Monday, July 6

"Mom, Dad - I want to go explore my castle now..."

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We had a very nice (hopefully relaxing for Dustin) weekend. We went to the Rhine river yesterday here in Germany. We decided to go to one of the towns that you can get on the boats and ride to various locations (I really liked this trip, Dustin thought it was just o.k.). We got to the boat just in time (lucky for us they were not running exactly on time - but just pretty close) and hopped on the boat that we would ride for the whole day. Our first stop was a very pretty town, but our adventure started with a ride on a sky car (Brenna and my first) up to the top of the hill. I had Brenna on my lap as you can see in the picture - can you see the death grip I have on her??? Maybe I should check her stomach today for bruises, lol!! I know I held her so tight on the way down that her necklace left marks on my arm - on the way up I had the necklace on top of my arm which was a much better idea! She loved it and really enjoyed waving to the people in the other cars as they passed us (I think several people were very amused by her on this - she can put smiles on so many people's faces). I think her favorite cars were the ones with other kids in them - they really liked shouting out "Hi" to her. Dustin took some video with our camera - hope you enjoy it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxsSFo5v5VI

We hopped back on the boat then and went to visit one of the nearby castles (there are a bunch of them - how cool is that!!) I really enjoyed the castle we visited as it was all explore on your own (which is nice when you have a tired child). There was a climb up the hill to the castle and Brenna enjoyed "pulling" me up and down the hill (this worked out great to get her moving up the hill - she passed a ton of people as she "bull-dozed" her way up the hill - she made lots of people smile doing this - she is just such an entertainer). Brenna really enjoyed the castle and liked how much you could explore (and as a princess herself - she felt right at home!).

Brenna had her typical ice cream treat at the end of the tours - I wish she ate them a little quicker - we nearly had a chocolate mess after her cone, but luckily she had her bib on. Brenna had her first outing (all day) with only her underware (I think she is more ready for this than Dustin and I are for her to do it). She did great :-) Brenna was exhausted after pulling me up the hills (hey - who wouldn't be - I'm no light weight!) and fell asleep in the car as we drove out of town.

We had German class this morning and now we are getting ready to go play (and then have nap time). The weather is supposed to cool off after today - maybe I will get lucky and not have the really hot days here this summer - only 2 1/2 weeks before Brenna and I go back to the US. Brenna is really enjoying her new barbie dolls - they had a tea party this morning together and then they napped while she had lunch :-) (sorry, Dustin, but I think your daughter is going to be a girly girl!)

Well, that is it for now! Take Care!