Oliver's first day of preschool

Big brother helped ease the transition, but Oliver still screamed his little head off after I left. :( 

Mammoth marshmallows

...Because you can't go wrong giving three boys big jolts of sugar before bedtime.

First Day of School

Rockam signs in to his kindergarten class.

Rockam was feeling a little shy this morning. Oliver had a nice time exploring before his start day tomorrow.

Home party

Stephen was surrounded by more family and friends for a "Nexo knight" birthday on Sunday afternoon.

We had a full house, so I didn't take any photos until cake time.

Cheese cake shaped like a Lego Nexo Knight shield. I used melted chocolate for the edging.

We always leave up the decorations for a few days afterward.

Stephen turns 8

Stephen was lucky to have two birthday parties and two cakes this year. 

Jaroshes graham cracker cake.

We celebrated the day before at Grammy and Gramps' house with Aunt Susie and Uncle John.

Steam train ride up Brocken

I had a ton of soot in my hair after this little adventure!

We chose to stand between cars to get the full experience.

Steinbach's

For me, probably the most enjoyable times of our trip have been staying at Sebastian and Maria's.

The dining room where the family likes to hold hands and say a German phrase/prayer that ends with "Bon Apetit" before eating.

Ikea kitchen :)

View of roses, lavender and fruit trees.

We've played lots of fun and innovative games around this table. Qwixit, Bohnanza and Carcassonne are probably going to be added to the Parrino repertoire when we get back home.

The "winter garden" with Sebastian's cacti collection.

Zinzendorf's resting place

This Herrnhut panorama is very near the graves of Count Zinzendorf and his family. We also drove around Berthelsdorf looking for the church where he lead Moravian Bretheren to pray for 100 years.

View from a small tower that a very kind Moravian Christian man with a key let us into. The current Herrnhut Moravian Bretheren church can be seen in the distance.

We would've gone to see it, but we still had a long drive back to Wernigerode ahead.

The Slav Epic (Friday)

Friday morning we took a brisk walk to the Alfons Mucha exhibit called the Slav Epic. It includes 20 enormous paintings that depict the history of Slavic peoples.

I didn't understand very much... But the paintings are very moving. This one is of Jan Huss.

There was also an Ai Wei Wei exhibit with the Chinese zodiac creatures outside. 

More overwhelmingly ornate architecture in the background :) All of Prague seems to be like this.

Back on the road again.

For about 3 minutes we were in Poland!

And back to lovely Germany.

Inside St.Vitus Church