10/31 - I was out of town, had to get up 3:30am Dallas time to fly back. Worked most of the day. Left work early, went to vote, and then headed home to get ready for Halloween. We went to the Cracknells with several of the neighbors. We had pizza, drinks and friends. We got some pictures of the kids and headed out for trick or treating. Kasey was Elsa and Landon was a Texas A&M baseball player. We had fun going around the neighborhood. I brought Kasey back to get her in bed. I let her have 1 piece of candy. So then she wanted to go outside and see if trick or treaters were coming, she had to go potty, her tummy hurt, several things to keep her from going to bed. So much for 1 piece of candy.
Landon and Greg went back to the Cracknells. The boys sorted their candy, did some trading and then came home a little later. We all had a good time!
10/26 - We got up and got ready. I went to pick kids up. Landon had to work on writing his mayoral speech. We worked on what he would talk about. His platform is about exercising more so I suggested that he use the Hanz and Franz - we are here to pump you up as catchy slogan. He didn't really want to use it so Greg suggested saying it the same way but saying I'm here to change, our school. He came back monday and wanted to do pump you up.
The boys went to soccer practice. Kasey and I played work. She was my boss telling me what to do. She had me learn how to draw a human. She would show me how to do it and ask me to do it. We drew a person, wrote the name and then drew dog and labeled it. then we turned the paper over and we drew whatever. Kasey drew a dragon and castle. I drew tree with grass, flowers, butterfly and sun. We had fun.
10/25 - Another crazy day. We got up for next baseball game. Kasey started the day with throwing a huge fit, she lost a few birthday parties and decided to quit soccer (she didn't play in her game, but next day she decided to at least finish the season). We'll see how this attitude issue goes.
Landon played in soccer game and lost 3 to 1, for some reason the guys are struggling to score.
I left a few minutes early to catch elementary reunion. I got there at the end, but got to say hi to several people which was fun. I went home to say goodnight to kids. I got to tell mom and dad who was at reunion.
Then it was time to get ready for my 20 year high school reunion. it took place at Rough Riders ballpark in Frisco. Greg drove Rebecca Hughes and I up there on his way to FC Dallas game. We were one of the first people there. As people started arriving and checking in. most people were having a beer. Sarah and Rob showed up and shared a beer with us. It was fun catching up with everyone. Friends from elementary school, middle school and high school.
We went in at 7:30 - Patrick Floyd and Amy Hendry planned it. Patrick had Sarah Martin Wolff sing God Bless America to get it started. Everyone was getting drinks and food and catching up. I won't remember everyone but some people there. From Elementary - Anne Lenhard, Nick Thrash, Mark Williamson, Christa Dean, Allison Giddens, Delana Thompson, Linda Dedo, Christy Apple, Christy Lavendara, Lori baker, Mike Oneal, Jeff Neyart, Jason Boslow, Kevin Sendry,Mike Cihock, Traci borcetino, Yong Lee, Lee Worley, Patrick Floyd, Jaime Folkert, Sarah Martin, Abby Farmer
Then from middle school people like David Walton, Andy Chun, Cory Koop
High school friends like Mike Eaton, Steve Falk, Brian French, Amy Hendry, Leith, Rob Worley. Kristen Buttram, Kirsten Knipp, Josh Gibbons, Gary St John
Anyway there were many there. We had a great time catching up. At the end we all went on the field for a big picture of everyone. Greg was able to get in at the end when he came to pick us up. Then several of us headed to Henry's at shops at Legacy for a few drinks.
We left about 1am after a very fun night.
10/24 - Landon had a make up game. He ended up pitching 2 innings. It was a tough game. Our team was visitor, and we ended up losing by 1 run. Team lead most of the game. It was bummer. Landon did pretty well pitching, some good and some bad. he did get a game ball for it.
I brought home Kasey right after the game because it was late
10/23 - We had parent teacher conferences this week. Both went well. They seem to be doing well and are liked by teachers which is good. We are proud of them. Landon is reading at early 4th grade level.
In addition to Kasey's friend at school another little boy gave her a necklace and made art for her. We are in so much trouble.
10/19 - We had 2nd daisy scout meeting. One part of it I was asking the girls to decide if they wanted to go to a theater performance or plan a holiday party. It was kind of quiet. Kasey says, can I say something. I said sure. She asked the girls to vote. Who wants to do theater performance - no one; who wants to plan a party - everyone. That's my girl :)
Afterwards Kasey and friend Violet played at the park while we waited for Landon to finish soccer practice. We went home and kids and I decided to go to dinner. We went to small place near by called Spazo. They were playing the cowboy game so Landon was ok. We had some pasta and got to spend some time together.
10/18 - Greg got up at 6:15 to get ready and head to the airport. He was day tripping Alabama for the A&M game. Kids and I got up, made some english muffin breakfast sandwiches. We got kids ready for their soccer games. Landon's team lost 2 to 0, struggled with scoring. Kasey played pretty well at sweeper. After games we headed to Elke's with Grammy and Gramps for some lunch. After lunch we went to Dairy Queen. Landon is much like me that we don't like vanilla. We got a snack, and I had Landon taste their vanilla. He agreed it was better than most vanillas.
We got home and chilled out some. We started watching A&M game, but it got ugly fast. Then we went to the school so kids could ride bikes and play some with Cracknells. I took Patch up there but didn't get to walk to much.
We headed home. After our late lunch and snacks we weren't really hungry. We decided to have movie night. Kasey and I watched Dancing with Stars and Landon watched the first Harry Potter movie since he finished the book.
Greg got home close to midnight.
10/17 - We had school fall festival. We all had BBQ - Landon wanted to sit with his friends instead of us. He sat with Travis, Andrew, Austin and a few others. We had some good BBQ and some homemade desserts.
Then we went to walk around. Spent some time outside doing some games. Kasey decided she wanted face paint so we waited in line for a while. She got a princess crown. After that we went back outside. Kasey found Bryce. They had glow necklaces, and were walking around in field. They walked around talking for about 30 minutes. It was cute.
10/13 - I had to work some in the morning. Kids were off school Then kids and I had lunch with Grandma and Pops. Then we did some shopping. We went to party city to finish out Kasey's Halloween costume. Then we went to cake carousel looking for Frozen castle with no luck. Then we went clothes shopping at Kohls. We walked in and I saw a dress for me I liked. Landon asked - are we shopping for dresses or looking for robes (which is how I convinced them to go clothes shopping). We had fun. Landon finally found some long sleeve and pants he liked. He also got a full pullovers that he can wear with his tshirts as it gets colder. Kasey found some Frozen stuff that she loves. She would try them on and dance around saying stuff like oh yea, I'm Elsa. Kasey got a Olof robe and Landon got a sports one.
We got home and kids wanted to put on all their clothes. Kasey had a dress, sweater and her robe on. She was dancing, doing karate and talking to us. Landon put on one of his pull overs, and then ended up in pajama bottoms and shirt. Kids and i started watching Star Wars 6. Greg came home from work and we all went to dinner.
We came home, kids showered, Kasey put on Elsa costume and became queen. Landon and I watched the rest of Return of the Jedi.
It was a fun day.
10/12 - Patch woke me up about 6:45, and then kids were up by 7:10. We chilled out for a little while and then got up. We had donuts for Breakfast and chilled out until Greg got home between 11-11:30.
We decided to go to lunch at a new Pizza place in Fairview. We weren't overly impressed, but we got to eat outside because it was nice out. We were going to do a little shopping because Kasey needed new shoes. She chose not to listen at lunch so she lost shopping, and even had to spend some time in her room when we got home.
We all hung out, Landon did some powerpoint - he's making one on the Carolina Panthers along with others. Kasey and i spent some time looking at Frozen cakes.
We all went to FC Dallas game. We went early to get parking, had a cupcake then went to the game. They were playing LA Galaxy and this was Landon Donovan's last regular season game in Dallas.
It was kind of misty. FC Dallas ended up winning 2 to 1 scoring near the end of the game.
We had discussion in the car what Kasey wants to do when she grows up. She started off saying that she will have a limo when she gets older so I asked what she will do to make enough money for a limo. It ended up that she would drive the limo, and drive all of us around for free. Later she said Landon would buy the limo for her and she's drive everyone in the family around.
10/11 - I flew back from Germany. All kids games were cancelled from rain which is good and bad. Greg left early to head to College Station. He met up with Steiners and saw the Pearsons as well. Kids hung out with Grammy and Gramps for the day.
My flight was late, and then it took forever to get my luggage - I had to check because I had a bag of stuff I bought in Germany.
Gramps picked me up and took me back to their house. Since my flight was late we had to leave right away to get home. Kasey had convinced Grammy to make tacos, so luckily I got a to go box so I got some too :-)
I got the kids home. Got Kasey to bed right away, and then Landon and I watched the Flash a new TV show. We liked it and enjoyed it. After Landon got to bed, I took a long shower, and then watched some more Game of Thrones. I made it until about 11:30 when Patch and I went to bed.
10/10 - We had our last day of meetings in Germany. Luckily we ended a little early. We said goodbye to everyone. One of the ladies gave us some really good chocolate from Germany.
We headed back to the hotel to rest some and pack. We left for dinner - with recommendation from one of our colleague's we went to Erding, Germany. we ended up in downtown area at beirgarden. It was Erdinger brewery. It was great, sitting outside having special Weiss beer. We enjoyed some Spatzle and Schnitzel. It was really good and good way to end our trip.
We headed back. I stayed up and slept about 1 1/2 hours. Got up at 3:30 to shower and get ready to head to the airport. We got to the airport, had some breakfast and waited. I slept on most of the frist flight to Madrid. Then we had to walk about 30 minutes to get to our next gate. We didn't have much time to spare. We were on long flight in 767 so there were no individual video players. There were also several teenagers on flight (French) that kept kicking my seat, standing in the isles talking, laughing. Made for long flight, but I made it.
10/9 - We had good day at office. then we were having dinner with the local team. they took us to an Italian place in Freising. One of our local team members is Italian and knows the place very well. He ended up ordering drinks, food and dessert. It was amazing - home made ravioli, spicy pasta and great spaghetti. it was so good. The wine was Montepulciano which was nice. he also ordered us a dessert tasting - Tiramisu, cocolate, flan, and something else. It was great. he also ordered us a nice after dinner drink - I don't remember the name, but it was good.
A few of us walked back to the hotel. We all had some drinks and hung out in the hotel bar for a while.
10/8 - After day at work we decided to head into Munich for dinner with one of the ladies from the office. We were having dinner at Marienplatz. I really wanted to get a Dirndl for Kasey. There was a shop in the Munich train station that I wanted to get back to. We took a long train ride - local train so many stops. When we got to Munich station we had to find our way to the store. It took a little while but we found it. Then we met up with others at Ratskeller in Marienplatz. It was right by the Glockenspiel. It had great scenery, very good food. We tried a Germany champagne I think it was called secco. We shared a meat platter and german pancakes for appitizer. I had pork with mushroom sauce. It was all very good. Of course we enjoy the pretzel bread
We hung out in the area for a little while then took the train back to Freising.
This is what I wrote on Train for 10/8
Starting at marienplatz
After not sleeping to much got up for work. We headed to office for mainly internal meetings. We got to office took elevator to 3rd floor then we had to walk down to first floor for our meeting
Long day but good discussions. We ended about 4, talked with one if ladies and headed out. We all changed quick and headed for the train. We got on local train from Freising to Munich. We stopped at central station for a specific place I wanted to get something. Took a little while but we found it. I got Kasey a German dirndle. Then we went few stops more to Marienplatz. We got out there where we met colleagues for dinner. The restaurant was under city hall and the glockingspeil with very cool decorations. Restaurant called Rathskeller Muchen.
We just passed Claim station. Some how we started talking about giving birth with no epidural. Joking talking with Brad on train about Bradley method
10/7 - Team met for breakfast, we met with distributor all day long. We headed back to hotel and headed to quick dinner nearby. I wanted Greek but got out voted to go eat Tai. It was pretty good. We got to sit outside to eat which was great.
10/6 - Today was internal meeting day at work. We walked up and down 3 flights of stairs. At least we got some exercise. After work we headed back for a bit and walked into town for dinner. We went to Kathi's steakhouse. They put us in back room but was great food. I had lamb. We went back to hotel had a few drinks before heading to bed.
Then we decided drive a bit to beirgarden to have some lunch. We sat out on patio Schloss Brauhaus Schwangau. The food was good, we had Oktoberfest beer, great weather and nice scenery with mountains.
Then we drove to Oberammergau which is where Passion Play takes place. Many of the buildings there have paintings on them. We walked around for a while seeing buildings including few with kids nursery rhymes like Hansel and Gretal, The Sky is Falling and 3 little pigs. There were several others with religious paintings or just beautiful paintings. We did a little shopping, stopped for some ice cream, walked around a little more then headed back to hotel.
That night we went to the oldest Beer brewery thats still working in the world - Weihenstephaner.. We had great beer called Vitus, and food was good as well. As leaving they had champaign made by that brewery and Sam Adams so I thought we should try it. Wasn't so great :) Oh well tried something new
10/4 - We got up early to head to Munich for Oktoberfest. We tried getting money which ended up being harder than we thought. We headed to Munich on the train, got some money at the train station. Then we headed to Oktoberfest. We just followed the people. Almost everyone was wearing traditional German outfits - girls have dirndl and guys wear lederhosen. We got there a little after 9am. There were rides, several tents, vendors selling some food and gifts. We went into Spaten tent. It was decorated very well - blue and white all across the ceiling. Wooden cutouts of German women and men. There was a stage, but no one playing at 9:30 in the morning. We got two beers and a big pretzel. It was basically a very big room of a bunch of people sitting very close together drinking beer and talking. We sat across from a couple from Italy who where there for their 2nd time.
After that we decided to go walk around some before Marian and John got there. We did a little shopping, looked at other tents, and then sat and did some people watching which is very fun there. People were continuously coming in from multiple places and seemed that not that many people were leaving.
When Marian and John got there we went back in and decided to try and get into new tent Marstall tent. We went up to the door, and everyone was holding up fingers how many people they had in their group. The "bouncer" was choosing people based on seats available. It didn't take to long and we got in. They took us to our seat and said we had about an hour and half in the seats. We ordered beer, got some food and enjoyed the music and scenery. I had Bratswurst. We got some pictures with a few of the waiters and waitresses which was fun.
The tents are all temporary, but hard to believe with how extensive they were. Lots of wood, walls, each had restrooms, kitchens, stage, etc.
After our time we headed to walk around. There were so many people there that it was like being in a heard of cows. We went to look at all other tents, did a little shopping.
The other ladies decided to go back to the hotel and John and I decided to go to Marienplatz. We went down there and saw the glockenspiel, and I was able to get new Germany soccer jerseys for Greg, Landon and a few friends. After watching we sat outside and got hot chocolate and coffee and did some people watching. After that we headed back to hotel.
We went to dinner in downtown Freising - walking distance from hotel. We decided to have some some German food. Good beer and some good pork. Walking back we had some Gelato.
10/3 - I arrived in Germany. I flew through Philadelphia on US Airways, which was weird.
Breaking up that way the flight from Philly to Munich was about 7 hours. I'm used to 10 hour flights to Europe. When we were about 1 1/2 hours from landing they woke us for breakfast. Basically drink and muffin top. Really a muffin top?
I got in and took van to the hotel. I was staying with Colleague because we were there for few days on our own dollar. I got to the room, took a shower and we decided we were going to head to Salsburg, Austria for the afternoon. We took the train, ate some pizza along the way. It took little over 2 hours to get there. Once there we found tourist info. We decided to take a bus tour where you get on and off with spin to Sound of Music which was shot there. We first stopped at gardens that were really pretty with view of castle and churches. Really nice. Then we drove around what seemed like the same place several time. We stopped by nice area with pond and the sound of music house.
After it was time for the bus driver to go home, he dropped us off near the first. There was a large local wine tasting - tents, lots of wine and snacks. We found one of the tents and ordered a local wine. I also tried something called Sturm which is wine before it's fully ready. Its sweet, and has some carbonation to it, but it was good. Fun experience
Then we walked into town some. We found an amazing Christmas store that has many decorated eggs of all kinds. The lady I was with and both bought about a dozen of them they were so cool. Fun gifts. We walked a round a little to see where Motzart was from and cool fountain. Then we headed back to Freising.
We decided to have dinner at the hotel German restaurant. Food was good, but service was really slow.