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.