Twentieth Week in Germany

Well, this week was a very busy one. Monday, German lesson. Tuesday, Dance class after school. Wednesday, we didn't get home until about 6:30pm because we went bowling with the girl scouts.

Thursday, instead of my German lesson, we took my German teacher with us downtown Bonn to apply for our German driver's licenses. I had spoken to a friend about it and she said they were quite cranky about not knowing much German. It was supposed to be about an hour process, but for some reason (possibly a misalignment of the stars or something) it was a bit longer than that. We had to go to one office, pick up a form. Then, take the form to another office to be filled out. Then, we had to go get our pictures taken. Then, back to the first office to get all of our forms and cash turned in to send in the application. I think I have mentioned my failure to always have cash on me, so that was an additional step. We had to go to another office so that we could pay via our debit card, then back to the first office to show that we had paid so he could send everything in. What a mouthful. Probably pretty boring to read, but I was in a tizzy because my poor German teacher usually eats lunch after my lesson before his next lesson. He was about a half hour late to his next lesson. I had to have my friend pick Bailey up from school for me because we were never going to make it in time. Then, Thursday evening was the Ladies Book club. I didn't actually read the book, but went anyway to have some time out of the house. I made Bailey's cupcakes before I left and frosted them when I got home.

On Friday, Bailey was so excited to take cupcakes to school for her birthday. Friday evening was fairly casual for a change.

Saturday started out okay. Bailey chose French Toast, Grandma Wilson eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Then, she opened her presents. Something went seriously wrong as we were all getting cleaned up for the day, I'm not really sure what happened, but she went from happy to crying and saying everybody was mean to her within a matter of minutes. She sulked for probably a half hour or so, telling us that this was the worst birthday ever. We talked her into getting ready at long last, and went to a pottery festival in Adendorf, it is a little pottery village which I spoke about a couple of entries ago. With some genuine German food, pony rides, and a one of a kind piece of pottery, her mood improved enormously. Although it is a different thing to do for a seven year old's birthday, they really seemed to love it.

Next, we went to Remagen. It is a town South of us, home of the Ludendorff Bridge. It is famous because during WWII, it was the only remaining bridge which led over the Rhein River into Germany's heartlands and was also strong enough that the Allies could cross armor and truck loads of supplies immediately. There is a museum there in the towers that are still standing. The girls actually thought that was really cool as well, however, I'm not sure they understood the significance. Here is a link to a Youtube video about it if you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6w927SbH1s.

Then, we made our way to a Surprise 40th Birthday party for one of our friends. There were a ton of kids there and she hired a magician to keep the kids entertained. It was great, all the fun of a birthday party with none of the effort on my part. Bailey was really great about the fact that we were at someone else's birthday party on HER birthday. We are planning a sleepover in a couple weeks with her best friend in celebration of her birthday. We got home late, not surprising, and we were all very tired. On the way home, Bailey said it was the best birthday ever. Apparently, you get some pottery, see some World War II history, throw in a Magician, and it makes for not too bad of a birthday afterall.

Sunday was Stake Conference for us in Dusseldorf. We had to be up early to get out the door by 8:30am to get to Dusseldorf by 10:00am. Our girls were champs considering the weekend, how tired they must have been, and the fact that we sit in a room with people speaking for two hours and cannot understand a word of it. It took us a long time to return home because of construction traffic. It was great to get back home and relax for a while. The girls watched a couple movies and Greg and I did some research about what to do when my mom is here visiting.

All in all...Busy, Busy, Busy, but fantastic week!