Germany

We just returned from Germany last night after two amazing weeks! I'd like to share...just a few (lol)... pictures from the trip! I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed our stay over there!

Keegan trying to tie his shoe before our first flight.. they were so full of energy, we were dreading the day

Overall, the kids did really well on the flight! They slept a lot (luckily, the flight to Germany is overnight) and were fairly easily preoccupied.

Our first stop was in Schorndorf with Jonas's mom.

This ^^ is the kindergarten that Jonas went to.

We visited Jonas's grandpa

rents in the nearby town of Plochingen and the kids had such a great time!

Hehe, she kept wanting to go down the slide, and always got a little frightened about halfway down

On our first weekend there, we were fortunate enough to go to Munich with some of Jonas's childhood friends while the kids stayed with their Moma (thanks so much, Babs!). We kicked the weekend off with soccer with his friends, then headed to his friends Andi's house for the night.

On Saturday, we had a really neat biking experience through Munich and the Englischer Garten (English Gardens). I really fell in love with this whole city!

This is one of the three bikes we took out. It seated seven, and was so much fun! We got plenty of looks and people taking pictures, haha.

Another bike we took out, the street stepper

Our lovely tour guide, and a long time friend of Jonas's, Matthias

This is the third bike we brought out, the tandem bike :)

The police tried telling us we couldn't have that bike out. They were unsuccessful in their endeavors. :)

We stopped for lunch in a beer garden (biergarten), where the food was great and the birds were plentiful (HA! Poor Jurek)

This bike is now illegal on the streets of Munich, but it seats 16 and has a beer keg. A beer keg. You can drink beer anywhere in Germany. Outside, inside, upside down. It's incredible.

The group!

On Saturday night, we went on a tour with a night guard. It would've been super interesting if I knew German, hah, but I enjoyed seeing Jonas so comfortable with his friends and hearing his laughter.

A memorial for Michael Jackson

David was tasked with holding the lantern on the tour

Afterwards we enjoyed some beer and snacks at a local brewery

After that, we decided to make the most of the small amount of time he had with his friends and stayed out

Jurek, me, and Alex

Andi, Jonas, and David

Andi and me

Andi and David

We left Andi's on Sunday morning (pretty shortly after we got home from our night out, hah) and headed to Thiersee, Austria to visit his great-aunt.

I am not sure the kind of plant this is, but it is common in this area. The little bulbs on there were incredibly soft - off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that I have felt that is softer.

I am not sure the history behind this style of clock, but this is typical in south Germany/Austria

We passed back through Munich on our way back to Jonas's mom's place and we visited with our friends Daniel and Jennifer. They have this BEAUTIFUL sweet baby girl Stella that we had the pleasure of meeting for the first time!

On Monday, one week after we left Shreveport, we went to the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart

Here is Keegan with Noah looking at Nemo and Dori :)

Babs

Lila ran up to every sheep and "Mah-ah-ah-ah"-ed in their faces. It was hilarious!

We came at such a cute time for the zoo - nearly every animal had just given birth. This lamb is just a few days old! And the calf is only slightly older

He was so brave!

On Tuesday, we just had a nice relaxing day in Schorndorf

On Wednesday we visited with Jonas's Uncle Nobe, Aunt Bibi, and cousins Christian and Michael. Here is Delilah being cool with Christian :)

Uncle "Fish" Nobe grilling (Keegan only referred to him as "fish" two years ago because of his koi pond, so we now refer to him as Uncle Fish)

Cousins!

The Theurer/Schuster Families

Coolest. Lid. Ever.

And what do you do in a house with no toys for the kids? Why, put a strainer on your head, of course!

On Thursday, we headed to the Frankfurt area to stay with Jonas's dad for the remainder of the trip. He has a pretty large fenced in yard so the kids were able to run around outside without giving me a heart attack :)

Jonas playing with Carlos and Paul

Carlos!

Puppy Paul

This cabinet was made sometime in the 1800s, and in pretty perfect condition. You just don't find pieces like this anymore - at least not here in LA!

A vending machine for cigarettes. These could be pretty common, but I had never seen one before!

On Friday we spent most of the day relaxing and had a nice walk by the Altrhein River

Trying to break the limb off, which, he did.

On Saturday, we met up with Jonas's grandparents in Heidelberg and had such a great day!

See that castle behind us? The next series of photos were taken up there.

Then we took a train to go up even higher. I believe the Heidelberger Märchengarten that we went to was at an altitude of about 550 meters, or 1804 feet.

I can officially say with firsthand knowledge...Keegan is a scary driver!

Four generations of Schusters!

As we were leaving, it began to sleet on us. It was soooo cold, but so worth it!

Then came Easter sunday, which we spent much of just relaxing and allowed the kids to feast on all the chocolate they could handle!

I thought these contrasting looks of the kids at breakfast was funny. At this point, they were probably sick of me taking so many pictures!

Egg fight! Keegan typically won these

At dusk on Easter, the sky was so incredibly beautiful. I just HAD to get a better look, forcing the family to walk two miles with me to the Rhein River. The best picture is probably the on in the 365 Day Project, but I got some other great shots!

So, that was our Germany trip in a nutshell! It was so much fun, we can't wait to go back!