Der Blautopf.... Blaubeuren

Blaubeuren hat uns sehr gut gefallen!

In Ulm, um Ulm und Um Ulm herum!

Over "Easter break", as the Germans call it... We met the girls' German teacher, Monika in Ulm. She was in town from Georgia visiting her parents and agreed to show us the area where she grew up. The highlights were the Ulmer Munster and "Der Blautopf" in Blaubeuren. The Munster has the tallest church steeple in the world and we climbed the 768 steps to get to the top. The staircase was narrow and curvy. I was thankful it wasn't a hot day! The "Blautopf", or "blue pot" is a spring at the beginning of the little blue river. It is the bluest water you can imagine. There is a system of underwater caves surrounding the spring where several divers have perished during explorations.... We also visited the amazing grounds of a former monastery in Blaubeuren. Monika also took us to a memorial for Erwin Rommel, a famous captain in the German army during WWII. Rommel was one of the accused in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He was given a choice to stand trial, or take his own life. Rommel chose the latter and the memorial is located on a hill where Rommel drank a "Giftbecher" and ended his life. He wanted to be able to see the Ulmer Munster, which is visible from this very spot....
Monika!!!! Thanks for showing us Ulm.... I hope we can visit again one day!

Sarah's birthday

Sarah turned 11 this year... Wow... our baby is growing up too fast! She requested a red velvet cake, which I attempted to make from scratch for the first time. It tasted yummy, but was brownish-pink since I ran out of red food coloring. Oma came to wish Sarah well of course... The following weekend we went to the new bowling alley in Drackenburg for some fun with her friends from school. It is a joy watching you grow up sweet Sarah! Wir haben dich lieb.....

Snow!

Germany got a ton of snow this winter. It snowed on December 17th and didn't melt until mid-March. This is very abnormal here and nobody can remember getting this much snow in many many years. The girls had fun building snowmen, sledding and having snowball fights! I even pulled Hannah to school a few mornings on the sled and used it to schlep home groceries since biking was out of the question.

New Year's and Nunleys

Our dear friends the Nunley family made the trek to Memphis from Cincy to celebrate the New Year with us. Sarah and Hannah were thrilled to be reunited with their buddies Abby and Audrey. Kim picked out an Elvis nutcracker for me to add to my beloved collection. He accompanied us to Beale Street for a night of BBQ at the famous Rendevous and some blues action at Rum Boogie Cafe. Other highlights were visiting the Peabody and witnessing the duck march, eating a Huey's burger and shooting fireworks at my brother's house on New Year's Eve.

T and Opa's house

We usually go visit T and Opa's house when we are in Arkansas for Christmas. Terri, Darin and Maggie were there and we had a nice visit.

Heading to the U.S. for Christmas

On December 18th, we were scheduled to fly to Atlanta via Dusseldorf, but our flight got canceled due to a snowstorm. We spent an extra night at the lovely Holiday Inn and made it to Mutah's house a day later than planned. She spoiled us as usual and we loved being reunited with my brother Jason, his wife Mandy and their two children, Jackson and Mallory. Aunt Pat and Uncle Jerry had a sleepover at Mom's before they flew out to Baltimore Christmas morning. Cousins Jenny and Bradley popped by for a visit as well! The Christmas Eve service at St. Mary's was beautiful and the girls were thrilled to be back in the USA! Santa brought Hannah a Nintendo DSI and Sarah got an ipod.