Germany 2010 Part 3- more schnee!

We got a lot more snow on Christmas and woke up to beautiful snow and ice covered trees.

 Jessica thought it was so much fun to suck the ice right off the branches! She kept asking for "more tree".

 Cromwell also loves to eat snow and has a great time running through the big snow drifts.  Claude, on the other hand, decides to remain indoors where his belly doesn't get wet!

 All of the trees were completely covered and the twisty branches of some trees were gorgeous!

 We took a nice long walk one day to play in the snow. 

 Jessica is an excellent snow angel maker (and it's fun to push her down into the snow to help her make a better impression)!

 Here's the family on their street in Hermersberg.

 The town covered in serene blanket of snow with the soft sounds of sheep bleating in the pastures and....

 ...Jessica crying the entire time while riding in her sled.

 She does pose for good photos though!

 And it's official....the abominable snowman does exist!

 You can't really see them, but there are actually sheep in the pastures! 

 The sun attempts to show itself near sunset during our walk!

 And after a day of playing in the snow, everyone needs a little cuddle on the couch!

 My last day in town, we went swimming on base.  Jessica is ready to go wearing her "baby soup" under her clothes!

 And we had ice cream afterwards (some of which actually made it into Jessica's mouth)!

 During bedtime, they always read books.  Here I'm wearing my disguise for a book about a mouse with a strawberry.......I'm not sure I followed the storyline very well!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Germany 2010 Part 2

For Chris' birthday (she turned 30-something again this year!), we drove to Frankfurt to go to the Christmas market only to get there in time to find out that it had already ended and the only thing remaining was this tree.  It's beautiful though!  We had a nice dessert at a local restaurant and then walked around downtown Frankfurt looking at shops and picking out what expensive jewelry we should buy when we win the German lottery!

 Here's Chris showing off her infinite wisdom and maturity that she's gained over the years on her birthday!

On Christmas Eve, we had lasagna for dinner and Jessica the reindeer joined us!

 We had a contest to see who could make the best "I love lasagna" face.  This is mine......

 ....and this is Jessica's!  I think she wins!

 We celebrated Chris' birthday again that night with a chocolate cake and blue icing (per Jessica's instructions).  She helped me bake it and make the icing!

 On Christmas Eve, we have the tradition of opening one gift from family at midnight.  Jessica was very enthusiastic about her German music toys.  She's taken up singing her favorite song from her music class...."Jessica ist da, ya ya ya".....

 Cromwell  helps out with the singing!

 This was the first year that Chris and Rich got to play Santa by getting Jessica her first bike!

 It's Christmas morning and could she be any cuter?

 I gave her a pink recorder (like the ones we played in elementary school) much to the delight of mom and dad!

 I cooked loch ness monster (aka pork tenderloin) with a ginger maple glaze, mashed potatoes and broccoli!  Yummy!

 Jessica shows off her Christmas outfit (complete with socks and sandals....sorry I cut that out of the photo!)

We had a wonderful Christmas and I was so happy to be there with family for the holiday!

Schnee in Germany!

Gutentag from Germany!  I arrived last Thursday morning to a beautiful sunrise and lots of snow on the ground!

So much snow in fact that we've had to stay at home for almost four days straight!

Here are Jessica and I posing in front of the huge mound of snow in the front yard. I look like an eskimo and the locals are outside in light weight jackets!

We got to take a walk around the block one day after a big snow. This is the sign leading into my sister's town, Hermersberg.

The town was beautiful blanketed in all that snow!

View from the backyard. Did I mention that there was a lot of snow?


Every branch of every tree has snow on it! These little berries are frozen solid!

Yep...it's still snowing.

The sidewalk and driveway must be shoveled and Jessica decided to help her daddy out using the dustpan.  The best part was that she was actually taking snow from the yard and dumped it into the driveway....

She's really proud of herself for helping!

It's not all work and no play though....we've been able to do some sledding too!
Jess in the snow on her little red sled.

  Chris and Jess take a break from sledding to pose for a photo!

 Rich enjoys building big sculptures out of the snow that's piled up.  He's really good at it too- he's done the Eiffel Tower and a big snow bunny.  This one was going to be a tug boat, but he ran out of time!

 Remember the saying "don't eat the yellow snow"?

 We've made lots of Christmas cookies- Jessica is an excellent little helper (even if she and the dog ends up with more flour on them than in the bowl)!

Here's Jess wearing one of my favorite shirts.....

 One thing that I love about international travel is noticing the small differences between cultures...like packaging the milk with cows of various weights based on the fat content!

 Chris, Rich and Jessica have their house decorated for Christmas- here's their Christmas tree!

 With a two year old around, there's always constant entertainment!  Jessica helps her daddy sing while he plays the guitar for Rock Band! 

 We played dress up...

 ....and danced around the kitchen!

 Once the snow stopped, we were able to get out of the house and we headed to Kasierslautern to visit the Christmas market.  Even though the roads were clear, the fog was really heavy....hey, where's the road?

 Here is a nativity scene made out of metal sculptures.  Can you tell which one is Mary?

 Jessica rode on the carrousel and rang the fire engine bell!

 One reason that I like the Christmas markets is getting to warm up by drinking gluwein- this one came in a Santa mug! 

 The Kaiserslautern Chrismas market has lots of stalls with food and homemade crafts.  You can find everything from toys to jewelry to candles to wind chimes to scarves.

 Even the gargoyles on this church look cold!

 Cromwell poses which his Rudolph headband on....silly dog!

Here's Claude all snuggled up for a warm night's sleep!