Oktoberfest = 17-20Sept2009

It gets harder and harder to come home from Germany. If we ever disappear without a trace, check Barvaria first!!

Papabear worked the night before so after he came home at 7am we took to the road. (with me driving *gasp*)

Our first stop was to see the Otzi the Iceman at the halfway point between home and Germany. We went just to see him, but the museum had a FOUR floor display about Mummies around the world. We saw Natural (frozen, dried out) mummies and ACTUAL Egyptian mummies! My first! Littlebear said that this was the best part of his vacation. (Although he does NOT want to be mummified when he dies...LOL! "Mom, I don't want my brains pulled out of my nose")

I can't believe that Otzi's clothing and weapons are still intact. It's amazing to see something that old...and in that great of shape. Amazing! They didn't let me take pictures inside, so I don't have pictures of him. :o( Here's his website, for those so interested: Iceman

On to Deutschland!!!

On Friday we connected with two other couples and headed out to Linderhof palace. I've seen this palace at LEAST 3x and it still impresses me as my favorite palace.




This is where I would love to live. Just like this...in this house. *sigh*






Schloss Linderhof. You can see Papabear and one of the couples we went with.






Our Family (I have no idea what Littlebear is doing...Ganstah Giggle??





The Gardens at Linderhof





I love wrought iron work...and this pergola was covered with ivy in the process of changing to scarlet. Wow!



I'm a fan of art...all kinds. Painting, sculpture, architecture, handicrafts. Barvaria is covered in muraled houses. Here's a few.








Here's the detail of the above house.











Here's a detail of the above house. The whole building is scenes from everyday life. So cool!






We put Littlebear in the Resort's camp adventure program (babysitting.) I fought this tooth and nail, but in the end I gave in. He had a blast. Sightseeing isn't his thing. He whined through Linderhof and was just a party pooper. From then on we put him into the programs. He LOVED it! All of his best friends (literally) were in there. They took the kids to the reptile house, a boat ride, and this "winter lodge" which had video games and facepainting. Littlebear wanted a picture before we washed it off.





A Firefighter mural for Opa M.
Fuerwehr Partenkirchen= Firehouse of Partenkirchen (city)




Edelweiss Lodge and Resort (and my car)





My new Desktop picture



So, you're asking yourself: Where the heck are the Oktoberfest pictures??...Well *laugh* There's a story. The day we were supposed to go (1st day, parade, opening ceremonies) the group we were going with had a late start. Finally, at 10, we were ready to get on the hour/half train ride to Munich...then Papabear had an idea. We needed to be back here by 4 to pick up the kids from Camp Adventure so, since we've been five times, we should stay behind and watch the kids for the hour before they went into Parent's Night Out. So we let the 3 other couples go and we headed out to Garmish to....SHOP!!

I went online and found a yarn shop...plugged it into my GPS and headed out with a heart full o' bursting. It's a crappy photo, but this is the shop. She spoke better English than half the people I know. And she loved to talk!!





This is the size of shop I'd love to own. It's about as big as a bathroom and just stuffed with 'nummy yarn. However, I was REALLY good. I bought some German wool for a scarf and three groups of Barvarian buttons (the flag, an edelweiss, and Saint George for Littlebear's sweater)





My Yarn in my Val Gardena bowl (But Val Gardena is another Blogpost.)It is gray, pink, orange, and a smidge of blue. We also bought German lace curtains on the bolt for the camper (cut what you need, they're already hemmed)I'll go find my camera and see if I can't include them in another blogpost. This one's long enough already!!




And that's it. We had so much fun! I love this part of the world and I can't wait to go back. It always amazes me whenver we leave 65 degree dry weather and open the car door to 82 degree humid weather. Ha!



Tschuss!
Ang

Venice- 05Sept09

Oh! what a wonderful day to go to Venice. It was almost cold! Thank goodness I ignored Papabear and brought a sweater. Lots of pictures....lets get to them!

This was the 5th attempt to see Venice. A few times Papa had to go into work...a few more were OMGosh hot...and the last one was my goof up. The lack of tourists and cool weather were well worth the wait.


VENICE!!!




I'm not sure what this cathedral is. We didn't get over to it. I wanted to include it to show you how close they build to the water




Another one we didn't get to...Next time!!




The Balcony at Saint Mark's (Imagine all the words that have been said from it)




Saint Mark's Cathedral. I've been waiting for 20 years to see this!





The Famous Bronze horses of Saint Marks (these are copies)




I should have taken one of all three of us, but I was too scared to give my camera to someone. I worried about getting it back.




It is AMAZING that they can move these boats around and not thunk into walls/each other!!




Littlebear found a Jellyfish in the canal. He was so excited and talked about it all day. (So, of course, I had to include it)




Detailed crop of above picture




Handmade lace with a NEEDLE and THREAD. I like to think I'm pretty artsy...until I see a true craftsman. I wanted to buy this guy's lace so bad...but the price was wayyyy out of my pricerange. So I took pictures and shook his hand. LOL I'm sure he would have prefered a sale over a handshake. *grin*




handmade bobbin lace...ugh! A migrane waiting to happen. Just looking at the pattern (darker colored thread) gives me a headache.




Littlebear loves watching artists work their craft (*sniffle* he's going to make some crafter a wonderful husband!!) So I had to take a picture of him with this pizza maker.




Cyborg masks...sooooo cool!




Masks! As soon as the tourists go away (and the prices are slashed in half) we're going to buy masks for Carnivale. Next year I hope Kate and Steph will be out here so we can go. *tingle of excitement*




I love the little details of European cities.




Isn't this the coolest!? It's a hand blown glass Angels & Demons chess set. Retails at 1800euros (2400 dollars)




The Realto Bridge over the Grand Canal. The stone on it is glass smooth from all the tourist hands that have touched it. So beautiful. My pictures don't do Venice justice.




The Grand Canal after all the tourists/business men have gone home. We had coffee in that little cafe to the left. (By the red geraniums)




A crabby kid and a cappuchino. MMMM! Life is good.




My Best Friend!!




I did find a hairstick there. I think next time we'll go to the glass making island (Murano) and I'm going to get a pure glass one. And some loose beads for...you know.....*blush* crafting




I loved Venice. It IS dirty and touristy...but I love the vibe of it. We saw origional Tintorettos so close you could touch them. In the states, you'd NEVER get that close to a true master's work. It would all be behind a velvet rope. I'm so glad I took a Art History course in college before coming here. It's amazing to see these works in person. They are so beautiful and LARGE. Pictures in a book don't do them justice. You MUST see them in their origional settings. Come over and I'll show you! *wink*

Love, Ang

Gal's best friend....

Sorry folks, I get you all excited about my full camera card.....then I don't deliver. I blame it on computer troubles. I'm having a hard time with my camera->computer->photobucket. I'm working on it....I promise.

here's a little picture for you. (it's my test picture to see if everything's working correctly.)

Good thing: My pug is loyal. He's never farther than a foot away all day.
Not so good thing: He's ALWAYS underfoot, and that includes whenever I color my hair.


Good thing: I have chestnut brown hair again (without the gray roots)
Not so good thing: So does my pug.

LOL!
Love, Ang

First Day of Third Grade

I love "Firsts."

January 1, Birthdays (1st day of my biological year), First day of school, etc.

It's almost like a state sanctioned day to chuck everything that's not working.....wipe the slate clean…and start over.

So, on the first day of school, let me say: "Hi! My name's Angela. Wanna chat?"

I quit blogging last April because, quite frankly, I couldn't find anything to talk about that didn't end in me whining about my life. Then came the summer, complete with the heat/humidity. Ugggghhhh! Littlebear even told me: "Mom, I can't wait till it's cooler and you're nice again." Ouch!

But, here I am once again....I've got a new perspective.....it's cooler *Grin* and I can hear myself think in this house. (How can one little boy produce such a vast amount of noise!?!?)

Anyway....

I've got a lot to say and a full camera memory card. So let's get to it. I'm not going to promise chronological posts. That bogs me down...I'm just going to promise that you'll hear from me more often. I've missed pouring out my crazy onto someone. *laugh*

With love,
Ang

Happiness is...

Baby Yarn.

Yes, I know I have sooo much yarn already. But most of it is wool and the other half is sock yarn. And if you've ever been around a baby, you'll know that their clothes are washed over and over. So I decided to make my baby sweaters out of a washable/dryable acrylic yarn. I really like the way this feels. Not at all like the scratchy Redheart yarn.


Speaking of that Redheart yarn. It's being knit up into a crazy afghan. And I LOVE the results.

Here's another little babyhat I just churned out. My girlfriend on Facebook asked for a babyhat for her best friend's daughter. So I added a bar of chocolate for them to share and mailed it out. :o) (More of my grandmother's yarn. I had been hording it...as a way to hold on to her. But I know I'm alot like her. And I'd want my granddaughter to use up my stash. -I miss you, Grandma!)


Love, Ang

Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders-USO

I'm not joking when I say our base is in the sticks. So whenever there's something going on...we're sooooo there!



It was so nice of them to come all the way out to see us. I just wish my pictures were better. Anyone have any photographic advice about taking indoor, action pictures with low light?

Elizabeth won a T-shirt!

This is my favorite little girl. She is sooo sweet and mellow. (She gets it from her momma!)

Can you say "GIRL CRAZY!?!"

Love, Ang

The Lone Picture

Here's one that I want to share.

I am SUCH a dork. This was taken outside the commissary. It's the only place I've found both flags together. And Littlebear was such a good sport for posing.

"Sheesh Mom, hurry up. People are looking at us!"

Love, Ang