Germany Trip Installment 2: The Food

Oh the Food! How we loved the food.

Lunch our first day at a little butcher shop in Grimma.

Breakfast!

Sam's favorite: schnitzel

Dumplings! (Too bad she ended up not liking them)

Berliner Kindle Weiss (I'm not really sure what it was, but it was good) 

Ice cream and coffee on a patio overlooking the beautiful city of Meissen 

Charlie's favorite: Nutella

Fresh blackberries!

Our last dinner in Germany and a wonderful evening spent with Natalie's family and Charlotte.

That's not salsa!

Today I gave Charlie a little bowl of chips to keep him occupied while I did the dishes. I turned around to start the water in the sink and then looked back to check on Charlie. Seeing he had wandered into the bathroom, I went over to make sure the toilet seat was down (it wasn't) and to make sure he wasn't messing with the toilet water (he was).


Unfortunately, I didn't make it there in time to stop him from dipping his chip into the toilet water, but I did make it there in time to stop him from eating it.


He seemed to think I was being totally unreasonable to take away his chip and make him wash his hands. It's moments like those that make me wonder how often I do something that makes God think, "What are you doing???? Don't do that!!" and, like a 1-year-old, I come back with "What's the big deal?"

Germany Trip Installment 1: The Jet Lag

I was really nervous about dealing with the 7 hour time change going to Germany and back, but the kids adjusted surprisingly well.  Our initial flight to Chicago was delayed 7 hours (or rather, it was delayed "a bit longer" about eight times). Fortunately we just made the best of it and had fun in the Sioux Falls airport. By the the time we left, it was late and we were exhausted. Charlie slept through all three flights (we were detoured through London due to our missed connection). By the time we got to Charlotte's it was 10:00 and we all just crashed for the night and woke up ready to go the next day. 

Coming back was more tiring for me even though it was a shorter trip. Charlie took a little longer to adjust, waking up at 2:30 the first morning (then going back to sleep at 3:00) and 5:30 the next.  But between the jet lag and days filled to the brim with sightseeing, walking and visiting, we were all pretty tired by the end of the day throughout the trip...in a good way, though. Here are a few shots of the kids in various stages of passed out (and one of Charlie wide awake long past his bedtime).

Hallo!

We are back from our two week trip to Germany. We had a wonderful time visiting Natalie and Charlotte's families. They were all so welcoming, and we loved being able to see the girls again. Although, now in addition to missing the girls, we are missing their families as well. The kids even had German grandparents (Oma and Opa) to spoil them while they were there.

We also started back to school this week so I haven't found the time to sort through the 1000 or so photos we took. I'll just share a few for now and hopefully before too long I'll be able to share some more detailed stories of the trip.

Checkpoint Charlie! 

Bottle cap eyes! (with Natalia)

Overlooking Leipzig

In Grimma with Charlotte

Having fun at the playground with Tobi

Getting ready for their first train ride with Steffen and Bianca

Meeting Natalie's Oma and Opa (Natalie was unfortunately sick and missed out on a few days)

Our last night in Germany with all of Natalie's family and Charlotte

Natalie's family very generously offered to let Charlotte come and stay with us at their place for our last day so we were able to get a family photo with all of our kids :) The only drawback was we waited until the last minute and the kids were not entirely cooperative that late at night.

This was our first attempt. Charlie is actually crying - Sam is just intentionally screwing up the picture, which seems to be his trademark lately:

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