Sorry we have been M.I.A for awhile..we will be updating our blog soon with new posts and pics.
Since Addison was born we have been here and there getting her passport and entertaining visitors. Early April we had David's Dad visiting from Florida and his Mom from VA at the end of the month with David's Aunt Susan all the way from Bali! It was so great seeing everyone and introducing Addison to the family. Addison is quite the traveler already having visited several castles, a palace and her first out of country day in Paris!
This month my friend Erin that lives in England is visiting us again! Man am I spoiled! This time she gets to meet Addison and David is giving us a free pass for some much needed girl time.
Check back for our pictures and updates. We do have a few big trips planned for the upcoming months. We start early June with a late anniversary trip in Sardinia Italy. Later in June some relaxation with sun in Crete Greece and July in Montenegro!
Talk to you soon,
David, Tiffany, Addison and Oliver
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Addison Kennedy Reznick Birth Slideshow
Here is the slideshow we put together from our birth photos.
Love,
David, Tiffany, Addison and Oliver!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Staying in a Castle and Fireworks, Fireworks, Fireworks
Christmas in a Castle
Our 2nd year in Germany, and our first christmas spent in Germany. What a better way to follow up last Christmas in Rome, with a night in a romantic castle from the 10th Century sitting above the Rhine river?
Less than a 90 min drive from home, we pulled off the autobahn and onto a smaller road that took us along the Rhine River. The small towns along the river sit at the base of tall steep hills, covered in vineyards and row after row of wine grapes. Every km or so, there is another castle, on both sides of the wide river. The castles lie in various states, from ruins to beautifully kept ones. The last 30 minutes of the drive was amazing and made us very excited to see our castle.
The drive up to Burg Schoenburg was steep, but the views were amazing. At the top, the final 100m were on foot up a steep stone walk. Tiffany scaled the hill with no problems and we were rewarded with an amazing view of the valley and river below. We admired the courtyards of the castle as we walked around to check in. Once inside we were lead up to our amazing room for the night. The room was covered in rich dark woods, antique books and even had a secret door that lead out to our "balcony" and walk around the top of the castle.
We explored the castle and settled into the library for a coffee and pastry, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful, antique setting. Back in the room we explored along the top of the castle, and relaxed a little before getting ready for dinner. The dinner that awaited us promised to be amazing from the look of the special holiday menu.
The meal didn't disappoint, from the opening venison ragout, to the veal carpaccio, the amazing duck, and the decadent desserts. The food was spectacular, easily one of the best meals we've had in Europe. Each course left you excited for the next, but wanting more. The homemade pistachio ice cream and chocolate souffle was a great way to cap off the meal.
The next morning, we were treated to a delicious european breakfast overlooking the valley. The cozy and relaxing setting was a nice way to finish off our short, but relaxing and romantic christmas in a castle overlooking the Rhine. The short drive home brought us back to Oliver after a memorable and wonderful trip.
Fireworks in Frankfurt
Our first New Years in Germany! Well technically our 2nd, but last year we were in Paris under the Eiffel Tower when the clock struck midnight. This year's adventure took us up to Frankfurt, a city I have never explored and one that Tiffany enjoyed exploring during the night at the museums while i was away.
Our dinner was at a small cozy Indian restaurant in the heart of the city. Driving in, it reminded me of Richmond; entering over a river and driving between tall buildings. Architecture was both modern and renovated historical buildings, all-in-all it felt like home immediately. The restaurant was lit by candles, and sounds of relaxing music gently filled the air. Smells of incredible indian food filled our nostrils as we both ordered Mango Lasi (a cool, sweet yogurt based drink) to start our meal. The menu was pre-fix and I wasn't 100% sure what was included, but we both opted for the Lamb Curry and began the culinary adventure.
Our first course came out with a selection of incredible appetizers, including fried cauliflower, samosas and the thin, crispy, lentil bread. Next came the incredible lamb in a deep red curry sauce along with rice, lots of Naan and the accompanying sauces. It had been since we were in Berlin in March that we had Indian food, so this meal was particularly welcomed and delicious. For dessert we had no idea what our options were, so we got 1 of each with plans to share them. One was a donut-like pastry soaked in a sugary syrup, the other was a rice pudding, i think was spiced with cardamom (?). They were both really tasty, and very unique.
After dinner, we headed down to the banks of the river, that ran right through the city. We had heard of the midnight fireworks display and wanted to be right in the middle of the action. After touring the city by car, we found a spot to park along museum row and began our walk towards a particularly popular bridge. Underneath thee bridge was a bar, so we dropped in, found a place to sit down and a bathroom to use. I ordered a local Pilsner and got Tiff a cranberry juice and we sat back and relaxed as the sights and sounds of fireworks began outside. As we got closer to midnight, the bar became more and more packed, and the frequency of fireworks outside picked up considerably.
We ventured outside around 11:30, as the crowds grew and fireworks started going off almost constantly. We positioned ourselved by the bridge, with a great view of the river, both banks and the bridge. Then around 11:45, the fireworks started to go off non-stop. There were no official fireworks, just those bought and brought by the spectators. As midnight approached the pace started picking up and it was just like Washington DC on the 4th of July! There were fireworks going off everywhere! As midnight got even closer, we made our way down the now-closed street in front of museum row and back towards our car. For 45 solid minutes there were fireworks going off everywhere, at the same pace as the finale of a 4th of July show. It was incredible, the streets filled with people, the fireworks everywhere. As the insanity died down a little, we packed back into our car and began heading for home. Streets were closed all over the place and those that were open were covered in debris and fires from fireworks. We found our way back to the Autobahn and on our way back home.
The night was one of amazing food, beautiful company and lots of fun ringing in 2013.
Until our next adventure,
David, Tiffany and Oliver!
Garmisch and Virginia
October 28, not even Halloween yet, and as we started our drive to Garmish for a week of CE, relaxation and reunion with friends, it began to snow. Somewhere around Stuttgart, the snow started to fall. The snow made for a beautiful drive through southern Germany and then through Austria as we arrived in the small mountain town of Garmish-Partenkirchen.
Arriving at Edelweiss, we were excited to see our friends from all over Germany and catch up. Our first day saw me sitting through welcome lectures and then attending the ice-breaker event. This year there was a Halloween theme and with Tiffany's help, I became one enthusiastic Ceiling Fan (see picture below). Tiffany instead took it easy. The week was full of lots of CE classes for me and Tiffany got to hang out with old friends, make plenty of new friends, explore Linderhoff Palace and the Swarofski crystal factory and museum. She also had a massage, and got to hang out with our neighbors, who happened to be on vacation at the same time. The highlight of the week was the Bavarian Night. The entertainment this year was lacking from last year, but the Buffett full of German fare was a big improvement over last year's already delicious spread. The highlight of which was a whole roast pig! The fest was a great night hanging out with our friends, eating and drinking.
The weather cleared up during the week, giving us lots of sunshine and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. As our week came to a close, we returned to our favorite restaurant from last year. The same group re-united, along with a few new friends for a big, delicious meal in a small cozy German restaurant. While the week seemed to fly by, we had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. Our drive back to Ramstein was only the 1/3-way-point of our vacation. Our amazing drive home was full of picturesque views of amazing scenery. On the way back home, we dropped by to pick up Oliver, from our awesome babysitter Heidi. Unfortunatly oliver would only be home with us for a very short period as we began the next leg of our journey shortly there after.
The next part of our trip was back to the States for a wedding (Travis') and a baby shower (ours!!!). We arrived back home Friday evening, and early saturday morning I signed us up for our Space A flight back to the states. Upon signing up, i found out that there was a flight that left at 8pm that evening. It would be a stretch, but we didn't know when the next flight would head to BWI and so we decided to aim for the flight that night. After a hectic day of un-packing, re-packing, taking Oliver back to Heidi's, we were at the terminal at 630 pm, and waiting for our names to be called for the flight. After a short wait, we heard our names and excitedly began the check-in process. We were assigned our seats, checked our bags, paid our (dirt-cheap) taxes and fees and were ready to go. Little did-we know that we were still hours away from take-off. We waited for security to open, once everyone was ticked for the flight, and then waited for the flight to be readied for us to board.
Then, around 11 we got on the plane and found our seats among a group of soldiers returning from the middle east, on their way to Hawaii! We settled in, I popped an ambien, Tiff made friends with the Sgt to her left and off we headed towards BWI. We landed just before 1am local time, and groggily made our way through immigration. By the time we got to the rental car it was 3:30, and we arrived at my moms house around 4:30. It was a LONG (14 hours) day of travel but we were happy to be back in the states.
After a very much needed sleep, we began catching up with my mom. The first meal of our trip home had to be, none other then Chipotle!! Of all of the things we could possibly miss about living in the states, it's mainly a few food options. Chipotle and Sweet Frog (Frogurt) are at the top of the list, and so it was fitting that we stopped off for a Burrito Bowl first thing. Just being back in the states was relaxing. The other mission was a search for baby clothes. Something about Germany, but finding true baby clothes (less than 1 year) is hard. The exchange on base has a good selection, but we wanted to find some good sales and better variety.
The other food we were in search of was crab legs! We don't get great seafood in our region of Germany, so we had been in a major seafood-craving for some time. We found a great place in Arlington for all-you-can-eat King Crab Legs. One of Tiffany's old friends from her days at Germanna happened to be living in the area and they got to catch up over dinner. Jeremy even dropped by to say hey and hang out for a bit.
We went shopping with my mom that afternoon, and with Tiffany's mom the next. We snagged a great selection of clothes for our baby girl in the process. We also got to meet up with our Nephews Mason and Tyler. We took them and Seth to Chuck-e-cheese for an afternoon for arcade games and fun. It's was great seeing the boys again, especially since the last time we saw Mason, he was only a few months old. We went down to Fredericksburg for dinner with Tiff's family as well.
Early wednesday morning, Tiff dropped me off at Reagen National for my flight to Omaha for Travis' and Renu's Wedding. Tiffany decided to stay behind to hang out with her mom, shop some more and save a few bucks on plane tickets. I got to see all of my old buds from NOVA. The wedding was very unique, as the entire ceremony was conducted in Sanskrit. There was no formal wedding party, but all of the guys that made up the "groomsmen" wore traditional attire for the wedding and reception. The bride was beautiful, the groom well-dressed, the food tasty and drinks a-plenty. Oh and watching Ben dance was quite the sight to top it all off. While I was in Nebraska, Tiffany spent the day with her new friend Trish, exploring a museum and going out to dinner. She also traveled down to Richmond to meet up with Elizabeth to help her try on wedding dresses and go out for lunch.
Back in VA just in time for our baby shower, thrown by Mrs Boyd and Adrienne. It was great seeing a bunch of old friends, eating good food, relaxing and having a great time. Watching everyone draw pictures on top of their heads was pretty funny. After the celebration, we went downtown to have dinner with a bunch of friends at Capital Ale House, one of our favorite restaurants from Richmond. We are so lucky to have so many great friends, who were so generous with the gifts for our baby girl. Somehow, Tetris master Tiffany managed to fit everything (including a diaper cake, and treasure chest) into our luggage for the ride home. Back in NOVA we enjoyed relaxing and spending time with my mom and polo. On our last day in Fairfax, we brought Chipotle (we couldn't resist one last meal) to my mom at her office and got to meet her co-workers before we headed to the airport. We dropped off the rental car, got booked on a return Space-A flight and settled down to relax before another long night of travel home. Waiting at the terminal, we pulled out the iPad and made a few last facetime calls before heading back to Germany and home.
The trip was long, the travel intense, but the time we spent back in the states with family and friends was great. We had a lot of fun and wish we could have stayed longer, but work and Oliver were calling to us.
Until next time
David, Tiffany and Oliver
Arriving at Edelweiss, we were excited to see our friends from all over Germany and catch up. Our first day saw me sitting through welcome lectures and then attending the ice-breaker event. This year there was a Halloween theme and with Tiffany's help, I became one enthusiastic Ceiling Fan (see picture below). Tiffany instead took it easy. The week was full of lots of CE classes for me and Tiffany got to hang out with old friends, make plenty of new friends, explore Linderhoff Palace and the Swarofski crystal factory and museum. She also had a massage, and got to hang out with our neighbors, who happened to be on vacation at the same time. The highlight of the week was the Bavarian Night. The entertainment this year was lacking from last year, but the Buffett full of German fare was a big improvement over last year's already delicious spread. The highlight of which was a whole roast pig! The fest was a great night hanging out with our friends, eating and drinking.
The weather cleared up during the week, giving us lots of sunshine and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. As our week came to a close, we returned to our favorite restaurant from last year. The same group re-united, along with a few new friends for a big, delicious meal in a small cozy German restaurant. While the week seemed to fly by, we had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. Our drive back to Ramstein was only the 1/3-way-point of our vacation. Our amazing drive home was full of picturesque views of amazing scenery. On the way back home, we dropped by to pick up Oliver, from our awesome babysitter Heidi. Unfortunatly oliver would only be home with us for a very short period as we began the next leg of our journey shortly there after.
The next part of our trip was back to the States for a wedding (Travis') and a baby shower (ours!!!). We arrived back home Friday evening, and early saturday morning I signed us up for our Space A flight back to the states. Upon signing up, i found out that there was a flight that left at 8pm that evening. It would be a stretch, but we didn't know when the next flight would head to BWI and so we decided to aim for the flight that night. After a hectic day of un-packing, re-packing, taking Oliver back to Heidi's, we were at the terminal at 630 pm, and waiting for our names to be called for the flight. After a short wait, we heard our names and excitedly began the check-in process. We were assigned our seats, checked our bags, paid our (dirt-cheap) taxes and fees and were ready to go. Little did-we know that we were still hours away from take-off. We waited for security to open, once everyone was ticked for the flight, and then waited for the flight to be readied for us to board.
Then, around 11 we got on the plane and found our seats among a group of soldiers returning from the middle east, on their way to Hawaii! We settled in, I popped an ambien, Tiff made friends with the Sgt to her left and off we headed towards BWI. We landed just before 1am local time, and groggily made our way through immigration. By the time we got to the rental car it was 3:30, and we arrived at my moms house around 4:30. It was a LONG (14 hours) day of travel but we were happy to be back in the states.
After a very much needed sleep, we began catching up with my mom. The first meal of our trip home had to be, none other then Chipotle!! Of all of the things we could possibly miss about living in the states, it's mainly a few food options. Chipotle and Sweet Frog (Frogurt) are at the top of the list, and so it was fitting that we stopped off for a Burrito Bowl first thing. Just being back in the states was relaxing. The other mission was a search for baby clothes. Something about Germany, but finding true baby clothes (less than 1 year) is hard. The exchange on base has a good selection, but we wanted to find some good sales and better variety.
The other food we were in search of was crab legs! We don't get great seafood in our region of Germany, so we had been in a major seafood-craving for some time. We found a great place in Arlington for all-you-can-eat King Crab Legs. One of Tiffany's old friends from her days at Germanna happened to be living in the area and they got to catch up over dinner. Jeremy even dropped by to say hey and hang out for a bit.
We went shopping with my mom that afternoon, and with Tiffany's mom the next. We snagged a great selection of clothes for our baby girl in the process. We also got to meet up with our Nephews Mason and Tyler. We took them and Seth to Chuck-e-cheese for an afternoon for arcade games and fun. It's was great seeing the boys again, especially since the last time we saw Mason, he was only a few months old. We went down to Fredericksburg for dinner with Tiff's family as well.
Early wednesday morning, Tiff dropped me off at Reagen National for my flight to Omaha for Travis' and Renu's Wedding. Tiffany decided to stay behind to hang out with her mom, shop some more and save a few bucks on plane tickets. I got to see all of my old buds from NOVA. The wedding was very unique, as the entire ceremony was conducted in Sanskrit. There was no formal wedding party, but all of the guys that made up the "groomsmen" wore traditional attire for the wedding and reception. The bride was beautiful, the groom well-dressed, the food tasty and drinks a-plenty. Oh and watching Ben dance was quite the sight to top it all off. While I was in Nebraska, Tiffany spent the day with her new friend Trish, exploring a museum and going out to dinner. She also traveled down to Richmond to meet up with Elizabeth to help her try on wedding dresses and go out for lunch.
Back in VA just in time for our baby shower, thrown by Mrs Boyd and Adrienne. It was great seeing a bunch of old friends, eating good food, relaxing and having a great time. Watching everyone draw pictures on top of their heads was pretty funny. After the celebration, we went downtown to have dinner with a bunch of friends at Capital Ale House, one of our favorite restaurants from Richmond. We are so lucky to have so many great friends, who were so generous with the gifts for our baby girl. Somehow, Tetris master Tiffany managed to fit everything (including a diaper cake, and treasure chest) into our luggage for the ride home. Back in NOVA we enjoyed relaxing and spending time with my mom and polo. On our last day in Fairfax, we brought Chipotle (we couldn't resist one last meal) to my mom at her office and got to meet her co-workers before we headed to the airport. We dropped off the rental car, got booked on a return Space-A flight and settled down to relax before another long night of travel home. Waiting at the terminal, we pulled out the iPad and made a few last facetime calls before heading back to Germany and home.
The trip was long, the travel intense, but the time we spent back in the states with family and friends was great. We had a lot of fun and wish we could have stayed longer, but work and Oliver were calling to us.
Until next time
David, Tiffany and Oliver
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