Silly Milo ~ Elf on the Shelf

Kaiserslautern Christmas Market

If you're looking for a Christmas Market nearby Ramstein AB the K-Town Christmas Market is a pretty nice one. We went a couple of times because it was so convenient and a makes for a nice afternoon out.
This time we met up with our friend's The Coffman's (Adam, Liz and Aidan).

Ryan, Aidan, Dylan

These Santas sang Christmas songs in English and German

The boys wanted to ride this Ferris wheel over and over again...never mind that it was pretty cold...

Strasbourg Christmas Market (France)

I was asked by my neighbor (and friend) Tara if I'd like to go on the Strasbourg Christmas Market Tour through RTT. SURE!! Sounds like a great time to me!

On the bus I met Julie, Heather and Jamie...all cool chicks. Let's face it...as soon as I found out Jamie was from Minnesota (don't worry...she's a Packer fan) and recently owned a house in Hudson, WI...I knew it was going to be a fun day :-)

It was a little rainy but we made the best of it! What a neat city. The bus dropped us off in a bus area outside of town and we took a 5 minute train ride into the market area.

Julie, Tara, Jamie, Me

There was a second market outside the Notre Dame Cathedral. It's a "Must-See"...especially at Christmas time. There were children inside singing, numerous Nativity scenes, people lighting candles...awesome!

Notre Dame Cathedral

The city streets were decorated...everywhere you looked there was a feeling of Christmas

I came home with a belly full of pastries and gluwein, some new friends and these beautiful candles...

The white candle is a Christmas Market scene

Hope to get together with these ladies again soon. We had a great time. BTW, Jamie has a super cute blog with great ideas...check it out here: DelightfullyCoconuts

Thanksgiving in Baden-Baden

We went to Baden-Baden this year for Thanksgiving. We ate at the Officer's Club on base at Ramstein before we took off to the Black Forest. It's around a 2.5 hour drive. Our first stop was the hotel. We stayed at a small Gasthaus. It kind of reminded me of staying at "Grandma's House" except it had a restaurant on the first floor. Very quaint and quiet...no frills....just comfort. We drove about 5 miles to the village, Bade-Baden. This area is known for it's spas and saunas. It's located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.

Their Christmas Market started on (our) Thanksgiving Day...that's early for most markets in Germany. We had our first taste of gluwein and the kids had "kinder punch".

Dylan was told to have the chocolate covered fruit in his German class at school...we made him share :-)

A nice German man took our photo...we used this one for our Christmas card.

The next morning we took off for a place called All Saints' Abbey but on the way we caught this view...

 The clouds were below the mountain peaks...

We stopped for pretzels at a hotel and resort called Mummelsee Erlebniswelt. We put on the list of places to stay. It was the neatest hotel and looked like they have a ton of activities in the summer for families. You must check out their website!

We arrived at All Saints' Abbey (Baden-Württemberg). The Abbey is something to see and the hike to the waterfalls is well worth it! It's beautiful. All Saints' Abbey History

Tebow

 Planking (couldn't help myself)

 Mia enjoyed it too...

 Ryan is always willing to humor me...

Burg Lichtenburg Castle - Fall Pics

I really wanted to get some great shots of Germany in the fall. The colors here are gorgeous this time of year but with all the rain it was difficult to get out and capture some shots. We thought we'd head up to Litchenburg Castle since it's so close to our house and would be up high enough to see all the colors below.
Well, we didn't get the visibility we wanted but I managed to get some great photos of the boys...

 See. The visibility wasn't great.

 But the kids had fun...

 Love this shot...

 I cropped this one and had it printed on canvas...

So, not the colors of fall we were hoping for but there's always next year!