Trunk or Treat

Missy & Rachel

This year our school hosted “Trunk or Treat”.  Since  Trick or Treat still isn’t super popular here in Germany 35 families signed up to decorate their cars and pass out candy to trick or treaters.  This is a fabulous idea because the cars are contained in the school parking lot and it is completely safe.  Also, it’s easy for the kids to go from car to car, instead of walking down a street hoping to find a house that might be passing out candy.

Rachel wanted to decorate our car and pass out candy with friends.  We chose a simple theme but I was pleased with how our spider web looked. We even remembered to get a spider in the US while we were there!

It was a fun night and over 200 little kids participated.  Such fun to watch them!

October in Hudson

AJ, Grandpa Teddy, Stefanie, Granny & Rachel

The second part of our fall break was spent at Granny and Grandpa Teddy's house in Ohio. Lucky us! It was a great laid back visit. Halloween crafts with Granny, movies, eating out, and of course shopping. Shopping for clothes, shopping for Halloween, shopping for fun. And most importantly just some chill time; relaxing, playing outside in the leaves, also raking the leaves, chalk drawing on the driveway and walks with Granny. A perfect finish to fall break!

Monster Pretzels

Granny, Rachel & Stefanie pumpkin carving

Finished products!

Every trip to Ohio needs a visit to Miss Molly's Tea Room!

A Wedding in New Orleans

Victor's Family

We spent our fall break this year in the United States! We started in New Orleans for our nephew Victor's wedding to his lovely bride Veronica. New Orleans is a great city to visit and October is a wonderful time to be there with family. It isn't too crazy or intense but still lots of fun!

Our first day there Steve and I couldn't sleep (yay, jetlag) so we headed down to the river to see the sunrise. I ran a little and then we met at Cafe du Monde to get beignets. They were of course delicious. Warm fried dough, freshly made, is always a treat. We took some back to the kids too. We are nice like that.

While waiting for the rest of DelRossos to arrive, we took the kids and Steve's mom for a walk down Bourbon Street and past the St Louis Cathedral, the oldest, active Catholic Church in the United States. As you may know from some of my previous posts, the kids are not impressed by yet another church, but they dutifully ooh and aah for a minute or two for my benefit.

St Louis Cathedral

We then headed to the aquarium. We all enjoyed leisurely walking around and feeding the parakeets, even Grandma!

Rachel, AJ, Stefanie & Grandma

Rachel

Stefanie

Missy

AJ

Stefanie

Grandma

Rachel & Stefanie

Friday was wedding day but not until the evening. Steve's sister Rita arranged a Segway Tour for us. That was so much fun! I thought it was going to be hard to balance and to maneuver but it was really quite easy. The hardest part was that it was tough on the feet.  Since you're standing still and using your feet to steer they do start to hurt a little. However, not enough not to do it! We saw a lot of quirky architecture and all the main sites of the city and learned a little too. It was a perfect tour with teens! Afterwards we had lunch at Huck Finn's, yummy, yummy New Orleans food!

Mark, AJ, Rachel, Stefanie, Brian, Greg, Rick & Katie

Stefanie

AJ

Rachel & Missy

Armstrong Park

Rachel

Then it was time for the main event, Victor & Veronica's wedding. What a terrific evening.  The wedding was in a beautiful New Orleans church and the priest did a superb job equating marriage to a marathon, so perfect for the running couple! Steve, as Victor's Godfather was selected to do a reading and did an excellent job!

Rachel, Steve, Stefanie, Missy & AJ

Victor & Veronica!

Afterwards the reception was at a cool refurbished warehouse building. Lots of yummy food, good drinks and of course dancing.

Mike found the baby in the King's Cake

Steve, Veronica & Victor

Victor & Stefanie, AJ & Veronica

Following the reception the party moved to Pat O'Briens.  Steve and I happily joined the group after dropping the kids off at the hotel. After all we weren't in Germany, no bars for them! Since we were there, we of course had a Hurricane. It truly does pack a punch.

Saturday was an easy going day. We made our way to the French Market and explored that area and walked through the street, people watching and of course eating. We visited the World War II museum but realized we were going to run out of time before they closed so we watched the IMAX movie and did the submarine simulator saving the rest for Sunday, luckily you can go a second day for only an additional $5.

AJ, Brian, Stefanie & Rachel

Saturday evening Veronica's Aunt Terrie hosted a dinner in honor of the happy couple. It was another terrific evening, filled with fabulous food, music and fun. The had a Duck Dynasty theme happening, leading to some fun pictures with the kids and their cousins.

Rachel, AJ, Mark, Stefanie & Brian

Sunday was our last day in New Orleans and we spent part of the day finishing our visit to the World War II museum. This is an incredible museum with excellent in depth details of all aspects of WWII. I would highly recommend visiting it if you go. Definitely watch the IMAX movie but skip the submarine simulator!

Stefanie, Rachel, AJ & Brian

Munich Half Marathon

Finished!

To keep myself motivated and running I signed up for the Munich Half Marathon. We had a busy autumn so it was good to have the race because it made sure I ran even when I didn’t feel like it or when I maybe had a little too good of a time the night before a long run!

Steve and I found a way to combine our two passions during my training.  I would do my long run to Andechs, his favorite brewery.  I would run either eight or ten miles and he would meet me there with a change of clothes and a bottle of water. Then we would have lunch and a bier, well radler (a mix of beer and sprite) for me. And he would drive me home!

When my brother and sister-in-law visited they joined us!  Abby and I ran the ten miles to Andechs and Todd and Steve met us there.

Halfway - still feeling good!

The half marathon itself was good.  Munich surprised me and the weather was quite warm, about 70 degrees. I’m not sure it had been that warm since we returned in August. Steve was my support person, waiting with me at the start and cheering me on at the halfway mark!

Steve's halfway spot! (Didn't suck)

I went out a little too fast, it’s been a long time since I “raced” this distance.  It made the last three miles hard work and a mental challenge but I finished.  Not only did I finish but I met my goal of finishing under two hours, 1:57:54.

The Munich Half Marathon is a good course, mostly flat and finishes in the Olympic Stadium.  I like that I have now climbed the roof and run a lap there!