Father's Day Fest

Today is Ascension Day, a national holiday in Germany and it is also Father's Day. Liederbach had its annual Father's Day festival down at the firehouse, a 15-minute walk from home.

 Here's Becca riding her pedal-less Laufrad under our lilac bush on her way to the festival. Last month, we sat Becca on Emilie's old pedal bike and tried to show her how it worked and she was having none of it. To be fair, the bike was a wee bit too big for her, so for the moment, we're sticking with the Laufrad. She can zoom along and glide very well, but these bikes have no breaks.  Becca wears out the toes of her shoes pretty quickly.

Crossing over the Liederbach (Song Creek)

The festival had food, beer, circus skills to try out, beer, face painting, beer, Bratwurts, beer, fire trucks to sit in, beer, a jumpy house and beer. It was Father's Day after all. The traditional Father's Day activity is drinking all day long in the presence of other dads. No joke.

Emilie trying out a balance board

There were stilts, spinning plates, diabolos....

...rolling cones and little elliptical-type skateboards.

Checking out one of Liederbach's firetrucks

Romper Stompers were very popular when I was little

Cool face paint was everywhere

Bex on a Hippity-hop. Every kid had a Hippity-hop when I was little and lucky kids got one with a horse head.

Becca's turn at the face painting table

She chose a garden scene

Dad and Björn approved.  And then they ordered another beer.

Emilie chose a puppy face after I told her she could not get gun shot wound face paint.

Bex and Jonna in the jumpy house

A Bratwurst with a roll. David and I have scratched our heads before at other fests over the fact that you're given the roll uncut, and you're not given a knife to cut it with. Everyone just rips the roll apart with their bare hands.

People had to milk the mayo, mustard and ketchup onto their food.

The biggest skillet I've ever seen

Emilie had to be persuaded to try the stilts. A few minutes after we took this photo, someone else's stilts snapped back and hit Emilie in the face, which made her cry and gave her a bump and her tears ruined her face paint. I took the girls home and David stayed and drank some beer. And then he drank some more beer. He said that the last two or three hours of the festival were just men celebrating Father's Day in that traditional way.  He ended with, "It was the perfect Father's Day!"