We had a fabulous time on our trip. Yes...as most of you have heard...Jacob caught the flu just before we left...he was about over it by the time we landed...but by then I had caught it and had a "lovely" flight over and then the bug proceeded to go from one person to another the entire time we were there. Only Tim and his brother didn't get it. As Tim would say, "the Griffith genes were superior"...that's why he and his brother didn't get it. All I know is it was really a bummer.
Phil, Beth and their girls were troupers and took it in stride, but I am sad we brought them such an awful thank you gift.
We did have a great time regardless. Phil or Beth took us places each day and one day we ventured out on our own and took a train to a neighboring town to spend the day just as a family. We got to see some amazing things and we took many, many pictures to share with all of you. I spend most of my time tonight uploading pictures to several sites so I could put a link here for you to see a slide show. Ugh! Is all I can say. One site told me AFTER I spend the time choosing all of them that I was WAAAAY over my "free membership" limit and for $24 I could upload all the ones I had chosen. Great! Thanks!!! Then, another site was a lot more time consuming and then Window shut down. It just wasn't meant to be tonight...but I promise I'll get it figured out so we can share a lot of our pictures with you all. I the meantime...I've uploaded a few here on this post.
We got to see some great castles, fortresses, bridges, rivers, stores, cobblestone streets, a museum, a fun park for the kids, an ultimate petting zoo, and the list goes one.
Probably the most memorable time for me was time spent watching Tim and his brother hang out and have fun. I also totally enjoyed my time spent with my sister-in-law, Beth, getting to know her more and taking walks out in the beautiful farm land. We also were able to visit where Tim used to live and walk in the breath taking forest that was just down from their house. It was truly a wonderful time - everything we did. We got to bring back a beautiful cuckoo clock and a few other little things, lots of chocolate and lots of memories. As far as the travel part of it, the boys did amazing - thanks to a canceled flight in Detroit, we got to leave 7 hours later and the boys (and us) were totally worn out. On the other flights we did our best and gave the boys some "sleepy -time juice" to help them go nighty night! Yep...I sorta cheated...but it was worth it. They needed their sleep and even though Tim and I didn't sleep much...we got some rest. Even though the boys did great with sleeping and such on the flights...that doesn't mean everything was smooth! We had one thing after another and literally RAN our legs off trying to get to our connecting flight in Chicago. We DID NOT want a repeat of our trip there. We needed to make that flight so we didn't have to wait in yet another airport late at night! We made it just in time and all of us - especially me and the boys - fell asleep right away and woke to the pilot saying we'd land in Denver in 25 min. We hoped the fun would end there...but we had to wait for our luggage to arrive the next day! Oh well...at least we had our luggage when we needed it - in Germany.
Well, I look forward to sharing much more with those of you who want to know details. I'll try this week to get the slide show working. :)
We're very, very thankful for the generosity and hospitality of our family over in Germany and the opportunity that God gave us to travel to such a far distance together as a family. We'll forever remember our time in Germany.
Phil, Beth and their girls were troupers and took it in stride, but I am sad we brought them such an awful thank you gift.
We did have a great time regardless. Phil or Beth took us places each day and one day we ventured out on our own and took a train to a neighboring town to spend the day just as a family. We got to see some amazing things and we took many, many pictures to share with all of you. I spend most of my time tonight uploading pictures to several sites so I could put a link here for you to see a slide show. Ugh! Is all I can say. One site told me AFTER I spend the time choosing all of them that I was WAAAAY over my "free membership" limit and for $24 I could upload all the ones I had chosen. Great! Thanks!!! Then, another site was a lot more time consuming and then Window shut down. It just wasn't meant to be tonight...but I promise I'll get it figured out so we can share a lot of our pictures with you all. I the meantime...I've uploaded a few here on this post.
We got to see some great castles, fortresses, bridges, rivers, stores, cobblestone streets, a museum, a fun park for the kids, an ultimate petting zoo, and the list goes one.
Probably the most memorable time for me was time spent watching Tim and his brother hang out and have fun. I also totally enjoyed my time spent with my sister-in-law, Beth, getting to know her more and taking walks out in the beautiful farm land. We also were able to visit where Tim used to live and walk in the breath taking forest that was just down from their house. It was truly a wonderful time - everything we did. We got to bring back a beautiful cuckoo clock and a few other little things, lots of chocolate and lots of memories. As far as the travel part of it, the boys did amazing - thanks to a canceled flight in Detroit, we got to leave 7 hours later and the boys (and us) were totally worn out. On the other flights we did our best and gave the boys some "sleepy -time juice" to help them go nighty night! Yep...I sorta cheated...but it was worth it. They needed their sleep and even though Tim and I didn't sleep much...we got some rest. Even though the boys did great with sleeping and such on the flights...that doesn't mean everything was smooth! We had one thing after another and literally RAN our legs off trying to get to our connecting flight in Chicago. We DID NOT want a repeat of our trip there. We needed to make that flight so we didn't have to wait in yet another airport late at night! We made it just in time and all of us - especially me and the boys - fell asleep right away and woke to the pilot saying we'd land in Denver in 25 min. We hoped the fun would end there...but we had to wait for our luggage to arrive the next day! Oh well...at least we had our luggage when we needed it - in Germany.
Well, I look forward to sharing much more with those of you who want to know details. I'll try this week to get the slide show working. :)
We're very, very thankful for the generosity and hospitality of our family over in Germany and the opportunity that God gave us to travel to such a far distance together as a family. We'll forever remember our time in Germany.
