Phew..party week over!

It's great to be 8 and "Mad".

At least that is how Creed feels about it. 

To totally fit his personality he chose a Mad Scientist theme 

for his party and I have to tell you, it was 

a lot of fun to plan.

The execution of the whole event was a 

little harder, but hopefully everyone liked it.

He greeted his guests all decked out and ready to get his science on.

Mack was in charge of checking in all the soon to be PHD's.
 I had found a funny app that allowed the names of each guest to be pre-recorded with a distorted alien sounding voice.
So after they scanned their hand, Mack would tap on their name and their name would be heard in that voice.
The kids got a big kick out of it. 

Then they were handed their badges, safety goggles and lab coats.
The essentials for any good scientist.

First order of business was to build molecules while they waited for their fellow scientists to arrive.
I think more eating happened than building. :)

This is when Cam really shined.
He plays the part of crazy mad man quite well, and he started them off on their experiments.

We made two different kinds of snow. One with Ivory soap and the other with snow powder.

Our yard by the end looked like a winter wonderland.

The trusty tornado maker with two bottles experiment.
Easy and fun for the kids to try.

This experiment wowed the kids when their  balloons filled up by themselves when they tipped them over into their bottles of liquid.  Which was bottles with vinegar and pre-filled baking soda balloons.

This last experiment brought the kids to their knees, literally.
They were trying to catch (or for some lick off the driveway) the coca cola in their mouths
after we dropped peppermint mentos into the cola bottles and that makes them spray out like a geyser.

After I sent out the invitations, I found out that one of Creed's guests had an "in" at a local science lab type place
and his mother asked if she could send over one of her demo guys to
put on a little show for the kids.
UMM... let me think about that.
-No brainer-
somebody else to entertain the 14 kids for 45 minutes. = Best present ever!
The really unfortunate thing about the whole experience is that
the boy got sick and couldn't even attend.
I felt really bad about that.

Trust me, the kids were famished after using all those brain cells.
So we ate some food and did cake
then called it a day.

This cake was a lot of fun to do, and REALLY, REALLY easy.
The best part were the kids reactions, especially the boys,
they thought it was the coolest.

Happy 8th to our pretty great Creed!

Big man getting Bigger

The biggest of my little men is getting so much closer to being an 

actual REAL MAN he turned 10 this month.

Now for your sake, I will skip the typical birthday rant 

of all the cliches of parenting. 

 that would normally be inserted here.

How I can't believe it,

 It seems just like yesterday, 

only 9 short years left in my nest, {okay this one freaks me out}

yada yada yada...

I will just skip straight to the fun stuff and more importantly the pictures.

Mack and I decided a movie themed party would

be so much fun and pretty easy to pull off.

The Birthday boy. 

As the boys were arriving and gathering we played a game of "Who Am I" where they had to guess which famous movie character they had taped to their back.  I quickly realized in an International crowd it is hard to find enough characters that they all know.

This was on the door to the entrance of our basement and greeted the boys as they entered from the garage.

Each of the boys were then given tickets and they had to use them to buy all their goodies for the movie.
If they thought it through they would have enough to get one of everything.
BUT, you know kids, who would want real food when you can spend all your tickets on candy.
Luckily, I am not too new at this parenting gig and I made the hotdog and fruit kabobs a combo deal.
sneaky I know.
But don't think for a second that that stopped them from trying to bargain away the fruit.

The boys all lined up to get their food and took the whole thing very seriously.

Your trusty Concession stand cashiers

My friend Diana, along with another friend were a huge help.

Our movie choice was a movie that never came to Hungary in English, so I thought it would be a real treat
for these boys. And guess who the only boys were who hadn't seen it...
Yep, mine!

ready for the movie....
Please all take note of my sweet basement. It is supposed to be a swimming pool but for many reasons it isn't anymore and is all covered up.
Which leaves us with lovely indoor/outdoor turf green carpet and the most
coveted Golden Girl wicker furniture that comes with the house.
Not complaining though, because although this space isn't a beauty,  it is mighty functional
 and is the ultimate kid party location.
Tons of space and as an added bonus you don't have to worry about the carpet.

Isn't Pinterest the best!?
 These cupcakes were so easy and clever.
Perfect addition.

so lets recap,

Fun...CHECK!

Easy...CHECK!

There ya go.

 Success!

Happy Birthday to my first born love.

Easter

This is what Easter is supposed to look like.

NOT LIKE THIS.

EASTER

NOT EASTER.

EASTER

NOT EASTER.

YES

 NO.

GOT IT.

GOOD!

At least we still had a lot of fun on our snowy Easter weekend. 

Spring Break

Calling this week Spring break really isn't fair, 

it more accurately should be called Snow/Rain/ Freezing Weather break

but that's just my opinion... 

Our journey this trip was north. 

Probably our first mistake if we were looking for sun.

But we needed to visit Ramstein AFB for some routine Dr.'s appointments

and to stock up on American food and supplies anyways,

so why not tie it into our break so we could see

 some new sights along the way. 

Our first night we stayed in Linz Austria. 

We scored with a hotel right on the main square, I just wish we had been 

there a day earlier so we could have attended the

Easter Market going on.

Linz was quaint and beautiful and a perfect first stop.

Our Hotel
and a side note, Mack decided that this trip it would be fun to try not to actively participate in any pictures.
We told him he would regret it someday because we were going to be taking them anyways.
Only time will tell. :)
sheesh Kids!

In Linz there was a Fairy Tale park that brought the most popular German Fairy Tales to life.
It was interesting to say the least. Our discovery was that German Fairy Tales are a lot more violent
then the ones we grew up on.
So it prompted us to ask our kids if maybe they were actually German. 

The Train ride introducing the Fairy Tales.

We saw lots of friends who were stationed in Germany, some
we planned on seeing and others we just happened to run into
not knowing they lived there.
That was really wild and unexpected.

We were neighbors back in Pilot Training
12 years ago, it was so fun to meet her kids and
see her again

A day in Trier was recommended to us by a lot of people, and for good reason.  It's an old Roman city and is the oldest city in Germany. We are standing in front of the Porta Nigra the entrance to the old Roman city. 

My kids loved this "magician"  sitting in thin air. The best part of this picture is the lady's face in the
back. She looks so disgusted and appalled by this sight.

Trier's town square

Inside one of the Cathedrals they claim to have the robe Christ was Crucified in and periodically it is on display.
We were hoping being the week after Easter this would be one of those times.
Sadly, it wasn't.

Cemetery's in Europe are just cool.
This is one where lots of Saints and church officials were buried. 

Also in Trier are some Roman Bath ruins. This place was a hit for the boys, they loved running and climbing through all the tunnels underneath.

Another day Trip was to Heidelberg with some friends from South Dakota who are also stationed at Ramstein. My boys love babies especially this little cutie.

The castle in Heidelberg had so much beautiful architecture.

These two were only born days apart in SD and when she was less then a year old they moved.
It was great watching them reunite and interact.

On our way out of Germany we stopped here knowing the boys would love this part most of all.
Which they did! 

Callan was so brave and wanted to do any ride he saw. The joy of having older siblings to follow.
Even if we had to make his hat a little taller to help him qualify for the rides.

Cam was totally into his solo ride on the safari.

Flying NINJAGO!! By the end of the day we convinced Creed he could do it too.
He did great conquering a lot of fears and doing all the rides.

Creed receiving The Force from Master Yoda.
This kid cracks us up.

Our last day we stopped in Munich and went to the Dachau Concentration camp.
This is a conversation we have had to have a few times based on living here.
Our kids here a lot about the Hungarian Jews and Hitler and we try to be careful
while explaining these events to keep the balance of respect and history without too many
horrifying pictures or graphics that their little minds can't comprehend just yet.

This is the gate that too many innocent lives walked through and never came back out.

Someone had placed this sentiment near one of the memorials

horrifying isn't it.
When allied forces arrived -despite the fact the crematorium was being run day and night- they still found rooms filled
with heaps of bodies piled in them. 

 As usual, we packed a lot of sights into a few days, but that is the only way we are going to get all the things crossed off our bucket list before we leave.

So till next time...