19 Years!

Our anniversary trip to Germany to see the Passion Play (a once a decade event) was cancelled due to COVID-19 and so we suddenly had a thought that maybe we could go back to where it all began.  Back to where we met and stay at the bed and breakfast that we stayed in the night we got married. 

So we checked and they were reopening two days after our anniversary.  So we planned to go for two nights to Messina Hof in Bryan/College Station, Texas.  We weren't able to stay in the Romeo and Juliet Room which is where we stayed on our honeymoon night.  Brian chose the Camelot room.  We had a complimentary wine and cheese each day and had reservations for the first night at their restaurant and the second night at Christopher's, an old favorite when we lived there for anniversaries and special occasions. 

After arriving we got settled, dressed up a bit, and went straight over to the winery to have our wine and cheese until our reservations for dinner next door.  Our waitress was fun and we ordered an a three coarse meal ending with our old favorite, the hot fudge ice cream with Port poured on top.  After dinner, the sun was setting and so we decided to stroll through the vineyard.  We didn't ask per say if this was allowed, but there were no signs and no one stopped us.  So off we went.  We turned around and came down a different row back towards our room and I thought I stepped on a branch that got caught on my foot.  I instinctively tried to shake it off, but my brain notified me that we hadn't seen any branches big enough for this to be a branch.  I looked down and back at what I had just shaken off my foot to find not a branch, but a big old snake!  It coiled up and slithered away before we could get a good look at the pattern.  Let's be honest, I took off toward the path and alerted Brian that a snake bit me.  He tried to see it, but it slithered away quickly.

Messina Hof Restaurant

Carefree sandal wearing me, before I learned the value of the cowboy boot.

You can't see the bottom teeth marks well in this picture.  These were pretty new shoes.  I am wondering how long it will take before I stop thinking of them as my "snake bite" shoes.

All I saw was a coiled up snake in the shape and size  of a plate that was the same general colors as the grass and dirt, a brownish, greenish, grayish snake.  We heard no rattle and it didn't hurt badly so although we quickly went to our room to wash it and make sure there wasn't any reaction, it seemed like it wasn't a poisonous snake.  We googled all the poisonous snakes in the area and it did not seem like those were what we saw.  Out of the 36 snakes common in this part of Texas, there were only six poisonous ones.  Of those all but two are rattlesnakes and one is a coral snake which is distinctively bright.  The only one left is a cotton mouth and we were pretty sure it was not wet enough for those there.  Still, I was fairly freaked out and we watched the wound and my heart rate for an hour just to be safe.

I survived, though it did put a damper on our first evening.  The next day we took a walk down memory lane, starting with Mass at the Church where we received our First Communion and Confirmation in 2004 when I was just barely pregnant with Hannah.  We drove by our first house and the hospital where Hannah was born.  Then we ate lunch on Northgate and walked around the A&M campus.  We went to the first place we met, the first place we kissed, our old dorms, the Century Tree, and many other smaller memorable places.  It has been so long, and so very much has changed. 

FHK

Where we first kissed almost 23 years ago!

Century Tree

The Secret Place

They moved Fish Pond across the street.

Our first house

After we got cleaned up we had our wine and cheese tasting before going to dinner.  That night we ate at Christopher's, and Brian had a special vase of beautiful roses waiting for me at the table.  It was delicious and just how I remembered it.  The last time we ate there was Valentine's Day 2005, when Hannah was just a few months old.  I remember it well, because we ended up moving to the porch seating since Hannah's usual cheerful self wasn't very cheerful that particular evening.  I am sure we hadn't taken her to many restaurants since we were a zero income family for those last six months of vet school.

That was about it.  Other than being bitten by the fourth snake I've ever even come across in the wild in my entire life, it was a terrific weekend getaway.  I certainly learned my lesson.  Never go for a walk at sunset in Texas without cowboy boots on!  Sandals

I will say though that the snake did prove to be a bad omen of sorts as bad news started to befall us on the drive home from our trip, kicking off with a text from our landlady that she was going to raise our rent 10% in August.  Real life hit us smack in the face by the time we were home.

Brian's Rumtopf, Promotion, and Our 16th Anniversary

Brian is hard at work making a Rumtopf which is layers of seasonal fruit soaked in rum.  You let it sit at room temp for a long time.  He's very excited about it.  He has four layers of fruit already soaking.

The brown bottle in the middle is the container for the Rumtopf.

He also made his own strawberry-rhubarb-cello, like lemon-cello, only not.

Speaking of hard work, Brian just found out he was selected for promotion.  Not many vets were promoted last year so he was nervous and thought he wouldn't get it.  That's how he always is, so humble.   We are all so very grateful that he got this promotion.  Thanks be to God!

And to continue with the theme of this post, hard work, our 16th anniversary was this week on the 16th.  Marriage is hard work, but it really doesn't seem like it's been that long.  We are well suited for each other.  We've changed a lot since we first got married, but we are still both devoted to our faith, our God,  and to each other.  Happy anniversary, Brian!

To celebrate, we went out to dinner the night before due to some plans to entertain some friends that are moving soon.  We went to a new restaurant that the locals rave about.  There was a limited menu since it was the day in between a weekend and a German holiday (Corpus Christi).  He has been making his own sausages since Brian and I were two years old and they are amazing!  Just wow.  I've tasted a lot of bratwurst, but wow.

Our Belated 15th Wedding Anniversary

Next on the agenda while my parents were in town was our anniversary trip (15 years last June!).  I had weaned Bobby specifically with this trip in mind.  We decided to do something close to make the most of the two nights away.  So, we chose the Black Forrest, but we had to leave on a Sunday due to our packed schedule.  This meant getting a later start because we first needed to take the kids to Mass.  

The boys just happened to all match so nicely which just demanded a picture.  Genevieve kept sneaking into the pictures on various shoulders.

We stayed in a little guest house in Baiersbronn.

You can't see it in the picture very well, but that white line on the closer hill was a sign that said Baiersbronn just like the Hollywood sign.

The hotel had a pool and sauna, so that's where we spent our first afternoon.  We went to a restaurant in town and I had some delicious spaetzle with chanterelle mushrooms which were in season and on every menu.  It was a quaint restaurant, very warm and toasty to fight the chill outside.

The next day we had a wonderful traditional German breakfast that we have so missed since the last time we were here.  We've missed out on it this time in our travels because we can't fit in a guest house anymore with all the kids so we have to do property rentals when we travel which means no free breakfast in the mornings.   The beds in these hotels (compared to the rentals) are crazy hard though and that was not so fun for me. Brian, on the other hand, loves a hard bed and slept so much better.

After breakfast we drove to Triberg to hike the highest waterfall in Germany.  You do have to pay to do the hiking.  You could also buy peanuts to feed the squirrels, but I had read that the squirrels didn't really come out for the food.  I think I was right because I saw many uneaten peanuts on the ground and not a single squirrel.  We walked from the bottom to the top, crossed the bridge, and then back down to a restaurant on the other side.

This is just a section of the waterfall.  It's way too tall to get a picture of all of it.

There are two bridges towards the top.  This picture is taken from the higher one, looking down on the other one.

A view from the top of the village

The restaurant was a real treat.  It was on a lake with ducks and there was a huge playground next to the lake as well.  The kids would love it.  We will definitely be back with the kids another time.  The food was good with an interesting international blend to their German cuisine.  I had Barbecue Maltaschen which are noodle "bags" with meat inside, similar to an Asian steamed dumpling.

We took some pictures of some of the ducks and even a video of Brian feeding them to send to my mom to show Bobby, since he loves ducks so much right now.  She said he watched it five times and quacked for 15 minutes after it was over.  So cute!

We did some shopping and drove over to Freiberg for dinner.  The town of Freiberg was a big disappointment because it was a very modern college city.  It had gutter canals through the city that were interesting.  One little boy and his dad had a boat on a string that they were pulling through the canals just like walking a dog.  We had appetizers and beer at a brewery that Brian wanted to try out.  We had chanterelle cream soup and melons with prosciutto.  I also had my first banana beer which was excellent.  Then since there was nothing else to do minus a few shops and walking around looking at the small amount of old architecture that remained in the middle of this modern city, we went to dinner at a small restaurant that had rave reviews on Trip Advisor.  I was kind of full from our appetizer so I just had Maltaschen soup since it was a dish this restaurant was most praised for.

We got back to the hotel really late.  We tried to sleep in the next day a little bit, but when you are used to getting up so early it's hard to sleep much past 7am.  We ate our breakfast and checked out.  We took a small detour on the way home to go see the French pottery town called Souflenheim.  We were able to go into quite a few shops.  There are a multitude of pottery shops in this precious town.  I especially loved the flowers overflowing in nearly every yard and house.

I came home with three sturdy pieces that I love, plus a bowl for Genevieve with her name on it.  She is the only one of our children's names that they had in an entire roomful of personalized bowls.  It is perfect because her name is the one we can not find on anything.

A pot, onion storage jar (with holes,) and a pitcher

Happy Father's Day and 12th Anniversary!

 So this is the first time in all 13 June 16th's we've been married that Father's Day has fallen on this day, at least I think it is.  For Father's Day, I made Brian a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and roasted potatoes and brought it to him in bed.  Then the girls cleaned out his car for him while he was out.  I talked him into taking the van, but it sort of ruined the surprise.  Anyway, we also practiced all week on a choreographed dance to our family song Don't Stop Believing by Journey.  The kids did a great job and daddy liked it!

For our anniversary, we took a trip to Lambertville, New Jersey/New Hope Pennsylvania on Monday through Wednesday.  My parents watched the children for us which was no small feat.  On our way there, we detoured slightly to a Sonic for me.  I miss Sonics so much!

We stayed at a B&B called Chimney Hill.  It was very nice.  They had Alpacas to feed, lovely breakfasts in the mornings, nicely removed from the town, and, therefore, very peaceful.

Yes, yes, I am about to pop...in about 8-10 weeks.

This was where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

We went to a Winery and had a wine tour and tasting.  We bought a bottle of their ice wine to save for when the baby is born and Brian passes his boards.   

We had a great time just taking it easy with good food and a little antiquing.  I just don't have the stamina that I had a couple pregnancies ago when I was able to climb mountains and trek around cities majorly pregnant. 

15 Year Reunion***

June 16th was our 11th anniversary and Brian's 15th year high school reunion.  We had a great time, and I knew most of the people since his high school was so small, a lot of them went to A&M with us, and we started dating almost 15 years ago. 

Brian and his college roommates

The happy couple...11 years married!

***Oh, I forgot to mention that we (or Brian, rather) were the winners of two prizes at the reunion.  We won a prize for having the most kids, actually we tied for this one.  And Brian also won a prize for having the highest degree in his class too, and that's not counting the one he is currently working on.

The Ruffled Duck Inn

Brian and I actually had a whole weekend without kids! My wonderful aunt, uncle, and cousins all kept them for the weekend so we could celebrate our 10 year anniversary (a little late) and have a sort of babymoon before Speck arrives. (Leah, we are almost decided on a name, I promise!) We picked somewhere close so we wouldn't have to waste too much time driving. We stayed at a B&B called The Ruffled Duck Inn in Oxford, Maryland. It was a quaint little town in the Chesapeake Bay area near Easton and St. Michaels. The Inn was adorably decorated and included three course gourmet breakfasts and delightful company. The other couple staying there at the same time was excellent breakfast company as well. Despite the heat, it was a wonderful trip, and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Saturday, we ferried across to St. Michaels and spent the day wondering in and out of shops, mostly antiques, in the scorching heat. Brian was surprised at how many times I had to recite my due date and that, "No, this isn't our first baby. It's our fourth." The jaw dropping then commenced in every single shop we entered (and occasionally in between) with at least three inquiries about whether or not I was carrying twins. I certainly received more than my fair share of sympathy for my condition in the awful heat as well.

We found this amazing old student desk...

...and a few things for Speck's room that shall be featured in a post soon when I complete his room. We ate lunch and stopped at a microbrewery for Brian. Then we wondered into a rug shop where a sweet lady took the time to show me how to hook a rug which I have been very interested in learning of late. (I am a little addicted to learning new craft skills!) I bought a hook from her. She showed me a website to purchase all the supplies I need to create my own rug for Speck's room since I am not really one for kits, and she recommended me teaching the girls how to do it too since it is an easy and safe craft for kids.

Saturday night and on Sunday on our way back we spent a little time in Easton, an artsy town with excellent food. We ate at Out of the Fire which was our favorite of all the great food we had.

In Oxford, we enjoyed sitting on the beach with our feet in the water and collecting some shells and a dead crab for the kids. We only saw one jellyfish which was good considering it is jellyfish season right now. We also enjoyed eating at The Robert Morris one night and, on a hot afternoon, having an ice cream treat at the Scottish Highland Creamery which was actually run by a Scot who had lived above and worked in an Italian ice cream parlor. You couldn't have kept my husband away from that place if you had tried, and I certainly wasn't putting up any fight either.