Because we will in Ireland for Thanksgiving, we decided to have and early feast on Sunday. With our neighbors, the Keelers (with whom we will be travelling around Ireland) we enjoyed a small version of Thanksgiving with a six pound roasted Turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, salad, dinner rolls and Pumpkin Pie. I missed having stuffing and cranberry but we can make that up later!We are thankful for our friends near and far, our family far away, this beautiful country we get to live in, and wherever the Army decides to take us next.
MK and our neighbor, Delaney worked for about two hours building their snowman! In this case, it was a Minnie Mouse snowwoman. When they finally came in, their faces were SO cold. MK has played in the snow every day and she thinks that it is her right to receive a cup of hot chocolate the minute she walks in the door.
I love the flowers that hang from every building in Bavaria during the Spring and Summer and early Fall! Above is a hotel on the Chiemsee Lake. Below is a Gasthof (kind of like a guest house) just outside of the Vilseck Army Post. The photos do not do either of these buildings justice! The Gasthof Stroll is a historical building in the Vilseck town. On a side note, all of us Americans start out the Spring season by planting numerous geraniums, petunias and other hanging flowers but ours are never as beautiful and full as the Germans. I have since learned their tricks; first, they use a weekly flower food. And then they use rain water and not water from the faucet to water everyday. Faucet water is so high in calcium here in Germany that all those minerals just kill our flowers. But the Germans will set a large barrel under their drainpipes to collect rain water so they can water their outside plants and flowers. 
There are many more things we love about Germany and Bavaria and I will save those for later posts so you can journey with us this Winter!
When you go to a Oktoberfest, you must enjoy one of these giant pretzels, or brezens in German. They take the edge off your hunger while you are waiting for your food to arrive!
This is Aloisius. He is an angel sent to Munich on an errand from God. The legend was that Aloisius was a train porter in Munich. When he died and went to heaven, he was very disappointed that there was no beer or snuff in heaven. God got tired of all of his complaining and sent him back to Munich to be an emissary between heaven and the government. When he got to Munich, he made a beeline to Oktoberfest and there he stayed, drinking beer and enjoying his snuff! Aloisius hangs from the middle of the tent and as the Fest goes on, somehow becomes covered in underwear! We didn't see any underwear this trip. However, we did hear that if you are seated under Aloisius, you may get sprayed with beer!
On the way home, everyone is pooped! We had so much fun this Oktoberfest! We would really like to go back to Oktoberfest one more time before it is over.