Kid Heaven

 After the soccer game we spent the night at Dave and Laurie's before heading home. Hailee was in heaven. She got to have a sleep over with Sophie. I think it was well past 1:00 in the morning before they went to bed. At one point she came and got me because she was "scared" of the dark. In the morning I learned that they were scaring each other. Neither one is afraid of the dark, but together they got each other going. They did finally get some sleep. In the morning we all enjoyed some very yummy crepes and Sophie painted Hailee's fingernails and toenails in "red-white-blue" colors just perfect for this time of year. When I went into check on them they were having so much fun.

Before it was time for head home Jenny taught Hailee how to play Phase 10. Hailee was in heaven, she loved playing with the big kids. The Layer kids were also so great with James. We got to sleep in the boys room and Luke was kind enough to share his toys with James. For his part James just thought the Luke was the coolest. They Layers are just such great kids. We just wished we lived closer. We're hoping they move back to Washington for at least a little while after they are done with Germany.

Todd's favorite sign in Germany

 This by far Todd's favorite sign in Germany. It means that speed limits no longer apply. We had to take the A8 to the game over the weekend and there were plenty of long stretches with no speed limits. Not all autobahns are created equal, some of bigger stretches of no speed limits than others. I can always tell when we are in a good area by one small glance in Todd's direction. He always has a little smile on his face when he gets to "drive." Oregon's 55 and 65 mph freeways are going to be a little rough to go back to, even when the auto-bahn has limits you only have to drop your speed to 120-130 kph (75-80 mph).

 When we were waiting for Todd to check into our hotel on Friday night James jumped in the front seat to "drive" like daddy. As you can see he enjoy's it as much as Todd. Let's just hope he knows the difference between the German auto-bahn  and the regular speed limits of home when he starts driving.

 Sophie rode with us to and from the game. It was so fun to see the two of them together. They colored pictures, ate snacks and played with the iPod. We recently found Settler's of Catan for our iPod touch. Hailee loved watching Todd play and has been learning how to play. It was cute to see her teach Sophie how to play. They have a completely different strategy than most people have, but they had such a great time playing.

These little kids really deserve a prize for being the best little travelers. I feel like we've been dragging them around for months now and they are always amazing. One of their favorite things about traveling is that we usually will stop at quick food (which here unfortunately means McDonalds or Burger King). The kids love it. This time McDonalds had Kung Fu Panda toys in there kids meals. The kids were in heaven. They played so well in the back together. Yesterday Hailee told me that it's getting easier when James wants to wrestle with her because she is learning kung fu. Too funny, at least for the most part they aren't doing anything too crazy. I just hope it stays that way.

World Cup Soccer

We were so excited when we found out the Women's World Cup was going to be held in Germany this time. We were even more excited when we found out there was a US game on a Saturday just a few hours from our house. Then we were even more excited when Todd's cousin and family said they wanted to come with us to the game.

We met us with the Layers Saturday before the game started so the kids could play a little before the games started. Hailee was thrilled to have some time with Sophie and James just thought the big boys were amazing. The girls made their "GO USA" signs and had a great time playing together.

Hailee did great watching the whole thing. She was really paying attention the whole time. James got a little wiggly in the middle and then by the end he was tired of the noise, but for a 2-year-old he did pretty great.

I think everyone had a great time. We were so excited to see the Layer family and spend some fun times with them.

Happy Birthday Todd

 I'm not sure who was more excited about Todd's birthday, him or the kids. For their part the kids loved everything about his upcoming birthday. We went shopping and picked out presents and made a special birthday dinner. Cooking in Germany is a little difficult, not because we can't find things, but because our kitchen doesn't have a lot of things I'm used to. Todd's first choice for his birthday dinner was Pesto, but without a blender of some kind, it's a little difficult. Next choice that is German friendly was Tomato Mozerella soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I was kind of laughing at the tomato soup/grilled cheese kid friendly dinner, but it was delicious. We also added tomatoes and basil to our grilled cheese and the soup we added some amazing ravioli. A very "grown-up" version of the classic kid friendly version. He was also craving a key lime pie and wanted me to check to see if we could just buy one. No such luck, but Hailee and I didn't let that stop us. We found all the ingredients we needed and got to making one the day of his birthday.

Todd got home and had to take a half an hour meeting before he was really home to celebrate. James was in the bath and quickly got out. He was very annoyed that dad was home, but not really 'home.' He got out Todd's presents that we had wrapped the day before and kept asking for "daddy's prizes." He couldn't wait for Todd to open them. I love the top picture of James watching Todd open them. He was just as excited as Todd was. 

Here is our key lime pie (with normal limes) and soccer decorations by the kids. Hailee found these chocolate soccer things as we were checking out and they did work perfectly for decorating Todd's cake. Not the prettiest pie I've ever made, but again I'm pretty sure the guy who owns this apartment is a bachelor and didn't do much cooking. I guess what really matters is that it did taste good.

I think overall Todd had a good birthday. Now we're off to the World Cup this weekend to really celebrate.

Hanging by a thread

 Hailee gives a whole new meaning to "babying a tooth." Her top tooth has been loose for quite some time and she babys it along until the force of gravity is it's undoing. It was absolutely amazing to watch as it giggled around in her mouth when she talked, how she ate without ever using her front teeth, and how it just took one little thing for it to finally come out.

Now you would think after all of that she probably didn't like the tooth fairy to visit her. Afterall why would you avoid it for so long, this, however, is not the case at all. She loves the tooth fairy and for weeks has been speculating what the "German" tooth fairy would bring. She was quite pleased with her special jewel and 2 euro coin.

I just love seeing that toothless smile and hearing her little lisp. Now her other top tooth is loose. Any bets on how long it will take to have that one come out. I'm betting it comes out in Oregon.

Big Boy

This big boy needed a post of his own from the day. Did you notice he isn't wearing a soccer shirt? It was a cool day and I wanted to make sure he was warm enough. When I brought out the clothes to wear for the day he of course questioned where his soccer shirt was. I told him that we were going to wear these clothes to which he responded, "Oh, soccer shirt dirty?" Sure whatever works. I think we might be slowly getting out of the "I must wear my soccer shirt EVERYDAY" phase.

Whenever we're going to be gone longer than a few hours I always put him in a pull-up. Not because he'll have an accident, but there are just times here when I can not find a bathroom. Saturday I was not very good at keeping my eyes out for a bathroom for him. He hadn't asked to go and I forgot about it until he was sleeping. I was very surprised once we got to the train station and he asked to go to the bathroom when Todd was going. I thought for sure his diaper would be wet since he hadn't gone since we had left home hours and hours before. Much to my surprised he was dry and he went potty so well. He was quite proud of himself and once he was done he announced to everyone in the bathroom "I go pee!" with both hands raised in the air. Everyone got a good laugh.

We are all very proud of our big boy.

Two Castles

Friday night brought Aunt Ruthann back again. This time she brought her friend she'll be traveling with as well. We had one day before they had to catch their night train to Venice so we decided to try Neuschwantstien. Since we were six now we had to go by train. In a short 12 hours we took 8 trains, 2 buses and saw two castles. I was also very grateful to be going home to bed instead of hopping on a train to Venice. Todd and I were exhausted.

The train ride out was crazy. Once we got to Hauptbahnhof we had two trains to get to Fussen. The first one was crowded, but we did manage to find seats, the second one was crazy. I love this picture of Todd and the kids, Hailee and Todd on their ipods and James eating his "shoko chocolate." It was quite an adventure.
We finally made it to Neuschwanstein. I thought I had seen it busy on our other trips, but I was not really prepared for how crazy it was. Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets to see the inside of Neuschwanstein, by noon the earliest time was well after five o'clock. We did get tickets to see Hohenschwangau, Maximillian II (Ludwig II father) castle where Ludwig II actually spent more time than his own castle of Neuschwanstien.  Since we had the time we did walk up to Newschwanstien and look at the outside. We also made it out to Mary's Bridge (last time we were there it was closed). In our tour of Hohenschwangau we learned that Maximillian's wife Mary (Ludwig II's mom) loved to hike, which was really rare for women at the time. Maximillian constructed Mary's bridge for his wife so she could get outside and hike around safely in her big dress.

Ruthann, Noemi and Hailee on Mary's Bridge

 After Neuschwanstien we enjoyed Bratwurst and Bavarian donuts then made our way over to Hohenschwangau. By this point James had fallen asleep and Todd was getting tired so they took a little nap in the courtyard while the girls went on a tour of the castle. It was fun to hear a little more history of the castle. It was built in the 12th century by the Knights of Schwangau. When King Maxmilion discovered it, it had already been abandoned by the Knights, held privately, and partially destoryed by Napolean. He restored it for his family and turned it into a summer home. I was surprised with how small the rooms were, but it had a very nice cozy feel to it.

Although not as popular as Neuschwanstien, I think Hohenschwangau was really nice. It had a beautiful trail to the lake, and the lake itself was beautiful. James finally woke up so we were able to get a family picture, but as you can see in the picture he wasn't totally ready to be happy. Then it was off to the train again. After a little craziness we were all home and Ruthann and her friend Noemi were on their way to Venice. I am jealous of all the fun places they will be seeing in the next couple of weeks, but I was happy to be in my own bed and decided I'm much to old to backpack across Europe.