2016 has been a wonderful year for us. At the beginning of the year, I stated 3 goals.:
1. Update our 72 hour kit. We did that. Our one huge backpack has grown to 2, and it is still the barest of bare necessities, but includes up-to-date copies of passports, vital records, and other important info that I could see us needing access to in a real life emergency. It is comforting knowing that it is there, though I hope to never need it.
2. Walk, run, or crawl a 5k, 10k, and half marathon this year. I didn't do a half marathon. And as usual, I have been more sedentary than active, but I will continue to work on this.
3. In 2015 we visited 3 other countries. In 2016 we hoped to visit 9 or 10 countries. We made it to France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, and Spain. That's 10! woo-hoo!! Slovenia was a new favorite- it is so beautiful there. We also were surprised by Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Tallinn. We may need to explore that Baltic region a bit more.
We had many opportunities in 2016 that we could not have foreseen at the beginning of the year... but the biggest has to be the Rebstock Refugee Library. As we watched the refugee crisis unfolding in Germany (and the world) in the first half of 2016, we participated in several relief projects- donating clothing and shoes, collecting and repairing bicycles, assembling hygiene kits for distribution. But I had a feeling, that I couldn't shake, that I wanted to do something more. Something that would give a part of ME and use my talents. The idea came to me for a library at one of the camps and I got in touch with a few women that I know that work with refugee aid in July, and the whole thing just snowballed from there!
At this point the library has been open for four months! It is a beautiful and welcoming space, with over 1,100 books (and counting,) puzzles, and toys, where people can gather to read, talk, work on school work, practice German, or just play. And all because of the overwhelming generosity of friends (and strangers) sharing their time, talents, and resources. I feel blessed just to be a part of this project and to have gotten to know some incredible, strong, beautiful people- even if it is just a little bit and with a language barrier to work around. Our entire family has been deeply involved in this, and we have gained so much from this opportunity to serve.
We look forward to much more excitement, travel, and challenges and goals to meet in 2017! I have some ideas, but will wait until next week to write down my goals for next year.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
December has been so busy that I feel like I haven't had a quiet moment to process everything yet!
We visited a middle ages style Christmas Market at Burg Ronneburg. These musicians were so much fun. In this photo they are playing different old string instruments. We also heard them play recorder type wind instruments, and drums and bagpipes. The boys loved that the one guy had bells tied to his ankle that he would stomp to ring.
The castle was neat, and one we haven't visited before, but it was pretty crowded.
We aren't really in the market for weapons, armor, or middle ages clothing of our own, so this market wasn't my favorite ever. But it was interesting and different, and the kids liked it.
We decided the hill the castle is situated on is PERFECT for sledding. Too bad it is kinda far from our house.
I also got to chaperone a field trip with Toby to the Paulaner restaurant in downtown Wiesbaden. It was soooo cold out! His German immersion class took the public bus into town and after lunch we strolled through the Christmas market.
It wasn't as relaxing as it sounds!
I have also been busy sewing some gifts this year. Aside from this quilt I made for Amelie, I also made PJ pants for all of the kids and a couple of small items for a service auction at our church.
And of course, we attended the Winter concerts at the kids' school. Jake and Toby were in the concert for K-2 at 4:30 pm and then Charlotte was in the concert for 3-5 at 6:30 pm. Which means we were at the school all night. The kiddos did great, but it was a loooong day.
Toby and I also went caroling with Charlotte's Activity Days group. These are the girls aged 8-11 at our church. (Toby came along so I could run him to Cub Scouts immediately after the caroling was done. ) We visited a nursing home and then some friends of the group's leader before ending at her parents' home where the girls were treated to cookies, Kinderpunsch, and spiced almonds at a beautifully set table. It was a lovely evening.
We also attended Rob's work party this year which was at the bowling alley. It was nice to get to meet some of his co-workers and their families. Amelie turned out to be quite the little bowler and beat all of her siblings.
Then we went to get our Christmas tree. It seems Toby is the "Melissa" of our family when it comes to picking a Christmas tree. Long after the other kids had moved on to sit by the fire pit, Toby was still walking Rob and I around to look at every last tree. (My sister Melissa did that to us every year when I was a kid.)
We attended our church's "Christmas Around the World" party and had a chance to visit with Santa, play Christmas games, make crafts, and eat a lovely dinner. We also attended another small local Christmas Market, but I didn't take any photos there. And we have been watching all of our favorite Christmas movies and playing board games like Risk and Clue.
Which brings us up to today, 3 days before Christmas and baking sugar cookies with my 4 little munchkins. It has been a lot of fun the past few weeks, but now I am ready to hunker down and enjoy some peaceful evenings staring at the Christmas tree with a cup of hot cocoa. I hope our kids will remember some of these fun activities and the excitement of Christmas, but most of all I hope that they will remember that all of these things were done with LOVE.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
The Temple, Dresden's Frauenkirche, and Christmas Markets 101
On Black Friday we awoke in Dresden and headed for the Freiberg LDS Temple. We had the good fortune of being in town at the same time as our friends, the Nelsons, so we met up at the temple and swapped babysitting so that both us couples could enjoy a few hours of quiet contemplation together. It was fantastic! Also, this temple is interesting historically, as it is the only temple that was built behind the Iron Curtain. If you want to read a brief history of the Church in Germany, (beginning with a branch in Darmstadt in 1843,) you can find it here. But to summarize, East German Mormons were not granted visas to travel to the temple in Bern, Switzerland. Due to the constant requests from members to do so, the government authorized the building of a temple in Freiberg. Church meetings and members were routinely monitored, and the head of the church in East Germany was constantly followed and hauled in for questioning regularly. So the Church was confident the temple would be desecrated before too long, but built a very small temple anyway to allow as many people the opportunity to attend as possible. It never was desecrated and was just re-furbished this past year. It is tiny, but mighty.
After our morning at the temple we headed downtown to the Christmas market near the Frauenkirche. This is a Lutheran church that was built in the 1700s. It has one of the largest domes in Europe, but would be somewhat unremarkable if not for the building's more recent history. On Feb. 13, 1945, Allied forces firebombed Dresden. The attack and fires continued for 2 days, and on the 15th the church collapsed into a pile of rubble. (Related book recommend: Slaughterhouse Five.) After WWII, the Communists left the pile of rubble where it sat. At the reunification of Germany in 1989, more than 50 years later, a group that had been planning for some time, cataloged the rubble and raised funds to resurrect the church. The blackened stones are original, the others are new. And so the Frauenkirche became a symbol of sorts, of the healing of Germany.
Inside the dome.
This cross was originally atop the church. It was found in the rubble with surprisingly little damage and is now housed inside the sanctuary. A new golden cross, of the same design, was made by a British blacksmith whose father was an RAF bomber pilot in WWII. Officially it is a "gift from the British people and the House of Windsor." It's so poetic to me. I just adored this place. Our German LDS apostle, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, gave a talk in which he spoke of the Frauenkirche as a metaphor for how no human is so far lost or broken that they cannot be healed by God. It can be found here.
Dresden is really gorgeous.
Anyway, let's talk Christmas markets now.
When we were in Georgia we really missed German Christmas markets. So this time around I have been trying to figure out what it is about them that is so magical. First of all, you have the setting. Whether it is a village or city, you are walking on cobblestones and surrounded by hundreds of years of tradition.
Then there are the street performers.
The guy in the green coat is forming huge bubbles for the kids to chase and pop. At the same time we were listening to a pianist playing in the square. We also saw at this market, a stilt walking "chimney sweep," an Elvis impersonator, an angel statue (a guy posing as a mannequin dressed as an angel,) and a Santa Claus who switched languages effortlessly and gave out free little stuffed animals. Surprises around every corner!
They throw in a few rides, but never a ton. Smaller markets might only have little kiddie merry-go-rounds, while large ones like Dresden have double-decker, ornate, crazy carousels.
Next you have the traditional German Christmas stuff. Pyramiden,
Nutcrackers, incense smokers, carved ornaments... they are all a little
different and I could browse them for hours.
There aren't many places to sit. The markets seem to be designed to keep you moving, but if you do luck out and find a seat it is sure to come with a little table, lap blankets or "furs", and maybe even a small firepit.
This is a good thing, as you then have a home base for taking turns running to different food stands and bringing back delicious things to eat. Here are just a few of the things we ate (dinner Friday, and lunch on Saturday): saurkraut with speck in a bread bowl, bratwurst, champignons (mushrooms in a sauce of some sort,) flammkuchen, and roasted chestnuts.
And there must be a hundred things to drink. Since we don't do alcohol, we stick to the Kinderpunsch (a hot fruity juice kinda like wassail) and Heisse Schokolade, but you can get mulled wines and beers of sooo many varieties. Each served in a souvenir mug, which many people collect. These were all of the different mugs at Dresden's market this year. (I stole this picture from my friend's fb.)
I still am not sure if I am doing the Christmas Market experience justice, but these are a few of the things that make them special. I think we should go to a few more just to make sure I'm not missing anything.
PS. For those who have asked me about safety: we did see police cars parked here and there, and the Polizei in them were cleaely busy monitoring cctv feeds, communicating with each other, etc. We assume there were plain clothes cops around, though there wasn't an overt presence. We didn't feel unsafe at any time.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Bastei Bridge
We traveled to Dresden for Thanksgiving weekend. (We did an actual Thanksgiving dinner the weekend before: complete with a house full of friends, too much food, and even a board game. Which Rob and I lost, as per tradition. I cooked two turkeys! And didn't even take a single picture.)
As I was planning our trip, I came across this place called Bastei Bridge, about 40 minutes outside Dresden on the Czech border. It looked fantastic, so I thought it would be worth the detour.
This is part of the area called Saxon Switzerland which is a German National Park. The rock formations were created by water erosion. In the 1800s this bridge was built connecting the segments as a way for tourists to see the area.
We had a fun time exploring on a foggy and grey day for a while.
The kids all thought it was cool, but we did have a meltdown from Jake when I insisted he hold hands on the bridge. (This is the reality of traveling with four small children.) The bridge in the picture isn't the scariest part even. There are more narrow walkways and bridges you cross as you explore a part that was once inhabited and there are rooms carved out of the rock, stones from a medieval catapult, and a replica catapult. And long, long drops off of cliffs.
This is a lookout point over the Elbe. It was quite foggy, and it is hard to explain with a picture how extremely high up we were. There is actually a truck parked near the closest side of the river, in the lower left hand corner of this photo, if you can make it out. It just looks like a white speck.
I came prepared for a bit of a hike for all of us, but it was actually an easy walk from the parking area. Not stroller friendly though, with lots of stairs and roots growing in the pathway. Thankfully, Amelie cooperated and was willing to walk after our long car ride.
I'm glad we went to see it. It was completely worth the detour and was really awesome to experience.
Halloween 2016
We had a fun Halloween this year, just doing the usual.
We went to our Church's Trunk or Treat event, and then passed out candy to our 3 German trick or treaters on the actual night of Halloween. Jake was Super Mario this year. He's jumping up to break a block in this photo.
Toby was a Zombie, and he let me write "Eat Locals" on his shirt. He wanted his makeup "scary, but not too scary."
Amelie was going to be a cat/pumpkin and Rob was really excited about that. But then she found out she could be a princess and it was all over. Apparently, this is how Sophia the First looks to Ami.
And Hermione.
Charlotte read all of the Harry Potter books this year and couldn't wait to dress up for Halloween. (Though she thinks she's really a Ravenclaw at heart.)
Dress-up is fun.
So Rob and I decided to play too. Rob was Buddy Holly and I was Mary Tyler Moore. We were just wearing our own clothes, so I made us name tags. At least one person got it, and told me he thought it was great we dressed as a Weezer song. Yay!! One older gentleman asked Rob what his favorite Buddy Holly song was though, and he wasn't prepared to answer that question. (Though he does know some Buddy Holly songs.) It was a fun and laid back Halloween this year.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Charlotte turned 10!!
Charlotte is in the double digits!!
For her birthday this year, she wanted to have a Harry Potter themed dinner party with a couple of friends and watch the first Harry Potter movie. Toby and Jake also got to have a friend over (to fulfill my overdue birthday promise to Toby.) We had sandwiches from Mrs. Weasley, French Onion soup from Kreacher, Lemondrops from Dumbledore, Dirigible Plums from the Lovegoods, and of course, Butterbeer.
Charlotte asked for a cookie cake.
(One of my favorites too!)
After playing for a while and watching Harry Potter and having cake and all that good stuff, I gave the kiddos the chocolate frogs I had made with wizard cards. Those were a big hit! It was a fun, low stress party, and I am glad Charlotte enjoyed her special day.
We sure do love our Charlotte girl. She is spunky and opinionated, but smart and so very, very good at being the big sister. She loves to come up with games or imaginative ideas and get everyone involved. She also LOVES to read and write stories, and is developing her talents for writing and drawing. I love that she has such a strong idea of who she is as a person and what she thinks is right and wrong.... and that she truly wants to be good, helpful, and kind.
Charlotte's birthday interview:
(20 questions style)
1. What is your favorite color? "I like several different colors... turquoise and lilac."
2. What is your favorite toy? My new stuffed bunny
3. What is your favorite fruit? Blueberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? "I don't have one."
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? "Turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard."
6. What is your favorite outfit? "My blue t-shirt with little white patterns of flowers on it with my purple jeans."
7. What is your favorite game? Guess Who
8. What is your favorite snack? "A green sour apple." (Granny Smith)
9. What is your favorite animal? "I have two- polar bears, of course, and peacocks."
10. What is your favorite song? Fight Song by Rachel Platten (They are learning to sing this in school for Charlotte's friend Clarke who is currently battling cancer. I can't even think about it without losing it.)
11. What is your favorite book? Harry Potter!
12. Who is your best friend? Amy
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? "I wanna be an author and an artist."
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play tetherball.
15. What are you really good at? Drawing
16. What is a food that you hate? "Those yucky cheese roll-ups from Taco Bell."
17. What do you like to do with Mom or Dad? "Eat ice cream!"
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Nutella on toast.
19. What is your favorite dinner? Pasta Primavera
20. What makes you happy? "I like to play school with my brothers and Amelie."
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Park Güell and Sagrada Familia (finally!)
Antoni Gaudi's works can be seen throughout Barcelona. And Park Güell was the ideal place to go with kids to see some of Gaudi's work. (In fact, I bought this book as my souvenir of Barcelona.) Gaudi was commissioned by the city in the 1920s to create a Modernisme community integrated within a natural setting.
We didn't pay the extra charge to go into the "fee" part of the park. But enjoyed stolling around, stopping at a playground, and listening to various street performers.
After the Park, we stopped at this place for churros con chocolate. (Which I had still been wanting since Els Quatre Gats disappointed us.)
Notice the kids are sitting at the top of a LOT of stairs? This was the way we came up. We never would have made it, except sections of the hill have escalators. That kept our kids moving upward on the sections that didn't have escalators, because they just had to make it to the next escalator! Maybe it doesn't look that bad to you, but you actually are not even close to seeing the bottom of the hill in this photo. And there are homes on this street. I can't even imagine.
Our visit to Park Güell was the highlight of a day of frustration. In the morning we had gone to Sagrada Familia to get in line for tickets and were told the next available entry as at 6 pm! We left and went online to buy tickets for the next day, but that left us with time to fill. Several people around town, upon seeing our kids, told us we should visit Tibidabo. So, without doing any research on it, we decided to head there. (Mistake!) We rode the metro, and then an old fashioned street car up a very steep hill. Which dropped us in front of a funicular to an amusement park. Now, I'm not a total Grinch, but we didn't have an extra couple hundred dollars in the budget for this trip to go to Tibidabo. (Besides we just went to Tivoli Gardens less than 2 months ago.) So we had lunch at a bizarre restaurant/lounge at the top of this hill. (Teeny tiny red velvet couches and knee height tables- the kids liked the seating, Rob not so much. Rob liked the food, the kids, not so much.) And then we headed by foot to Park Güell. After the Park we thought we'd try hitting the Picasso museum for an hour or so. But when we arrived there we literally could not see the end of the line! It went on for blocks. There was no way we could wait that long. So we ended the day at a German restaurant near our apartment.
The next day we headed out with renewed hope that it would be a great day in Barcelona! After all, we were FINALLY going to see Sagrada Familia!
SO, what's the big deal about this church? Antoni Gaudi designed Sagrada Familia in the early 1900s and began to build it. At the time of his death in 1924, it was only about 20 percent completed. He liked to quip, "My client is not in a hurry." And it is actually still not completed, and is estimated to be about 70 percent done now. The projected completion date is around 2030. Visitor entrance fees are being used to finance the project, so when you visit you are actually helping to build one of the grand cathedrals of Europe, which is pretty rad.
The church was consecrated by the Pope in 2010, and services are held there in the smaller chapels. After my standard, "this is a church, we use quiet voices and behave respectfully" lecture, we entered the sanctuary and were overwhelmed by the construction noises. It was a different sort of experience for sure. But it is sooooo beautiful inside.
And outside of course. The details are overwhelming, and I don't know how much time it would take to try and understand all of the elements Gaudi included. You can try wikipedia if you want to know way more about it than I will write here.
But back inside, the columns rise like trees and branch out at the top.
The stained glass is different than any I have seen before. And the sun was shining to give us an awesome view of it.
This is an up close look at one panel.
And a larger view of one wall.
When the light filters through the stained glass, it causes this subtle rainbow effect inside the church. Also, check out the spiral staircase in the back corner.
Back outside again, I tried to capture at least a few of the beautiful details. Here are the three wise men, and above them angels playing music at Christ's birth on the side called the Nativity Facade. See the bassoon?
Here is Toby on the side called the Passion Facade. Behind him you can see Judas betraying the Savior with a kiss, and a diagram of numbers. The numbers add up to 33 across, up and down, in groups of four, and diagonally. (The age Christ was when he died.) Our mathematician appreciated that.
This is a view of the Passion Facade from a distance.
And this on the Passion Facade is the denial of Peter. In the Bible, Christ told Peter he would deny him three times before "the cock crows." Peter couldn't believe he would do that, but then he did. (The rooster is just to the left and got cut off by the photo.)
Sagrada Familia was totally worth coming to Barcelona for. It was an unforgettable experience for our familia.
After that, we made our way back through the streets of Barcelona one last time and picked up some souvenirs.
One metro ride later, we were walking back to our apartment to pack up. How do you celebrate the end of an exhausting trip with tons of walking? By relaxing on the playground of course!
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