Birthday Greetings!!

I'd like to wish my wonderful hubby a very happy birthday! I hope all of your birthday wishes come true, today and always!

Alles liebe zum Geburtstag, Schatz!! ;)

I love you!

Renee's German Adventure...

After our spending Easter weekend in Italy, we brought Renee back to Germany so that she could see for herself what an amazing country Germany is! :) While she was here, we visited the church of Birnau, strolled through the city of Meersburg, went for a bike ride along the lake to the town of Langenargen, explored the castle ruins in Hohentweil, experienced the horrors of Dachau Concentration Camp, wandered through the city of Munich, visited the infamous Neuschwanstein Castle, and ferried across the Bodensee to the city of Konstanz where we spent the day sightseeing. We also did our best to show Renee all of the many wonderful things the German culture has to offer... Between delicious breads, tasty beer, yummy foods, beautiful scenery, the Autobahn, spargel time, the crazy German language, and the list goes on... :) Overall, we had so much fun showing Renee around Germany!!

Eva, Renee, and Denise in front of the Konigschloss in Fussen...

Taking a stroll along the Alpsee...

Denise, Renee, and Eva at Neuschwanstein Castle... :)

Neuschwanstein Castle...

Renee experiencing the German ATM (Geldautomat)! :)

She rubbed the lion for good luck as we wandered through Munich! :)

We stopped by the Theaterinkirche in Munich...

This was a very exciting part of our day in Munich! While we were trying to find the English Gardens, we came across this... The Eisbach at Haus der Kunst. This is an artificial stream that runs through the English Gardens. It has a standing wave, which is popular with surfers. It's considered a surfing hotspot and local surfers can be found here throughout the year! I've always heard about it, but I've never known where it was located... That is until Renee and I were wandering along in search of the English Gardens and we accidentally came across it! What a cool sight it is! :)

Renee giving her interview! :)

While we were standing there watching the surfers, we were approached by a local news team. When we were asked (in German) if we could answer a few questions for them, we denied by saying that we only spoke English. Well, that managed to really get there attention seeing as how they needed to interview English speakers... Lovely! After realizing that there was no escape for us, we relented and said that we would answer some questions... We were then asked to give our well-wishes to Prince William and Kate for their wedding that was to take place the following day... Oh great. Now, I don't think the news station could have found two people that cared less about the wedding than we did! :) Either way, we both were interviewed and proceeded to wish William and Kate much luck for their wedding and a lifetime of happiness, yadda, yadda, yadda... :) Afterwards we were informed that the interviews were going to be aired on the news that evening... We never did find out if our interviews aired... But, in our minds, we're Germany's newest stars! :)

After our interviews, we headed to the Hofbrauhaus so Renee could get a taste of some real German bier! :)

Enjoying a cappucino on the ferry to Konstanz...

Wandering through the streets of Konstanz...

Renee found a friend! :)

We checked out the cathedral in Konstanz...

Taking a break from our sightseeing! :)

Konstanz is known for its beautiful gardens along the lakefront... :)

It was a perfect photo op! :)

Showing Renee the full German experience...

Riding the train, of course! :)

Brian and Renee goofing around on her last night in town... :)

Thank you so much for visiting us, Renee! We're so happy that you came out to see us and we hope you had as much fun as we did!! Thanks for the great memories, chica! :)

Easter at the Gardasee...

Shortly after we returned from our trip to Ireland, our friend, Renee, arrived in Germany. But, before she had a chance to get settled into Germany, we whisked her away (literally the day after she arrived!) to Lago di Garda, Italy for Easter weekend! :) Our weekend consisted of sailing, klettersteiging, exploring the cute little Italian towns around the lake, drinking delicious coffee and yummy wine, stuffing ourselves full of Italian cuisine, and spending time with a great group of friends! All in all, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to spend the Easter weekend! :)

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed out for our sailing trip... Yay! :)

The crew... :)

Captain Dominik at the helm! :)

Renee trying to stay warm below deck! :)

It was slightly chilly that day... especially on the water!

Anna and Trond...

Such a fun couple to hang out with!! :)

Brian and I on our high seas adventure! :)

Eva taking time out from her Co-Captain duties! :)

Renee and Trond pouring over the maps to make sure we were on the right course...

In reality, they were both just trying to stay warm! :)

The waterfall we passed... So pretty!

Just chillin' on the water... :)

We passed this guy along the way... He looks so cold! :)

Brian thoroughly enjoyed being on the open water! :)

Eva and Dominik...

Our captain and co-captain hard at work! :)

The gorgeous view!

At one point we picked up quite a bit of speed, and our boat leaned towards the one side... just a little! :)

Brian and Anna enjoying the ride! :)

We docked for lunch in this cute little Italian town...

Clearly, Anna "loved" it here! :)

Camera fun with Anna and Kristin! :)

After lunch, we hopped back on board, and Anna felt as if she was "King of the world"! :)

Renee and I trying to look like we knew what we were doing with all of the ropes and wires! :)

Just the girls... :)

I (heart) Lago di Garda!! :)

Riva del Garda (the city we stayed in) at night...

On Easter morning, we headed out for our klettersteig...

On the way, we passed by a regatta... There were literally hundreds upon hundreds of little sailboats! :)

Our group getting ready to begin the klettersteig...

We stopped to explore an old castle along the way...

One of the many things I love about Europe... You can find castle ruins almost anywhere! :)

All geared up and ready to go!

(You'll notice that Renee and I are the only ones without helmets... Yep, that's right... Clearly we're the toughest ones! :))

Heading up...

This was the easy part!

Renee enjoying her first ever klettersteig! :)

Now this was where the klettersteig got rather interesting! We ended up having to climb up four different sets of these ladders... They literally went straight up the vertical rock face... It was pretty crazy (and a little bit nervewracking... even for me! And I'm pretty open to doing some pretty crazy things! :))

Let me just get this out of the way and apologize to our moms right now for the rest of the pictures you're going to see of our klettersteig! :)

Brian getting ready to head up the first set of ladders...

That's me about half-way up the first set of ladders...

And, just to clarify, we were hooked on to the ladders (using our climbing harness and caribiners) at all times. We, in no way, attempted to just free-style this climb! :) We left that to the man climbing in front of us! :)

The view from the top of the second set of ladders... Nice! :)

Brian topping out at the end of the second set of ladders...

Only two more sets to go! :)

Climbing up the third set...

(At this point, there are no more pictures of Brian climbing, as my hands were shaking too bad and I was afraid I would drop the camera! :) Let me explain why... We accidentally went the wrong direction between this set of ladders and the next set... We ended up having to navigate ourselves along a very steep and unforgiving ledge with nothing to clip on to (literally, one wrong move and we would have been at the bottom of the mountain for sure... Sorry again, Mom!! :)) before we realized we were off course and going the wrong direction... Which meant that we had to then turn around and navigate back across the crazy ledge again! Yikes!! Now, it typically takes alot to truly frighten me when it comes to hiking and climbing... But, needless to say, I was almost petrified during this crazy portion of the climb! Hence the reason for the shaking hands and inability to hold the camera to capture Brian's climb to the top! :)

Taking a break, before heading up the last set of ladders... Whew! We're almost there! :)

Almost to the top! :)

And we made it!! :)

Our whole group at the top! :)

Dominik heading back down...

There goes Renee!

Anna, Renee, and I on the way down...

This was supposed to be the easy part, but unfortunately that didn't hold true!

About half-way down, we stopped for a quick break... Renee was pretty excited about her climb up the mountain, and she was feeling quite confident about her climbing abilities (she did awesome! :))...

And, then her day took a turn for the worse...

She managed to take one wrong step, slipped on the scree (loose stones), and fell from the trail down to here... Very scary!

Luckily, she didn't hurt herself too badly... Just a few minor scrapes and bruises... As well as a bloody cheek which she managed to bite all the way through during her fall. :( Not a good way to end the day!

Renee proudly displaying her "souvenirs" from her klettersteig! :)

Thankfully, she's such a trooper, that she didn't let this "little incident" slow her down in any way, shape, or form! :)

After our crazy klettersteig... We look a little worn out at this point! :) But, it was definitely a fun and exciting way to spend Easter Sunday! :)

After our long day of hiking, we headed back to Riva del Garda for some drinks and to do a little exploring! :)

And we also enjoyed ourselves some delicious Italian cuisine for our Easter dinner! Happy Easter to us! :)

Brian and I enjoying some after hiking drinks! :)

Anna and Trond enjoying some down time after our long, crazy day of hiking! :)

And to top the day off, as we were wandering through the city, we came across this...

Yep, that's a Black Swan! Very cool! :)

Riva del Garda at night...

Renee and I on our hotel balcony...

Pretty impressive view, huh? :)

On Easter Monday, we headed to the little town of Limone to do some sightseeing before we headed back to Germany...

This is such a beautiful Italian town! :)

Oh, how we love palm trees!! :)

Limone, Italy...

Eva and Dominik in Limone...

Brian is going to be their wedding photographer at their wedding in June, so this little side trip to Limone was a perfect place for Brian to practice taking pictures of them! :)

Just us girls... :)

Easter Greetings from Limone (and Lago di Garda), Italy! :)