This might be....

the start of a beautiful friendship...or at least a new family tradition.

When we stayed with the Layer family, Sunday morning they made us delicious crêpes. I love crêpes but have never attempted to make them. I thought they would be too hard or I would need a special crêpe maker. Dave and Laurie's crêpes were so delicious I decided to try my hand at making them.

What I discovered was, the whole family loves them, they aren't too hard to make, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a new tradition.

I really tried hard to get a picture of James eating his crêpes. Once I would make his crêpe, give it to him to eat, get another one started, and grab the camera he was always putting the last bite into his mouth and asking for more. He ate three good sized crêpes all by himself.

I like to blame Matt

When Matt came to visit us James took to him instantly and now I know why. He just  knew that Matt had some great ideas. At one point in his visit we were talking about Matt's "bachelor ways" and he admitted that it's going to be tough to giving up drinking juice/milk out of the carton. Well it's been a few months, but James has finally figured out the trick. I guess James knew that they were kindred spirits the first time he met him.

James has loved mango juice, or May-no Juice-A as James calls it,  for quite some time. His addiction reached an all time high while we were potty training because I let him drink as much as he wanted.  After looking at all the empty mango juice cartons one day, I got to thinking that maybe it wasn't the best thing to let him continue to drink all he wanted. I started limiting his juice consumption. To which James almost instantly responded by becoming completely independent, at least where getting his own drinks was concerned.

One day I found the mango juice carton on the floor with the lid off. A little confused I first thought James had found one of the empty cartons to play with. Then I caught him in the act. The only problem is he doesn't put the juice back. I'm sure he was thinking, 'why would you put  it back if you're just going to want a drink again'. This is okay for mango juice, but a big problem for milk. The only thing I'm a little OCD about is dairy products being left out at all. I think milk should never be set on the counter, you just take it out fill your bowl/glass and immediately put it back in the fridge.

We have enjoyed watching the World Cup here in Germany. It has been so fun. Every one of us has looked forward to the games and cheering on our favorite teams. The World Cup has a long history with our family.

When Todd and I first started dating the World Cup was going on in Korea and Japan. I went over to Todd's apartment at 3 in the morning to watch games. It was a lot of fun, but honestly I wasn't really going for the soccer.

The next men's World Cup was just before heading back to MBA school . It was pre-DVR days for us so I was video taped every game that I could and then Todd and I would watch them when he got home from work. I have so many fond memories of that world cup. Portugal did amazing and the Portugal vs England game is still one of my favorites.

The next year was the first time we watched the women in the World Cup. I don't remember where it was, but the games came on early in the morning. One morning Todd was up watching it and Hailee woke up earlier than normal. She was only three years old but she was so excited to watch girls playing soccer. It was then I realized that we needed to start watching more women's sports, especially for our little girl. I recorded a few more games that we could all watch together.

Last year brought about the Men's World cup and to celebrate Todd bought a new TV to enjoy it. DVR made this one a lot easier to watch and we had a lot of great family time watching the games together. Hailee especially remembers when the US scored a goal to win and Todd picked her up and threw her up in the air and caught her. It was an exciting time at our house.

This year brought us the World Cup in Germany while we were living in Germany. As soon as we found out we knew that we wanted to go to a game. We had such a great time watching all the games and going to the game as well. We got more and more excited as the US kept advancing...and advancing. Sunday was the day of the final and we were so excited. It took a long time for 8:45 to come around at our house. We loved cheering on our team and were so sad when the game didn't turn out quite like we had hoped.

The late night in the ER plus the late night watching the game plus the disappointment of losing the game was just too much for our little girl. She was devastated. It was a good lesson for our little girl to learn. It's fun to win, but it's really important to be a good sport. Thank you Abby Wombach for showing that to our daughter. It was so nice to see her congradulate the Japanese team. I think in the end she understood the importance of it, but in the depths of her despair she was so sad that the next World Cup wasn't for 4 more years and she would be 11 by then. Eleven is so OLD and so far away. She was a little consoled when I told her that Abby and Hope would be playing in the Olympics in London in a year. As she was finally falling asleep she said, "I wish it was next month and not next year."

I am so happy that our little family loves watching soccer together. I even impressed Todd this year with my growing knowlege of soccer. I am a much better soccer watcher than I used to be. All it takes is watching a lot of soccer the way soccer is meant to be played. It truely is a "beautiful" game.

Sophie taught Hailee all about all about painting your nails for special events such as the World Cup. So we went down to our local DM and picked up a few festive colors for the occasion of the final. Hailee was so thrilled with the results. It helped  pass the LONG hours before the World Cup Final.

ER

I should have known that 6 months was just asking too much of our boy to not need a trip to the ER. It was a two hour drive home from the lake, and then we had to figure out where to take him. Thanks to a guy Todd works with we found a great hospital for kids. We plugged it into our GPS and drove the 10 minutes or so to the hospital. We couldn't see a parking garage and the street parking was full so I used our GPS to find the closest parking which was just over half a kilometer away. Not too bad we decided and off we went. The problem was we didn't really know where we were going once we got out of the car and the GPS managed to take us to the Middle eastern area of Munich. No kidding it was like we had left the continent and landed in the middle east. The men were all wearing Thwabs and the women were wearing Burkas. To say we were out of place would be a huge understatement. It had me a little nervous so after getting  a little lost we decided to go back to the car and try to find a different place to park. We weren't sure how long it was going to take and if I was scared at 9:30 pm what would it be like at midnight?

Prayers were answered and we found street parking right by the front door. Really it was a miracle. As it turns out ER's in Germany are a lot like the US. A few logistical differences, but when it boils right down to it you have a long wait and then you get to see a doctor. The doctor and nurses were really nice to us "dumb" Americans. It turns out James had a dislocated arm. The doctor made me take Hailee out when he put it back in because he didn't want to traumatize Hailee (or his mother for that matter). In a minute or two they were out again and James looked fine. When I asked Todd how it went he said that they popped it back in and James barely flinched. The doctor was really impressed. So it looks like even in Germany James hasn't lost his ability to Impress ER doctors. Let's just hope this is the last one he has to...but really who am I kidding, he's barely 2.

The doctor wanted us to wait 10-15 minutes to make sure he would start using his hand again. It took barely a few minutes before he was running around and using his left arm again. We were all thankful that it wasn't anything more serious. James is such a tough little guy (which, I'm sure, is going to cause his mom a few more grey hairs).

All better and ready to run again. We finally got home around 1:00 in the morning. It was a long day and I'm just glad it ended happy.

An eventful day at the lake...

Saturday started out brilliantly. We were so excited. Todd was feeling good and we were all up and ready to go early. Since we had some a great start to the day we decided to try Lake Konigsee again. The weather looked promising and the day seemed perfect.

We were not disappointed at all. The lake was beautiful, the weather perfect, and we even found rowboats we could rent. Honestly it couldn't have been more perfect. That is until disaster happened on the 20 minute hike, I thought would be a fun way for the kids to burn off a little energy. It all happened when James decided that he didn't want to walk, he would much rather collect rocks and play in front of everyone else trying to walk on the path. Note to self...James is still a little too young for 'organized' hikes. At one point Todd decided to just pick him up and carry him. He grabbed both arms and James decided he didn't want to be carried. He was able to get one arm free and twist his body as hard as he could to get away. This unfortunately didn't have the effect he was hoping for. Instead of getting away he just ended up hurt. True to form James cried for a few seconds and then settled right down. We were almost to the second little lake when it happened so we walked the few more minutes and he wanted to throw rocks into the river.
We watched him closely the next little while and he refused to use his left hand. On the way back he fussed a little if the trail got to bouncy (this time we were carrying him down the trail). In the car ride home he was just fine, but when we stopped for dinner and I got him out of the carseat there was obviously something wrong that wasn't going to get better with time.

Overall the day was lovely....except for the unfortunate accident. More on our visit to a German ER on the next post.

Hailee loved the rowboat. It was her job to give directions since Todd couldn't see where he was going. It was hillarious. Every few seconds it was "...a little to your right....a litttle to your left....go straight...no no, go that way...a little to the left." Todd really didn't know which way to go. 

Salzburg

 We were so excited to meet up with my cousins in Salzburg. What we did do is learn a valuable understanding on how dependent we have become on cell phones. Unfortunately the day did not go as planned, mainly we never were able to meet up with them. The kids did phenomenal on the train and back home again.

Some of the highlights....

We saw this a little puppet on the street just before going up to the castle. Hailee and James loved it. I think they would have been happy to just sit there for hours watching the little marrionette play the piano. Hailee was so excited when she put some money in the little suit case she got to shake the puppets hand. It was like she was meeting a celebrity. Too cute.  We also found a little marrionette musem at the castle that they both enjoyed as well.

James also got to try his hand and shooting a cannon. Thankfully it wasn't loaded and no one was hurt. He is such a little boy. Any time he would find a rock he would pick it up and hold it in his hand until he found the perfect place to put it. His favorite place was a man-hole type thing with a little hold. Dropping a rock down it was his favorite thing to do.

We were so sad not to meet up with Mickelle, Paul and Krista. Hopefully they will come visit us again and the kids and I will be a little better prepared.

Hot Day

Oregon has definitely spoiled us. It's amazing how quickly Todd and I have adjusted to mild temperature of Oregon. Now if it gets above 80 we start to feel the heat. It's a little funny considering we both grew up in places where well over 100 degrees was the norm.
We were a little worried about temperatures in Munich. We've heard that it can get quite warm here and a third floor apartment with no air conditioning didn't sound like a very fun summer to me. Thankfully we have had a very abnormal summer so far. It has been raining a lot. We don't go more than a few days without rain. It's been so lovely. That being said we still do get a little warm on occasion. It will get up to the low 80's when it's not raining. On those warm days, the kids have a water party on the back patio. It usually consists of changing into their swim suits and  Hailee filling 8 or so bottles with water. Then they take them all out to the patio and take turns dumping on water on each other. It's amazing how long it keeps them entertained and how nice and cool they get.

The first day they did it James was so excited to get his swim suit on but as soon as it got a little wet he just stripped it off. I explained that it was suppose to get wet and put it back on him. Confused he kept playing and as soon as it got wet a little bit  he took it off again.  He was so confused again when I tried putting his suit back on him. "Mom, it's wet!" and ran off to play in the water naked.

The next time it got a little warm I thought we were making progress when James asked for his swimming suit and asked Hailee to start filling up the bottles. I thought to myself....oh good he is realizing that he needs to wear his suit. But unfortunatly it was a repeat of the time before. As soon as it was wet he took it off. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my little streaker. Hopefully we can get him to grow out of it sooner rather than later.

Chiemsee

I knew from the very beginning that one day Todd wanted to buy a sail boat. And quite frankly I didn't get it.

I didn't grow up boating and by the time I was a teenager there was always church activities at the lake during the Summer. I was always content with my one or two trips to the lake getting dragged behind a boat, that I just couldn't see the justification behind getting a boat. I really didn't care if I went more than once or twice and I haven't really missed it since that time.

After spending an afternoon on Chiemsee I totally get it now. The only motor boats allowed on Chiemsee are the ferry's that take you out to Herrenchiemsee. The rest are sail boats or electric boats. We rented a little electric boat and cruised around the islands. It was heavenly. The weather was amazing, warm enough to be relaxing without being too hot, the lake was amazing and for the most part it was so quiet (we just stayed away from the ferry boats). We all had such a great time relaxing and enjoying the weather. When we got home I was the one looking up the cost of sailboats and figuring out how quickly we could get one when we get home. I want to spend my entire summer on the lake (without motorboats).

 

Ahhhh.....so relaxing.

It was such a beautiful way to spend an afternoon. We all had a great time and were very excited to come home and enjoy some yummy tacos (yes I finally found a spicy seasoning package) and watch a couple World Cup games. What a great weekend for relaxing and watching soccer. We got to watch 3 of the 4 games that were on. All three of them went into extra time and two of them went into penalty kicks. All of the games were amazing and even better when our favorite teams won. Go USA! We can't wait until Wednesday.

These are a few...

of our favorite things.

Before it's time to go home I want to capture a few or our favorite things about being here in Germany. Our kids have been absolutely amazing at adapting to new things and experiences. We just got back from running errands and at the end we stopped at one of our favorite places. It's a little Turkish cafe with the best Turkish sandwiches. I'm not sure how authentic they are since I've never been to Turkey, but since it was my kids and I and about 15 Turkish constructions workers in there, I would say that it isn't too bad. It was a perfectly lovely morning. We are really enjoying everything about our new neighborhood. It's nice to be within walking distance or a short tram ride to absolutely everything we need.

Some of our favorite things have been...

• The train. James has LOVED taking the trains. If he's having a grumpy morning and not wanting to get ready, I just have to ask him if he wants to ride the train. He perks right up and gets ready to go. I love the train because it's close to our house and in a short time we can get anywhere we want to go. Every time we get off the train James always says "Bye Train." It's going to be a rough adjustment for him when we get home. The car just isn't nearly as fun.
• We've also loved learning to speak German. Hailee is already far better than me. We have had a little software program the last few weeks that she is really enjoying. I am amazed at how quickly she is picking things up. She can now translate a lot of what she sees in her kid shows on TV, order what she wants at restaurants, and always help mom when she gets stuck on a work. I think Germany is a pretty hard language. There are a lot of similarities with English, but it's also very different in a lot of ways.
• We have also loved learning new foods. The biggest problem is that it's going to be tricky to find some once we get home. A lot of the German food we've made will be fairly easy to make once we get home. But others I'm afraid we're just going to have to miss. :( I wouldn't even know where to begin to make Turkish food. Do they even have a Turkish market in Portland. Maybe I'm going to have to go look for one. I have already found a German market in Portland which I'm excited to go to once we get home. 
• The chocolate here is amazing. After my mission it was years before I could eat chocolate again. Thankfully the US has finally caught up and started importing some European brands. Unfortunately for my kiddos they don't have kinder eggs or our new favorite "Kinder Joy."  James is going to have a rough couple of months when he realizes that Shoko-bons and Kinder Joys don't exist in the US. Thankfully we are breaking him of his addiction slowly. He now will at least eat a meal before eating them. For a while he just wanted Shoko-bons for breakfast. 

There really are too many things to name...soccer...auto-bahns....das auto...castles...lakes...you name it. There are so many great things here to enjoy. It's going to be hard adjusting to life back in the US. Just yesterday I was looking at Hailee's new school we're putting her into. They just moved locations and mentioned it was right off the Max Line. I immediately thought, "Perfect that will be easy to get her there" and then I quickly realized. We're not a close walk to the Max and I will be driving. I'm going to miss our European City lifestyle.  At least I won't have to pay 2 Euros (almost $3) for 200 grams of blue berries once I get back to Oregon. And no matter how expensive gas is it's going to look like a bargain after European prices.

James enjoying his Kinder Joy while waiting for the train. What could be better?

Growing Vocabulary

James has bee learning all kinds of new words and speaking more and more. He's always willing to talk as long as you talk about his favorite subjects, which are: Soccer, Chocolate, Kung-fu Panda and He-man.

He is also getting pretty good at his German vocabulary. A month or so ago he dropped something on accident and said "Oh Nein!" He is also really good at saying "hello" "good-bye" and "thank-you." He is gettin quite good at a few other phrases Hailee has been teaching him like "Was ist das?" She has been a great teacher. The Phineas and Ferb in German has also taught him that platypus is "Schnabeltier." They are even learning when they are watching TV.


A couple of weeks ago we discovered a way to watch movies from the US in Germany. With Amazon Prime we can watch some movies for free. They don't have a great selection, but we did discover that they have the first season and of He-Man and She-Ra. One lazy day we showed them to the kids. They both LOVED them. It's quite funny to watch shows we used to watch as kids and see how "bad" they are and how much the kids love them. The longest sentence we've gotten out of the boy was about "He-Man."

I'm starting to understand our little boy a little better. The other day while I was making dinner he came running in with Todd's umbrella and said "Daddy's brella." I told him that it was and kept making dinner. What I didn't realize was "daddy's brella" was really James talk for "Hey can I play with this great new toy I just found?" Off he ran and the next thing I found was this...my very own little "He-Man." Hailee has since taught him how to say "By the Power of Gray Skull...I am He-Man." But I think his little sound effects were quite cute. Him and Hailee also run around the house playing and I hear him say words like "battle cat" "Skeletor" and "She-Ra." They love playing together.

Happy 4th of July

The Fourth of July is Todd's favorite holiday. I remember when we were dating and he told me that his favorite holiday is the 4th of July I thought he was a little crazy. But over the years I've come to see why. The summer has all of my husbands favorite things. Fun outdoor time, good food, and plenty of soccer tournaments going on. Add a few fireworks and lots of family time, what really could be better.

This year, unfortunately Todd had to work. We had a great time celebrating over the weekend at the soccer game, but I still wanted to do a little something on the 4th. The kids and I decided to have our own little BBQ. The kids and I had fun "finding" all of the perfect things for our American BBQ.  We made it out to the airport to find root beer and some other "American" things, then to a couple other stores a little closer for rest. It was a really busy morning just finding everything we needed, but we were excited to show Todd everything we found. I was really impressed with how many things (even in the smaller, closer stores) we could find. The Root Beer was the only really difficult thing. We had, Hamburgers (with 'American' style buns even), corn on the cob, BBQ chips, watermelon, and root beer floats.

 James was ready for his American meal. I've been making German food since we came here and the kids have really enjoyed it, but I guess they have missed some of our American favorites as well.

One of Hailee's favorite food is corn on the cob. She hasn't tried eating it since she lost her top tooth. It was quite entertaining to watch her try and eat it. The root beer was also a big hit. I'm glad I got a few extra so we can enjoy it a few more times. The only sadness of the day was that there were no World Cup games on in the evening, but we've got several to choose from in the next couple of days.

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.