Unsleben...day 5

We are having a wonderful time in this very quiet town and have settled into a little routine that everyone loves. After eating dinner outside, we go for a walk through the beautiful fields and forests and then come home for tea in the courtyard. It's really wonderful. The kids love the nightly tea and time to relax and talk about the day. We haven't done very much sight seeing - mostly because it has been in the 90's all week - very hot. We ventured out to find a place to swim and came upon a great water park (kids can't figure out why we can't go to Waterworld at home, but we can go to the water slides here...hmm..). We have now been there twice to cool off and enjoy the chaos. They have some incredibly high diving boards/platforms and Cullen has been working up his courage to go higher and higher - today he made it to the one that is about 25-30 feet above the pool. I couldn't watch the first time, but he kept going so I had to look. The German kids are pretty crazy - little ones jumping off the highest platform (which is crazy high). Lots of older kids walking around with beer and then passing it to a friend so they can jump... maybe Waterworld won't be so bad. Ava and Aidan love the long water slide and .70 cent chocolatte eis...we have had more than a few!! Nana even went today - lots of fun :).

Yesterday was very difficult. The boys and I drove 90 minutes to Buchenwald Concentration Camp and took the tour. We walked around as if we had 50 pound packs on our backs - the sadness is palpable. You can still see the multiple-layered barbed wire fences and many of the buildings. Most of the barracks were torn down, but we could walk through one of the old cell blocks - Aidan said he could physically feel the sadness of the people and their fear. We toured the entire facility and left with heavy hearts. We brought our camera, but it didn't feel right to take any photos. We all agreed that it was good to go and remember what happened, but not something we ever want to do again. We were all so happy Nana skipped it - would have been too hard for her.

On the way home our GPS died...my panic set in quickly, but the boys' keen sense of direction brought us home! At one point, Aidan declared "we are definitely, without a doubt, going the wrong way on the autobahn!" - and he was right! Cullen sat up front and navigated with my phone and we made it back. Did some research last night and was able to bring "Stewie" back to life....phew!

Tomorrow we are going hunting for local castles and the old East/West Germany border check point that still has a guard tower standing. The weather changed and a giant storm with lightening, thunder and lots of rain blew in - a great change. We leave for Fussen on Saturday morning....can't wait to finally see the Alps (I have wanted to go there since I was little)!

The kids are counting the days until Marc gets here...22. Ava kept saying today "My Daddy would do a back flip off the big diving board!' -- lucky for Marc that he won't have to fulfill that expectation! We wish he were here with his bike - tons of amazing bike trails all around...marked with their own road signs. Trying to upload some photos - takes a really long time...probably will show up tomorrow.