Friday, October 25, 2013

Pumpkin Picking


Time for pumpkins, baking and fall candles. Sadly we missed the pumpkin festivals but that didn't stop us from going out and getting pumpkins. Brian was off on a Monday a couple of weeks ago and we though the weekday would be a better time to go. Not as many people out. On our way to the pumpkin farm we took a detour to the outlets. Yes, you heard that right. There are outlets not too far from us. For the most part the stores were new to us but there were several familiar shops. A Nike store for Brian. Only thing is, it's still cheaper for us to order online and ship stuff here because of the exchange rate. Either way it was nice. I did however score a North Face fleece on sale.

Back to the pumpkins.

We got to the farm just as they were opening, so no wild children running around other than ours. The pumpkins were already picked from the fields and placed all around the store. Kinsley led mommy and daddy through the muddy corn maze. She got a kick out of that.








We had to stop and smell all the flowers.


The only pumpkin picture we could get that was cute and mommy wasn't making a weird face trying to direct the child.


Plenty of pumpkins to choose from. Kinsley felt the need to knock on the pumpkins. Trying to find the right one.






My pumpkins are the two biggest ones. One for carving and the other one is for baking. Trying to decide on what to make. Either a pumpkin cheesecake or bread. The four smaller pumpkins belong to the little princess. She was indecisive on which ones she wanted. So we told her she could have three but the older gentleman insisted we take another one on the house. A bag of sweet corn and pumpkin champagne and it was a good day.

Kinsley's finished product!


Ciao!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Family Update

Once again, sorry about the late posts. I haven't been on the computer too much lately and if I am it's not for long. Thought I would give everyone an update on what's been going on other than our trips. With cooler weather and the leaves are changing colors and it's so beautiful. It's finally fall!!! I think this is going to be my favorite season over here. We'll just have to wait until next year on what the verdict is after we've been here a full year. For those of you that don't know me, I like being warm. So when Brian said he wanted to wait as long as possible to turn on the heat in the house, I really had to bundle up. Now when I said I liked the fall, I meant that. The cute clothes, boots, hot chocolate/cider, crisp air the leaves changing and LOTS of blankets. What makes it more enjoyable is a warm house. Surprisingly, I've done really well with it all. Kinsley and I cuddle more in the mornings. Who wouldn't love that? But as of last week we finally had to turn the heat on in our bedrooms at night for a couple of days. The heat is off once again because it warmed up this weekend. Supposedly, it's going to be in the high 60's this week.

Everything has been going well for all of us. Kinsley has teeth coming in left and right. Brian hasn't settled into a routine yet. It seems like every time he starts back up on a schedule, they're sending him to a new class. Makes it hard when this mama wants to have family dinners and have Brian give Kinsley her baths. We'll eventually get there one of these days.

A few random pictures of Kinsley coloring, being silly and ready with daddy. This mom needs to come up with some new toddler crafts and games. She has been getting into everything lately. We had to put a look on our pantry because if she's not playing, Kinsley is trying to dig out all the snacks that she can find. Some days she just wants to pull out food to play with in her kitchen.






I have I mentioned that our landlord is awesome?

For the record I'll probably mention it again at some point. When we moved in our landlord Ralf knew that there were some things that needed to be done to the house. Mostly small repairs. No big deal. Our hallway/walkway area (whatever you want to call it) outside our bedrooms on the second floor, makes a lot of noise. It makes a creaking sound when you walk in and out of our room. Always fun when we're trying to move Kinsley from our room at night. It's in the process of being fix as of last week. Only one little problem. When the floor people pulled the old flooring up, the concrete was slightly wet. No standing water or anything. Plus, we were told it's probably not a major issue. Ralf has someone else coming to the house this week to try to figure out whats going on. Either way we're not worried about it if Ralf isn't too worried.

There for a couple of weeks Kinsley was waking up in the middle of the night. At first we thought it was because she didn't have the pacifier anymore. And then we thought it was because of her gums might be bothering her. We figured out that she was getting cold at night. It never crossed our minds at first but now we know it was because her bed was up against two outer walls. That only meant it was time to rearrange Kinsley's room. Great opportunity to go through her toys and divide them between the floors. In the end we finally decided that Kinsley's changing table could be taken out of her room as well. Wonderful to have at first but we don't use it now, other than to store her stuff. Oh and we painted her room also. Now her room has more space for her to play. As soon as I finish her room sometime this week, I will post new pictures.

As for me I've been trying to get rid of an ear infection. I went into the doctor on October 4th to get it looked at. After ten days worth of pills, the pain started up again as of last Friday. Thankfully, they had an opening and Brian was off so I didn't have to take Kinsley in with me. I knew pills probably wouldn't work as well as the drops (which I used for my ear infection when I was pregnant with Kinsley). With drops and nasal spray,  I should be able to knock it out within the next ten days or so. The spray is to help keep my passages clear so I don't get another one. However, my doctor said it's rare for adults to get ear infections. I have an appointment to see an ENT doctor next week on Halloween.

The three of us have been taking it easy some, trying to finish things around the house. We recently took Kinsley to a Dora meet and greet at the base. That child couldn't wait to see Dora. She liked the idea but once we got there and it was our turn, she wasn't too thrilled. It was nice though because they had door prizes, games, toys and crafts.


Dora thought Kinsley would calm down if she held the map. Nope. She was trying to push it away from her. (Not the greatest looking Dora).

We love our crafts. Daddy even stepped in to help Kinsley with her paper tiara. Not bad if I do say so myself. Sorry no picture. I helped cut out the pieces to make a Swiper puppet. Kinsley colored and waved at Dora from our table. She was in the other room on stage across from where we were sitting.



She's still learning how jump. So she really just crawls around and laughs at all the kids go nuts. At least she's not terrified to get in one.


I'm thinking we might need a bouncy castle for our family get together when we come home in March. We will just have to wait and see.

Ciao!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Culinary Hike

We read in our local paper that there was a culinary hike going on in our town. Along the five mile trail there were eight tents setup for everyone to sample food and wine from local wineries and restaurants. They offered a wine glass for 5 euros and for every sample it cost another euro. So for 13 euros, I enjoyed about 4 glasses of wine. At every tent you got a stamp if you tried their wine. If you wanted to be entered in the wine giveaway you had to have all the stamps on your card.

Anyways, when it comes to samples people here in Germany don't kid around.

A while back Kinsley and I took a tour of what Brian and I call the HEB of Germany. When they handed out samples to our group, they were more like a serving.
Turns out our landlord took part in the culinary hike idea. With the cooler/rainy weather that we had been having lately it was a good thing we didn't take Kinsley's stroller. She loves sitting high up in her backpack anyways.




Our first stop had one of the better wines out of all the tents. They also had pasta, tea and coffee. Now that I think about it, this was the only tent we didn't buy food from.
The second booth wasn't completely ready. I grabbed a brochure about their restaurant/hotel and Kinsley wanted to read it too.



Wine and food at our next stop. Pulled pork, yummy!


Kinsley helped Brian with his brats from our next stop. At this stop they not only had a place for us to sit but they also had a doggy snack area.



Brian zoomed in on the village in the picture above.


Panoramic pictures are my new favorite.

See the trail to the left in the picture below? We realized this wasn't apart of the hike once we were halfway down. But it worked out because we got to enjoy the horses and I got to sample wine from the booth earlier that wasn't open.






After our slight detour we got back on track and Kinsley had fallen asleep. Out of all the food we had on our hike, the salmon on a roll was my favorite. Look at the smoker with all that salmon. Normally we have to keep moving and scarf down our food when the little one is awake. Brian and I got to sit down and relax for a few minutes.




And now for dessert! It was their spin on french toast. A sweet cream sauce and chocolate drizzle on top of the toast. Kinsley missed out.

Towards the end of the hike there was live music, more food, wine and bouncy castle for the kids to play on. We didn't stay long because once Kinsley starts playing, she throws fits when it's time to stop.

Heading back to the car. She needed to stretch her legs after that long ride.


Just making sure daddy isn't too far behind. 

I really hope they bring this back again next year when it starts to warm up again. We had fun and know some of our family would enjoy doing this.

Ciao!