June 25, 2014-Seth's Good-bye BBQ

Seth's class had a good-bye BBQ for him.  We were so thankful for their kindness.

The clown was a bit embarrassing to him.

They played old fashioned games and of course soccer.

They gave him gifts.

This is a Friend's Book that his class made for him.

They all know how much he enjoys sports so a special gift they gave him was a soccer ball signed by the kids in his class.  He was really liked by the kids in his class.  Joshua and I are so proud of him and very excited about our little German speaking boy!

June 22, 2014-Kassel

Walking the streets of Göttingen.  Our family walking the streets of Göttingen is a very common sight to see this year.  We are on our way to the train station.  We can walk there in about 35 minutes from our apartment.  We have gotten much faster than when we first arrived.

We went to Kassel last summer, but decided we wanted to go again.  It is about an hour to get there by train....sometimes it can take longer, but that's another story.  :)

Ethan and Emily arrived in Göttingen on May 23 and it sure has been fun to have them here!  They joined us on this adventure.

Every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon water cascades from near the top of the statue down through the park.

Then it erupts in this fountain at the bottom.  It is pretty spectacular.

June 20, 2014-Brooke's Good-bye BBQ

Brooke's class honored her with a good-bye BBQ. Frau Immer, Brooke's teacher was quite impressed with Brooke and all that she learned and how kind and helpful she is.  She said only seldom did she hear an accent when Broke spoke German.  She thought it was sad that Brooke had to go back to America.

They gave her a book that the class made for her and a German children's book.  When we first arrived in Germany and looked at children's books, it only seemed like a far away dream that she would be able to read in German.

Then there was a big soccer game between kids and parents.

June 14, 2014-Marienburg Schloss

If you were a king and you didn't know what to give your wife for her 40th birthday....you could always give her a castle.  That's what the king of Hannover did.  He was blind and never saw the castle.  We toured the inside, but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures.

 

I am so thankful for the Joneses. They came to Göttingen from Georgia in January for Scott to do research.  They have been such a blessing!

I wish we could take them back to Texas.

The castle had a beautiful courtyard.

The train ride was just 1 hour and here the boys are waiting for the train.  We have spent a lot of time waiting for the train this year.

June 9, 2014-Ziegenhagen

June 9 is Pentecost and is a holiday in Germany.  Since the kids had a day off from school, the parents of a friend of Seth invited our family to join their family at a small amusement park just 20 minutes outside of Göttingen.

I felt like this was something we would see in a stereotypical German movie.

There was lots of work for the parents to do so the kids could enjoy the rides.

Another example of parents working.  This is Vincent with his dad Fridtjof and his mom Ingrid who is from the Czech.

Brooke said her favorite part of the day was feeding the goats popcorn.

Lots of trampolines.

One of Luke's favorite things to pedal.

Some pictures from the park.

We drove near the Berlepsch Schloss on our way home.  For us, part of the fun was the scenic drive there and back.

June 7, 2014-Eisenach

Well, this definitely makes the list of "adventures".  A 2 1/2 train ride turned into a 4 1/2 hour trip.  But we made it and we really don't have anything else pressing to do.  We are in Eisenach and this is the home of Bach.

Another part of the adventure was walking up and up and up hills to see a castle.  It was a beautiful view as we got closer to the top.

This is a part of the castle.

This castle is well known because it is where Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Greek to German.

This is the room where he did the translating.

Ethan and Emily got to experience their first adventure with the Williams.  It was so fun to have them with us.

May 30, 2014-Thale in the Harz Mountains and 16 Years of Marriage

This is the Wagner family. They are friends we met at church in Göttingen.  They invited us for a day trip to the mountains.  They have been so kind to us this year.  Leoni who is wearing the pink shirt is coming to America to stay with us for 5 weeks after we return home.  We are so excited for her to come!

We never imagined we would be in Germany celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary.

This was a sophisticated toboggan ride down the side of the mountain. All of the kids wanted to go as fast as possible!

The toboggan track wound its way through these woods.

We had the opportunity to ride two different cable cars up and then down the mountain.  The weather was perfect for this adventure.  The view was impressive.