A Taste of Frankfurt

Hola!

I'm going through our pictures, and it is a little overwhelming...with 4 shutterbugs in the family going on vacation, we have multiple cameras clicking, phone cameras with selfies, plus video clips being taken!  We have an embarrassing number of photos.  But well, they bring me joy, and digital photos don't take up much space.  So it can't be ALL bad, right :)

I have posted some Dubai photos on facebook, and I'm doing a little bit of journaling in the blog about each activity.  So there will be Dubai photos in the next post in a few days, or tomorrow, or something.

Kara & Teresa in front of a vineyard

FRANKFURT LAYOVER.  But we also had a neat long layover on the way to Dubai, in Frankfurt, Germany.  We were there for about 6 hours, in the early morning on a Saturday.  Frank arranged a driver for us, to take us for a driving tour around Frankfurt.  We visited vineyards and monasteries, and tried German sausages in an authentic German farmers' market.  My internal body clock wasn't sure which time zone we were in at that point, so my eyes were pretty heavy for most of it!  It was still interesting.

WINE GRAPES. It is winter, so of course the vineyards were not lush and green, and ready to harvest!  But we still saw the huge fields and grids of grapevines, dormant but symmetrical to the sides of roads and beside the monasteries.  The grapes will grow this spring and summer, behind Teresa and Kara in the above picture.

ARCHITECTURE.  There were also pretty cathedrals and unique structures in the downtown areas of even the smaller towns.

TAX COLLECTOR IN A CASTLE. Another bit of local history lies in the castles along the "Main River..."

castle along the river

These waterways were the only way to get goods from point A to point B throughout the country.  So anyone transporting goods had to use that river.  They had to pay taxes at each castle, and there were dozens of castles!  It must have been quite expensive to use the river that way.

corner building that housed this
mineral water "Fountain of Youth"

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.  Germany has many natural springs, bubbling with water loaded with minerals.  This water is supposed to be cleansing and purifying, very good for your body and will cure what ails you!  So very often, even in the middle of small towns, there will be a fountain of natural springwater.  People go there daily to drink, or to fill pots or pitchers with the water so they can drink a little every day.

Our tour guide brought us little cups
to try the water...some said it
tasted like sulphur

FARMERS' MARKET.  It was quite cold, early in the morning and even after the sun came up!  But that did not deter the vendors and those coming to shop at the Farmers' Market.  We tried some German sausage at one booth, bought fruit from another, and stood in line for breakfast pastries to round out the meal.

colorful flowers to buy at the Farmers' Market
(even though it was about 30 degrees outside)

Farmers' Market

FEBZILLA

Hola! (subject line phrase coined by my friend Julie Berry...)

Yep, we're here... and yes, it's snowing.  Again!

I'M SO HAPPY THAT WE HAVE ELECTRICITY.
Should I say that again?
5 more times?? Ha.  It's been ultra-cold, and the snow is powdery for the moment.  This storm started last night and is supposed to continue through the night tonight.

SNOW DAYS.  Our kids haven't had a full week of school for four weeks!  Martin Luther King Jr. Day was Monday, Jan. 19, giving us a 4-day week.

Mound closest is our poor rhododendron plant :(

The next week was the first Big Storm (24 inches at our house): 2 snow days made it a 3-day week.

Last week was another Big Storm (18 inches)...most school districts took 2 days off, but we only had 1 day off, making that a 4-day week for us.

BAD, BAD icicles!

And now this storm!  For sure today makes a 4th snow day off from school this winter.  (Hoping we can dig out in time so they can go to school tomorrow, but it hasn't slowed down yet...)  Teresa is happy enough about that, since the seniors do not have to make up the days.  Kara, however, looks at the calendar and sees that now, our "last day of school" has been bumped around the weekend, into the next week of June!  The kids will go to school through June 22 now. Ugh!

Bentley at work

BENTLEY SHOUT-OUT.  See these awesome photos of snowflakes?  They're from the Internet, but I'm thanking Wilson Bentley, a man passionate about snow and nature.  Born just weeks before President Lincoln was assasinated, he perfected a process of taking pictures of snowflakes: catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they melted.


RECITAL.

Kara & her friend Isabel

Kara did great on her piano recital last Saturday!
She had been practicing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey like crazy, and she did really well on it.  It's so fun when our kids latch onto 80's songs!  That was 1981.  I'm sure she'd play it for you over the phone or something, if you asked her to :)

Well, just checking in.  We're still alive and we still have power :) :) :) :) :) :)  I'm so happy about that, I may just...go out and shovel!

Kari

Snow, Celebrations, Upcoming Adventure

Hello and Happy February!!

We are having a sunny day today.  So bright and cheery-looking outside!

SNOW. We survived our "Big Storm" last week, which gave us a whopping TWO FEET of snow, and gave the school students 2 days off of school.  It was light and fluffy!

 After hours of all of us taking shifts, moving snow off of cars and sidewalks and driveways, the girls played in it some, too.

24 inches of snow...?!?!?!?

I'M FAMOUS!!  Tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get some more.  But did you catch the news, and what they called the little storm between Wednesday's and tonight's storm?  WINTER STORM KARI!!  Yes, and they even spelled it right!  Here's my link: Winter Storm Kari .  It wasn't devastating or terrible. Just a small one that followed the big one.

Zipping down the hill at lightning speeds...well not really

Kara & her friend Liesel

NEW MONTH.  The big accomplishment is: we made it through January!!  Yesterday was the last day, and now we're into "short February." Teresa pointed out last night: have you looked at the calendar for February?  It's a perfect rectangle." Four full weeks, starting on Sunday, so no "leftover" days at the end of 28 days.  A perfect rectangle!

KARA'S AWARD.  Kara worked really hard on her "Personal Progress" in church, including goals and service projects in value categories like Integrity and Individual Worth.  She has also been studying scriptures to learn, and earn her Young Womanhood Recognition award.  It's very cool, and represents hours and hours of organized effort in different goal areas.  So she received it a few weeks ago!
 We went out to celebrate.  There's a great Mexican restaurant about 20 minutes from us.  Frank and I have been back a few times now -- which says something!  We usually say, "let's try something new,"  but we like this place: it's very small, not much to look at, but serves really good food.

FEBRUARY ADVENTURE.  The kids get a "February Break" from school: a week off, about mid-month.  So it probably sounds a little weird, but we're going to Dubai ("doo-BYE," like you're telling someone "bye") for that week!

 In Mexico City, we met quite a few other families "on assignment," who had different work-related moves and had lived in various countries for work.  The Andersons continued that trend, and are now on assignment in Dubai.  They had lived there 3 years, and then last fall they extended one more year.  They threw out the invitation: "Come visit us in Dubai!"  So we thought about it...and said okay.  We'll call it a "Senior Family Trip" in honor of Teresa's senior year, her last year of living with us at home full-time...?  (Just kidding.  The timing is because the Andersons are there, ha!)   Frank had some frequent flyer miles that covered 2 of our plane tickets, so that worked out well.  We'll leave on Feb. 13, a week from Friday.


We just got the recorded phone call informing us that school is cancelled for tomorrow.  Forecasters say "a foot or more snow expected."  (Me? I'm still in denial that winter's even coming...can you see me curled up on the couch with my hands over my ears and eyes closed, singing "I can't hear you...")

But don't worry about me.  Mentally, I'm on a beach somewhere, soaking up the sun with a good book.

Kari :)