Friday, November 17, 2023

Sweet Sixteen Katherine

Celebrating Katherine twice this month! First b-day celebration was with Mamaw and Emily on FaceTime. We had flower themed chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Mamaw brought the bee candies for me to use. They turned out cute. I had plans to make different kinds of flowers for each one, but cream cheese icing is just too soft for most everything.
Happy birthday (early)

She was so excited to get a 60 oz. jar of M&M's! It wa son her birthday list, but she didn't expect to get them.
cupcakes and gelato
Mamaw enjoyed seeing the olive trees at Katherine's tennis. They are not even close to being ripe yet.
Mamaw and Jonathan came to see her play
AWE! Shadow and Lauren
Katherine made her birthday sign with a picture from each year of her life. So fun to look back at how she ahs grown and changed (and in some cases stayed the same)
Her birthday cake for her actual birthday/party

Her friends, Nicole and Martina, came...and Silas and Ruthie, too!
Mimosa plants from Regan
Hugs from Silas
And Ruthie

Happy birthday!
The video of this is hilarious! I didn't know that I bought trick candles. No Sparks. No Anything. Just candles that WOULD NOT blow out. I finally grabbed a bowl of water and chopsticks (because the candles had burned too low at that point) and put them in the bowl. It was quite funny.
YUM
Nicole and Martina
James couldn't make it to the party but stopped by later for a piece of cake and to give her a present
gift from James
We went out to eat for her b-day
hot pot...YUMMY!





Austria - September

So, none of us saw this trip coming, but what a fun unexpected blessing to be able to take 3 days to get away with Mamaw! The train was quite comfortable.
Views out of our train window
We were in Salzburg, Austria, but found out that we were only 5 minutes away from Germany. Why not?! We spent a few hours in the small little town. It was nice and fun knowing that Mamaw's grandparents immigrated from Germany to the US.
Ready to go!!!
On the train
It's fun seeing how trains are different in different countries
Austrian cinnamon rolls were HUGE! We all share ONE ;)
What a fun adventure! This was my first time to stay in a hostel. The kids have stayed in them on school trips. It's just like a hotel room except with bunk beds. Fun for a family trip
Katherine claimed a top bunk
Two story bike parking
LOVE this one :)
Cool plant
Mirabelle house in the Sound of Music


A statue in the dwarf garden
The kids wanted to play on this so badly! They were probably too old, but we let them play for just a minute if they were careful of all the tiny kids on there.
church in Austria
Salzburg...birthplace of Mozart
This bridge was covered in locks.

The town had all of these "cut throughs" that went through a building, but it was so fun because there were typically little shops in these little stretches.
Hummel figurines. So cute. I love window shopping :)
walking street
haha!

Walking up to Hohensalzburg castle
We made it to the top!
Going back down was much easier. We enjoyed the walk, but our feet were tired at the end of the day
Hudson found his happy spot! He's really been into chess this past year. So, when he saw this lifesize game going on, he was fascinated. He wanted to watch until the end, but th erest of us only last about 20 minutes.
We went on the Sound of Music Tour!!!!
It was so much fun to see all of the places where the movie was filmed. Yes, we were singing much of the trip! :)
The VonTrapp home in the movie was actually 2 different homes, one for the front and one for the back.

Such a beautiful lake and mountain view

Schloss Hellbrurnn
I am sixteen going on seventeen...


They actually had to move the location of the gazebo because it was too big of an attraction. So they relocated it here where it is easier for people to see (and off of the original owner's property)

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music
Cows

I love all of the cycling here.



The church where Maria and Captain von Trapp (in the movie) The actual wedding took place in town, but the abby was too dark for filming the movie, so they moved the scene to this church instead.


Girls. They want to get all the cute little clothes for their kids one day ;) I admit, they are cute!
The blue fire hydrant...the landmark that kept being given for where to turn that I could never find. Haha!
This is the kind of house Katherine wants one day
Yep. They sand and dance around the edge of the fountain just like in the movie
So many places are still just like when they filmed.


from the beginning scene
Just chilling on the bench for a minute
Love the gardens
Katherine asked for this picture because it had two specific flowers in it (but I can't remember what they are, you will need to ask her)
schnitzel for lunch
He's super excited about Austrian soup (we asked the locals to recommend a local restaurant with typical austrian food)
Frankfurter Wurstel for me...that is one long hot dog! The bread was pretty good, too. It looked very hard but was more medium.
Heading to Germany for a mere 2 euros a person!
Mamaw's favorite toothpaste in German
Katherine found some wrapping paper and picked it out for her birthday and for Christmas. She agreed to carry it everywhere and bring it home if I would buy it to wrap her gifts in. We were so impressed with prices in Germany! 

Taking a rest in Germany for a while. There's always adventure with the Sheddans. This time, a bee stung Mamaw IN her mouth! It swelled up and she had a terrible headache. We found a very nice pharmacist who got us the medicine we needed. We sat for a bit waiting for it to take effect...then went for gelato to make it all better!
Trying the gorilla Cola at the store.
Random street art
These little kids playing on the playground 
Group photo before heading back to our hostel in Austria
Germany selfie
Katherine wanted a picture with this road
THIS is the border between Germany and Austria!
Beautiful views from the abby
Took Hudson for a Starbucks coffee (and a hot chocolate for me)
Where Mozart was born

look at these cool floors

Cemetery that the one in the movie was modeled after
It is really a beautiful cemetery. 

Look closely and you can see a house carved into the side of the rock (middle left)

exploring
Where they pushed the car through trying to escape in the movie
Family shot from the abby looking over Salzburg

The door. gate to the abby


inside the abby...it doesn't look too dark, but it was darker than it looks in the picture. Only a handful of scenes were shot inside the actual abby that Maria was a nun...most were very dark...you would recognize which ones



Also where Joseph Mohr wrote Silent Night (Mamaw can still sing it in German)
The Mozart bridge (also in the Sound of Music)

statue of Mozart
"Horse head" fountain....this one took us a while to find. We knew it was somewhere, but not exactly sure where
Ah! Black Forest Cuckcoo clocks. Katherine didn't have enough money for one, but it is on her list! She took a brochure for when she finally has enough money for one! They are amazing!