Schnitzel!!!

Veteran's Day weekend we took our first trip outside of the UK to Germany to visit our very best friends from Travis who are now stationed at Ramstein AFB. It was an awesome 4 day weekend!!! Here they are... the Martins!

Tamlyn and I were best, lonely, pregnant women friends while both Rick and Daniel were deployed during our pregnancies. We were both there for each other's deliveries and we hope that our boys can grow up best buddies! I'm not going to say much about Daniel and Rick's relationship other than it's a straight up bromance.

Thursday morning we landed in Germany at 9 am local time and Rick was there to pick us up. Off we were to their home. Now, I've not said anything about roads here in England, but they are absolutely horrible. When it rains the water just stands on them and there is a lot of hydroplaning and it scares me to death in my little KIA. I will never whine about them again. Roads in Germany are literally just wide enough for ONE car. Rick drives a big Ford truck. It doesn't work out so well when you meet another car on those tiny, windy roads!

That afternoon we just kind of hung out and let the boys get reacquainted. The last time they saw each other was in May!

Then:

And now:

They were absolutely hilarious in this car! When we were pushing them Jake was just hanging out eating a snack and Eli was taking car of both steering wheels!

Eli and Jake had such an awesome time playing together! I think that the only thing they fought over was a sock... boys... go figure...

Friday night we went out to a small little German restaurant that you never would have known was there. Jake's care takers are German and they went with us so it was nice having a translator with us. I wish I had taken my camera... If you have never tried schnitzel you really should, it is amazing. A lot of people thing of a hot dog or some type of wiener when they hear schnitzel, but it's actually a pork chop that has been pounded flat and fried. Ours came with spaghetti on top. Sounds healthy right?

So Saturday morning rolled around and we took a road trip to France. Check out the ride we took here... Be jealous. With two kids in car seats and four adults we had to rent something so we would all ride comfortably and safely. We went to the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial and it was truly and unbelievable experience. Buried there are 10,489 men who gave there lives for our freedom. There are men from every State in the Union, the District of Columbia, as well as Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico. There are 30 sets of brothers (26 lay side by side) and I believe about 151 unknowns.

No matter what way you turned, all of the crosses were in a perfect line. It was an awesome way to remember those who died for our freedom long before we were even here.

On our way home we were determined to eat some sort of French food... We stopped in a little town and found a bakery and ate all sorts of pastries and other baked goodies that weren't good for us but they tasted like heaven!

Outside of the bakery was a little carrousel that the boys really enjoyed. Even though they would have never known any different if they didn't get to ride it, it was so much fun for us to see them smiling and enjoying the fun!

Since Rick isn't a big fan of the sweets so we had to hit up his favorite restaurant on our way home. And to anyone who has ever watched Pulp Fiction, he did order a Royal with cheese!

It was a great weekend with wonderful friends who we miss so much! This Wednesday we are leaving for Venice and meeting them down there. Pray it doesn't rain the WHOLE time!