We had a busy but pretty uninteresting week! The weather has been colder, and it’s rained at least once a day, although we have gotten a few minutes of sunshine and some beautiful post-rainstorm sunsets.
I’m still attending German class, and I made it through the end of the third week. I’m enjoying it so much! The class is challenging, but the teacher is awesome, and I’m retaining so much. The other students are also so nice, and it’s been great getting to chat with them during breaks.
Ryan ranked up in Boy Scouts this week to Star Scout! If he keeps up this pace, he could reach Eagle Scout in another year. We’re so proud of him, as always.
We had initially planned to go to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, this weekend, but the forecast was calling for snow in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and on some of the high mountain passes we would have to drive through. We decided to cancel, and luckily, the hotel and dog kennel allowed us to change our dates without penalty, so we didn’t have to feel so bad about the decision.
On Friday, we joined some friends at Sitt Wine for drinks, and then we ended up spending the entire day Saturday binge-watching Dexter on the couch with the kids while it rained outside.
On Sunday, there was a brief break in the clouds, so we decided to rush out and try to get some family photos. I’ve been wanting to take pictures in the autumn vineyards every year, but we always seem to be out of town when they are in their peak colors.
We drove out to Fellbach, just north of Stuttgart, and it turned out that we timed it perfectly this year; the vines were all colored bright yellow and orange.
We drove around for only a few minutes before finding a great spot near the top of Kappelberg, overlooking Stuttgart. The weather was not so cooperative, though, as it was only about 40°F, and we had wind gusts on the slopes of over 50 km/h. Once Matt had set up the camera on the tripod, we quickly took off our jackets and froze while Matt triggered the remote and took the pictures. Then we ran to get our jackets back on.
Luckily, the pictures turned out great! And Brooklyn was a trooper about the cold, and we were able to get a few photos of her in her graduation cap and gown.
I wish we had been able to drive around and get a few more shots in different colored fields, but we were all too freezing, so we headed back home.
The leaves on the trees in our own neighborhood are so pretty so we jumped out on the edge of the woods and got some more great shots.
We finished out the weekend in what I guess is now our new usual: on the couch with Thai food takeaway. 😃
Gilcrests Abroad 