Family Arrives- Day One!

Okay, let the trip blogging begin! Last Saturday morning, we picked up our family from the airport at about 10:00, which was 4am their time! Needless to say, they were a little groggy but all in all glad to see us as we were glad to see them. It had been since February since we had seen everyone. I mentioned that this would be the first WHOLE family vacation that we would have since my hubby would be in tow this time, but I don't recall if I shared who the WHOLE is. My mom and dad (of course), my brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, and my sister's two boys- the best nephews ever! The boys seemed to do fairly well on the flight over and even got in a little rest.

The family showed up joking about how my dad left the rest of the family curb-side upon arrival to the airport, because he was already checked in by the time the rest got to the door. :) We teased him about it the rest of the week. Anyhow, due to my dad hustling and bustling everyone through check-in they arrived at their departure gate early where my oldest nephew got to meet the pilot who let him check out the works after landing!

So after they went through customs and got all their bags, they finally emerged from the doors! We were delighted! My nephews were particularly excited about coming to my house, as they have never been before. Every time we go home they would ask to come to my house and I would always have to tell them it was too far. They were also excited about seeing their furry cousins, Cash and Trooper. They have met Cash but never met Trooper before. My youngest nephew is much more a doggie enthusiast and gave lots of hugs and kisses! Anywho, we got the family and luggage loaded up and headed back to our house to let them all rest a little. The first disappointment came from the autobahn. A lot of people have this picture in their head of what the autobahn will be like. My brother-in-law pictured one particular road with a lot of lanes. Much to his disappointment, he discovered it was really just the name for the highways here. At one point he said, "This is the autobahn?" I replied, "Yep, we are going about 100 right now." 

After the autobahn enchantment wore off, we arrived on post to our house. Everyone was slightly hungry so we figured it would be best to eat lunch first and then let everyone rest before going to dinner. My brother and sister and their spouses as well as my dad all piled in the explorer eager to check out the commissary and make sure they got lunch pickings of their choice. It was very funny to hear all of them talking about how cheap things were. My sister-in-law was jealous that her favorite kind of yogurt was only 60 cents here, she pays 4 for $3 back home I guess. My sister got teased about bringing her camera until it came in handy when her silly hubby wanted to capture something funny from the "german" section.

If you cannot see it, the package reads, "putenburst" which my brother-in-law deemed poot & burst! He is a goof! After shopping and eating we all rested, our large sectional couch came in handy- despite the fact we kept offering beds for everyone to rest in!

After a nice long rest period where everyone took turns dozing, we took my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law to check into their room in the hotel, because they would not all fit at our house! We got them checked in and enjoyed dinner on post at our village grille since we would get plenty of german cuisine over the coming week. The nephews had been asking to go play on the large playground since they saw it when we arrived. They were delighted and it helped tucker them out so they could get sleep.

After playing we enjoyed getting an early start to bed to help fight off more jet lag. This was our first day. Look for the post about day two which includes: zoo (sort of), museum, and castles!!