Since reuniting with the Ging-

Well, as everyone knows, Rob came home March 21st from his deployment :D! Since then we've been very busy (and I've loved every minute of it!).

The weekend after he came home on the 28th our FRG (family readiness group) hosted a Welcome Home Party at The Tavern (a bar on post). It was so much fun! We had the bar open to only our company for a few hours to kick the party off. There was a "build your own burger" bar and everyone brought homemade desserts. The guys all got tickets to drink and everyone had a blast!

We hung out at The Tavern for a few hours and then walked into town to hit up the Knot (of course). Terri and Sharon were hosting a second welcome home party that evening combined with a send off for Sharon (she was moving back to England to be with her grandbabies and kids). All in all it was an awesome night and a great way to celebrate the deployment's end.

Once things settled down with Rob at work we went out on our first little trip really - We headed to Heidelberg on April 11th to explore! Everyone from my work raved about Heidelberg (a city where an old Army base used to exist that they nearly all worked at). The drive was about an hour and totally worth it! When we got into the city we ditched the car at a parking garage and went exploring.

The main street in Heidelberg, the Hauptstrasse, is lined with shops and restaurants. It was the first street we headed to since we knew there would be a lot to see.

why? because chickens wearing oakleys is fashion.

the hauptsrasse

To start off our day we snagged some euro and got an early lunch. We ate at the Zum Guldenen Schaf (http://www.schaf-heidelberg.de/) and had AMAZING food! We LOVED both of the dishes we ordered.

outside where we ate

we sat facing this old time fire grill

and there was a massive sheep on the table

our menus, in their german glory.

we deduced they had stories written on them about old kings and queens

yummy german beer with lunch. I had a radler and Rob
tried a local brew.

Rob got the variety platter that had Bavarian sausage, Nurnberger sausage, beef sausage with Cabbage and pan fried potatoes with onions and bacon.

I had a salad with grilled goat cheese wrapped with black forest ham and house dressing.

After enjoying our meal and beer we continued onward and checked out several shops. We stumbled across a funny/interesting store with lots of cute items and gag gifts. Friends of ours love Star Wars and they had the perfect paraphernalia there!

salt and pepper shakers



 

 

they had lots of drinking board games too

Rob and I want this for when we have kids.
We're those parents.

Once we neared the western end of the road we headed towards the castle. The walk up to the castle was super steep and long but definitely worth it. The views of the city were spectacular and the castle was very interesting. This was the first true castle I’ve seen. Rob was saying that castles used to be town centers that held various businesses for the townspeople and this one was massive, I thought. The courtyard had various designated areas.

This was a view of the castle before we started our trek.
This was taken from the Hauptsrasse.

tower by the castle entrance



part of the courtyard

us in said courtyard

again.

 Here are some of the beautiful views of the city and castle grounds from the castle windows.

This was taken from one of the bridges and shows one of the old walls.
The castle was surrounded by a low grassy area and a taller wall on this side
to protect it from invaders.

This is from a different side in the castle garden.

I thought this fence by the garden was neat.

They even built part into a pharmacy museum

This photo (and the one below) were two of the medicinal protectors (gods/goddesses?) of the apothecary
and the medicine they sold.

And a wine cellar/wine tasting restaurant.



the biggest wine barrel I'd ever seen (or so I thought)

This was even bigger! It was constructed to hold 228,000
liters of wine for the castle.

I took the stairs and walked on top of it.
This is a photo from my looking down to Rob on the stairs.

After trekking back down from the castle we had a beer/glass of wine next to the local church before heading in to explore.

The church was small (compared to others I’ve seen) yet very charming.

Lastly, to get that amazing view of the castle, we headed down to the river street and crossed the bridge there. The river street was very windy but that view was so worth it. We even bought a picture there of it (had to get a souvenir!).

 



some love locks on the bridge where I took the photos



view of the River Neckar from the bridge

bridge view back to the main street and river walk

It was a great afternoon and I am SO happy Rob is home to share these moments with. Traveling together and creating these memories will be priceless. Just warms my heart to be able to spend these times with him, cheesy I know :)

Later that evening we went over to Danette and Murph’s for a party. Can’t get enough of the parties now that they’re back!

The next day, on Sunday, we went to a winefest and kind of bazaar in Burgen. It was about an hour and a half drive but so worth it as well. It was a small town festival with lots of vendors and lots of wineries.

Driving there we struggled finding a place to park because the roads were blocked for the festival yet, on a map, we were still so far from the town (plus the language barrier didn’t help much). We managed to get a bit closer (and around some of the guys turning away traffic) and parked alongside the vineyards. These pictures aren't where we parked but one of the roads towards town that we stopped on to take pictures from.

We walked into town and upon arrival, couldn’t have picked a better first festival for Rob. They had amazing wines, delicious brats, and adorable crafts. The stands lined the small town roads and followed along a little river in the town. I loved the vibe of this little festival and was so happy we ventured out to experience it, especially since it was a one day festival. We didn’t buy any crafts, just wine and food, but totally worth it. I tried about 5 types of wine and bought 3 bottles to bring home.

wine menu from the first winery booth we stopped at



so many spices!

the little river through the town

pony rides!

the festival was right in front of people's houses

another wine menu

the three we bought

The next week my work moved offices. We only moved about a block but, having been packed up for months, we were ready to get the move over with. I love my new office. I’m the only one in it and it’s huge! I can’t wait to start decorating and personalizing it a bit.

Meanwhile, Rob and I had been looking at new cars. We wanted to get an SUV with good space for dogs and, eventually kids, (but not too big because we live in Europe). We stared looking at all different models and, on the 14^th, decided on a new 2014 Audi Q5 TDI. To celebrate we went to a pizza place in Kaiserslautern that our sales woman recommended, Milano’s. We had an awesome appetizer of grilled goat cheese with peppers, onions, tomatoes and herbs and then split a pizza. The pizza was massive but DELICIOUS! It was a great way to end our awesome evening.

appetizer!

pizza!

The next day, to make matters better (-_-), after we signed our loan paperwork I then proceeded to wreck the 08 BMW. How classy and womanlike, I know. Only goes to show how awesome (or not) of a driver I am. I met a guardrail, all by myself, on my way home from work. Luckily I wasn’t going fast but lordy, way to ring in the new car purchase, eh? At least I wasn’t hurt and we have insurance. But still, not the way to end the day.  That kinda put a bump in the road a bit since we were getting ready to go to the states in three days but, shit happens. I didn’t work the last two days of the week because we were busy dealing with the insurance, car repair crap, and then packing. We dropped the car off before we left for the states and it all got squared away. P.S. I’m making this part short and sweet because, while it did happen, it makes me look like an idiot and therefore is something I’d prefer to gloss over, if possible :)

*BMW UPDATE* The damage was more expensive than the value of the car so, for the first time ever - I totaled a car. We just found this out and are still dealing with the process but, we are selling it to a salvage company and Rob is already on the hunt for another car. I'm surprised it's totaled since it was only body panel damage and I wasn't even going that fast BUT since the parts are expensive I guess it makes sense? Who knows. This is just a jam packed couple of weeks for us.

Then, April 18^th - May 2^nd we were in Ohio visiting family. I probably won’t do a blog about it since most of my readers are those people in OH that we spent that time with.  But – to sum it up check out my Facebook photo album "Going to America! April 2015" to see photos from the trip.

We were SO happy to be able to go home to see everyone. We stayed with my grandparents but visited with the whole family (on every side!). We cooked at my grandparents, enjoyed delicious American food, went to Kings Island, saw a Red’s game (with AMAZING seats), had a night out in Mt. Adams, went to Avengers 2, were introduced to the wonderful world of Jungle Jim’s, played outside with Tyler and his huskies, shopped (of course), celebrated my birthday with my family, paintballed, played pool, visited my sister, and Rob zeroed a rifle for my grandpa – just to name a few things. Our trip was FANTASTIC and couldn’t have been more jam-packed. Every day was well spent and we utilized the crap outta those 14 days.  I could share a few photos but it’d be way to hard to choose. It was a much needed trip home though, to say the least.

But, now back in Deutschland, we picked up our new Audi baby, got back to healthy eating and working out, and I am taking my few finals of the semester this week. All in all, it has been an amazing 6ish weeks with the husband home. I couldn’t be more blessed.

& here's the new SUV :)