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....