It's Soccer Time!

A.J. chose to play soccer this spring. He is having a lot of fun doing it, and is actually pretty good. His first game was Friday night. The kids did a fantastic job, and the parents had a good time reminding them which way to go, and to stay on the field.

Happy Easter!

Here in Germany we have had fantastic weather this week! In the upper 60's, lower 70's. Remember how cold it was last year, Krista? Here are a few pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits.

Today Kaitlin was really proud of herself-in her Sunday School class her teacher asked her to tell back what she had just said-as far as Jesus being in the tomb. Kaitlin proceeded to tell her the entire Easter story. Her teacher was impressed with her, too, because her favorite part was when Mary went to tell the disciples that Jesus wasn't there anymore, not just ending the story when Mary discovered the tomb was empty. A.J.'s comment on Sunday School-we learned about Jesus again.

Trier

On Friday we headed to Trier. Trier is one of the oldest, if not the oldest cities in Germany. It is built on the ruins of what the Roman's built. The original gate, called the Porta Nigra is still there. It is called the Porta Nigra (or the black gate) because as time passed the stones turned black (even before there was smog-imagine!) There are also ruins of an Imperial Bath house, and amphitheater. Then, there are the palaces-such as the Electoral Palace, and the churches that the Germans built. It was a nice place to visit. It is laid out so that everything is walking distance-however, the amphitheater is a LONG walk from the hauptmarkt-just in case you were wondering. The kids' favorite part of the day was playing at the bath house. The tunnels are still there, so they ran around in the tunnels, pretending to be adventurers. It's also a neat place to hide and scare the people you are with...not that Jamie and I did that to the kids...or the kids to us.

The pictures: upper left, the Porta Nigra. The kids at the bath house, the kids and I in front of St. Peter's Fountain, Jamie and the kids in front of part of the original wall the Romans built. A.J. is sitting up in a window of the wall.

The Easter Market

Today we headed downtown to check out the Easter Market (or Ostermarkt) I had so many people tell me last year about the Easter Market. They raved about the shopping-especially the hand painted eggs. Unfortunately, last year by the time I found out about them, they were all over. We found out yesterday that the markets for our town (and pretty much our entire area) were this weekend, with today being the last day. We headed down, and it was amazing! There were all kinds of little booths set up-there was a whole side of the market devoted to fabric. Then, the next section was cars. Jamie took the time to sit in a brand new BMW (as opposed to his 20 year old one) that is worth close to $100,000! I can't imagine spending that much on a car! By the way, he said it was INCREDIBLY comfortable. Then, we headed to the part I liked...all the little vendor shops. It was crazy busy, as you'll be able to see in the pictures. There was also a marching band that just randomly marched around playing. I also was able to find some of the beautiful eggs. Check them out!

The Wedding

I know, I know. I'm late on this. But, here are some pictures of Krista's wedding. We were able to go back to the States for almost two weeks, and had a wonderful time while we were there!

We might not...

On Thursday Jamie and I took A.J. and my niece Alandria to lunch. We were sitting at Carlos O'Kelly's and one of them (I can't remember which one) said, "We might not always be family" and the other one said, "Yeah, we might not always be family" then the first one said, "But we'll always be friends" and the second one agreed. They have been so cute, playing together since we arrived, and so funny!

Fasching!

Fasching is celebrated in Germany, starting Nov. 11. The celebration is suspended during the Christmas season, but it begins again after the New Year. The major part of "carnival" begins the week before Lent. It is a time of celebrating, before the fasting for Lent begins. Most towns and villages have parades and parties. Today we went to the parade in Mainz Kastel-it is one of the milder parades (we were told it would be rated PG compared to many of the other parades) The participants of the parade call out "Helau!" and the children call it back to have candy and toys thrown at them. The Army also has a float in this parade-you will see it in the pictures. Enjoy the pictures!