Misc Items II

17 May - Mommy and Me Girl Scout Tean & Bingo - Kim and Jamie attended this Girl Scout event. they had a godo time but did not win any BINGO. Kim had a line once but did not say BINGO fast enough. Of course, this was after we got home from camping, shower, then BINGO....it just never stops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are more of the beautiful Flowers Frau Unnold keeps at the house.

We like to eat outside. This is dinner on a beautiful German evening!!!!

Volksmarch

23 May - We went on our first Volks March today with Jamie in the little town of Oberwiesen. Kim and I did many of these on our first tour. This was the first one that Jamie has done. It was a beautiful day. We only did the 5 Km because of Kim's knees and Jamie's first one. She had a good time. We enjoyed the food afterwards as well. Bean soup, bratwurst, wine and cola. The Strawberry Torte was EXCELLENT.

This is the start - notice Jamie pointing out the route we are taking.............

You get to see ALOT of the beautiful German countryside on these Volksmarches.

They have food after these - This is the Nachspeisen Tische (Dessert table).

Volksmarches are a big event here. Many towns hold them on weekends or on Wednesdays. Some you can do in the evening in Winter with the Snow that are candle lite!! They are fun events, gets you involved in the culture and out to different towns. The towns use them as fund-raisers. These events are not as popular as they were years ago.

We had a GREAT time.

Girl Scout camping

15-17 May - Kim and I took 15 4-6th grade girls camping. Most it was the first time camping with Girl Scouts. Except for the rain, cold, burned food, wind and german bachelor party 100 yards away, it was perfect!!

15 May - We arrived and it was sprinkling raining. It is Baumholder Germany where they have two seasons - rainy and 4th of July!!!! Anyway, the girls put up the tents and we started a fire in the rain - lots of fun :)) We cooked Spaghetti, veggies, garlic bread for dinner. The rain stopped as we ate dinner. the girls learned how to wash dishes in pans. We made S'mores for dessert :)) We went to bed about 10pm but some of the girls had to stay up all night talking. Fortunately, we did not have any screeks about bugs or "I want Mommy!". 16 may - Saturday, we woke to a brisky sunny day at 0630. We cranked up the fire for coffee and breakfast. The girls cooked scrambled eggs, saugages/bacon on a stick, fruit, hot chocolate and biscuits over the fire. It was all very good. After cleaning dishes, etc we conducted our training. We conducted a trail markings class, Map reading & Compass reading classes, Archery, and making a sand-table map of the camp site. For lunch, we had sandwiches, chips, fruit. The girls went on a trail hike and picked flowers or leaves and made picture frames after their return. they rebuilt the fire and started on dinner - Camp stew over the fire, Hobo-packets in the fire (basically, chicken, and veggies in foil and placed on the coals), biscuits. For dessert we cooked banana boats - take a banana, remove one side of the peel, scoop out some of the banana, insert chocolate chip minis, marshmellows and coconut in the scooped out area, place the peel on top, wrap in foil and place on the coals!) Wait 5 mins, unwrap and ENJOY!!!!!!!!! Oh-snap!!!! We finished the night singing songs around the campfire. Our camera broke so we don't have many pictures at this time.

The real interesting part was that about 1400, a group of 25-30 German men in their 20s showed up for a Bachelor Party. they were 100m away which was fine but they had a loud speaker with music, games, beer. Did I say - loud speaker!!! They were going strong till 2 in the morning. It was very good.

17 may - we woke to a cloudy day. We ate a quick breakfast of fruit, muffins and juice. Jus as we finished breakfast, the clouds opened up and started to rain - yeah!!! the tents were dry from the day before but got DRENCHED - it was only for 15 minutes but krap!!!! We finished and made our departure time of 1000.

It was very good and the girls earned 5 badges.

Putting up the tents - note the rain coats!!! Some of the scouts did not follow instructions and did not pack their stuff inside trash bags to keep them dry - guess who slept in wet sleeping bags and learned a valuable lesson

Garlic bread on the camp fire. excellent

Girl Scout activities

2 May - Horseback Riding - Jamie's GS troop went horseback riding at a local stable. Some of the girls had never riden a horse before so it was a great experience for them. The horses were led thru town and the country side but they had alot of fun!!

3 May - Try It Day - On this day, Jamie's troop taught several classes to Brownie (Grade 1-3) scouts. Below, Jamie is teaching on how to treat an injury while Shaliyah demonstrates. This is one of the community project that the troop chose as part of the many requirements for their Bronze Award. Kim and Jamie put alot of work into preparing for this day.

Mother's Day

10 May - We took Kim to a very nice resturant in Otterbach - Kipperhof. The owner's are Slovak. Kim had Pork tenderloin with Spargel (white Asparagus), Jamie had Lamb and I had a Salmon with salad and spaghetti. It was very nice. The resturant has been there since 1750!! Very nice - we'll be going back. www.kipperhof.de

Michael's Birthday

11 May - It seems like just 2 short years ago, Michael was turning 16 in Virginia. This year he turned 18 and drove the car to school!!! James went to his home and took him 15 bags of various types of chips for his party he will have for his friends this weekend and a case of Samuel Adams Beer for the party. It was really nice and different. It was more of a drop in of family and friends. Michael says it is traditional in the area. They sing Happy Birthday in English. We called jamie and she sang Happy Birthday in Norwegen, Korean and Arabic!! They were very impressed!

Petra, every the wonderful hostess, cooked three VERY excellent cakes (below), sandwiches and of course STOFFEL WINE and sparkling wine!! I met all his aunts, uncles and even his Great uncle who is 88 and was in Russia in 1942, Rommel's Afrika Corps and was a POW in San Antonio after the war for 3 years. His english was really good for not using it for 66 years and his mind was still clear as a bell. It was really fascinating to meet him and hear his stories. What history he has seen!!

Iced Coffee cake

Michael's favorite "Peach Cake" and open faced sandwiches with hams, salami and cheese

Raspberry Creme Cake with sweet cracker topping - SNAP

(i ate two pieces of each of these)

A few misc items

30 April - Hexenacht (Witches Night) - On this night, kids go out and do crazy things like spray shaving cream on signs, toiletpaper telephones and bushes and cars, etc. Nothing really damaging. Some take stuff outside and put it on bus stops or move trash cans. It is really fun. Of course, jamie and I had to participate so no adult went :))

My future little derelict out putting up toilet paper across the street for cars to drive thru.....her parents are soooooooooooooooooooo proud!!!

5 May - These are some of teh lovely flowers that Frau Unnold keeps around the house. The front has azaleas (purple & deep orange) and smaller flowers. These are in the back yard.