Swimming

Well the beautiful sun showed her lovely face for all of about 5 days, but they were a gorgeous 5 days!! The boys finally got to take a dip in their pool!






Then a few days later, she was gone and the rain came back so I took the boys to an indoor pool down in Cochem. We had actually planned on going to the outside part since the previous days had been so lovely, but apparently we waited one day too late so then had to go inside. I was quite surprised though as it was really nice. There were a few different areas and there was a wave pool, slides, sauna, hot tubs, and a kids area complete with sand. There was even a little glass room that had beds in it; toddler beds and cribs so that the little ones could take a nap when they got all tuckered out. So cute!



















Here are some pictures of Matthew feeding Zachary his dinner. I told Matthew that he couldn't have any dessert until Zach finished his dinner as well. Matthew then took it upon himself to hurry it up a little =)














On this last picture, Zachary was playing in his chair and got stuck trying to get down. He likes to climb up and buckle himself in just for fun. I thought that this was so funny, I just had to take a picture first!

Birthday Party

Saturday the boys were invited to a birthday party and they had a blast. They had such a good time that they fell asleep on the way home!! Here are some pictures:







That evening Allan and I actually left the boys with a sitter and went on a little boat ride. It took us up and down the Mosel river departing from the beautiful town of Cochem. It was about a 2 1/2 hr. boat ride on an open deck with a live band and lots of wine! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, surprisingly! We went with our friends and we had a great time.

You can see the Cochem castle in the background.

Picture of the Cochem castle at sunset.

#1 Big Brother

Sometimes Matthew amazes me as he can be such a sweet, caring brother towards Zachary. I just wish that he was like that all the time as Zachary wants nothing more than to be just like his big brother. They can be so nice to each other and those are the times that I am glad that they are so close in age, other times however I wouldn't mind if they were more like 10 yrs apart instead of 20 months! Here are some pictures of Matthew taking Zach for a ride on Thomas the Train. Zachary hasn't figured out that you have to hold the button down so Matthew is more than happy to take his little bro for a ride!





Here are some pictures of Matthew helping Zachary take his socks off. They thought that this was just hysterical or maybe they were laughing at each other's chocolate pudding covered faces!

**A little update: Matthew had grown almost 2 inches in the last 3 months putting him at 42 3/4" and weighing 38 1/2 lbs. He is VERY tall for his age measuring way off the chart. He is the height of an average 5 yr. old and he isn't even 3 1/2! Zachary is 35 1/2 inches tall and weighs 31 lbs. He is quite tall too! I think that when these boys hit puberty they are going to eat us out of house and home! Maybe we have some future NFL or NBA stars on our hands =)

Monreal

On the 3rd of July we went to Monreal which is about 30 mins. away and it was named the most beautiful city in Rhineland-Phalz (the state that we live in) a few years ago. Although the city was very beautiful the weather was not. It was in the low 50's and raining. Very disappointing for July! Anyways, the town was gorgeous and we climbed to the top of one of the castles. Not an easy feat for a baby in a stroller. Allan pushed him about half way and then carried him the rest. We went on a little tour with some friends of ours and a few others from base and they were all very nice to give us a helping hand with the stroller. Matthew however, did an amazing job and surprisingly climbed all the way to the top without complaining once. It could have been that there were gigantic snails along the trail that peaked his interest!!

Note to all: if bringing your baby along on a walk that has narrow trails that lead straight up a hill, splurge on that baby backpack =)

Picture of the little creek that runs through the town.

If you look in the lower left hand corner you can see our stroller. This was taken from the top of one of the castles.

Yea we made it to the top despite the rain!!

Picture of the castle that we climbed to. It was built in the 1200s, 1210 I think.