German-American Volksfest, Grafenwoehr, Germany

I'm not exactly sure if that is the "town" that the annual German-American Volksfest was held as it actually takes place between Tower Barracks and Rose Barracks, and I don't know what the exact address of that area would be!  But boy was this fun! 

The German-American Volksfest happens every year on post (with the exception of 2013) to celebrate the good relations between the local Germans and the Americans.  It features beer, rides, face painting, bouncy castles, beer, games, contests, music, INCREDIBLE food and did I mention beer?

Waiting for the bus from the PX to take us to the Volksfest took FOR.EV.ER.  So our first stop had to be for a (very) late lunch.  The beer in the middle is mine.  The other things are (what else?) apfelsoft and water!

While I was finishing my beer, the kids played the "pop the balloons with darts" game and won these *amazing* prizes. Hooray for Poop Emoji's and slinkies!

Is this dinosaur (??) kung-fu fighting?  Anyway... the kids climbed up here and then slid down, in their lederhosen and dirndl. 

Jumping up and down in the bouncy castle = always a good time.

OH. MY. WORD.  He is the cutest thing I've ever seen!!!!!  EEEEK!!!!

Checking out an American medical tank.  (Note to all military personnel who may read this blog... I apologize for not knowing exact names of these pieces of equipment!)  Please note the fake injured body on the left! 

These German military men were so nice to the kids.  They let them play all over the tank (even inside!) and on the headsets.  They told me this tank had been all over the world, but mostly in Canada and Germany!

Those silly Germans and their Sprengkommando!  "We love to blow it up for you!"

Here we are, in all of our lederhosen and dirndl glory!  Todd and I both got stopped separately and asked if we would enter the AFN (American Forces Network, the radio station here) best dirndl and lederhosen contest.  We had a couple of beers and thought... why not!

But first... we ride.  Todd, barely fitting in the bumper car, gets crashed into by his ruthless daughter, Natalie.

Natalie was thrilled to take a selfie with C-Dub, one of the hosts of the morning show on AFN.
 

Every year, they make these awesome giant beer mugs.  This is our first one!  Even though it says next year should be the 60th Volksfest, it will actually be the 59th because it was cancelled in 2013 due to lack of government funding.

After we enjoyed the beer that was in that beer mug, we made our way to the AFN best dirndl and lederhosen contest.  Here we have the lovely Natalie Bailey, showing off her dirndl for C-Dub and Slim Shaylee.  And the creepy Eagle.  I love eagles and all of that, but he's kind of scary.



I tried to show Grant how to thumb his overalls but he didn't understand, so instead he walked down the catwalk like this the whole time and looked totally like a bored teenager.  But he totally did a somersault at the end of the catwalk, which was pretty amazing - especially since he didn't want to do it in the first place!  (Note:  He cried when he didn't win!)

I might be on my second mug of delicious beer here.  I thought, hey... let's take a selfie with the AFN crew! 

This is how it turned out!  HA!  I particularly like the photos and video of my AFN selfie.

Todd was next up to the plate.  He decided to ride the horse.

Then he did "the Todd" which is a dance he does at pretty much any song he hears.  Especially at weddings.  And yes, he always makes that face.

And your third place winner is... "Pauline Bailey!"  (Wait, what?  DJ Bob Sauce apologized ha ha, but I'm definitely used to that by now).  This is me explaining, "No, no... my last name is Bailey!"  (There was another contestant named Pauline... no kidding!)  I won a big old heaping mess of tickets for rides at the Volksfest (which weren't cheap and Todd estimated it saved us about 50 Euro!)

And the winner of the best lederhosen is... Todd Bailey!  He was actually surprised, believe it or not, even though his beard and amazing new sock-like apparatus was really what put him over the top.  Well there was never any doubt in MY mind!

Todd and the girl who won best dirndl both had to be live on AFN!

I'm pretty certain about half of our family photos are ruined by Grant, who has his hand down his pants. 

After our epic win(s), Mommy and Natalie took a stab at The Flash (aka: Tower of Terror, as we call every ride like this). 

Even though he ruins pictures by putting his hand down his pants, he's kind of cute and we think he'll keep him.

Natalie and Daddy on the Hawaii Swing.  Grant didn't want to go on this at first.  I'm telling you... he became MUCH more daring by the end of the evening!

I'm guessing they liked it???  Ha!  I don't ever see Todd laugh like this!

Next, we ALL FOUR decided to get on this super fast ride.  It had a long name, but the short name was the Tegernsee.  It went in circles and was super fast.  Grant LOVED IT. Go figure!

I turned around to take a picture of Todd (who you can see in the back) and I captured a picture of this poor, poor girl who looked so miserable behind me!  I don't do spinning very well, but she really looked bad!  Also, note the girl behind them!  Face in hands!  And the half shaved-half mullet hairdo really, really is the icing on the cake.

We loved it Mommy, let's go again!!!  (Ok, so we had a few tickets for this one!)  Classic Natalie and Grant faces right there!

Pretzels and pommes and some kind of meats!  Sounds like a darn good German meal to me!

I'd say Volksfest was a RESOUNDING success this year!  More than we had anticipated, obviously!  I still can't believe we won first and third in the best lederhosen and dirndl contest, ha!

Until next time, German-American Volksfest!