Neuschwanstein, Neuschwanstein Everywhere!!!

Since we've been back in the states, it's been funny to see how so many things use Neuschwanstein as their model castle. It stands out to us now like it never did before!! :) Below are a couple of examples...


This is Neuschwanstein castle (you may remember it from the post I did a couple of months ago).


This is the front of Neuschwanstein castle.


What castle do you suppose that is?!!


This is slightly less obvious, but you can still see the resemblance.

This was just a little post, but I hope you enjoyed it! We've been having fun looking for Neuschwanstein Castle pictured on different things since we visited it in March - I know above are only a couple examples of what we've noticed - it really is amazing how often it's pictured!!!

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"We Were There!"

It's been fun to be able to say this in regards to certain things we've run across since we've been back home. One of these occurrences was the other day and we thought we'd post about it here...



Mommy started reading this book to us the other evening. We are really enjoying it!! It was a paragraph in the beginning of the first chapter that really stood out to us though:

"The Jura is a range of mountains of a peculiar limestone formation, extending from the angle formed by the Rhone and the Ain in the north-easterly direction, for more than four hundred and fifty miles, to the upper part of the source of the Main. The Rhone, breaking through it between Schaffhausen and Basle*, divides it into two parts, the Swiss or French, and the German Jura."

*Basle or Basil is in Switzerland. One thing we learned while in Germany is that depending on what country you're in, city names have much different spellings!! Though I plan on posting of it when we have a working computer, Basil was one of the places we visited during our last couple of weeks there.

It's really great to be able to picture in our minds the things that we're reading about and to think that we were there!! We saw those mountains in the distance during our trip to Basil. When we went to Garmisch we were in the same mountain region. Do you remember Neuschwanstein Castle? Part of the castle is built out of limestone and there is also much limestone in the surrounding mountain ranges. Thus the reason that it requires all the extra up keep and repair work (and all the scaffolding!!). While on our visit to the castle we got some rocks from the surrounding woods. You can see the limestone rocks below.

Note: If you plan on building a castle and want it to stick around long after you're gone and you also don't want to worry about whose going to maintain it - don't build on or out of limestone!!! It sure makes for a pretty spectacular castle though. :) More on Neuschwanstein in my next post!



P.S. If you need a good family book recommendation, here it is!!

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A Day With The Benders

One day while Hannah was here, the Benders came up for a visit. We had a great day of fun and fellowship!! Here are some pictures...



Shenandoah, Tabitha, and Corinne playing kitchen.


Corinne and Hannah playing doll house people.


Looking at pictures from our time in Europe.


In the kitchen together.


Sayer and Benjamin


Playing "Oh Rats!"


Tabitha liked Shenandoah's boots!!


Getting ready to eat...


We were all a little nervous to taste the pickled okra (having never had it before), but Benjamin decided to brave it and taste it first!! He didn't care for it. :)


Mrs. Bender loved it!!


Benjamin couldn't believe it!! :)


Hannah liked it too!!

(It's actually not too bad if you can get past the slime!! :)


A game of "Tally-Ho!"


Hannah read books to the younger ones.


The mothers



Benjamin made this rifle for the Independence Day celebration. Didn't he do a great job?!

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The 4th Of July

This post is a little delayed, but I hope you enjoy the pictures!!



We all got to match!!


Kitchen preparations begin...


Shenandoah was very happy to get to help with Hannah's fruit salad!!


Shenandoah and Hannah


I had been looking forward to making another flag cake this year since daddy said it would have to be a family tradition after I made it last year!!


Hannah and I


Shenandoah likes Hannah's hat! :)

After kitchen preparations were complete, we set out to spend the rest of the day at the Ford family home with some other friends from church. What a nice day of fellowship!!


Stasia and Hannah Fleshman


Seth and Hannah


Ariel and Shenandoah - Ariel was taking it easy after not feeling super well and we were so glad that she was doing much better.


The ladies fellowshipping.


The food line (or rather, just some of it!!).


Fellowship in the kitchen.


Shenandoah enjoying her flag cake.


Shooting!


Upset the fruit basket!!


That is such a fun game!!


The sunset as we were leaving.


On the way home, we saw some fireworks and a beautiful full moon!!! I didn't get any pictures of the moon, but here are a couple of the fireworks.


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The Past Couple Of Weeks - Part Two

Now, since Daddy's home from Germany I'm going to be able to dig back into computer posts, but I'm first going to try and finish up some iPad posts over the next few days!

First off, I want to do a post of misc pictures from our visit with Hannah. What a wonderful time we had with her!!! The almost two weeks that she was here went by far to fast and she left last Thursday. Hannah being here also helped pass the last bit of time before daddy's return most pleasantly. Below are a lot of pictures of just SOME of the many things we did!!!





We celebrated daddy's birthday over FaceTime!



We had hidden some cards and gifts for him to find in our German house before we left and I also made a birthday slide show for him. He was very surprised about everything and it was a special time!



We all went into town a few days before daddy arrived home and purchased flowers and potting soil. We wanted the area around the house to look very pretty for daddy's homecoming. We had flowers poked everywhere!! With nine of us in the van and all the flowers there wasn't much room left!!



One day we were able to set up a Skype call with Hannah's family back home and also wish Mary (one of her sisters) a happy birthday!! That was such a special time - it was wonderful to visit with you all!! We look forward to the day we can all visit in person. :)



Mary, this picture is for you - Shenandoah said she made this special cake "For Mary to play with for her birthday." :)



I don't normally check the weather on my phone, but when I pulled it up last week I discovered that the last time I had checked the weather was when we were going to Paris!! It seems like ages ago now!



One day while Hannah was here we went into town to do some errands and were also able to get dinner out! What a special time of fellowship we had together - I am so blessed by her encouragement.



The yard work is underway!!



I love flowers!! Aren't they beautiful?!



Hannah was such a huge help with the whole process!!



Great work everyone!!



Stasia and Hannah playing "Tally-Ho!"



Hannah had a card making day with Sabrina, Sienna, Stasia, Seth, Sayer and even Shenandoah was able to "make cards" - what a lovely time they had - I know they all enjoyed it very much!!



Hannah and Shenandoah



Daisy, our dog, is scared of loud noises. So, during the days on and around the 4th when fireworks were going off she was terrified. At one point we opened up the back door because she was jumping up on it and it seemed as if she was going to break the glass!! Daisy ended up running inside the house and our dogs Samson and Dandy decided that they better do the same thing!! Poor dogs! After much effort we finally got them settled down. It wouldn't be the Cochran house without at least a little excitement. :)



This was supposed to be for Dandy, but Samson and Daisy decided it was for them instead. You can't see Daisy, but she is crammed in there along with Sampson!:)



We made a very large bowl of salsa!!



Hannah, Sabrina, and Sienna helped make meals for a family at church.



Stasia and Sayer made "Beetles in a Rug" (lettuce with peanut butter and raisins - similar to "Ants on a Log" - but lettuce instead of celery! :)



Break time for lunch!!



Hannah made bread making day extra fun and showed us how to make some special new loaves - including cinnamon raisin bread!!! Yum!!!



Shenandoah got to make her own special roll



This is only some of the wonderful creations!



Seth made another castle!!



Many hands make light work



Checkers!!



More "Tally-Ho!"



Shenandoah had braids for the first time - she was quite excited about them!!



We canned green beans!



It's so fun to see all the food in the jars at the end of a canning day :)



I couldn't resist getting a couple sky pictures one day - it was so pretty







Cute little sister



Hannah taught us some new hairstyles - thank you, Hannah!!







It looks so nice!!



Hannah and Stasia



Bagel making time!!



Hannah gave us the idea for cheddar dill bagels - you should make them sometime - they're great!!!







Sabrina and Shenandoah making pita bread. The last day Hannah was here, we tried to re-create Doner - there are more pictures of this down below!



A last Cherry Berry run



When we got home we had a special box waiting for us - a surprise box full of special goodies from the Harris family!!



Upon opening the box, we were greeted by the cutest little face!! :) Thank you so much, dear Harris family, for everything!!



We all enjoyed sitting around to read their cards.



Shenandoah loves "Moosie" very much!!



And of course Hannah's time here wouldn't be complete without introducing her to a game of Aggravation!!



It was a good game



Putting the finishing touches on Doner



All the toppings



It tasted delicious and wasn't bad for a first time re-creation. Although it wasn't quite the same and we're still on the hunt for the "real" thing!! :)



Our dryer went out that day, so we had a laundry hanging party that night!!



Ha ha :)



And then came time to say goodbye. Wow, that almost two weeks went by VERY fast! What a blessed time of fellowship was had by all and so many special memories made!!! The late night talks were some of my favorite. We're all so thankful for the time we had with Hannah. Thank you so much for coming Hannah and thank you Harris family for letting her stay for so long -it was truly a blessing to us!!!!

We love you, Hannah!!! You all are always welcome here and we look forward to the next time we're all together!!!

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