Seiffen Germany

 This Miner and his "Angel Wife" are seen everywhere in the village of Seiffen.  They are symbols of the history of this village and how it came to be the modern day Christmas shopping hotspot of Germany.  Mostly they cater to tourists who come to get the unique to Germany wooden Christmas decorations.  Well, I guess our group fit that bill!  Lisa one of my best friends in the world, who happens to live an hour southeast of us now (boy is that fun to say and type!) invited me to tag along with a group of gals from her ward who were making a quick girl's trip to Seiffen so that one of them could buy Christmas presents early and take them back to the states on her summer trip to visit family.  For any English majors out there, forgive the run on sentence.
 Well I'm always up for a girl's trip and Christmas in July.....okay!  I was so glad I went not only did I meet some new friends; Emma, Mindy, Melissa, Megan, and Britany, I also took in some German culture and got to shop for Christmas early.

 This village is similar looking to others, but is nestled in a forest near the Polish border.  It used to be a mining town.  Once the mining industry dried up, the men had to find a way to make a living and support their families.  Looking to the other resource that they had on hand, lots and lots of trees, they started carving decorations.  This is where the Pyramid Christmas trees originated, Schwebbogan window sill lighted decorations, as well as Nutcrackers started getting carved here.  Today the town is filled with 12-15 different stores who all have the wooden pieces.  Some specialize in one item, but most have a little bit of everything listed above as well as several other collectables.  So off you run from store to store deciding what you want or like, and then run back to a different store to compare prices, styles, colors, etc....  Definitely a place for women to escape to.  Men would pull their hair out shopping like this!

 This is the cute hotel we stayed in right in the middle of the Village.  It was cute and quaint and had awesome rooms as well as yummy restaurants.

 A huge Pyramid Tree outside one of the stores

 Apparently this is a very known church in Germany.... it is often replicated in the carved winter scenes that are sold at all the Christmas markets.

 This beautiful cemetary was located behind the church.  Ummm can I get buried here?

There are all the girls chatting and having such a marvelous time taking in the quaint village.  These light posts are all over the village

 Can you spot the Miner and his wife??  They are everywhere....the story goes that the wife would bring food down to the miners and they would call her an angel as she came down the shoot with the light behind her.  There are lots of wooden Miners and Angels that you can buy.

Wouldn't it be so cool to have this giant Nutcracker?  I was thinking it would be until I looked at the price tag.  He costs somewhere around 700 euro.  

 Some treasures I purchased from the nicest lady

 Schwebbogans (shveeboaguns) up top--believe me I had to practice saying this about 20 times before I got it just right.  The Pyramids down below.

Lisa got a Nutcracker that looks just like this guy, but obviously smaller.  Isn't it so cool?  What a great overnighter thanks for the invite Lisa!  

 These pretty red flowers are everywhere

 These smoker dudes are super cute too.  They come in the size of nutcrackers or smaller and you pull them apart in the middle and put a little flammable cone inside and then light it and they smoke.

 Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat..... well maybe not quite yet.

 So confession time.  I don't really love the Schwebbogans or Pyramids.  I really like the Nutcrackers and would like to collect a few.  What I fell in mad, deep LOVE with was these little girls.  They are called Blumenkind.  (Flower Children)  There are probably 45 different ones.  I contained myself --kinda-- and only bought five.  They are hand painted like everything else in Seiffen so they are not cheap.  Everything is cheaper here than at the Christmas Markets, which is why we all make the drive, but it adds up fast.  I had to look at the glass case for a while and line them up and make sure none of their dresses clashed or that I had too similar of flowers, or that they all had the same color of hair.  Okay, maybe I'm a little obsessive, but I already new that.  I am thrilled with the ones I picked.  I heart them so very much.  They sit on my window sill in my kitchen and they make me really happy.  I love their bright colors and chubby cheeks and arms.   The first one I fell in love with was the orange skirt with purple flower one.  And then I had to get a variety.  My other favorite is the blue skirt with red poppy because those flowers are so popular here.  Ohhh how I want more of these little precious'.

Ohh and yummy-- my dinner right before pulling out of town was this delectable pasta above.  Its apparently mushroom season here in Germany.  I love mushrooms and this pasta had a lot of these big ones which made me so happy and full as I recall.  Ahhhh, Good Times.

Luisen Park, Mannheim Germany

For another "Out and About" wednesday activity, we headed to Luisen Park to check it out.  I have heard from several people how great this park is.

This Stork was perched in its gigantic nest high in this tree right where we first walked in.  It was pretty cool looking at it all the way up there.  Hanna and Jake spotted the nest, so they were quick to point it out to all the other kids.

This park has a lot of variety.  Its beautiful......so a lot like a Japanese Garden, but it also has some fun kid areas, as well as a reptile house similar to a zoo.  There was a lot to take in.

The Crane who came traipsing through the park right where we had stopped to eat

This little boat ride was a highlight of our visit.  They sent our stroller behind us in a boat all by itself.  It was a little funny.  This is Bobbi Jo Bowser and her two girls....we would be lost without her.  She helped us get a house, has fed us, has given us several invites to go explore, and is a wealth of info after living here for 3.5 years.  We feel blessed to have them just down the street in our village!

These "lovely" fish are all over in the water.  They literally come over to your boat and beg for food or a kiss, I'm not sure which one, but those giant lips are open wide.  Ewwwe they are ugly!

A mama and her little ducklings came to say hi by our boat

Cole loved these little cars!  

Teufelstisch or the Devil's Table

 I guess the devil likes to sit in really large chairs??   The Bowser's invited us to attend the ward's "Out and About" weekly activity a few short days after we moved into our house.  It was a great way to get out and show the kids some of the fun the Germany has to offer.  We were not disappointed!  This place known for its dramatic geological rock formations has been expanded into a really fun park complete with mini-golfing, play equipment, and a small zip-line.  The kids had the best time!

 We've never seen this type of RED rock formations....oh wait, maybe we have. We just came from Vegas where we often visited Red Rock National Park and St. George.  A little coincidental that one of our first outings was to climb on some red rock.  I guess they were just trying to make us feel at home!

 A bird's eye view of the park

Hey where are you guys climbing to?  These steps look awefully steep and cumbersome.  Is it going to be worth it?  

Uhhh, yeah!  This slide was like 100 ft. long and such a fun one!  The climb was pretty steep however, but that did not deter the kids.  

Wow.....I can not get over just how pretty it is here!  

TRIER

After being in Germany for a couple of weeks we decided it was time to go explore something.  We thought about Munich and Dresden, but had a hard time getting a last minute apartment/ hotel for a family our size.  So we settled on traveling to TRIER.  It has a couple of great things going for it: its only  an hour north of us,  its an old cool German city with remnants of its Roman history, and it is small enough to do in one day.  It was a perfect fit for a family with lots of kids who were still feeling the effects of the time change.
It was kind of strange spending the 4th of July sight seeing in another country....definitely a first for all of us.  We showed our true colors by sporting red, white and blue for the day.  

First stop:  Porta Negra.  Some remnants of the gate and wall that at one time surrounded the city and kept it fortified from invaders.  

 We paid to go inside the gate and explore.  I love the architecture  and roofs in the distance.  The top picture is of the main street of Trier

 The flowers everywhere are just so beautiful....I can't stop taking pictures of them

 The first cathedral we took the kids to..... cathedrals all kind of run together to me, but I'm sure I will become a pro at spotting differences and unique things after touring a few The kids were fascinated by the building and details.  

They claim that this is one of the nails used in the crucifixion of Christ.  Even if its not.....its authentic to the time period and kind of amazing.  

 Outside the Cathedral was this beautiful courtyard.  It was such a pretty and pleasant day.

 Hanna wanted to look festive for the fourth and wear red white and blue.  We didn't have anything red so we compromised and she face paint a red fire cracker on her cheek.  It was adorable!

 Hot tired hungry and thirsty we pressed on to the roman baths which were never totally finished or used, but make for really fun hide and go explore tunnels now.

 Josh is such a ham....he doesn't like getting his picture taken right now

Another great catch by Carter with some help from Jake.  Man do our kids love lizards!