Lazy Day

We took Cissy to the airport this morning and sent her off. Again, I was sad to see her go, I really enjoyed having her here!! And we introduced her to Rob & Big and she even ASKED if we could watch it her last night. :) I think that made Mr. Scarbrough a very happy man. The rest of our day today has been pretty lazy...We went to the grocery, cleaned the apartment and now we are watching some football. We also went outside and played ball with the pups and Wems bit a hole in my cuticle. Sweet little guy didn't mean to, but I almost cried it hurt so bad! I went back to the house to get something to stop the bleeding! All day today we have been saying things like "I bet this will be the last time we do_____" I know we both are excited to get back to familiar territory!

Mom's Guest Post!!

I had a feeling calling her out would get that guest post ball rolling...here it is! From my momma on her experience here. Stay tuned for pics from our trip to Milan and Lake Como! Hi, I am Beverly Woodward, Katie's mom and Tyler's mom-in-law. Katie asked me to share some thoughts and memories about my trip to vist them - so here goes: First, I do NOT see how she stand living with Tyler, he would drive me crazy. Psych!! Just kidding - wanted to see if you were paying attention! I love them both very much. Tyler AND Katie were actually very gracious hosts. I arrived in Nuremburg about mid day on Thursday after an awful overnight flight wiggling around in my seat and trying to sleep; also trying not to go to the bathroom for about 12 hours so I would not have to crawl over my soundly sleeping seatmate. But I perked right up when I saw the Scarbroughs, people and pups, all waiting for me at the airport. We made our way via train, bus, and on foot back to their cute apartment in Erlangen. Reagan was right, it is a page right out of an Ikea catalog, with the possible exception of the wall "art." It is cute and cozy and they seem right at home! We walked around and looked at Erlangen a little, then went for my very first meal in Europe at one of their favorite local restaurants - a steak house! It was really delicious and I was starving! Back home and early to bed. The next day Katie and I flew to Milan, Italy for a few days (Tyler had to work and dog sit :( ) Just getting to Milan and to our hotel was something of an adventure; finding transportation via shuttle from Malpenso Airport to Milan, being dropped off after dark at Milan's Central Train Station, and making our way across the piazza to our hotel - the lovely Starhotel Splendido! My first hotel room with a giant round support post right in the center of the room - and our view was, well, I have pictures and will post them when I learn how! I loved our Italian adventure - I think my favorite part was our side trip to Lake Como, where we walked all around the little town of Como at the foot of the lake. It is very quaint and looks like everyone's idea of Italy - narrow winding streets with cool old buildings and villas, cute little shops, streetfront cafes, street fairs. I would love to have spent more time there, and would love to go back some day! Milan was fun too - saw lots of old churches, a castle, medieval stuff, the La Scala Opera House, shopped, ate, and WALKED. Very cool to a history buff like me. Back in Germany, we went to Nuremburg for one day - toured the Nazi Rally Grounds, old town of Nuremburg, etc. And Katie and Tyler showed me the sights of Erlangen, which I found to be a pleasant and town. Left for home in the EARLY morning dark in a cab all by myself, through the dark Germany countrywide to the Nuremburg Airport, and started my long journey back home. Some of my impressions from my trip: --It so odd to sit at a table having a meal and every group dining near you may be speaking to each other in different languages; not a common occurence in the US. But I kind of liked it. (It was sort of like being in the cafeteria at school) --I do not like German food, sorry. While there I ate steak, Thai, Chinese, and lots of Italian, but very little authentic German cuisine. --European men will wear clothes that would get a southern boy beat up - like, jeans and t shirts with sequins on them, lots of Ed Hardy stuff, scarves artfully knotted at their necks, etc. --There is graffiti literally EVERYWHERE and it doesn't seem to bother anyone, even on their really old buildings and nice hotels. --They are much more environtmentally conscientious than the US; recycling is everywhere, use more public transportation, lights on timers, etc. --It is a lot easier to get out of the US to travel to Europe than it is to get in; security from Amsterdam to the US was incredible!! My first body scan. I am so glad I went! Great to spend time with Katie and Tyler, and I was so impressed with how they have adapted to their lives and handle all the differences. And I will be glad to have them back here soon!!

Dungeon Tour

I didn't get to post about this yet, but it was very interesting! Well, interesting to see, the tour was actually in German so we didn't understand much that was said. Towards the end of the tour we noticed a guy was translating to his friend, so we tried to listen in. These are cells underneath the Town Hall in Nuremberg that were formerly used as their jail. Very creepy to see! Of course, since we couldn't understand anything we had fun with it.

12 Days, but who is counting...???

We leave Germany in 12 days and it still doesn't seem real to me! I know it doesn't seem like we have been here for THAT long, but to me it does. I just keep thinking things like "I will get to drive my car!!" and "I can go to the grocery and buy more than what I can carry" things like that. We have been so lucky to have this experience and I am in disbelief that it is coming to an end. It was very hard for me at first not having anyone to talk to during the day. But, ever since we got back after the wedding I have really enjoyed our time here! I know that when we both eventually return to our routines in Atlanta, we will really miss the simplicity of our lives here. Of course as soon as we return we have TONS of things to do including doctors appointments, getting GA tags for our Jeep, re-connecting our cable, etc. etc. etc. We still don't know for sure that Tyler will be able to return to the US for good with me when we come for Thanksgiving, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. I am returning to work at Vaco in January and I am actually excited to get back to work!! I already have 2 suitcases packed! We have a total of 8 to bring back and we already sent one home with Reagan and Mikey when they visited us! I really wish we had a camera crew to follow us with all those suitcases, 2 dogs and our carry-ons! Reagan, make sure the back of your car is empty when you pick us up at the airport....oh yea, think you can pick us up at the airport?? I have given up on my mom doing a guest post, so maybe this weekend I can just post some pictures of her visit! Cissy leaves on Saturday, Tyler and I are going to take her to the airport. I will be sad to see her go, it is always fun to have someone to hang out with me during the day! And we had quite an experience in Heidelberg...more on that later. But I won't have too much time to pout, because Susan and Sonja will be here the very next day!!

Sorry...

I have NO idea what happened to the post below. It seriously took me hours to write it and then when I finally published it, everything is messed up. I am sorry that it is so hard to read. If anyone has any advice on how to fix this issue, I am open to it!

So far behind!!

I feel like I have SO much to share! I still want to share the rest of our Prague trip, mine and mom's trip to Italy and now our trip to Munich this past weekend!! So, I am seriously going to try and get on with that today!! First I will fill you in on the rest of the time that Reagan and Mikey were here. Which, by the way, seems like a life time ago to me now!! One of the things that I really loved about Prague is that it is considered one of the friendliest dog cities in the world! So, we could take the pups with us when we went out around the city. Of course, most dogs there in Prague were much better behaved than our dogs and we even saw lots walking around unleashed. That would NEVER happen with Sprocket and Wems. We got up Saturday morning and headed out...we were on our way to Petrin Park which is high up on a mountain with great views of the city. There is a tram that takes you to the top of the hill, but there was a really long line, so we decided to see how tough we were and hike it....let's just say we stopped at the half way point and got on the tram the rest of the way. :) Here are some pictures from our adventure up the mountain. (yes, Mikey...I consider that a mountain!!) We found a cute little restaurant at the top of the hill and decided to take a break and stop for lunch and plan out the rest of our route for the afternoon. Sprocket loved taking a break and laying in the sun! The restaurant Tyler and Reagan trying to decide which direction to go next! ***I am having major formatting problems and this is taking me forever! The rest of this post will probably just be writing with all of the pictures at the end. I don't have the patience to format today*** After we had lunch we headed to see the Prague castle. Reagan had read a review that sent you another way into the castle that was a little lest touristy...either we didn't follow the instructions properly or it was just a really long route. We ended up walking along all these wooden paths up and down hills that the puppies had to be carried along because their feet would fall through the cracks! Then when we did find a proper entrance to the castle, we were walking against all the other people, up a hill. Let's just say we were all happy to get to the top! It was pretty neat once we got up there and we took some time to take some more pictures! The rest of our day we explored the city some more and found a restaurant that we had seen online was good. We ate dinner kind of early and we weren't ready to go to bed, so we decided to check out an Irish pub that we had seen lots of signs for. When we walked up to the door, there were some guys standing outside and I think they thought Reagan and I were alone and they were shocked that we were going in that pub alone!! That made us a little scared. :) But it turned out to be SUCH a fun night! We sat next to a group of Scottish guys who were in town for a soccer game. It was so fun to compare our countries and we really enjoyed hanging out with them! Sunday we woke up and headed back to Charles bridge to take a boat tour of Prague. It was so interesting to learn a little history about the city! Here are some more fun pictures from our trip to Prague. It was such a fun trip!! Can't wait to get back to Nashville to spend some more time with Reagan and Mikey!! I have already booked up their first 3 nights we are in town! Stay tuned for more on my visit with my mom! This post took me SO long so I am not sure when I will have time to sit down a write another one!! Cissy and I are headed to Heidelberg tomorrow!! One short story I will share with you from our weekend... Our train leaving Munich yesterday night was going to be very crowded and we were worried about not getting a seat. So, Tyler and Cissy went to get on the train first and I hung back with the dogs since I can't move as fast with them. I waited for everyone to get on the train and then went to get on myself. It is hard for me to walk up the stairs carrying both of them, so I decided to try a new method. I set Sprocket up on the train and turned to get Wembley. Well, I guess Sprocket thought I was going to leave him, so he JUMPED!!!! He didn't land on his feet when he hit the platform and FELL BETWEEN THE PLATFORM AND THE TRAIN!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness I still had the other end of his leash in my hand! He was dangling from his leash and I jerked him up really quick. It was a very scarey moment for me, I thought I had lost one of my babes. Wembley was knocked around a little in the process too, but I think I blocked most of the traamatic experience out. I do know that I will never get the image of Sprocket dangling from his leash out of my mind. Once I finally made it onto the train I was shaking and almost in tears, but both dogs seemed to be fine. So, that was very hard for me!! Tomorrow marks 2 weeks til we are home!!!! I told my mom today in an email I think it is really good that I have guests until we leave or else I would go crazy with excitment!! I also told Tyler that as ready as I am to come home, I think we will really miss the simplicity of life here. Our little coffee shop, taking the pups to dinner with us, etc. We found a vet to get the puppies physical to fly home. She is super nice and speaks English. We are almost all set to leave!! Now we just have to pack all 7 suitcases!! I know I am a dork, but I already have one packed. :) It is going to be like a puzzle to get everything home. I don't know if I will be on again before Wednesday, so I want to wish my FAVORITE cousin HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I am oh so happy that you are in Nashville now and I can't WAIT to see you in a few weeks!!

Cissy is here!!

I met her at the airport this morning and I think she was afraid I had forgotten about her. The bus from our apartment was so crowded, the driver kept stopping to tell everyone to move back and make room...so I was later getting to the train station. When I turned the corner and saw the train at the station, I took off running!! I ran all the way down the street, through the station, down the stairs to the platform. As soon as I got to the train I tried opening the doors, but it was too late it was already moving. Oh so close... So, I waited for the next train and fretted that I wouldn't get to the airport in time. I was just a few minutes late though. We are headed to Munich on Saturday morning for one night and next week Cissy and I are going to take an over night trip to Heidelberg. Tyler has already asked her if she is ready to go "hedgehog hunting" tonight. He is starting to take it very seriously! He even researched the little guys today at work...there are none in the US! I will update more with our travels! I am expecting a "guest post" from my mother soon on her trip.