C&C Eichermueller Family

We had a great 3 day weekend spending time with the family in San Luis Obispo, CA. We got to check out Mikey and Rosalie’s new digs which are very nice. Once they are fully moved in, furnished and decorated we will return to see them again. Saturday was filled with the excitement of their new washer and dryer. It arrived while we were playing Deutsch Scrabble. Nan arrived a litte later and took us to a wonderful BBQ place where everyone was having trouble standing up at the end of the meal. Once we arrived home we did in fact stand in front of the washer and watch it clean clothing while snacking on some popcorn. As Mikey says, “Who needs a t.v. when you have a washing machine?” Sunday was filled shopping and Monday we went on a fabulous hike through the San Luis Obispo hills. It was a gorgeous day and I wish we could have stayed there until nightfall. But alas! We had to get home…. not without a stop in Livermore though to have dinner with Ryan and Tiffany. It was a fantastic weekend full of wonderful family and friends. Thank you!

In case everyone was wondering what happened to us last week, we were vacationing in Hawaii with the Eichermueller’s.  We had an awesome time and did lots of activities throughout the week.  We were so busy I didn’t even have time to post anything along the way…. or maybe I just wanted a week without technology 🙂 he he. 

Monday- Our trip began with a visit to Waimea and the urgent care facility there.  I hadn’t been feeling well for a few days and was afraid I had an appendicitis but it wasn’t (woohoo!) and they gave me some medicine so I felt better in no time!  We were able to find a few geocaches on the way back to the resort in Waikoloa too.

Tuesday- The next day we went on a snorkeling trip and saw the pretty pretty fish swimming around in a protected area.  There was also a monument nearby which is officially British soil.  It was in honor of some Captain Cook who died there a really long time ago.  The boat that took us to the cove had a couple slides and a HUGE drop down into the water.  It was a lot faster than it looked too. 

Wednesday- A day to relax and lounge by the pool before heading off to an authentic Hawaiian luau with dancing, mai tai’s and fire twirling!

Thursday- Then we went to the Volcanoes National Park on the other side of the island.  We walked around a bit and got to climb on real lava that had hardened over the road.  You could see the old street signs sticking out of the lava.  There was a geocache there as well, under the lava!  We also saw the caldera steaming and smelling up the air.  The park ranger there was very informative and even told us the locals sometimes collect a bunch of snow from the mountains, drive down to the beach and build a snowman to scare the tourists!

Friday- Next was the ATV tour.  This was probably the most fun activity of the trip.  One of the stops was in a pond near a waterfall to cool off and eat some snacks.  On the way back down we got to see the waterfall which is in the movie Jurassic Park.  A few other movies have been filmed in the area we were at as well.  The history of the valley below was really fascinating.  The people down below don’t have running water or electricity. One man uses a waterfall near his house to get power.  They harvest taro which is used to make the famous Hawaiian food of poi.  Apparently poi is much better fresh and not when you have it at luaus because the resorts water it down to make more of it.  The production of poi is a tradition in Hawaii and the valley people are trying to keep it alive.

Saturday- Next, zip lining through the rainforest canopy’s.  Very fun.  I did not mind flying through the air, dangling from a wire but when we had to cross the suspension bridge I was FREAKING OUT!  It might have been because 2 family members were behind me making the bridge bounce up and down….

In between all these activities we hung out with my wonderful in-laws (there were 13 of us total!), swam and ate.  It was a fantastic trip I will always remember.  I can’t wait to look at all the pictures we took!!

WE GOT OUR TREE!! The holiday season has now officially begun in the Eichermueller house. We went trudging through the snow, up a great big mountain to find the perfect tree! We chopped it down and took it home. I am making this sound waaay easier than it actually was…. Driving up a steep mountain covered in snow is hard, but we were in our friend’s truck who plowed the snow like a pro. The way down on the other hand was a challenge. A stupid truck was sticking out in the road… they did NOT pull over enough AT ALL. So we had to go around and slid right off the road…. BOOM!! Off the road and down a ravine rolling the truck 5 times before we crawled out!!!

Okay, that’s not true, we just slid into a ditch. And the other truck had a tow rope to pull us out. At least they pulled us out. They did realize that if they weren’t there it wouldn’t have happened which was cool. We got home, put up the tree in our living room and WHACK! It hit the ceiling and it caved in and now we have a skylight in our living room!!!

Alrighty, that’s not really true either. We actually just had to cut off another 2 feet of the tree and now it fits nicely in our front window. We haven’t decorated it yet because we were exhausted from our day but I was able to get some lights and the angel on it before collapsing on the carpet not breathing! Chris had to do rescue breathes on me!! MOUTH TO MOUTH!!

🙂 Tonight we will put all our pretty ornaments on and then it will officially offically be Christmas in the Eichermueller house. 🙂

We went to Vegas this past weekend and had a bunch of fun! Saturday night was the David Copperfield show and then we were off to the piano bar in the New York, New York casino. Sitting at the bar outside of the actual piano bar is just as good, if not better than sitting in the place. 1) It is free, 2) It’s not as loud as inside but still loud enough that you can’t really talk to the person next to you 3) The people inside at the bar across from you are singing at you and you are singing at them so you get the cool piano bar vibe!!

David Copperfield was amazing. He made many things appear and disappear with some personalization as well. I can’t believe how many shows I have seen in Vegas now. DC, 2 Cirque de Soleil, a hypnotist and comedy show. Of course now that we are back I am exhausted and looking forward to a week and a half at home before heading out for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be spending it at my parents place with everyone but Traci :-(. We will miss you!!

So, what have we been up to you ask since returning from Germany? Well, we went camping last week near the Pacific Ocean. Apparently I am the only one who checks the weather report because it was on the chilly side and everyone was surprised! Chris didn’t even have long pants with him. He was okay as long as there was a fire going. Good time playing at the beach, geocaching and eating smores.

This weekend we will relax at home and take in the backyard. My only plans are to read… I have a book I’m reading with my name on it and I must finish it! We are home and loving it!

We made it home to Reno safely! We haven’t really unpacked, we haven’t done laundry and we haven’t gotten used to the time difference yet. Waking up early in the morning does have it’s advantages though… it gives you lots of time to get ready in the morning for work! We have decided we have enough underwear and clothes to last through this week before we do our gigantic pile of laundry. Not like I’m going to wear my super cool Germany Football jersey to work, right? No need to get it clean!

We are back in the states but not quite home yet. Today we are still in California and fly home to Nevada this afternoon. We’ll end up doing laundry and put everything in it’s place when really all I will want to do is lay in my hammock and get the most out of the last hours of my vacation because guess what’s tomorrow? WORK 😛 BLAH!

Tonight is our last night in Germany.  We are all very sad to be ending our vacation.  I do miss my pets and house though!  We spent today shopping in Regensburg, buying souvenirs and getting last pictures of our trip in.  We’ve already begun saying our goodbyes to friends and tonight we will be seeing family to say “Aufwiedersehen”.  We’re packing all our stuff up tonight and hopefully will be below the weight limit in our bags.  Considering we came with half empty suitcases I think we’ll be okay, but you never know… we did buy a bunch of stuff.  Our flight home tomorrow will only take 3 hours which is nice (we leave Germany at 4:15 and arrive in SFO at 7:15ish). Nice how that works, huh? 🙂  I am definitely looking forward to seeing my bro who will be picking us up so we can tell him all about our funny travels and give him his super cool present!!!

Went to Berlin today and totally had a fun day.  We had an awesome private tour guide to show us around and describe what everything is.  We saw a section of the Berlin wall that is still standing and the museum that is attached.  We saw so much and learned so much history about Germany I cannot write it all here.  Tomorrow we’re off to Dresden and finally Regensburg to complete our loop around Europe. 

Funny thing that happened to Traci today: eating lunch at the Kartofelhaus in Berlin… she ordered some gross looking vegetable thing (I’m sure she thought it was delicious) and PLOP goes some of it in her lap.  Ordinarily this wouldn’t be exciting but the dish was SUPER HOT and she didn’t know it.  It burned her leg, through her pants and made her jump a bit out of her seat… I think I even saw the beginning of tears.  We have begun a list of the unfortunate things that have happened to Traci on this trip… it is getting quite long!

We saw the beach!!  That’s right, we went to the North Sea/Atlantic Ocean in a town in the Den Haag area called Scheveningen.  We had some Italian for lunch (because I am afraid of Dutch food) and then went down to the water.  Shells covered the beach and kitesurfers covered the sea.  There were so many of them!  It was an extremely windy day which was perfect for them and all the sailboats farther out to sea.  Not so good for us who just stuck our feet in the warm water cuz the wind made it cold outside.  No swimming for us that day! We then headed over to the city center, saw the palace and other nice buildings. 

Amsterdam was the following day.  We did a canal tour (a great way to see a lot of the city), the red light district (a great way to see prostitutes and marijuana) and also went to the Anne Frank house (great way to make you cry if the mood strikes you).  One thing I did notice… lots of groups of young guys walking around… perhaps for the city’s liberal laws?? You think??

The next day we were still in Amsterdam and went to the Van Gogh Museum.  It took us a very long time to figure out why the museum is in Amsterdam… we’re still not 100% sure except for the fact that Van Gogh was born in Holland. But he was born in southern Holland… still a little confused on that one.

After the museum we drove far far away to the eastern side of Germany where we are right now! We’re in a town called Bad Saarow a bit outside of Berlin.  It’s on a lake and we went swimming today!  Tomorrow we show Traci around Berlin before heading back to Regensburg for the last leg of our vacation!