I finally got my German table!

When we lived in NC we had some friends that had been stationed in Germany and had lots of beautiful furniture and antiques decorating their home that they had bought while living here (they even had a life sized armored Knight).  But my very favorite thing was their dining table which was huge and solid, so I made Rand promise if we ever got to Germany I could get my own German table.  Well Folks, it finally arrived last Wednesday and it is everything I dreamed it would be.  We had an adorable German craftsman, Thomas Weidner and his team custom build a table, bench, dining chairs and sideboard for us.  We have never bought nice furniture so it was really fun to have something built exactly as I wanted it to look.  Thomas promised me that it will last at least 300 years and I told him I would hold him to that!  This really is our "forever" table and I love that we will have something in our house someday that will tell a little bit of a story.  I love all the German accents he included but it still fits with our style.  The only downside is that I think I will be exempt from Christmas and birthday presents for the next 10-15 years after this purchase.  Oh well, it is totally worth it!

Marsha and Crampa come to visit!

Rand's parents were are first visitors! The best thing about having company is that it's a good excuse for us to take a vacation and see some different places. We decided to see Tuscany with them and booked a hotel on a very small army post down by Pisa. On the way we decided to break our trip up a bit and stopped in Garmisch for a night. Garmisch is on the German border with Austria in the Alps and has beautiful scenery. We had been there in the winter for a few days for a marriage retreat and were excited to go back in warmer weather to explore a bit more. We found this beautiful lake that we hiked to with breathtaking mountain views.


It must have been frog mating season because there were frogs and eggs sacks all over this little lake. We learned that "gruten" is frog in German.


We have driven to and from Italy 3 times now and I don't think I will ever tire of it. Driving through Austria is incredible!

The night we reached Camp Darby was very rainy, we went into Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and to eat dinner. We left the camera in the car so we don't have any pictures to prove we were there but the weather was so miserable anyway I don't know that we would have even documented it. The next day we drove out to Siena, a delightful Tuscan town with a lot of charm. We walked around for most of the day and even met up with our friends the Morris' who happened to be there at the same time.

Keith and Marsha on the very hilly streets of Siena.

This is the main piazza in Siena called Il Campo, and is definitely the place to be, it is also great for people watching. The pigeons entertained our kids for a good part of the day as well.


Rand really wanted to see Elba while we were there so we drove down and took the ferry out to the island. Unfortunately, we had more rainy weather but the island was still breathtaking. It is very green and less commercial than most places we had been. We would like to go back sometime and visit the beautiful beaches they had, under better weather conditions that is.

Cinque Terre was our FAVORITE! We loved these little towns and had the most beautiful day there. Cinque is "five" in Italian and these five little coastal towns are literally perched on the side of the cliffs that overlook the Ligurian Sea (part of the Mediterranean). We started in Monterosso al Mare which had a nice little beach and even a castle ruin on top of a hill. We decided to do the boat tour that takes you to four of the five towns. We got off in Manarola and Riomaggiore. Each had it's own little flavor and were breathtaking among the ocean views amid vineyards and orchards. We would love to go back and take the time to hike between each town (not dueable with our kids). When we returned to Monterosso in the evening we enjoyed the most delicious gnocchi and pesto for dinner.

Monterosso al Mare

A view down the coast, I could live here.

Manarola

Riomaggiore, probably our favorite of all the towns. The colorful houses and fishing boats were so charming.

Vineyards and lemon trees as far as the eye can see. You can also tell a little better in this picture how steep they build the vineyards on the side of the mountains.

Gorgeous ocean view once we climbed to the top of the village.

Finally, FLORENCE!! We really loved this city, it seriously had everything. Refined culture, world famous museums but had the feel of a much smaller city. Everywhere you looked you could still see the gorgeous green hills of Tuscany. We enjoyed seeing the Uffizi and Academia galleries which included Michelangelo's "David" as well as the Duomo (or cathedral) which has given Florence its famous skyline for centuries. Again we were rained on at the end of the afternoon and missed seeing the Pitti Palace. This is definitely a place we will return to someday.

The Duomo- The facade is covered with pink, green and white Tuscan marble and was the first Renaissance dome built and the model for domes to follow.

View of the city and surrounding hills from the tower next to the Duomo

It was wonderful having Rand's parents here and can't wait for their next visit. The reason for the post title are the names that Evie called them while they were here. Somewhere a couple days into our trip she just started calling Grandma, by her first name, Marsha, and it stuck for the rest of their stay. It was pretty hilarious. Grandpa is apparently pronounced "Crampa" in Evie's language. So cute! Please click on any pictures to enlarge them while viewing. Thanks for being patient with us while we catch up on these past few months.

The Newest Member of Our Family

After Owen begging for a pet on a daily basis for a couple of months, we decided to finally oblige. We were thinking more like a Guinea pig or rabbit until Rand found out that it is really inexpensive to board a dog here while you travel. We considered a puppy for a couple of days until I started reading about house training and decided that was worse than having another human baby (which we are definitely NOT ready for right now). After searching the local newspaper for a couple of weeks we found an adorable Dalmatian that was 18 months old and already house trained. He was also remarkably mellow, which is very unlike Dalmatians and decided to bring him home. His name is Pongo (which Owen loved being a huge Disney fan) and he has fit into our family very well these last few days. Here are a few pictures of our new little boy!

What we've been up to...

I just wanted to share some of the not so exciting things we've been up to (other than travelling, I mean) as well as some photos of the kids, because I know the grandparents appreciate it. The summer has been beautiful here. It's so nice not to fight the bugs and extreme humidity that we had in North Carolina. We've been strawberry and raspberry picking and have filled the freezer with homemade jam. You would not believe the size of the berries here, it's great. We've been spending lots of time outside taking walks in the evening and swimming at the local pool. Here are just a few pictures of the kids taken recently.

The view of the valley behind our house.


Delicious Raspberries, as big as strawberries. We probably ate more than we picked.

Evie & Owen swinging at the park near our house

We spent a morning at this beautiful park in Bayreuth.

Passau & Cesky Krumlov

In March we decided to check out a town called Passau on the Austrian border that we had seen some pictures of a while back. We hadn't talked to anyone who had actually visited there which surprised us because it was a gorgeous town that sits on the Danube, Inn and Ilk rivers. All three rivers actually converge there so it is almost like a little peninsula. We really enjoyed our day there and would love an excuse to go back. We first checked out the castle fortress built above the town with excellent views. Then we drove down to the town and took a boat ride on the rivers. Afterward we enjoyed walking around the town and found a great park for the kids to play in at the end of the peninsula. Passau is really a hidden gem, we loved this little town.

Where the 3 rivers converge- you can actually see that they are 3 different colors.

View of Passau from the castle fortress

View of the castle from the river

Beautiful, ornate cathedral in the town


From Passau we drove into the Czech Republic to visit an adorable little town called Cesky Krumlov. We stayed in a pension just about a kilometer away from the castle there (every town has a castle) although this castle was complete with a moat that included a bear that lived in it. This little town has a river that encircles it that you can actually paddleboat on- unfortunately we were too early in the season to rent a boat. We enjoyed climbing the castle tower for a view of the city and walked down into the town to explore a little bit. It's so interesting how you can drive 30 minutes into another country's borders and get a completely different feel.

The cute little pension we stayed in, our room had the 3 windows on the second story.

View of the town from the castle


The top of the tower

The castle fortress from below

This is the bear that lives in the moat.

Another pretty view

Paris

In February Rand had a 4 day weekend that fell over Valentine's day so we splurged and paid a babysitter to stay with the kids for the weekend while we went to Paris with some good friends. This was our first trip away together since we've had kids and it was heaven. We had spent a day in Paris last summer but did not get to see much as we were dragging 2 kids around without a stroller, nuff said. This time we got the museum pass and were able to leisurely stroll through the L'ouvre, L'Orangerie, Musee D'Orsay, the Rodin and a few others. We ate crepes and stayed out past 7pm. It was wonderful. Our friends the Morris' couldn't have been better company, we shared an apartment with them and enjoyed taking in the sights. This was the first trip we took where I was able to use the new camera I got for Christmas. Here are some of the places we visited.

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower- we went to the top for an awesome view of the city, it looks so cool lit up at night.

Standing in front of the L'ouvre with the glass pyramid behind us.

Proof that we did see the Mona Lisa, and yes it's a lot smaller than we thought it would be.

Musee D'Orsay used to be a train station and even has the original clock still hanging. I loved the architecture of this building.

French Military Museum which houses Napoleon's Tomb

Napoleon's Tomb

Arc d'Triumph

Champs Elysees from the top of the Arc- This traffic circle has about 12 different streets converging into it, we actually drove through it twice over the summer (not on purpose) I'm glad we didn't have to repeat that experience this time.

Beautiful stained glass in St. Chapelle

Notre Dame- I don't think I'll ever tire of Gothic architecture.

Love those gargoyles

Evie's namesake- St. Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris so of course we had to take a picture.

Claude Monet's "Water Lilies" in L'Orangerie. This room in the museum was specifically built to house this piece of art. The walls are curved. You can almost see the depth of his brushstrokes in this picture. I have loved impressionist painting since high school and was loving all of the museums with so many famous pieces.

Our good friends, Cori & Chris Morris

German Christmas Markets and Birthdays

Some fun things that we discovered this last December were the Christmas markets that happen in most big towns and cities in Germany. We were able to brave the cold long enough to check out the ones in Nurnberg and Regensburg. Next year we'll have to check some out in different cities. Here are some pictures from our outings-

Cathedral in Nurnberg (you can also see some of the Christmas stands)

Kids playing in front of the Cathedral

There was a nativity scene set up that was basically a petting zoo, for 2 euros you could buy a bag of food to feed the animals (camel, goats, llama, sheep, etc.)

Sorry Em, this picture was hilarious I couldn't resist including it.

Evie at the Regensburg Christmas market with the longest bratwurst she's ever eaten!

Santa came to our house before we went to the states-

Evie in her dress-ups, unfortunately "one size fits all" doesn't cover up her big belly

Very serious about feeding her baby from Grandma Lynn

Evie turned 2 in January and Owen was 5 in February. For Owen's party we decided on a german Fasching theme (kind of like their Halloween but celebrated in February) just in case you're wondering why everyone is dressed up.

Arghhh, Matey! Owen wanted to be a pirate.

The group picture

Owen blowing out his candles