Oh, 2011, what a crazy year you were for this family. We started off the year in Virginia and now we are settling into our new, albeit temporary, lives in the old world. When I think back at all the things that we did in 2011, it's hard to imagine that it somehow managed to fit into one single, solitary year.
The Army took its time letting us know where Big R's next assignment would be. We were repeatedly told this was normal, but that didn't make the unknown any easier. Our Type A personalities are not exactly patient. It wasn't until March that Big R finally got his orders and we couldn't believe our luck. Germany, freaking GERMANY! It was so unreal...
Now that we knew we were heading overseas for a few years, we started planning. Knowing that living across the ocean might make visiting people a little more challenging, we made sure to put some trips into our schedule before we boarded that plane to Germany. We visited friends near St. Louis,
we visited family and friends in Las Vegas and California,
we had family and friends visit us,
we went camping on the beach with friends on the Outer Banks,
and we took a trip to New England to see good friends get married and visit more family.
We threw parties,
looked at wedding venues,
and said goodbye...
After three long and sometimes grueling months of transitioning, planning, packing, sorting, more planning, and traveling, we finally found our family reunited in our new home in Germany.
And so our European adventure in the Old World began. We wasted no time starting our travels to discover all the amazing places in this part of the world. We dove right in and cozied up to the German culture and Bavarian charm. Amidst struggling our way through our broken and horrific German to get our cable installed and our home in order, we managed to have some fun eating far too much Bavarian food and drinking ridiculous amounts of German beer. We enjoyed ourselves at wine festivals and beer festivals, bike rides along the river, dinners out at beer gardens, and swimming in the fabulous outdoor German swimming pools.
Our first trip away from home was to Italy where we saw Trento...
on our way to Cinque Terre, which was a place I had always wanted to visit so Big R took me there for our anniversary...
We stopped in Dresden and Straupitz....
on our way to Berlin for Big R's birthday...
Then it was off to Garmisch for Big R's annual training with TDS. Wow, what a beautiful place. The mountains in this region are magical...
The traveling slowed down just a bit toward the end of the year as we waited for little r's passport to finally arrive. That hardly kept us from exploring our corner of Germany though. We took a side trip to Nuremberg,
Rothenberg ob Tauber,
Erfurt,
and Munich...
If this is a taste of what we have in store for 2012, I like it. I like it A LOT!!!
The Army took its time letting us know where Big R's next assignment would be. We were repeatedly told this was normal, but that didn't make the unknown any easier. Our Type A personalities are not exactly patient. It wasn't until March that Big R finally got his orders and we couldn't believe our luck. Germany, freaking GERMANY! It was so unreal...
Now that we knew we were heading overseas for a few years, we started planning. Knowing that living across the ocean might make visiting people a little more challenging, we made sure to put some trips into our schedule before we boarded that plane to Germany. We visited friends near St. Louis,
we visited family and friends in Las Vegas and California,
we had family and friends visit us,
we went camping on the beach with friends on the Outer Banks,
and we took a trip to New England to see good friends get married and visit more family.
We threw parties,
looked at wedding venues,
and said goodbye...
After three long and sometimes grueling months of transitioning, planning, packing, sorting, more planning, and traveling, we finally found our family reunited in our new home in Germany.
And so our European adventure in the Old World began. We wasted no time starting our travels to discover all the amazing places in this part of the world. We dove right in and cozied up to the German culture and Bavarian charm. Amidst struggling our way through our broken and horrific German to get our cable installed and our home in order, we managed to have some fun eating far too much Bavarian food and drinking ridiculous amounts of German beer. We enjoyed ourselves at wine festivals and beer festivals, bike rides along the river, dinners out at beer gardens, and swimming in the fabulous outdoor German swimming pools.
Our first trip away from home was to Italy where we saw Trento...
on our way to Cinque Terre, which was a place I had always wanted to visit so Big R took me there for our anniversary...
We stopped in Dresden and Straupitz....
on our way to Berlin for Big R's birthday...
Then it was off to Garmisch for Big R's annual training with TDS. Wow, what a beautiful place. The mountains in this region are magical...
The traveling slowed down just a bit toward the end of the year as we waited for little r's passport to finally arrive. That hardly kept us from exploring our corner of Germany though. We took a side trip to Nuremberg,
Rothenberg ob Tauber,
Erfurt,
and Munich...
If this is a taste of what we have in store for 2012, I like it. I like it A LOT!!!
Did Erica and Lawton go to Maymont with you on the same day, or does River just happen to be wearing the same outfit on two separate trips?
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