Sunday Family Time

We decided to make the Sunday of our vacation a day of rest.  We had a small church meeting together as 3 families & then took a family walk in Bad Sascha near the lake.  It was beautiful.

We found an adorable little creek & the kids partnered up & made boats out of leaves & sticks to race down the river.  Cadence & Gideon's was the best.  It was the most boatlike & it went pretty far down the creek.

The kids enjoyed playing at the park & playing on the exercise equipment.  It made for a wonderfully peaceful afternoon together as friends.

We took a small hike through the woods to find the natural spring water fountain & a witch hut.

After our walking adventures, we went back to the house & made a yummy BBQ dinner.

And played games ALL NIGHT.

I think it's always important to add these restful days into busy vacations.  They are a great way to recharge.

 

Hexentanzplatz, Harz Mountains, Germany

After visiting Wernigerode Castle, we got in our cars & drove to the base of the Hexentanzplatz.

(the witches dancing place).

These mountains are known for their witch stories & superstitions.  Of course they have a whole mountain dedicated to witches.  The kids couldn't wait to visit.

Having friends with us makes the trip SO much more enjoyable.  The teens especially get along really well & are always coming up with fun games to play as we wait in lines.  They crack me up.

To get up to the top of the mountain we had to go up these tiny little gondolas.  Canyon was terrified, but it was absolutely gorgeous.  He got used to it by the time we came back down the mountain.

I especially loved all the hidden witches all over the mountain.  The kids loved trying to see who could find the most witches.

The devil statues cracked me up too.  Canyon climbed up to this guy several times during our visit.

Trek saw the statue & remembered that he had taken a picture with it on his mission over 20 years ago.  We had to re-create the picture.  It was too perfect.  He was even wearing similar clothes.  It was great.

The highlight of the trip was the rodelbahn at the top of the mountain.  Rodelbahn's have become the highlight of our trips in Europe.  The kids love them (& if I'm being quite honest, Trek & I love them too).  They are gravity driven roller coasters that go down the mountain.  They aren't super fast, but they're fun.  They have brakes in case you get scared, but you rarely use them.  You just coast down the mountain.  It's a blast.

After spending several hours with the WITCHES, we headed back to the houses & let the kiddos babysit each other in one house while the adults went out to dinner & had a game night in one of the other houses.

They had a blast eating mac'n'cheese & playing games all night.

I had the best schnitzel I've ever had in my life at this cute restaurant right next to our house.  It was a pork schnitzel topped with fresh peach slices.  They added some gouda cheese & broiled it on top of the peaches & the layered that with sweet cranberry sauce.  It was to die for.  It came with a side of bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes) which is my other German favorite so it was a GREAT dinner for me.

We played Carcassone as adults until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore & then picked up our kiddos & went to bed.

Best day ever!