Fun Weekend

We sit here exhausted on a Sunday night after enjoying one busy weekend!  Highlights are:
Thursday - attended a birthday party for a newly found German friend, Jacobus at JumpInn in town. We played there for 4 1/2 hrs!!!) DAD - this is the little boy you met at the park with the girls (Connie's son)! Fun time playing as well as chatting with a few "locals"

Friday - had dinner with friends/colleagues at the COOLEST place yet! The restaurant sat at the top of a hill - you drive up through vineyards to ge there- so your views are amazing!  Although there is an indoor restaurnt, NO ONE sits in there because the outside seating is amazing. They have casual couches, private tented areas, and then many tables.  The area is also terraced so everyone had a great view! The food was great -- flannkuchen/pizza and some "greek-style" gyro meat platter thing?  The neatest part, though, was the great children's play areas right next to the table! The German's GET THIS RIGHT....they know how to incorporate great eating places for families with play areas for kids...makes for a relaxing and fun time for all!! There were 2 different areas on both sides of the restaurant that included swings, slides, low trampolines, large sand box, "tree house", play kitchen, low balance beams, and just places to climb and play. We keep trying to figure out how to take this model back to the US because we need places like this!! 

Saturday - We spent another fun day on the Heidelberg Hauptstrasse with a new colleague of Tim's who was in town for the first time! As always, we had a great time seeing the street entertainers, doing  a little shopping ( I actually bought some clothes!!!!!), and enjoying great food!
 
        That night we had our FIRST DATE NIGHT in 3 Months!! We went to a really neat Jazz Festival in a nieighboring town with many of the women/families from the English Coffee Group!  One of the couples lives on the street where it takes place, so they invited us all over and had a babysitter for our kids! It was great b/c we were withing 10 mins. from the house at all times!  This Jazz Fest  basically takes place in various courtyards of people's homes on this street - as well as on some main spots on the Hauptstrasse and church courtyards. You just meander up and down, listen to various groups and eat and drink your way through the night. The group we were with was so fun - and it was great for Tim to meet more of the husbands! And they all speak English!!!!  The girls had a great time as well which was a bonus.  Well, Rylee actually started off the evening quite badly when she tripped walking up their stairs and split her lip open!!  But, after 30 mins. of crying and ice and Children's Tylenol, and MAC-n-CHEESE she as on the road to recovery! (our hosts contract with the Army so have access to American food at the Commissary)  What a fun night!!!! The events they have constantly like this around here just amazes us. Quality of life is high!

Sunday - After two late nights, we had a late start! But, once we got going we went down to check out the Dragon Boat Races and Beach Party!  A very fun event with many teams dressed in costunes etc.. Seemed like some teams were serious and others were just for fun.  We watched some races  and then had some lunch. We ran into our friends Ellie and Jenz  -- as we always seem to do at our local events! -- so we got to hang out a little. The weather wasn't the best today, so after some time, we all decided to head home and allow the kids to nap. OH...and Momma too! Unfortunately, when we woke up the rain had rolled in so our day our was finished!  That's ok, we had a nice Sunday night of American Movie and ice cream!

So, tomorrow starts another week.  Tim has his long and hard-worked-for Boot Camp training the next two weeks.  Should be a fun time now that most of his work is done - and there are some fun colleagues in town that we will hopefully connect with!  Which means...I better get to bed and rest!!