The spa pools

We visited an amazing spa on one of our Saturdays in Germany. It had a number of pools that were all filled with this warm mineral water (no chlorine or chemicals). I want to move next door to this place and live there forever.

This last shot was taken from the outside pool where the air temperature had to be about 10 degrees.

The Christmas Village in Rothenburg

On our first trip into Bavaria we visited the town of Rothenburg, which has the famous "Christmas Village" shop that is open year around. The kids loved it there, but it filled up really fast with tourists (it was telling that all of the signs were in English and Japanese). Outside was a really charming medieval walled city which I would have liked to have explored more if it hadn't been so damn COLD. At least I got to duck into a restaurant to warm up and get a shot of Iria posing in front of a gun and antler backdrop (that is not likely to happen again anytime soon).

Stuttgart

We took a train ride into Stuttgart one afternoon, and stopped off at the Natural History Museum along the way. All of the creatures that were exhibited once lived in the region. I wonder if they will have an exhibit on any of our little creatures in a few thousand years?

After the museum we dashed off to the city to take a walk along the main shopping strip (and treat ourselves to a few pretzels).

These really cool trees lined the street, and as the light faded they took on an onimous presence.

More ice-skating fun

Happy Birthday to Katharine...

Katharine had the last of her three "6th Birthday Party" celebrations yesterday, this time with all of her friends at an ice skating rink. Thanks to everyone for coming! We had a great time.

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The cousin sleepover: outdoor fun

It snowed while the cousins were visiting. Let's see- snow, kids, sleds: these pictures do not really need much of an explanation...

Except for this one.

The first time it snowed Lennon just nonchalantly walked out the door and into the snow while we were getting the kids dressed. The thing is, he wasn’t wearing a coat, hat, mittens- or even shoes. I just stared at him waiting for the scream, but he kept walking around (almost ankle deep) for a good 30 seconds until my curiosity wore off and I felt compelled to run out and grab him.