Stutthof

We live in a country full of rich history. One of the things that had a huge impact on their society is WWII. There were many concentration camps all around Poland during the war. While we lived in Krakow, we were able to visit one of the most famous, Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was so humbling and unbelievable to see how people lived during this time.

Close to Gdańsk is another concentration camp Stutthof, which was the first camp outside of Germany. It was much smaller than Auschwitz but equally as unbelievable and humbling. It was a cool, rainy day when we visited this week. It was my first time. Here are a few pics I took. 

And I was worried about my surgery. This is where they performed surgery...usually WITHOUT anesthesia. YIKES!!!

gas chamber

We also visited Westerplatte where the first shots if WWII were fired. 

In the midst of this sadness and tragedy, we were able to see God's creativity and how much he loved us. The Autumn colors were gorgeous. 

Mommy and Girls' Evening

Today was amazing. I thought we needed to spend the day outside. Of course this was not James's idea of a fun time, so I made it a girls' afternoon which spilled over to the evening. 

I picked the girls up from school around 4pm, and we headed to one of our favorite playgrounds which happens to also be on the beach. 

After playing for a while, we decided to head out to the new mall that just opened about 10 min from our house. Ella begged to go because "everyone" from her school was going to be there. Pizza Hut was having a great special. A small personal pizza or salad or spaghetti and a drink for around $3. Couldn't pass up that deal. 

Then we wandered around the mall...along with about a million of our closes Polish friends. They asked to go to Empik (think Barnes and Noble) and Smyk (think Toys R Us). So we went to these 2 stores. Smyk had a couple ladies painting faces. The girls decided it was worth waiting behind about 8 kids to have their faces painted. An hour later I was walking with a tiger and butterfly. 

So we had a nice evening together. As we were walking into the house, Ella made a comment about a fun evening with a mom and her daughters. I agree. We need to this more often.