Pisa!

                                   

PISA! We started a trip through Italy today so I'm trying blogging from my iPad. We'll see how it works! 

                                      

Our first stop was Pisa to see what else? The Leaning Tower! We were not disappointed and I was thrilled that there were still tickets to climb to the top - I had missed the 8 day window for pre-ordering tickets! I really wanted to visit this site and I really wanted to climb to the top, I've mentioned before it is a thing that my family just tolerates. 

We wound up climbing as the sun was setting which made for a some great photos. Which by the way only the easiest to share will be here, we took lots of photos!

          

         

After our hike to the top we headed into the town of Pisa to find dinner. We were a little early, most restaurants didn't open until 8pm but no one was in the mood to wait so we found a pizzeria for a pizza in Pisa, then we stopped for gelato on the way back. We are in Italy after all! Once the kids were settled in their rooms we headed out for some more photo shooting. Steve was using his wide angle lens...I'm not really this tall!

                                       

Frohe Weihnachten!

Rachel, Missy, Steve
Dominic, Stefanie & AJ

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! We had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas. The kids let us sleep until about 7:30 which was great. We had a leisurely morning of breakfast and present opening. The weather was beautiful here, not white, so we took a walk and the kids had a great game of basketball. We had a fabulous, relaxing afternoon, a delicious dinner and a fun night of drinks and desserts with friends.

Santa Came!

Stockings are full!

AJ, Stefanie, Dominic and Rachel

Merry Birthday!

Rachel, Missy, Stefanie, Dominic & AJ

I had a terrific birthday today! Everyone spoiled me and made it a special day for me. It was so very nice.

Steve made a wonderful brunch to start out day. Then he and I joined some friends for pre-Christmas drinks in Starnberg - they even sang Happy Birthday - which is of course embarrassing to me - but oh so very sweet.

It was a beautiful day today and the views of the mountains were fabulous.After drinks we switched into Christmas Eve mode and made our traditional dinner. We went to mass at 9pm at our local German church, it was lovely even thought we still can't understand most of it. The church was decorated with six lovely trees and when they played Christmas songs we knew, we sang in English. After church we had cake!

Christmas Shopping in Munich

Dominic, AJ, Stefanie & Rachel

It's the start of Christmas break for our family! The kids are off from school and Steve is off from work. We spent the day in Munich enjoying the Christmas markets and doing a little shopping too. We took the kids to lunch at Hans im Glück, a fun burger restaurant. Burgers aren't big here in Germany so it was a big treat! And it was delicious.

Missy, Stefanie & Rachel

Stefanie, Rachel, AJ & Dominic

AJ, Dominic, Steve

We took the kids to Ambach, a little town on the lake that was hosting a Christmas market. The views of the mountains were pretty incredible. It is a beautiful place where we live!

Nuremburg/Nürnberg

There is a wonderful mom at our kids' school that plans fun outings for moms. Often they are museum tours which is great for me because I tend to not get to those on my own. This month it was a trip to Nuremberg to visit the Christmas markets and take a tour of the city.

While the weather was miserable, the company was fabulous and the tour was interesting. The market was actually smaller than I had anticipated. I didn't do much shopping but it is always interesting to look and of course we sampled the glühwein. We also had lunch at a sweet Gasthaus that overlooked the market square and the church.

My favorite sites were the Neues Museum tucked behind the town wall. Standing near the end of the building makes for a great picture in the reflection of the mirrored wall of the museum.

I also liked the Schöner Brunnen, a 14th century fountain in the town square. The fountain is made up of 40 different figures that represent significant people from throughout the church's history. There are two brass rings on the fence surrounding the fountain that bring good luck to you if you spin them.

The castle above the town and the view from above were also cool. And of course the Frauenkirche and its sweet little glockenspiel are worth a stop.

GO BUCKS!!!

We had a little party for the Ohio State Michigan game. It was mostly fun to watch the game with friends. I say mostly because it was WAY too close for my taste. But it was fun to have a great group of friends over and to introduce them to Buckeye football and Buckeyes!

The kids recreated my favorite photo of them for us before the game. Things have certainly changed since 2003!