We kept up with our usual routine this week of having a relatively low key work and school week followed by a very busy weekend.
We did break up the routine a little bit on Wednesday when we went to a friend’s house for some after work cocktails. This week’s specialty was blueberry mint gin and tonics, which were not only really pretty but also dangerously good, because apparently drinking something with blueberries and mint makes it perfectly acceptable to have more than one.
Since this was the last Friday of the fiscal year, I had to work the entire day, which meant there was no easing into the weekend for me. I rushed home as soon as work was over to help Ryan finish getting ready for his weekend. He was heading off to Bavaria for a camping and canoeing trip.
I dropped him off just after school for his departure, and then Matt and I spent our exciting Friday evening doing yard work. Our backyard has very shallow soil, which makes it difficult to keep the grass watered, and after the hot summer, most of it had given up. The weeds, however, were doing just fine and had apparently decided to take over.
We spent a little over an hour pulling weeds, getting the soil ready, and putting down grass seed, which is basically our version of farming. We even had to mow the weeds about an hour after quiet hours had started, and somehow no one yelled at us to turn off the mower. I’m pretty sure they were just happy to see us finally doing something about the yard. It looked so much better when we were done that I hadn’t realized just how bad it had gotten. I actually felt a little bad that our neighbors had been forced to look at it all summer, and I’m equally surprised that none of them ever chastised us for it.
Afterward, we ordered Thai food and spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching TV, which felt like a pretty good reward for our agricultural efforts. We started watching Clarkson’s Farm, which is hilarious and binged several episodes before calling it an early night.
Saturday was the big day at the Volksfest! Friday had been opening day, and the weather was perfect for opening weekend, so we were excited to get there and enjoy it. We left the house around 10 and took the train to Bad Cannstatt, giving us plenty of time to get to the tent before our reservation started at 11 at the Benz Tent. There’s just something about heading to the Fest on a beautiful day that never gets old!
When we walked in, we had a hard time finding our table; number 360. A couple of workers came over to help us find it and pointed it out. We followed their instructions and that is when I realized we were sitting directly in front of the stage. I could not have been more excited! Somehow, we had landed the front and center table in the entire tent.
It was the Stammtisch, which is traditionally a table reserved for regulars only. I have been coming to this tent for four years now and have made it through eight fests. I’m telling myself it’s my longstanding patronage that scored us this seat and not some silly coincidence. Seeing our names on the table right in front of the stage was honestly pretty exciting.
From there, we settled in for what turned into exactly the kind of afternoon you hope for at the Volksfest. There was music, dancing, chicken, plenty of beer, even some schnapps, and absolutely no concern whatsoever about the fact that we were going to have to wake up and function like normal people the next day. Somehow all of the guys lost their sleeves, as per tradition.
We spent the afternoon dancing and listening to the music while slowly working our way through the food and beer. It was one of those afternoons where you look at the clock and suddenly realize that several hours have disappeared, but you are not entirely sure where they went. When the tent finally closed at four, we decided that going home would be far too responsible, so we went back to Natia’s house for a late dinner instead.
We ended the evening there with food but also a couple of bottles of wine, because apparently we had not consumed enough beverages already. By the time we finally called it a night, we had been going for quite a while, but it was exactly the kind of Saturday that makes all the work during the week feel worth it. The Volksfest never really disappoints, although it does have a way of making Sunday morning a little less enjoyable.
Sunday was officially a recovery day after all the dancing, drinking, and questionable decision making of Saturday. Since Ryan was still away on his camping trip, Matt and I continued our Clarkson’s Farm binge watching. It was a very productive day if you measure productivity by how many episodes we managed to watch.
Ryan got home from his canoe trip around 2 PM and had a great time. He ran into the house, changed his clothes, and then immediately asked for a ride to the train station because he and his friends were going to the fest that evening. What an exciting life for a 16 year old.
He was back around seven having had a great time celebrating a friend’s birthday. Since we had barely seen each other all week, we decided that the next night needed to be a family taco night so we could actually sit down together and catch up. It is funny how we can all be home in the same house and still go several days barely seeing each other, but that seems to be the reality of only having one teenager in the house!
