Our First Castle Visit (MANY more to come)!!

We ventured out last weekend for our first visit to a castle.  We chose Ludwigsburg Castle because it was nearby, and they are having their annual "pumpkin festival".  This year the theme was dinosaurs, and they had pumpkin statues representing all different kinds of dinosaurs.  I didn't expect little R to be thrilled by the castle (which he wasn't), but I knew that he would enjoy the pumpkins!!

The castle was nothing less than absolutely amazing!!  Built in the 1700's, it still has original furniture, artwork, and even curtains & wallpaper!!  We chose to do the tour even though we knew that at 90 minutes long, it would be a challenge for little R.  But while he wasn't impressed, he was very well behaved for the entire tour!!  We even had some German ladies comment to us about how quiet our children were!!

We couldn't take any pictures inside the castle, but the castle grounds are full of flower gardens and beautiful landscaping...so we took lots of pictures outside!  The highlight of the day for the girls was that the grounds are sooo beautiful that lots of brides choose to have their wedding pictures taken there.  We saw several beautiful girls in beautiful wedding gowns having their pictures done...it was really neat!

It was a great first castle visit...we can't wait for the next one!!

Ludwigsburg Castle

The beginning of the dinosaurs...

Some pretty girls beside some pretty flowers...

The grounds were as pretty as the castle!

T is standing because she had just sat down on the pumpkin, and gotten her  booty wet!!  We all thought it was very funny...she didn't find the humor in the situation!

The back of the castle...

R thoroughly enjoyed the dinosaurs!!

This is what R does when you tell him to smile for the camera...

More of the castle...

Smilin' for the camera...

A tower on the castle grounds...they even had "Rapunzel" hair hanging down from it!   We didn't make it up to see the tower...everyone was tuckered out by the time we saw it.

More dinosaur...more smilin' for the camera!

Not real sure what this face was...but it was CUTE!!

Pizza Night/Family Movie Night

The tradition continues!  This was our first pizza night at our new house.  We have decided that we can't do it on Friday nights anymore...the girls didn't make it through the movie this week...too tired from a hard week at school!!  So now that we don't have the leisurely schedule of homeschooling, we are going to have to adjust our family nights to Saturday nights! : )

R turns FOUR!!

With all the craziness of our life, little R's birthday was very low key this year.  Fortunately, he didn't mind at all!  We spent the day at home, while the rest of the gang was at school and work.  That evening, we went to the theater on post and saw Cars 2 (for the 3rd time).  After the movie, we came home for some yummy cupcakes! Very low key, but we spent the day focused on this blessing we call our son!!  Very grateful to have him as part of our family...he definitely adds a lot of fun to our lives!  Happy Birthday, Buddy!!  We are so proud of the big boy you are becoming!!

At the movies, with popcorn AND a Sprite...it MUST be a special occasion!

R's very simple, but full of love birthday cupcakes!

Happy Birthday, R!!!

The cupcakes were a hit!  He licked off EVERY bit of frosting..and then he was done!

Zoo fun!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather one weekend, and drove into Stuttgart to the zoo.  It is probably one of the coolest zoos we have ever been to!  It is also a botanical garden, so there are TONS of beautiful flowers.  And the animals were all out where you could see them up close, which makes it much more entertaining for little R.  It was a great day, and other than people staring, we felt right at home!

I will miss this when he is all grown up...right now I am his "go to" person...and he loves being with me always!  I sure do love this boy!!

Gorilla...up close & personal!

A and R had to pose with this big guy!

If sis can do it, he can to!

Cool baboon...

These guys were amazing...but very restless, which made me a bit nervous!

Beautiful!

Beautiful again!

Elephant...up close & personal

One of my very favorites!

This is the view from the upper portion of the zoo

No paparazzi!!!

Ice cream break..

CHEEESE!!

Pretty girl...pretty background

Pretty girl....pretty background

Some more of the beautiful scenery at the zoo

Beautiful!

Huge pond full of lilypads

This guy was happy!!

And so was this guy!  How do you like the pose?

First Day of School

The girls started school on August 29th.  After a year of homeschooling, it was very hard for me to let them go to public school again!  I really enjoyed having them at home with me last year, and since I didn't know very much about the schools here, I think I was as nervous as they were!!

Adding to the stress was the fact that we were living in a hotel when they started school.  Add to that the fact that school starts at the same time for both of them, but at different posts across town from each other!!  We traded off...one got to school really early one day, and the other got to school really early the next day.  It worked, but it was hard!  We only had to do that for a few days before we moved into our house, and now the girls walk down to the bus stop and ride the bus to school.  Much easier!!!

First day of school pic...just outside the hotel this year, instead of our home!

A in front of her school.  T wouldn't let the camera be seen in front of her school!

This is A lined up outside the school with her 4th grade class.  Do you notice anything??  She is SOOO much taller than ALL the kids in her class...as usual...and she hates it!

Just another pic of her looking a bit out of place among her clasmates! 

Livin' the Hotel Life

Upon our arrival in Germany, we checked into the Kelley Hotel.  Our reservation was for up to 90 days, but we were determined to be out of there WAY before then!  We wound up living in the hotel for 15 long days.  Once we were inprocessed enough to actually look at houses, that's all we did...all day EVERY day!!  We saw LOTS of houses...a few that definitely weren't for us, some that COULD have been for us, and ONE that totally WAS for us!  We saw houses that were out in the middle of corn fields; houses that had 32 steps up to the house from the street; houses that were beautiful but WAY outside of town; houses that reeked of cigarette smoke; and even one house where our neighbors would have been from Arkansas!!  But through it all, we just kept looking for that feeling of being right...maybe not the perfect house, but the house that was perfect for us!

Hotel living was absolutely not for us!  Having all 5 of us in about 400 sq feet, 24 hours a day, with no room to move around or escape each other was tiring, to say the least.  We had one queen size bed, a full size pullout couch, and a rollaway bed.  Every inch of floor space was covered!!  Luckily when we got here, the weather was very warm, and there was big playground outside the hotel...so the kids and I spent quite a bit of time out there....everyday! : )  It was truly a lifesaver!!

He's a happy boy!!

Our temporary Germany home!

This is the bedroom...with our bed and little R's rollaway...every inch was covered in beds!

A happy moment together on the couch...

A didn't believe she was a bed hog...proof is in the picture!  We had to get a 2nd rollaway bed for poor T...so she slept in the dining room the rest of the time! 

We were sooooo happy when we found our house!!  And even though we have loaner furniture and we are sleeping on airbeds, it is so much better than the hotel!!  We absolutely can't wait to get our household goods and really turn this into our home!!