Neuschwanstein Castle

April 28-29:

After our climb in Ulm, we drove on to Schwangau and saw Mad King Ludwig's couple of homes. Construction was never actually finished on this extra summer home of his before he died. This is the castle that Disney copied the look of for their fairy tales and at their parks, so Reagan was a little in love with it!

Grandpa Martin on Ryan-stroller-nap duty, letting him sleep as long as possible before our tour

From an inner courtyard before starting our tour.

After touring the castle and making our way back down to the town/tourist area in the pooring rain, we found a cute hotel (where's Reagan's bed happened to have a view right out the window up at the castle on the hill) with another great restaurant. Cam tried pork knuckle and I tried red venison. Awesome!

Ulm, Germany

April 27-28:

After arriving in Ulm, finding a hotel and grabbing another delicious (and late) German dinner, we woke the next morning to the typical breakfast spread at every hotel (loved that!) and then climbed the tallest church in the world, right next to our hotel! It was quite a strange, medieval site in the middle of such a modern square full of shops. Reagan climbed the entire thing herself, both up and down. It was ~760 steps in narrow stone spiral staircases. We took turns carrying Ryan between Cam, myself, and my Dad since he still had quite a limp even on flat ground. It was a great workout! It was so exhilarating and adventurous to climb and haul the kids up that it was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!

Panoramic shot by Cam since we couldn't fit it all in one (3 shots pieced together)

We thought we were as high as we could go here ...

... then saw we still had the steeple to climb! Yay! (my Dad's and my reaction) No way! (Cam's reaction - noticing parts of the ancient stone structure were being held together with chicken wire weren't helping his heights issues :-) Every single one of us made it to the very top though!

Reagan's pink pants were a nice shade of black after going down the whole thing on her butt!

When the kids and I were getting ready for bed the night before, Cam popped outside and got this awesome night shot! Spooky!

Hallo from Innsbruck, Austria!

We've seen a lot of amazing things in the last 5 days, but because I need to get some sleep, I'm only covering the first two since leaving Berlin for now.

Tue, Apr 26
We left Berlin and drove 4 hrs (plus 2 for bad traffic) to Bad Neustadt where my Great Aunt and Uncle live (Tanta Paula und Onkel Burkhardt) ... my Dad's aunt and uncle/my Grandma Liesi's sister and husband. I had never met them so that was pretty neat. We had homemade cake and chatted with them (mostly my parents in german, though I understand bits and pieces) for a couple hours as well as saw the very room and bed where my Dad spent a year there as a kid. The view from their house was so charming! We've been using that word a lot through southern (Bavarian) Germany.

We continued on to see the castle of Bad Neustadt (there's a castle in every town around here since these all use to be kingdoms or feifdoms or something like that). This first one creeped Reagan out a bit ... old, vacant and spooky seeming I guess.After that, we made our way to Weikersheim, part of the "Romantische Strasse" or Romantic Road that makes it's way from one quaint, charming town with a castle to the next. We stayed the night at my Dad's cousin Harold's house. Harold and Ute were wonderful hosts! We had a great spaghetti dinner, plenty of comfortable space to sleep, and a great breakfast. We saw the Weikersheim Castle with them the next day before heading on our way.

Wed, Apr 27
After the Weikersheim Castle ...
How can you not photograph the bejeesus out of this stuff ... cobblestone streets and cute little buildings straight out of fairy tales!
.. we drove about 30 minutes to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (on the Tauber (river)). This place was unbelievable! It was surreal that people actually lived there since we felt like we were in Disneyland or on a Hollywood movie set. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. "Quaint" and "Charming" were understatements.
After wondering how in the world we spent 6 hours there, we drove on to Ulm, famous for the tallest church in the world ... yes, the world! I guess they were attempting to actually reach god :-). More on that next time.

Tschuss bis spater!

Guten Tag! Wir sind in Deutschland!

The view from Augie's apartment!

We've been having a great time so far... arrived 2 days ago. (I'm typing on Augie's german keyboard and it's pretty annoying... the y and z are switched, the apostrophe requires shift key and is farther away, the shift and return keys are farther away than usual). The flights went well, kids got about 4.5 hrs of sleep on the long flight to Paris (10 hr flight) and it was very bizarre to see the daylight when my watch said midnight and I was feeling ready to try to sleep a bit. I ended up not sleeping and missed a night's sleep but feel normal after a regular night (even though the kids kept me up for 2 hrs in the middle of the first night here).

2 exhausted travelers

Cam's been dealing with some allergy issues, not horrible, but annoying. They are exaccerbated here since Augie has a cat. Being away from the apartment today helped him out.

Augie hid tons of chocolate eggs and bunnies and such plus 20 colored hard boiled eggs in the courtyard at her apartment building as well as set out a great breakfast spread and we all ate and the kids excitedly gathered all the goodies. Happy Easter!

This is almost everything ... except whatever gave Reagan a chocolate mustache already :-)

After that, we went to Checkpoint Charlie (Reagan's standing on the old Berlin Wall in the left side picture), then the place where Hitler committed suicide along with a section of the berlin wall left remaining (pictured right), and then the Haus Am Wannsee (where the head nazis laid out their plan to get rid of "racial aliens"). Pretty crazy, I took pictures of some of the papers (translated versions) outlining their plan (talking about mixed race jews that were part german and whether or not to evacuate them or not and who they would let stay/live but would sterilize so they couldn't pass on any more jewish blood. Just totally insane - see pics of 3 pages of it below). As I was explaining some of this whole thing to Reagan, I told her about Great Grandpa Andrew being in one of these concentration camps. She had a few questions, but didn't dwell on it. We tried explaining to her how none of us would exist had he not stayed alive and she didn't seem to grasp that even though I tried explaining it again. Oh well.

On the way back, we found a street fair and the kids got to do a few rides, then we ate at a very traditional german restaurant and had awesome pork and dumplings and schnitzel, etc. The weather is nothing but perfect and with a light sweater, we could eat dinner outside (both of the last two nights). The first evening we got here, we walked a block and a half to a really great vegetarian restaurant and then stopped for an ice cream cone across the street from Augie's apartment on the way back. More sight seeing for Monday and then heading south Tuesday morning.

Can't be in Germany and not order a beer larger than your own head :-)

Differences that stand out here:
1. Ordering water at a restaurant isn't easy ... you must specify tap water, otherwise it's bottled and getting a waiter to back down from wanting to give you bottled water takes a bit of back and forth (even with Augie speaking to them in German, not because of a language barrier)
2. Never turn right without watching out for bikers
3. Not an SUV in sight, lots more smart cars, and very few vans
4. The "walk" and "don't walk" signs are little walking and standing figures with a hat on, the walker is green and the standing person is red
5. The holes in toilets are in the front of the bowl instead of toward the back

Aufwiedersehen für jetzt!

(Adding our final day in Berlin)

Holocaust Memorial (some heart wrenching stories and pictures in the underground museum below these structures). They warned us about bringing kids in (Ryan was napping at home with Augie, so it was just Reagan) but said they could provide crayons and something to color. That worked perfectly when we noticed all the pictures were at adult eye level and you needed to get close to tell what was going on.

Justice of the Ministry where Augie works as a translator (or a Sprachendienst) and has met some famous political figures because of it!

3 translated pages of the (huge, multi-page) document created (in a fancy lake home that was taken from Jewish people) to deal with the "racial alien" "problem". Clicking on each will show it large enough to read ... practically makes you sick to your stomach, but worth reading. Then just hit the "back" button to return to the blog (It annoyingly returns you to the top of the blog and you have to scroll down to this post again ... sorry!). By the way, "Mischlinge" means "mixed blood"

Girl's Weekend

For the first time since having kids - that would be 4 1/2 yrs now - I went away with girlfriends! We went on a 3-night Carnival Cruise to Ensenada, Mexico from LA ... the cheapest cruise on the planet and the only one over a weekend that wasn't far away. We drove down on Friday, Oct 1 and back on Monday, Oct 4. We had a great time, closed down both dancing joints - one a fantastic band (whose drummer looked like David Spade, said he gets told that every night) and the dance club next door until 4 am one night. We went to the spa raffle on the first night and I actually won a facial!

From left: Michelle, Allison, Nicci, and me

On the down side, we walked out of the broadway style show it was so bad, and the food was extremely mediocre ... think cheap buffet ... 3 of us got diarrhea!

We shared an interior stateroom and thought that would be the toughest part, but it was totally fine and we'd definitely save money by doing that again. Only $262.62/person ... room & food for 3 days, diarrhea for only one ... what a deal! :-)

Michelle noting how vertically challenged she is to be able to sit fully upright on the top bunk.

Allison and I posing with the ship in Ensenada

Gilroy Gardens Theme Park

The last weekend of September, we spent one overnight in the south bay and spent a day at this beautiful theme park that use to be a privately owned garden. Super unique trees are everywhere amidst all the rides and attractions which makes it pretty and nice and shady.

This butterfly shaped bush was Reagan's favorite:

One of the many unique trees:

The petting zoo:

Paddle Boats:

Monterey with Grandma Connie

Grandma Connie was visiting July 11-19 and we took a 3-day trip to Monterey. We had a great visit and the kids loved having her here, especially Reagan of course.

We stayed at the Deer Haven Inn and had a 2-BR suite, nice and spacious, not super updated, but spacious. It was basically an apartment and now that I think about it, I wonder if it use to be apartments. The evening we arrived, we got some food and ice cream on the wharf, talked a lot with Ryan about the "sleepy" seals on the beach. Ryan: "mommy, daddy, arc! arc! (seal sound)"

The next day, we finally made it to the Aquarium in the afternoon. Here's everyone checking out the life size killer whale on the ceiling ...

Some favorite parts were a playful penguin who repeatedly came right up to Reagan at the glass. Also the Jellies (now called that as opposed to Jellyfish). Funniest was the Seahorses and Shrimp. Hear for yourself :-)

Before the aquarium while the kids were napping, Connie and I took a walk along the coast and saw tons of deer grazing:

The next day, we biked the coastal trail and stopped at a beach for a bit followed by lunch and dessert on Cannery Row. The most perfect weather and scenery, it was soooo nice. I pulled Ryan in the trailer and Reagan rode her Trail-A-Bike attached to Cam's bike again. Connie rented a bike there.We ended our ride at Dennis The Menace Park, always a favorite stop in Monterey. A couple years ago, she was afraid to drink from this fountain.

June 2010 - A Busy Start to our Summer

Jun 1

Swim Lessons began (actually in May, but that was when she refused to enter the water). Now, she goes under for several seconds at a time (with goggles) and even excitedly showed her friend Emma, who's also made the same progress, how she could let go of the wall for a split second and go under. She's excited to go every time now too, which is 9 classes every 2 weeks.

I decided that just like brushing teeth and going to bed, she had to learn to swim and therefor had to do lessons. I offered an added incentive of candy (that she helped me pick out ahead of time) after each lesson when she stayed in the water and tried everything they said. She asked what happened "if" she didn't and my reply was "You have to get in, it's not an option, it's just that you get the candy to help you want to do it". The first time, she still hesitated and when the lesson was half over, I let her know that she was already down to just 1 piece. That made her get serious and let the teacher bring her in. The rest is history.

Zonking at dinner has happened twice when she didn't nap and then went to her evening lesson.

Jun 6

Bike Ride Picnic at the State Park. Reagan rode the Trail-A-Bike for the first time (got it used from another Mom) and was nervous at first, but ended up loving it. Here's a video of her and Cam riding.

The Ryan and lunch carrier, pulled by me

Picnic by the water

Jun 10

Trip to the Zoo, here's Reagan and Ryan on the Merry-Go-Round full of zoo animals.
Ryan on what sheep say:

Jun 11

Preschool year ended. Reagan on her first & almost last days of school. She seems so much older.

Jun 13

Day at Stinson Beach with Jack and Wesley's families. They couldn't get enough sand play. This is also the fateful day I dropped my old phone in the ocean while jumping in the waves (ankle deep) with my phone in my sweatshirt pocket.

Ryan relaxing with a book :-)

All the kids thoroughly enjoying the huge hole Cam dug.

Jun 14

Start of our Summer Preschool Co-op; 5 other moms and I decided to keep the fun of preschool going this summer. For 2 days/week (as opposed to 3) and for 3 hrs instead of 2 1/2, we're rotating who teaches and assists. For the 24 days (12 weeks), we'll each spend 8 days as a teacher (4 days) or assistant (4 days) while having the other 16 days off! It's been great so far. We laid out the schedule and teaching rotation in March and have been holding "class" at the swim club (grass area and clubhouse - free to reserve it since 4 of the 6 of us are members). Each day is based around a letter and there's circle time, outside structured activity, craft/science, a story, songs, snack, and lunch. It's 9:30-12:30 each Monday and Wednesday and the one teaching provides lunch and snack, so when it's not your turn, you literally drop your kid off and don't have to think about anything, which is great. The kids are loving it and are needing more nap days, which is also great. I've taught once so far and had letter E, so we talked about environments and made environment collages and drew pictures of environments. My next letter is H, so we've got hopscotch, hokey pokey, making hats ... still planning it all, we'll see.

Jun 17

A kids Water Park (which I forgot to bring my camera to) where Reagan - and even Ryan! - went down water slides

Jun 22

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom with our neighbors and their free passes. We saw the tiger show (Ryan told Daddy about it over and over, "Daddy, ah[purr]") and the whale show which he talked about by saying "uht uht uht" then clapping and saying ooooh to tell us that the whale went up and then we all clapped for her.

Jun 25-27

Camping Trip with 3 other families, we had a great time. This pic looks like a poster for a movie called The Navy Sweatshirt Gang or something. From left: Lucas, Reagan, Jack, and Wesley