Jer's Family Visit

Jeremy's sister Jennifer got married over Christmas break, so we were fortunate to get to spend quite a bit of time with his family. His dad, Terry and twin, Jessica arrived a few days after Christmas. They came home with us for a few days and then we took them to see some sites before going back to Jen's for the wedding. Our first stop was Bastogne to see the museum and war memorial. The museum was interesting and the memorial is beautiful. Zane climbed to the top of it so he could have his picture taken above Oklahoma. From there we took them to Trier, where we met up with Jan for the day. We were very disappointed that our favorite restaurant was no longer there, but the sights were great anyway. There are amazing Roman ruins. We did find a authentic German restaurant to have lunch in and were thankful to have Jan there to help us with the menu. Later that evening we put Jan back on the train to head home (with his new microwave full of goodies!!) and stayed in the lodging at Landsthul AFB. The next day we headed back to Jen's where we were joined by their exchange family from Denmark. Hanne, Anders and the rest of us went to stretch our legs in Idstein later that evening. It is a really neat old town with an old tower that was used for witch trials a few centuries back. On a plaque below the tower are the names of the 30-something witches that were held and executed there. I will never cease to be amazed by the beauty of the architecture here. All of the houses and buildings have so much character. After walking in the freezing weather for awhile we warmed up with some great coffees and German pastries at a local coffee shop. Over the next few days we were joined by Adams family and all celebrated New Years Eve at their hotel. We had awesome and giant pizzas for dinner, watched some football and enjoyed the most spectacular fireworks display from the roof of the hotel. There were literally fireworks being set off 360 degrees around us and it lasted for over 2 hours. These German's know how to bring in a new year with flare!! By the way, I didn't manage to get the pics in order for this one, but I'm not re-doing it b/c I have to go make the beasts breakfast and clean my house!!