On Saturday we went to Dewberry Farm with friends of ours. It's a farm open to the public for fall activities. They have animals, a pumpkin patch, play areas & corn maze. There is plenty to do there. We went in the morning before the rain started & were able to get some cute shots. We even bought some pumpkins that we picked out from the patch. We had such a good time & look forward to going back next year. Calli will be able to do more activities then.





Petting the goat.

Walking in the corn maze field.

Calli wasn't so sure about the slide.

Girls waiting to be "picked." Erin, Karen & Me

Our friends, Karen, Alan, Erin, Neil & baby Ainsley

Where did September go?

September was such a busy month for us that I am just now getting around to updating the blog. We left for Germany on Sept 3rd (Thurs) & were gone for a week. Our friends John, Kristin, Kayla & Carson moved there a couple of years ago so we thought we would take advantage of a place to stay & having our own personal tour guides!! I will admit that we were quite nervous about the airplane ride, travelling overseas & the time difference with a 1 yr old, but Calli proved again how easy going she is. The flight was 11-1/2 hours long, changed planes & then another 1 hr 15 minutes. Calli threw up 1 time (which we were warned it could happen for such a long flight) & had a 15 minute meltdown. Other than that she slept & played in our seats. People had warned us about taking off & landing & their ears. The Dr did tells us before we left (at her 1 yr checkup) that the tubes might actually help her ears equalize with the pressure changes. I think it did because she fell asleep during each takeoff & landing on the flight there & the return trip home.

When we arrived to Langenhagen (where they live) on Fri morning (they are 7 hours ahead) we ate lunch & then went for a long walk checking out the town where they live. They live outside of Hannover which is almost like the distance from Katy to Downtown Houston. It is a different way of living. Everything is pretty close together & you get around by walking, tram, or bus. It was very neat seeing how their lives have changed. The next morning we went to the town of Wernigerode. We walked around the town that morning, went inside a castle & in the afternoon took the Narrow Gauge Railway up to Brocken Mountain. (the highest peak in Northern Germany) It was a steam engine train & the ride up the mountain (2.5 hours long) was a beautiful ride with gorgeous scenery & stops along the way. When we got to the top there was so much fog that we really didn't have a view. It was still a fanstatic time!! Day to day we would walk to a tram station close to their house & take it to the train station. The train would then take us to our various cities for us to explore & then return in the evening. On Sun we went to Berlin. We did a hop on, hop off city bus tour. There were different bus stops & the buses would run every 15 minutes so we could get off & tour the town as we liked. We did a lot of walking as well. We saw the remains of the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial & walked the "main drag". There was so much to see in Berlin that we would have liked another day but there more towns to see. On Mon we rode the tram to Hannover. (the big city they live close to) We did the "Red Thread" there. There is a red line painted throughout the town & you do a walking tour. There is a book that tells about the different things you see around town. (Kristin was our guide for the day) It was nice to take our time & not feel rushed. This was especially helpful when your hauling around 3 kids. Calli-13months, Kayla 2-1/2 yrs old & Carson-8 months. We saw beautiful churches (the remains) & toured the Rathaus which is like our City Hall. Inside the Rathaus they had 4 different town models. One was in the early 1900's, one was before WWII, one after WWII & the last one was current day Hannover. Amazing to see how the bombings affected the town. We also took a slanted elevator ride in the tower & were able to see a beautiful aerial vew of Hannover. It was a long filled day ending up meeting John for dinner at german restaurant
eating traditional german food & drinking a mug of local beer. The 5th day we were there we went to Hamburg which is their port city. It is on the NE side of Germany & the closest to England. During the war this was one of the hardest hit cities. Everything was newer & more modern than the smaller towns we had been to. We took a boat tour of the Alster Lake & canals in the morning & walked the town in the afternoon. The last thing we did before we left Hamburg was visit the St. Nikolai Memorial (which was a church) & took an elevator ride up to see an aerial view of the city. At the top they had pictures & history about the war. We got some wonderful pictures up there. The last day we were all pretty worn out so we took the morning off & hung out at their home. That afternoon we went to Celle which is a medieval town & saw the oldest buildings. It was very picturesque!! We left the next morning to come home. All in all it was a great trip. We are so thankful to have the Hooker Family as our friends & so grateful for their hospitality. We are hoping they will come home (Houston) in the next year or two. They are missed!!

We took so many pictures & are unable to post them all. So here is a link to check them out. We also have photos posted (not as many on Facebook as well) Some of our favorites are below.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1360651022/a=159434553_159434553/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/