Neuschwanstein again!

After giving my parents a few days to get over their jet-lag, we got on the road for a big trip to Bavaria, and Austria!  To get to Edelweiss you have to drive through part of Austria- right at the German/Austrian border is a tunnel, and we happened to arrive there right as it was experiencing a stau (traffic jam).  We sat there for probably 15 minutes, but it felt much longer.

The night we arrived we took them to a great restaurant in Garmisch-Partenkirchen called Werdenfelser Hof.  They have fantastic Bavarian food, and even boys who dance.  You can see a pretzel holder on the table behind my dad.

We managed to get a decent family photo.

Maverick kept himself busy in his normal way....

....playing with his cars.

The next morning we got up early and drove to Schloss Neuschwanstein.  We got there so early that we got a fantastic parking space, with this view:

It looked a little cloudy, and like we might not be able to see much, but after taking the bus up the mountain, it had already cleared up.  Here you can see Hohenschwangau, which was the castle where Ludwig II grew up, before he built Neuschwanstein.

After a visit to the Marienbrucke (way too high, way too many people on it....I had to get off), we walked down the path to the castle.

We got another decent family photo!

The castle is nearly done with the exterior renovations, and the scaffolding we saw a year ago was already taken down.  Here is a map of the main layout.

The entrance to the castle courtyard.

That night we ate at a restaurant at Edelweiss.  Mom and Maddox played tic-tac-toe for quite a while, and Maddox got really silly when she realized I was taking pictures.

That night the kids CRASHED.

They sleep alike.

The next morning we were leaving for Austria!

Last Day of School and GRANDPARENTS! *pics added!*

In mid June, the school year came to an end, and Maddox was officially done with her first year of school!  She chose this outfit all by herself (as she typically does).  This picture was taken in my classroom, at the start of the day.

My parents arrived for a 3 week long visit, which was their first visit to Europe.  Here they are with Maddox and the sign she made for them!

The playroom/guest room was all ready for them!

We made lots of plans for while they were here, but the first thing the kids wanted to do with them was have some story time.

Getting comfortable.

Maverick and Gramps.

There is a good reason for this silly picture!  We had our good friends the Kennerlys over for dinner, since they were moving back to the U.S., and after dinner Maddox took control and decided that we were going to act out a story as she told it.  One part of the story had Gramps sitting on Grammy's lap, and I just had to take a picture!