Happy Mother's Day

This past weekend of course was Mother's Day. As always, I had an amazing day. I woke up to freshly brewed coffee (yummy chocolate truffle blend) and the hubby made me my traditional omelet. He's the best! I wish I made omelets as great as he does. I didn't have to cook, clean, or lift a finger all day. Man, I love Mother's Day!

Here's my two sweet boys who made me a mommy. I'm so incredibly blessed! It was also Linky's birthday so we celebrated that as well. I can't believe the little guy is three!

My sweet husband even drove both ways to the museum that we went to. I love not having to drive or lift a finger. He spoils me too much, but don't tell him that. I rather enjoy it. Isn't he handsome?!?

We went to this Egyptian exhibit in the city of Speyer (about an hour away). The city itself is worth going to as it has some fabulous architecture, museums, and a lovely pedestrian friendly zone. You know you're spoiled by amazing European architecture when you don't snap photos of every little building anymore since they're all amazing.

Posing with my babies in the main pedestrian thoroughfare.

The shops along the pedestrian way evoke memories of Venice to me. The colors aren't adjusted at all. This is how they look.

We had a delicious lunch at a sidewalk cafe, followed by some yummy Italian gelato (1 euro per cone!). The boys had chocolate, James had nutella, and I had raspberry.

More sidewalk cafes and beautiful architecture.

We stopped at the park on our way back to the car. Too bad the shadows cast have our eyes heavily shadowed. That and the remains of gelato on the little guys' faces...Not a perfect photo, but definitely a perfect day.

Hope your Mother's Day was just as enjoyable!

Christmas Market

I know this post is a little late in coming, but I figured better late than never. The weekend before Christmas (which somehow seems sooo long ago already) we went to a Christmas market in Rudesheim. Germany and most of Europe is known for their Christmas markets, but this was a really fun one. We met up with some friends of ours and we braved the cold (seriously Mother Nature, quit making it so darn cold without the white stuff to make it worthwhile!).

To get there, we had to take a ferry across the river (the Rhein I believe). If that had been all that we did the entire day the boys would still have been thrilled. You would have thought the ten minute ferry ride was the BEST. THING. EVAR! Okay, so I was a little excited about it too.

The city didn't disappoint us either. I suspect that at any time of the year the city's wonderful to behold but it was even neater with the entire center being closed to traffic and filled with fragrant and colorful market stalls.

We managed to eat our weight I think that day. We had french fries, hot dogs (wursts), hot cocoa, kartoffeln soup (potato soup) in a bread bowl, and chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. And that's only what I remember. There may have been more, but I won't admit to it now.

Honestly it's days like these that make me absolutely fall in love with Europe all over again, even if sometimes I'm homesick and lonely. There's nothing like this back in the States.

Weekend Wanderings - Town Fair

This past weekend our little city had a Christmas market. I love European Christmas markets and since this one was within walking distance, we of course had to go. This year it was about a third the size of the one last year so I'm not sure what was going on, but we still had lots of fun.

This is the far end of the fair, as you're walking along the main road.



The town square with its Christmas tree

A typical booth. There were several food vendors, along with clothing and home decor booths but the selection was much more slim compared to last year unfortunately. I also just randomly snapped photos because I felt like a creeper taking photos of people's merchandise.

A small four man band played holiday classics. They also played some oompah type music that Germany and Bavaria are famous for. No, I'm not sure it's called oompah music, but that's what I'm going with since that's what it sounds like they were playing.

Drake's favorite part of any fair: the rides!

He even got to go twice, this time Link's in the back of the fire engine, crying. He was tired, poor little fella. The weird part about this fire truck is that it's supposedly American (see the words in English) and also the Texas license plate?

Certainly doesn't look like a Texas license plate to me, but you have to give it to the Germans; atleast they tried to make it look Texan with the cowboy.

Yummy and adorable Santa Claus gingerbread cookies.

We also tried to get a decent photo of the family in front of a Christmas tree in the town hall. Unfortunately this is the best that we came up with.  Yeah, it was that bad. One tired toddler, two balloons that kept getting in the way, and a headstrong preschooler does not make a great photo opportunity. And I'm also wearing my son's hat rather than carrying it along since he decided not to wear it. Oh well. Atleast we had a great time, even if we don't have photos of us enjoying it together. Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Dinosaur Park!

Last weekend a friend of mine and I took the boys to the local dinosaur park. They have huge statues of dinosaurs as well as a park, soccer field, and a playground all inside the compound. It's really a lot of fun for the boys. Every time we go they have a blast. This past weekend they had displays of pumpkins in the theme of fairy tales. The boys were unimpressed with the pumpkins, and more interested in the slides and the playground. Oh well. It was nice to get out and do something "fallish" with the boys.

This is the cheesy smile you get when you have to bribe your child to sit for photos. Ugh. lol.

"How big is it, Drake?" "BIIIIGGG!"

My friend holding Drake up so he can see the pumpkin displays.

Beautiful fall foliage

Rawr!!!

No photos, please.

He was entirely uncooperative the entire time and I have maybe 2 photos of him from the entire outing. boo.

Weekend Travels - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

This past weekend we travelled to Rothenburg ob der Tauber for their Imperial City Festival. They had concerts, re-enactors, medieval camps and shopping. Some of my favorite things! The city itself was worth the two hour plus drive just for the architecture. It's one of the best preserved Medieval cities in Europe. It's absolutely gorgeous. The main part of the city is surrounded by a city wall which is free (I hope) to roam about on top. Drake and I climbed it to see the view while James and Link stayed below.

We had a great weekend! Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend as well.

The Fair

So maybe I should have posted on Monday what we did this past weekend, but I was too excited to show you all my new typography art. You can check out the free printable HERE.

This past weekend we met up with some friends and hit a local festival. It was more like a fair that you'd expect from a county, but it was a lot of fun. We had bratwursts, currywursts (Germany..always with the wursts), and ice cream of course. They even had several places selling slushies. Yummy! D had to get his favorite (orange) and I enjoyed a cola one.

Here's some of my favorite photos. Hope you had an excellent weekend too!

My Past Week

Things are crazy hectic around here. In a totally good way, though. Just busy, busy, busy. With what? Trips. Loads of fun trips. We've been saving our money and ideas for this time when our daughter is here with us. We want her to have a great time and take away some great memories. With that in mind, we've packed so many good things into such a short span of time that we're constantly busy or on the go. Here's my top ten photos from this past week (I take a lot of photos!).

10. My husband and his daughter are too much alike. Whenever they get together, it's like having a couple of extra kids around. They like to tease each other and wrestle and generally find ways to annoy each other. It's endearing, in a way.



10. Love his smile in this one; so genuine.

 

9. Emmy wanted to drive Drake's car and Link was running for his life. In this photo, she's laughing so hard she's covering her mouth. Little guy looks terrified!



9. I don't *think* she would actually run him over



8. A beautiful street in Kintzheim, France





7. Drake doing everything big sister does





6. Family pose



5. Beautiful castle we toured in Kintzheim, France



4. Feeding the monkeys at Monkey Mountain



3. Link really excited about the monkeys



2. Beautiful field of what I'm guessing is wheat



1. Emmy being silly in a field of sunflowers

Linking up to

Amanda's Top Ten Tuesday