Our little Vacation

Day 1 - July 3
We got a later start than we had anticipated, but none-the-less had a good time. We got to Dresden in the evening and saw the main sites. It is a beautiful town that has been rebuilt after being destroyed in WWII. That night we stayed in my first Hostel. It was probably the nicest Hostel out there and was nicer than some hotels we have stayed in. Oh yes, I can't forget we took Gunnar to his first concert while we were there, the one and only Elton John. Ha, the Germans really seemed to love him, we actaully just happened to be in the neighborhood of the concert and could hear and see him on the big screens.

Day 2 - July 4
On Saturday we headed to Potsdam a city outside of Berlin. It was just beautiful. In 1744 King Frederick the Great ordered the construction of a residence here, where he could live sans souci ("without worries"). The park has a botanical garden and many magnificent buildings. Unfortunately I didn't get a good nights sleep so I wasn't a very happy camper and we cut our time there short and headed to our hotel in Berlin so I could go nap (which never happened). Gunnar wore his Forth of July outfit from Grandpa Pettit and Nana to celebrate the fourth.

Day 3 - July 5
On Sunday we slept in late which was wonderful and walked around Berlin on our own before catching a tour at 3pm. This tour was wonderful and showed us all the main sites in the town. During the day Kyle told me he really wanted to see some military flak towers. So in our hotel room after dinner I started researching and found some. They were in a park which I thought was a 10 minute walk from our hotel according to my map reading skills. Let's just say we shouldn't let Beth do the mapping. It took more like an 1 1/2 to get to the park and then it wasn't even the right one, why do two parks in the same city have the same name? It was a nice park but it did not have any flak towers. We wandered around for quite sometime before throwing in the towel and heading back to our hotel. We got back after midnight...whoops!

Day 4 - July 6
We headed to Wolfsburg to visit Katrin and Mara. Julia and Charlene are in Norway with scouts so we didn't get to see them but we had a nice visit. Katrin showed us around their little village, we talked with girl who is going to be an exchange student in Hot Springs, Montana, and had cake with the grandparents, and a BBQ with the rest of the family that lives near by. It was a nice day however, Gunnar didn't think so. He probably cried more on this day than he has any other day of his life...or so I thought.
(Apparently I didn't take any pictures this day...what was I thinking?)
Day 5 - July 7
This was actaully the day (or I should say morning) that Gunnar cried more than ever. However, we managed to go to the castle in Wolfsburg where Katrin works and then visited the park. Kyle loved the visit and we both learned a lot. Katrin did a great job of showing us around and giving us a history lesson. At about 2:30 we took off for a drive to the Rhine Valley. Luckily once we got in the car on the way to the Rhine Valley he got calmed down, took a good nap and was back to his happy little self again.
Once in the Rhine Valley we got checked into our hotel. The manager only had about 5 guests that night and he said that since we had the baby he would upgrade our room for no charge. Score! So we had a beautiful room overlooking the Rhine river with a castle on the other side. There was a good rainstorm and then a rainbow came out, it was just heavenly.

Day 6 - July 7
In St. Goar where our hotel was we visited the Rheinfels Castle. This was by far the greatest castle we have been to and quickly became our favorite. We did the self-guided tour designed by Rick Steves and had a great time. We even went in the underground tunnel system. You are never above a crouch in there. Luckily Kyle took Gunnar and I was in charge of the candle. Note: Crawling through tunnels in a dress is not recommended. Luckily it was just Kyle and I braving the dark tunnels. If you have young boys this would be an awesome place to take them for a day, I could just picture Gunnar running through there playing like he was king of the castle.
After visiting Rheinfels Castle we went to Rick Steves favorite castle in all of Europe the Burg Eltz....we would just like to say "very disappointing Mr. Steves!" Really, it was in a beautiful setting and a beautiful castle but it was not nearly as cool as the Rheinfels castle (maybe this is just a matter of opinion).
After visiting Burg Eltz it was time to head home. What was suppose to be a 3 hour drive took around 5 hour. Oh how we love this time of year...major road construction, YUCK!

Somehow the entire trip we managed to stay dry. It has been raining majorly here in Germany (what's new?). We just had good timing about when we would eat and be under cover I guess.
There has been so much rain that Schweinfurt was having some flooding while we were gone. We were so thankful upon arriving home that everything was okay with our place. Apparently there was a major storm and many people were having flooding. We had no idea what we would be coming home to, but everything in our building was okay.
Also, today we got our car! I can't believe it is here, I have been waiting for this car since March! We love it, and it is perfect for our family, YEA for our brand new 2009 Ford Escape!

Also I got word today that I am getting $6000 to put towards my master's program. It is free money that the government (MyCAA) is giving spouses of service members who are pursuing what they call "portable careers." It is just a matter of filling out the very simple paperwork. I am so happy and thankful as this will pay for over half of my master's program, which is great considering I am still paying loans from my undergraduate. Also I am thankful for the benefits I get as a military spouse. Because I am working on my master's overseas I get a special rate, instead of just paying $1085 for my next class I paid $600....it is so helpful and I really appreciate them helping us out!

Alright, well that is all that is happening here. Kyle is back to work tomorrow, and I have some major cleaning and post-trip laundry to do.

--Also I realize I have not posted a picture a day of Gunnar, but that was due to vacation. I will start back up tomorrow!