Good-bye

I can hardly believe today was the day we had to say good-bye to my parents! Their time here seemed to FLY by. We so enjoyed having them here. At the airport Shaylee wanted to go with them back to America. Here is one last picture of mom and dad with the grandkids! We love you and miss you already! Thanks for coming!

Okay - a few more pictures....we went to John Deere on Monday - so I had to post these as well.

Fasching Fun 2009

We headed to Malsch for their annual Fasching Parade. What an experience for Mom and Dad. This is the one time of year the German's go a little crazy - let down their hair - and have a great time! One of the John Deere families lives along the parade set-up route. We all met at their place for tons of great food and fun! Once again I took a TON of pictures....but will only post a few! It was a bit cold and sort of rainy - but we still had a great time!
Sergey and Lilianna (this is who my kids carpool with to school!) Mom and Dad at the parade.

Some of the traditional wooden masks....worn to scare away winter! Dad at the parade!

Sydney and friends getting CANDY! Silas and Shaylee also getting their share.

Such unique outfits and floats....its just fun to watch and be part of the excitement!


A few of the floats even had an American theme to them!



Jer posing with a gal from the restaurant in Rot (The Rose) that we frequent for flammekuchen! A bunch of guys having a good time!

Jeremy and Mark having a great time! I believe they are yelling the famous Fasching word HELAU!!!!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Saturday afternoon we decided to take a quick little drive to France. My mom captured this picture of Jeremy and me as we were piling the kids into the van getting ready to head out. I love this picture - mostly because I know what was taking place at the time it was taken - I'll leave the rest up to your imaginations. If you want the real story....you'll have to let me know.

Second picture - proof we were in FRANCE!

Then on our way home we headed to Bruchsal and see the Baroque Schloss there. Jeremy, the kids and I had been here before, but this Schloss is so neat (and since I had forgotten my camera that day) we thought it wouldn't hurt to see it again (and take some pictures this time around!)

What makes this Schloss so neat is that the facade is painted on. What appear to be statues and carvings are actually just paintings....very good detail too.

From a distance you wouldn't know...its just when you get up close you can really see.

These last two pictures are some of my favorites. Check out this door...especially the door handle. Can you tell that its not real....just a painting....with shadow and everything. How neat is that!

Pinocle

While mom and dad have been here we've played a few really good hands of Pinocle! One night we played guys against girls.....after some very interesting hands and a little mix-up on what a Pinocle consists of (a queen of spades and a jack of diamonds) the gals ended up winning!!!!! Then the next night we played girls against guys again. The guys were looking to redeem themselves from the night before. After 3 hours of play we had been back and forth back and forth it seemed like the game would never end! The score at this point was guys 125, gals -49! However - the girls ended up coming back from being down in the hole and winning AGAIN!!!!! Final score guys 65, girls 152!!!!

More on Nuremburg

After our lovely dinner of beer and wurst (and ability to warm up again) we headed in the other direction through the remaining sights in Nuremburg. We stopped at a few shops and enjoyed our walk. Nuremburg is a lovely city with so much to see! We didn't nearly see it all.

Frauenkirche on Market Square

Beautiful Fountain - this fountain brought clean drinking water into the square. And Sebaldkirche.

Finally we made it to the Imperial Castle...in the Middle Ages, Holy Roman Emperors stayed here when they were in town.

A view of Nuremburg....another building that stored grain - it is now a youth hostel.

I threw a snowball towards Jer - and missed - here he is aiming to get me back. My mom and I both took tons more pictures - but I can only post so many....hope you enjoyed these!

Jeremy and Kimber - our last stop was another restaurant for 2 hot chocolates, a gluwein, and a beer! At this restaurant they had the cutest door markers on the bathrooms....I couldn't resist to take pictures!

Nuremburg's Old Town

We also headed into Nuremburg to the Altstadt or Old Town. Some of the best sights are all within walking distance of eachother. We found parking in the middle - and then walked either direction taking everything in. It was cold and snowy - but when we got chilled we just stopped at the nearest BeerHall and got some bratwurst and beer to warm us up!

Holy Ghost Hospital (Heilig-Geist-Spital) spans the river and was built in the 16th century. This would be Jeremy and I skipping over the bridge....I do believe we are enjoying being without the kids for a day!

Jeremy in front of St. Lawrence Church...looking up at the spires....and the only remaining tower house in Nuremburg which was built in 1200 when there was no city wall.

Speaking of the city wall. There are several sections still surrounding the Old Town.

About this time we were getting chilly - so we headed indoors to get some food.

Enjoying beer and wurst in the beer hall Barfusser which is in the cellar of the Mauthalle or Old Granary. Nuremburg had 11 of these huge buildings to store grain.