Ladenburg

One of the days the boys did not have school, Ellen did and Jeff was in the US, Joseph wanted to show Daniel JumpInn Ladenburg. Joseph had gone there for a birthday party. I took them but we left earlier than JumpInn opened to spend a couple of hours in Ladenburg. We had heard it was a neat little town and it was! We parked near the old city walls.

Ladenburg has a cute city square...

...and it is filled with half-timbered houses that are very old. They are covered in flower-filled window boxes.

The churches were nice and offer summer organ concerts.

Ladenburg is one of Germany's oldest cities. There are lots of Roman ruins that are being excavated and they date to several centuries BC.

There is also a beautiful green space all along the river for walking, biking and just enjoying the grass, water and sunshine.

It was a fun morning and the boys enjoyed JumpInn that afternoon!

Triberg

The last weekend Jeff was in the US we decided to adventure farther - to Triberg which was about a 2 hour drive south of Heidelberg. Triberg is a small town nestled in a valley between three mountains. It is home of Germany's tallest waterfalls and Triberg is also the capital of cuckoo-clocks. Ellen's friend Darcy went along and the weather was spectacular!

The falls was our first and primary destination. We wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather. The falls are fed by the Gutach River and are 163 meters tall. The fall in seven cascades down the mountain. They have been generating electrical power since 1884 and the woods surrounding the falls have been quite well preserved.

We hiked up to the top of the falls (only about a 30 minute hike) and took the long way down - through the woods and then choose an additional walk down the mountain and through the town of Triberg.

Can you see the kids on the bridge at the top of the photo?

As we hiked out of the woods and into the town of Triberg we stopped to play at a playground and to enjoy the sunshine in paddle boats on a small pond (Bergsee).
The Maria in der Tanne is a pilgrimage church. Its history goes back to 1644 when a 7 year old girl claimed to have been healed because of a picture of the Virgin's Immaculate Conception and a statue of the Virgin which now holds a place of honor in this church.

It was a wonderful, fun day in Triberg! After our hikes we browsed through some of the shops. Joseph and Daniel each bought a classic German cuckoo clock there.

Ellen's May school activities

We attended a wonderful concert - and Jeff arrived back in Heidelberg that morning so he could go too! Ellen played in the concert and jazz bands and accompanied the choir and madrigal singers on piano. It was great fun!

May was also prom time! Ellen was on the committee so the morning of prom I went along to help decorate and to take some pictures.
Here is the prom committee.

The theme was 007 - James Bond...

and prom was held in the King's Ballroom of the Heidelberg Castle - how cool! Prom in a castle!




Later in the day Ellen had her hair done :) !

She looked beautiful! They had dinner in Mannheim in the restaurant at the top of the Radio Tower (the restaurant turned!), then took a limo to the castle for the dance.

They had a wonderful time!

Misc #6

Jeff spent a good part of May working in the US. The boys had school break for about a week and a half - most of it during the weeks Jeff was in the US. We were able to keep busy with lots of activities during the week while Ellen was in school. Here are some pictures of the fun we had (not necessarily in chronological order).

An afternoon at Happy Kids with Daniel's friend Thomas was a good way to work off some energy!

An afternoon at Felsenmeer with Thomas, Sam, Danny and Tracy took advantage of some beautiful sunny weather! A picnic, tag and hide and seek on the rocks was great fun!

One evening Ellen prepared dinner for us - it was all recipes from Spanish-speaking countries and she used it for some culture points for her Spanish class at school.
Earlier Joseph attended a birthday party at JumpInn Ladenburg. He couldn't wait to show this particular JumpInn to Daniel so we spent an afternoon there.

An afternoon with Sam, Danny and Tracy at their house was fun!

So was a sleepover with Joshua and Jake!

Before Jeff left and when he left Germany was celebrating spring with Mai fests. We wandered through Heidelberg's and enjoyed some of the yummy food.

Jeff needed one more feuerwurst before he left for the US!