A Fancy Week

Peter and I have been joking that this week was one of the fanciest of our lives.   Aunt Nancy was awesome enough to watch the girls for a couple of nights so we went over to Strasbourg and enjoyed a luxury hotel and lots of delicious, kid-free meals.   And then on Friday night, we attended our first ever charity gala.   So we have felt quite privileged lately.    Additionally, we had a great time catching up with Aunt Nancy.   Here are the pictures from the week.  

Aunt Nancy came with gifts, including these playing cards that the girls loved.  

First order of business was ice cream and a beer.  

Sunday we all headed across the street to watch Susannah's kindergarten program at church.   The theme was fish.

 

This was during the baptisms.   They invited all the children up to watch so Sarah Avery went with Susannah.  

Susannah did great with her little song.   

Fun motions 

Since this was a family service, the pastor gave a very short sermon explaining the fish symbol and what it meant to Christians over the centuries.   Then all the kids took their little paper fish and taped it to the big wooden "sea" on the stage.   Sarah Avery took a fish too.   When did she become so grown up???     

Monday afternoon Peter and I headed to Strasbourg.   This was outside our hotel.   Much fancier than the typical VRBOs where we normally stay.  

Champagne and French pastries?   Yes, please.   

We had a great view outside our window.   And we were especially excited about the fact that they upgraded us to a suite.   It was fancy!

We took full advantage of our kid-free existence and stopped into a little microbrewery before dinner.   

Since we had already eaten a big lunch at our favorite cafe outside the opera house, we opted for a lighter dinner.   

 

After dinner we strolled through La Petite France to hear some live music at a wine bar.   (See how fancy we were??)

The next morning after sleeping in past 8 am(first time in years), we rented some bikes for the day.   

And headed to the market to pick up some picnic items for lunch in the park.

Peter with the fish guy.

We headed to the park de l'orangerie for our picnic.   It was just as beautiful as we remembered.   The flowers were insane.  

We had quite a spread......goat cheese, aged comte cheese, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and a baguette.   It was divine.

And I had to top it off with a lemon tart of course.  

After our picnic, we rode over to check out the European Parliament buildings.   

And then ended up with a beer by the river with the sun on our faces.   Re. Laxed.   

After a little rest at the hotel, we were ready for our last supper.  

We tried a new restaurant and it didn't disappoint.   

We ended the evening with a stroll which was perfected by the full moon.   

We were pretty excited to be staying in one of the fancy suites so we had to take a photo.   

Meanwhile, back at home, the girls were having a blast with their Aunt Nancy.   

We fueled up with one last french breakfast before hitting the road to Stuttgart.   

The breakfast dining room was like a museum.   

Another hotel pic

As much fun as we had, we were super excited to see this little face.   And the face of her big sister too!

On a side note, Susannah has devoloped quite the obsession with jump rope.   This is what she and her friends do at the playground now.   It seems to grown-up to me.  

Speaking of grown up, this one can swing on the big kid swings like a champ lately.

And here we are at the gala.   It was a wonderful event and I was so happy to be there to support one of my very best friends here.   She is the director of a charity called Kainos that focuses on rehabilitative services to victims of human trafficking.   The keynote speaker was a member of German Parliament and since they had a translation service, I  even learned a few things.  ;)

It's always fun to be out with this handsome guy.   

And that was our fancy week.   A great big thanks to Aunt Nancy for your visit.   We love you and miss you already!    

Spring has officially Sprung!!

Spring has officially arrived here in Stuttgart and we have been soaking up as much sun as we can.   Here are the pictures from the last week or so......

Off to ballet.   With no coats!   And a sun hat!   SA is all about this ladybug sun hat.   

Best Daddy ever giving out pedicures.

Ready for church 

After church we headed out of town to a working farm that some friends had told us about.   

It was so fun and so very crowded.    The bunnies were our first stop and they did not disappoint.

The girls were beside themselves.  

These smiles were totally worth the 20 minute line Peter waited in to buy tickets.   ;)

Next we headed out to the fields to check out the crazy assortment of goats and llamas.

Susannah was a little scared of this guy, but SA was ready to make friends. 

BAAAA

Living in the city definitely has its perks, but it also means that our girls never have a chance to run full speed ahead in an open field.   So they took full advantage of this opportunity.  

We fed the sheep some grass before heading back to meet Daddy in the pony-ride line.   

SA was all about it.   But she was also very serious about her ride.

I think her helmet may have been a little too big.  ;)

This girl was so excited for her ride.   

Her pony's name was Bronco.  

After some sausage and fries, we each took a turn on the tractor

before heading back to the city.   

SA and I stopped by the park one sunny morning after taking Susannah to school.   

And Wednesday was a big day......susannah's first day back to swim lessons since September.   She jumped right back in like she hadn't forgotten a thing and was jumping off the diving board by the end of class.   

On Friday, Susannah had a dermatology appointment and this train ride was her reward for being brave.   

Friday was also a much needed hair appointment for me.  

My fancy hair was just in time for a date night.   Peter was so excited about the restaurant that he took a picture of the menu.   An aged gin bar and steaks?

Right up this guy's alley.   ;)  

Monday was a teacher work day so all the big kids came to crawling group with their baby siblings.   Susannah was so excited to see what SA and I do when she is at school.  

After nap, we headed to Stuttgart's big park with 4 other moms.   We had 10 kids total, so it wasn't chaotic at all.  First stop was the ice cream shop. 

Daddy broke free from work after lunch and met us at the park.  We were all happy to see him and thankful for the ride home.  Much better than the sweaty, crowded city bus that we had taken to the park.    

Cherry blossoms were blooming and so beautiful.

More goats to feed!!!

Yvonne and Marlena.   SA and I spend lots of time with these two and will miss them so much when we move.  

Susannah and SA loved this merry-go-round.   

Susannah got a full work out in pushing all these kids around.  She is such a leader.  She was giving commands in German to all the other kids so they could go as fast as possible.  All of our German friends tell us she has a very obvious Schwabish accent, (this is the dialect of our region) which means that she is truly a southern girl through and through, even in other languages!    

So that was our week.   Hope that the spring sun is shining on all of you too!   Love from Stuttgart!