Merry Christmas

We had a very relaxing Christmas. Just the way it should be. Made it home for Christmas eve and day and I upheld the Morris tradition of taking the day off from cooking a big meal and had lunchmeat, cheese balls, and junk all day for snacking. The kids I think had a great day and got everything they could want. As you can see from Josh's expression he and Will loved the 120Gig Ipods their Dad sent them for gifts. Cody got a bike and lots of new games for his gameboy and I think the family favorite was the Wii rockband. The kids put on concerts for us all day and thank god the music included was alot of classic rock! But after the 20th time Mississippi Queen lost its luster. Hope you had a great holiday as well and I wish you all a prosperous New Year!

Let it Snow! (maybe once at Christmas!)

Hallo! We had our first sorta snowfall and seeings how it is right before Christmas I sucked it up and bundled up and actually went outside in the snow. To my delight we had a great time sleigh riding and building a snow man. The kids had fun and I got a workout in running up and down the huge hill we were on. Now I saw my only wished for Christmas snow and it can be 80 again!

Love to All

Jenny and Clan

Will and the Baritone!

Much to Will's disgust he got picked to play the Baritone in beginner band this year. Though he was upset about it at first he did great. They had their holiday concert Wednesday night and he did great he even had a short solo during the rock mix. It was alot of fun and put us in a festive mood.

Christmas Market Bamberg

On Sunday last weekend we went to the Bamberg Christmas Market or Weinnachtemart. It is small compared to Munich but fun. We ate roasted nuts, drank REAL Hot Cocoa and ate brauts and pommes. The macaroons are heavenly and as usual the Gluewein was icky!. Pictures not too great camera sucks in the dark. Happy Holidays!

Well as I emailed some of you I participated in my first run on Saturday the 24th. I was nervous, not to win but to just finish it and run the whole thing. I thought a fun run for cancer awareness would be a great way to start. With thoughts of my Dad in mind, I originally started running for my health and always keep my Dad in my thoughts to get me up the hills, I got up early and went. Cody decided to come and give me support and brought his bike and a thermos of Hot Chocolate. We got our tshirts and numbers and lined up. After the horn we took off and Cody being the supportive son he is took off in the lead with his bike and never looked back finishing second with the first runners coming in. ( What a guy!) I took off at a steady pace and found my rythum and got my breathing evened out. I was passed right away by the running nuts and the pack of about 100 thinned out after the first 1 K. I actually started passing alot of peeps and was keeping pace with the other slow runners. Up the slope to the turn at the 3 K mark I was feeling great and knew it was in the bag. I came in with a 5 K time of 33 minutes right about in the middle of the pack. I was really proud of myself and how far I have come. Though I havent met my goal weight I set for myself last Sept I have far exceeded my fitness goals. I run about 10 K now about three days a week sometimes more If I have the time. The other two days I got to the gym and take a class and use the weights. My body has settled in at a size 10-12 and I guess for now that is where I have to be satisfied. I see a huge difference in my body and my tape measure still goes down every month. Vainly I think I have a better a#$ then I had at 20 and I know I am going to keep up this for life which is the most important change of all!

Choos!

Jenny

Our 9th Anniversary

For our anniversary Greg and I went out to a great place called Boleros. A spanish eatery with some great in house wines. I had a curry mango chicken breast with spanish potatoes and veggies. Yummy!!! Greg had steak and after trying steak in several different places has decided he will not get a good steak till we go back to the states. It was good but beef is not one of Germanys finer points. After some tiramisu and wine for dessert we walked around our city of Bamberg, stopped in an Irish pub for a beer and then headed home. It was a really great night and I am so happy to be married to this guy! (today anyway LOLOL)

Love to all

Jen

Taumbach Park

Only in Germany a Beer Vending machine! at a kids park LOL



Falconri show with several diff birds that they demonstrated how they hunt! It was really cool they had the birds swooping over the audience and their tail feathers brushed our heads. As you can see they are huge and UGLY.

Taumbach Residence. We didnt go inside.. next time.. second pic is a wild pig and the third in this row was one of a herd of sheep with four horns, never even heard of that but was really weird.

Kids, even the teen had fun feeding the goats. They were so cute and jumped all over us.

We recently went to Taumbach Park. A wildlife park and castle near us. Cody had gone there last year as a field trip and I thought we should go back all together. It was alot of fun and a great relaxing family day. We toured the park which included trails and a part of the park that is all open and the kids run free with the deer and cows. They are just walking around us and it was amazing. In the afternoon we had lunch at the bier garten then we went over to a falconri show. The trainers show how eagles,hawks, and vultures hunt and they had them flying all around us right over our heads. I thought it was cool that they dont just fly off but they are well trained! It was a great day.... This weekend we are heading back to Burg Frankenstein for the annual Halloween fest we are soo excited to go back we had such a great time there last year.

Love you all

Jenny

Octoberfest 08

Well we braved Octoberfest 08 in Munich. The worlds largest drinking fest. It was a cloudy day out but we went anyway. My mom wanted to have a beer there and we toasted her birthday. The wagon is the cart that kicks off the fest by bringing in the fest beer. The last picture is inside one of the many beer tents you can drink eat and be merry! oh and get beer spilled down your back, inhale second hand smoke of EVERY variety, climb across tables and benches on your hands and knees, slosh thru puddles on the floor of beer and liquids I dont want to consider since the bathrooms are way far away and you cant get out. At one point we had to stand up and squeeged the tables and seats into a bucket under the table. I have some more pics to find of MOM drinking a beer and eating a pretzel the size of your head. Take care and Choos!

New Family and Old

The picture that started it all My Greatgrandmother Jennie Banera Willberg
The second picture is of my Great Great Grandparents Johanna and Bengdt Willberg
The third is of my swedish cousins family!

The Viking Museum Denmark

On the way back from Sweden we stopped at a Viking Museum in Denmark. It was really cool and I want to take the boys back there soon. We watched a video that showed how they raised the ships from the sea and preserved them sometimes taking over 20 years to get the water out of the wood before reconstruction. Got some great souviners there and then got in the car and heading home. I missed my boys all four of them.

Our Roots

Downtown KarlshamHotel of Hope

Karlsham the first port where Immigrants left from Sweden. They erected a statue there to commerate and remember those who left to see a new life. It sits on the Baltic Sea!


An original Swedish cottage Viking Rune Stone
As some of you know My mom's dream has always been to find her roots. Her grandmother Jennie Banera Willberg immigrated with her family from Sweden in the late 1800"s. One of her goals while over here was to go to Sweden and find the town they came from and see where they lived. The only thing we had to go on was a picture of Jennie as a baby taken in Christianstaad Sweden in Skane region. I started doing some research and with the help of a great friend and the Library I found some emails from a family in Sweden looking for family of Jennie. I contacted her and spent two weeks emailing her back and forth and getting info for our trip. Near the time we were leaving her family invited us to stay with them and show us around the area. We had a great time and got to see the city they left from. The hotel of hope is the place immigrants stayed in while waiting for passage. It is really cool to find out we descend from Swedish Vikings and sailors. Maybe that explains the Wanderlust I have as well as my mother. We learned a great deal and I am now embarking on tracing my roots with passion. I dont want my kids to wonder where they are from and have no one left to ask like I do.

Coppenhagen Denmark

The famous Little Mermaid Windmill park in Coppenhagen

Church made of flint/ Causeway on the Baltic Sea

On our way to Sweden we stopped in Coppenhagen Denmark. What a historic city that sits on the coast between Denmark and Sweden. Didnt see a whole lot as we were on a schedule and it was 6 pm when we got there so we spend about an hour on the harbor near the little mermaid statue. Hope you enjoy!