I am not even sure where to begin. I want to document this amazing trip we had, but it's hard to put onto paper how wonderful of a time our family had. There are so many pictures, but I wanted to document for our family journal some of my favorites from each day.
We have been anticipating this family reunion trip for a couple years and were really excited the time finally came! We left on July 28th from Houston, Texas and flew to London. We had a short layover and then connected to Duesseldorf. The kids did pretty well on the flight. There wasn't a lot of sleeping and Deacon didn't love watching movies because he didn't like the ear buds, but he did well regardless. When we arrived we had a wonderful welcome committee of Hellmut and Ursula and Daphne to welcome us to Germany.
On our way!! Bags are all packed!
Deacon was excited!! He loves airplanes!
Cavin was asleep the whole flight from London.
We made it and we so glad to be in Germany!!
Full Day #1 July 30th was Deacon's 3rd birthday!!!
We went to church in the morning.
He is one cute 3 year old!
His Oma made him a delicious dinner.
He got to play with Opa and his famous train.
And this is a beautiful cake that Oma made him!
They sure spoiled him and it was such a beautiful day outside!!
He was so excited that his birthday in Germany had finally come! We had been talking about it for months!!
Day #2
Today we went over to the Lake by their house and went for a run and explore the playground.
The kids really enjoyed it and the weather is so beautiful in the summer here!
This playground equipment piece gave us quite the thrill. The kids loved it but it made them SO dizzy!
After we went on the playground we went and did the paddle boats!! We did awesome on our boat and Ella, Channing, Daphne and I did well. The other boat..not so much ;) It was a lot heavier and not as easy to paddle.
We cooled down with a Popsicle afterward!
That evening we met Ragnar's best friend Kris at the bowling alley to play. The kids like to play and we did our best with the language barriers.
Kris is a good friend to Ragnar and I am glad all these years later they are still friends.
Day #3
Today was a day in the life of the German transportation system!!
We started with the bus.
We then went from the bus to the train...
From the train we got on a boat tour of the Rhine River. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride!!
The famous downtown Duesseldorf tower.
They gave you endless drinks which was lovely.
Deacon had fun!
Daphne is an awesome Aunt and she had a mini dance party with the kids!!
Channing did a little light reading of the Book of Mormon. haha! She carried it with her all around Europe! She called it her spell book.
Oma of course joined the dance party!
What a great looking bunch! It was breezy and a little chilly on the top of the boat.
When we got off the boat we went to this adorable area downtown. It was beautiful and totally what I think of when I think of a German town.
Naturally at Opas request we stopped for pommas (fries).
We then made the trip back home.
Deacon was pooped! He loved all the transportation we got to use though.
Day #4
Today we drove to Seilbahn/Schloss Burg castle. We took the Gondola up the mountain and it was a fairly steep ride up.
I took the ride up with Ella. I was a little nervous since it was steep but her excitement made me feel better.
This was the only heated room in the castle.
The chapel.
A replica
It was a fascinating castle.
Don't want to make anyone mad!
I love pigs and can find them anywhere!
Another beautiful day exploring!
Deacon joined me on the ride down!
We then went over to the Haribo factory.
The kids each picked their own bags of candy and they loved that!
Yummy!!!
Day #5
It was rainy most of the day so we headed over to the indoor pool today. It was an awesome pool with some fun slides! We are not quite used to the modesty differences in Europe, but we did our best at shading our eyes :)
Likely due to the rain, it was super crowded that day.
While in Germany there are a couple things that the kids have loved.
Ella's favorite has been the drink "Flirt". She has asked for it every evening.
Cavin has been very interested in all of the graffiti. He keeps asking why it's everywhere, so Ragnar showed him an area were it's legal.
He thought it was pretty cool.
Channing loves all the recycling. We go to Aldi most days to return all our drinking bottles and she enjoys putting them in the machines.
Deacon loves this snail game called "Tempo, Kleine Schnecke". Mostly because it has two colored dice.
Also Daphne and Ragnar introduced them to one of their old favorite games. It is called "Hotel" and Ella and Cavin asked to play it constantly! Thankfully they have an incredible Aunt who indulged them!
Day #6
Today we looked at some amazing pictures of Ragnar as a child.
This picture looks like Deacon to me. I love it.
We got in the car and drove to Austria today. It took us about 7 hours to get to the hotel we were staying at in Austria. It was a cute little house and it overlooked the beautiful Austrian mountains!!
The border into Austria!
Our view from the balcony.
So beautiful!
Selfie's are a must!
A cute little village was beside us and this is the house we slept in. We heard the cows and cow bells all evening, but it was kind of charming.
And this here...was the amazing white van we traveled in. It was not my favorite! It had no cup holders, no mirror above, only one door, so many little things that made it difficult to travel in, BUT it did fit 9 people and we made it work!
That concluded our first week in Germany. Now off to the adventures in Austria!
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