Montana!

Ida-Ho!

Makin' good time. No shutting off the motor though...

Dinner

Went to a Biergarten for dinner tonight! Yeah, us. Had bratwurst with sauerkraut, gyro with fries, and of course beer!

We had a great time. Kids played on the playground and we ate yummy food.

Selfie

Had to take a selfie on our way back today.

Walking the wall

In search of a special store...

When we visited Rothenburg last November, we purchased these cute glass Christmas ornaments in a glass shop. We searched high and low for this shop today, transversing the town multiple times.

Schneeball

Stopped for schneeballen today. These are balled up pastry covered in chocolate. A little difficult to eat without making a mess, but tasty!

Rothenburg

Went to Rothenburg today. It is a great walled city with such charm.

Washington

Bye bye Oregon.

Ominous Omen

Well, we were only 19 miles into my cross country road trip when it happened. The engine shut off at 55 mph and wouldn't turn back on.

Well, actually about 10 miles earlier we stopped to top off the tanks and I was stuck halfway into the street for 5 minutes trying to get the thing to start again. But then it drove great until it didn't. It didn't escape our notice that where ended up on the side of the road had been the location of previous roadkill:

4 hours, two new coils and finally a set of new plug wires did the trick. Of course we had no hope of reaching our anticipated destination tonight, which makes the rest of the drive to Missoula tomorrow quite long.

The truck seems to run strong, but has a bit of a problem re-starting after being turned off. Which is embarrassing at the gas pumps and such. I'm hoping "Nellie" starts up tomorrow. The last thing I want to be is one of those guys in the hotel parking lot with the hood up...

Networked Minecraft

The kids are Minecraft junkies! All are on their own devises and talking about needing food, wood, swords, etc. Maybe I should try playing at some point??

Indoor waterpark

Went to Freizeitbad Atlantis in
Herzogenaurach today. It is a great indoor water park with water slides and a wave pool.

It has been rainy and chilly today so water fun indoors was perfect.

This is Emma as queen of the raft until G knocked her off her pedestal.

Let's Roll!

Truck is ready to go cross country

Just needed a driver's side door lock...

Test run

Loaded up Marge, the trusty 7 passenger SUV that Crystal borrowed from her friend, and took a little 45 minute trip today. The kids are still smiling, but we'll definitely need lots of candy bribes and electronics to make our massive road trip.

Bakery

Stopped at the Brothaus bakery on our way from Ansbach today. These bread rolls were placed on top of the pillars as you walked into the bakery as decorations.

We picked up a quarter loaf of Holzofen Brot (wood oven bread), some pretzels, and two fabulous cappuccinos.

Mustache

Look mom...I made a mustache out of pull apart licorice.

Cailin and Marlee are catching some zzzz's after the night flight

Emma is still going strong. She made friends with the neighbor girl and they have been attached at the hip. They visited the mobile candy lady--like the ice cream truck, but instead the candy truck. Emma is in heaven. She will sleep well tonight once she comes off her sugar high.

Exhausted travelers

One flight down, one to go.

Forgot to take out my liquids when going through security. Had the pleasure of removing all my stuff from my backpack for them to check. Ugh! Kids had it together though.

2014 Summer adventure begins

> Getting three kids packed up for a summer vacation is a bit like herding feral cats. Marlee kept getting herself buried in a book (she's re-reading the Harry Potter series) instead of getting ready and Emma and Cailin were fighting most of the morning. Wonder if they'd notice if I just snuck off without them???
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> Finally had everyone packed into the car with 15 minutes to spare--just sat in the air conditioned comfort of the minivan until we needed to head out. I turned the house A/c off yesterday so a cool place to sit was a welcome respite.
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> I did not check their bags this time so it could be an adventure when we learn what was left behind.
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