Still Going Strong . . .

It's hard to believe it's been over a month since mom and dad came to visit.

This year marks their 50th wedding anniversary.

50 Years!!!

What better way to celebrate than a month in Europe?!

We wanted to start off by showing them as much of our corner of the world as we could.

Bavaria is a fairytale land that flows from one little hamlet to the next.

Parsburg

Schmidmuhlen

Berglengenfeld

Nachtmann Crystal Factory - Neustadt

Kallmunz

Seidl Confiserie (Chocolate Factory) - Laaber

Hormannsdorf

We also took a road trip to Rome! (Squeal!!!)

We rented this bad boy and set out.

We drove through the Italian Alps,

ran in to a bit of a snow storm,

then popped out of a tunnel in
beautiful, sunny Tuscany!

We finally reached the "Eternal City",

and our home for the week.

The girls loved the loft bed!

We saw as much of the city as we could in the time we had.

It was amazing!

The Colosseum - arena floor.

The Colosseum

Colosseum - underground.

Couldn't resist taking a few night shots!

Panoramic view of the Forum, from the third tier of the Colosseum.

Via Sacra. Walking to the Forum.

The Forum.

Mamertine prison, outside the Forum.

The Vatican Museums,

and St. Peter's Basilica.

We spent a lot of time looking up...

the ceilings were incredible!

This was the best example of
trompe l'oeil  painting I've ever seen!

Twin churches Santa Maria Dei Miracoli and
Santa Maria in Montesanto

Piazza del Popolo

The Trevi Fountain was under renovations,
but we were still able to walk out on the scaffolds
and toss our coins in!

Lunch across from the Spanish Steps

The president's Home.

The steps were so busy!

The Pantheon

The Pantheon

The Pantheon

The pantheon

The Capital Building

Well, you get the idea. There's no way I could share all the pics!

So after Rome, we decided to swing by Hallstatt, Austria, for a couple of days.

Beautiful, as always.

Pit stop on the road.

Made it home, but still had more to see!

We took mom and dad to Regensburg by train.

Oldest sausage stand in the world.
Dad had to try it!

Clock tower and salt house at the Danube River bridge.

St. Peter's Cathedral

Our Dear Lady of the Old Chapel.

And of course Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, my favorite!

The Burgtor (castle gate) and guard houses 

Sidewalk cafe on the city square

The most photographed spot in Rothenburg.
Traffic actually stopped to let me snap this!

The holy grail of Christmas bling -
the Kathe Wohlfahrt Store!

We did spend a little time chillin' at the house, too.

Watched a few movies, set up the fire pit in the backyard,

Had a little fun with our acids/bases science lesson.
(Ka-Boom!)

Colored Easter eggs.

Worked a crazy fun puzzle.

And played Cranium. 

It started out fine,

And ended in hysterics!

I was laughing so hard I couldn't hold the camera still!

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days."

But this was family! And the month seemed to fly.

Sure, mom and dad were ready to get home, and we were ready to get back to our routine,

but the house felt so empty after they left.

So thankful for the time we had and can't wait for them to return next spring!

(hint,hint)

And get this! They're not finished yet!

They're headed cross country to California soon to see my brother.

And in the fall there's a mission trip to Haiti.

Yep, I wanna be like them when I grow up.

Just keep going, 

and going, 

and going . . .

*** Kudos to my sweet hubby for sitting behind the wheel 

of that huge 'tour mobile' for almost 28 hours total! 

You.are.awesome!