Frohe Ostern!

(Picture courtesy of Monika ;) More later... with the Bad Bug!)

What a wonderful Easter/Ostern! We have been, as per usual, submitted to the most of fun by the wonderful Hutts and Baumis, etc. The Baumgarts and Unkriegs (Mareike's family) also took us on a sort of scavenger hunt called "letterboxing" for which you basically follow some natural clues ("look for this strange shaped rock and take 77 steps east" etc) and eventually come to a hidden tupperware container with a little guestbook and stamp in it. You can then stamp your map, write the names of your group in the guestbook, and re-hide it in the same place. There's an email you can write to if anything has changed (ie, the book is damaged, one of the landmarks is washed away, etc.)... lots of fun. You guys would have found it right up our alley. It probably took about 2 hours to get to it.

Previous to the hiking (so, in backwards order)... we had been at church breakfast, church (AT 5 AM IN THE MORNING FOR 2 HOURS!!! Capers, Isabelle, Jojo, and I may have been leaning against each other for certain parts of the service. The incense was also quite potent. Bene was really awake for some reason), 4 hours of sleep, walking to a friend of Bene and Eva's to celebrate a birthday, eating dinner at the Baumis with Oma and the Hutts (delish!), took naps (Isabelle for jet lag, Capers for biking about 310 km the day before to get back to Hanau... due to a miscalculation, btw, not because she wanted to ride further than ever in her life for one day, ie, 19 hours straight) and me translating, us eating a delish lunch of weiße spargel (white asparagus), driving from airport with ISabelle and Capers to Mannheim BELTING "Wicked" the musical, all the way.

That's all for now... stay tuned! As I type, Isabelle, Bene, and Jojo are playing Ligretto. Capers helped chopped veggies with Michi and Dome, and Martin is on grill duty while Oma sits in the kitchen and provides lovely conversation for us all. Oops... time to go refill our beers and head to the table!