Spouses Dining In

This was my first year and I loved it! They pick themes every year and this year was TV shows. Our squadron picked Survivor. Everyone was so creative with their themes with costumes to decor to their skits! I will definitely be going again next year!

Cochem Castle

The last day of my parent's trip we decided to go to Cochem Castle before I dropped them off in Frankfurt. It is such an amazing castle inside and out and the views are incredible! Info found on the internet: It is generally assumed that Cochem Castle was built around the year 1000. When the troupes of King Louis XIV (called Sun King) invaded the Rhine and the Moselle area in the war of succession of the Palatinate, Cochem castle, too, was occupied in 1688. After the town had been completely occupied by French troupes in March 1689, the castle was set on fire, undermined and blown up on May 19th of 1689. The castle remained in ruins until 1868, when a Berlin business- man, Mr. Louis Ravené, bought the castle grounds and the ruins. Shortly after his purchase he began to rebuild Cochem Castle incorporating the remains of the late Gothic buildings into the main castle structure.

Easter

Mine and the kids first Easter without Dan home but Mamaw and Papa were there so it was still a good day. The Easter Bunny left lots of stuff and the kids had a blast looking for eggs!

Egg Dying Time!

It's a tradition to dye our Easter eggs the night before Easter! The kids had so much fun decorating their own eggs!

Manderscheid Castle

The upper castle was mentioned as far back as 973 AD as a donation to the archbishop of Trier, it is one of the oldest castles in the Eifel region. It was in posession of the Trier archbishops until it was destroyed by French troops in 1673. The lower castle was built in the second half of the 12th century and was destryed by French revolution troops in 1794 ending aristocratic rule in the Eifel region. There was something going on while we were there but we're not quite sure what. There were people in costumes of warriors and ogres, slightly creepy.

Abtei Himmerod

This is a monastery about 15 minutes from our house. Here is some information I got off of wikipedia:
Monastery Himmerod (According to Scripture inEifler dialect"Hammerd") Is a by 1134/35Bernard of Clairvaux FoundedCistercian--Abbey in theEifel. It is located betweenGroßlittgen andIron Schmitt (Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich) In the ValleySalm. Today, 13 monks live there. The monastery has a museum (in the old mill) with changing art exhibitions, a book and art dealer, a restaurant, a guest house and retreats as well as fishing.

It is a very beautiful place to visit and has great scenery for pictures!

Eifel Park

This is literally a 5 minute drive from our house and the kids love it! Dan and I got season passes last year for the family and we got them again for this year. There's not a whole lot to do but enough to keep the kids entertained for an entire day!

After the walkplatz, we came home and played in the backyard for a while. There were many pictures taken but these 2 are my favorite. I am so blessed to have such beautiful children.

Bitburg Walkplatz

We decided to use one day to just hang in the local area. I had a couple stores I wanted to take my mom to and then for lunch we decided to go to the walkplatz. We just grabbed some yummy stuff from one of the bakeries and had a nice time just walking around.

Happy Land

My parent's came to visit while Dan is gone and we decided to check out this place in Bitburg called Happy Land. Some of the American moms have nicknamed it Crappy Land but we decided to try it out. Well, the kids had a blast but I do not ever want to go back again. It was very unorganized and there was no control what-so-ever but I'm glad the kids had fun. Enjoy the pictures, we got some fun ones!

Daddy's Shirts

Kristian and Eliza were really missing Daddy so I let them each pick out what shirt of his they wanted to wear for bed. They were both so happy.