The Candle Sniffer

We took Grandma-Nana to Rothenburg ob der Tauber today. It was nice… very much a postcard town. We walked around quite a bit and stopped for lunch. I was quite pleased with myself at conducting our lunchtime interactions with our server entirely in German… including when I asked him if he could move the umbrella so that it was shading us! (Okay, so I gestured some, too, but there were words used!) Rothenburg is listed as a don’t-miss of the towns along the “Romantic Road” (note: not romantic in terms of love, but in terms of history & architecture). I’ll have to come back and post a slideshow later.

This evening when we went onto the base, there was an MP there who asked for my license and registration, too. Usually we show our military IDs, so this was different. It made me a tiny bit nervous, but I think just as a throwback to that feeling you get when you’ve just been pulled over and a cop asks for those. There were some people who were recently arrested for a suspected terror plot against one of the bases in Germany, so I’m all for a little extra vigilance. Even if it means the “inconvenience” of having to show an extra ID now and then.

At the PX tonight I let Wee Ladie smell candles. It’s one of his favorite things to do there (tip for you parents who are seriously lacking for entertainment for your toddlers). He’ll easily spend 20 minutes doing that. And we discuss what the candles smell like (and of course he gets told about 15 times, “No, baby, no glass ones. Put that down.”) and what colors they are and whether or not they smell good. It’s fun.

Spent some time today pulling up some of The Yellow Weed That Ate Our Backyard. It was out there in small numbers before, but all of a sudden it covers like ½ the lawn. Wee Laddie was a great help, but we’ve still got about ¾ of the yard to do. Unfortunately, the aforementioned weed also has buddies of different varieties… so there is lots to do! (Special love sent up to little Cash while we were out there… his mom’s a landscape architect, so it seemed like a fitting time.)