Oktoberfest 2013

Seeing as its our third Oktoberfest here in Munich we knew what to expect and I have to say it was as fun as we thought with a couple of new things thrown in for good measure. 

Outside our house all ready for Oktoberfest. This year James insisted on lederhosen and I'm so happy I found some. He absolutely loves them. And he looks adorable in them. Both kids were excited to get all dressed up. The only sadness was when James realized his mom and dad weren't quite as fun and didn't have any trachten to wear. Todd decided we needed to remedy that. Otherwise it was a perfectly successful day. I still absolutely love how everyone dresses up for Oktoberfest. I find it absolutely charming. 

We got to the park at about lunch time. This picture cracks me up. Todd went to go order food and it wasn't long until both children ran over to make their requests. "Ooooh dad, we need some schnitzel." "And some french fries too."  "Don't forget the bratwurst."  My little German kids are going to have a hard time adjusting to American food. 

 

Todd and James going on the pirate ride. James and Todd don't look much alike, but James definitely has his daddy's eyes. 

Riding the ponies is one of the favorite things to do. Both kids loved it. James had a pony that was quite bouncy and he had to hold on pretty tight. It was so funny to watch them bouncing around the circle. 

While we were waiting in line for the swings a funny Oktoberfest clown (bright purple lederhosen and all) came by to paint the children's noses. Hailee thought it was fantastic. James thought he was totally creepy and kept his distance. 

The swings are always a good time. James still can't go on the really tall one (which Hailee loves) but the did have a family friendly version. 

James had couple of wishes for Oktoberfest. One was lederhosen. And the second was cotton candy. I'm not sure where he even learned about cotton candy. I've only ever seen it at Oktoberfest. He was so excited to cross this one off his list. He only ate half if it, he hated that it made him all sticky, but if you ask him his favorite thing it's definitely on the list. 

We began and ended our day with the bumper cars. The whole family enjoys this one. And since its right at the entrance, and there never is a wait, it's the perfect place to begin and end. 

James was a tired little guy on the way home. Overall it was a near perfect trip to Oktoberfest. We are lots of yummy food, had fun as a family, and tried new things. A perfect day. 

On the train ride home we changed trains at the same place James and I change to go to his preschool. He had to stop to show his sister and dad his favorite place to get a treat on the way to school. And since he got a little hungry on the train ride home he decided he needed a cheese pretzel for the rest if the train ride. 

A big adventure...

The week started out normal enough. Hailee's school is in full swing and we had back to school night and class coffees to look forward to. That is until James woke up with a mosquito bite on his ear. In the morning it didn't look too bad, but after our grocery shopping trip it started looking worse and I was tempted to take him to the doctor. By that time the doctors office was closed for lunch. (They are closed from 12-3.) James then surprised me and fell asleep at about 2:00 and slept until almost 5:00. 

By the time he woke up from his nap his ear was looking pretty awful. And thanks to my google searches I figured it was best to take him to the doctors office. Unfortunately it closed at five. Which isn't too big of a deal since we have a great little children's clinic literally a 10 minute walk from our house. (Another plus of our new house, I had no idea how soon we'd have to use it after moving.) Todd was working late so I fed the kids and headed over to the kinder clinic. 

There was no one there when we got there and I was confident we would be home before Todd and Hailee would get to bed on time. While we waited I helped Hailee with her German homework and James played with the toys. It was going along great and I was congratulating myself for thinking ahead and being prepared. Along thinking I've got this German health stuff figured all out. 

And then it was our turn to see the doctor. It went along swimmingly. It was just as I expected, the cartilage in his ear was infected. Then something happened I wasn't prepared for. The doctor said, "we're going to need him to stay a few days " Ummm what!?!?  

Yes that is exactly what they meant. They wanted to give him antibiotics through an IV. Which meant he would be spending quite a few days in the hospital. 

When James found out that he was getting to spend the night in the hospital he was thrilled. He was a little less thrilled about getting an IV put in, but he was so brave and didn't cry. He was thrilled to find out his medicine could go in his arm and not his mouth! 

He had moments of nervousness but he was a champion. Todd met us at the hospital with reinforcements of books, Legos, and toys to help us get through the next couple of days. 

It was quite a surprise and I'm grateful that it all turned out well. It was a bit of an adventure trying to keep a little boy who didn't feel sick at all happy in a hospital. 

Here are a few pictures of our adventure in the hospital. 

The first night we got there was of his first questions he asked, "Um mom, does this place have a kitchen?" "Yes James, but they will bring your food to the room."  "I get to eat in my bed!" He was so excited. He was a little less excited as the days went on when he realized that he only got three meals a day and dinner was pretty small. And dad would sneak food to him in the evenings, which boosted his spirits. 

Lunch was his favorite meal. He loved the soup. He did also enjoy the Nutella for breakfast. 

He was a little annoyed the IV limited his mobility when it came to playing Legos. With a little coaching mom was able to step in a help well enough. 

We had lots of time for reading and he actually got excited about writing his letters. 

It was so cute to see. We had so much good time together. 

He even had time to draw Mike and Sully. 

In the afternoon we could go to the kindergarten. James loved it and made new friends. 

He loved playing there and is really looking forward to starting kindergarten in a week or so. 

As long as we were in the our room for antibiotic time we could pretty much go anywhere we wanted on hospital grounds. 

Overall it was much better than I expected it starting out. After three night we were all ready to be home. 

He still has to take antibiotics for a few days, but his ear is looking so much better. 

Todd and Hailee were amazing while James and I were in the hospital. It was a busy week for Todd and he was having to be mom and dad and intel employee of the year. He did it all and still managed to save intel 500 million. 

We also had amazing help from friends that stepped in with after school pick up when Todd had meetings. It was one of those times that I was reminded how great people can be. I couldn't have done it by myself and I am eternally grateful for all the help I received. 

I love to see the temple...

We recently had a ward temple trip that we were really looking forward to. It started off a little crazy and ended up really nice. The kids and I got a ride with some friends and Todd came up later on the train. What should have been a four hour drive ended up being 8 1/2! Todd almost beat us there. Thankfully the kids were amazing and they were so great. I love this picture of Eavie and James. As soon as we got to the temple they were so excited to see the Angel Moroni on top. It was so lovely to see. After a crazy few hours in the car, it was so peaceful when we got to the temple.

 While I prefer to live closer to a temple it was fun to go as a family. Granted the kids couldn't go in to the temple with us, but they felt like they went to the temple as well. It was such a nice day.

 The reason we were especially excited to go to the temple was to see this adorable little family sealed together. It was such a beautiful day.

Amanda was James' nursery teacher and Buddy and James are good little friends. They recently moved back to the US and we are all feeling a little sad now that they are gone. They moved back to Washington, so hopefully when we get back to Portland we'll be able to get together to play again.

Despite the crazy start it ended up being a really great day. Once we were done at the temple we hoped on a train home and had a nice relaxing trip back.

Happy Birthday Todd

Life has been a little crazy for us the last little while that Todd's birthday snuck up on us this year. Thankfully this week calmed down considerably so we were able to plan some fun surprises for our amazing husband and father. 

Hailee finished school early on Friday so we headed downtown for a little birthday shopping. I had a couple of ideas, but the kids weren't super impressed at the first shop. In fact our conversation went something like this....

Hailee: Can I pick out something else for dad?

James: Let's go to a different store!

Since James is the expert at finding what he wants downtown, he led us right to what the kids wanted to get for their dad.  Legos! They were so excited to pick him out a few things that were way more exciting than what mom found. 

Our big present for birthdays has been bikes for the family. The Germans are wearing off on us and we are looking forward to family bike rides. For Todd's birthday he wanted to go out with the kids to begin the lessons. :) We rode to the bakery for breakfast.  It was so much fun. And now even more than ever I am looking forward to family bike outings. 

We sure love Todd at this house. None of us would know what to do without him. 

Ruth

 Ruth had a bit of a health scare in the last few weeks and spent a little over a week in the hospital. She is still very weak, but doing do much better. 

The kids have been so sweet with her and have showered her with cards and extra love. We are all so happy she is doing better and improving everyday. 

Happy late birthday Hailee girl

Happy birthday to the most patent little girl. I finally got around to her party, only two weeks late! It was crazy and stressful because of insanely busy weeks leading up to it, but this little girl was worth all the extra work. She is the sweetest and absolutely love it. I think her little friends loved it as well. Hailee wanted an art party so we painted bags and pillow cases and made photo booth props. 

The girls reaction to the first slice of cake was absolutely priceless. It totally made up for getting up at 3 am to make it. 

Rimini & San Marino

 We decided to take advantage of all the public holidays in May and sneak away for a little trip to relax. We drove about six hours to a little Italian town called Rimini. Thankfully it was still the "off season" so we had the place to ourselves, but with incredible weather. It could not have been more perfect for the kids.

Rimini is perfect for kids. Our hotel was right on the beach and when you walked out there was a play ground for kids and then beach and water as far as you could see. The Mediterranean in Rimini is very shallow and there are no waves to speak of. Both kids had so much fun. James loved splashing in the water and Hailee loved collecting shells and building sand castles. Todd and I enjoyed relaxing and enjoying the sun while watching the kids play.

We basically had the beach to ourselves. There were a few other vacationers, but not a lot. While we were playing at the play ground there were a few other Italian families there. One little boy a year or two other than James was playing as well. For a while the Italian boy decided he didn't like James and kept tormenting him. James was a bit confused because he didn't understand what he was saying. Once I explained to James that he was speaking Italian and didn't speak English it wasn't long until they worked out their differences and because good friends. By that point James had a group of little Italians top play with.  The next day when we went to the playground and the other kids weren't at the playground yet and James said, "Oh no, where did my guys go?" (We discovered our little German kids are much earlier risers than the Italian kids when we went down to breakfast the first day at 7:00 and discovered breakfast didn't start until 8:00!) Thankfully it wasn't long before his little group came down.

 Our last full day in Italy was suppose to rain. We had a beautiful morning, but then the clouds came in. We decided to use that time to check out San Marino. A tiny (27 square miles, 31,000 people) country completely surrounded by Italy. We caught a bus, because I discovered I do not like driving in Italy in our huge German car. James was so exhausted from the last couple of days of playing he was completely asleep in the first couple of minutes. It took about an hour on the bus to get there and we couldn't get James to wake up. I carried him for the first little bit until he finally woke up.

While we were eating lunch the rain came. And then hail came. Honestly it was crazy. I was expecting sprinkles of rain but this was just a down pour. Thankfully it stopped by the time we were done with lunch and dessert, and we got to enjoy San Marino.

 This was the BEST pistachio ice cream. Italy really does have the best gelato.

 San Marino was filled with people shopping. Honestly I've never seen so many little shops. But away from the crowded shopping streets were these beautiful little streets. San Marino, San Marino is on top of a mountain top and just has the cutest little winding, hilly streets. We all fell in love with its charm.

 I am so glad we brought James' bike. He loves riding it and went all over the place. In Germany it's quite normal to have little ones on the bike, but in Italy it was quite a novelty.

Italy is one of our very favorite places to travel, between the food, people and sites you really can't go wrong. I am always so impressed with how kind people are and how sweet they are with our kids. Honestly the Italians are so cute with our kids everywhere we go. One little story on the way back to our hotel from San Marino we were catching our bus and since it was late in the day and everyone was heading home from work it was really crowded. We split up and Todd took the bike and Hailee and I had James. James was doing pretty good, but when you're so short and the bus is getting more and more crowded he wanted to be carried. I picked him up and it was difficult holding him, my purse, and trying to hold on. A lady that was sitting down by us, but down all of her bags and put James on her lap and was really sweet with him. I was worried he was going to be scared (he doesn't like it at all if people talk to him and he can't understand), but she was so sweet with him. My tired little guy just relaxed and almost feel asleep. I wish it would have been less crowded so I could have snapped a picture.

Our kids outdid themselves again by being the best travelers. Honestly they are so good. They were both sad we weren't going on the train, but they both did really good in the car. I can't complain one bit. :)