Catching Up (June)

June kicked off quickly with the annual Schweinfurt Volksfest.  This is comparable to a county or state fair, but without any boring stuff.  It's just rides, music, food and (of course) beer.  Let me tell you, however, rides are a lot different here.  It's not the rides so much as the method of waiting for your turn.  All of the rides have a different price, so you have to buy your token at each ride. Once you've purchased your token, there is no line, you just wait a safe distance from the ride and then when it stops you push your way in to a seat.  If you're not fast enough, you have to wait until next time.  The boys had a great time checking out all of the rides.  

Marcus' favorite ride

Marcus got to go on a big ride with Daddy!

Did I already say this was his favorite ride?

Lauren waited patiently all day in the stroller

Really, his favorite ride.  He waited so patiently for his turn.

Yay! Lauren (and Mommy) finally got to go on a ride.

The Ferris wheel was a nice end to a good day of carnival rides.  The boys had so much fun.

Kloster Kreuzberg is a monastery about an hour from us that has some pretty awesome beer and even better views.  We love going up there to hike around and fill up our beer jug.

Marcus being a T-Rex on the trail.

The next day, we headed over to check out the community pool.  We hadn't been before, but we had heard some great things about it.  The wading pool was perfect for us.

The last week of June we headed down to Switzerland again to visit with the Schoch family. (You'll have to forgive the blurry pictures. Somebody smudged the lens and I didn't notice until the middle of the third day.)

The second day there, we headed up to Mt. Santis. Eric had high hopes of hiking to the top, but when he arrived he learned that the trail was snowed in and they wouldn't let him go.  No worries, we just took the gondola to the top instead.

Sitting on the gondola waiting to go.

Heading up the mountain.

The boys loved the snow.

The view from the top.  (Not much to see with all of the fog.)

The view headed back down the mountain.

The next day we headed to the Zurich Zoo.

Martin and Daddy decided to terrorize the boys by taking them down a really fast, really steep slide.

Lauren showing us how a turtle moves.

Two days later, we took the train into Zurich to explore the city.

When we got done with Zurich, we headed to the Albani Fest held in Winterthur, which happened to be on the way home.

The boys driving the forklift.

Looking for daddy from the top of the Ferris wheel.

Marcus getting ready to go on a big boy coaster with Mommy.

I love the anticipation.

And the excitement.

Our last day in Switzerland found us checking out Rhein Falls.  They are known as Europe's Niagara Falls.  We hiked around from one side to the other and then took a boat back.