Mercedes-Benz Museum

On our way home from Europa Park, we stopped in Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum.  It was just huge, and full of cars from all the stages of Mercedes-Benz.  I think we all saw more cars than we bargained for, but it was interesting to see the development of cars and how they impacted and reflected society.

It was also Brad's birthday, so it was good that we took a break from our 7 hour drive to do something he would enjoy.  Isn't he a handsome 39-year-old?  I just love this man.

 

Luke was being a real pill at the museum.  He kept trying to climb on exhibits just because he knew he wasn't supposed to and it was fun to watch Mom freak out.  Jessica wasn't particularly interested in the museum, so finally she just took him away from those of us who were, and that helped everyone's spirits.  Jess and Luke found the race-car video games, and the rest of us were free to read about and look at the different cars.  Thanks Jess!

Having lived near Detroit - you know, Motor City - we used to get season passes to the Henry Ford Museum.  When we'd go through the Ford Museum, of course we were told over and over again how Henry Ford was The Pioneer in car building.  Well, according to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler were the center of the Car-Inventing Universe.  They both, independently, applied for the first patents for motorized vehicles in 1886.  Henry Ford's first attempt wasn't until 1896 - ten years later.  So, officially, Germany wins the race in who invented the car.  I did not know that.

I think the reason Henry Ford gets so much credit in the U.S. is because his big emphasis was on building a LOT of cars for a LOT of people.  That's where the whole assembly line thing came from.  Every Model T looked exactly the same - as Henry Ford himself said, ""Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black" - and lots of people could afford them.

Mercedes-Benz had a totally different philosophy.  They always believed that cars should only be driven by the upper class and they catered totally to the wealthy, gentleman driver.  Cars were custom designed and individually built.  To this day, Mercedes-Benz prides itself on high-quality, luxury cars.  They have never marketed to the masses.

One more bit of Mercedes-Benz trivia - the name "Mercedes" had nothing to do with the car makers and was not even chosen by them.  Some French entrepreneur/car enthusiast in the 1920's commissioned DaimlerBenz to build him a new race car.  It employed all kinds of fancy, new technologies that made it super fast and super stable (apparently race cars used to flip over when they got going too fast.  Not good.).  This French guy named his car "Mercedes" after his daughter, and it blew away the competition at all the car races.  After that, everybody wanted a "Mercedes" and the name stuck.

These pictures are for my brother-in-law Dave, who is the consummate Car Buff and who I thought of many, many times during our trip to the museum. 

I am certainly not a Car Buff, but I am a History Buff and I did think it was interesting to see the origins of the cars and see how they fit into the social climates of the times.   It is also fascinating to me to visit museums and see that there was stuff happening outside the U.S.   I think growing up in America, I just assumed that everything of historical significance happened there, except for the scary bad stuff, which happened in Germany.  It is still somewhat surprising to me when I see that there is more to German world contribution than Hitler and the Nazis.

It's a Small Wor --- what? This isn't Disneyland?

This last week, the kids had a school break, so we packed up the car and headed south to Europa Park.  We'd been told that this was a super fun amusement park, so we gave it a try.  Europa Park did NOT disappoint!  There were amazing roller-coasters, charming decorations, good food, and tons of atmosphere.  It was every bit as good as Disneyland - as our friend Mike said, "It out-Disneys Disney."

Europa Park is so named because it is divided up into European "countries".   Each section is built to resemble a country in Europe, so we walked through Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal, England, and Scandinavia. Each "country" has rides, restaurants, and shops that reflect that certain style.  It was delightful!

The whole park was decorated to the hilt for Halloween, which we thought was interesting since Europeans don't really celebrate Halloween.  But, who can resist spooky decorations and pumpkins in October?

This mummy fountain greeted us near the entrance.  Luke informed us that the mummies were going to get baptized.  Gives a whole new meaning to Baptism for the Dead, don't you think?  (sorry...dodge the lightening...)

Lukie saw all the pumpkins laying around by the water and was dying to throw one in.  Of course, I told him not to, in no uncertain terms.  But, as soon as I took this picture and looked away, I heard a big plop.   When I turned back, I saw Luke grinning from ear to ear as this pumpkin bobbed merrily in the water.  Little turkey.

One of the highlights of our two days in Europa Park was the King Arthur show.  It took place in a Spanish arena, and we all loved it.  Jessica said it was her favorite part of the trip.

 It was basically the story of King Arthur and Camelot acted out with horses and jousting and sword-fighting.  It was awesome!

King Arthur - our hero!

Booooo - the Bad Guy!

Of course, there was a happy ending.  The poor "Lady Geneviere" being crowned here was a woman dragged out of the audience. She had quite an adventure during the show, being swept onto horses, fought over, and nearly thrown off a balcony.  The Jester was the comic relief of the show.  Luke kept calling him "The Baby".

The King Arthur show was truly impressive, but our family had some other, less-intentional highlights.  Here are a few:

• Each of the "countries" had culturally significant music piped over loud speakers.  The music in Italy was the theme from The Godfather.

• Some of the rides had names that mixed German and English.  This was an unfortunate combination:

 Yep, that says "Old-timer Fahrt."  

"Fahrt" means "drive" in German, so this was just a little ride around in old-fashioned cars, but with a name like that, we had different expections!

• Because it's a theme park at Halloween, there was the requisite Spook Alley.  When we walked through, it was pitch dark near the entrance.  I was grateful to feel Brad reach over and take my hand to help me.  After a minute or so of him carefully holding my hand, it was light again, so I turned to smile at him and got the scare of my life!  I wasn't holding hands with Brad at all, but with some ghoul with a skull painted on his face!  I seriously WAILED and yanked my hand away.  I couldn't help but laugh - somewhat hysterically, I admit - throughout the rest of the Spook Alley! 
 

• This guy:

and finally,

•  Standing in the public restroom waiting for Luke, while he sat in the stall singing a heart-felt rendition of "Jar of Hearts."
 

It was pretty cold, but other than that, I think our trip to Europa Park was perfect.  The crowds were minimal - many rides had no line at all - and all the Halloween decor just added to the fun.  We also experienced our all-time favorite roller-coaster - The Blue Fire.  It was a major rush, but smooth throughout so we didn't get off feeling like we'd been thrown around and beaten to death.  I think Lagoon needs one of these!

Viva Europa!

Pepper is 12!

Pepper turned 12 on October 2nd, and we had a nice family celebration.  We went to dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant, and had a truly lovely meal complete with lots of colorful vegetables cut to look like flowers and birds. I'm so mad I forgot the camera!

Afterward, we came home to pig-out on cheesecake.

 Happy birthday Magoo!

Since he turned 12, Pepper was able to receive the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday and be ordained to the office of Deacon.

Here is Pep with the men who were in the circle when he received the Aaronic priesthood. They are Fabian Rakow (Young Men president and one of my favorite institute students), Andreas Fischer (2nd counselor in the bishopric), and of course Brad.  Pepper was ordained by his Dad, who also gave him a blessing.

Here are my two favorite priesthood holders.  Is there anything handsomer than a good man in a dark suit, white shirt, and tie?

Pepper was just glowing all day and I could tell he was thrilled to have the priesthood.  He has such an earnest heart and desire to do the right thing.  I'm sure that will serve him well in his priesthood responsibilities.

Next Sunday will be his first time passing the sacrament and I don't know how Pepper feels, but I'm already a nervous wreck.  Good grief.  

Sometimes being a mom feels like riding a rollercoaster - I'm proud and nervous and sad and delighted all at once as I watch my little man grow up. 

Karate Jammies

In September, Brad was in China for 3 weeks on business.  He brought the boys back these silk Chinese clothes, which they quickly named their "karate jammies."

 Yes, I know this is wrong on so many levels,  because

1.  Karate is NOT Chinese

and 

2.  These are not supposed to be pajamas

but, the name has stuck.

After about one minute of standing nicely in their karate jammies, you can see that their "little-boyness" started to kick in:  

And it just continued from there...

...until all political correctness and appropriate Chinese cultural references were totally out the window.

Sorry to all my Chinese friends.  Clearly, these boys were raised in a barn.