Cruising der Rhein!

The kids and I took Bree on a cruise up the Rhein River on Friday. This is the 3rd time I have done this and every time I am overwhelmed by the scenery; endless grape vineyards surrounded by little timeless villages that you just want to pick up and put in your pocket, and that doesn't even include the mystical castle ruins and lovely old little cathedrals spotted along the way. You just climb onto the top deck, grab a lounge chair, sip a little something wet, don your fabulous red sunglasses and wonder why on earth there is a war going on when there is something this beautiful to look upon.


This is a picture of the 4 of us from atop the Rheinfels castle ruins. This ruin is fabulous, all kinds of little catacombs, nooks and crannies that let your medival imagination go wild. We stopped and ate lunch there and took in the view . . . took it in a little too long and found ourselves running back down the elevation of what felt like the alps to jump aboard our boat to go home. That was close, way too close. We have been paying for it ever since with severe shin splints. I think my bones and muscles are literaly on fire. No amount of ibuprofen has taken the edge off for either of us. What we learned from all this: we are getting a little older and the view of the river from the castle is VERY distracting. But leave it to Bree, as I was in a full blown panick racing down the hill cheerleading us all on, Bree was behind us skipping and laughing the whole way down. This is classic Bree and what I love so much about her. I'm the ying, she's the yang.

We lucked out with the boat that was ours for the day. This is what the kids got to do while we took in all the sites. I think McKenna burned a hole in the slide and I was half expecting the captain to escort my "slide rebel" or "slide addicted" kids off.


And this is what happens when you slide for 4-5 hours in one day, run down the elevation of an alp and have the growing body of a 10 year old girl. Wiped!

And now tonight I can't type fast enough to get off the computer. Bree and I are in the middle of the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice", you know they one, the one that takes up half your life. I have yet to figure out why Colin Firth is so wildly fantasized by so many women when I find him rude, stiff and annoying. I'm starting to wonder if I have any Jane Austen connection at all (because I have tried to read a couple of books and I can't get through the first 15 pages without throwing it against the wall) but we are only half way there and Mr. Darcy has a huge amount of making up and wooing to do. He has his work cut out for him, he must satisfy two women who have been without their men for WAY too long. I can't wait . . .