July in pictures

Hello to all of our fans out there! After a month's worth of exciting adventures, we are finally back home (and ready to BLOG).
Our July started out with a bang! We had a few friends over for a 4th of July cookout, a carnival and fireworks.

Carolyn brought an amazing patriotic cake! I made strawberry ice cream from strawberries that Tyler, Austin and I picked. It was so delicious in old-fashioned waffle cones!

The carnival had an inflatable sinking Titanic slide - we pondered the appropriateness of this all night long! Tyler tried his luck at watermelon seed spitting.

Our night ended with good friends and good fireworks.

On the 5th of July Tyler's parents, Mike and Susan, came to visit. After their long flight, we went to downtown Stuttgart to walk around and get Starbucks (to cure jetlag).

July 6th was Tyler's birthday. We celebrated by going to KFC (his favorite) and then the Stuttgart zoo to see the beautiful moorish architecture and animals. Susan even spotted a giant sequoia tree- One of her favorite sites she saw the entire visit.

Tyler's birthday ended with a fancy dinner and present opening. Thanks for the gifts/cards!

During the days that followed, we were able to visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums in Stuttgart and the BMW museum in Munich. The Goad boys were certainly happy about that! (There are MANY more photos...expect a more detailed entry from Tyler about that) The Red car above was very similar to one that Dad Goad used to own.

After all of the car museums, Susan and I insisted on a tour of the Sound of Music sites in Salzburg, Austria. Above is us dancing in front of the actual gazebo used to film the "Sixteen going on Seventeen" scenes. They keep it locked now because some 80+ year old lady tried to reenact the scene step-for-step, including jumping from bench to bench, and broke her hip!

On the left is the Pegasus fountain in Mirabell Garden in Salzburg. The "Do-Re-Mi" scences from the Sound of Music were filmed here. On the right is the church that Maria (in the movie only) was married at - on a side note there are weird mummified men in the altar...totally creepy!

On the left we pose in above the beautiful town of Mondsee, Austria. On the right Susan and I pose in front of the house that was used as the back of the Von Trapp family home in the movie.

During our visit to southern Germany we also visited Linderhof castle. It's another castle that "Mad" King Ludwig (of Cinderella castle fame) built. We were facinated by the gigantic fountain and a "magic" table (it was lowered through the floor into the kitchen, filled with food, and then put back into place in the dining room)

"Permission to come aboard, sir?" Before heading to Paris, we went to Tyler's and my favorite German town: Rothenburg. Susan poses with a giant nutcracker and Tyler and Mr. Goad pose with the Rathaus (town hall).

Paris was fantastic! We were able to go to the Musee d' Orsay (impressionist museum located in an old train station) - which I have wanted to do for quite some time. Above I pose with a Degas ballet painting (one of my favorites since I used to take ballet) and Tyler poses with Vincent Van Gogh (do you see a resemblance between the two? Weird).

Enjoying "pommes frites" and Laduree macaroons! Yum!

Before leaving Paris we took a train ride to Versailles palace. Above I check out Marie Anotoinette's china and Susan and Mike stand at the front gate. Note the umbrella- The sun was just beating down on us all day.

It was Bastille Day (French 4th of July) in France while we were there which meant lots of fireworks and parades. Although we skipped the celebrations, Susan met some French saliors blocking the street for the parade. You just know they're French because of their SAUCY hats!Tyler and I pose by a legendary cafe (which we ate at) unchanged by time and visited by the who's-who's of another era (Picasso, Hemingway, etc).

A visit to Paris wouldn't be complete without going to the two notable churches: Notre Dame and St. Chapelle. Notre Dame had waaaaay too many people in line for it, but St. Chappelle was okay.

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Tyler and his dad couldn't pass up looking at the Toyota concept cars on the Champs-Elysees.