Stuttgart weindorf

Let the German fests begin! This is probably the most fun time to live in Germany. These fests are so full of tradition and culture and we really enjoy participating in them during our short tour here. Yesterday we went to the weindorf or winefest. This is our second year trying it out. You basically walk around from booth to booth (each one completely differently) and if you are a big wine drinker (which we're not) than you can sample these wines from all over. There is also a ton of food and snacks. It's in downtown Stuttgart and I can't ever get enough of the gorgeous buildings and scenery down there.

Our menu... good thing Brad is almost an expert in German now.

One of the booths

Our lunch...Bratwurst (Brad's) and Spatzel (mine)

We each tried a glass of local wine. Not bad!

German donuts. Mmm!

Hanging out while we finish our glass of wine and donuts (never thought I'd say that sentence)

We ran into the Marston family. Shelly is one of my favorite people out here! She is a great friend who keeps me sane through the winters.

Miles and his buddy Jack

We're home

It's over... back to real life. We got in at 9am this morning. Miles was the only one who slept on the plane last night because there was a screaming 2 year old sitting behind us. She screamed that ear piercing scream almost the entire flight. Ugh. I don't know how Miles slept through that. But it's all over now!

We got in and our car was deader than a doornail. We had to call ADAC (German version of AAA) and had to purchase a 150 Euro battery on the spot. Good stuff!

It's now 7:30pm Germany time which means we've been awake for 31 hours! It's funny how riding in my parents motorhome to Detroit feels like this morning when it was well over 24 hours ago. Who needs alcohol? Just stay up a full day and you get the same affect. :)

Here are some more pics from the last week that didn't make the cut.

This pic is for you Brad. See what an awesome pic this could have been had I gotten that nice big ol' lens? :)

We're at the beach getting ready for Pentwater's annual firework show.

Miles had his own chair too

Closing out summer

What a week it's been! We went from full speed with Jessica and Steve to slow-motion with Brad's parents Jack and Merlyn. We're enjoying our last night with them and it's been a week full of joy and tears. Most people probably know that Jack has Alzheimer's disease. We just didn't know how bad it was. I've been spending the afternoon doing a lot of research on it and it appears he is in the 'moderate' stage. He doesn't read, write or talk hardly at all. Merlyn says this is because he has a hard time forming sentences and it is still embarrassing to him. There was one evening we were sitting around the dinner table and he began to try to answer questions. Unfortunately, he didn't know Brad's name nor who I was. Merlyn said he couldn't even tell you how many kids he has. This was hard to watch because I saw Brad's face crumple in pain. I don't think he was ready to see that.

He didn't know where he was and kept asking where their car was. On a happier note, he's been great with Miles. He must have a natural love for kids because he gave lots of high-fives and tickles to him. Merlyn is doing a wonderful job taking care of him. She compares it to taking care of Miles without the all the running around. I can see that... Her patience with him is such a testimony to me. She never gets upset or flustered. She knows it's only going to get worse and harder yet she says she's lucky to have him. The next time I get annoyed with Miles I'm definitely going to keep this all in mind.

Here are some pics from the week.

They were honoring Veterans at the band concert. Jack is standing for his time in the Army.

Brad looking very un-Marine like on this vacation.

My dream house

Too cool for school while waiting for our ice creams.

Checking out the annual sand castle contest

Spending the morning at the beach

Friends

My old highschool/college roomate Jessica is up here (with her boyfriend Steve) and it's so nice to be around old friends. You move so much in the military and friends come and go, but Jessica has been there forever. We've been having a blast hanging out with these guys. So sad tomorrow is their last day!

We tried skiing for the first time. No one but Steve could actually get up and stay up.

Jess took some "professional" pics of Brad and I at the beach...what do you think?

Baker portraits

Whoops, a couple weeks went by and blogging just slipped by the side. I spent all this morning updating what's been going on the past couple weeks so feel free to check all the posts below.

Last night, Rachel and I had this grand T-shirt idea. We dressed our whole 11 person family up in Pentwater t-shirts and sent everyone to the beach for a photo-op. We were the only people excited about this. The rest of the family just groaned along. I'm pretty sure my brother Adam was the most bored of them all. What's hilarious is we have an even bigger T-shirt idea for next year... just call us t-shirt happy.

I think the one's of Adam and Rachel's family turned out super cute. Brad and I's...not so much.

This one is my favorite of them all

We had to throw some fun in there at half time.