Oberau & Oberammergau & Patch Blankets

Last week was winter break here, so the kids were all home.  I didn't get much done on my blog.  Today is Alphabe-Thursday and we're on the letter P, but I'm going to include the letter O as well.

O is for Oberau and Oberammergau.  Germany, that is.  We visited a couple times while living in Italy.  They are both BEAUTIFUL places.  Here are just a couple pictures, before we get to the letter P.

{Oberau, Germany.  October 2006.}

{Oberammergau, Germany.  May 2007.  SO many of the homes and buildings look like this.  They are so beautiful!}

P is for Patch blankets.  These do go with my Alphabe-Thursday travel theme.  Whenever we visit a new place we look for patches as our souvenir.  They're getting harder to find, but hunting for them makes it fun.  I first saw the idea in Family Fun magazine about 17 years ago.  Zac and Taylor were only 4 & 2!  Their blankets are FULL of patches from all over the world.

{Joey's, Jenny's, Zac's, Taylor's and Haley's blankets.  See how many more patches Zac has?!}

You can really see the difference in the amount of patches here.  Zac's is on the right.  For him, it's more of a lap blanket because he's 6'5"!  I remember buying the fabric for his and Taylor's and thinking it was so expensive.  At the time they were the perfect size for the kids!  I've since added on to his and Taylor's.  They're fine for a long car ride.

{Okinawa was Zac's first patch}

{A few more of Zac's}

{Poor Joey's is so bare, but it's so fun - Tucson to Missouri to Switzerland to Italy}

{Haley's Blanket}

Haley's and Jenny's blankets were started in England.  "Mind the Gap"

It's been so fun collecting patches for the kids over the years.  I thought we might stop when they went off to college, but Taylor's been collecting patches every where she goes.  The only thing I wish I'd done is keep track of where/when they were collected.  We visited some places more than once, but I don't know which patch is from which visit.

For more of the letter "P" go visit Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.