Fantastic Vacation

Has it really been since November 20th when I last wrote on my blog? I feel like I have been saying things like that quite often lately and I really need to get it together. We have just had so much going on the past two weeks! Today is my first day back to normal. I am planning on finishing up the laundry, actually putting it away, changing the sheets in the guest room and vacuuming and cleaning the rest of my house. Deaner's dad and stepmom arrived in Germany on the 20th and left this past Saturday. We had such a great time and my house feels very quiet and very empty this morning.

I suppose that I need to back up quite a bit and start from the beginning. Dick and Maggie (Richard's dad and stepmom) arrived on Friday morning. I picked them up at the airport since Deaner had to work that day. We met Deaner for lunch that day and did some sightseeing around Wiesbaden. Friday night we ate dinner at our favorite restaurant, Trenz, before starting our big adventure on Saturday morning. Saturday morning we headed to Koblenz to have lunch with some family friends. Then we continued on to Hirschhorn Castle were we spent the night. I have never spent the night in a castle and it was a really neat experience. Here is a picture of the view from our room.And some pictures of the castle grounds.Before leaving the castle Deaner, his dad, and Maggie decided they would climb to the top of the above tower. I decided I would stay put on the ground! Here they are climbing to the top!After the long climb, we headed to Garmish, Germany and the beautiful Alps. The military has special hotels all over the world specifically for members of the military and DoD employees and we were lucky enough to get to take advantage of the one in Garmish. The Edelweiss Lodge was awesome and we couldn't have hoped for a better vacation. When we arrived, the weather was a bit gray but when we woke up on Monday morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful. Originally we planned on visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle on Monday but since the weather was so fantastic we decided that we should go ahead to the summit of the Zugspitz. The Zugspitz in the highest mountain that is located in Germany but once at the top one can see the Austrian Alps for as far as their eye can see. It was truly one of the most amazing views I have ever seen and we have been to a lot of places in our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite shots. There is no way that I can post them all because I took WAY too many.I mean, does it get any prettier? I don't think so. Deaner and I cannot wait to go back and test out our skiing skills. I'm pretty sure they are non-existant but we can't live here with this sort of oppertunity and NOT going skiing in the Alps!

Anyways, it might be time for me to start all that cleaning that I was talking about earlier. I have plenty more pictures from the rest of the vacation that I will post tomorrow. Plus I have pictures of my first Thanksgiving as the hostess and of my Christmas tree that is up and decorated already! I can't wait to share the pictures with y'all. I also want to say Happy Birthday to Fatboy/Chubs, who is otherwise known as my Dad! Happy Birthday Dad!! Hope you have a great day and that everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!!