We had a pretty typical week at home, with my birthday right in the middle, breaking up things.
Tuesday night, Ryan was promoted again (yes, again) in Civil Air Patrol. It almost seems like he’s ranking up every month, even though I know that’s impossible. He’s now a Cadet Technical Sergeant, and I got to pin on his new rank.
On Wednesday, he was also promoted to Cadet Corporal in JROTC.
I was crushed to miss it, but I had a doctor’s appointment that was impossible to reschedule. I was there in spirit, though, and Matt took lots of pictures. Once again, Ryan was the lead-on for his company and carried the flag. We are so proud of him!
Since Wednesday was my birthday, I took off work. After my appointment, I came home, played Xbox, and napped the rest of the day. I know; very exciting! In the evening, we went to dinner at The Boathouse. They finally had spargel soup on the menu, and we had a great time celebrating with friends. There was also a band and a huge May Day party, as May 1st is a German federal holiday, so we had a blast listening to all the German Schlager hits.
One of the more impressive gifts I received was a jeroboam-sized (3L) bottle of Aperol, along with a giant orange Breuninger bag stuffed with lots of Aperol accessories. Now I’m ready for summer!
On Friday, Brooklyn and the softball team left for another round of games in Belgium. The baseball team was initially supposed to go, but the Belgian team was dissolved this week for unknown reasons, so the boys got the weekend off.
On Friday night, Ryan hung out at home, while Matt and I met some friends at one of our favorite biergartens set up within a horse farm. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed the views of the blooming rapeseed fields all around. It was a great night!
We relaxed around the house on Saturday, and then Matt and I headed to Esslingen in the afternoon. We hiked up to Esslingen Castle, which we’ve never done, and then had dinner in the castle restaurant.
When we were done with dinner, we hiked back down, met some friends in the square by the church, and split a bottle of Kessler Sekt, the sparkling wine made right in the city center.
On Sunday, Ryan had Court of Honor for Boy Scouts, where they give out their annual awards.
Along with the several merit badges he earned, part of the ceremony is to pin your ranks on your mom as a ‘thank you’ for your mom’s support. I got pinned three times for Ryan moving up from Scout to First Class within one year 🥹.
To close the weekend, we went to the Sindelfingen International Darts competition with some friends. Initially, we thought we were just going out to play darts. As our friends talked about what costumes we would wear in the weeks leading up, we were confused but went along with what everyone else was doing. When we arrived at the event, we were surprised to find we were at a vast arena, with TV crews, filled with thousands of people wearing funny costumes. As it turns out, this was one of the tour stops of the International Grand Prix of Darts!The costumes are a British darts tradition, so groups of friends dress in themed outfits to try and get themselves on TV.
The whole event lasted about four hours, during which we saw three rounds of bracket competition in darts. The constant British chants for the players and costumes in the audience kept us thoroughly entertained the whole time. In the end, the returning champion from last year, Gary Anderson, took home the grand prize.
It was so much fun, even though we didn’t get to play darts! We will definitely be back!
Gilcrests Abroad 