Germany

We got back from an eight day trip in Germany yesterday. Andy had to go to Stuttgart for work and Claire and I decided to tag along.

We spent the first weekend visiting friends in Weisbaden, touring the cute town, and going to two "fests", the summer fest and the wine fest.



We spent the rest of the trip in Stuttgart visiting the downtown area, hanging out in the town square, going to the zoo, and playing tourist.

Claire is really starting to love animals, too. From the pigeons in the square (which she calls "buh") to the polar bear in the zoo.

We also visited a town just north of Stuttgart called Ludwigsburg, which has a beautiful palace and an amazing garden.

We didn't have a chance to go in the palace itself, but the garden had all kinds of neat things for kids. Many of the displays were nursery story themed, but it also included a small boat trip and a few pettable goats!

Unpacked and settled...

July has come and gone and it was a busy month. We celebrated the 4th of July at Carney Park which held it's annual fair/concert/carnival/fireworks event. Everyone told us it would be overrun by Italians, and there were certainly many there, but we didn't feel like it was too crowded. We had a great time.

We spent our 4th anniversary on the island of Ischia which is a quick ferry trip from Pozzouli. We had fun swimming in the Med for the first time and we were able to sit on the deck of our hotel room and enjoy a bottle of wine and our view of the Med while Claire slept.

On Andy's birthday, July 17th, we finally moved into our house. Both of our shipments and our appliances were delivered, so it was quite a busy day. We spend the rest of the month trying to unpack and organize. We were fully organized by this past Saturday when we had our first BBQ. The weather has been hot, but we have been enjoying being in the house. Claire is loving the outdoor space and she really enjoys picking (ripping) the flowers in our front yard.