Nick and Traci Calkins

Nick and Traci have returned to their normal life at home and Kelli and I have been settling in all week trying to get used to not having them around. We had a great time with them here and feel a little empty once again. It is so great to have great friends around and show them what our life is like here. As much fun as we are having, everything is still incomplete with the love of great friends and family.

We spent time in Wiesbaden, Rothenburg, Munich, Salzburg and at castle Neuschwanstein. They also spent a few days in Italy at Lake Como and Milan.

We now are getting ready to host Kelli's parents for three weeks that will see us hit: Munich, Innsbruck, Venice, Lake Como, Southern Spain (Malaga, Seville), Morocco (Yes, THAT Morocco!) and Brugge. As you can see, we should be VERY busy!

Trying a new way to display the photos using a slideshow with every photo we took, not just some selected ones.

Nick and Traci

Here are the pics from our time in Bavaria and Austria

Nick and Traci Calkins

Here are a couple of pics from over the weekend. Many more to come

At the Chinesicher Turm in the English Garden in Munich

In Salzburg, Austria

At the Andechs Brewery outside of Munich

Compare and Contrast

I just glanced to see what Kelli had put up here and just could not avoid noticing the contrast of the last two posts.

Babies and Beer

Please do not allow this RANDOM occurrence to reflect on any perception that you may have on the status of our joyful union.

Off to the airport to pick up Nick and Traci Calkins right now

New Arrivals

In April two of our friends welcome their second children into the world. Sarah and Adam Rauner had Koby on April 9 - he joins big brother Aiden. Julie and Tom Mavis had Catherine on April 21 - she joins big sister Chloe. Both families are doing well and adapting to the changes of having two little ones!!















Brothers forever - Aiden and Koby

















Mavis Family

















Sisters forever - Chloe & Catherine

Dublin

Mark, Tony and I inside The Temple Bar

Lovely day for a Guinness

The River Liffey

Mark and I livin large at the Shelbourne

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Jenny, Tony, Me and Mark

Mmmmmm

Dublin

Christ Church Cathedral

Temple Bar

Dublin

Had a BLAST in Dublin last weekend (imagine that) and have a bunch of pics to post but have run into a busy work week. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have pics up.

Nick and Traci Calkins get here on Saturday for 10 days. CAN NOT WAIT!

In the meantime, enjoy the link roll on the upper right of the page. It's a constantly updating list of items on the net that catch my (our) eye.

More pics from Detroit

Jay Boss and I in front of Ernie Harwell

Myself and some of the fam at the Tiger game

Ghent

Brussels and Brugge

Tony and Jenny in Brussels

Kelli and I in Brussels

Kelli and I in Brugge

Antwerp

Surprise, Surprise

Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.

Since we love Belgium, we decided to head to a couple cities off of the normal European tourbooks. This time, we made the trip with our friends Tony and Jenny and decided on Ghent and Antwerp. We threw Brugge (an old stanby) into the mix since it was nearby but we discovered two fantastic cities with as much beauty and charm as many that we have seen. Both places were filled with views that made us question how much of Europe we have seen. If there are cities like this everywhere that you can't find in Frommer's or AAA guides, how long would it take for us to see every great place in every country? Another year? A decade? I'm starting to think a lifetime.....

Photos to come later this week.

Doing some relaxing today since it's another long holiday weekend in Germany. This one is for German labor day. We've got the short work week and then it's off to Dublin next weekend.

I can NOT wait.