Germany Part II: Family time and Castle visit

As promised albeit delayed is the story of our visit to a castle and some fun time with Frank's extended family.

First, some pics of the wedding that didn't load last time.

Frank and his longtime friend, Jochen, aka the groom.

Frank and his longtime friend, Alex, aka the best man.
Alex was also the best man at our wedding ten years ago.

Me and Alex's main squeeze, Monica to the left. The reception was held in a former barn and the dinner was upstairs (think hay loft). Way cool...

Sunday morning, the day after the wedding, we stumbled out of bed at the hotel, ate a quick breakfast and drove back to Frank's hometown and the awaiting kiddos. That afternoon, extended family came over for some treats and playtime. Frank's family is so generous with treats for the kids. Maddie had a great time playing ball and we caught up on what was going on before being chased inside by a thunderstorm. Frank's 20-year-old cousin played Duplos with Maddie for hours! Thanks, Ann-Katrin!

Some aunts, uncles and a cousin came to visit us and entertain the kids....oh wait, I think the kids entertained them! Mason kept everyone busy picking up the toys he threw on the patio and Maddie kept a few select family members playing ball for quite a while!

Initially, Maddie was still sleepy from her nap and acting shy. The last time she saw these family members was when she was Mason's age, so they were all new to her, even though they follow the blog and send her gifts. She was also super-clingy after our return from the wedding. That's her new phase by the way, clingy, clingy, clingy.

But soon Frank's Uncle Roland and cousin Ann-Katrin were playing ball with her like they were old buddies. It was a beautiful day for a ball game!


Against my better judgment, I'm posting the pic above. This is what kids waking up at 4 a.m. with jetlag looks like. Many of our mornings were spent on this mat in the living room waiting for the day to begin and the sun to rise and Frank's parents to come out of their room and tell us that the night was over...lol. Did I mention that Mason hardly slept for two weeks? Now I did.

On Monday, we decided to make the most of our remaining week in Germany and "do" two events each day. We began by taking Maddie to a real castle. Mason went for a stroll with Oma and Opa and hung with them. It was a good chance to spend some time alone with Maddie and she was soooo excited. She even insisted on wearing one of her (many) princess costumes and...wait for it....a tiara. I'm not kidding. Frank was a little concerned that we'd all be mistaken for American tourists.

The first view of the castle "Hohenzollern" as we approach the mountain.

We took a shuttle to the top to save our energy for the romp around the castle grounds. Instead of the formal guided tour in german, we opted to check out everything at our pace. We didn't get inside the castle rooms, but we explored a tower, the courtyard, the statues and a grotto/dungeon. It was enough without being too much. Maddie kept asking about monsters behind doors and where were the kings, queens and princesses. It was sometimes difficult to explain but she learned a lot about knights and how they defended the castle and kingdom from other knights. She was at once excited and timid but it was an amazing visit and I'm so thankful we had that special time with her. I hope she always remembers it.

I love this photo of her looking out over the high castle wall. The fields below were so beautiful. Note the dress and tiara, oh and raincoat...!

She thoroughly inspected the drawbridge. We had to relate it to one of her Disney stories about a dragon and soldier, but she understood. No water below, though. She looked and looked for it!
In the church with the graves nearby. That was fun to explain to a three-year old. By this time, she had declared the princess dress "scratchy" so it came off. Frank was so relieved!



Leaving the chapel and back out to the courtyard. This door, like all the others, was so beautiful. It had a huge lion head on the knocker.

Here I'm trying to explain how there is not a monster behind this wooden door and that all the princesses are no longer living. Do they make a book for these questions???

This is probably my favorite photo of the day. She looked out a window of a castle tower to the fields below. Maybe the photo itself isn't so great, but it was a "you had to be there" moment. She really did look like a princess in that moment. I'll always remember it.

After a long walk around the perimeter of the castle wall bordered with one Prussian king statue after another (um, where are the queens??), even I was a little afraid of seeing yet another King Friedrich Willhelm statue. She was "scared" of them and tricked Daddy into a ride back to the courtyard. Wow, she seems petrified, right?


While waiting in the courtyard, I found this very small statue around the corner and almost hidden by vines.

We ate a bratwurst and pommes frites in the cafe adjacent to the courtyard and called it a day. It was really a great trip and Maddie was a peach. Since we have returned, she has told everyone she meets about her trip to the "real" castle!!

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Next post will be Part III: New friends and the last few days of our trip.
Sorry this is taking so long but Mason and I have been a bit sick for the last day or so. Stay tuned....

Germany Part I: Ur Oma visit and wedding!

Maddie with Oma on the front balcony.
Maddie learned what a balcony is and loves playing on them!

Our stay in Germany has been so fun. Both kids, especially Maddie, have seen so many new things and people, and Frank and I have tried to cram as much activity and visits as possible into the time here.

The flight over was not a great one. Maddie finally fell asleep only during the last hour of the trans-Atlantic flight. Mason cried for almost the entire flight. Maddie was afraid of the dark plane and couldn't get comfortable in the seat (no kidding!!). Meanwhile, I was having some kind of hot flash and was not feeling well. All in all, it was a trial. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers: the lady who sat in the fourth seat beside all of us, who said immediately to me, "it's OK, I'm a Mom;" the man who brought us the backpack we forgot on the tram from the plane to the airport; and the very nice Lufthansa staff person who showed us where the only "lift" (elevator) in the airport was located.

We arrived at Frank's parents' house on Tuesday after lunch and the rest of the day and all of Wednesday are a blur. The time change was rough, but on Wednesday afternoon we decided to dive into the activities we planned for our stay. We visited Frank's maternal Oma, and although I don't speak German, I could tell she was so happy to see her only great-grandchildren and to meet Mason for the first time.

Frank, Maddie and Mason with Ur Oma (Great Grandma) Hermann.

On Thursday, it rained so we visited this awesome indoor/outdoor water park in the middle of Tuttlingen, Frank's hometown. It was by far the nicest, largest water park I've ever been to. Maddie and Frank played in the kiddie pool and the "river" until we had to pull her away with promises of Haribo gummy bears. We had dinner that night with one of Frank's oldest friend, Alex, and his girlfriend Monica. Traditional german-style pork, spaetzle and mushroom gravy! Yum!

Mason enjoying his first bath in Germany!

Friday, we went to the Lochmuehle park, where the animal assortment included very large pigs, llamas, horses, geese, ostriches and donkeys with a penchant for hanging around the playground. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it.

The donkeys

Translation: Pig Village, the home of Mr. and Miss Piggy. I think the illustration speaks for itself.

Apparently, the free park is owned by a family and had its heyday about 20 years ago. But Maddie enjoyed the huge slide and rope walk and climb even though she was terrified of the lingering donkeys.

Maddie mastering the rope bridge.

While feeding Mason in the shade, one grabbed my diaper bag -- no kidding. I got it back and he grabbed my jeans. Then I was really angry. "OK donkey, stop it or I'm putting you in time out." And he ambled away. True story.

Mason was tuckered out after all the time in the sun and donkey-watching.

Saturday, Frank and I threw our duds in the back of the Mazda minivan we rented (so chic, right?) and headed for his friend Jochen's wedding in Stuttgart. Besides the fact that I changed into my party dress in a hotel bathroom, the wedding was a great time, albeit a long time.

Frank dressed to impress. Love the seersucker jacket!

American weddings have nothing on the German nuptuals. The wedding and reception lasted from 1:45 p.m. to 1:45 a.m. -- or at least that's when we left and stumbled back to the room and collapsed into bed. The food was amazing and we had a great time, but Frank and I knew only a handful of people. So we met more!

The bride and groom: Jennie and Jochen.

A night sans kiddos (smile).

I have more pics from the wedding but Blogger won't let me upload them now. It's 10 p.m. here, so maybe it's a sign to stop for the night. More in the next post: a "real" castle visit!