If you can't tell, I am pretending to shoot her, and she is pretending to be shot (she is not the best actress, but she tries!).
I know this is a little late. I had a fantastic birthday! I was able to spend it with good friends and food. Thanks to everyone (including my husband) who helped make it memorable. Here are some of the highlights.
Eric and I had a busy 4th of July weekend. In addition to celebrating America's independence, 
we spent time with friends and out on the boat. On the 3rd, we participated in the sound of independence. The Williams were kind enough to allow us to hang out at their house and watch fire works. It was Ashley and Sean's babies first time celebrating the 4th (in womb!). On the 4th, we spent the day out on the water wakeboarding, tubing, and messing around. Although it rained on us, we made it through the day. Lastly, we enjoyed some BBQ at the Ffrench's the evening of the 4th. They had plenty of fireworks of their own. The rest of the weekend I spent encouraging Eric to complete his homework - this was probably the least successful thing we did all weekend.
Although we didn't have a very exciting weekend, Molly did! She had so much fun catching the frisbee that she hurt her little paws and had to wear booties.
We spent two great weeks in Europe (from May 3 through May 16). Eric met me in Frankfurt after a long plane ride from Fort Walton Beach. I learned that Europeans don't wait in lines and Eric learned his way around the Frankfurt Airport. 
We then set out to take our first train ride. After missing our first train, we caught an ICE train to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber. We spent one night in this cute little medieval town, which was not destroyed during WWII. In fact our hotel was 500 years old. We did some shopping in the local 24/7 Christmas joint and hit up the local crime and punishment museum. All of this excitement was followed by the night watchman's tour of the city and a walk around the original city wall.
After Rothenburg, we hopped on a train to Munich. Munich was our favorite big city. After dragging our luggage through the city to our hotel, we took a great guided bike tour through 
Munich (at this point, Eric would want me to tell everyone to take a 'Mikes Bike Tour' if in Munich). We saw all the historic sites: beer gardens, English Gardens, beer gardens, Munich University, beer gardens, and a drainage pipe where people surf. That night we headed to the
Hofbrauhaus with some new friends we met on the bike tour. We had a couple beers and some giant pretzels and called it a night. On day two in Munich, we took a guided tour to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was a very sobering experience. Eric and I came back a little more educated and very grateful for everything we have. On day three 
in Munich, we headed to the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Castles. Although the day was very rushed, we enjoyed seeing both places. They were absolutely beautiful. You may recognize the Neuschwanstein Castle - it was the model for the Disneyland Castle. We ended our last night in Munich eating at another beer hall, where I accidentally ordered .2 liters of beer. No wonder the waitress looked at me like I was crazy when I ordered my drink! 
After our time in Munich we headed to our favorite destination Hallstatt, Austria. It was a beautiful little town on a lake, surrounded by the Alps. While there, we hiked up about 1 million stairs to reach the top of the worlds oldest salt mine and have dinner. The rest of our time there we took in the town, relaxed, and enjoyed our apartment deck.
Our next destination was Salzburg, Austria. Mozart lived there. That's all I have to say about Salzburg.
We took the night train (at 1 am!) to Interlaken, Switzerland. I would avoid this at any cost. That's all I have to say about the night train.
We arrived in Interlaken on a Sunday, the one day during the week when almost everything is closed. After checking into our hotel, Eric and I enjoyed a very expensive breakfast and took a funicular ride up into the Alps. We hiked down through the Alps and enjoyed the many goats and cows wearing bells. During our second day in Switzerland we took a train up into the Alps and biked down. Although Eric almost killed us, it was a rewarding experience.
Our next destination was Colmar, France, which is in the Alsace region. Colmar was spared during WWII. On the day of our arrival we took a short guided tour, viewed some Picasso paintings, and biked. The town was covered with hillside vineyards, which we saw as we biked through France. Eric almost killed us during this bike ride as well.
After Colmar, we headed to our final destination, Bacharach, Germany. Our favorite site while on the Rhine was the Berg-Eltz Castle (which is actually on the Mosel river). Not only is this castle 850 years old, it has been in the same family for 850 years! We were also amazed to see all of the many hillside vineyards, which allows for some of the worlds best wine (or so they claim).
Well, that's it! We had a great time in Europe, but were very happy to return home to our bed and dogs. I left out some of the details, but Eric will be more than happy to fill everyone in on the info I left out.
