Happy 5th Birthday Tori ~ Zum Gebortstadt Viel Gluck!

Birthday breakfast for the birthday girl--Happy Birthday Tori! Here's to 5 beautiful years as our oldest daughter!

We had an at-home party with face-painting, goodie bag making, and cup cake decorating. Good messy fun!

oh yes, pizza too:

And presents with friends and family.

She's grown up so much and we are so blessed to have our Victoria!

Halloween Time

Our work of art at home. The girls helped scoop the goop--why do they love this??

Here are my professional goop-scoopers in the kitchen with aprons on.

There was also goop-scooping at school. I came in and helped out with the 20 pumpkins, goop, and seeds...this was fun! This also fell on Tori's 5th birthday so she had a super fun day.

We had trunk or treat at the school. A bunch of us parents came and decorated our cars and passed out candy to the kids as they went trunk to trunk (or boot to boot for you British types).

Lil' pumpkin Ashleigh out trick or treating on Halloween proper--we all went to Laura Craig's place and did this together in her neighborhood.

Hugh dressed up as, uh, I think an alien? It was easy to do for sure. I was an angel, sorry no pictures of me he he he.

Oktoberfest 2009

We took a train and headed to Munich at the last minute. We were lucky to find a hotel but it worked out just fine!

The funny thing is, there were so few seats and lots of drunken passengers (soccer game going on) that the only safe place for the girls was under the luggage racks. We stood the entire trip!

So the girls were shifting from left rack to right rack both top and bottom--it kept them well-entertained for the trip.

Our friend Tobi joined us for the fun and I'm so thankful he came--so helpful with carrying all our stuff and the kids. Thanks Tobi!

We enjoyed together good food and drinks. It was very crowded as you can see, but well-worth the experience.

This is a rolling biking beer bar thing. The passengers pay to sit at the bar and pedal the bike pedals so it can travel. The bar tender inside just loads them up. This was so funny to watch.

Folks come a long way to drink a LOT of beer. This is just a glimpse of a few empty kegs.

Upon departure, we found the standing wave near the English gardens in Munich. Hugh really misses surfing. So we'll need to fit that in summer 2010.

So that's a wrap--Oktoberfest 2009.

the Polish wedding...great fun!

Tobi and Lidka exchanging vows at their wedding in Poland August 2009.

We met Tobi and Lidka when they were in Orlando for a short time back in 2007. Since then, we've become good friends and we were so happy to be able to celebrate their wedding with them!

The reception went on for hours--into the next day even! It was a lot of fun with a lot of food and drink together with wonderful people.

I went to bed at midnight because one of us had to be up with the kids the next day. The kids went to bed at about 8 or so. The reception was in the same building so we were able to monitor and check on the kids. Hugh, Tobi, his father, and friends stayed up into the next day---eating, drinking...

...until the bottles fell over LOL!

Our girls had a great time with the other kids at the wedding. The little girl on the left was the flower girl. They played well together.

Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection by Dr. Seuss - Boxed Set - Random House

Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection by Dr. Seuss - Boxed Set - Random House

Italy

We stayed at this apartment near the city center of Rome. It was a great find on short notice too.

It's always good to feel safe when one is out and around. The Carabinieri are the police who carry insane guns--they mean business. When they say jump, you say 'well how high?'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinieri#Weapons

Unlike the days of old when protection was simple and effective, today the soldiers are only for tourists and smiles--like us.

Yeppo the protestant family goes to the Vatican City. I could not get in though because my shorts were too short, my arms were not covered nor were the kids...and so that many more reasons as to why I am not Catholic--no offense to those of you who are.

We saw plenty and the kids experienced it all with us. Although it's better to go without strollers--most every landmark is not stroller-friendly. Just the same, I'm glad we went.

2009 Bergkirchweih

Hugh, Kerri, Mike & Michelle at the Bergkirchweih in Erlangen in 2009.

This is one big block party; it is actually the largest outdoor biergarten in Europe! Anywho, we enjoyed traditional drinks (beer and weinschorle) and ate traditional foods...

Dampnudel mit VanilleSosse

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dampfnudel

You can use the language translator on my Blog site to translate the wikipedia stuff!!

Tori wanted one of these cookies which taste a lot like gingerbread. The kiosk manager chose a very nice one, don't you think? Lebkuchenherzen is what they are called. They are a popular fashion accessory during the Volksfest times.

This is the coolest thing ever--and how on earth they got this sucker up on the Berg beats me. Hugh took Tori up on it for a ride and could see the whole of Erlangen and the outskirts of the next towns as well.