Fireworks and Birthday Fun

Well, I am now officially my final age for the rest of my life - 39. :-) I had a wonderful birthday. It started with being allowed to lie lazily in bed while Wayne wished me a happy birthday before work. Then, the kids came in and serenaded me out of bed and to my breakfast of tea and English muffin with jelly that they had made for me. They also had placed the presents I had from Wayne's parents at the table. I had to laugh at their disappointment after I opened them. They were DVDs of one of my favorite shows, an old British comedy called "As Time Goes By." The kids were hoping they were a new movie from this summer's blockbusters or a new Wii game. Hmmm - just whose birthday was it?? :-) Although, I was not able to enjoy wearing them on my birthday because the weather is warm and sunny this week, I also got money from my mom for a new black cardigan and light jacket. After breakfast, I sat down at the computer to be surprised by several wonderful wishes by email and a lovely e-card from my dad.

After that, I went to lunch with the wife of one of Wayne's co-workers. She is from France, and our only common language was German. We're both near the same level, so that was really fun to practice and stumble together for 3 hours. We ate at a lovely little French crepe restaurant in our pedestrian area. This is the first restaurant we ate at in Kempten when we arrived here back in September, and it is still one of our favorites. After lunch, I made my birthday cake.

For dinner, we went to an English Stammtisch. This is a get together of folks, usually for a theme or topic. Of course, this one was for a group of Germans to get together to practice using their English. It is hosted by one of the fellow Inlingua teachers who also was our relocation assistant. She always does a great job of this and invites all of us expats that are in the area also working for Bosch. Last night we had a banner group, so it was really half and half on Germans and Americans. Lots of fun, great food, and interesting conversation.

Then, there was one more birthday surprise. This morning, I got a call from a florist. I was so surprised by the conversation, that I couldn't make out what she was saying, so I had to have Alex interpret on the phone for me. It was a florist with a delivery. And what a delivery. I got this enormous, gorgeous flower arrangement from my dad. It is really just lovely and such a pleasant surprise!!

As for the fireworks, they were this past weekend. We finally got our 4th of July with one of the local area festivals. The lake that was in the pictures from the last hike was the site of Bavarian music and dance performances and a fantastic fireworks display. Unfortunately, Alex was not feeling well, so only Andrew and Wayne got to go. They took lots of pictures and some of those are below as well as birthday pics. For best results on the fireworks, you need to click the pictures to see the larger version.

Love to you all!
Amie