September 29, 2009

Soccer vs. Fussball


Welcome to soccer the European way! What a road it's been to get here. Three weeks ago we were able to find a boys and a girls German soccer team for Madeline and Jack. After a week of figuring out where to be, which team is the right age group, I think we've hit the nail on the head!


Jack is playing on the SV Vaihingen club, right here in our town. The team has 12 players and they play 2 teams of 6. Jack had his first games this past Saturday. They played 3 games from 8:30-12:30 in the nearby town of Plinegan. He scored his first goal in the second game!





The boys on the team all seem to be very nice and somehow they all communicate with one another while speaking different languages. The parents are all very nice and speak english so this helps Brad and I out a bit! We've been invited to attend the team ski weekend in Austria later in December! A great group of people. Through this emersion I will at least be able to talk about fussball, now how that helps me asking my neighbor for a cup of sugar, I don't know!!!
As for Madeline, no luck. We quickly found out that girls are the 2nd class athlete in these neck of the woods. Madeline practiced with the SV Morhringen girls team and didn't enjoy it like her brother. Rightfully so, she was paired up with a group of girls the average age of 14. She noticed the physical differences right away! This team practices on a cinder field, not the nice grass or astro-turf fields the boys have! So, in order to play agressively you end up falling and yes...bleeding. And if you know my Madeline and her skin infections - not a good pair! So to make a very long, long story and long, long week short...she is now giving the CYS team on base a try. She's not very excited about the caliber of play, but enjoys the social interaction with the American kids! More to report later !!






September 22, 2009

The Berlin Wall



Here is a piece of the Berlin Wall. What a great experience for the kids to be reading about the Cold War and now being able to see and touch a piece of history.

September 20, 2009

Air Force Ball


Here's a photo of us and our friends from the Air Force Birthday Ball we attended last night.

Making Apple Butter

Since it's harvest time around here for plums and apples, our church decided we would make apple butter and dried plums.
While the girls were learning how to make the apple butter, the boys were learning how to install lamanent flooring in the fellowship hall. But, as you can see from these photos, Jack and Micah had more fun "launching" the apples than learning carpentry skills!
The pastor's wife said she never knew you could "launch" an apple from her peeler/corer/slicer! I said - leave it to the boys to find out!

Wilhema - Stuttgart Zoo






This was our second field trip of the year. The trip to the zoo was much cleaner than the trip to the Barfusspark. Not all the kids were here to attend, but here are a few photos of the fun we had!

September 15, 2009

***LTC PROMOTION***

Promotion results for Lt. Colonel were just posted! Congratulations, Brad for making rank!

Minigolfplatz

So, we played mini golf this weekend - German style. What a blast it was! Not every hole had a cup, some you simple had to hit the ball as if you were teeing off the tee box and aim for the butterfly net. As you can see in one picture, Jack took to threwing the ball! Others, you took a swing and hoped your ball landed in the clam shell filled with rocks and not launched across the tennis courts behind. We have since figured out that mini golf is a rarety here in Germany - so maybe they're still working on mastering the course layout. Here are a few photos of our adventure! Did I mention I won with 4 hole in ones?