Looks like we made it!

Hi to all my blogging friends! I know, it's been awhile! But, since I'm here in Germany, I thought I'd better try to keep track of some of my memories cuz if I don't, they will fizzle out and won't be memories at all anymore because I won't remember them!

We had a great flight over...quite uneventful which is SO nice. Flying with 4 kids is a piece of cake. I may feel this way because they are older or it may be because Lufthansia has TVs for every seat and they had 3 or so movies (good movies) that the kids could watch. I think even I watched 3 movies! And they were ones that I actually wanted to see in the theater but never got around to watching and they were all edited for kid eyes! Very Nice!! And to top it all off, we didn't die! And we didn't hit any turbulence! Well, a tiny bit but it was nothin'! And our plane didn't fall apart like the one that recently broke apart over the Atlantic coming from Rio. I bet you didn't know that flying terrifies me. Hate it! But it must be done or else I wouldn't be able to have these fun adventures!Now, traveling with 11 carry-ons and 12 check-ons wasn't all that fun but we managed!! We had three trollies piled high and enough big people to cart them around the airport. The elevators are really small at the Frankfurt Airport so we had to take the carts down one at a time. Dave had what's called a sponsor who picked us up in a big van that fit all of our stuff and he dropped us off at out temporary lodging which is where we will be til Aug. 11th.

Here we are with all our bags and we are super tired. This is where the jet lag started. And I'd say it lasted about 4 day. It is hard to adjust to a nine hour time difference!

We also went to the largest pool in Europe and I'm guessing there isn't one this size in the U.S. either. It was huge. It was built in 1908 and a natural spring supplies its water. It was cold but not that cold. We had German sandwiches, Schnitzen or something like that which is pork and they were really good. Dave had a bratworst hot dog which wasn't bad either. And the chocolate over here is GOOOOD. German chocolate is yummy!

On Sunday, after church we went on a walk up to Nanstein Castle which is right here in Landstuhl. Driving on these little roads is a little nerve racking (and we had to take a little road up to the castle) but I'm hoping to feel more comfortable over time! Anyways, it was a short 5 minute walk up to the castle from the parking lot. This castle is where the last known Knight fell in battle. Yeah, I didn't know that Germany had knights to be honest but hey, they were the last country to have them! The castle was built around 1162 and was damaged or destroyed and rebuilt twice. There are walking paths around the castle and down the hill that it is on so we decided to go for a walk on one of them...have you heard about the rain here? Well, it sneaks up on you and then it falls like there's no tomorrow!! That's what it did to us! We got drenched and it was so much fun! We are looking forward to so many more fun adventures!!!

Before the rain!

During the rain!

We ran back up the trail to find shelter somewhere and this is what we came up with. There was a little cafe type place not too far away and I think the owner was looking at us and I'm sure she was happy that we didn't slop into her business!