Germany : Day 2 : Arrival in Wiesbaden

Yay! We landed! In the customs line!! (The guy behind us with head phones on . . . who I had no idea actually smiled and got in this pic . . . . came up to me when we were in Newark and said "Germany?!" (he saw my shirt) and I said "Yeah! Do you live there?!" and he said "yes!" and anyways . . we talked and I told him why we were going to Germany and he told me about how he was in Oregon for a helicopter class! he is a licensed helicopter pilot!! How cool is that?!!? I asked if he could fly us around, and he said anytime!

We really wanted to greet Dan & Marissa in a big way, so we all thought it was a great idea to make t-shirts for the trip!

Was hoping Dan and Marissa would already be there so we could see their expressions when we rolled out in our awesome shirts, but they pulled up a couple minutes after we got there, so i couldn't really see their faces, but Dan said he was going to keep driving past us!


When we first got there, we got the tour of Dan & Marissa's apartment, and then headed down to the city center of Wiesbaden. They had so many of these "hot springs" things!


Here is one called Backerbrunnen (Baker's Fountain). Oldest townhouse dating back to 1728. The hot water that comes out of it is said to be very healthy to drink. It was too hot and icky for us. But I really love this because when Shane and I bought our house, Dan & Marissa gave us a small replica of the Backerbrunnen for our house warming present, and I just love it!! And it was so cool to see it in person!!


City center! I loved how everyone walked everywhere. The main city there were hardly any cars. It was so nice.


Bryce discovered another thing she loves . . . water fountains!! If she was ever starting to get cranky or fussy (which was hardly ever this entire trip), we would distract her by saying "oh!! let's go look at the water fountain!!!" . . . and there always seemed to be one around!!


Now, I forgot to tell you that when we first got to Germany, it was 3AM Erie time. And if you've ever been on a plane, I'm sure you know how comfortable the seats are and how easy it is to sleep. But saying that, I was very surprised at my lack of tiredness. Maybe I was just too excited to see everything! So while everyone else took a quick nap, Dan showed me all of this stuff that was pretty much in their backyard (5 min walk from their apartment). This is the Roman Orthodox Church. Soooo pretty!


Fun gazebo at the top where you could see the entire city!


View from up there!


An AWESOME ropes course!! (We actually did this on our trip later on. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done!!)


Went to dinner at an Italian restaurant our first night (don't worry, we got in a lot of German restaurants later).


I loved how almost every restaurant had outdoor seating and that everyone sat there too!


Shaney and I excited, because umm . . hello!! We were in Germany!!!


Brycee found some pretty flowers to smell on our hike back up the hill (this hill was a HUGE workout!)!


But we made it back!! Absolutely loooveee their door! So unique and fun!


That's the end of Day 2!! We hung out on the balcony and watched the sun set over the city!! We had some crazy days ahead of us! Next stop : Munich!!

Germany : Day 1 : Here We Come!

Hey! Remember when I said I would post some more Germany pics 4 weeks ago?! Yeah. . . oops!! Time flies when you are having fun!

Anywho . . . .I ended up taking 1,146 pictures in Germany!! Crazy!! Gotta love those digital cameras though!

So here we go . . .

If you remember from this post, our trip to Germany was canceled due to the volcanic ash. We really had no idea when we would be able to go, but we re-booked our flights for the week after and prayed and prayed. That was the only other week we could go for the rest of the year (due to schedule conflicts and a little baby coming soon!) Well, that praying sure paid off, because the ash died down and we were on our way!!


Here we are at the Pittsburgh airport . . . notice Sommer's not so happy face . . . oh what's that!? We have to pay for Bryce?! Children under 2 years of age are allowed to ride free (by sitting on parents lap) for DOMESTIC flights only . . . we didn't know that. For international flights, you have to pay 10% of the price of the ticket even though they are still sitting on a lap and don't have any extra luggage . . . . and since we didn't find out until that day, and the prices of tickets that day were $2,500 to go to germany, they had to pay $250 for her ticket instead of $60!! Ridiculous!


Bryce discovered something new . . the people mover! And loooved it! When we weren't on the plane, we were at the people mover going back and forth in the airport. It was so cute! And so exhausting.


On our way to Newark!! This flight was terrible! We had to go down below the clouds because of "air traffic control" and it was super bumpy the whole ride! Now, I do love rollar coaster rides, but not for 2 hours straight. We were all very sick, and my sister-in-law (don't tell her I told you) even puked. It was quite the ride. But hey, we got there safe, right?!


We had a 4 or 5 hour layover in Newark until we left for Frankfurt (which actually went by very fast). We ate some food, and saw Andre Agassi (tennis player who sat right behind us), I worked a little, and of course we went on the people mover again . . .



and again . . .


Grammy fed Bryce her bubba!


Our plane finally arrived! (You can see NYC in the distance!)


The plane (although not nearly as comfy as I was hoping and not nearly as much foot room as I was expecting), had awesome monitors in the head rests in front of our seats.


It had so much cool information about the flight.


Including maps and your location at that certain point in time.


And it also had movies, tv shows, music, and games!! Very fun!

After playing with those for a while and getting our food (which was surprisingly very yummy!), we all tried to get a bit of shut eye on our overnight 9hr-ish plane flight to Frankfurt.


We would see Dan & Marissa & Germany in the morning!

House To Do List . . .

Beginning to think we should just get a new house . . . this isn't even everything we want to do.

I mean, I am excited to do some of those things, but I wonder how old we will be when we get all of these crossed off.

Bigfoot in Spotsylvania, VA?!

According to this article from Fredericksburg.com (we used to live in Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania when we were in Virginia for two years), many have claimed they saw Bigfoot in the Lake Anna region.

When Shane "heard about it on Elliott in the Morning" and sent the article to me, I really thought it was a prank he was pulling on me.

And I mean . . . really?! Does Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti, exist?! I won't lie . . it does kinda freak me out when I read these stories. And maybe I'm just as crazy as the people who said they saw it, but you just never know! I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Or maybe I just think it would make life that much more exciting if something like this really did exist.

My favorite part from the article:

But not finding any evidence has little effect on their hope that someday one of them might get the evidence needed to prove Bigfoot does exist.

"There's no certification for this except a mental institution and an empty checkbook," Willard joked.

Good luck to all you guys from Spotsy! Watch out for Bigfoot! :-P

Happy 2nd Anniversary Dan & Marissa!

taken on our 2010 trip to Germany in front of the Neuschwanstein Castle
(where Dan proposed to Marissa in 2007)

Happy 2nd Anniversary to one of the cutest couples! You can just tell when you watch you guys how much love you have for each other! I wish you nothing but the best on your anniversary and in all the years to come!

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
-- Judy Garland

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow.

We miss you and love you so much!

p.s. - hope you celebrate with some Currant Champagne and Dark Chocolate! ;-)

My Babies!

Can't believe our babies will be three years old.

I love that they still love each other after all these years!

I'm So Excited!!

And I just can't hide it . . . so I'm going to tell you all about it!! (but not really cause some of it is a secret) . . .

• Mase's TOP SECRET bachelorette party is this weekend!! KINDA freaking out about this. Should be good.
• My kitties turn 3 this weekend (holy cow time flies!)!! Makes me want to go out and get them each a kitty for their birthday!
• Shaney's finally coming home from a 4 day work trip that was 4 days too long! I really missed him.
• Excited that (I think) we finally came to a conclusion on our house . . . we were going to completely redo the entire downstairs layout, but I think we will just drywall some things and wait a couple years to see if we really like where we are and then maybe do an addition upstairs. We are getting our septic redone this summer, and I just want to enjoy what we have right now.
  
• Excited for one of my BFFs, who just bought her own house! Can't wait to go see it and help her out with it!
• My sister-in-law and brother-in-law also got a new house! They are amazing at decorating and making homes look awesome, so I'm excited to see what they do with it!

Yikes!

Electric Bill!

Just wanted to share the joy of the news we received via email when we were in Germany . . .

Our electric bill dropped by more than 60%!!!! :-)

I think it was because we replaced our hot water tank and fixed our well leak!

Yay!

p.s. - not very happy with the lady at Penelec who said our bill was a "normal household" bill before! ppsssh!

7 Years!

7 years ago today Shaney and I officially began our relationship together (and only met shortly before that). Ever since then we've pretty much lived together too. Either at his dorm, my parents house, his parents house, and then eventually our own apartment and houses.
I really can't believe it's been 7 years already! Time flies when you're having fun!To think that Shaney's been able to put up with me for that long! THAT is impressive!


But seriously Shane, God truly blessed me when he put you in my life 7 years ago, and every day since then I just feel even more lucky and blessed to have you. You are everything to me. You are my "Rock". And I love you more than you will ever know.

We're Back!

Well, we did end up going to Germany (YAY!), and we did end up getting back safe too (praise the Lord!)!

Here are some sneak peaks for you. These are all pictures from my mother-in-law! I still haven't gone through all 1,000+ of mine yet . . .

These are not my beers, although while in Germany, I did find that I kinda liked Dark Radlers (half beer/half lemonade or sprite)!

Shaney and I at Linderhof Palace with the Alps in the background! It was sooooooo beautiful there!

I will try to get my pics on here sometime this week! We just finished unpacking yesterday night and we have a pile of laundry that would reach the top of the Alps!