Brooklyn and Ryan spent the rest of their trip to the US spending time with friends and family. They left the US on Monday and arrived back in Stuttgart on Tuesday by lunchtime.
This was their first time traveling alone, and I was so worried! Not that they would get lost, but that there would be delays or passport control issues. I was so proud when they arrived home having had zero issues along the way. I picked them up and took Brooklyn directly to school as the seniors were getting together to paint the school rock.
Ryan came home and immediately started working on the Lego set we had ordered while we were gone. They weren’t tired when they landed, but by 6 PM, they were both passed out in their rooms. We ordered their favorite takeout, and they woke up long enough to eat it, but then they returned to bed.
They spent the rest of the week catching up on sleep and returning to the proper sleep schedule.
Friday was my day off and the kids were still having trouble getting out of bed. Because it was so hot, I dragged them to the neighborhood pool, which is just a few minutes from our house. We ended up running into some of their friends, and by the time I had to leave for a hair appointment, they were asking to stay!
Friday evening, Matt, Brooklyn, and I went to Miyo Asian Fusion for a sushi dinner on the lake in town. It was so good, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset to top it off.
Saturday was our first full day in Germany since the beginning of June! We decided to take a family hike on a circular trail around a glider airport in Mossingen, in the Swabian Alb. We even took the dogs with us to get some exercise!
The total hike should have taken 2-3 hours. After the first hour, we had reached the other side of the mountain, and the family was getting impatient and tired 😂. So, Matt found a “shortcut,” and instead of taking the rest of the circular route around the mountain, he took us straight up an extremely steep and narrow path through the woods.
At the top, we cut across the airport, where we even saw a plane taking off! Then, we hiked straight back down the road to the car. We were exhausted by the time we were done, and I’m not sure we even saved any time, but it was a fun adventure!
On the way home, we dropped Ryan off at the baseball field where he was meeting some friends. Then, we went to the commissary to stock up on groceries.
We tried to get gas on our way home, but found that our gas tank door was locked shut. We consulted many YouTube videos and pulled apart the car’s trunk, trying to find the manual release. We had no luck, and we ended up driving home without getting gas. We made an appointment with the dealer for next week, but we can’t drive anywhere in the meantime since we’re almost out of gas.
Sunday was the last day of summer vacation before school started, so I dragged the family on another adventure. Since the dogs were so good the day before, we decided to take them with us again. This time, we went south to Lake Constance.
We started at the Phalbauten Museum in Uhldingen. Humans have been living on the banks of the lake in overwater dwellings since the Stone Age. We also learned that the Pfahlbauten is the largest and most well-visited open-air museum in Europe—who knew?!
The word ‘Pfahlbauten’ directly translates to ‘pile dwellings’ (quite German, not to jazz it up), and the museum features a reconstruction of prehistoric over-lake houses and outbuildings. On a sunny day, the water here is crystal clear, and the town has a lovely grassy beach on the lake’s edge. I’ve had it on my list of places to visit since I read about it shortly before we moved here, so I was so happy to finally visit!
We checked out the pile dwellings and surrounding reconstructions. The site was pretty big and we found it an interesting and enjoyable visit. After we were done at the museum, we did some shopping at a flea market set up on the lakefront, found some really nice olive wood, and bought a few new items.
Then, we had lunch in a pizzeria. They even had ice cream for dogs, so we treated Slinky and Daisy, who had been pretty good most of the day (as long as other dogs didn’t cross their paths 😂).
We planned to go to the beach afterwards, but sadly, we discovered that dogs were not allowed there! We would have stretched the rule, but it was just a little too chilly to risk it. Even though the beach and lake were packed by midday, we knew the water would be freezing. So, we went mini-golfing instead, and after years of playing against these people, I finally won!
We headed back home to do some final preparations for the first day of school tomorrow and the week ahead.
I loved our trip to the lake! The town of Uhldingen was so cute; I even commented many times that I could see us returning and spending a weekend there. In addition to the really nice beach, there is a ferry port that will take you to other towns around the lake. There are also many different places to visit around the city, so I hope we return to see more!
Gilcrests Abroad 