Officially not a little girl

It was a thoroughly hectic day, and when I came home long enough to grab a bite and head off to choir practice the look in my little girl's eye made me reconsider. After all, there are always too many altos! So, I stayed home and paid attention to my kids and watched her become frustrated when the re-lighting candles refused to go out. After filling the kitchen with smoke Dad put the candles out and we decided we need to buy some fire alarms.

Armistice day

We didn't actually go to the Meuse-Argonne cemetery on Armistice day, but the weekend before. Great-great Uncle Lehi has a quiet resting place, on a hillside out in the French countryside surrounded by his fellow soldiers. The miserably soggy weather and the squelching mud only served to show what kind of conditions he would have been serving under before he died at the end of September.

The day of much candy consumption

We had a princess, killer whale, mad scientist (complete with gory eyeball and fishes in his test tube), kitty, penguin, and elf. The kids have so much fun dressing up I wish there wasn't so much 'gimme' involved. Let's face it, a trunk-or-treat where the kids march around the parking lot collecting loot from every trunk is all about efficiency in candy collection. The penguin and I sat in the back of the van and marveled at the lengths people went to in order to decorate their trunks and it was seriously amazing--one car had a blow up grim reaper, kept inflated with their portable generator. PORTABLE GENERATOR. ?? I closed up when I realized that kids were coming around for their third and fourth run. Yes, I am a halloween scrooge. Actually, since I don't do crafty for holidays you could make the argument that I am just a holiday scrooge--except for the vittles.

Burg Eltz

On our last school holiday we visited our first castle, Burg Eltz. The day was beautiful and misty, what I would call a nearly perfect autumn afternon. We hiked down by way of the paved road but the first view was a little disappointing, since half the castle seemed to be covered by scaffolding. In truth, the tour was nearly half under construction, which was a bummer, but not as big a bummer as not being able to take a tour in english--even though Rick Steves says you can just ask when the next one is. We had lunch at the little place next to the castle. At the end of dinner an old couple came down the stairs and asked us something in German. I told them I was sorry and didn't speak German (the extent of my german) and he then asked, with lovely pronounciation in perfect Queen's English "I suppose we must go down to get a meal?". Makes me ashamed to be such an idiot about learning German.
After lunch Ben went to buy our tickets and we nearly lost Noah out of the arrow slits. Zak was obsessed with the walls--which were filled with spiders. After realizing that even HE could have climbed up the walls he understood why the arrow slits allowed the archers to see the walls to defend the castle. On the way back to the car we took the hiking trail and were rewarded with a lovely view of the pretty side of the castle. And, while the tour wasn't all that exciting (Look! a picture of the tapestry and suits of armor we are restoring!) we enjoyed the trip very much.

Ribbon trees

Outside some of the pubs there are large decorative type trees, hanging over the doorway, festooned with some kind of ribbon, possibly crepe paper. They've been there for a while, and the rains have washed the colors out of them, from the top down. This particular one is in Thiesbergstegen, just a spell down the road. It has a stuffed bear hanging from the top of the tree. You can see it in the picture on the right just under the sign. (both pictures taken by Deanna while we were driving past)