Bernkastel-Kues Wine Festival 2009

Saturday was our very last Bernkastel-Kues Wine Festival in Germany. It's my very favorite of all the festivals out here, just because I adore Bernkastel! I love the feeling I get there. It's the cutest little old village in our entire area. We don't drink wine, obviously, but there are shops everywhere, a carnival, & snacks that are to die for!

We parked the car & walked into the village. Everywhere we went we heard "Fier Kinder!" (Four Kids) It's so strange to people out here to have more than one kid. We walked across the bridge & found the carnival. We told the kids they could ride one ride & have one treat (our usual festival promise). They wanted to go into the fun house & they wanted me to go with them. I think I would have rather had Trek take them, but they begged for me so I went. Talk about the single most humiliating moment of my entire life. The very first thing you do is go up this super fast conveyor belt & you're not allowed to go up alone whether you're an adult or not. You are required to hold on to one of the worker's hands so he can help you up so you don't get hurt. Well . . . I got hurt! The guy thought it would be funny to put on a show for the crowd below by using me as a puppet on the conveyor belt. He kicked my legs out from under me & my feet flew up the conveyor belt as he dipped me into a very low dip. He did this several times while laughter erupted from the crowd below. Then he'd spin me around & my body was going backwards, but he had me in a death grip so that I was running backwards, yet holding on to him in a death grip. Everybody was laughing SO hard. The conveyor belt made welts on my feet that bled & I was SO embarrassed, but at least a lot of people got a good laugh out of it. At least I could make somebody laugh.

(Here is the guy dipping me on that conveyor belt for everyone to see. . .I had quite the crowd)

(This is when he had me running backwards.)

Inside the fun house was even worse. There was a rotating tunnel that Cadence & I got through okay, but Lorien tried it & she fell (of course) & couldn't get back up. I had to work my way back through the tunnel to get here on her feet again, but I couldn't carry her & walk with the rotation at the same time. We were both falling flat on our faces! I got up myself, but didn't know what to do about Lorien. We were spinning in there for a good 10 minutes before I asked a boy in German if he could pick her up & carry her through the tunnel. He laughed & carried her with ease through. Thank heavens. I ended up having to carry her through the rest of the fun house because she was crying hysterically. Cadence & I couldn't stop laughing because the rest of the fun house was a blast, but Lorien had her eyes shut & was screaming the entire time.

After the fun house of embarrassment we found a candy vendor; talk about heaven for the girls. They each got a bag & filled it with an assortment of yummy goodies. All three of them enjoyed that.

Then we let Taya ride her ride. . . a little airplane with daddy. However, I think she enjoyed her cola flavored gummy candy more than the ride. She was sucking on it the entire time.

And then it was time to go. Trek & I got crepes on our way out. I got cherry & nutella & he got marzipan & nutella. Both were fantastic. It was sad saying goodbye on this one. It's the last festival of the year & will be our last festival in Germany. Lots of memories for sure!

Blonde Again!

This week I got my hair colored for the first time in what seems like forever. It is so fun to be Blonde again! The girls love it, Trek loves it, & I love it. Thanks Rosie!

Bladen's Noises

I had to video Bladen & what he does all day long. He just talks & talks & talks & talks. And I thought the girls were bad. Our house is going to be LOUD when these kids get older. (It's already loud enough) ha ha ha.

1st Day of 1st Grade!

Sniff...sniff... Today my oldest baby got on that big school bus & it took her to 1st grade. I can't believe she's a 1st grader! Where does all the time go? She is so cute isn't she? And SO proud to be a big girl. She gets to learn social studies & science this year, on top of reading, english, & math. She couldn't be happier. And that makes me happy!

RS WOMEN!

In Relief Society, we're trying to get ready for a big Stake Enrichment activity this month. And since I'm the counselor over enrichment, I got to get all the women together for a Bitburg Ward RS Photo. It turned out great! Don't we have the best looking bunch on the block? I sure think so!

And then here's the lovely RS Presidency: me, Chanda, & Louise, striking our best pose! Aren't you all glad you've got these strong women in charge? Ha ha ha!

Eifel Park Gondorf

Saturday we took the girls to Eifel Park Gondorf for the first time. We were surprised at how fun it really was. Trek called it a "Dollar Store Amusement Park." It's definitely not Six Flags, but it was fun & it kept us busy for several hours.

As you walk into the park, the sidewalk is lined with several painted bears. Taya got up close & personal with one.

As soon as you pass the bears, there is a huge open field full of animals. There were deer, elk, emu, & billy goats. We bought some wild animal feed & let the girls feed the animals. I was SO surprised because even Lorien fed them. She's normally terrified of wild animals. She didn't even cry.

After feeding all the animals, we found a fun little playground. These playgrounds crack me up because they are SO dangerous. But they are SUPER fun! I especially enjoyed this little ride here. It was a ferris wheel. You put your kid inside the seat, put a loose chain in front of them & then you pedal on the bike next to it & it goes around & around. Talk about a blast, but any kid could easily fall out of it!

After playing in the playground, we found a giant cushion of air for the kids to jump on & some huge slides that were a BLAST for both the kids & the adults

After riding slides forever, we sat down for our PB & J lunches. The bees loved us. We ended up eating our lunches as we ran in circles trying to avoid getting stung by the bees. Yikes. We walked down the hill a ways & we found what they called "The Eifel Coaster." It was a roller coaster, & yes, kids could ride. SO FUN! First Lorien & I went down, & then Trek & Cadence rode it. Somewhere between the switching off, Taya managed to take off one of her squeaky shoes & chucked it to who knows where! I was SO angry. Those shoes were SO cute & we've only had them a few days & there she goes losing one of them. We spent a good 30 minutes searching & asking people if they had seen her shoe. She is such a stinker!

Then after that ordeal, we headed down the hill to see the wild birds, wolves, & bears. There were 2 gorgeous bald eagles. There was a whole pack of wolves & then 3 grizzly bears. The bears were SO tame. They would let the people feed them & then would get up & beg for more food like a little doggy. It was funny. I couldn't believe a grizzly could be that tame. It's a good thing they had a small wooden fence separating us from the animals. ha ha ha. I'm surprised nobody's gotten hurt at this place.

After seeing all the animals, we hiked back up the hill to the very top where there were more rides. First we rode the giant mushroom with swings which made me kind of sick mostly because the guy running it just let it run & run & run because nobody else was in line. We were spinning for over 5 minutes. Ugh!

Then Trek took them on the caterpillar roller coaster to see how they liked that & they LOVED it. Looks like our girls are going to be thrill seekers just like their mom & dad.

Then we found a climbing tower. Trek rode this with each of the girls. They had to pull themselves up via rope & then at the top they would let go & the seat would fall to the ground again. It was kind of like a "free fall" type of ride. They liked this one so much they did it over & over & over again!

After we finished up top (up top was where all those fun playgrounds were too. . .see my playground post that I posted yesterday), Cadence & I opted to ride that Eifel Coaster down to the bottom, while poor Trekkie had to walk with Bladen, Taya, & Lorien & the stroller. He's so sweet to me. Cadence & I had a blast. I never put on the brakes on the coaster so we were cruising. She was laughing & told me that Daddy didn't dare go this fast. "Mommy, you're so much braver than Dad!" I laughed at that. As soon as we reached the bottom of the coaster, the funniest thing happened. Wedged, underneath the track was TAYA'S SHOE! The little imp had tossed it so far that it got stuck in the roller coaster. I was SO happy to have the shoe back! I'm glad we chose to ride the coaster back down, or we would have never found it!

What a fun day. We're definitely going to have to go back to Eifel Park Gondorf. We had a blast!

German Playgrounds

Okay, so Trek & I really get a kick out of German playgrounds for kids. We took the kids to Eifel Park Gondorf on Saturday & took some videos of the playgrounds. Granted, they are the funnest playgrounds you will ever play in, but they are SO SO SO dangerous! Nobody sues out here so they don't care how dangerous it is, so long as it's fun! I think Trek & I had more fun than the kids did. Check these things out!

Squeaker

My mom & dad bought these cute shoes for Taya. She LOVES them! How funny is that?

Tomatoes!!!

When Oma was here we planted 5 tomato plants in the backyard. . . & finally we got to pick some of our delicious red tomatoes. There's still more coming, but here's a picture of our first few. It's very exciting to be able to see the end product of so much hard work!

Trek's Old Stomping Grounds

In our original plans, we wanted to take the kids to the Berlin Zoo, but because of the marathon

#1: we couldn't get to it

#2: it was so late it was almost closed.

So, we opted for a plan B. When Trek served his mission in Northern Germany, one of his areas fell into the category of "East Germany." His very favorite area on his mission was in Halberstadt & Wernigerode which was only 3 hours from Berlin. It was only 30 minutes out of our way home, so we decided to go check it out.

Trek got SO excited when he saw the skyline of Halberstadt. He was like a kid at Christmas! I can't imagine what it would be like to come back to Spangdahlem ten years from now, thinking I'd never see it again. That's what it was like for him. We drove through Halberstadt & went on to Wernigerode. Wernigerode is situated in the Harz Mountains where the Grimms Brothers wrote their classic fairy tales. At the top of Wernigerode sits a beautiful medieval castle (said to be the inspiration for fairy tales such as cinderella, rapunzel, & sleeping beauty). We were SO happy we got there before the sun went down so we could see the castle in her majesty. We didn't get to go inside, but it was fun seeing it.

Then we walked down to the rathaus there in Wernigerode. Trek was giddy the whole time. I could tell he was loving being back in his old stomping grounds. The rathaus was gorgeous. It's the first one I've seen that is painted almost a peach color (which happens to be my favorite color). The town was so cute & so fun that we decided that we want to go back in October. That way we can tour the castle & spend more time in the village. We could only stay a couple hours because we had to get home.

We left Wernigerode around 9:00 pm & drove all night long. We finally got home around 2:30 am. After totaling it all up we learned that our trip was a total of 40 hours. 20 hours of that was driving, 7 hours was sleeping, & the rest was touring some of the coolest places on earth. What an AWESOME trip!