Happy Father’s Day everyone!
I’m grateful I get to spend it with my Dad today and surrounded by my
family. This afternoon, we’re all taking a flight to Rome from Frankfurt. And, I have a little downtime on the flight
to document what we did since my last post.
The last two days have been filled with lots of
activity. On Thursday, Krissy and I went
to the Fasanarie Tier Park (Animal Park) with Katja, my niece and nephew,
Sophia and Laurenz, Annie and Kaden.
Alex was still recovering from his pink eye and rested while reading
(which is his favorite thing to do anyway).
It’s about a 15 minute walk from Landhaus Diedert through
the forest to the animal park. We
enjoyed the cooler weather – especially walking through the forest. They have a really cool dirtbike trail that
the boys would love to ride on if we could rent bikes…maybe we’ll do that when
we get back.
Annie and Sophia bonded quite a bit at the playground. Even though they don’t speak the same
language, they still communicate non-verbally and just laughed a lot
together. It was cute. We had a really nice relaxing time together
for the afternoon.
That evening we went out to eat together at a restaurant on
the Neroberg. This local gasthof has a
beautiful scenic view of the German countryside and the Rhein river. Just like almost every other restaurant in
Germany, this one is locally owned and operated. The food they prepare is wonderful with great
places to eat outside as well as inside.
After dinner, I took Kaden and Annie over to the playground
next door. It was a great area for them
to play on while the adults and Alex kept talking. I enjoyed watching them play for while in
this beautiful setting in between the Vineyards and the view of the
restaurant.
That night we watched the first World Cup game where Brazil
(the host team) played Croatia. It was a
good match-up, but Brazil had lots of favor from the Refs, in my opinion and
was able to win the game 3-1. It was after
12 midnight by the end, so the boys and I finally went to bed.
Again, sleeping in this German bedrooms is fantastic. We leave the windows open at night and a nice
fresh coolness fills the room while we sleep under our goosedown blankets and
pillowcases. I definitely enjoyed all of
our nights of sleep here. Most evenings
we would get 9-10 hours of sleep and sleep in until 10-11am. This night was no different.
FRIDAY, June 13
After a good nights sleep and a breakfast served to us by
the local restaurant, we were set to meet Katja, Patric and the kids for a trip
to Taunus Wunderland – a local theme park.
We didn’t have high expectations, so maybe that’s why we enjoyed it so
much.
The theme park, located on the outskirts of Wiesbaden, was a
perfect park for all the kids…and even us adults. Some of our favorite activities included
Water Rides, Trampolines, Roller Coasters, Haunted Caves, Carousels and Rocket
Rides. My impression of this place was
how self-directed everything was. There were very few workers there at the
park. I’d say, there were 5 tops working
the entire place. And some of them
pulled double duty – serving food and drinks and working the rides.
After 5:30, Patric and Katja had to go to a birthday party
of her nephew. So, they let us take
Patric’s car – a very nice BMW, which was very fun for me to drive on the
German roads. What made it even better
was the 80’s Duran Duran mix he had in his car.
So, we drove back to the Landhaus Diedert before dinner listening to New
Moon on Monday, Union of the Snake, Wild Boys and A View To A Kill. I think the kids were getting into it too…or
at least they didn’t mind. Kaden was
really curious about the car. Oh, one
more cool feature on this car was the speed limit and speed display on the
windshield. And, when you turn on the
GPS, the directions were right there in the windshield while I was
driving. I never had to look down to
check directions, look at my speed…AND, I always knew the speed limit wherever
I was – I guess each speed limit sign has a chip telling cars with the
technology how fast they are supposed to go.
That evening, we met Omi, Barbel and my parents for a dinner
outside at the Treibhaus, where we will be celebrating our Family Reunion on
the 28th – later this month.
The kids enjoyed some cool drinks – Hollunderbaer Limo. Again, the food and conversation was
great. The boys commented on how much
we all say the word “Genau”, which means “Exactly”. They kept saying it to us from that point
on.
That night we met up at Amo & Apo’s room and watched the
first half of Holland vs. Spain. Spain
was heavily favored, but I think they came in a bit jaded – as they were the
defending champions. We watched as the
bald Robben (who plays for Bayern Munchen in the Bundesliga) scored 2 goals out
of the 5 that the Dutch team scored in that game. All of Germany was happy to see the Spaniards
lose, since the Germans lost to them 4 years ago in the Semi-Finals. Also, since Robben plays for a German team,
they consider him one of their own.
SATURDAY, June 14
The next morning the boys and I met Patric at his house to
help him clear his yard. Katja and him
were going to tear out their existing grass and yard décor and replace it with
brand new grass and stone slabs. It was
2 hours of hard work – tearing out heavy stone slabs, removing large rocks,
carrying a heavy trailer through a narrow gate, clearing out a sandbox, moving
the sandbox to the patio deck and in general preparing the backyard for the
remodel the next week. It was hard work,
but satisfying and fun to do with the boys.
Later, Katja fed us lunch.
And again, we left stuffed and full of so much food – but it tasted to
good. I think I’ve already gained 5
pounds on this trip. Then, we were off to Landhaus Diedert to change and get
ready to go down to the annual Wilhelmstrassen Fest downtown Wiesbaden.
We met up with Barbel, Patric, Katja and all the kids for an
afternoon at a local festival with music, rides, food, beer, wine stands. It was packed as it was a beautiful day for
the Germans to take in the festivities.
Krissy and I enjoyed a “Erdbeer Bowle” for the first time. It’s a mixture of strawberries soaked in
Champagne or Vodka. Delicious! I could have had 3 or four of them, but held
off. Patric, my dad and I also enjoyed a
good large glass of beer. We went over
to the kids play area and let the kids play until they closed it down at
6pm. Meanwhile a bunch of cover bands
were playing on various stages throughout the day. One time, Annie wanted to just stand there
and watch them play – she was so intrigued by the band.
I got all the kids (except Alex) some balloons at the
fair. They all ate Crepes with Nutella
and Kinder Chocolade. Plus, we had some
good local pretzels and Alex finally got to eat Meat on a Stick – actually 2 of
them. He had been wanting to eact that
ever since we first walked in. I’ve
eaten so much sausage and meat since getting here, that I’m actually getting a
little bit sick to my stomach with all of the carnivorous activity. That evening, I started feeling a little bit
sick.
Later that night, we went out with Patric, Katja and their
friend Petra and another couple friends of theirs. We went back to the festival, walked around some
more, had some more Erdbeer Bowle, enjoyed some beer, local fresh cut French
fries (way better than anything in the US) with Mayo – Yum! The girls (Krissy, Petra, Katja) all got
matching belts at one of the local leather shops. We spent most of the time talking while
listening to the local cover band play past midnight.
The subject of Walker Stalkers came up, which ended up being
a great conversation about what’s popular on TV over here in Germany. Also, they were very interested in how it all
worked with the conventions. Maybe they will start watching the show – because
none of my family has ever watched an episode.
We stopped for yet one more Erdbeer Bowle at 12:30am to
finish the night. More good talking and
casual conversation. I felt it was good
that Patric and I had this time to talk more as we were able to just relax and
have a good time together – it felt like old times. I’m really glad Katja and Krissy get along so
well together. I think our families
could have some good vacation time together – either over here in Europe or in
the US. We’ll see.
That night Annie slept over with Sophia. Barbel babysat. I was amazed that Annie wanted to sleep over,
even though she couldn’t speak the language.
But, she really wanted to and they apparently had a great time – even
though they don’t speak the same language.
The next morning (Father’s Day) we went over to Patric’s to
pick up Annie. Patric, Annie and Sophia
were picking raspberries from their garden.
On their way back, Sophia took a big fall and banged her head really
hard against the door – thankfully there was no stitches needed, but there sure
was a lot of crying and we were worried for a while. Krissy tried to give her some oils, but Sophia
didn’t want it. She left some samples
behind for Katja. I’m sure she will use
them.
I’ve been driving a lot with the van and the stick shift –
just to practice, because I haven’t driven stick shift that much up until
now.
Then, it was time to leave for the airport as we were on our
way to Rome! We got to the airport, had
a relatively easy time getting checked-in.
Although I stressed out a little bit because I didn’t print my tickets
or had any booking reference #’s. The kids
were laughing at me while I stressed for a few minutes. Oh well…I’m not a perfect dad.
We met Amo and Apo at the gate, had some relaxing time at
the café and are now on the plane headed to Rome. We will arrive after dinner, get settled into
our hotel. The next post will be from
Roma!
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