The Long Awaited Day Arrives!

Mother's Day had to pushed under the rug a bit for the greater good this year.  After Mass, I spent the day in preparations for our move and getting ready for our friends' visit.  I had a lot of pre-organizing to do since the packers were coming four days after our friends' departure.  It's complicated to explain if you've never done this kind of move before, but we had two shipments going out, a big one and then a last minute small one.  Then we have things that have to be sold here because they won't work in the states.  Don't forget all the purging that has to be done each time you move, one because of a shipping weight limit and two because it just makes sense.  I had lists written on every door listing anything that would not get packed in the first shipment and where I should put it.  The exception to that would be the rooms that I planned to take everything out that needed to be pack and mark it as a no packing room.  I also had to have a room for Trinity, our cat, to stay in during the entire pack out.  It's a lot, even though I don't do the packing myself.

I did get flowers and cards from Brian and all the kids and give myself the gift of an easy dinner prepared by Hannah on my request.

The very next Friday was the big day!  Genevieve talked about this day everyday for months.  Our friends arrived in the morning and they were super disappointed when their luggage did not keep up with them switching planes in SC.  That is just the worst because you feel so very dirty after a long flight like that and to only have your carry-on bag and the bags of toiletries that the airport provided was stinky.  They really had such good attitudes about the whole thing, even when they found out that no stores are open on Sunday, nor would they be the following day because of Pentecost.

As soon as we got home from the airport, we piled in the van and went to a German Mass to give them their first big dose of Germany.  We had planned to take them to the Hutte since that is a relaxing German thing to do on Sundays, but this did not work out because, as I mentioned before, it was Pentecost and it was closed.

Otterbach Church, where we went for Sunday Mass

It was also supposed to rain that afternoon.  Brian, always having a backup plan, loaded us up and took us to a neighboring village, Eulenbis, to a festival in the woods near the Eulenkopf (translates "Owl Head") which is a lookout tower.  They were able to experience the traditional fest and taste some of the German fest food.  It was a little bit chilly once it started raining.  We sat or stood out of the rain, under tents, as much as possible.  As usual my husband talked to the locals, and even saw some people from our village there.  It was, how should I say, difficult to get him to leave even when all the kids stopped playing on the playground and gathered around us looking miserably cold and wet.

In the tent, out of the rain, at the festival

That evening we went to another neighboring village for dinner and showed our friends Brian's favorite building, a leaning 500 year old bar called the Denkmal.

It was Spargel season so they got to try the white asparagus!

"What does that mean?  It's like a foreign language or something!"

The always crooked 500 year old bar

The next day our bakery plans were foiled again because of the holiday, but the Potzberg Wildpark was open.  We let everyone sleep in as much as they wanted and then we drove to the Wildpark in time to play in the giant spinning barrel and make it over to the best birds of prey show EVER.  We've been there before with my parents and it is a really amazing experience.  You sit on a cliff on log benches and the falconer comes out with a satchel full of dead baby chicks.  He pulls out groups of birds, like the bald eagles and the Peregrine falcons, one at a time and he throws the baby chicks up in the air, sometimes over the cliff and sometimes over the crowd, so the birds can swoop in and catch them.  They do occasionally miss and the crowd has to fetch a dead baby chick off of the bench and give it back lest a bird come to get it himself.  This time the show was packed and we didn't have as good a view for most of the show, but they started the show with vultures flying back and forth this time right behind our benches.  After the show, some bird handlers come out with owls to hod or pet.  This time we got to see and pet a baby owl too.

After we left the bird section, we went to pet goats and look at some of the other animals before proceeding to the Kusel castle where we had dinner reservations.

Can you see the baby bunny on the rock on the other side of the fence next to Bobby?

I clucked at the peacock a little bit, and he turned right around to face me for a beautiful photograph.

We ate outside at a long table that was perfect for us.  After our hearty German meal, we walked around the castle ruins and the kids and the dads went up to the top of the tower.  It's a beautiful view from the castle.  By the time we left, it was late, but we hardly knew it because it stays light here so long.