On Saturday our Tuesday night game group, Grupo Martes went to the Mannheim qualifying round for the German Team Boardgaming Championships. I improved my position by 52 places over last year. I took 10th overall! Not only that, our team took 2nd overall. We get to go to the national championships! They will be on May 10th in Herne. You can read my complete description of the event on my gaming blog here.

(Photo courtesy of HAL9000.de)

We went and took a look at Anke and Ralf's new house. They have just moved to Niederklingen. Afterwards we took a walk up toward the Otzberg.

Christmas gifts have artistically inspired our children. First of all they have been reading the Warriors series from Erin Hunter. That inspired Ursula to draw a picture. Kathryn has been doing origami.

We have been having some very warm weather this January and February, interspersed with some cold and rainy spells. To take advantage of the weather we went on two hikes. The first one we went to Angelbachtal. From there we climbed into the vineyards overlooking Eschelbach. We could see on the otherside of the valley, the hills in back of Balzfeld and Tairnbach.

On another hike we went to Meckesheim, between Mauer and Zuzenhausen. We walked along a forested ridge to Mönchzell and then walked back along the Lobbach. Below we are investigating what appears to be a rabbit hole.

The girls have had vacation because of Fasching "Carneval". Ursula chose to go as an Indian.