Frohe Oster!!!

For those who might not have guessed it, "Frohe Oster" is German for "Have a most excellent Easter". Yes, it was quite the wild weekend here in Deutschland. Easter's pretty big here with the Germans. Tree branches are decorated with fancy painted eggs, special cakes line the bakery shelves, and chocolate is abundant! We tried to take full advantage of the extra days Jason got off from work to enjoy the fantastic weather and spirit of the season.

On Friday we took a rental car back to the Netherlands to visit the temple in The Hague. We were a little dubious driving there and seeing black clouds on the horizon, but in the end the weather was just as nice by the North Sea as it was in Germany. It appeared that the Dutch were just as much into Easter as the Germans (and they make really good Easter cakes!).

With a car at our disposal, Saturday was errands day. Besides our normal weekly stuff, we managed to find a great stroller and carseat for the baby. And then....it was baking time!!! Our landlady had kindly given us two homemade German Easter cakes in the shape of a lamb and a bunny. It was unexpected, but quite delicious.


Sooo, in an effort to repay the deed, we attempted super-duper chocolate cupcakes! Unfortunately, we were lacking a little on the super-duper front as all the cupcake tops fell off. Oops! Fortunately, Laura is a baking genius, and in no time at all we turned them into CAKE BALLS (we decided that "cake balls" wasn't that great of a name, nor nearly descriptive enough, so we now affectionately refer to them as "Chocolate Cake Coconut Truffles").


In addition to our baking fiasco, Jason got to play handyman and put together some nice patio furniture that our landlady supplied us with.


Later that day, we hopped in the car for a driving adventure. Our adventure found us in Stadt Blankenberg; an old walled city on top of a hill. We were able to explore what is left of the castle and walk around the city, which is still within the remains of the wall and has plenty of people living in it!

(Laura in front of the tower and entrance to Stadt Blankenberg)

(Jason in front of a 400 year old Wine Press a.k.a. Baumkelter)

(One of the castle towers)

(Approaching the Castle!)

(Laura heading into a castle tower)

(The view of the beautiful valley from the castle)

(The view of the city from the castle)

(One of the city streets. Big enough for one car only.)

Sunday began with a great time at church. Great lessons, great talks and a gift of hand-painted eggs from the missionaries. We drove to a beautiful park on the Rhine for an afternoon walk before the rental car needed to be returned.

(Jason taking a break in the park)

Sunday evening had us enjoying a ham dinner and special talks and videos on Christ. We also gave a Norwegian Easter tradition a try called Egg Knocking. It was great fun! Monday involved spring cleaning and making brunch for the missionaries. On the menu was: Ham & Egg Casserole, Mandarin-Spinach salad with homemade Raspberry Vinaigrette, fried breakfast potatoes and cake (with fruit and homemade vanilla pudding)!

(Jason with the yummy food!)

That wraps up our weekend. We have been very fortunate to have good weather and have been trying to make the most of it. The pregnancy is going very well and we are getting excited to meet our little man.

(Laura in week 30)

We hope you all had an equally great Easter weekend. May the Lord bless you all.

Love,

Jason & Laura