Our first trip to Germany

This past weekend, Jason and the kids had a 4 day weekend for Ascension Holiday. We decided to head to the Bavaria Region of Germany. It was about a 5 hour trip with 2 pit stops. The weather wasn't being very cooperative and we had a drizzling rain almost the whole way. This was my first picture that I took and it's funny because I saw at least 50 more that looked exactly like this.

We stayed our first night in Schwangau which is right outside the small town of Fussen. We decided to walk around the town of Fussen and it was a rainy afternoon. I was surprised to see a Woolworth. I could be wrong but I think they all closed in the U.S.

This church was beautiful.

I had read in our guide book about "Schneeballen". We all agreed that they looked yummy but they didn't really taste that great. We tried the cinnamon and sugar and it was very blah and a waste of calories.
Jason and Devin ordered a house specialty for dinner that night at the hotel. We had to take a picture. There were 4 round slabs of bacon on top of 4 pork chops which was piled on top of tons of spatzl in a mushroom cream sauce. It was huge (enough for 4 people) but they enjoyed it.

The next morning I had booked tours of the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles for Jason and the boys. They did not allow strollers inside the castles and there were quite a few steps. Kate and I stayed outside taking pictures and toured the gift shop while they did 35 minute tours of each. It never really rained on us but there were quite a few clouds. We were a bit worried that we were going to have another experience like when we were in Egypt with the pyramids and not be able to see any thing.

Neuschwanstein Castle was built by King Ludwig II in 1869 but it was never completed. If it looks familiar to you it is because it was the inspiration for the Disney World Castle. The following picture is looking at the castle from Hohenschwangau Castle.

The view from Mary's Bridge.

The view looking down from the bridge. It was definately a long way down.

This picture is of Hohenschwangau Castle where King Ludwig II grew up.

A picture of Mary's Bridge (Marien Brucke) from the Neuchwanstein Castle.

We had taken a 10 minute bus ride up to the "N" castle. It is a pretty steep walk and pushing Kate up one mountain was enough for us that day. On the walk back down we stopped and tried the "cream cheese" donuts. Now they were delicious and Lucas agreed!

I think the temperature was around 7 Celsius. However with all the walking we stayed pretty warm except for Kate. I am glad I remembered the blanket.

The boys really wanted some swords they saw at the gift shop up by the "H" Castle. Devin must have really wanted his because he made the 10 minute climb 3 times because he had to come back for more money. Jason got a picture of them walking down with their boxes. You could tell they had a spring in their step. They sure do like those swords. I'll post a picture tomorrow of them.

This is the view of the castle from the road on our way out of town. The next stop was Salzburg, Austria. Check back in to see those pictures.

Glacier - Val de Traverse

Hi, this is Devin. My mom wanted me to post some pictures of our class trip to a glacier that isn't very far away from Neuchatel.

This picture is of the opening where we had to climb down to see the glacier.
This is the hole where the glacier is and it goes 60 meters underground.

This is at the bottom where we entered the area of the glacier.

This is what it looked like on the way down.

The next 2 pictures are pretty cool looking back out of the hole.

This is the opening mouth of the glacier.

This icicle extends all the way back to the top of the ground.

A picture of the cave but we weren't allowed to go any further.

This is the hole where the icicle is and looking up towards the ground.

The bus driver and I were the first ones down.

This is a picture of my friends Sebastien and Grace going down. I was giving them words of encouragement.

It was a really neat and fun way to learn about glaciers and how they are formed underground!

Hiking in the Woods

I walk quite a bit in the woods up by Katelyn's school. Maggie (the dog) has a great time with all the different smells and all the little mice. It is also a nice time for me to get some good exercise while talking with friends. Last week, Jason was able to join us because he was working from home due to conference calls in the afternoon and evening. The weather was just wonderful last week. We walk a good 4 miles in about 2 hours. There are so many paths and forest roads it always seems different. I remembered to carry along the camera last week. The following are a few of the pictures that I took.

There is an area that is right above where the boy's school that has some animals. Parker really enjoyed seeing the donkeys.

I thought this was a bit funny. We haven't ever seen any frogs while walking. I wonder how big the frogs get.

The baby animals are always so cute to see.

On a different day we decided to walk a trail that is actually a downhill mountain bike course. It is just crazy what they have set up. I don't know who is actually working on it but someone has put quite a bit of time and hard work into it.

This jump is a good 10 feet in the air. Stanton is 6'4". I think the goal is to jump over the road and land on the downhill slope.

You really would have to have good balance on that narrow bridge but even more so on the narrow part of the rock.

Tree logs are cut in half to form a platform to another rock.

You definately better have speed to make this jump. I would hate to be short.

After the jump, you go into a big curve.

Another ride the plank and jump.

It is crazy!

I guess there is a choice for those that aren't so fearless.

I think this took some time and hard work.

This is the new section that they have been working on the past few weeks. It's interesting because they leave their shovels up in the woods.

That is one bike trail that I hope the boys never get near to on their bikes. Devin has actually walked the course with his class from school. However, Lucas has never seen it and I hope it stays that way!

For the final picture, I decided to end with "I spy a mouse".

Flowers Everywhere!

It has definately been Spring in Neuchatel! The leaves have all popped out and the flowers are in full bloom. The lilac bushes smell wonderful!

I just took the following 2 pictures today. I thought it would be a true reflection how things look on a cloudy day. My parents really enjoyed walking by this bank and seeing the colorful flower beds.I was able to take a picture the other day on our way home from Kate's school. The walls are just so pretty and in some places there are purple flowers mixed in with the yellow.

The Magnolia trees were just full of blooms. I just never saw Magnolia trees in El Paso and NM. I take that back. Jason's Aunt Linda has a huge one in her front yard but I never saw it in bloom like this. I couldn't forget the English garden. This picture was taken 3 weeks ago after my parents left.The flowers have been planted around the fountains and statues. The following pictures are my favorite! Now look at the English garden and Katelyn was the perfect model!

I wanted to get a picture with all 3 of them but the boys had a busy week last week and we couldn't get it to work out. We had rain all weekend but we needed the moisture. The sun is out today but the weather reports are calling for rain showers all week.