Easter in Deutschland

We thought Christmas was big in Deutschland, but we hadn't seen Easter. We weren't counting, but I do believe they took more days off (however, our favorite bakery was open for brunch on Easter Sunday ... very American!) for Easter than Christmas and they really enjoy those little egg trees. You know the ones that are all twiggy with eggs hanging on them? They were everywhere. I thought it might be fun to find out where everyone is getting these cool hand-painted eggs, but alas, I was thwarted in my search. One person I spoke to said she made them herself. Now, that's just not useful at all.

A Tale From the Willage: Jerry took his watch in to a German watch repair shop in a village called Huetschenhausen (yes, it really is pronounced Hoochen Housen) and the man called to let us know it was ready. I answered in my usual American manner and the man said, with an extremely thick accent, "This is the watch repair shop in Huetschenhausen, your watch is ready." Now, we rarely get calls from Germans unless they are polling us, asking for donations or are our neighbors, so my knee-jerk reaction is to say in reply, "Sprechen sie English?" anytime I hear an accent. Well, it turned out that this particular gentleman WAS spreckin' English and I just didn't understand him. Es tut mir leid!

Over the last three or four days, the snow faucet has been turned on and off at least twenty times over our little pocket of Germany and every single time the kids get their hopes up that there won't be school the next day. School has yet to be canceled so the kids are amping up their efforts by resorting to stomach complaints and random ankle twists to persuade the issue in their favor. Thankfully Spring Break is only a week away!

Spring is Here?

Spring arrives on Thursday, but somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature. We recently had a nice, wet, heavy snow and the kids thought they were in heaven. Caleb went around the neighborhood like an urchin, shoveling sidewalks for money and Michael got right down to the business of making the perfect snowball to put down Caleb's pants. By the way, say hello to Michael's little friend with the totally original name of "Snowy Man". The detail may be lost in this picture, but yes, those are barbecue grill scrapers that we're using for arms.

I must say that even with all the cold weather, the fields and lawns are still green and there are people with flowers still blooming in their window boxes. I'm sure it's because of all the rain we got this winter but still, it was so strange to see green grass in December!

Speaking of green grass, we recently stepped out and took a short road trip to Heidelberg. Wow. I can't believe it took us this long to make it over there. It's only about an hour away, but the difference between there and the area where we live is astounding. This is the castle we visited, but we only walked around the outside this time. We're saving the inside for later (this will force us to go back, right?) Maybe you'd like to come see it with us! In addition to this great castle, we found a Starbucks (our first in Germany) and a fabulous pedestrian shopping area loaded with tons of bakeries, chocolate shops and restaurants.

Don't let Caleb's lack of jacket fool you. It was a windy 40 degrees when we went and he was secretly freezing the whole time. Apparently, jackets aren't cool when you're twelve going on twenty.