Springtime heals my soul!

I have a hard time with Winter in Germany. I love snow, and hot cocoa, and sitting by a fire on a blustery night. But that isn't the reality of 95% of Winter in Germany. The reality is a cold drizzle, no sunshine for a week at a time, and only a few hours of daylight at all. Oh, and of course, muddy floors from kids' wet shoes. I may have seasonal affective disorder actually. Anyway, in the Spring, I begin to perk right back up again!  On the day we sat on the beach in Corfu recently, Rob pointed out to me that we probably enjoyed as much daylight as two Winter months in Germany. I needed that.

 

Springtime brings back Spring sports!  

This year Toby wanted to try golf.  The base has golf for kids 8-18 years old. They take them by bus to the nearby golf course where they have instruction and play for an hour, and then the bus brings them back.  This is fantastic, but means I have no photos of Toby playing golf this Spring. He says it is "interesting, but not that fun."  I don't think he'll be playing again next year, but I'm glad he tried something new and learned the basics.

 

Amelie has embraced the bike with pedals that she got for Christmas this past year!

She can start, and ride all by herself... but she still uses her feet to stop instead of the brakes.

 

 And Jake is back to t-ball this Spring playing for the Astros!

His favorite thing about t-ball, I think, is that it allows him a lot of time to talk with the other players.

 

I love watching my little slugger.

 

Spring also means the trees and flowers are blooming in the Fasanerie near our home. I love taking walks alone there after dinner.  It is one of my favorite things about where we live right now.

 

I may have mentioned it at some point in the past, but the walls of the park were built in the early 1700s with stones from our local Schloss Dornberg which had been destroyed by the French in 1689.

 

Storks are the symbol of our town, and their enormous nests can be found throughout the park.

 

I just had fun taking photos on my walk one evening recently.

 

One section of the park's trail is lined with apple trees that were in bloom this particular evening. Apple blossoms, sunshine, longer days... yup, I needed Spring to come in a major way. 

 

Amelie's class participated in a parade on base for the Month of the Military child in April. She thought this was big fun!  Her class played jingle bells and other instruments.  I love that the symbol for military children is a dandelion- because it blooms wherever the wind blows it.

 

Our yard is also in bloom!  These are our blackberry bushes in the backyard and by the looks of it we will have a ton of blackberries again this Summer.

 

Now the days are getting warmer, the school year is winding up, and we are getting excited for Summer. But I am thankful for Spring and don't want to miss the mild days that are left. Time moves quite fast enough some days.