BREHNA !!!!

This past weekend Robert, Stewie, and I went to Brehna for a visit to Robert's parent's house!  It was such a blast!  Stewie was even excited.  Here is a picture of him excitedly smiling in the back seat of our car !

Robert and I left around 1:45 Saturday afternoon and arrived around 3:30!  Once we arrived Robert's mom had one of his favorite foods prepared Eggs, Potatoes, and a mustard sauce mixed together.  Definitely a German meal.  Everything is boiled and fairly healthy.  It was the first time I have eaten it, but have heard tons about it.  It was alright ;)  After eating, we decided that we should hop into the water.  Robert's dad has a beautiful garden and he put fresh water inside when he heard we were coming this weekend!

This picture is of Robert, Me, Stewie (playing with his squeaky newspaper), and his mom (Renate) swimming in the back

Robert and Stewie plying in the water 

There is a rock which you can jump off and so Robert and his Nephew Elias both jumped off together!

Robert's Sister (Peggy), her husband (Ilia), and son Elias surprised us and came to Brehna for the evening also!  Here is Robert's sister and me 

In the evening  around 7pm we had guests over for Robert's birthday.  His Aunt, Uncle, and cousin who live 2 houses down from his parents and then two family friends.  If you can find Robert to the left of him is his mom, sister, Aunt, Family friend, his Uncle, me, and Katharina (his cousin)

Here we all are eating lots of yummy homemade and grilled food !

The next morning we got up around l0, put or swimming suits on and hopped in the water.  Here 'I' am about to jump off of the rock.  It is higher than it looks.  Haha!

Elias told me to do a cannon ball, so this is me in the air making a cannon ball!

Elias and I decided we should jump in together since Robert and he did yesterday ;)

Here is Peggy, Lothar (Robert's dad) Ilia, and Renate drinking coffee Sunday afternoon.

Sunday was so hot. It was 108°F  and so, like yesterday, we spent so much time outside.  Well, the entire day!  It was really nice to be able to jump off of this rock after laying out for a bit, sweating, getting HOT and then plunging into the water!!! mmmmhhh

Stewie slept SO much of the time.  It was too hot for him I think.  But he kept himself in the shade or swam in the water when he became too warm.  

Robert and I sitting at the table before lunch :)

Here is a little tour of part of their back yard.  I don't know why I only took pictures of a portion.  There is another area that I didn't take pictures from.  They have a Cherry Tree which produces the most fantastic mouth watering Cherries.  And a green house too!!  But here is what I captured this past weekend!  The Yellow building is part of the bar the white thing is where they grill, ahead you can see the little pool with plants galore.

Here is the grilling area.  Inside next to the grill they have tons of cacti.  It's really neat to look at all of the different ones.  You can also sit here and eat.  We never have, because there are other places which are more shaded from the sun to eat.  But maybe on a cooler day this is nice.

Here is the lovely, refreshing lake.  It is 8 feet deep and extremely exhilarating after soaking in the sun.

Here are some plants and flowers in their garden.  Robert's dad is the one who takes care of the garden.  Whenever we are in Brehna he is almost always outside doing something with it!

Stewie :)  It seemed like everyone liked him and enjoyed his company.  He made for some good laughs and was a good companion on our trip.

Robert and his mom

All of the white framed windows here are part of their winter garden. A Winter Garden is basically a room where there are complete windows where walls would be.  In german, you call it a 'Winter Garten.'  In the Winter Garten there is a table for meal time along with other trinkets, music, and  various plants.  The white door all the way to the right is the main door for going inside of the house.  You should really come and see it for yourself (hint hint)  ..it's fantastic!

For Lunch Sunday afternoon, we had one of my favorite salads.  It's a pretty simple noodle salad with Feta cheese, Sun dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, chives and some dressing which I am not sure of.  I imagine just  a home made vinaigrette. 

By the end of the trip everyone was pretty exhausted.  Stewie too.  Here he is sleeping in his water bowl.  I guess the cold water was a lot nicer than the warm air coming at his face.  Great way to cool down though!  Around 7:00 Robert, Stewie and I headed back to Berlin.  We arrived around 8:30 and had a friend (Steffen) over to watch the  soccer game.  Spain won!  Exactly who I wanted.  Although a little part of me wanted Netherlands to win because #11 on their team plays for a German team which I enjoy.  But in the end, Spain won, and I am happy.  Better if Germany had, but hey, Spain was the better team this year.  Fair and Square! 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!