The Adventures of Jordon and Mal: A Very Special Visitor!

Before I get started, just want to say I am sitting here enjoying some Starbucks coffee, Harbor Green tortilla chips sent from Gig Harbor, and recently dipped into some very special peanut butter from Bellingham! We are spoiled over here when we get packages from friends and family but it's so nice to have a little bit of WA!
My mom traveled to Germany for a week in February.... what a whirlwind trip it was. I think her goal was to see as many castles as she could. She hadn't even been on the ground for 6 hours and we were visiting her first castle (a 10 minute car ride from our house)! She found it funny that the "golden arches" of McDonald's is the only thing that sticks out when looking down over the town of Landstuhl from the castle. That's what you get for being near a military base! The next few days were spent driving to Cochem and Heidelburg to see what cute little German towns are like (and to get quite a bit of shopping in). Oh, and of course those two towns have fabulous castles : ) In the middle of the week the three of us hopped on a train going speeds up to 200 km/hr and arrived in Paris! The City of Light/Love/Romance (whatever you prefer) is a little dreary and cold in February but we made the most of it! We rode the metro countless times to destinations such as the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysses, and many cafes along the way to eat the essentials while in Paris.... baguettes, crepes, cafe lattes, madelines, French wine, etc. The highlight for all of us was waking up early to experience the best views in town atop the Eiffel Tower! Let's just say you can't estimate how tall it is until you are actually up there looking down on the tiny specks that are people. We enjoyed a 360 degree view of the city (a little fog didn't dampen our mood) until we couldn't stand the cold anymore and made our way down in the elevator. Maybe next time we will try the stairs?? Overall, it was great to have my mom here and we enjoyed some quality time together- hard to say goodbye!
Side note- Jordon and I were happy to learn that we get free entry to all museums (and I'm guessing other attractions too) by showing our German driver's license. Good thing to know, it applies to all people under 26 either living or going to school in Europe.
Life went pretty much back to normal for these 2 newlyweds after my mom left except Jordon switched back to nights (no fun) and I switched units I am volunteering for at the hospital (better chance of getting hired). So we are just adjusting to weird schedules such as Jordon eating breakfast while I eat dinner and staying busy with me finally able to change my last name to Jordon's which is a little bit harder over here but slowly getting done. He refused to change his to Maenhout so I guess I am stuck being an Albers : ) We are also looking forward to Mattie and Jake visiting in a month! Can't wait to show them around and just hang out with more family!
Happy early Spring everyone! At least I think it's Spring, it's still in the 20's here most mornings when I wake up. Enjoy your day!