Great Saturday

We had a great Saturday.  At 10:00am the Chuggs, the Flakes {who just moved here – we knew them in Maryland and Ft. Lewis} and the Bowsers {we knew from Ft. Lewis} came over from Ramstein, an  hour away to spend the day with us.  The men took off for a 10:36 tee time and the 19 children hung out at home, jumped on the trampoline, ran to the park, and played games while the ladies chatted and prepared the food for the BBQ.  When the guys got home we ate.  At 6:00pm we loaded into four vans, granting all requests to switch vans to drive with their friends, and drove to the Neckarsteinach 4 Castle Illumination.  We pulled off the dirt road overlooking the large field and backed in right by the Gillespies, Astons and other friends in our ward.  The large field kept the kids busy for hours.

 

The four-castle town of Neckarsteinach lies on the Neckar River about 15 km east of Heidelberg.

Neckarsteinach’s foremost sights are its four castles, which stand on crags or the slope leading down to the Neckar. They are the Vorderburg (“Fore-castle” or “Further Castle”), the Mittelburg (“Middle Castle”), the Hinterburg (“Hind-castle” or “Hinder Castle”) and the Schadeck (also called the Schwalbennest, or “Swallows’ Nest”). The castles were built between 1100 and 1230.  The castle below is the Mittelburg, which is the only one that is privately owned and lived in.  Two of the other ones are freely open to the public.  You can park below and climb up to them… It’s on my list of things to do!

 

For hours Chris took all the kids down to play flag football.  They loved it.  One of Katie’s favorite parts was when she and Dad set up a fake play where Chris pretended to give it to her and she took off running.  The entire team chased her and Chris sailed it right in the end zone.   Ryan’s favorite was dodging Bobby making him roll off onto the side, and heading in for a touchdown.   Chris is such a fun Dad!

Ryan with two of his good friends, Tate and Mark.  You can see all our vans and chairs behind.

At about 9:30 we sat in our chairs and talked waiting for it to get dark.   Finally at 10:15 it was dark enough to start.  First three LOUD firework type ‘booms’ went off and echoed through the valley.  Then three of the castles lit up with red glowy lights as if they had been hit and were on fire.   After a few minutes the fireworks started.   It was a great firework show!   Then the three castles each exploded with what I can best describe as a ‘firework waterfall’.  It was cool.