Cranky

Lincoln:  Daddy's cranky today.  He's crankier than you Mommy.  In fact, if he was my teacher he would say, "You have to do two digit adding all day long!"  

First Day of First Grade (again)

We found out about two weeks ago that enrollment was up in Kindergarten so Lincoln's 1st Graders would be getting a new teacher.   Today was the "Big Switch."  

 We were all really bummed out that he would not have Mrs. Hudnall and Mrs. Hall again.  In fact, I got a call on Friday that he was crying.  It broke my heart!  

Thankfully, all of his best friends would be moving with him!  

 These boys are inseparable! 

 Nate had a comp day today and he was able to go with me to visit the classroom!

 His new teacher, Mrs. Smith, has 29 years of experience.  I think they are in good hands!!

This smart board is the coolest thing.  The kids find their picture.  Then, they move their picture to either hot lunch or sack lunch to let the teacher know how many are buying lunches!  

Mrs. Hudnall shared some work so that Mrs. Smith would have stuff for her walls.  

Me and my dad and Ethan like to play Super Luigi.  We defeated all the boards.  Bowser's castle was hardest and we defeated secret entrances on the 2nd board.

Hitscherhof Pumpkin Festival

 We met up with a bunch of friends for the Hitscherhof Pumpkin Festival.

 Their pumpkin soup and Flammkuchen are amazing!

 The kids loved playing on the hay bales!

 There were a lot of little booths with handmade treasures.  

The kids loved looking at the bees and honey.

 We ended the fun day with cookies!

 The boys loved playing with their friends!

Oh boy

For a few months now, Lincoln has been taking a shower on his own.  Last night, he came downstairs after his shower completely naked.  He ran in the living room and was about to sit on the couch when I said, "Where are your underwear?."  He laughed and said, "Oh no.  I forgot them! haha!"  

Oh boy...I worry about you sometimes!!!

Kulinarische Wanderung

The boys and I went on a Culinary Hike last year (Nate was working).  We had so much fun.  

I have been watching for the flyers announcing this year's walk!

We had plans to meet up with a bunch of neighbors yesterday, but it rained all day.  It rained on and off today, but we really wanted to go!  So, we donned our rain jackets and headed out after church!

There were eight food stations on a 6K loop.  

We skipped the first food station (pasta) and headed straight over to the Flammkuchen stop.  

Flammkuchen is a popular Alsatian dish of thin dough, ham, onions, and a creme fraiche.  We love Flammkuchen.  The boys are not fans of the onions and end up picking them off!

We knew there was no way we were going to make the 6K hike with both boys today and we all wanted to take a nap and watch a movie this afternoon.   So the boys got out the map and found the dessert stop!  We skipped stations 3-6, and found a short cut to get some yummy dessert!

I remembered to take a picture of Nate buying the dessert.

But, the fellas inhaled it so fast there were no photos!  The dessert was called a Rostige Ritter.  It was a yummy fried dough in vanilla and chocolate sauce.  Ethan compared it to French Toast.  I googled it a few minutes ago to find out what it was made from and google translated it to French Toast!  

He knows his French Toast!  

This stop was next to a bridge.  They were smart enough to put tables under the bridge!  

We stayed dry here!

Everyone's bellies were full!  Next stop---bouncy house for the boys!  

We spent about two hours walking, eating, and bouncing.  I can't imagine how long it would have been if we had done the entire 6K.  It was super fun and I can't wait for next year!

Fun Friday

Me:  Ethan, tell me something special about your day.
E:  Well, we had Fun Friday today.
Me:  Tell me about Fun Friday.
E:  Well, it wasn't very fun.
Me:  OooooKay.  Anything else?
E:  Well, it's always on Fridays.

Salzburg, Austria

These are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

The fortress is the center of the city.  It's in every picture!  It's the city's main attraction.

The views from the fortress were amazing....even in the rain!

They love their audio guides!

View from the fortress.

We noticed that Austria has "World Famous" or "Europe's best/largest" on EVERYTHING!

 They may have "Europe's Best Views." 

 This was just strange!  In Mozartplatz these pillows were laying around and everyone was lounging.  The boys joined in!  

 Erica gave me the heads up to stop at the Christmas Store.  

They sold hand painted eggs! GORGEOUS!

Mozart's birth house!

 The Sound of Music hill was in the backyard of this house.  The window boxes were amazing!

 This was the view from lunch one day.  This whole city was breathtaking!

Sound of Music

We booked a Sound of Music Tour with Bob's Tour Company.  The tour was SUPER small.  It was the five of us, a couple from Florida, and our tour guide Beatrice.  

Our tour guide picked us up at our hotel and took us to see the Salzburg Fortress.   The boys were so happy that they had their DS'.  They took pictures all day!

Next stop was Leopold's palace.  This is where they filmed the outdoor balcony

 scene and the canoe tipping scene.   

The gazebo used to be here, but they moved it because the house is private property now.  

The boys really wanted to see the trees the Von Trapps were climbing!  The trees have really grown!

 The gazebo was locked!  She told us that too many people were injured dancing on the benches, so they locked it up!

Beatrice (behind the tree), told the boys they couldn't climb the trees from
the movie, but they could climb this tree!
We drove by the house they used to film the front of the house.
Again, it is private property so we took our picture from the van.

Here the path where Maria sang, "I have confidence in me."

Beatrice played the soundtrack while we were driving around.  I think it made Link a little tired!

Thankfully, we had a fun stop at a Rodelbahn!  This was so much fun!

We worked worked up and appetite.  Our next stop was at a restaurant!  The views from the restaurant were gorgeous.  The film crew used helicopters and filmed these mountains for the opening scene.

Beatrice told us that the Abbey would not let the film crew film the wedding at their church, so they found a church nearby.  It was gorgeous!!!

There was so much gold in the church!

Just like Maria and the Colonel!

We had such a great morning!  We were all in such a good mood.  I was so excited to get to Mirabell Gardens and get some fantastic pictures.....until Beatrice dropped us off at the street and said, "Auf Wiedersehen."  I was shocked!  She wasn't going to take us back to the hotel.  

Thankfully, Nate reassured me that we would be fine!  

We found the hedge and the boys and I ran through for some pictures!

We also found St. Peter's cemetery where the Von Trapps hid in the movie.  

(Well, it was recreated in Hollywood from this cemetery)

We did find a taxi and headed back to the hotel.  

We got up early the next morning to do some more Sound of Music touring.  Nate and I did some research and found the hill from the movie where she teaches the kids "Do, Re, Mi."  It was literally in someone's back yard.  It was also pouring down rain!  Nate and I ran (quietly) and took this picture.   Come to find out it's the hill right next to this one....which we didn't get in a picture.

This is the fountain where Maria splashed the water.  This fountain is HUGE.   Mar and I actually lost Nate and the boys as they were walking around the fountain!

Nate glanced up and saw this sign by accident.  Maria and the kids were singing in the wagon and drove by this store!

We didn't make it to the Abbey, but we got a great shot of it from the fortress!

The Mozart Bridge where Maria and the kids are singing "Do, Re, Mi."  

Here's one more fountain from the movie!!!  

This was a SOUND OF MUSIC weekend!  We had so much fun.  We sang all weekend!  The fellas have been singing too!  The city is gorgeous, but tying it to the movie made it so much better!