Iowa Week 1

Happy Birthday T.J.
I departed Germany and arrived in Iowa, only to re-enter Germany at the Hessen Haus in Des Moines in celebration of my brother T.J.'s 21st birthday. This bar is made popular by the 'Passing of the Boot' (seen below).

Going, going...

Gone.


Coldplay Concert
As part of my brother's 21st birthday gift, my parents took us to the Coldplay "Viva la Vida" concert in Des Moines. They had a really neat backdrop- Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix (1830)- a symbol of the French Revolution...Below is a picture we took of this painting at the Louvre in Paris. If you're a fan of Coldplay, I would highly recommend seeing them in concert; it exceeded all of my expectations. Thanks, Mom and Dad!


This sphere was suspended from the ceiling and projected images from the main stage...the videography was awesome.

Chris Martin was an extremely talented performer, and I had no idea how well he plays the piano (also, the drummer is an awesome vocalist).


Science Center
Before Matt arrived, I spent an afternoon at the Science Center with Jessica (sister-in-law), Magnus (nephew) and Lena (neice). We had a great time, but I'm pretty sure it was sensory overload for at least one of us...

Bubbles are so fun!

Magnus, the weatherman, tells us about the temperature in Omaha (with the help of a green-screen news exhibit)...

Magnus checking out a snake

Everyone knows you run, not walk, when wearing rain boots that come up to the bottom of your athletic shorts...duh.

Lena waiting oh-so patiently in the stroller as we explore the Science Center.


Random
These birds were just taking their sweet time to cross the road...

For all of your non-Iowans out there, I have to write a little blurb about THE Dutch Letter, a delectable, S-shaped, almond-paste filled pastry made in Pella, Iowa (a Dutch colony) and in Holland at Christmastime (hence the "S" for Sinterklaas, i.e. Santa Claus). As silly as it sounds, Dutch Letters will always remind me of the moment I realized that experiencing the world beyond Iowa was a good thing...I thought everyone knew about Dutch Letters! I was lucky enough to eat two of them during our trip home.

As I learned on this trip home, those of us living in Germany in the past year may have missed out on the cultural phenomenon known as "Snuggie," a blanket with sleeves (never mind that this is nothing more than a fleece robe worn backwards). If you want to laugh, watch this info-mercial...Do you hear that, moms? If you wear a Snuggie, you can snuggle your baby in your arms AND be covered by a blanket! Amazing:)

Erich and Kiley modeling their Snuggies


Dinner with the family

Paris Between Storms

Zwingenberg Weinfest

Today we rode our bikes to the annual wine festival in Zwingenberg. We met Adam and Melanie at the fest for lunch (salad, ribs, and fries), drank some local wine, and walked around some craft booths. Such a nice Sunday afternoon activity!

Baby Campbell

Congratulations, Kurt and Carrie, on the arrival of your beautiful baby girl, Emma Grace!

Mallorca

On Friday, we headed to the airport to catch an afternoon flight to Mallorca, a Spanish island located in the Mediterranean Sea. The trip started out rocky (we missed our flight, had to pay for a second one-way ticket leaving at 4:30 am, and by default, had to pay for a hotel near the Frankfurt airport while simultaneously paying for an empty hotel room in Mallorca). Even after arriving in Mallorca the next morning, things still didn't go exactly as planned (we rented a scooter and proceeded to crash that scooter within seconds of riding on it). In other words, two years of potentially bad travel experiences were jam packed into a 24-hour time period. Aside from the complications at the beginning of our trip, this was exactly the kind of beach vacation we were hoping for!

Our hotel, Hotel Costa Azul, was located in Palma, right along the port and within walking distance of the old town.


Bradon with his first Sangria

We spent our first two days at a beach called Porto Nous. It was a small, non-touristy beach (topless...yikes, we weren't expecting that), located less than 20 minutes away from our hotel.


Each day after the beach, we tried to see a little bit of the city. This huge, Gothic cathedral really stands out as you enter Palma.


Our dinner on the second night was hands down one of the best meals we've had on a trip. We shared tapas, sparkling cava sangria, and each had a rich and delicious creamy pasta dish at a restaurant called Forn St. Joan.

On our third day, we went to Platja de Palma. It was a bit windy and cool, so we spent most of the day reading on the beach.

We had a great trip with you, Brandon. Thanks so much for coming to see us!

Brandon's Trip to Germany

Brandon (Matt's brother) arrived in Frankfurt on Saturday morning. It was a bright, sunny day, so we decided to go straight to Burg Eltz, located about 2 hours from our house. This was the most secluded castle we have ever seen- not a single house or road is visible from the castle, only forest! This is also one of the only castles we've seen that goes up instead of out.

On Sunday, we went on a Rhine River cruise from Bingen to St. Goar, where we stopped for lunch, and back to Bingen. All together, we passed more than 10 castles on either side off the river and as you can see, we had awesome weather.





On Tuesday, the guys went to Heidelberg to see the Altstadt and Castle...another beautiful day!


On Wednesday, Matt and Brandon took a trip to Felsenmeer (sea of boulders) located about 15 minutes from our house.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,
Ashley & Matt