Visitors!

Clark, Kelly and Gage came to visit us for 2 weeks in April.  While we were still working and in school we sent them on a few trips by themselves.  They went to Holland to see the tulips, Paris and took a Rhine River cruise.  During the week of our spring break we drove to Bavaria and spent the week there.

The kids getting eis at our favorite cafe in Oberammergau.  We cannot go down to Garmisch without stopping here for a cone . . . or two.

One afternoon we went to the Linderhoff Palace to see what King Ludwig's vision of Versailles.

One of the things we did that the four of us have not done before was the Ettal Monastery.  It is really beautiful inside, mostly white walls and all the decor is in gold and pastel colors.

Kelly was interested in going to the Swarovski museum and shop in Innsbruck Austria.  While Clark, Kelly and Bailey toured the museum, Mark and I stayed outside with McKenna and Gage and let them play on the climbing playground and zip line.

In Garmisch, lunch for Bailey consisted of schnitzel the size and shape of Africa.  We called it the "African schnitzel".

View of the alps from our restaurant in Garmisch.

McKenna was thrilled to find a drindle that I hope fits here for a long time so she can wear it when we move stateside.

It was a great visit.  We loved renewing our relationships with family.  We especially love being able to help Gage celebrate his 5th birthday while they were here!

Black Forest

Every summer the band blocks off 2 weeks on their gig calendar. I have all kinds of issues with this, but I refuse to taint my post, so we try to take full advantage of it. Mom planned her visit so that she would be here during "block leave" and would be able to spend time with Mark. All of her visits previous were to help boost me up when Mark was gone.
During our first week, we spent a few nights in the Black Forest region of Germany. On the drive down in the rain and cold, we adjusted our itinerary and found something we could do inside. We stopped at the Cuckoo Clock museum. It is a delightful look back at the history of clock making. We were able to see one from the beginning where the timing of the sun was the only way to tell time, up to the modern clock that science has taken full responsibility for.
This was a sign that caught my eye, it states, "The Cuckoo is dead". Didn't really know what that was all about, but I wondered if it was around the time of electricity when the traditional clock making ways were not utilized as much. Thank heavens the industry did not give up and continued to make their clocks the traditional way.
Cuckoo clocks have not caught my eye during our time in Germany and I swore I wasn't going to even purchase one. But, I had to eat those words. I found this little guy that I couldn't take my eyes off of. He was stuck in a corner at the top of the stairs that leads to their boxed up inventory. Luckily he was sent there with his buddies, as there were a few similar ones close by. Why place it in the lonely staircase, was it a bad cuckoo? was it not friendly to the children? Was it actually in "time out"? Poor little man . . . I had to have him.
As we continued on our way in the cold rain (that I was cussing within myself the whole way) we found another treasure of the Black Forest, wood carving. These guys rock! They make the coolest things with all the trees down there. My mom broke down and bought a huge windmill. We would figure out later how to get it back home. The one my mom bought is similar to the one in the front right corner. So super cute!


Here is mom, sealing the deal!
We spent the night in a little town called Titisee-Neustadt, you pronounce it just like a bad bad word. Every time we said it out loud we would giggle a little. Of course every experience we have had while in Germany has a culinary component, Titisee (hee hee) had one too.
Apple strudel with whipped creme and vanilla sauce:
Black Forest Cake:
White grape juice, we didn't try this but I just loved the way the chef was winking at us, like he had some special secret ingredient.
Flammkuchen:
And of course, pommes!! We absolutely OD'd on pomme frites this weekend, which is funny because I really don't think my kids like them. They order them, and then Mark and I finish them.
McKenna saw these great hats and when Bailey told her it looked like the tough girl character Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon, she had to have it. Now we have Halloween taken care of for this year.
Another cool place we went to was the Todnau Waterfall. Not as big or grand as the one in Triberg, but still cool enough to spend some time there. Check out these fabulous red loungers next to the falls. Okay, now the falls are cooler than the ones in Triberg!
By far our biggest adventure in the Black Forest was riding the Hassenhorn rodelbahn. It is super huge, 3 km of track.
The ride up in the chair lift is so long, you could decide what your life's purpose is and then plan how to carry it out. Then you would have the last 1/2 of the ride to daydream. You can see me doing that here:Here we are on the top of the mountain:
Here we go!!!

Good for the Noggin'

In honor of the President signing the "Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act" today, I'd like to take a minute and talk about food. If you get a chance click on the link, excellent stuff (an upgrade from my overly used "good stuff") That First Lady is one groovy chick.

Here is a new recipe for an old holiday, nutritionally questionable standard: Egg Nog. I for one vote yes for Egg Nog each year, but then cringe at the site of the Nutritional Facts label. So in the past I have mixed it with 1/2 ginger-ale, Diet Sprite, or bubbly water works for us. But here is an additional choice, Pear Nog. Don't miss out on the nutritional analysis at the bottom, it'll blow your Christmas stocking clean off the mantel.

Pear Nog:

1 pear, peeled, cored, cut into chunks (or use canned pears packed in juice, not syrup, and drained)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tsp brown sugar
1 large pinch cinnamon (about 1/4 tsp)
2 ice cubes, cracked

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend on high for 15 seconds or until ice is completely crushed.

Ready for this? You better sit down.

Nutritional analysis is listed by traditional eggnog followed by pear nog (1 cup portions)

Calories: 343/200 Yup, it is that different, where is it coming from?
Carbohydrate: 34gm/36gm Not there
Protein: 10gm/12gm Not there either
Fat: 19gm/2.5 gm BINGO
% of calories from fat: 49%/11% Yes, I double checked my numbers people, remember I'm type A!

Know what else: Pear Nog has 6 gm of fiber (a food with 3gm or more is considered a good source), eggnog has nadda

Wanna know what else is in Pear Nog? calcium, phosphorous, Vitamins A,B1, B12, C, D and K with iron, potassium and zinc to boot.

Wanna know where I got this recipe? Go here, go here fast: www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org and sign up for their emails. You'll get excellent stuff in your inbox.

Wanna know what else? my kids liked it. But my kids like most everything. So, when I fed it to 6th, 7th and 8th graders today, only 3 kids didn't like it and they were a little different, if you know what I mean. I mean come on, who doesn't like eggs!?

Brussels Floral Carpet - take 2

I've been looking forward to this all summer. Every other year, Brussels turns their Grand Place into an explosion of color by making a tapestry out of flowers. By doing this they pay tribute to their history of tapestry making. It is huge, beautiful . . . and crowded. Last year we had my sister and brother in law as our travel companions, this year we had to go it alone.
Here is a little secret, we TELL everyone we are going to see the tapestry, but what we are really going for is to eat yummy but unhealthy food. The dietitian in me is always a little sad when I have to leave her behind for trips like this, we just can't have her reminding us how unhealthy we are when we have lunch that consists of gauffres, frites and chocolate. She just ruins all the fun.
This naughty little boy was standing there watching us eat our waffles, he has bad manners but you can't be angry with him, he is iconic Belgian after all.

Of course on the way home we do as we always do, stop at the grocery store. In Belgium we like to grab waffles (plain sugar and chocolate) and speculoos spread (this my friends, is heaven on earth, it is the consistency of peanut butter but tastes a like Christmas), and then whatever else catches our eye.

We crammed one last thing into our itinerary, furniture shopping in this store that has German AND French designs. Their stuff is solid, unique and super fun. For those of you who live nearby, even though they are in Belgium, they are a German company and therefore take VAT forms. Plus, the total discount is 35%, which for the life of me I could not do the math. The VAT is 19% but the sales lady assured me that the total discount is 35%. Who am I to argue a few percentage points when they are in my favor? And you wanna know the bonus??? Free delivery and set up! What?! You heard right. This is the little set I have my eyes on, I just wish the wood was a little bit darker:
Now today, I'm nursing a wicked headache that set in on our way home last night and lasted through until this morning. Was it too much sugar, sun, fun, shopping, spending 8 hours in the car with 2 kiddo's, crunching numbers on furniture prices?? Tell you what, if I could figure out the triggers for these beasts I would be a better functioning citizen.

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

I have figured out how to get a day off! We all know how difficult it is to truly get a day off when you are a stay at home mom, BUT I have figured it out! You just have to get sick . . . and when I say sick I mean incapacitated sick. Sick that your husband has to really step up and your kids have to really step back!

I have had a nagging cough for the last 2 weeks, mostly in the mornings and at night. But it is getting worse and I sound like a 6 pack a day smoker. I went in Friday to get it checked and came home with a couple of remedies but not before I coughed so hard I strained my abdomen, back and neck. Folks, I am out of commission, or at least yesterday I was. My only job was to do everything possible as to NOT COUGH. AT. ALL. So the couch and I were great friends.

And I'm so blessed to have a husband who will step up and kids who will step back. In fact ladies, if you take my lead and get yourself sick too you just might get what I got:

Homemade rolls (I threw the ingredients into the breadmaker, then the kids were responsible for the shaping and rising) They thought butterflies, teddy bears and rock rolls "?!" would do the trick.
Then Mark went to work in the kitchen and I must say, "Dude, you got skills!" Isn't that beautiful?! Too bad I couldn't taste it. He'll just have to make it again.

Just so you know, today was slightly better, still so sore but hopefully on the mend. We all had a holiday today and could not resist the beautiful weather, so Mark took us on a road trip (strapped to a seat belt with little to no walking) to see the fall colors (more to come on this). More couches and hot pads tonight and then tomorrow is another day! Even if I feel better I'm tempted to fake it for awhile!

Maybe . . .

. . . I can stay here for longer than I thought. Last year when I returned to the states for the first time since moving to Germany I had made a list in my mind of things I was going to experience that I have missed since the big move. Things like any diet coke beverage that was larger than a 12 oz AND with ice. Old Navy (not WalMart), Target (never WalMart . . . sorry dad), drive through anything, large roads to drive on, English speaking friends and family, Twizzler bites, and scrapbooking stores. This is just the ones off the top of my head. But when my mom and dad picked me and the girls up from the airport one of the first things I saw was a big Wendy's sign and the most overwhelming need for a Wendy's frosty took me by surprise. Right then and there I had to have one. We couldn't stop as I needed to get to the hospital to help bring my newest nephew into the world but the thought of that frosty did not leave my mind. Since moving to Germany I didn't once think about this delightful treat, not once! So how surprising was it that THIS was the tangible thing I enjoyed most on my first trip home. I even stopped to get one right after breakfast the next morning, they didn't have the machine turned on yet and was surprised when I said there was nothing more they could help me with.

I received a recipe email this week with a long list of ways to cook your favorite restaurant foods. I was amused while looking wondering if they could possible taste the same when my eyes fell upon my long lost friend, the Frosty. Such simple ingredients: 1/2 cup Hershey's syrup mixed with 1 cup milk, then blend in 3 cups vanilla ice cream. I was immediately curious . . . is it really possible to reproduce this beauty in my home? in Germany? I'm happy to report that YES it is AND it tastes JUST LIKE IT! Oh what a happy day. All 4 of us were giddy as we ate our frosty's at our kitchen table in the middle of Germany. So maybe I can be okay with the idea of extending, as long as friends and family continue to cross our doorstep AND I can reproduce a Wendy's frosty any night or day of the week.

Now for the twisted American twist on a classic treat:


UHM . . . isn't that something of an . . . oh what did they call that in English class . . . oh yea an oxymoron! Unbelievable.