Big Gun

It has been a busy 14 days, and no camera cable made it hard to keep things updated, so we went and bought one for the camcorder which we have been taking our most recent pictures with. However, my little digital camera still has some pictures I need to post, we are just waiting for it in the mail.
Kyle has been doing a combat tracking course the last two weeks and just loving it. It meant that we missed out on a 4-day weekend and 3-day weekend, but for him it was worth it. We had plans to go to Rome for the second time and once again the trip fell through, but thankfully it all worked out. We also planned on going to Europa Park with different people both weekends, and it never worked out. Instead it seems like we went on a Monastery tour as both weekends we checked out a different monastery...strange!
Last weekend we went to Kruezberg Monastery with a group from our Bible Study. It was a cold, wet, deary day but we made the best of it. The monastery is famous for its beer, which was brewed on site by the monks until about 1985. Today the beer is brewed by laypersons under the supervision of the monks. Apparently this is the best beer around, I wouldn't know. Gunnar was the star of the show in his little outfit, all the little old German ladies couldn't get enough of him.
This weekend due to the weather we canceled Europa Park again, it has just been awful! So instead we stayed close to home and went to Bamberg then Kloster Banz. This is a monastery that has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the Baroque period (17th century), the Banz Monastery was rebuilt they way which we saw it. The church’s foundation stone was laid in 1710 but it wasn’t finished until 1770. With its beautiful stuccowork, the frescoes and altars at this church make it one of the finest works of German Baroque architecture.

We also stopped by the Vierzehnheiligen one of Germany’s famous pilgrimage churches. It is a pilgrimage destination because of several miraculous visions. Vierzehnheiligen is a magnificent piece of architecture, mixing Baroque and Rococo styles. We actaully walked in during a service on Saturday evening, so we didn't stay long in the church, just quickly looked around and headed out.

It was a good day trip and all three of us enjoyed ourselves. I can't believe how little time I have left with the three of us being together. We are really going to miss Kyle. We have a little over a month left with him, so will be cherishing all the time we get.
Here are just a couple of Gunnar...
He loves the water. I took him to the pool last Tuesday and he loved it. I am pretty sure he would have stayed in all day. But, we had to go home and he settles for a bath. He thinks bath time is the best time of the day. To bad our water is so hard, he only gets one a couple times a week.

Here is Gunnar's "Big Gun" picture. The hat says "Big Gun" and is referring to a product that my dad sells for Reinke. We had the hat and thought it was fitting for Gunnar. We also put the very real looking airsoft gun in his hands. He thought it was all pretty neat, maybe to neat.