Castles on the Mosel

We took a long day trip today and planned on seeing two castles.  Well, there are A TON! of Castles/Schloss'/Burgs along the Mosel. WOW!! We saw probably 4-5 castles from afar and actually took tours of two of the more famous ones.  They were so lovely (if you don't count the uphill hike with 4 kids to actually REACH the castle! LOL)

Burg Eltz

This is the view from the top of the hill... yep! We hiked all the way down to the castle.  Burg Eltz is owned by the Eltz Family Company. It is actually three houses in one. Each brother of the Eltz family had their own section of the castle. So total it had 80 rooms, 40 fireplaces, 20 bathrooms and 3 kitchens!!! It was quite nice, and the family descendants still stay there for holidays if they choose!

A little bit closer pic! Gotta love zoom! ;)

From inside the courtyard area

This is the base of the castle. Just a rock wall the girls sat on while we took a potty break.

The arch right before the courtyard with the castle in the background. Thanks Jessy for the family pic!!!

Inside the courtyard - isn't it lovely!

Wall ruin on one side of the castle

Apparently this is one of the only castle that was NEVER bombed in ANY of the wars. The tour guide joked that the family was always on the 'right' side and had sons in certain armies, so their castle was never touched.  LOL!

 

Cochem Castle - Reichsburg

This castle was so GORGEOUS!!! It was totally destroyed from 1689-1889 when it was acquired by Mr. Louis Ravene and reconstructed as a 'summer cottage'  He did stay true to the original plans though, with the hidden staircases and symmetrical construction. They had one room with a false door because there was a door on the left, so they made a false one on the right to make the room symmetrical! LOL!  The brochure says its a medieval castle from the outside and an 19th century chateau on the inside.

Entry way up to the castle. This one we were actually able to park close and only had to hike a bit to get to the actual castle.

Lovely chateau!! I want a summer cottage like this!!

 

Okay! I think that is enough pictures for now! We are planning on the Dino Park this week, next week is Rome - so you'll probably get those pictures on Saturday. And then Jessy and I are going to the Zell Wine Fest on Sunday the 29th, so hopefully we'll have some great pictures of the Mosel River!!

Legoland!!!

The kiddos had a blast on Saturday at Legoland! Here are lots of pictures (and I have LOTS more!)












This was after a Pirate Boat ride that we got SOAKED on!!! They had these huge dryers - essentially a large hair dryer. So we piled the kids in and put in some euro and the wind blew. Karis was not happy!

Today

Happy Father's Day to our Dads today! And to all the Grandpas and Great-Grandpas too!

Heidelberg Castle

We went to the Heidelberg Castle Wednesday with the kiddos. It was a gorgeous day, bright and sunny, 70 degrees and a light breeze! Perfect! We took a picnic and walked around the castle. Here are some pictures of the kiddos and Jessy.

Dance Recital - Purple People Eater

Sierra had her dance recital yesterday. Wednesday was the dress rehearsal. Everyone was supposed to come ready to 'perform' So all the little girls came with makeup on... and then came up to Sierra and was like, why don't you have makeup on? LOL! Um, because her mommy doesn't wear makeup! So I put some makeup on Sierra for Saturday. They were cute. We are planning on buying a DVD of the performance (its only $15) and let us know if you want us to bring it to AZ for you to see...

Anyway, their recital was cute, and Sierra wanted to do pictures outside afterwards because they were having "Professional" pictures done and I didn't want to wait and pay. So enjoy the pictures of our own little Purple People Eater

HS, AWANA, Birthday, Ankle, Graduation...

Okay, bear with me, this post is going to be all over the place. Dustin and I went to a HomeSchool conference on Friday and Saturday this weekend. We got some more books and a free KONOS curriculum and some more ideas of different curriculums throughout the years. Some cool links, and got to listen to a lawyer from HSLDA and a homeschooling Dad. There were a lot of familiar faces from our church at the conference and I recognized some from around base. It was fun and informative, and I'm glad we went, even if we are leaving in about 2 months.

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The girls had their AWANA ceremony tonight at church. I had a video of it, but I was going through the pictures on the camera deleting the bad pics and those with heads in front of me in the shot and I accidentally deleted the video of Ruby and Sierra getting their awards!!!! :( I was VERY upset!!!!! But here are the three good pictures....

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Happy Birthday to Amy!!! Sierra wants to know when she's getting more cousins!!!!

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My ankle is doing better. Still a bit sore, and I don't have as much flexibility in it so I'm still gimping a bit. It was doing okay until we went to the HS conference and I walked from building to building up and down stairs all day long... it was really sore. And everyone who wants to tell me to rest and take it easy... wanna come chase after my three kids while I do that!! Being on crutches in not conducive to changing diapers, getting juice and taking care of little girls!

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And last but not least, we wanted to wish a Happy Graduation to Cassie and Patrick who are graduating HighSchool this week!!!! Be careful after graduation and don't do anything I would :wink: :wink:

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For our Mom's...

Hope you guys have a wonderful day!

OUCH!!!

I sprained my ankle tonight at my Step Aerobics class! OUCH! It hurts really bad, and Dustin is mad I won't get it looked at. I was in the middle of class and I stepped down off the step and it rolled and popped. Everyone rushed over, and I made it down the stairs and out to my car with someone making sure I didn't fall. But it hurt BAD driving home, and Dustin had to help me up the stairs once I got home. So now I'm resting, elevating, tylenol (because we have no IBprofin) and wondering how I'm going to take care of the kiddos tomorrow!! AGGHH!!