Random fun from this month

True fashion sense

I just had to show you my Bailey's fashion sense. You can't see it all in the picture, but she's wearing blue flower bows, a pink headband with another flower, pink flower sunglasses, and pink leggings with her blue dress. It was true fashion:

A volcano in Iceland? That couldn't possibly affect us...

I'm sure many of you have heard about the volcanic explosion in Iceland, but I bet that most of you in the States haven't been impacted by it much. Well, we have. Let me tell you about the chaos that has erupted for many around here (pictures courtesy of foxnews.com):

Last week was our spring break. Many took advantage of the vacation time to fly to fun destinations around Europe, the US, and around the world. Since we had driven to our destination (Holland) and returned home before the massive eruption, we had no idea what was going on with many families from church, many teachers from school, and many of Erick's co-workers from the Army base.

They were stranded.

And some of them still are. The volcanic eruption forced planes to stay grounded throughout most of Europe. Check out this article to get an idea. We have had friends stuck in a myriad of places: Greece, the Canary Islands, Washington D.C., England, Italy, Belgium, etc.

So many teachers from the girls' school are stuck that the school had to cancel parent teacher conferences this week. There are many substitute teachers filling in, and a few classes have had their students split up and placed into other classrooms.

Both Joey and Bailey's teachers were stranded. Joey's teacher was able to rent a car and drive home from Italy (unfortunately, her rental car broke down on the freeway, and she had to experience that adventure. But that's a whole story in itself). Bailey's teacher is still MIA. She went to Greece. The word is that she took a rather long bus-ride followed by a 17 hour ferry ride. She will then take a train to the airport where her car is parked and drive home.

The expense for these stranded travelers is shocking. Hotel expenses, food, and additional travel is adding up right when they thought their vacations were over. Some were able to work out a travel option within a day or two, but several are still trying to get home.

I won't even get into the worry that many have about imports. We, personally, have not yet been affected. But many businesses that import produce into Europe are losing millions of dollars. Not to mention the loss of revenue for airlines. Ouch!

So, there you have it. A volcano halfway across Europe can cause some chaos.

Frohe Ostern

Happy Easter from Germany. I know this post is late, but I had to share with you our fun German Easter.

First, I have to show you the girls’ Easter dresses this year:

 

Their dresses are called dirndl. They are traditional dresses worn in Bavaria and Austria. They used to be worn by only servants, but in the 1870’s they became fashionable for all young women. I think they are just darling. Here, have another look:

 

For Easter in northern Bavaria, where we live, the residents of each town decorate their central fountains with evergreens and Easter eggs. The fountains are called Osterbrunnen. This is the fountain in Mantel, a little city not far from us.

On the Saturday before Easter, we decided to go to Nürmberg to see the Easter market. The market was small but fun. My favorite part of our trip, though, was seeing the little shops in the old town:

They also had an Osterbrunnen:

 

Another big Easter tradition here is the Osterstraeuche or Easter tree. Everyone hangs hollowed-out Easter eggs on their trees in their yard. This is an Osterstraeuche that we saw on our day in Nürmberg:

The Christmas and Easter markets in Nürmberg are held in the Hauptmarkt square. In this square there is a large pipe fountain called the Schoener Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain). It dates back to the 1300’s. On the fountain is a “wishing ring.” Tradition states that if you turn it, your wish will come true. So, of course, each of the kids had to have a turn:

I hope each of you had a Frohe Ostern (Happy Easter!)

Keukenhof

We couldn't possibly travel all the way to Holland without seeing flowers, so went to Keukenhof, the third most photographed park in the world. Here is a picture overload of what we saw:

TJ did not want to smile much. The only thing that worked was saying, "this picture is for Grandma." It ALMOST worked every time:

TJ was our map-keeper. He helped us decide where to go:

There was a giant chess set in the park. Erick tried to show the girls how to play:

It wouldn't be Holland without wooden shoes:

There was a lot of modern art in the park. Bailey decided to become part of this piece:

There was a playground and a petting zoo that kept the kids entertained:

We had an amazing trip! I hope you enjoyed the pictures.