Idar-Oberstein

Recently we took a little day trip up to Idar-Oberstein, to see the Felsenkirche, or "Church in the Rock." It was a nice day for a hike--a little breeze blowing, a pretty sky. We had a light lunch in the the square before we began hiking.

Inside the church is not really all that impressive....

but the view is great!

 There are two castles on the mountain near the church. One is ruins and the other is maintained and run by a private company.

We got to peek in at a wedding in the castle

monument to local soldiers from the Franco-Prussian War

I have a picture from this same location with the big kids....if I find it I'll post it here!

My Fitbit logged MANY flights of stairs on our hike! Because as usual, no one ever built a castle in a nice level area....something about protecting it from attacks. ;) 

It was another nice afternoon spent with my two guys....

The best of times

We had a late start to our school year, with the big move. But as I've learned over the past 16 years of homeschooling, some of the best learning experiences happen when we are not sitting around the table with pencils and notebooks and protractors. We've gotten to experience history and walk in the very halls they wrote about in our text books. We've discovered that geography is more than rivers and borders and mountain ranges, but involves everything from currency to standard of living to agriculture. We've learned a language together and how to navigate real life in a culture quite different than our own. We've developed more patience as we waited for books we ordered to make it through the slow military mail process. And we've continued to learn to abide in our Savior through it all.
But there is definitely a time and place for protractors and compasses. And astronomy and essay-writing and cursive have a valuable place in our lives. So we pressed on. And I am happy to announce that as of last week, we are officially done with 6th grade!

Our last day of school was a gloriously beautiful one. We started the day at a self-picking strawberry patch just up the road.

We came home with enough strawberries to make 2 pints of jam, have spinach and strawberry salad (with olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Italy) for dinner, have strawberry shortcakes (with real whipped cream) for dessert, freeze a gallon-size bag of strawberries for later, and still have a big bowl left to snack on....so delicious.

We finished up our school subjects outside as much as we could.

And the last couple of math lessons are always the most fun. Sometimes they are roman numerals. This year he got to make platonic solids and record information about his icosahedron and the other shapes.

And there it was. The last day of school. But on the horizon lay the promise of the first day of summer! And THAT was an exciting prospect!

We started the morning bright and early (and I really mean that. The sun comes up at 5 am here!) and hit the road with our good friends for our kickoff-to-summer trip to Legoland Deutschland for Star Wars Days!!

We got to the park shortly after it opened, and filed in the gates with the thousands of other people there to get a glimpse of the storm troopers and rebel pilots and hopefully Darth Vader strolling around...

We took the boy to Legoland wayyyyy back in 2003 when he was just a wee babe. My mom had come to help out (remember the Soldier was deployed) and since all three boys have their birthdays in July we decided a trip to Legoland would be a good celebration! For some reason, even though all the sweet old German ladies commented to him on his "Grosse blau Augen" (big blue eyes) he doesn't remember it at all! ;)
So this was all new to him. And he had a BLAST.

We rode lots of roller coasters!

                                        

Some stormtroopers are friendly, but J wasn't too sure....

One of MANY enormous and hugely complicated and detailed displays. I can't even imagine how long it took to assemble this.

There he is!  

The boy rode this one alone... 

We got to watch a lightsaber battle 

And it was declared to be the "Best First Day of Summer Vacation Ever" by the committee! I don't know how we'll top it next year!

Knight's Tale...

We took a little trip north one weekend to go see a jousting tournament. No biggie. Just the coolest medieval market in the history of the world.

Burg Satzvey was first referenced in 1396, but there are some who believe the foundations to be even older. It has been in the same Count's family for several hundred years now, and is mainly used for fairs and festivals. After a nice drive, this view had us pretty excited about what we would get to see!

 The medieval market itself was gigantic. Hundreds of tents set up, showing all sorts of different medieval handiwork and selling goods from weapons to shoes to toys to musical instruments to jewelry and much more!

We snuck down to check out the horses before the tournament. Nice digs!

This intricate form of lace making is called bobbin lace. It was very impressive watching her quickly twist and move those bobbins around as she created the delicate patterns.

 There was a large field where the fair's participants stayed for the weekend. It was like walking back in time--they were all dressed in period costumes and were living primitively for the weekend.

Medieval with a modern twist. Jenga wearing gauntlets. With sword fighting going on in the background...
   

I believe this is a lady of the court, being escorted into her residence by gallant knights

Of course, this being Germany, there was abundant and wonderful food to be had, so after filling ourselves up, we strolled over to the tournament grounds. 

The jousting tournament was a story about two brothers, one of whom had turned and followed a dark Lord after their father and the rest of their family were either killed or enslaved. There was a damsel involved, of course, and lots of thrilling sword fighting and horesemanship. We had read the synopsis of the story in English before the show started, which made the German narration easier to follow. Even if we had had no idea what they were saying, the whole thing still would have been exciting. 

We sat on wooden bleachers around the tournament area. We paid for the premium seats that had backs and a tent covering. (:  

There was a big parade of the citizens-nobles and villagers and even the "religious leaders."

There were good guys (HOORAY!!) 

and bad guys (BOOOO!)

and the show kept us on the edge of our seats.

Don't let her pretty dress fool you--she was bad news!

racing through a line of fire

real jousting

One of the riders was thrown from his horse and dragged. The riders took part in challenges, from hitting targets with flaming torches to avoiding flaming balls being swung at them, all in order for the good guys to avenge the death of the beautiful damsel.

And in the end, the good guys won and everyone cheered!

We celebrated afterwards with a gigantic cotton candy.

And then it was time to go home. After a wonderful day. We are forever spoiled with medieval and Renaissance fairs. And don't even mention Medieval Times in the mall to us...