Happy Birthday America

We've had such a busy week leading up to the 4th! This is the first week Joe and Flower have been off from school - it's great having them home!! Plus, you add a holiday weekend... and things can get pretty crunked up.

We thought about going to Munchen this weekend, but have delayed it a week (I think). So, John and I took my dad for a drive down to the Schwarzwald (The Black Forest). We have visited this mountain range before, but on Friday's trip we drove through an area we hadn't visited before. Then again, the Schwarzwald is 4600 sq miles - I don't think we'll ever see all of it.

We came upon this riding group - must have had legs of iron to move along the mountains.

To celebrate the Fourth of July - John, Joe, and grandpa went on a 30 mile bike ride. How much fun is that? They took some good pics.

Hay bales announcing a raspberry and strawberry celebration (north of Heidelberg about 10km)

Grandpa and Joe - by Lake Something (shrug)

To wrap up the day, we went to one of the Army bases near Mannheim for some local entertainment and some really bad carny food. The downside is that deep-fried-onion-rings smell in the air. The upside is being there with my family.

Marie, Flower, Joe, Grandpa, & John in the back row. Parking our bikes at the end of the Hauptstrasse/Bismarkplatz

I think Marie is so pretty.

Flower and Grandpa - don't they look like they're having a good time?

At the end of the day, we took the #5 strassebahn back to the Bismarkplatz and rode our bikes home ... no traffic jams for us!

American holidays as an ex-pat with my family is where it's at.