroom) and the third floor (the master suite and bathroom - nice). Each flight has 15 stairs and on the average day I go up and down these stairs 173 times. So multiply that times 15 and you get a heck of a lot of butt exercise. Buns of steel people, buns of steel.
And of course I have to end my post with pictures of my child. For those of you who are asking where Brian and I are, well, we are behind the camera, duh. We'll post some pics of our big ole mugs for those of you who just can't remember what we look like (you know, you could just look at older posts, pictures galore and a few of us.)