Karneval 2017 (Schull-und Veedelszöch)

Every year during Karneval season it always hits me how very lucky we are that we get to live in Köln. There’s nothing like it!

walking to the parade

Red and white are Cologne’s official colors, so you’ll see LOTS of it in the parade and at Karneval in general. These girls are dressed as Funkemariechen, a traditional Karneval costume (that I wrote about it in this post).

Clowns are another symbol of Karneval

The very beginning of the parade. They follow the same route throughout the city as the bigger Rosenmontag parade. Fifty-four Cologne schools are represented in this parade! The students, teachers (and some parents) plan the theme and make their own costumes and float every year. Months of work goes into it.

handing out flowers..

you’ll see the Kölner Dom represented many times..

Germans seem to love Native American culture- I’ll have to do a post about it someday..

confetti everywhere

the Dreigestirn represented!

Quinnie checking out Elvis!

Simon holding the flower bouquets the girls caught

Mother Cologne and Father Rhein 🙂

Quinnie scoring some more candy

If you’re wondering why there’s a beer in a school parade, you can read Simon’s comment on that in this post ..

video of the Karneval parade from above

Valentine’s Day 2017

Chocolate I found in a store (Greetings from Cologne)

The girls and I had so much fun making these heart window clings…

They turned out great- we’ll definitely be making them again next year!

homemade Valentines they made (Oma’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, so she always gets a special one)

more Valentine crafts

Kiera’s favorite past time- making every photo awesome!

Germans don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, so I was surprised to see that Quinnie’s class exchanged nice notes to each other this year. The things Quinnie’s friends wrote about her were very sweet. Quinnie is and excellent friend 🙂

when they got home from school, their Valentine’s baskets were waiting for them

they each got one of these bags also- (it roughly translates to Cologne girl)

they especially loved the mood heart necklace (it changes colors), and the lipstick eraser

opening their Valentine’s card from Grandma in America

Liv stopped by and the girls shared their candy (and sunglasses) with her

Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day!