Back Home, Pt 1

We spent a little over a week in Beaufort at my parents' house.

Monday

On our first morning, we caught up on sleep. Oscar loves to find anyone who is sleeping in and cuddle up.

Carson enjoyed the pool in the rain. It rained every day we were there except for the day we left.

Pepper appreciated the belly rubs.

We set up our phones with Verizon (we have our old US numbers, if you're reading this for the first time!), which happened to be next to Jimmy Johns, to Carson's great joy.

We also set up auto insurance and renters insurance, while entertaining the dogs.

Mom and I went for a walk, while Pepper sadly watched us leave.

We enjoyed the pool again, but didn't get too much sun.

Mom made pound cake and everyone hoped for a piece. 

Tuesday

We had lunch with Nana at Upper Crust.

Then we walked around the Waterfront Park in Beaufort.

And enjoyed the pool again.

We played kickball in the rain with Oscar.

We checked for bullfrogs with Pepper (her nightly routine)

And found this guy, who mom and dad claim is "little" compared to others they've seen.

Wednesday

We went to Bluffton and the outlets with Mom and Dad. Hit up Sam's Club for a cheap lunch.

And once again hopped in the pool.

Dad made burgers

Thursday

Pepper woke up Carson

He was happy to see her

Granddaddy and Grandmama picked us up and took us to Hilton Head, where we enjoyed lunch at the Skull Creek Boathouse. We did this two years ago, and I think we were sitting in a very similar place because there's a super similar picture of us there (scroll down on this post).

We drove to Old Town Bluffton next. I've never been there, but it's really cute. This is a church!

Pluff Mud Gallery

We also went to ReStore in Bluffton and the Hilton Head library, where we found some good books!

We picked up our car at Mom and Dad's and then headed back out to Grandmama and Granddaddy's house, with Mini in tow. They kept her while Mom and Dad were in Germany with us, and she loved her time there and they enjoyed having her, so we thought we'd surprise them with a visit from her. Pepper was sad not to be included.

I've never seen this dog so excited to see someone. She was dancing around Grandmama, jumping on her, and doing little circles. She's 13 years old, but acts like a puppy when she's happy.

They had a spot for her bed, a spot for her water, a walk routine, and a back scratcher for her. We could have left her there and she would be happy as a clam. I think she liked being spoiled.

After that, we went back to Granddaddy and Grandmama's for the evening, where we walked down the newly reconstructed dock (it was destroyed last fall in Hurricane Matthew) and caught some crabs for dinner.

This was Carson's first time catching crabs.

While throwing a small crab back into the creek, Carson got pinched HARD and it drew a lot of blood. 

Time for crabs!

I showed Carson how to crack them open, and he enjoyed the process and the crab meat.

When we got back that night, we enjoyed the oatmeal cookies Mom had made and watched some recorded episodes of Jeopardy. 

 

Düsseldorf, the Last Hurrah

We spent the first half of our last day in Germany traveling from Münster, and the second half in Düsseldorf. After we'd checked in to our hotel there, we changed and took the SBahn into the city. 

We debated between a German meal and any other kind of meal for our last dinner in Germany and went with this burger place that advertised a special. Sometimes hamburgers in Germany can be a little weird, with strange sauces, but these were pretty good!

We wandered into a couple of stores but didn't buy anything. Everything was so crowded!

It was fun seeing the city again. It was the week before Christmas the last time we were here, and it got darker a LOT earlier (almost 7 hours earlier) and was looking festive then with the markets. I liked it in the summer too!

It threatened rain, which made the sky look really cool.

Carson enjoyed watching this old building being torn down.

We walked into this mall thing and browsed and then decided to get dessert. 

Carson mentioned that day that he had never ordered an Eiskaffee (cold coffee with ice cream and whipped cream) so I suggested that we order one, since we were less than 24 hours away from not being able to get one again. He enjoyed his, and I enjoyed my Eisschokolade, which I finished half of and then told him to mix with his to make it better.

We decided to return to the hotel relatively early since we had an early plane to catch. I showered and we sat there for a minute looking for TV channels in English. They had the news in English, but more interesting than that were Tom and Jerry cartoons in German... or should I say "Tom UND Jerry". All the titles and things and the voiceover was in German, and even though we didn't understand all that they were saying, we got the plots because you don't really need to know the language to know what's going on!

And that was our last day in Deutschland! From here on out, we'll be in the USA!