Has It Really Been Four Years?!

Every April, I like to do a year in review in photographs-mostly so I can look back at everything we did in the past year! Four years ago this week, Nathan and I joined Dan in Germany for a life changing adventure. As this is our last year in Germany, I am feeling quite nostalgic for those first few months, when everything was new, scary and exciting.

Obviously, Nathan has changed the most-as he was barely speaking in full sentences at age 2 and now he speaks quite fluently in both English and German. We have visited over 15 countries, tasted new delicacies, experienced strange and fun cultures, drank way too much wine at every German wine festival, and most of all, gained a boatload of new friends who I now consider family. Our friendships have actually made this experience overseas stronger and better than our time in London. London was amazing, but that was like a 3 year honeymoon for me and Dan (no complaints there!). This time, it felt like we grew some real roots and became real locals (ok, minus the embarrassing fact that only Nathan can speak the local language). I think it will be much more difficult to leave here than it was to leave England. I will miss my new family, I will miss my weekly dates with my girlfriends (is there anything better for the soul than coffee with your girlfriends?), and mostly I will miss watching Nathan interact and enjoy life in small town Germany. This is who he is now. This life here is all he knows–and it has changed him for the better (sorry I just quoted Wicked).

I know I will have another blog about leaving once we actually have a date to leave, so for now….let’s look back at year 4! This year we traveled on another Disney Cruise (To Iceland), spent a week in Croatia, traveled the roads of the Amalfi Coast, spent time with my parents in Amsterdam and Bruges, and traveled to ancient caves in the Dordogne to see drawings from thousands of years ago (plus much more!).

 

April:

April always brings with our anniversary! This year we celebrated 11 years with an evening out in Eltville. Our friend Steve came by on his way to Spain, we spent a weekend at Disneyland Paris with friends  and stopped by the Champagne Region of France, and we also spent a long weekend in the Amalfi Coast & Naples in Italy. And of course, SchlemmerWochen-otherwise known as Wine Week! All the local vineyards open up for a week every April so we can enjoy good food, friends and wine!

 

DLP

Buying Champagne in Champagne!

 

Schlemmerwochen

Amalfi Coast

Naples

 

May

May was filled with more wine, Mother’s Day, a visit from our Aunt, the infamous Wine Walk & a trip to Croatia, Bosnia & Montenegro with Grandpa & Uncle Ricker!

Mother’s Day

Aunt Carol Visit

Wine Walk

Croatia

 

Kotor, Montenegro

Mostar, Bosnia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

 

June

June brought a visit from our friend Cara, an epic Disney cruise to Iceland & Norway, that began in Canterbury, England.

Canterbury, England

Disney Cruise

 (Yup, that’s the Lopez Family-they wrote Frozen)

July

We left the cruise and spent a long weekend in Aero, Denmark. We also went back to Disneyland Paris, and of course we had some summer fun!

Aero

DLP

Summer Fun!

 

August

August we laid low-Nathan started his last year at the Kindergarten & we had the Hallgarten Wine Fest & the Wiesbaden Wine Fest

 

We also had to remove MOLD!!! *Nathan didn’t actually do any of the cleaning*

Summer Fun

 

September

My parents came to town & we went to Amsterdam, Bruges, Burg Eltz Castle, a Rhine River cruise (Surprise visit from Cousin Mat!) and a visit to Dachau. We also went back to Disneyland Paris so Dan could run a half Marathon! Our friends Ed & Emily came to visit after the race!

Amsterdam

Bruges

Dachau

 

Nathan’s 6th Birthday

 

Burg Eltz

 (Disney Imagineer)

Eltville Race

DLP half Marathon

 

Ed & Emily

October

October brought us a quick visit from our friend James and an amazing trip to France where we visited the Dordogne & Bordeaux Regions.

France

November

Winter is Coming. St Martin’s Day, Thanksgiving, & School Pictures

December

Winter has arrived! We visited Christmas Markets locally and in Nuremberg & Rothenburg. We also had a great Chanukah/Christmas/New Years Party at our house.

January

We slowed it waaaaaay down in January as I had pneumonia for most of the month (however a preplanned trip to Disneyland Paris happened-which is ultimately how I caught pneumonia). And Nathan got glasses!

February

America here we come! We made a trip out to Washington DC for work and added a vacation to Disney World! We came home to Germany and celebrated Fasching!

(Nathan is all of us right now about who lives in the White House)

 

Disney World

Fasching

March

Spring is upon us once again! We haven’t traveled anywhere, we have been home and relaxing! (Nathan finally started soccer-his European transformation is now complete!)

 

Thanks for joining us on this amazing journey! I can’t wait to see what our last year in Germany looks like-next year’s pictures in review is going to look very different!

 

-The Family Traveler-

 

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