Germany - Day 1

Warning: this post is my way of gathering and recording my thoughts. I am not proofreading it or trying to make it "pretty". So much is happening, that I want a way to quickly record and share my thoughts, so that is what this is.

There were so many details that could have very easily fallen through to make this trip not happen, that I really couldn’t believe ahead of time that it was going to happen. Yet God was gracious and all the little details so far worked out. Now here we are as a family in Germany. Hubby is here for work, and the kids and I were able to join him. I am going to try to share a few of the highlights of our trip here, mainly for my own recollections.

My husband is an airline pilot, so we were able to fly over here very inexpensively using his flight benefits. The price is excellent, but it is on a space available basis, so that can make things interesting or, when traveling with littles, very difficult. The last time I tried flying space-a alone with the kids, it was a nightmare. It ended up taking two days each way, plus we ended up having to buy last minute tickets. This time though, our trip was relatively uneventful. There was one point that it looked like a small technical detail would prevent us from getting on the flight to Frankfurt, but we were able to work it out. We ended up getting seats in the center of the plane. It turns out that carseats are only allowed in the window seats, so baby doll couldn’t use hers. Also at first Bug was not even seated in the same row as baby doll and I. Baby doll did get her own seat, which was nice since she is under 2 and could have ridden on my lap. The flight started at 4:30 pm and both kiddos, having missed naptime, promptly fell asleep. Since it was an 8 hour flight, but due to the time difference, arrived at 6:00 am, I was thrilled and hoped they would sleep the whole flight. Of course, being 4:30, even knowing I should sleep, I was wide awake. About an hour and a half into the flight the lights were dimmed and passengers were encouraged to "rest." A half hour later, both my kiddos were wide awake and hyper! I realized that the one thing I had forgotten was the melatonin. Our pediatrician approved my giving my son a small dose to help him when his sleep schedule was backwards. I figured jet lag was also a perfect reason to use it, but didn’t have it. Nothing I did seemed to help the kids fall asleep for what seemed like forever. Finally after an in-flight movie, snacks, and a host of other things, the kids fell asleep, and I began to try to as well. Twenty minutes later I was almost asleep when the lights came up and the flight attendant said, "Good morning. Guten tag. We will be bringing around breakfast and coffee now." The pilot must have made good time, because after 2 sips of my coffee, the flight attendants were collecting everything, and we landed. I let the kids sleep as long as possible, so they got maybe an hour’s sleep, making a total of 3 hours for Saturday’s nap and night. Yikes!

There was a steep set of stairs off the plane with barely any handrail, which was quite daunting for a four year old with three hour’s sleep. I couldn’t carry him and Rachel, but Bug did a great job though and made it. Then we were on a bus and off to baggage claim. All of a sudden it hit me that hubby and I had arranged to meet at baggage claim, but it was on the wrong side of customs for him. A kind gentleman saw my predicament and quickly offered to help. I really think I could have gotten everything eventually, but it sure was nice to have help. He said he frequently traveled for business when his kids were young, and his wife would travel separately with the boys to join him. Each time, he said, she seemed to tell of someone who helped her out. Now he felt it was his turn to pay it forward. Praise God that he seems to put such people in my path whenever I need them most! As soon as we cleared customs, hubby was waiting for me. It was so good to see him!

We headed to our rental car, which is another answer to prayer. All the places hubby had checked were ridiculously expensive and what was affordable was a tiny standard, which I am NOT comfortable driving in the states, let alone in a foreign country! He considered giving up and telling us not to come. We are not allowed in his company vehicles, so without a car, it wouldn’t really work here for us. However, determined something would work out, he told us to go ahead & come. While we were in route, he tried one last rental company. They had a somewhat affordable small car that would work, but was standard. Hearing hubby’s quandary, she decided to upgrade him to another car. Since it had not yet been cleaned since the previous renter, we could have it for the cost of the affordable car. I believe God moved her heart to show us favor as this one was an automatic Mercedes Benz with GPS navigation! Praise the Lord! So off we headed to "our" Mercedes. Hubby told Bug he’s quite certain this is the only week Bug will ever be able to refer to a Mercedes as "our car."

The navigation system took us to our home for our stay here. We brought up our bags, freshened up, and headed out to try to pick up some things we needed and eat lunch. Then we all fell asleep for a nap. It’s amazing that on 3 hours sleep we were able to make it to the kids’ normal 1:00 rest time. I think the sunlight and adrenaline helped. We limited our nap to two hours, then everyone was up and we headed to a nearby castle. We came here once before when Bug was around a year old. Obviously he was mostly along for the ride that time. This time as we approached the castle, he called out, "We’re knights, and we’re storming the castle." This one is quite open and the kids had so much fun exploring it, playing hide & seek, and running in an open, enclosed field. It was the perfect beginning to our trip.

For dinner we ate at the castle restaurant overlooking the valley. It was amazing. We wanted a traditional German meal so we ordered bratwurst with sauerkraut. They were out so we asked the waiter what traditional German meal he would recommend. He recommended Yeagerspitzel with rice & salad, so we went with that. Oh. My. Word. It was SO good! Between the views, the food, and being reunited as a family, it was a meal I will long remember.

After dinner, we headed around the castle to explore the few spots we hadn’t yet explored outside. At one point I began to get a tad annoyed with a local boy. I wanted to take a photo of Bug, but where-ever I tried to pose him, this little boy would jump in instead. Bug wasn’t much interested in posing, so I finally settled for a photo with the other little boy in it. Baby doll & I moved on to explore the next area while hubby & Bug stayed near the little boy. Hubby said that after I left, the boy and Bug started playing together. One would do something, then the other would mimic the action and vice-versa. He said it was amazing that despite the language barrier, they could play so well together. Mostly through motions, hubby asked the boy his age and he said he was 4. No wonder! What a four year old was doing playing with us with no parents in view is beyond me, but I regretted my previous annoyance and am glad that preschoolers’ play can transcend language barriers.

We headed back to bed and to our room for the night, making a brief stop at a playground to get out the last few wiggles. Our room for the night was not at all family friendly, but just after we put the kids to bed, God provided a much better room for us to move into the next morning. About 2 and a half hours after we all fell asleep, we were all back awake. Can you say JET LAG? Yuck. Finally after HOURS of coaxing, the kids fell back asleep, right about the time hubby had to get up for an EARLY (3 am) show time at work. Once he left, the kids and I fell asleep until he came home, we woke up, and moved to our new, much nicer, much more family friendly room. That starts a new day though, so I think it deserves a new entry, which I will have to write another day.