the no good, very bad day

When I was a kid, I vowed that I would never leave my kids somewhere, waiting for me to pick them up. I have memories waiting with my softball coach after the rest of the team was gone, waiting outside of the school while the janitor cleaned up inside....you get the picture.

Well, I broke that promise...again...yesterday.

I like the blame it on the distance we live from the school.

Micah has swim lessons at 3:30. School gets out at 3pm. I was there nice and early waiting in front the school. I waited and waited, until 3:15. It looked like he forgot and got on the bus again. The bus picks up the kid on the other side of the school. I called the school to ask they put me on hold, while I drove around the school a couple of times. I started to get nervous that I couldn't beat him home. So I took off home.

While on the freeway, Sadie had to pee. It always happens on the freeway. We pulled over and did a drive by potty break, one of the perks of living in Germany.

Then the phone rang. It was Micah's teacher. Micah remembered that he was supposed to wait for me, right as the bus was leaving. He de-boarded and made it the front office only after I had left. We missed each other.

Great.....I headed back to the freeway to exit and turn around. The next exit was closed due to an accident and the next one was backed up with cars turning around. At this point, we were closer to France than Micah's school! I didn't get back to school until 4pm. LAME!

Micah's teacher had to wait with him. He deserves a great gift for teacher appreciation week next week.

When it was bed time Micah did say, "Although I wouldn't choose to stay after school, I did have a fun time." I guess Mr Goodier shared his peanuts and let Micah play Poptropica on the computer.

We did miss swim lessons though.....

Things we learned from our last trip

Taylor was so excited for his first train ride. That is his "excited face." He has the best expressions. I wish I caught more of them.

1. We regained confidence in taking the trains. Ever since we boarded a train with the children three years ago and it was headed to a soccer game in Kaiserslautern, I have feared public transportation. This time around we were reminded that public transportation really is a safe way to travel, most of the time.

2. Croissants in France are really better than the ones here in Germany, even though we are only a half of an hour from the boarder. That 30 minutes makes a difference.

3. Spain food isn't really that good.

4. French food tastes even better after eating Spain food for two weeks. I am still day dreaming about the pasta we bought on the train. I have named it "train pasta." It was the best pasta I have ever eaten and the best 20 Euro I have ever spent.

5. Spanish and French woman seem to dress better and take better care of their appearance than those in this country. Is that snobby to say? I realized that I have "let myself go" a bit while being in Germany. I felt a bit frumpy across the border in my typical mommy attire. Maybe it is just because they are French and the reputation that comes with it? I saw several woman wearing borderline tacking attire (hot pink tights with a mini-skirt and plaid shoes for example) and when they opened their mouths and French came out......I found myself thinking, "oh they are French, it works."

6. I think that I might have learned the wrong language. I can't stop thinking about that pasta. I don't even know how to say pasta in French or any of the numbers after 1-3.....

On the Road

Off the cost of Costa Brava. We took a little boat ride. The best part was the underwater view, through glass bottom of the boat. Pretty neat.
This morning we sat in our hotel room trying to decide what to do. We had checked the internet in the morning only to discover that our third scheduled flight through Ryan air had been canceled (it was scheduled to leave tomorrow.) We also learned there wasn't any flights out of Girona until Monday. Since the trains were running again, we decided to leave Girona and try to get home on our own.

We checked out of our hotel and got a ticket to the farthest city the Spain railway would take us, just over the French boarder. The train was packed with people who had the same idea. There was only enough room to stand. Gradually, the aisles cleared and we could eventually sit down. Once in France we scheduled the rest of our trip, which put us out another 500 Euro. We checked into our hotel and took a deep breathe.

Greg checked the internet to see what was going on with Ryan air. At 12 noon today about the time we boarded our train, they decided to let the flights run tomorrow. The ones they had already canceled.

So, did we make the wrong decision....? Well, financially maybe, but we are all safe and relatively happy. Our trip home will be more than double in length, but we will get home about the same time as we would have on the flight.

Overall, this lovely extension of our trip has cost us double what we planned. Oh...well....like I said....we are all safe.

Trying to get home

Seeing Europe one park at a time. That is the Mediterranean in the background.

It was a little chilly when we visited the beach. But for two former Washingtonians....we felt at home. The beach was empty, which was also nice. The kids had a great time, digging, looking for shells and jumping in the water.

A lunch break at the park. Sadie is wearing her new Flamenco dress, which I referred to as a "dress-up," or "her Halloween costume." She corrected me by saying, "oh no Mom, I plan on wearing my new dress to church."

Mid-way through our vacation we started catching wind of volcano ash, or at least overheard conversations about it. While at the train station buying tickets for Barcelona, Greg overheard a group of Germans trying to get home. I noticed a British couple complaining about their canceled flights. It was Thursday and our flight back home was to leave on Sunday.....surely things would clear out by then?

Nope..

Ryan air has been agressive at canceling flights ahead of time, which I am grateful for. It would have been horrible to be stuck at the airport, especially since Ryan air airports are in the middle of nowhere. We even had a couple of days notice that we needed to find a place to stay and a way home. We re-booked another flight for Tuesday, hoping things would clear up. Our Hotel has been very flexible and the let us stay in the same room for an extra two days, so we didn't have to move. They even did our laundry for us!

But....we just found out, that Ryan air would not be flying out until Thursday. So plan C.

We are hoping to take a train to Paris. From there, we will need to take a taxi to the main train station. At which point we will board a quick train to Saarbruecken, transfer to a train to Homburg and then board a bus to Bechhofen.

We would leave Monday night at 10pm and arrive home Tuesday evening.

We are going to try for a sleeper train to make the overnight train ride more pleasant.

Also......I won't have to worry about how much our luggage weighs. I think that I will go and buy some Spanish pottery. hmmmm....should I go with the red serving bowls, or the flower patterned pitcher?

Costa Brava

We got out pretty early this morning and headed to the train station. There we rented a car for two days so that we could drive along the coast. Public transportation is limited there. Our first stop along the way was the birth town of Salvador Dali. We made it there in time for lunch. We ate, played in the park and walked around the theater that he designed.

We were anxious to hit the coast so we moved on without going into the Dali museum. We decided to see the one in Barcelona. The next stop the Monasterio de Sant Pere de Rodes. This was the high light of our day. The drive and walk up the mountain were breathtaking. We enjoyed the added exercise and the fresh sea air. It wasn't crowded so the kids could run and play without bothering anyone. We practically had the place to ourselves.

While we walked around the Monastery grounds, Sadie asked "where did the punks (monks?) sleep?"

We never found those "punks" beds!

Espana

In front of our hotel


We are finally in Spain. We have been counting down the days for the last three months, since we booked our flights. Our trip started yesterday and so far we are really enjoying our trip. The kids are already asleep, after being in bed for only a few minutes. Now that is success!

Highlights from today:

1. Discovering that our hotel is in the old Jewish Quarter and the base of a Cathedral.
2. Realizing that the Cathedral and two other churches' bells gong all throughout the night.
3. Walking along the old fortified city wall.
4. Buying Churros for the kids and finding out they all like them!
5. Picking out our favorite produce at the weekly market. There were all kinds of fruits, veggies and spices, including: cilantro, peppers, avocados....all locally grown.
6. Finding two different play grounds where the kids blew off some of their energy.
7. Meandering through the narrow streets, ducking below low archways and stubbing our toes on the cobblestones.
8. Eating yummy ice cream on a chilly day.
9. Embracing the local culture by indulging in an afternoon siesta.
10. Skipping rocks on a small stream we discovered in the park.

Overall the day was very relaxing. We enjoyed getting to know the city and Greg enjoyed using his Spanish. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Keeping us cute

We received a surprise package in the mail yesterday from Hong Kong. The Kids were so excited to discover new clothes from China! All wanted to wear them immediately and put them aside for the next day. We got a couple of shots of Taylor and Sadie. I talked Micah out of wearing his to school, I worried he would ruin them at recess, but we are planning on Sunday! I will get a picture with all three of them then.


Sadie's friend Addy has a similar dress. Sadie had admired it in the past and wanted one of her own. She was so surprised that Doris and Scott "got one for her, without her even telling them!" "How did they know!" She and Addy had a matching play date.

Taylor got quite the attention in his red dragon duds. He is a Kung Fu Jedi master.

Happy Easter

The Easter preparations were put off until the last minute this year. The week before was so busy, that I hadn't had a chance to shop until Saturday. By then all the German stores were closed. My schedule was so tight, that I didn't have the time to run to the commissary. So we were left to the mercies of the Hospital gift shop. Most of the candy was sold out. I found a stash of Peeps and Sour patch Bunnies. There were plenty of books. I grabbed each kid a book and some crayons and called it good.



We enjoyed a pleasant Easter this year. The weather was a little chilly, but we were simply happy it didn't snow. Greg took the kids out for a hunt for hard boiled eggs. No one really wanted to eat any, but the kids sure enjoyed hiding them over and over and taking turns finding.

Taylor was hopeful that he would discover something yummy on the inside of each egg. He spent several long minutes delicately peeling an egg, only to reveal yet another hidden cooked egg white. He then threw that egg down and reached for another. He was sure intent, and diligent and messy!

Taylor got a sip of Egg dye. I tried to keep him from it, but he was convinced that I was holding back on him. Later he snuck into the kitchen and helped himself. With a confused look on his face he approached me in the living room and told me "I drinked the soda."

After opening his Easter basket Micah said "I understand that there wasn't anything cool at the store. It is okay mom." However, his attitude changed once he finished the first few chapters of "How to Train a Dragon," which I slipped into his Easter loot. Easter changed from "nothing cool," to the "best ever." He now wants entire series. I understand there are 7 books total?