Backyard BBQ

Our good friends Torie and Justin invited us over for their son's second birthday. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sun and watching the kiddos play. I got a couple of pretty good shots of the kids but wont be posting them due to the fact that I would probably be upset if someone else was post pictures of my children on the Internet without out my blessing.

The afternoon was filled with eating good food and drinking beer. Which just goes to show you that if you're forced to drink beer in Germany for 10 days that your taste buds will just become accustom to it and you'll start drinking craving it once you get home.

The best part of the day was being able to see the girls who have been my friends over the last 10 years. Now that we're older and they all have children its so hard to get together and when we do we only have a few hours to try and reconnect. I miss them all terribly and sometimes wish that we could all go back to those carefree days....oh well we've all got to grow up sometimes right?

Dachau

Dachau Concentration Camp

I've been saving this post for a time when I had the chance to sit down and do it properly. The topic is one that stirs up such powerful emotions in me that I have a hard time not crying as I sit here and write this. I knew the moment that we booked this trip that if I had to make a choice on the one and only thing to do while we were in Germany that this would be it. Some people might think that's crazy and wonder why of all the things I would choose to do in Germany that this one would be number one on my list. I can honestly say that I don't really have an answer for that. Maybe its my love of history or the fact that its a relatively recent event that caused so much destruction, heart ache, and loss of lives that compelled me to visit. I am blown away on how the power of one man can cause so many to turn a blind eye and allow such horrible things to happen.

Dachau was the first concentration camp opened in Germany and over 200,000 people from 30 different countries were housed there between 1933 and 1945. Of those 200,000 over 25,000 are believed to have died. The barracks have been torn down and the entire compound has been opened to the public as a museum. In German they require every citizen at one point during their education to take a guided tour of a concentration camp as a reminder of what can happen when so many choose to follow a dictator. It was a humbling experience and although I spent the rest of the afternoon depressed I was glade that I had the chance to visit and I recommend to anyone traveling to Europe to take a day out of their busy schedule and step back in time for a moment.

"Never Again"