So Behind

I'm going to play catch-up here, and post everything that we were up to in October and November.

Cora was in the high school production of Letters to Sala.

 Lot's of hard work, fun with friends, and a director that doesn't know how to use his "inside voice".  I saw a lot of improvement, and I was very proud of her.  She felt like the pros outweighed the cons, and decided to be a part of the musical "The Little Mermaid", which will be a lot more work, more fun, and probably more yelling. 

For Halloween we recycled costumes....again....sort of.

 

 Cora was a Greek goddess, Joseph a zombie, Madelyn a bunny, and Alex a knight?  I went as Rapunzel, and it took me many hours to make this wig out of yarn.

It. Was. Heavy.  My neck and back hurt by the end of the night.  But totally worth it :)

Separate from our church's Trunk-or-Treat, the youth decided to have a self-reliance costume contest.  That means that they had to make their own costumes from things they found around the house.  Cora was a nerd and Joseph was a bunch of grapes - both last minute costumes.  But I was really surprised by how creative some of the costumes were, and how much work they put into them!

One of the girls came as a pregnant lady.  I asked her who she was supposed to be, and she said, "My mom.".  I said, "What are you implying about your mom."  She said, "She's pregnant."  That should have been fairly obvious, but I had no idea that her mom was pregnant.  It was pretty funny.

 

Cora had a Harry Potter marathon party.  Specifically because one of her best friends here had never seen any of the movies, so obviously that needed to be remedied. It sounds like just what it was - a little over 19 hours, split up over a Friday and Saturday, watching one movie after another.  It was long.  It was epic. 

 

A friend let us borrow some decorations, and we had LOTS of food and treats.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how much of the movies they actually saw.  There was a lot of talking, tasting of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a hair braiding train?

 Kids these days ;)  I think one of the highlights for everyone was the souvenir they came away with.

 

This amazing drawing was done by one of the girls who came.  Almost everyone who came is in the picture (some kids came and went), and she did a great job of capturing everyone's personalities.  We made a copy for everyone, and then they sat around and colored them during one of the movies.

Fall seemed especially beautiful to me this year.  I go walking with my friend Mindy every Monday, and we have a beautiful route we take.

And let's not forget that Joseph turned 13 - official teenager! 

He's not quite as tall as me yet, but he's getting closer every day.  I keep telling him that once he outgrows me he's obligated to give me piggy back rides.  For some reason, I don't think he's taking me seriously. 

Joseph reads a lot, all the time - which is probably why Language Arts is his favorite subject in school.  Oh, and he recently told me he wants to be an author when he grows up.  It would be very interesting to be inside his brain for a day.  He makes random comments that catch people off guard.  We just laugh.  He has a great sense of humor.  He has been known to cry at movies.  He eats a lot, all the time.  He grows out of shoes and clothes faster than I can afford to buy him new ones.  He's been working on his organizational skills.  Overall, he's a pretty happy and easy-going kid, and we love him a lot.

Bacharach

Remember when we went on the Rhein River cruise, I mentioned that I really wanted to come and see this town of Bacharach.  This weekend we did, and what a picturesque little town.  Really, I never get tired of these places.

Walking along outside the town wall.

In the town center we first came to the old Posthof, formerly the local seat of the Knights Templar (11th century).

 

Church of St. Peter (around 1100). Has a number of tombs of medieval knights and noble families.

The "Altes Haus" (old house - 1368) in the market square is one of the most famous medieval half-timbered buildings, and has been in many movies. Currently it is a restaurant.  (getting a little TLC right now)

 Right next to it is this beautiful hotel.  Joe and I are thinking we're going to have to come back here for a night away from the kids ;)

Then we had a bit of a climb up the mountain.

 

 

The ruins of Wernerkapelle (Chapel of Werner), 1294. This is what it looked like from the Rhein River.

Named after a local boy who was found murdered.  The Jews were accused of killing the boy and using his blood for the Passover (blood libels, or accusations like this were typical of the times).  The chapel attracted huge number of pilgrims, kind of like a cult to St. Werner, and wasn't stricken from the calendar of saints until the 1960's, I believe. Really pretty though.

Up some more stairs, through a really pretty wooded area, past all the vineyards on the steep slopes (planted in the time of the Romans), and an old watchtower.

Finally to Burg Stahleck (first mentioned in 1135).  This is what it looked like from the Rhein River.

This is now used as a youth hostel, and there were several families staying there.  It looked really nice.  Plus there are some great views from up there.

 

 

At the end of the day we found a few fun souvenir shops, and bought the boys wooden swords with their names burned onto them (Sir Joseph and Ritter, or Knight, Alex).

Madelyn got a smaller dagger with Lady Madelyn

(she also got something for Halloween)

 Cora went with a Fedora, of course ;)

I'll just have to get something next time :)