It’s the first full week of September, so that means we are heading straight into wine season, but first, we had to get through the week! We had a hard time getting things back into gear after our trip to Portugal and only a short night’s rest before returning to work and school on Tuesday, and I think it really took us all the way to the weekend to get back on track.
The weather has been beautiful, though. It has rained a couple of times, but the sun comes right back out again, and the temperatures have been in the low 70s. We have been fortunate this autumn so far; the weather has not been very German!
This week, we had Senior Night at the high school, where we learned all about the cool events Brooklyn would be doing this year for her senior year. They are really going all out to make it a special time for the kids. I cannot believe we are already at Brooklyn’s senior year of high school, it’s gone by so fast! She let me snap a picture of her with the Senior Rock which she and some friends painted a few days before school started.
Ryan left school on Friday and went directly on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts. This is one of his favorite campouts of the year because it is a wilderness survival campout. The scouts must build their own shelters and cook everything over a fire. This year, there was an added challenge for the scouts: They would need to forage for their own food! Surprisingly, Ryan loves this stuff and could not wait; I think he showed up over two hours early to get started on his shelter!
Brooklyn had a friend over for a sleepover on Friday, so Matt and I headed into downtown Stuttgart to go to Stuttgart’s annual wine fest, the Weindorf, with some friends. It’s usually super crowded on weekends, but it had rained earlier in the afternoon, and I think that discouraged some people from coming out and kept the crowds lower. We even found a table, which is unheard of!
We enjoyed lots of Swabian food and lots of local wines. The main attraction for me was a huge tower of Aperol Spritzes called a Wunder Baum, or a “Wonder Tree.” I saw another table enjoying one and I earmarked it to come back to the following day.
Matt had to work on Saturday morning at the school’s ACT testing. Ryan was still camping, and Brooklyn had gone downtown with her friend, so I slept in for the first time in weeks; maybe months! When I finally got up, I dressed and hopped on the train to head back into Stuttgart to return to the Wine Fest, this time with some co-workers.
The weather was absolutely beautiful, and Stuttgart was bursting with people everywhere! We started with lunch, and then made our way over to the tent with the Aperol towers. Between all of us in the group, we finished one!
We didn’t want the day to end, so we walked around to a few more stands and tried a few more wines. Before we knew it, it was 9 p.m., and it was time to catch the train back home again!
On Sunday, Brooklyn and I slept in again while Matt got up early to golf with friends. Ryan got home around noon, covered in dirt and super proud of himself. They successfully foraged for food (although the leaders did hide some food, like beef and chicken, in the woods), and Ryan built a waterproof shelter out of moss instead of using a tarp. He sounds like he’s ready for a Discovery Channel show! We urged him to get into the shower and start washing his clothes as quickly as possible.
We finished the weekend by going to dinner at the ‘Birthday Restaurant’ in Waldenbuch. We were having a very late birthday celebration for Ryan and his friend Westin, whose birthdays are a few days apart in July. As usual, the owner brought over course after course of food and dessert. It was a late night before we were headed home!
While driving home, we noticed hundreds of people in the farm fields. It took us a few minutes of researching before we realized there was a lunar eclipse that night! We only missed the peak by a few minutes and caught the tail end from our backyard!
Gilcrests Abroad 