We had a fun week! There were not any baseball or softball games, but we managed to find ways to fill the time. Read on to hear about a week in the life of the Shearer’s.

This. Ugh. We sometimes call Ty “Father Nature”. Monday was H-Day at school, which means the kids don’t have a regular school day schedule. Often times they get to go for forest hikes around the school. Ty scared the tail off a skink and thought it would be a good idea to bring it home. And leave it on a shelf in the dining room. I won’t touch it, so there it sits…… It’s probably 4″ long. Nasty.
Tuesday morning was beautiful. I stopped to grab a photo of the castle and main street on my way home from the gym. I feel like Königstein (and most other small German villages) is what Main Street USA used to be like. Bustling with commerce, people out running errands, going to appointments, stopping for a coffee and a pretzel while out walking their dog. I love it.
Wednesday was a holiday. I’ve heard the day referred to as many things – May Day, Labor Day, 2nd Easter. According to Wikipedia it is tradition for Germans to light bonfires the night before to ward off witches. Whatever the reason, the kids were thrilled to have a day off of school. We spent the morning playing poker, planting grass seed and pulling weeds. Jay didn’t have any meetings so he got to go for a long hike to an Apple Blossom Festival (which was really just people outside drinking beer).
Lily has been trying to learn how to crochet. Here is the first finished product – a squid!
Jay and I snuck away from the house to go to the ice cream shop down the street. We were observing how there were way more adults than kids there. We normally just grab a cup of ice cream from the counter and take it home, but we decided to embrace the beautiful day and sat outside. Once we saw the menu, we understood why there were so many adults there. 🙂
The tiramusu with liqueur dessert was a.maz.ing. Jay loved his iced coffee.
Lily worked in the backstage crew at the school’s spring play “Bedtime Stories – As told by Dad who Messes them Up”. There were two performances – Thursday and Friday nights.
The crew.
She was also a ticket-taker.
Her set change skills were top notch.
The talent was really great! The story was cute and funny. I was impressed!
On Saturday, Jay and Ty went to the Hockenheim Ring racetrack with Jay’s coworker, Gero. It was a special event where they had a bunch of different historical race cars, and the pits were open to the public. They had a blast! I asked them what their favorite part was and they couldn’t decide – it was all awesome.
While the boys were at the track, Lily and I had a shopping adventure. We found a big garden store!! It isn’t quite Wallace’s, but it will do. 🙂
Then we went to MyZeil in downtown Frankfurt and had lunch at Chipotle. An actual Chipotle. Yummmmmmmmmmmm
Lily got some new kicks. I think she might have slept in them Saturday night.
Shoutout to some of our favorite people, Will, Brooke, and Mark. Apparently Germany loves them.
I spied this little lamp when we came to Germany for our househunting trip. I passed on buying it a couple times now, but I finally caved.
My flower store happy basket.
Sunday morning there was a MASSIVE flea market in Königstein. It filled the market area, the main street, and a large part of the park. Ty and I walked through there a few times, hoping to find an irresistible treasure. Lily had been wanting a ukulele and low and behold, we found one for 10 EUR, which just happens to be the weekly allowance amount. I’ve never seen her clean her room so fast. And now we have a ukulele player. 🙂
so many people!
I saw some elk antlers in a booth. Of course Jay said we couldn’t buy them because we can’t take them back to the US with us. But we’re here for 2 years and I can do so much with them…. 😉 So, when Jay and I took Kaycee for a quick forest hike, I sent Ty a text message to go see how much these elk antlers were. 2 for 15 EUR. SOLD!!! When we got home, Jay told Ty he was grounded for life for doing my dirty work. 🙂
In other news – see why we needed to spread some grass seed earlier in the week? Our yard is in ROUGH shape.
Sunday afternoon we went to the Oberursel campus of Frankfurt International School – the sister campus of the kids’ school. They had their annual WorldFest event. It was incredible! There were several booths set up, each representing a different country. They sold food and drinks (including alcohol) that is common in their country. I tried a bunch of different things, so many that it is hard to choose my favorite. The margaritas from Mexico and caipirinhas from Brazil were delicious, the fried spinach & rice ball from Sicily was yummy, Japanese noodles – so good. And I tried a bunch of things that I can’t even name. Jay described it as being like Epcot but for 10% of the cost. 🙂
Cheetos from the USA booth!
Lily and I sat and watched some of the entertainment. There was one 5th grade boy that played piano SO WELL! We watched some dancers and a band, as well. Lots of talented kids!
Ty bought 5 EUR of raffle tickets and wanted to win something so bad. He didn’t care what. There were probably 25 different prizes, all given out in random order. I thought he was going to lose his mind when this lady Maria won 6 things….lol… but then they announced a Sweets & Wine Basket from the Israel community. And she pulled out a ticket that said “Ty Shearer”!!! Ty and his buddies erupted. 🙂
The happy winner with his friends. He didn’t even complain about carrying it to the car. 🙂