Update on our time in Germany so far

Neuschwanstein Castle 9\17

Here are the start of the pictures from Salzberg 9\18

(Ingrid and Micki)

(beautiful gate into a beautiful cemetary)

(Catacombs)

(Mozarts birthplace)

(Kevin and Micki goofing off outside the museum at the top of the mountain we went to for some great views of the city-which the parking deck was built inside the mountain!!!)

(The bride to be getting Kevin's phone number!)

(Sorry this is blurry-this was a pretty bridge in the town where Silent Night was written)

The Octoberfest Parade in Munich 9\20

(The second from the right is Kevin's great aunt Ingrid)

(Kevin and Deitmar in one of the beer tents at Octoberfest)

So we have been busy little travelers since my last post, and haven't had internet access, so I wanted to post some more pictures while I had the chance. (You never know when you will have internet access while on vacation-especially overseas!) God has been hearing your prayers and I will beg to have those continued so that we can enjoy this beautiful world (and some of the most amazing churches!!) on this trip-because trust me it is hard to appreciate anything when all you can think about is finding the next bathroom and hoping you have enough Euro's to make it through the day! (Since you usually have to pay to use the restroom in Europe!) Today we saw the big Octoberfest opening parade in Munich (München) and came back to Deitmar's house, yesterday we were supposed to see the Bavarian forest but I wasn't feeling well and Kevin had a stomach ache, so instead we stayed home (Ingrid's house) and just visited with his family, and Friday we (Ingrid, Micki, Kevin & I) went to Salzberg! (LOVED IT!) We actually got stuck in a small town (village) right across the border back into Germany on our way home. (It is where the song Silent Night was written) Apparently Ingrid accidentally put unleaded gas in her car that is supposed to take deisel! (They have two cars and one takes unleaded gas and the other takes deisel and she always gets them confused!!) She had mostly deisel in there, but put about 16 liters of unleaded in before she realized it. Afterwards she just went on with it and wasn't worried, well when we stopped for dinner at that small town, the car wouldn't start again for us to leave. After waiting for awhile in the car Kevin took part in a local Bachelorette party...then we took a walk over the beutiful bridge, and got Kevin some cake (while waiting for the tow truck) when the car decided to start (Yay!) and we drove on home!! (Back to Ingrid's) Adventures in traveling is what we do!! Well, I didn't mean to write so much because I wanted to post some pictures so I better get to it!!

A few pictures from our trip so far & Füssen (actually just Neushwanstein)

Today it was overcast and rainy all day long, but we didn't let that keep us from seeing the sights! (Neither the weather, or me feeling bad again today kept us from having fun and seeing another beautful part of Bavaria.) Deitmar drove us down about an hour and a half from his place (which is right outside of Munich) to see the fairy tale castle built by Ludwig II. Schloß Neuschwanstein was so beautiful! It was never actually completed (worked on for 17 years, but in the meantime he was also building two other castles and using up money that the country didn't need to spend, so I can see why it wasn' finished!) but the areas that were finished (as well as the amazing location) was breathtaking!!

Well, we are actually getting ready to run out the door to head over to Ingrid's house so I will have to post the pictures of what we saw today later. I am not sure if we will have the internet where we are staying the next few days, so it may be awhile!!

Munich (München)

This morning (wait, I think I mean yesterday morning) was fun as we ran around getting all our last minute errands done before we left for Germany. I feel like we have been in the planning stage for so long it is hard to believe the time is actually here!!
Kev and I made it safely into Munich and Deitmar (Kevin's 2nd cousin once removed-or something like that) took us around the city siteseeing all day. It is only 6PM here (or I should say 18-like the locals) and we are exhusted!! It has been a REALLY LONG DAY!! (We didn't really get any sleep on the flight-well, I might have gotten a little-but not much and Kevin got zip, zero, zilch!)
The flight was nice, since we had an extra seat, (we were in the middle with three seats for the two of us) but my IC was acting up and I was pretty misrable for the trip. I think I used the bathroom more times on this flight than any other flight in my life-and I have been on a 20 hour flight before!! (And you were worth it South Africa-Oh how I loved thee!) I am not sure what happened, but finally, by the last two hours of the flight, I was feeling well enough to at least watch one movie...otherwise I was just laying down as best I could across the two seats (poor Kevin, he never gets the extra space when we are blessed with it) and trying hard not to wish I was home in my own bed instead of on a plane to Europe!! (Yeah, I just said that, now you know how bad I was feeling!! We are talking serious issues here!!)
Today we got into Munich's airport around 7:30AM local time and after freshening up at his house and meeting the rest of his family Deitmar drove us into Munich for the day where we did some site-seeing (AMAZING), shopping at a farmers market (so fun and I found some food I could eat) & ate outside at an outdoor beerpark. (I think that is what it was called.) It was a great day, but on the way back to Deitmars house Kevin and I were nodding off. We had been going non-stop all day after the long flight! (With a ton of walking-including a climb up St. Peter's Church Tower which had 305 or 304 steps-depending on if Kevin or I counted it right!!) We are both exhausted and my camera ran out of batteries before noon-how did I forget to charge that up?!? (Thankfully Kevin had his and we got a TON of pictures!)
We are back at Deitmar's house and Kevin is taking a little nap before dinner while I type this up. (Using a German keyboard by the way-it is harder than one would think! Since they have extra letters, not everything is in the same spot as at home!!)
I will try to log on again later tonight to post some of the pictures from our first day here in Germany!

The To Do List...

My ever constant companion...my to do list...is not happy right now. I have left way to many things unchecked...

but time waits for no man and our time has come.

Vacation time that is!!

So if my house is dirty and our bushes need trimmed, and my home is in complete disarray...I will try not to think of these things, because...

Our bags are packed (well, mostly) and we are ready to go! (actually, as I write this I am in my p.j.'s still-but I am basically ready!)

We have to run a few last minute errands on our way to the airport and then...

we

are

off!

Up, Up, & Away!

We have been planning this trip & looking forward to it for so long it is hard to believe it is finally here!!

I should have taken a picture of our bags. We are packing very light (well actually it is quite heavy to me-packing light is hard!!) so our bags are crammed to the max, but I am impressed with how little we did get it down to, we will see if I am still impressed after having to lug it around the whole trip!! I am hoping that will help keep me from buying things while we are gone...we are spending enough on the trip we don't need to spend more on things, but I have a feeling I will find a way if I find something I really love!!

P.S. I hope to be able to update you some along the way, but if not be prepared to get a million pictures and forever long posts when we get back!

Labor Day Weekend and a girls night!

We have been keeping crazy busy here getting ready for our trip and getting all the regular everyday life stuff done.

There is so much to do to get ready for a big trip like this, but I am
jumping
out
of
my
skin
with excitement!!

It is less than a week away!!
I have mainly been busy getting our B&B's reserved and picking up all those little extra things that we will need, like a pocket translator, (Since neither Kevin or I speak another language--yes we are going to be "those" people the ignorant American tourists!!) travel pillows, lightweight clothes, special travel bags, etc. This is turning out to be quite an expensive ordeal...but I think it is totally worth it! (I hope I am right...I mean it's Europe...surely I'm right!!)

Over the holiday weekend went camping (as planned) and I was very happy to get away and enjoy the outdoors. On a trail with mom and dad...and Kevin-he never wants his picture taken, so I just took it anyhow while he was walking in front of me...don't you love how he has his phone still with him (although we were expecting Kelsey and Travis anytime so I guess it makes since, but really is that neccessary!?!)

Mom, Dad, Kevin and I went up on Friday after work (Mom actually went up on Thursday to save a spot for us because you can't make reservations so you just have to get up there early and get a spot, I am glad she did because it was full by Friday mid-morning!!)

Saturday Travis and Kelsey came up and we did some hiking and made s'mores around the campfire, but we started getting sprinkled on so we didn't end up singing around the campfire-which I missed!!
These are the pictures we took at Benton Falls where we hiked to on Saturday afternoon with Kelsey and Travis. Last time we went Kels & I climed up the falls (with Kevin and Andy), but this time we let our boys have to fun and kept our feet on more solid ground and took the stairs up the trail to meet them at the top!!
It rained off and on throughout Saturday night and all morning Sunday so when it finally stopped for a moment we broke down camp and went on home early so we could get everything dried out. (I don't think we have ever been camping where we didn't get rained on!!-We have all the luck...but I will say that the outside world is so beautiful after a nice rain. All the colors seem richer and fuller and so beautiful...but we were wet and ready to go home!)

Although I was sad we got rained out, this did leave us Monday to get everything cleaned up, some errands done and we got to stop by and visit with some great friends who were having a cookout on Monday afternoon before getting back into the regular work schedule again yesterday.

However, I still didn't get a card out to my Grandparents who celebrated their 58th Wedding Anniversary on Monday...I am becoming so forgetful. Well, let me rephrase that...I have ALWAYS been forgetful, I am just getting worse at leaving reminders for myself. I keep missing everyone's birthdays, anniversariess, etc. (And people say they get forgetful when they are pregnant, I am going to forget who I am or something once I get pregnant because I am already super forgetful!!)

Kevin had to go out of town for work for a few days (he left yesterday and will be back tomorrow-he is in Boston and got to go to a game last night at Fenway and was so excited about it!) so Kelsey came over last night (after school and work) and we did some sewing!

I love girl time,
especially SISTER time
and having sewing time in the mix just made it all the sweeter!!
(Too bad Betsy and Mare couldn't be there...although then I don't know if we would have actually gotten any sewing done, we would have been too busy talking!!)
We had so much fun working late into the night...but I am old and eventually had to turn in for the night so I could get some sleep! (Since I had to get up and going this morning and get to work!)

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Pleasant Home Giveaway

O.K. Sorry about this if you are not a sewing lover like me...but I

absolutely

had

to blog about the great giveaway going on over at

Pleasant Home

because of that fact that this gives me

10

(oh yes, you read that right...ten!)

extra chances

to win!!

I love those extra chances! This could actually be my time to win! I believe it!!

If you like to sew at all (or want to simply drool over some amazing handmade things) you would love this blog as well.

Wish me luck y'all! I hope I win...I could totally use some new FREE fabric to play with!!

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday and have a wonderful Holiday weekend-in case I am not back on here again until after the weekend. (We are camping for the Holiday weekend!!)