Riley's Last Soccer Game

Here is Riley at his last soccer game. He scores and does his version of a victory dance. Gotta love it...

Halloween Pictures

We celebrated Halloween at the Newell's house at the Wildpark about 1/2 mile from our house. Here is a picture of Riley aka Harry Potter, Olivia Newell aka Harry Potter and Jillian Newell aka Renaissance Lady (she requested that people not call her a princess). There was around thirty-one children in attendance and they all had a wonderful time. It took them about an hour to walk around the Wildpark (the W is pronounced as a V) to collect the candies from both the German and American families in the area. Everyone, children and adults, had a wonderful time on this cold wet night.

Daddy and Hyland getting ready to go door to door with the other parents and thirty plus children that we in attendance. I am sure this is one American holiday that the German's wish would not take hold...but I think that it is too late.

Miss Hyland and Miss Jillian. Jilli loves Hyland and I must say that the feeling is very mutual.

Hyland, Leopard Girl, isn't she beautiful!!!!! Whiskers and all. What an awesome smile she has...what a happy baby...toddler.

Riley, Harry Potter, doesn't he look so handsome. I think he looks so cute with the glasses...but thank heavens he does not have to wear real ones.

The Colors of Fall in Niedernhausen - Engenhahn

These were taken across the road from our house....we truly live in a beautiful location. We even has a dusting of snow last Thursday morning....so beautiful.

I love the autumnal colors...God truly has a wonderful imagination...this is the grand view I have when I come through the forest and start heading down the hill to our house...isn't it awesome?

More of the same..........


Looking down towards the village.....

I took this one at around 6:30pm and it was getting dark and it was really cold...still very beautiful. You can see the trees on the ridge...I call them the "lollipop trees" because they are round and look like lollipops...they were green when we moved here, now they are red and now Jeff call's them the lollipop sticks because all the leaves are gone.

Riley playing soccer.

Here's Riley and his team getting ready to commence operation "Butt Whoopin".. Riley does very well scoring 2-3 goals per game. He could be the next David Beckham..

Here is a short video of Riley scoring and doing his Happy Dance:):):)

Bat Boy and Pumpkin Girl

Meet the newest crime fighting duo. Well ok, they're really our kids in disguise.

Riley saw these bats in the commissary and had to have them.

Here's Miss Hyland looking fabulous as ever, thanks to Mom, although just about everything looks great on her.

Countryside

Sorry for not updating this blog but I've been away for awhile. Here are some scenic photo's off the Autobahn on one of our recent trips.

Additional pics....

Our daughter eating a lollipop along with a pepermint patty her brother snuck her. And then obviously fell asleep still holding on to the lollipop.

A house in our town. Most of the house's are old and beautiful here in Germany. Oh yeah, and Riley in the bottom right corner.

Our lovely daughter!!!

I'm not sure which side of the family this comes from???

It is absolutly cute though....

Riley at the Fest

Here is Riley with our American next door neighbor Leaha Rose at the fest on 1 of their 2 rides. Like I said before this was a very small and quaint fest.

Riley on the other ride enjoying himself.

A Fest in our Town

This was very interesting to say the least. This was the yearly "fest" they have in our very small town/village. Basically this is what happens. A bunch of the towns folk go out into the woods and cut down a 50 or so foot tree. They then shave the branches, limbs, and what not off the tree up until the very top where they leave the rest. It actually almost looks like a Christmas tree at the top of a pole but it's all the same tree. They then hall this tree to the center of the village where the children decorate it with tinsle. They also mount a chair to the pole with a dummy attached. Apparently this tree and dummy's purpose was to ward off evil spirits back in the old days. Anyways after it has been decorated they towns folk then proceed to manually push this pole vertical into a 5 foot hole as seen above. It was quite the ceremony and very amusing to watch.

Still pushing the pole up.

Almost there...

It's a bit hard to see but this is from our balcony and at the center of the picture is the tree.

Another picture without the tree. It's just a beautiful picture from our house.

Vacation Bible School

This was the last day at Vacation Bible School. See if you can spot Riley............... Here's a hint, he's at the bottom right hand side in the yellow hat and yellow t-shirt. He had a great time. They sang a few songs then we went out back for an old fashion hot dog cook out.

Our House

This would be Castle Walfield and my german work car. To the far left you can see the front end of our KIA and in front of that would be the garage. In the center is the main entrance and the window behind my work car would be the master bedroom. Above the main entrance is a very large window with the roladen down would be the dining room.

Above that is a small balcony which is where the tv room and Riley's room are located. Any who there it is and will take pictures of the inside when we officially get settled:)

Another picture of the house.

After the rain yesterday 2 beautiful rainbows appeared. I forgot how fast the weather changes over here. It will be storming and pitch black for 2 hours and then clear up and be sunny.

This would be Stefanie's wall art she did for vacation bible school. She was told hers was the best decorated. Stefanie is helping out with the second grade while Riley attends the pre-school bible school and Hyland is in church daycare. The classes are just this week and are only from 9-12. Stefanie loves it and so do the kids....

More from Caslte Eltz

Riley standing on the slate wall outside the castle.

A view of the mountain surrounding the castle. This is the path you take to get to the castle. Look closely and you can see people coming down the hill.
Mommy and Riley by the rock wall about Castle Eltz. You can the see creek at the bottom of the valley that completely surrounds the castle. People and animals were wading in the creek. There are also walking paths and bike paths to travel around the castle.

This is one of the many windmills here in Germany. This is an alternate energy source for the Germans. Some times one stands alone and then you will see them in clusters...depending on the size f the village.

Castle Eltz

This is Castle Eltz. It is about an hour from Wiesbaden. It is thought to be one of the best castles in Germany, due to maintaining it's historical preservation. It has been in the same family for 33 generations. It took over five hundred years to build. It was divided into three separate houses for the three families that lived there.

The castle is down in a valley with a steep hill to climb down. This picture was taken from a scenic lookout before walking down the curvy road.
Daddy and Hyland inside Castle Eltz courtyard awaiting the tour.

An American couple on vacation on a genealogical search from Minnesota, took our picture before the long walk down into the valley.
Daddy, Riley and Hyland above Castle Eltz.

More Berlin Airlift Pictures

Riley being cheesy.

Riley and Ron...Riley was getting his PawPaw fix that day and I think Ron was getting his as well.

Mommy and Riley before taking flight.

More Berlin Airlift Pictures

This is another shot of the helicopter dropping candy to the crowd.

We were able to take helicopter rides at the event. This was the first time that either Riley or myself have been on a helicopter. It was very exciting.

Riley and mommy on the helicopter. I told him that many adults have never been n helicopters or airplanes, and that he had been on both within a month of each other.

This is a view of the Rhein. It is very long a beautiful. We are looking forward to our next helicopter flight.

The Berlin Airlift Anniversary

This was the 60th Berlin Airlift Anniversary held at the Army Airfield. The base (where the activities were) was open to not only to the US folks but the Germans as well. There were so many people, they did not have enough bathrooms, food stands, and games. The German turn out was tremendous. All in all we had a terrific time.

Here is Hyland with her new favorite Aunt Renate. For you that don't know Renate and her husband Ron are very close friends of Kathy and WL. They met here in Germany before Jesus was born. Ron's a retired US Army Helicopter pilot.

Here is Stef, the kids, Renate and Ron.

It's hard to see but Riley is at the top of the red part of the slide. He had a blast on this castle.

You'll see specs in the picture. Well those specs are chocolate Hershey bars tied to mini parachutes they dropped from the helicopter. Riley and tried to grab one but there were literally thousands of kids chasing them. It was suppose to be a reenactment of the Berlin food drop.