Sunday, July 27, 2014

Lazy Days of Summer



This summer has been quite relaxing.  No moving.  No having babies.  No traveling to the states.   No school.  However, no break for Ben :(  He works and works and works long hours. But it's been nice for me to spend time with the kiddos in a very relaxed environment.

I LOVE all the green space we have here on RB.  RB is da bomb in the summer. 



Here are some very LOW KEY ways we have been spending our time the past couple months:

Water games with the neighbors:


Caroline, cool as ever

The Wilhelma Zoo/Botanical Garden.  Just a couple miles from where we live: 




Face painting over the 4th of July.  And fireworks too:  


Legoland.  A little overhyped in my opinion.  I liked the other two amusement parks we've visited in Germany, Tripsdrill and Traumland much better.  


Lots of park time.  As in cross the street, take ten steps,  and you'll be at the park time.  





James has finally met his match… literally
 Speaking of James, his favorite thing to do in life is walk outside, specifically into the crosswalk.  If I put him in the middle of the playground, he will still find the nearest exit and make a beeline for the crosswalk.  All I do is chase after him. 








Yes, he even sits in the middle of the crosswalk.  Pourquoi pas?


A delightful way to spend your time


The girls riding their scooters down a massive hill here on base:


My nice friend/neighbor teaching them a few tennis skills:  
(Did you know she played on the Wellesley College tennis team?  She's got mad skills.)



Barbecuing with friends and neighbors.  J's first time eating a s'more (huge fan):  



More walking 


Beautiful sunsets from our balcony.  We love to hang out there!


And last but not least, the swimming pool!  The girls are taking lessons.  And James is in paradise.  He loves the water.  Even though he has fallen in the pool twice.  And dramatically rescued by his mother twice.




Living on the edge


 And the pool has a fun little playground with your standard crazy German contraption. 


So, one more month until school starts.  I can't believe how fast this summer has flown.  Sometimes I wish time could just stand still...

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Get Away


Ben and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on July 18th.  

We recently discovered that there is a newly wed couple in our ward who LOVE to babysit.   Well, maybe "LOVE" is a bit of an exaggeration.  They are WILLING to babysit to make some extra moo-lah.  SCORE!!!  I was all over this newfound knowledge.  I think the last time Ben and I went somewhere overnight without the children was over two years ago.  So, I was ready for a break!!  Ben was also on board as he has had a very stressful/demanding workload as of late.

So, it was off to the Bodensee… aka Lake Constance in the south of Germany.  It's just a two hour drive from here! I love that you don't have to go very far to reach some very cool destinations around here.   We loaded the bikes and took off on Friday afternoon.    

Lake Constance is awesome because it borders three countries… Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Can you see the Austrian Alps in the bottom left hand corner?  We stuck to the German side and stayed near a very picturesque town called Meersburg.  The beauty of this place is accentuated by the rows and rows of vineyards… wine country.  




This is Meersburg:


And this is the place we stayed:  
(Also, we forgot the nice camera, and my iPhone ran out of juice.  So, our pics are not the best quality, but ah well)

Only a REAL man totes around his wife's pink suitcase.  Also, it's amazing how little luggage you need when you are traveling without children.  Packing is a cinch.  
This was a family owned hotel/wine distillery.  The folks that ran this place were super nice.  And we had a free bottle of wine in our fridge!  Too bad we don't drink!




Enjoying some much needed relaxation
We rode our bikes into Meersburg and had a lovely evening exploring and eating out:


I'm pretty sure this town is older than 1986.  


The downside of traveling without kids is that you have to be in all the photos




 The next day we took the ferry across the lake to Konstanz.  In my opinion, not a very nice town.  It was crowded and kind of rowdy and there were a lot of teenagers.  So, per the advice of the tourist info lady, we decided to bike about 10 km over to an island called Reichenau.  It's an island attached to the mainland by a causeway and it has been declared a world heritage site since 2000 because of its very old monasteries that are still standing and date back to the 10th century!  We saw some murals in these churches that are over 1000 years old!!  Also, it's a very nice community with lots of farmland… we saw greenhouses, tomato plants, cabbage, leeks, and other crops.  Oh, and TONS of flowers.  

Boarding the ferry.  Yes, a palm tree in Germany!!  Who knew?



Entering Konstanz
Ben was especially taken with this statue… go figure.
Biking to the island: 



One of the old churches



The thousand year old murals:




Oh, and in one of the churches we happened to be there just as a wedding was taking place.  We got to hear the organist crank out Mendelssohn's wedding march.  How cool is that?


More views of the pretty island


And since it was a very hot day we had to go for a swim in the lake!  A trip to a German beach means lots of naked kids, large men in tight speedos, and women of all shapes, sizes, and ages sporting bikinis.  The Germans are very comfortable in their own skin!  Wish I could be more like that!




And then it was time to head home… sigh… All good things must come to an end. We packed as much as we could in a day and a half.  
So, let's hear it for vacationing without children!  No offense kids.