Packing Again

We're up this morning packing again. We are leaving for a Grecian cruise today for one week. Do you think we'll be sick of traveling by the end of the summer? Possibly, but for now we are loving it. So, we'll see you all in about a week.

Off to Germany ...

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early to catch a 6:40 AM flight to Munich. We were able to spend most of Sunday exploring the city, its too bad we were SO tired. At least Stacia and I were, for some reason our husbands seem to do fine with only about 4 hours of sleep a night. The trip started out rough for me though .... my luggage didn't make it to Munich.

Marshall and Stacia in Munich.

Glockenspeil

We climbed up the tower at St Peter's to get a great view of the city. It was a lot of steps. I think my poor pregnant sister was ready to look for an elevator.

At the Hofbrauhaus, of course there was a traditional German band playing.

Marshall and Stacia hanging out. At our table, we happened to be sitting by a girl from Phoenix ... what are the chances?

We ate at the Haxnbauer for dinner and we HAD to eat some schweinshaxn. This is a gigantic pork knuckle that can't be good for anybody's arteries. And you know we had some spaetzle with them. mmm. It is a traditional bavarian dish and quite tasty. But after a meal like that, we were definitely ready to head back to our hotel and not move!

The next morning we headed to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a beautifully preserved medieval city. My luggage still hadn't come, so we had to let the airport where we were moving to and hope it made it to our new address. I was not happy! They had given me an "emergency" overnight kit, which included an XL white t-shirt, but no underwear! I was missing my clean clothes.

It was a beautiful city with the first castle being built about 950 AD.

Walking from our little bed and breakfast to the town.

We visited a Prison Museum there, which included many forms of torture they used back then. I wouldn't want to sit in this chair.

This was at the city gate. The face that you see was used to pour hot tar on enemies when they tried to get in the door.

We went on the Night Watchman's tour that evening. We learned a lot about the city, and who knew there was so many Americans there. Our tour was full of them.

The old city square.

This is a little man door. It was in the big door and at night after the gates were closed, if a man came through, he had to come through this door which was only big enough for one man.

The next morning we headed south to see some castles and then on to Austria. The men of course loved driving on the Autobahn. Thankfully us ladies were sleeping in the backseat. Sometimes its better not to know.....

More to follow! Oh and good news, my luggage made it to Rothenburg.

Birthday Parties ... Danish style!

The weekend of the 4th of July, our good friend Jørgen turned 50. So, we spent the 4th of July at his birthday party. Marshall and Stacia joined us. I have to say it was one of the most diverse and fun parties I have ever been too. They had amazing food that never stopped coming and all sorts of fun games and competitions to play.
Broderick had fun playing badmitton.

You don't want to know how long Marshall and Brad were tied together trying to figure out how to get seperated.

Go-Kart Rides!!!!

Learning to play the original Viking game of Kubb, we're bringing this one home with us.

One of the funnest games was this harness connected to a big piece of rubber tied around a tree, you had to try to get the farthest out and mark your spot with a flag. It was fun!

Marshall trying to go a little farther ...

Marshall and his buddy, Georg. Marshall makes friends wherever he goes.

Jørgen explaining the rules to this game. They shot pop cans way up in the air and you tried to catch them.



There were a few other games we played there, all very fun. One you had to ride a bike on a 2x4 across a shallow pond without falling in. Brad was the first across and he did it without a hitch.

Happy 50th Birthday Jørgen. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day!

Marshall and Stacia Visit!

After driving from Phoenix to Chicago and dropping their 5 kids off at my parents (thanks mom and dad), my sister Stacia and her husband Marshall flew to Copenhagen. I met them there by myself (Brad was working) and spent a day with them there showing them the town before flying on to Aalborg. I left little Anika for a little more than 24 hours, it was difficult, but she did so good taking a bottle and Fiona said there were no problems.
Marshall and Stacia in Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen.
We stayed in the Cabinn! The room they gave us had bunk beds with a trundle and our bathroom was tiny. Also, there are few places with air conditioning over here and it was 80 degrees when they came and we couldn't open our window more than an inch. It was HOT! Marshall was nice enough to figure out how to open the window all the way, about an hour before we left ... that didn't help much. Thanks anyway Marshall.
While walking through Copenhagen, Marshall got pulled into a street show to help. What a coincidence that the man putting on the show was called "Arizona Jones". I have great video of Marshall flitting around like a bird and doing some dance moves, but I was forbidden to post them. We had a nice time in Copenhagen and then headed back to Aalborg. Unfortunately Stacia was coming down with a bad cold/sinus infection so she wasn't feeling great.



We had a few days in Brønderslev and then we headed to Munich with them. The weather was beautiful while they were here, so we were able to spend time outside and show them our little area of the world.
Marshall and Stacia at the beach in Lønstrup.

At the lighthouse that is slowly getting buried by sand.

The beautiful lighthouse and the sea!

Marshall and Fiona climbed to the top of the lighthouse. If you look at the picture below, you can see the tiny hole you have to crawl through to get to the top. Since Stacia is pregnant and I had Anika on my chest, we opted not to do it. =)
I think at one time they tried to close off the lighthouse, but people broke the bricks out and still go to the top.
Saturday, Marshall and Brad went golfing with our friend Brian while us ladies hung out at home. We had a little shopping to do and introduced Broderick to the sprinkler. (He was scared of it). That evening we took them to Aalborg to eat dinner at Duus Vinkjaelder, which is in an old building that was a favorite hang out for German soldiers after they had occupied Denmark during WWII. After dinner, Fiona took the kids home and we walked around town for a little bit. I think they got sick of all the walking they had to do while they were here. =)

We didn't want to stay out too late since we had to catch a 6:40 flight the next morning to Munich. Stay tuned for more of adventures ...

Its been a while since I've posted. We're doing good over here. My sister and her husband, Marshall and Stacia just left yesterday. We had a great time with them while they were here. We spent some time in Denmark, but also went to Bavaria and Austria. So I will post some pictures and stories soon.