Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

If you've ever wondered, yes, Santa Claus DOES come visit the children even when they live in a foreign country! 

We closely monitored the man in the red suit's progress on the television via NORAD's Santa Tracker.  We even watched him come into eastern Europe!  (This however, was earlier in the day!)

 We went to church at Tower Barracks, only to find that it was actually at Rose Barracks.  Totally my fault for not reading it close enough.  So we sped down to Rose Barracks and managed to catch mass.  Afterward, we came home and continued our tradition of throwing reindeer dust on the lawn so that it would sparkle in the moonlight and Santa would be able to find us. 

This year, Santa was very lucky.  He got homemade cookies with frosting and the reindeer got carrots.  Unfortunately, I could not find Andes mint chocolates for use in my favorite Christmas cookie recipe.  After Eights weren't melting properly, so we bought a can of peppermint frosting instead. 

Sometimes they like each other. Or they pretend to so Santa will bring them presents.

Next, Daddy always reads 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  It was fun to see Grant get excited about it this year. 

Blurry because they were moving so fast yelling, "HE CAME!  SANTA WAS HERE!" As you can see, Natalie is airborne!

Grant hasn't even opened anything yet and he still gives this Christmas a big thumbs up!

Every year, Grant gets a Hess truck from Pop Pop. It's always one of his favorite gifts!

Warm Gluwhein and sour cream coffee cake. Yum.

The kids got little wooden put-together airplanes in their stockings, so we took them outside for a contest to see how far we could throw them.

Probably the best gift ever.  A new digital camera to chronical our travel adventures in Europe.  I took this picture of the Christmas Day sunset with my new camera.  Tomorrow, it's off to Rome!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Have nothing to fear my friends... we were able to catch the new Star Wars movie on the base, in English and in 3D!  I really enjoyed it, but it definitely had some surprises. I tried really hard not to read anything about it before I went to see it so that I would be surprised. It was still good for a few chuckles, too.

Nat decided she wanted to dress up - hey, this is great!  I bought that Halloween costume and now she gets to wear it twice?  Bonus!

THIS Princess Leia entered into a costume contest at the movie theater and wound up winning 3rd place and a $25 gift card to the PX!  She was super excited.

The whole family, including Grumpy Grant, ready to watch Star Wars. Everyone but Mommy is sporting their Star Wars gear.  Get with the program, Mommy!

These two clowns, after spilling a giant tub of popcorn on the floor. Pardon the darkness of these photos!

Get this kid some popcorn and some funny looking glasses, stat!  Yes, that will cure even the worst of moods.  I'm so glad we have a big theater and can watch US movies in English!

Pictures with Santa

Santa made a stop at the Graf PX for some pictures with the kiddos!

It makes me sad that they are almost too big to even sit on his lap!

Auerbach Maffei Iron Ore Mine Christmas Market

Since Mary and Mel were still here, we decided to hit up the most local of all of the Christmas markets, and yet at the same time, one of the most unique... the Auerbach Iron Ore Mine Christmas Market at the Maffei Mine!

The Museen in Bayern website says the following:  "The Auerbach-Nitzlbuch mine is the most important iron ore mine in Bavaria. Nearly 16 Million tons of iron ore were extracted here between 1906 and 1978. The two steel structures of the double shaft mine are the oldest of their kind in Bavaria (1906) and stand as a symbol of centuries of mining in the Upper Palatinate."

And it's right here in our own town? Well that sounds pretty cool to me, let's go! 

After we parked at the outdoor (not currently in use) swimming pool in South Auerbach, we walked a few blocks over and picked up a bus in the nearby industrial park.  Easy peasy!  When you first walk into this cute little Christmas market, you go through a mine cart tunnel that had lots of fun things to look at (jewelry!)

Once outside and before we got our first Gluhwein, we snapped a quick group photo (which was wise since we all separated later!)  I do not know WHAT is going on with Mel and Grant here but it was sure funny!

An aerial picture of the mine when it was in use, in 1957. There's a great little museum here which is worth checking out.

Have no fear, Saint Nicholas is here!  Since it was Saint Nicholas Day and all... he showed up and passed out chocolate gingerbread cookies to the kids (of course, which Grant couldn't eat.  My poor peanut allergy baby!)  You can see his big Pope-like white hat in the picture above.  You can also see it was pretty crowded that day!

Speaking of saints... here's another one right here! This saint happens to drink Gluhwein and is almost as tall as a giant mine tower.

Naturally, my kids had to totally goof off.  I mean, we can't go through a day without at least several dozen of these types of pictures!

 As we were leaving, the lights were coming on and it was all so pretty lit up at night!  Between the Weiden, Auerbach, Nuremberg and Amberg Christmas markets, this one was by far my favorite!

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Christmas markets are VERY big deal over here in Germany.  There are tons of them around here, almost in every town.  Nuremberg is by far the biggest, but of course many people say that while you have to GO to the Nuremberg Christmas Market at least once, it will probably not wind up being your favorite. 

That being said, it was actually a really neat Christmas market!  And no Christmas market is a bad one when you have friends in town.  Our friends Mary and Mel (from Todd's BOP days) were visiting for a few days, so naturally we had to go!

Immediately upon getting to Nuremberg, we must take a random selfie.

Also immediately, we must find some Gluhwein.  (This is basically a delicious, warm, mulled spice wine). What?  It's 10 in the morning you say?  It doesn't matter.  German Christmas Markets.  It's even sweeter when you get to drink out of an adorable little boot!

Then there was this random giant panda walking around.  Mary and Natalie thought he was cute. I thought he was creepy (also, please note you don't see Grant in this picture!  For a reason!!!)

One good thing about the Nuremberg Christmas Market was that they have a cute little Kinderweilnacht, which is a little children's Christmas area.  It had rides and food and all kinds of fun things!

Natalie and Grant (on the right) riding the mini ferris wheel.

While the kids play, the adults must eat bratwurst.  If you look to the right in this picture above, you'll see the little characters on the roofs of the little huts that sold food or Christmas ornaments and other paraphernalia.  They were so cute - they were animated and moved! 

Natalie, Mel, Mary, Todd and Grant with the Nuremberg Cathedral in the background, which is in the main square and is the heart of the Christmas market.

 A beautiful sunset capped off a really fun time at the Nuremberg Christmas Market!  Yes, it was crowded, but it was huge and a ton of fun.  I definitely want to go back next year!

A Natalie-ism!

Upon overhearing Colleen and I talking about me joining a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club, Natalie pipes in and asks, "Who's doing jiu jitsu? You Daddy? Why, so you can beat up my boyfriends?"

Ha ha.

Thanksgiving and Our First German Christmas Tree!

Even though the German's don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here, we HAD to!  My parents had been here for a few days, and left the morning of Thanksgiving to fly back to the states.  It always sucks when they leave! 

But we decided to plow on and enjoy some turkey ourselves!

Here he is!  He's not very big, but then again, there are only four of us!

Naturally, Todd had to carve our small little bird.  I don't know why the kids found this funny, but apparently they did!

A very happy Thanksgiving from the Bailey's of Auerbach, Germany!  We even broke out the fine china, the chargers, and the nice glasses for the kids!

Natalie wrote this story about Papa the Turkey, and they displayed it at the Food Court at Rose Barracks!  She was really proud!

We put up our tree in the days following Thanksgiving.  We were going to go on a trip somewhere, perhaps Switzerland, but we booked a week long trip to Rome for the week after Christmas, so we decided to stay home and save money!  We got our tree and put it up and as we did, I took this picture, only to see much later that Grant had his hand down his pants!  And he seems super proud of it! I am still surprised, six years into motherhood of a boy that this kind of stuff still shocks me! Ha!

Silly Kiddos

I love this picture of us.  Grant.... could this be any more like him!?

Prague, Czech Republic

Our very first "across the border" weekend getaway was for our 10th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately (fortunately?) we had to take the kids with us because our usual go-to extended period babysitter, Nana, was off on her own big European/Middle Eastern adventure.  No problem, as she promised to come back and watch the kids while Todd and I go somewhere to celebrate my 40th (cough cough, 29th!) birthday in 2016.  

 After we checked into our cool VRBO apartment (in a wicked good location), we walked over to see the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall.  I don't think I ever realized how low to the ground the whole thing was. 

After the clock chimes, a man with a trumpet comes out and plays a tune.

We climbed the Tower at the Old Town Hall and look, there he is!  The trumpeter!  Apparently he should be wearing red and yellow, but it was kind of cool out so I guess he needed a jacket.  He waves to everyone when he is done.

Pretty colorful buildings of Prague.

Because we have kids, we sometimes have to do activities that we wouldn't normally do as adults.  (And no, kissing Heidi Klum is most certainly something Todd would like to do as an adult!)  While we would rather hit up an art or history museum, the kids would be incredibly bored (read: whiny).  So the tourist office had a little pamphlet about the local wax museum, and it was actually really fun!  Here's Todd smooching on his main squeeze, Heidi.

Here's the littlest dictator of our family, in the Hall of Dictators.  Notice he's got his buddies Lenin, Stallin, Kruschev, Mao, Fidel and others behind him. 

OMG I did not ask him to make this face, but could he BE more sassy here!?!  He totally looks like he fits in with Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner!  He should have totally been in he Twilight movie series!

Time for a little dinner and a Pilsner Urquell.  Yes please.

The next morning we got on the local bus and traveled around the city.  In Wenceslas Square, I saw this beautiful building.  Too pretty not to snap a pic!

Speaking of ol' King Wenceslas, this is the statue of him in the middle of Wenceslas Square.  This square is where locals gather during political protests, uprisings, and other celebrations and demonstrations. 

Back on the bus, we made our way across the Vltava River and over to see the Church of the Lady Victorious.  It was built in the early 1600s and houses the famous Infant Jesus of Prague. But this church?  This isn't that church!  That church wasn't as pretty on the outside.  I liked this one, St. Nicholas, just a bit north of the Church of the Lady Victorious. (HA!)

The Infant Jesus of Prague is a wooden doll covered in wax that was originally owned by Saint Theresa of Avila.  It's now pretty old and fragile, but they still change the vestments with the different times in the Holy Year.  In Ireland, they believe this statue influences the weather.  (Weird!)

We should immediately go drink more beer?  OK!

 

 Next, we walked down to the Charles Bridge.  This is on the west end of the bridge, one of the towers.  It's really a nice bridge, but the number of people painting and selling things gets in the way of it's beauty.

 Then it was off to the famous Prague Castle!  It's the largest castle in the world!  (Ok, Ok, some dispute that, and for whatever reason, the Guinness Book of World Records has many "largest castle in the world" record holders. The Prague Castle is the "largest ancient castle in the world."  If you google Largest Castle in the World, this is the one that comes up.

Up at the castle, which is naturally up on a hill, there is a big church called St. Vitus.  It's really big and pretty and has a really neat section of jewels and other cool relics that you can look at but can't take pictures of.  (And Natalie kept getting yelled at for touching the glass!)  There's even the arm of St. Vitus!  And the sword of St. Wenceslas!

This is the back side of St. Vitus, and of course, we are drinking Gluhwein and hot chocolate (I'm guessing you can figure out who is drinking what here!)  Gotta stay warm somehow!

Next up, we decided to take an evening boat ride along the Vltava River.  This is Natalie giving us a thumbs down because we won't let her get a mug of beer keychain.  Maybe when you're 21!!!

We saw the most spectacular views of the Charles Bridge from this boat ride.  It was evening and the lights just came on on the bridge.  The whole city was just so beautiful and I love the early nighttime coloring.   

Afterwards, there was time for one more farewell dinner to Prague with these two crazy kids.  I ordered meat on a stick!  It was amazing!  We can't wait to visit Prague again - there's so much to see and do!

German Sunsets

I can't get enough of the fall sunsets here.  So beautiful.

This one was taken from our upstairs balcony, as was the one below.

I promise, I didn't Instagram or filter any of this!  Just a regular iPhone shot.  

This one was taken from our exit off of the highway.  Super pretty!