Lily had her first indoor softball practice on Wednesday evening. Most of the focus was on pitching, she didn’t do any hitting. The coach, Frank, is great. He has 3 older daughters that play (13-18). There were 5 younger girls at practice, and it sounds like there will be 12 players in a 15U age group this summer, so that should be better than always playing in 18U. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. I think Lily’s going to fit in just fine. When we were driving to practice, we passed a Pizza Hut, so we stopped and grabbed a pizza on our way home. Tasted pretty good!

Speaking of food. These little cherry pastries are sehr lecker so delicious! I’m going to have to walk extra steps every day because it is way too convenient having these at the Brot Haus, our local bakery, half a block away.

I had my first German lesson with my local teacher this week. His name is Heinz and he is a professor in Frankfurt. He’s a very interesting man and his approach to learning the language is very different from the teacher we had while in the US. He is less focused on having perfect grammar and more focused on being able to have a conversation. He sends me a voice recording on WhatsApp 1-2 times/day, and asks me to translate and send a voice recording back. His advice was, “When you learn a foreign language, you cannot fail, you can only succeed.” I like it. I don’t have to be perfect, but every day I am getting better. He thinks that I will be able to take the A1 test at the end of January, and the A2 test at the end of February. Goals.

On Thursday I caught a ride with Deanna and went to Luxembourg for the day. It was great to be able to see my team in person! It’s about a 2.5 hour drive, so I won’t often go there and back by myself in one day, but it’s so nice to be so close! The drive between Königstein and Luxembourg was schön beautiful.

While I was in Luxembourg, Ikea fixed the delivery debacle and Lily got her mattress!! Now we just need my Cricut so I can decorate. :) 

Did you know that the different bills for Euro currency are different colors and sizes? I haven’t decided if I like that or not. The color, yes, it is helpful to quickly choose the right bill. Jury is still out on the size difference.

Friday night we went to dinner to celebrate a new friend, Paul’s, birthday at The Lodge steakhouse. It was dark out so we couldn’t see anything, but the restaurant is on the zoo property and apparently during the day you can look out and see zebras, giraffes, and elephants. We will definitely be going back in the daylight. We met lots of new people and had a great time!

Saturday morning I booked a 1-hour massage at a place down the street from our house. It was pretty good, but I’m going to keep searching for a great masseuse. There are several options in town. 

Jay, Lily, Kaycee and I went for a walk up to the castle and this time we paid 7.50 EUR and explored inside it. We walked through some tunnels, enjoyed the amazing view, and climbed to the top of the tower, which is 1,525 ft above sea level. 

Jay and I have booked almost everything we need for our Ski Break trip to Italy in February. We are going to visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. The one thing we have not yet done is made dining reservations, so we are open to suggestions from anyone who has a favorite place to eat in those cities.

Ty has baseball practice this afternoon. We are meeting with a potential dogsitter. And tomorrow is the indoor baseball tournament. Have a great weekend!