Our Crazy Life: Catching Up (July)

On the Fourth of July we participated in our first Fun Run as a family. The kids had a blast and they all got medals. Marcus still asks to see his from time to time. We also attended the on post Independence Day Celebration, but I didn't get any pictures.

The next day we headed to Grafenwohr to check out the area. I had heard about a church on top of a volcano, so I thought we'd go see what it was all about. It turns out the Grafenwohr area is made up of volcanic rock from ages ago.

The volcano.

A cool map of the area.

If you look at the outer ring in the 2 o'clock position, it says Frank. Schweiz, which is the big climbing area in the region. (Where Mark's family wants to come climb.)

The next day was spent in Schweinfurt at the city mall.

Lauren riding a pig.

This is their favorite way to go down a slide.

Their first bath all together.
(We don't ever do it this way, too much work for Mommy.)

Eric's unit had a barbecue the next week, complete with Army trucks and a bounce house. The boys spent most of their time driving this truck.

One of my favorite things that the USO does is the Sesame Street Experience. They bring the main Sesame Street characters and put on a show for us, completely free! It's a different story than you would get going to a regular Sesame Street Live show, but it relates very well to military kids. The show is about having to move away from your friends often and it was perfect timing for Marcus and Dominic as one of their friends was moving away soon after the show. To say the kids loved it was an understatement.

Waiting to get inside to see the show.

We got free Elmo spinners that light up!
(I think we have five of them now.)

Lauren was even captivated.

Wearing their free bandannas as super hero capes.

Doing the Elmo Slide!

It's really a great show and I'm so grateful that we've been able to go to this show twice already.

Dominic as Batman.

Later in the month, we got an opportunity to go check out Wurzburg. They have two "castles" in Wurzburg. One is the Residenz, which is in the main city, and one is the Marienburg Fortress, which sits up on a hill across the Main river overlooking the city. We parked at the Residenz and walked through the city and through some vineyards to get to the Marienburg Fortress. It was a great day in a great city.

Wurzburg Residenz

Marienburg Fortress

Hiking through the vineyard

Yep, we were there too!

Panorama of Wurzburg from the fortress wall

The tunnel leading out of the fortress.
The boys had fun hearing the echo.

The next day we headed to Geiselwind, which is an amusement park we had heard about. It's less than an hour away and it actually had a good mix of little kid and adult rides to satisfy all of us. (And of course, DINOSAURS!!)