Europe Trip - Czech Republic, Day 4

We arrived in Prague hoping that several people spoke English. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The first language here is Czech, then Russian, and finally English. We even had to use a Russian map to learn their metro, trolley, and bus systems. Fortunately, Eric can speak some Czech and he was able to get us around town.

The town of Prague is beautiful! If you can look past the graffiti on the buildings, the charm of this once-communist country comes to life.

We saw lots of fountains, statues, and churches stemming from the Hapsburg Austrian empire.

And yes, they have a beautifully preserved castle, too! This one we decided to fork over the money to tour. I loved it, but Eric would have rather spent the entrance fee on another bowl of goulash.

Below is a view of Prague from high on a hill by the castle.

Europe Trip - Germany, Day 3

The churches are well-preserved, and this one in Weseke was absolutely beautiful! World War II destroyed much of Weseke because of it's close proximity to The Netherlands. Allied war planes would drop their "payloads" before leaving German territory, and this town took the brunt of that. Parts of the church, including the baptistry, survived, so it was neat to see where our family worships and has been baptized for generations.

After our tour of Weseke, we headed to Bernhard-Niessing where Ludgar Muggenborg works. This facility makes the most beautiful wooden doors I've ever seen with the old-fashioned key holes. I brought home a brochure eventhough I'd never be able to afford one of these doors in our home. :)

We then headed to the town of Gemen and saw this beautiful castle surrounded by a moat. You might think it's been preserved as a museum, or possibly a hotel, but instead, it's used as a Christian youth center for retreats. How awesome would it be as a teenager to spend summer camps here?

Europe Trip - Germany, Day 2

The town of Weseke is small and very clean. Their flower gardens are beautiful, and are a source of pride.

Their cemeteries are equally as beautiful and well manicured.

Eric loved the town so much he decided to make a speech from the town's "onion", or pulpit in the city's center. Do you see a potential mayor here?

Europe Trip - Germany, Day 1

Eric & I decided to take a trip to Europe, just the two of us, to meet extended family across the globe. Our first stop was Germany, where we enjoyed the hospitality of our relatives. I loved seeing the home place, a dairy farm in Weseke.

Here, my great-grandfather Henry Mueggenborg (spelling was Americanized) lived & worked before migrating to the US. This farm is still a family business today.

To the left are the Muggenborgs in Weseke, Germany, our extended family that we hope to see again in a few years!

On the right are the Oklahoma, Iowa, California, Michigan, Texas, and South Carolina Mueggenborgs from the US that decided to make this family trip to Germany. Oddly, most of us didn't know each other prior to the trip! Now, I feel so blessed that they are family, no matter the miles or generations between us.

Julia's first soccer game!

Today at 11 Julia played her very first soccer game. Thanks to the coaches (Dad and Ashlyn), their team was able to get the first win of the season! The total score was 4-2, but who counts? IT's all about them having fun, playing hard, getting a grin on their face, running through the tunnel, and having a snack at the end!

Ashlyn, Luke and I started a small business. It is a very small
business that has a limited life. We created a mailbox repair business.
The target customer is the people in our subdivision. All homes in our
subdivision have the same mailbox design. The wood, on several mailboxes
in the neighborhood, has deteriorated. So seeing an opportunity to make
a little money and gain some business experience, we jumped at the
chance.
We developed a repair process and came up with our cost basis for four different types of repairs. The first option we offered was a mailbox top frame replacement with sanding, filler, and painting. From there we offered three more choices and had a special promotion of a complete
mailbox assembly replacement.

Ashlyn developed and printed fliers for the business. Then, Ashlyn and
Luke distributed the fliers to the target customers.

So far, we have received five orders. The kids share the work and share
the profits.

We are not making much money from the jobs but the kids are learning a
valuable experience. Plus I see this as a bonding time with two of my
kids.

One Last Ski Trip

Justin and I decided to get one last ski trip in this year. We drove the two hours north to Catacholee and skied the night. We skied from 6PM to 10 PM on Saturday. It was a blast. The snow was mostly ice and slushy ice but was skiable.

Can you see Justin and me? We are the ones waving and we are standing next to each other. Justin has an orange jacket and I have maroon jacket.

Ski Utah

Ashlyn and I went to Utah last weekend for a winter get away. We stayed in a town called Ogden. Ogden is a beautiful town surround by mountains.

We did not spend much time in Ogden because the main purpose of the trip was to snow ski. We skied at Powder Mountain. The skiing was great. The snow trails at Powder Mountain were long, with the longest run about three miles in length. The ski resort has 10,000 acres with a lot of back country skiing available. The temperature was cold ~9F in the morning but the afternoon temperature warmed up in to the teens (which is still cold). We were dressed for the weather so we didn't have any problem staying outside all day. But, at the end of the day, the hot tub sure felt nice.

Next year, Luke will join us. He is already looking forward to the trip. So am I.

Yellow Belt

All three of us are yellow belts! Ashlyn, Justin, and I have been taking Kempo/Juditso for several months. Kempo/Juditso is a form of self defense. So after learning several defensive moves during the months of training, we demonstrated to the sensay (teacher) that we are worthy of the yellow belt.

Ashlyn and Justin now know several techniques that can bring a big person like me down to the ground. They learned that strength is not needed to defend yourself but that applying pressure at few key areas can cause great pain.

Snowed In - Day 3

We're going on 3 days now that school has been cancelled. Our sled has been used so much that even duct tape isn't holding anymore. Now the kids won't get out for summer until June 11th with all the make-up days.

Since the roads are still iced over, we've enjoyed being holed up in our house spending lots of family time playing games, getting caught up on laundry, and cooking up all the food in our freezer. We're out of milk, though, so we may try to venture out after lunch when the temps are finally above freezing. The high today should be 36!

Businesses have been closed the past 2 days, but most are opening around noon today. SC has been declared a state of emergency so that additional road crews can be called in to help clear the ice.