Then after breakfast we left and drove about 2 hours into Germany to a neat castle called Berg Eltz.
This is a big nicely maintained castle that has been in the same family for 33 generations, so 850 years now! Crazy! There were 3 families, under the same name, living in the castle b/c it has 3 separate houses that are then connected. The last families moved out around the 1850's. But the family that owns it, they still come out on Thursdays to see the castle and sometimes they will spend some days here. We only saw one of the houses as the other 2 are their private quarters, but that would be neat to see since the side we saw had like little out houses in a few rooms for a toilet! Each house had its own kitchen and the one we saw there was no fridge. The kitchen had very thick walls so the room stayed a bit cooler and they made a thick cupboard in the wall with a thick door and this is what they used as a fridge! So I wonder how they updated the other 2 sides.
The whole castle was down in a ravine instead of up on top of a hilltop. So we had to park and you couldn't even see the castle. We had to walk downhill, which was not so easy coming back up, on a winding path for about 3/4 of a mile.
We did the English tour and it was about a 40 min. tour of it. Then they had a restaurant and a pub. We just ate some pub food and moved on. So the kids had chicken nuggets, I had split pea soup with a big super long hot dog in it, and Jason had Goulash soup. Everything was good, but very salty.
After this we made the long walk back up hill and drove about half way home and stopped at a cute town. It used to be 2 towns that were split by the river then they combined into one town split by the river. So we parked on one side of the river and walked across the bridge to the other side. It was so cute. It is a small town with about 8 small cruise boats that take you up and down the river. The town is built into the hills and there are grapes growing for the wines.
On top of the hills is the ruins of a castle.
The town is mostly pedestrian only and is made up of cute little old world Germany buildings.
So we walked around town and got some ice cream and some goodies to take home for breakfast from the bakery. After this we just drove back home as it was a full day!
Monday I was back to baking! In the morning I made the cornbread I am bringing in the for the International Luncheon at school tomorrow since the boys classes are bringing savory items from your country. They don't have cornbread here and we love it, so I brought my cornmeal from home and made 2 batches of that this morning for tomorrow. Then I made a batch of sugar cookie dough to roll out later, but we never ended up getting to it.
I ran out before lunch to pick up a few things and got a sandwich at a little place.
After lunch I had a bunch of things to do at home.
At pickup Sean went home with a friend and Jacob had a friend over. At home I made homemade pumpkin soup, so I was busy cutting up pumpkins. So at 5pm we left to go and pick up Sean and then drop off Jacob's friend who lives on the other end of town. When I got to my friend's house to pick up Sean, she told me that today she broke her side mirror and it is all cracked now. See it isn't only me that hits something here!
Traffic today was horrible, so needless to say we didn't get back home until 6:30! An hour and a half. I needed to finish making the pumpkin soup and that is why then we never got to the cookies tonight. Then the boys have a lot of homework this week too that needed monitoring.
The soup recipe called for Pumpkin Pie seasoning and I think it was too much, b/c we didn't really like the taste of it too much. It sucks when you spend a lot of time making something and it doesn't really taste like you wanted! Next time I will try another pumpkin soup recipe and see if we like it better.
Tuesday was the International Luncheon at the school. You can dress up in colors or a national costume from your country so both boys did sports jerseys and then I took the left over! Each child is suppose to bring a dish from their home country. We, room parents, divided the classes into sweet and savory and both boys got savory so I brought in my cornbread I made yesterday. It is really neat to see all the different foods people bring in from all around the world. The kids all seem to love the sushi that gets brought in! So I worked in Sean's area most of the time and then saw Jacob at the end of his and helped them with cleanup. So a good portion of my day was spent at the school! Amber's grade level doesn't do it.
After school Amber had a friend over, Jacob had tennis and after homework Sean went to his girl friend's house up the street and stayed for dinner. They love playing together!
I finally got to finishing up my Halloween cookies, Sean help cut them out and Amber helped decorate them. They tasted good!
Wednesday was Amber's day to dress up in her countries colors or outfit. So we went with the colors. Her bows have the flag on them too.
After school we picked up her friend and they came back here for lunch and a quick play date before ballet.
Jacob found out he made runner up for student council. He was disappointed b/c last week when the teacher mentioned it only him and 2 other boys said they would be interested in it. So she told them to prepare a little speech and they would give them and vote today. So after school Jacob was a bit upset and he said that a bunch of people must have told her they were interested b/c she just wrote every one's name on the board and there were now like 7 people running. Since there were girls on the board they had to vote for one girl and then one boy. So Jacob got runner up which means if the girl or boy is sick or can't make the weekly meeting then he gets to go or if one of them drops out or misses too many meetings then he gets the spot. But he had prepared a little speech and was excited to give it and it is too bad the process wasn't like she said it was going to be. But at the same time the weekly meetings are over lunch on the same day Jacob has drum lessons at lunch. So he would have had to give up one of those.
Thursday I had my preschool coffee in the morning then had a few errands and home for French. Jacob had a pizza party today at school since his classes blue hat, helper duties, are done for now maybe the year.
I made Halloween cupcakes for Amber's class since I am going in tomorrow and talking about Halloween with them. She helped with the frosting and final touches in the evening.
She had a friend over after school, Sean tennis and Jacob guitar.
So in August one day when I took the kids to the park and Jacob didn't put the cap all the way back on his water bottle and it flooded the bottom part of the stroller along with the garage door opener which ended up frying it. So we got locked out of the house and then after getting some help and having to pay for the break in, today I finally got the new garage door opener that had gotten ordered for us. Can you guess how much that cost? $120 for a new garage door opener, just the remote opener! Ugh!
Friday I had my tennis lesson. It took me about 3 days after the last one to not be sore anymore! Today I felt fine after the lesson and it went by very fast. Hopefully I will also be able to pick up some French as the one lady doesn't really speak English and the teacher first says it in French and then tells me in English.
This afternoon I went in to Amber's class and did a little Halloween talk! I talked a little bit about trick or treating, Halloween and then read a Halloween book, did a pumpkin craft I had brought in and then we had cupcakes!
Amber was so excited for the whole thing! As kids were leaving then we passed out a Halloween coloring sheet, a Halloween connect the dots, and ghost lollipops we had done.
Amber went to a friend's house after school today.
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