Taylor Swift – Gelsenkirchen, Germany

19 Monday Aug 2024

Lily’s big birthday present this year was 2 tickets to see Taylor Swift in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. To say she was excited would be a major understatement. She had a plan – get her nails done, braid blue into her hair, make a ton of friendship bracelets, and go shopping for an outfit. She knew that she wanted to put together an outfit from the Reputation era (I didn’t know this was a thing), and she loved what she found. I think she looked pretty stinking cute.

Jay drove us all to Gelsenkirchen, including Ty’s friend Garry who is a Swiftie. We arrived in town early enough to grab some lunch before heading to the stadium. The people watching at a Taylor Swift concert is fantastic. Pretty much everyone was dressed up as one of her album themes (or in a Kelsey jersey). Lily traded several bracelets with people. We arrived at the stadium entrance about an hour before they opened the gate, but then were one of the first people inside. We went to the bathroom (the lines were crazy long all night – both the women’s and the men’s (full of women)), then hit up the merch booth to get some swag.

The opening act was good, but I wasn’t familiar with them and can’t remember their name… And then the countdown time to Taylor started. Lily was SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!! Watching her in that moment is going to forever be in my top 10 mother/daughter moments. I mean, I knew she was excited, but I wasn’t expecting her to be THAT excited. It was adorable.

I am not a Swiftie, but I have always liked her music. I saw her open for someone at The Mark in the Quad Cities many years ago, back in the old Tim McGraw days. She made an impression on me then – hard for an opening act to do. But this concert, with her front and center, was incredible. The entertainment factor was off the charts. She managed to capture the attention of 50,000 people for over 3 hours. Her creativity, energy, use of LED bracelets, dancers, costumes….all genius. I have a new respect for her.

As the concert came to a close and we walked back to our meeting point to catch our ride to our Air BNB, Lily was tired, the crash after the adrenaline rush. But she crashed with a giant smile on her face. I almost didn’t fork over the cash to buy the tickets, because let’s be honest, they were stupid expensive. But given the chance to do it all over again, I 100% would. If you have the opportunity to see TS live, take it.

Summer 2024 – 1st Half

14 Sunday Jul 2024

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I could have sworn that I published this blog, but it was still sitting in my drafts with only pictures. So, if this is a repeat, I’m sorry! We have had a very busy summer, so I’m going to break my blogs up into a few different ones. Here’s what happened the first few weeks of summer break.

One of Ty’s jobs this summer was taking care of the yard. The hedges out back were driving me crazy. He did a great job trimming them down.

Have I mentioned how much Lily is enjoying her riding lessons?

In today’s episode of “you might be a redneck”, Jay and Nicole install portable air conditioners. All y’all Germans who say you don’t need air conditioning are looney. I cannot sleep in a hot room. And when I don’t sleep, I get grouchy. The windows open 2 different ways – slant or full – they don’t push up and down. So trying to find a way to vent out the hot air from the air conditioner takes some creativity.

We planned to go to the castle for another festival – Burgfest, not realizing what kind of festival it was. I was expecting more knights in shining armor. What we got was a bunch of drunk 14-18 year old kids and thumping loud music. Lily and her friend didn’t stay long.

Thankfully the adults (we were pretty much the oldest people there) found a sweet little “bar” away from the noise. It was perfect!

Jessica I was crowned queen of Burgfest and she helped decorate.

So. Many. Kids. Ty really should have gone.

Saturday morning we were surprised with a parade down the Hauptstraße in front of our house.

THERE is my knight in shining armor!! I knew he was around here somewhere.

Let’s talk about the Euro Cup. Whoa. Europeans love their soccer teams. Mark this day down in the history books – I actually enjoyed watching some soccer games. Germany did pretty well but lost this game that we watched at a restaurant in town with some friends. You can’t see the lady on the other side of the dude sitting next to me. She was covered in German accessories, until the last few minutes when it became pretty clear that Germany was going to lose. She literally ripped everything off in a serious pout and shoved it all in a bag. I think it might have been the worst day of her life. lol

PSA: the tik-tok video of the girl using a comb to curl her hair DOES NOT WORK. I spent over 2 hours trying to remove the comb and get the tangles out, with no luck.

Yeah, there’s no detangler product in the world that is going to get that unwound….

After many tears and 24 hours of processing the fact that Lily was going to have to get bangs, she finally let me cut the mess out of her hair.

BANGS!!!!! (No, it’s not Christmas. Yes, Lily loves this shirt.)

Ty’s 15U baseball team is the Hessen Champions!! Next stop – German National Championship in September.

I love this picture of Ty. I’m so proud of his growth on the baseball field this year.

We have long-term rental cars and have to swap out vehicles every 6 months or so. Got a new ride – already like it so much better than the Audi.

Lily spent a week at a filmmaking camp hosted by the school. Here is a link to the video that she did the camera work, music, and some of the script for – The Cure:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UZ9D3SkA_C7yEiXThOsS5vmyDMUuHyRr/view?usp=drive_link

Day trip to Cologne (Köln)! First stop, Chocolate Museum

might be the coolest chocolate fountain ever

Ty refuses to go inside anymore churches, but Lily is a trooper. This one was gorgeous. Super tall ceilings, amazing stained glass.

Are We Done With School Yet?!

24 Monday Jun 2024

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It’s been a hot minute since I published an update. We’ve been busy!

Lily decided that she wanted to try horseback riding lessons. We managed to find a stable that gives lessons in English, and they also ride Western! She has had 3 lessons and loves it.

Apparently they don’t have anyone as short as Lily – her little legs were too short for the stirrups. It didn’t change how she felt about the experience. Her smile says it all!

Lily’s entire 5th grade class went to a camp 3 hours away for 3 nights! I made her pack her own suitcase (and I didn’t double check her work). They stayed in a youth hostel (“*The youth hostel in Hermeskeil was the place with the worst food, well almost, the only good things there were breakfast and the sandwiches. And some people had the smallest rooms in the world.*“) and did all sorts of typical camp activities – archery, make a boat that floats, construct a shelter, build a tall tower, bonfires, stick bread (“*The bread on a stick was not good, it was so bad, it kept falling off the stick and was not done on the inside.*“), roasting marshmallows (“*I did get 2 marshmallows, those were great. Liam taught me the best marshmallow toasting method. The outside was toasted and the inside was gooey.*“). Apparently there were some challenges that they had to work through. “A challenge I faced was dealing with all of the tears, it got really annoying and I just wanted to go home and never hear tears again. I overcame that by just plugging my ears. Another challenge was not having my phone. I overcame that by playing outside and with my friends.” When I picked her up, she was all smiles and said it was awesome. But reading her school summary makes me wonder… “*In conclusion there§ was a lot of drama. If I were to go back in time I would have stayed away from the drama and not go back to the youth hostel.*“

I think it would have been awesome if they made them sleep in their “structures” one night.

Ty’s baseball teams continue to dominate. Teams 1 & 2 had to play a league game against each other and they made the local newspaper. (Thank goodness for Google Translate!)

I love our rose wall! And I love when my husband surprises me by putting a rose on my nightstand.

Hair appointment #2 was a MUCH better experience! I went to a lady in Königstein, she spoke English, and did a fine job. I still miss Brian, but I am relieved to have found someone here that can cover all my gray hairs.

So I did a thing. I got permanent eyeliner. I don’t wear much makeup, and I don’t wear it often. Having just a little bit on my top eyelid is kind of nice. “Did it hurt?” is the first question I get from people. Well, it didn’t NOT hurt, but it wasn’t terrible. She put some numbing cream on the eyelids which helped a lot. The whole procedure took ~30 minutes. I was puffy for a couple days after (kind of like how your eyes look after a big cry). Lily says that my eyeliner slays. I kind of love it.

Jay and Ty did a thing. The took public transportation (bus & train) to downtown Frankfurt to the public viewing areas of the Euros soccer tournament. It’s a HUGE deal here. Some of the games are played in Frankfurt, but getting tickets to the stadium is basically impossible. The city has put out ~20 giant screens along the Main River for people to be able to experience the game in a huge crowd.

The town park in our backyard had a weekend evening wine festival. I snapped this photo while they were setting up, and forgot to get one when it was open. We met up with our neighbors for a glass of wine and chat. So nice to be able to walk a few steps out the back door. 🙂

The softball team had a double header in Gammertingen, which is a 3+ hour drive away. Lily and I drove down the night before with another mom and 2 girls. GIRLS TRIP!! We stayed in a little town at the base of the Lichtenstein castle. It isn’t as old as some of the castles we have seen, but it was in an amazing location – right on the edge of the cliff. We didn’t have time to go inside, but we hiked around the grounds.

I mean, for real. According to Wikipedia: **Lichtenstein Castle** (*Schloss Lichtenstein*) is a privately owned Gothic Revival castle located in the Swabian Jura of southern Germany. It was designed by Carl Alexander Heideloff^[1] and its name means “shining stone” or “bright stone”.^[2] The castle overlooks the Echaz valley near Honau, Reutlingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The modern castle was inspired by Wilhelm Hauff‘s 1826 novel *Lichtenstein* and was built in 1840–1842. The ruins of an older medieval castle are a few hundred meters away. *Nicole’s note: We walked to the ruins, and there was hardly anything left. But the view was incredible.
Here’s a link to the website: https://www.schloss-lichtenstein.de/en/# Count Wilhelm of Württemberg, Duke of Urach, had Lichtenstein Castle constructed on the historical foundation walls of a medieval knights’ castle. *Nicole’s note: This is like the ultimate show of wealth. Hey guy, you think you’re rich and powerful? Ha! That’s cute. Come visit me at my private CASTLE ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF.

Unfortunately I committed a crime. I parked in a space on the road for longer than the posted 30 minute allotment. Barely. It was like 40 minutes. I haven’t received the ticket in the mail yet – has to go through our rental car company first. To be continued…

The 2023/24 school year is FINALLY over! The kids’ last day of school was June 21. They both grew so much – physically, mentally, and emotionally. I have been so proud to watch them adapt to all of the things we threw at them the past 6 months: new country, new home, new school, new language, new friends, new time zone, new sports teams. Hopefully I don’t need to start posting #yearroundschool updates this summer…. What are our summer plans? The kids are continuing with their German lessons, a few more baseball and softball games, Lily is going to a Filmmaking Experience camp, Hamborg weekend, Taylor Swift in Gelsenkirchen, then home to the US for a couple weeks at the end of July/early August. The Shearer’s will be at the Iowa State Fair Friday afternoon/evening (July 9) and Saturday morning.

We went on a short hike from Rettershof to Fischbach. It wasn’t our favorite hike – only ~3 miles, not much elevation, and not really in the woods.

The highlight of the hike – we discovered a Mexican restaurant and oh man, it was muy bueno!!

Speaking of favorite foods…remember when Lily wrote to Kraft Mac & Cheese about wanting to go to the German grocery story to buy mac & cheese? She went to the Rewe (grocery store) this week and THERE WAS KRAFT MAC & CHEESE ON THE SHELF!!!!! I don’t know if it was because of her letter, or purely a coincidence, but she is convinced that she is a change-maker. 🙂

Disneyland Paris

01 Saturday Jun 2024

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Headed to Wally (Disney) World (Land Paris)!! This is my first time in France. Cross another country off the list.

We stayed at the newly renovated Disneyland Hotel, which is as close as you can get to the park entrances. The location was perfect. The hotel was beautiful. It was definitely princess themed – with a bit of a focus on Belle from Beauty & The Beast.

We went to Walt Disney Studios Park right away. They had an awesome Alice in Wonderland show, full of BMX riders, trampoline jumpers, dancers, fire, and fun music. I’m not much of an Alice in Wonderland fan, but the show was excellent.

Lily, trying to figure out how this phone thing works. Literally when she was done, she asked what to do with the handset….

The Toy Story area of the park was adorable

Lily wanted her picture taken everywhere. Yes, I also have a son, but he’s 14 and hates having his picture taken doing anything silly and fun.

The Cars ride was more thrilling than I was expecting. :). Lily and I screamed. Ty insists that he never makes any noise on rides.

Just when I think Ty won’t do anything fun, Jay sends me this. Lily was tuckered out so Jay and Ty went to the Disney Village for dinner. They walked through the Marvel hotel and found this fun room.

The best part about our hotel is the Magic Hour, where hotel guests get into the park one hour before they open the normal gates. Ty and Jay have done all the big rides during the Magic hour, waiting no more than 15 minutes. (Lily and I say no thank you to the big rides).

Princess photo bomb!! Ignore the wet hair, no makeup extreme closeup and focus on the princesses on the balcony. :). It rained every single day, so it made zero sense to do my hair and makeup…

We found the boys. No family trip to Disney is complete without a castle selfie.

Ratatouille is one of the main themes of the French park. I hated the ride, though. Very little actual motion but giant screens that make you think you are chasing a rat around a restaurant is enough to make my stomach want to explode. Ugh.

The Alice in Wonderland maze even made me a little dizzy. Seriously. It’s annoying. 🙂

The line for Its a Small World was 45 minutes. Call us horrible parents, but we skipped it. Ty and Lily will never know what it’s like.

Just when I thought I knew all of Jay’s talents, he surprises me with another. Buzz Lightyear and Web Adventures Champion of the World. He’s all mine, ladies.

Yes, a grown man captured photo evidence of destroying his kids in a roller coaster video game.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere. This one made me think of mom.

We had a 9:00 dinner reservation at La Table de Lumiére in the hotel. Lily got to say hi to all of the princesses and princes.

Despite absolutely not wanting to have his picture taken with a princess, my well-mannered son knew better than to deny Belle when she asked to have her picture taken with him. 🙂

Sneak peak of the Shearer Family Christmas card? 🙂

I would say that I tend to be a “go easy on the butter” sort of gal. But that was before I ate this butter. OMG. Y’all. This is incredible. My ratio of butter to roll with this spread is about triple what I normally do – and that is me holding back.

The best part about dinner (the food was just OK, which was a pretty big disappointment given the fact that we are in a 5 Star hotel in France) was that we had a window seat and dessert was served just as the drone and fireworks show started above the castle.

Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. Maybe someday, Nic.

One thing I was really excited about was the Lion King show – my favorite at Disney World. It was different, but didn’t disappoint! I think the Disney costume and set designers have the best job in the world. I mean, just after being an accountant at Deere (obviously).

Lily and I had a chill afternoon. We got massages then she jumped in the pool. Dad came down and swam with her a bit. She’s such a little fish.

I am certain that I was not getting professional massages when I was 10 years old. Someday she will appreciate it. 🙂

We had dinner in the Disney Village at a Chicago Steakhouse. Jay liked his ribeye, Lily loved her cheeseburger because it tasted like McDonalds. Ty and I thought the surf & turf was mid. I’m thinking that when we come back to explore Paris we need to do some food research because so far my French food experience has fallen way short of expectations.

Ty wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday. Our search in Germany came up short. Leave it to Disney to make his wish come true!

I have wondered how Paris Disney would compare to Disneyland and Disney World. I haven’t been to Disneyland for 20 years, so I’m not a great critic for that park. I’m not a Disney fanatic, I don’t study and research for hours before I arrive. I want to be surprised, awed, and amazed. I want to escape reality. I want to wonder “how did they do that?” I want to be surrounded by happy people and giggling children. I don’t go to Disney for the thrill rides (no, thank you), yet in every Disney park (or cruise) I visit, the feelings are similar. Easy, happy, and magical. I will point out that it rained Every. Single. Day. The temperature didn’t get above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and was mostly on the chilly side. And somehow it didn’t seem to matter – for almost everyone in the park. THAT is Magic.

We knew going into the long weekend that 3 nights at Disneyland Paris were probably too many. If we stayed outside the park, it for sure would have been too much. But with our hotel location it ended up being just right. We didn’t rush through the days, took midday breaks/naps, and enjoyed the Magic of Disney. The kids have new memorize that I think will stay with them for life.

Hungry in Hungary

01 Saturday Jun 2024

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Our wall of roses is starting to bloom!!!! I have always dreamed of having climbing roses. Who knows how old these are?! I love them.

I went to Budapest, Hungary for a work conference for a couple days this week. I have to admit that the taxi ride from the airport into the city had me a little disappointed. My thoughts were old, neglected, and blah. But as we got closer to my hotel, I could tell where some of the refurbishment money was being allocated. This church was so beautiful- look at the colorful tiles on the roof. I stayed in the Castle Hill area.

Beautiful castle wall. We had dinner at the base, inside the wall. The view from the Buda side overlooking the Danube River, over to Pest, was beautiful.

This is me trying to be an artsy photographer

The currency in Hungary is HUF – Hungarian Forint. The exchange rate is 359 HUF to $1 USD. It was kind of crazy to see the prices of things. This charge was just for a Refresher.

One thing that we have discovered around Germany at different festivals is Hungarian Fry Bread – Langos. I like it with cheese and sour cream. One of my favorite Memaw meals is Navajo Tacos, and this bread tastes just like it. So good.

While I was hungry in Hungary, Lily and Jay ate at the Waldgeist restaurant near the Redwings baseball field while Ty had practice. This was the smallest cheeseburger they offered…..no, it is not an optical illusion.

I was totally bummed to miss Lily’s big school project. Her topic was on global warming. She had been working on it for a couple of months. Jay was able to go and record her presentation. She nailed it!!

My conference was great. I am a little isolated in my home office, so it was nice to be able to talk with other people that have similar responsibilities as I do at other companies. I left rejuvenated, with some new contacts, and a few new ideas.

I flew home Wednesday night and we drove to Disneyland Paris on Thursday morning. I will share a separate blogpost with that adventure.

Ty is 14!!

27 Monday May 2024

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Not sure when this happened, but my little boy is now 14 years old. He is 5’10” and weighs next to nothing soaking wet, despite surviving on a diet of chips, ice cream, and peanut butter sandwiches. he had a 3 hour baseball practice on Saturday, so we decided to celebrate on Sunday instead.

We were all planning on taking the bus to Bad Soden for the Wine Fest, but Ty was tuckered out from practice. Lily, Jay and I went. These Germans sure do know how to do a festival. This was the 8th day of people sitting around drinking wine and eating yummy food. Still going strong!

Speaking of yummy food, here is where the best bratwurst I have ever eaten in my life was prepared.

Ty wanted to go for a family hike for his birthday, so on Sunday we headed to Saalburg and explored the end of the Roman Empire. It is crazy to think how far north the Romans controlled.

The basements of the wooden structures remain in tact.

And the wall surrounding the Fort is incredible. I wonder if the people that built the wall ever imagined that we would be looking at the same structure almost 2,000 years later.

The hike took us up to a point where we could see quite a ways out over the beautiful German landscape.

That little pile of stones was part of the Roman Limes, marking the end of the Roman territory.

We are approximately 832 miles away from Rome. That’s roughly Iowa to Pennsylvania.

Our luck of finding an oasis continues! Kaycee was pretty happy about the rest stop. I’d love to know how many steps he takes on our hikes – back and forth and left and right.

The restaurant was at the base of this tower. I spy Ty (the only one with enough energy to climb up and check out the view).

5.5 miles would take a normal person just over 2 hours to complete. We took our time and were out exploring and eating for about 4 hours. A bit of elevation on this hike but it wasn’t too bad.

Sunday night we had dinner with some friends. They grilled all sorts of food so we walked out of there stuffed. Overall it was a great ending to a great week.

Mountains – Montana & Switzerland

20 Monday May 2024

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Last week I took an unplanned trip to the USA to visit my Auntie Shell in Montana. To say she is one tough cookie is an understatement. She has been battling f-ing lung cancer for 5 years and had surgery to remove a new mass in her stomach. Spending the week with her was good for both of our souls. When I was a child and my mom needed a break from her 5 kids, she would drop us off at Auntie Shell’s house where we would do all sorts of fun things. Swimming, shopping, baking cookies, listening to the NYE Casey Kasum countdown, staying up way too late, playing with my hair. All the best things. I got to go on several road trips to Wyoming with her in her green Intrepid, music cranked, windows down, writing Pete the Penguin stories, stopping at tourist places along the way. She was who I wanted to be like when I grew up. When I was with her at the rest home, she kept getting stronger every day. The day before I left she was able to walk up and down a few steps. Incredible progress, especially considering what her body has gone through.

I left Montana and flew to Zurich, Switzerland, where we had plans with Kovar’s to spend a long holiday weekend on Lake Lucerne. We had found this amazing rental home in Sisikon, Switzerland. Whenever I am asked to draw a picture (I am a horrible artist), I draw snow-capped mountains with a lake at the base. That was what I got to look at from the couch. Gorgeous. The town was small, but the location was good for being able to do things around the lake. We ate at 2 restaurants in town, both were delicious. And you cannot find a better view…

Saturday afternoon I needed to fight off the jet lag so the girls went into Lucerne to explore a bit. This picture was taken on the Chapel Bridge, which connects the Lucerne Theater with St Peter’s Chapel, crossing the River Reuss.

There were many paintings on the roof of the bridge that caught my eye. I googled them. Renward Cysat either painted them or had them painted in 1611 (that is not a typo). Before a major fire in 1993, 147 of the original 158 panels were still in tact. Unfortunately 110 of them were affected by a fire that had destroyed most of the bridge.

The Water Tower was built around 1290-1300!!!!!

On Sunday the boys went fishing. No surprise, there are a TON of laws regulating what you can and cannot do while fishing in Switzerland. They had a great guide, Rolf, that took care of all of that for them. While most of the day they only caught little fish, it was good for all of them to be out on the water.

While I would love to be able to say that Ty caught the one and only big fish, I cannot. 🙂 The guide snagged it and reeled it in. Ty did help bring it in the boat with the net, though, so we will give him credit.

The girls spent the day exploring Mount Pilatus. We took a gondola all the way up to the top – stopping twice to switch carriages along the way. There are a few different tourist companies in the region. We used Pilatus. Without having anything to compare to, it was great. https://www.pilatus.ch/en/discover/lucerne (no, I don’t get paid to say that)

At the summit – around 7,000 feet above sea level. It was pretty cloudy that day so we couldn’t see very far, but it felt like we were on top of the world.

The views were incredible. I was thankful to have a ride up the mountain. We saw lots of hikers making the climb. No thanks….

Lily was the only one brave enough to get into the lake. The water was pretty chilly.

Here’s the info for the house rental if anyone is interested in booking directly with the owner. Highly recommend!

On the 4.5 hour drive home, we passed by the John Deere Bruchsal factory. Nice to see some green and yellow paint on the way!

We played a lot of Would You Rather while in the car. Would You Rather live in the mountains or on a beach. I choose mountains.

Schönen Muttertag und Vatertag

13 Monday May 2024

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Thursday was Father’s Day (Vatertag) in Deutschland. It is tradition for dads to grab a bunch of friends, a wagon of beer, and head out for a hike. A few of the baseball dads (and Jay’s backpack cooler of beer) went out for a wander during baseball practice. Lily and I crashed the party, breaking tradition of no wives or children.

We stumbled across this old hunting shed that was open to party. They had traditional German music blasting, burgers and wursts, and of course beer.

The Fathers Day Crew. One of the dads is a German, and we decided he should have been a professor. He shared his thoughts about German history and culture. And we all shared some good laughs. It was a great time.

This group had a proper wagon, with a speaker and a giant jug full of Apfelwein. Check out the dude’s glass holder necklace. I asked Lily to crochet one for me. I feel like I need one.

This group of dads had matching shirts and hats. Next year the Cricut will be busy. :).

Königstein had its annual Knight Festival this weekend.

Lily and I walked out to the park behind our house on Thursday evening and saw this unexpected renaissance camp. There were campfires everywhere, guitars and singing, knight costumes laying on the ground, lots of hides on wooden chairs (the original bagchair), and ax throwing! Super cool vibe.

Jay, Lily and I took the short walk up the hill to check out the festivities. First stop, the tavern. We could have returned this mug to get our Pfand (deposit) back, but who wants to return that sweet mug?!?!

There were lots of market tents selling all sorts of medieval goodies. Lily brought home an Ocarina – a little necklace flute.

No Knight Tournament is complete without some proper jousting. The competitors captured rings on swords, sliced apples off hanging ropes, chucked axes into giant wooden boards from horseback (I felt sorry for the guys that drew the short straw and had to stand behind the boards to hold them up). There was a battle with bow & arrows, and legit beating on each other’s metal war suits with hammers and axes. It was pretty intense….and awesome.

This dude. I had to snap a photo. And I’m pretty sure I need one of those horn steins.

Lily misbehaved and had to spend 5 minutes in the time-out chair.

We had some friends over between the afternoon and evening show. We grilled burgers and had way too much food, just enough drink, then we went back to the castle for the torchlit night Knight Tournament.

I think Cam preferred playing with the cotton candy over actually eating it. 🙂

The show was basically the same as the noon show, but the fire addition was pretty great. There was fire added to all of the competitions except jousting. It was impressive to see the horses not even flinch a little at the flames.

The schwarz (black) knight won the tournament.

Ty’s baseball organization is large enough for there to be 2 teams. On Sunday, the teams played against each other. Such a great group of boys and coaches. The head coach, Yumi, is Japanese. She calls Ty Ty-san – and now all the boys call him that. It’s kind of cute. 🙂

Lily’s team also played on Sunday, and I love being at the ball field on Mother’s Day – especially when the weather is perfect! For the first time in organization history, Redwings Softball was able to fill a 16U team. And they won their first game!! They played a double header and lost the second game in double overtime. The girls played great!

I wonder who made the hair bows for the girls? 🙂

Not to end on a bummer note, but I am getting ready to catch a flight to Montana. My aunt has been battling lung cancer for over 5 years (a few years longer than they thought she could fight it), and had emergency surgery over the weekend, where they found more cancer in her intestines. She’s such a fighter. When I was younger I wanted to be like Auntie Shell. She is strong, independent but loves hard, hilarious, intelligent, hard working, free spirited, she has travelled all over, loves to spend time in the mountains. She didn’t have any children, but always spoiled me and my siblings as if we were her own. She could use some positive vibes and prayers to come through this latest life hurdle. #cancersucks

Thanks in advance to Jay and our friends here for getting the kids where they need to be this week.

Labor Day, Hockenheim, Fleamarkets, and WorldFest

06 Monday May 2024

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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.