#2 Vaihingen Market

Today, Jill and I braved the cold for a little walk to the Vaihingen Christmas Market. It being a Sunday, it was pretty busy but we still had a lovely time. I enjoy the fests in Vaihingen because they always have a lot of a handmade items by the locals. I kinda like that. They also had a lot of food but we settled on some langos, which were delicious, and a Weiß Glühwein (mulled white wine). I also picked up a new scarf and some knit airplanes for Rhett's Christmas stocking (pictured below).

AND,

in addition to our Christmas tree...

we also got some fresh snow this weekend.

I made the heart on Chad's car but then I caught a young German girl adding the smiley face. Cute.

To a new person...

who has only existed as we know him for 3 and a half short months.... I can't help but wonder...

what a first snow must look like?

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? - J.B. Priestley

#1: Burg Hohenzollern

Our first Christmas market this year brought us to Burg Hohenzollern. This was the same castle we visited with Carly just a couple weeks ago. We went on opening day which may have been why there was so little crowd (and the fact that it was the first decent snowfall this winter). There is also a 9 Euro charge which may be a turn off for some people but we thought it was worth it since you're paying for the romanticism and ambiance of the castle. Not to mention, this castle hosts a lot of special events for underprivileged children all over the world so when they ask me for 9 Euro entry... I have no problem with it.

Anyways, it seems the quality of gifts and trinkets sold at this Christmas market were of better quality than others but the variety of food wasn't that diverse. We did however stay warm by slurping hot kartoffelsuppe mit speck (potato soup with bacon) and Büffel brot und hausgemachte Weizenbrot mit kurbis-apfel senf (buffalo brot and homemade wheat bread with pumpkin-apple mustard) which was delish! We also had sweet waffles for dessert.

It was a great way to start our Christmas market season....

(I will apologize for the picture quality now... I don't have an external flash and it's quite difficult to take a picture while holding a diaper and camera bag or a baby while it's snowing. I should have just lied and told you I tried really hard to get that blurry, artistic look.)

p.s. The flag that flies on top of the castle means the prince is in the castle. Somewhere.

Happy-Day-After-Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving from Germany where, apparently, black Fridays are....

white

First Christmas Markets this weekend! Yay.

Lazy but with promise

There's no excuse for not blogging. Except maybe the fact that I returned to work and have been dealing with daycare issues in preparation for Rhett's first week in care. Ugh. Sad day. Kinda makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. I'm going to miss him so bad.

In other news, Rhett is 3 months old today, woohoo.

Also, I will soon makeup for the lack of blogging because starting after Thanksgiving, my blog will be taken over by the Christmas spirit and I vow to bring you a German Christmas Market

extravaganza!!

Chad, Rhett and I will be Christmas marketing ourselves silly for the month of December.

Try to contain yourself.

Check back soon for our first market...

Hohenzollern Castle Christmas Market.

Diary of a Visit: Carly & Misc.

Carly's two week visit has quickly come to a close. I dropped her off at Frankfurt airport yesterday morning and that was that. We miss her dearly and really appreciate all her help. Between the two of us we took about 500 pictures but you'll just have to settle for the ones below....

Carly's visit brought us to downtown Stuttgart and to the 'Eat This' exhibit.

Schloss Ludwigsburg... our favorite place to bring visitors!

Chad took leave so he got some extra hours of sleep during Carly's visit (Rhett too).

I surprised Carly with a visit to Stuttgart's Schwein (Pig) Museum. Carly loves her some piggies.

The whole gang drove to Hohenzollern Castle which was wonderful.

It got really exciting when it started hailing on us on our descent from the castle. Strange how quickly the weather can change.

Meatloaf thoroughly enjoyed Carly's visit and misses her lots...

Rhett too of course!!

Even though her visit went way too fast, we're already looking forward to Auntie Carly's next visit.

Love you Carly! Thanks for everything.

Diary of a Visit: Carly & Munich

Last Thursday, I picked up Carly from the airport. Rhett and I got there a little late but it was okay because Carly's flight was delayed 2 hours. To most people this might be a frustrating event but in that two hours Rhett ate and then had a massive diaper explosion which took me about an hour to deal with so we all came out even in the end.

There was no rest for Carly or nursing of jet lag because I hauled her to Munich on Friday for Rhett's first overnight trip! It was just the three of us since Chad had to stay home and watch the dogs. He never complained though which I believe is a direct result of being able to sleep undisturbed and eat microwave pizza for 2.5 days. Chad's version of heaven.

Anyways, Munich meant beer (mostly for Carly), Hofbrauhaus, the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, chocolate dipped fruit and lots of walking. For Rhett it meant sleeping... except of course at night when everyone else wanted to sleep... then it meant endless hours of CNN and rocking, courtesy of Mom.

Overall, it was a lovely visit to Munich. It will also serve as a valuable learning experience when traveling with baby Rhett. Pack double the amount of onesies you think you'll need and find all possible baby changing stations in a 10 mile radius to avoid being changed on the bathroom floor of the Hofbrauhaus.

That's all.

Also, be sure to thank a Veteran TODAY!

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Happy Veteran's Day!

Rhett is man enough to wear a pink elephant wrist rattle.