The Morrows

The Annual Christmas Letter

2011-12-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Season’s greetings from South Texas! We had another fun and crazy year in 2011, with some camping adventures, a trip to the Gulf Coast with Mary’s family, and visits to Utah and Colorado. Read on for our individual summaries:

Mary, the star performer of the family, got to show off her bad side in two different lead roles at the local community theater, playing a manipulative crook in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and an evil Greek muse in Xanadu. She was really fun to watch (and got some nice reviews in the newspaper) and we enjoyed having our familes come down for the shows. As if that wasn’t enough, she wrote, directed, filmed, and edited a musical skit for the church youth group, and continues to sing with Mastersingers. I’m trying to prepare myself for the day when I wake up to find that she has run off to Broadway.

As for me, I’m almost done with Nephrology fellowship and I found out that I’ll be staying put in San Antonio for 3 more years after I graduate next summer. As part of my training, I had to go to a demanding medical conference that involved a seven day stay on the Las Vegas strip and a night out to see Donnie and Marie with my mom. I started playing in a basketball league again, trying to regain some of that high school glory, and I also biked in in two 100K rides and raced in two duathlons. As proof that I’m getting old and boring, I started a vegetable garden and I actually like to talk about my plants in social settings.

Abby is a happy second-grader and is doing great in school (and already writing love notes about boys L). She tried out for the kids troupe at the community theater and got the role of the Mollie in Annie Jr. She made an adorable orphan to say the least. Besides theater, she played soccer this year and and is going to try basketball this winter – I’ll be the coach, so I’m going to make sure she is the star.

Olivia started daily pre-K and is having fun being a schoolgirl and riding the bus. She can play for hours on end by herself with travel-size lotions and soaps as the characters, and also likes to shimmy up door frames in her spare time. She played soccer this year, and we may put her disturbing flexibility to use in gymnastics next year.

Gavin is a great little two year old, with a huge smile and a sweet personality. We love having a little boy, even more so now that he has lately started to cut down on his habit of hurling bowls and plates full of food across the kitchen. Unfortunately, he now just throws the remote control instead whenever one his frequent demands to watch cartoons is ignored, but it’s a lot easier to clean up than mashed potatoes, and he makes up for his outbursts by saying “I wuv you.”

Well, that’s it - thanks for reading to the end. We hope life finds you well and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Love,
Ben, Mary, Abigail, Olivia, and Gavin Morrow

2011-02-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Look at this face!

It's a good thing he's cute... he needs something in his corner when I'm at my wits end! With his strong personality and demands, and my go-with-the-flow attitude, I fear he's grooming our relationship to get whatever he wants. When he doesn't want something, he hucks it. Milk too cold, it's gone. Not in the mood for dinner anymore, it's all over the floor. Tired of sitting in church for the 2 minutes we've been there, he gets loud... and stays loud until he gets what he wants! Take a look at this mouth.

You can imagine the noise it produces when looking like that. But he also is the most charming! It's so easy to get a laugh out of him. And really, all he wants is someone to play with. If I could stop everything and just get on the floor with him, he's happy.
He's only 17 months, but I pose a question... Is it too early to "discipline" a kid? Do I just ignore his demands, or is there a technique I'm missing? What kind of things do you do to help teach your babies what is allowed and what's not?

We LOVE our Gavin and think it's so fun to have this boy in our family! I think we're just in the "waiting it out" phase, and that's OK. Can't wait for those 2's trantrums! :)

Remember the time...

2011-01-28T07:48:00.001-08:00

I love how music has power over your mind, like a transport to another time, a lost memory, another feeling, bringing a smile, a laugh, or cringe... either way, music is cool! Last night Ben and I took the girls to a pizza joint for dinner and it must have been 80's night--a flood of songs that made me feel oh-so-cool in elementary school. And it's interesting that certain songs can belong to certain people. Like Billy Joel's, "Uptown Girl"-- that's riding in the car with my dad, loudly listening and singing along.

But the one that takes the cake.... "Lady in Red". Who can't have a memory associated with this song? It was only played at every stake & school dance. I did sing this to Ben at our first date/dance, changing the words to "man with red hair", but the song still belongs to a high school friend of mine! (Sorry if you are reading, I bet you'd laugh at it now.)

There was a time where someone was actually obsessed with me. I know, I know. Weird. I would find an orange construction cone outside my door with a rose sticking out of it.., or a message on the seminary board to me (or in my scriptures that stayed at the seminary building), or a Christmas present--a framed picture of those cute black and white photos of young kids (where one would be holding a rose or something romantic) with a secret message written in code inside the frame that I would have to figure out... but the one that topped them all was the tape stuck to my car door with a flower. It was full of love songs, but not just love songs, edited portions of love songs that led me right to the things he was thinking/feeling. "Lady in Red" was on there and I found a hidden message from him within the song. I remember spending a good part of a morning with a friend listening to it over and over to figure out what he was saying. I think it was "will you be my girlfriend" or something like that. I STILL don't really know!

But anyway, I think I could find a memory for every old song that comes on. Journey's "Open Arms" was the song that I would cry to as I remembered a boy I really liked telling me we couldn't be together. Lauren Hill & Samantha Mumba is the Riviera apartments, dancing in my living room with roommates. My dad singing Beatle's "Do You Want To Know a Secret" to his girls, and the middle part of "A Day In the Life" every morning to get us up. "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About" is my sister's song with her old boyfriend-- my mom and I called him up after his mission and their break-up to play this song to him, trying to rekindle the flame. (woops!) "That's What Friends Are For" is my other sister, Courtney. "Yellow" by Coldplay brings me back to first dating Ben. Cranberries, "Linger" is Andrea and I recording ourselves singing this in high school. "Carmen" opera is my mom (from getting Gustov the Mole for us to read/listen to)... and on, and on, and on.

Anyway, I'm grateful for songs that help preserve our memories! What are some of your favorite songs/memories?

And, in case you are wondering... yes I did date that guy later, but only after he stopped being creepy :)

My Inner Voice

2011-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

Remember when blogging used to be about standing on your soap-box, or having some interesting story to share, or maybe even a neat tip that others would love to know? Maybe you still do that so you don't have to remember... or maybe you're like me where blogging has turned into journaling your family's latest and greatest... My current style of blogging is becoming a drag to me, not to mention I'm ALWAYS behind! So here's to my inner-voice that says, surely you have something to say! I'm breaking free! Yes, I will still have the latest and greatest because I am a stay-at-home mom and my children are my life! But I also want to challenge my mind a little more... maybe form an opinion? If I were to use one word to describe me, I would use INDIFFERENT. So this can be a sort of therapy for me as well! And for those that don't care, feel free to bypass the entries until you find a picture! There you will most-likely find the journaling!
So for this entry, I'm doing a poll. Now that I've addressed my new goal (for me more than you, sorry), let me see why YOU read other blogs. Check my column for the poll.

Not Your Average Rice Pudding!

2010-12-28T08:55:00.001-08:00

So in hopes to find a dreamy new dessert for my Christmas Eve meal, I tried "Creamy Rice Pudding Cake" from Lori Longbotham's Luscious Creamy Desserts. I am a tad-bit of a cream-o-holic, so I was a little disappointed at the dryness of the final product. Next time, I'll skip the part that turns it into a cake and eat it as a pudding! Here is the recipe as a rice pudding:

4 cups half-and-half
2/3 cup Arborio or other short-grain Italian rice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
8 strips lemon zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
3/4 tsp. ground coriander
pinch of salt
1 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Bring half-and-half, rice, brown sugar, zest, coriander, and salt to a simmer in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat and cook at a bare simmer, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes, then discard the zest and whisk in vanilla. If you want some added sweetness, you could serve it with meringue cream*, whipped cream, or fresh fruit. Lemony and creamy, two of my favorites!

*Meringue cream: 2 large egg white, 6 tbsp. sugar, 3/4 cup heavy cream, 3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract. At least 30 min. before serving, beat egg whites on medium-high until whites form soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 tbsp of sugar at a time and continue to beat until whites form stiff peaks. In another bowl, beat cream with the vanilla on medium-high until the cream forms stiff peaks. Fold cream into meringue until well combined. Refrigerate, tightly covered, for at least 20 min. (or for up to 6 hours).

Season's Greetings!

2010-12-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, from the Morrow Family!

Whoa There, June! (Part III)

2010-10-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm too behind to say much... Here's the short story-- Ben's grandparents headed up a trip to Key West, FL (where Ben's grandpa was born). On our drive down to the Keys, we stopped at the swamplands to visit some gators! I was surprised at how brave Abby was in the reptile show! I still won't touch a snake to this day, but Abby volunteered to go up front and hold one. ...But I did hold a baby alligator :)

We also got to cruise the swamp waters on a hover boat... a refreshing, loud, fun ride!

In Key West, Ben booked a condo on a Navy base (lacking charm and ocean view, but hey, it was cheap). Plus, his family stayed with us so we were able to hang out more together. I had never felt such heat and humidity! Some of the things we did were...
Celebrate Bill & Carol's 50th wedding anniversary!

Beach time

Eating out! (Cuban, seafood & Sloppy Joes with live music)

And taking in the sights...

Linda was SUCH a trooper! She had some not-so-fun medical issues with her dialysis come up, and she still got out and made the best of it! Wo-MAN!

The house Bill was born in!

Ben and I took a jet ski tour around the islands!

Let us share some the the Key West charm with you!

Whoa There, June! (Part II)

2010-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

I should be saying, "Whoa there, life!"...not just June (since it's September and I'm still working on June). But our 2nd trip of the summer was to none other than the beautiful state of Pennsylvania! Abby had been wanting to see where she was born so we said, why not!
Being in the military, we're always looking for steals and deals, so we hit up Sesame Place amusement park for FREE. Ben, Gavin and Abby were chosen to be in the Elmo's World show (Abby as a "fish" dancer and Ben and Gavin for the part where Elmo asks the "baby" a question and gives him a kiss). I LOVED Sesame Street and the muppets as a kid, so it made me smile to share that place with my kids.

We also visited downtown Philly in the pouring rain. We toured the Mint, then found our way to a HUGE market with lots of vendors and goodies (philly cheesesteak sandwiches, of course!...which happened to be closed by the time we got there but that's besides the point. Oh, and our umbrella got stollen. The Philly charm never ceases).
Our next stop was in Amish country! We stayed at a farm bed and breakfast (Rocky Acre B&B) and the kids LOVED it! They still want to go back. My favorite part was the breakfast feast and driving the golf cart, Ben's, playing with the kids, Livi loved the kittens, and Abby made a friend and had fun doing it all-- morning pony rides, hay rides through the country side, big tire swing by the creek, collecting eggs from the chicken coop, saying hi to the goat "Cookie"...

And finally, we made our way to Hershey and stayed with our gracious hosts, the Parrish's! Jackson and Abby are the same age and had loads of fun (so did Asher and Livi as they tried to keep up). We were able to hit some old hot spots in town, like Palermos for a stromboli, and Rita's Ice for a gelato-- Italian ice layered with frozen custard. I KID YOU NOT, they had SWEDISH FISH ice which was heavenly! Ben and Mitch took the kids on a canoe ride down the Swatara Creek, and Wendy and I took the babies to the outlets. Who can resist no tax on clothes! :) I also got to meet up with some friends from the playhouse I used to act with. Wendy is quite the photographer, so she did an impromptu family photo shoot for us at the Hotel Hershey. Thanks, Wendy! I love 'em, and trust me, we didn't give her much to work with :)

It's fun reliving memories with familiar places and old friends. Pennsylvania will always feel like another home to us, and that makes me happy.

Whoa there, June! (Part I)

2010-07-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

Yea!! Ben finished his year of being Chief Resident in the end of May. He didn't start his Nephrology fellowship until July 1, so we had JUNE free! We didn't waste a minute! Our first adventure was to Fredericksburg, TX, in the beautiful hill country. We love it because it has German roots, so it reminded us of our beloved time in Germany. Here's a maypole!

We had fun at the crawfish festival. There were vendors with lots of Cajun foods, and of course lots of crawfish dishes. Ben and I opted for the whole steamed shrimps instead though... :)

Always a dance floor in TX!

Hiking enchanted rock:

Enjoying the pool right outside our motel's door

And later...enjoying the motel room, while we enjoyed the pool, right outside the door.

The main street is fun walk. We checked out an art gallery and found an artist painting. He let Abby help!

It was a fun weekend, but just the beginning of our fun-filled month of JUNE!
(To be continued)

Fancy Nancy

2010-05-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Abby's elementary school held a "character parade" where the student was to pick a character from one of their favorite books, dress up like them, and parade around the school displaying the book. Abby picked Fancy Nancy.

Some friends from her class

Her kindergarten class... one and a half weeks left 'til summer break!

Spring Pictures!

2010-04-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid this blog is turning into a picture site... I don't have the energy to write creative, moving or deep posts... but I do have cute pictures of cute kids!

The nearby great outdoors of Texas!

Wildflowers outside our house in the field nextdoor

Swinging

Gavin's latest trick!

Easter!

...and Ben and I at a friend's murder mystery party. I ended up being the killer!!

Rodeo Pictures

2010-03-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

We went downtown to the rodeo this year on President's Day. There's lots of animals to see, rides to ride, and food to eat!

Next year, I'm going to try a hot beef sundae! The fried PB & J looks good too :)

January Business

2010-01-15T06:53:00.001-08:00

First item of business, OLIVIA underwent her second eye-muscle surgery and the surgeon was quite pleased with the outcome! Previously, both eyes would drift outwards. The ophthalmologists measured the amount of drifting at each visit, and used that number to determine how far back to reattach her muscle on the side of her eyeballs (loosening up it's grip to prevent drifting). Surgery is AMAZING! How they figure this stuff out, I'll never know. Had they done too much, they would cause her to be cross-eyed. He said she was right on, thankfully. I'm grateful that Olivia could be a beneficiary of such a service!

Second item of business... WHERE IS THE SUN AND WARMTH?! Hello, this is Texas! Well we did catch a little break and enjoyed the park together. But we're ready for the 70 degree weather that's headed our way next week. Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr! We're headed to the zoo. (That sounded trite-- Abby learned a lot about Martin Luther King, Jr. and doesn't understand a world that would judge based on skin color. She listed people in her class that would be in another school if things had not changed, and it saddened her. She asked a lot of questions about segregation and understands it all quite well (for a 5 year old)!)

Third item of business... Gavin at 4 months. I'm bad at posting new pictures of him, so here are a couple of him playing.

This picture is when he was still 3 months. The kid likes to eat! I wish sleep were on that list too!

Fellowship

2010-01-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS, BEN!

Ben got the Nephrology Fellowship spot that starts next July (making him a specialist in kidneys). Though being an attending didn't last as long as I would've liked :), I'm proud of him and his dedication. Love ya, babe~

Christmas in Texas

2010-01-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

December was chuck full of festivities that kept our Christmas spirit alive! The first week of December, Ben's grandparents came for a visit. How fun for me to have grandparents again :)

Catching the Christmas Festival in Gruene, TX

I had 2 Christmas concert series with the San Antonio Symphony and Mastersingers, so my holidays were a tad busy with rehearsals and concerts. We sang Handel's Messiah, and did a Holiday Pops Concert with many classics and a sing-along.

The Marble clan came to our house for Christmas this year. It was fun having them and doing Marble traditions! ...Some being opening family gifts on Christmas Eve in order of age (until my girls couldn't wait anymore) and having a prime rib dinner.

...And Christmas morning was full of excitement

So we love December at our house! Having a baby boy at this time of year makes my heart more full in remembering a sweet baby Jesus and His gift to us all!
May your 2010 be bright!
Our New Year's Festivities

(For those wanting to see Ben in these pictures... sorry...he was the photographer.)

Colorado!

2009-12-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

For about the past year, I've been planning a surprise party for my dad's 60th birthday with my sister Ashley. I booked a barn out in Sedalia, CO, planned the food (which came from a TX style BBQ place), invited over 100 people (including his brother & sisters' families from UT), booked a band, planned a pregnancy and delivered my son 4 weeks prior to heading to CO so we could have a reason to gather. OK, so maybe some of it was luck-- but the plan to bless Gavin in CO gave my sisters family and mine a reason to travel to my parents house without causing my dad to suspect anything. We successfully pulled off the surprise and I learned a few things:

I can be a good liar, but it kind of stresses me out... that goes double for my mom :)
Not having to make the food is definitely the way to go
Guests invited to surprise parties may drop off a card/gift the day of the party to say happy birthday (Hey...don't ruin it!)
Having wedding decorations isn't so bad (there was a reception the next day and they decorated before the party)
If you're using technology, plan on it failing-- and then stressing to pull something together. Ben did good :)
The surprise will never be ruined for a 60 year-old man

My sister Ashley and I with my dad

Courtney & Jack getting ready to sing the entrance song of "You say it's your birthday" from Beatles

The "surprise" moment

Dancing and fun
{Check out that slide show projection below... it took me months to collect pictures for it, and our computer crashed right before the party. Plan B was almost as good :)}

You could say the party was "thumbs up"!

The rest of the weekend kept us busy too. Olivia turned 3! Everyone sang to her at my dad's party too (her actual birthday).

Gavin Benjamin was blessed:

and lots of playtime

Good times!

He's here! Gavin Benjamin Morrow, born 09/09/09.

2009-09-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

It's the Final Countdown!

2009-09-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

Since I've been thinking I'd have the baby "any minute now" for the past week, time got to be a real drag, and life was quite boring! But Labor Day weekend was awesome, thanks to the Merbacks! They came into town, and we had plans with them and our other friends everyday. Eating, talking, shopping, BYU football game, and more eating and talking pretty much covers it. I've started feeling anti-social during the summer/pregnancy, so I'm glad to have sparked my love for hanging out with friends again!

Now most pregnant people in their right mind don't like to post pictures of themselves for everyone to stare at, but I thought you'd like to see why people ask if I'm having twins, or commenting on how big and low I am... :)

Makes a good seat though :)

Ashley and Joey
(used to live in SA but moved to OK last year)

Abby and Georgie (their 3 yr. old)

Labor Day (which I had high hopes for...) turned out to be a good day--more shopping for me (walking around), biking for Ben, and swimming for the girls.

We also can't pass up free food, so we dressed in team shirts to get free chick-fi-lay sandwiches

...and ice cream of course

NEXT POST WILL BE ABOUT OUR NEW BABY!! I'm scheduled to be induced tomorrow, 9/9/09! Please don't let me be bumped!

Kindergarten!

2009-09-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Abby has now finished her 2nd week of Kindergarten and she loves it! Poor girl gets woken up at 6:45 am (after I'm already ready for the day, so feel sorry for ME), starts class at 7:45 and gets out at 2:45pm. I'm soooo glad she had pre-k every day last year to get her somewhat ready for this long schedule. So here are her "first-day" pictures, even though it was the 2nd day of school. She was sick and had to miss the real first day.

The whole family took her

No tears, no fuss, all smiles

End of Summer

2009-09-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

...Okay, not temperature wise here in TX, but psychologically. School is back in session, our pool is closed (dumb), and fall clothes line the shelves in the stores (even though long sleeved stuff doesn't go very far here). So here are some pictures of our final summer days...

Braving the heat and trying to do fun things like "The Christmas Carol Train Tour" by Disney... that fan was the best part of it :)

Swimming days!

Being pregnant and getting ready for baby boy to join us (my friend and her mother-in-law threw me a shower, and we finally got the room ready and moved Livi in with Abby)

And, again, being pregnant! (me at 39 weeks... come on already!!)

Baby Update

2009-08-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

50% effaced, 2 centimeters, 38 weeks...
When will we meet this little man of ours?

Five!

2009-08-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Abby had a blissful, laid-back 5th birthday. She got her big present in the morning, which distracted her and Olivia much of the day. Who looks more excited? Love it when you can get double the use out of presents! I'm guessing our boy-to-come will just want the chuck the furniture around...

Abby wanted her hair curled for her party that night so we spent some time glamouring up.

...And did more of it at the PJ party that night!

And here's the cake. So I realized a half hour before the party that I bought gel food coloring, not decorative gel icing... so the flower pattern on the bed quilt wasn't quite what I wanted, but still tasted good :)

Luckily all the girls at the party were just as girly as Abby, so everything was a hit and they played great together (not to mention her loving all their gifts).

I'm so grateful for my sweet girl, and am proud of who she is becoming! I just can't believe I have to start the whole early morning school thing already (Kindergarten 7:30 to 2:30--WHAT?!)... but I know she'll do great!
Love ya, Abby!

Abby's Birthday Wish

2009-07-28T19:37:00.001-07:00

Abby has really wanted to get her ears pierced for a while, but I was able to put it off until her 5th birthday (which is this week). We went to Walmart, picked out some "crystal flower" earrings, and it happened before she even knew it. No tears (close though), but huge smiles the rest of our 2+ hour Walmart trip-- why does everything take so much longer... oh wait. I know. I'm 35 weeks pregnant, Olivia hates staying in the cart and isn't exactly quick to follow my lead, potty stops...
ANYWAY, Abby was giddy about her ears the rest of the day and can't wait for everyone to see them. Right after she was done, Olivia sat in her seat, holding the "earring gun", and said "my turn!". Give us a few years, Livi.

Cleaning

Poking (the lady didn't tell us that she was doing it so that's why Abby's still smiling)

All done, and looking in the mirror
*Side note: Notice the wrench around Abby's neck? She found some of my old keychain collection and decided to make some new necklaces. She really likes her jewelry!

Ta-da!

Canyon Lake and Comal Springs in Landa Park

2009-07-27T20:11:00.001-07:00

Exciting Times...

2009-07-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

FOUR to be exact... (in chronological order)

1st-- Ben and I saw WICKED the musical together on a fabulous date night-- my second time, his first. "Everyone deserves the chance to fly!" Love it...

2nd-- FATHER'S DAY! Abby made a cute drawing of her daddy and answered some questions about him on the back. She took him out on a date to Wing Stop later in the week and got dressed up, accessorizing with lipstick and a mirror in a little purse. She kept checking her lipstick in the mirror throughout the date, and after dinner, excused herself to the restroom to reapply. But was the date over... nope. She wanted to stay out and do something else, so he took her to a few stores and found some things to buy. She knows how to work it! They love their dad!

3rd-- We celebrated the 4th of July together as a family. We realized it was our fist time in TX to do so... he had been on-call for 2 of them in the past. I won't be missing that residency schedule! We spent the day dining out, shopping, swimming and BBQing with friends, and watching the close-by Sea World fireworks (from the car). Hurray for America!

4th-- I picked a color! Okay, if you know me, you know I have a tough time making decisions. I ended up buying or borrowing 7 colors and sampled them on our wall, as well as mixing some of them to see if I could come up with that "perfect" color. Well our family room is being painted TODAY, so I forced a decision and I think I really like it. I'll show pics later of the finished results. But I think Ben is the most happy about it! No more paint talk :)

This concludes the current exciting times for the Morrows

Wrigley Field

2009-06-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's Official!

2009-06-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Ben's graduation from Residency! These past 3 years have flown by! No more saying, "oh, he's just a resident..." :), he's a DOCTOR! Way to go, Ben! What an accomplishment, I'm so proud of you! What a great fit too-- you're so great at what you do. He won't tell you this, but he's so good, he has lady patients switching over to his care, and telling him he's their favorite. ...Bet he's the "McDreamy" of Wilford Hall to all those older ladies! CONGRATULATIONS, Ben! We love you~

(His fellow Internal Medicine grads)

Dancing Queen

2009-06-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

Abby had a dance recital to wrap up her year in ballet and tap. She was in 3 numbers, and thoroughly enjoyed herself! The best part for her was dressing up, of course, and getting a trophy afterwards of a gold ballerina. Here are some pictures of her and her cute class.

WAY TO GO, ABBY!

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

I had a great mother's day weekend! My choir sang our final concert series of the season with the SA symphony... ending with a bang (literally-- some intense Russian music). I love the challenge and practice I get with Mastersingers.

Then Sunday was awesome, of course, because I have a wonderful family that I'm so grateful for! Ben and the kids are great at making meals, and gift-giving... but I love how Mother's day makes me so in-love with my kids, and grateful that I get to be their mom.

With Abby in school, she brings home a lot of fun projects to share with us. For mother's day, she made me a big card and dyed paper for making a flower bouquet (the one to the left). On her card, she filled in questions about me, and drew a nice picture of me (which later, she wanted to add "dots" on the face for my freckles...I told her "no, that's okay, I like it the way it is," and took it away). According to Abby, my job is to take care of her, my favorite color is brown, my favorite food is hot dogs, my favorite thing to do is play barbies. I think she started answering them in first person. I loved it!

This year was especially great because we got to share mother's day with Ben's mom. We loved having her here! She's been sick for a while, so it was great to get her here and have the girls spend time with her. We got to take a quick trip to the beach and enjoy the warm water and sand (her favorite!) We'll blog more about the trip later. But thanks for coming out, Linda!

Megan and her boy, Tanner, came too, and those cousins loved playing together. They all have different shades of red and it was so cute to see them together.

SO it was a fun, eventful weekend. Hope you mom's enjoyed your special day!

OLIVIA!

2009-04-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to have a moment of focus on our Livi--she's such a trooper! She just had eye-muscle surgery on both eyes last week and she came out of it with flying colors... almost acted like nothing happened! She even brings the steroid drops to us and asks us to put them in for her daily dose. I don't know how much easier she could make things like this... it's more like she's a comfort to me than vice versa. She'll most likely need another surgery, and watching her handle it all so well makes me feel more okay with it. So here's to our happy Olivia!

WE LOVE YOU!!

News Flash

2009-04-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my radiologist nurse neighbor, Ben and I got to take a quick look at my baby and find out that we're having....... a BOY! The doctor took like a second and said, there you go, it's a boy. I totally needed more time than a second to prepare for that so I said are you sure? ... I guess you don't ask that when you have a clear shot of the obvious. So I shed a couple tears of joy/freaking out and Ben was thoroughly happy about it. So that's our news. Any good boy names? Send them our way!

Easter Fun!

2009-04-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Decorating Easter CookiesEaster Egg Hunt at Church

Easter Sunday!

Hope you had an "egg"cellent Easter!
:)

Camping at Mustang Island

2009-04-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Mary was busy getting ready for a big concert last week so I took the girls camping at the beach near Corpus Christi. They were great little campers and they loved the ocean. Enjoy the pictures.

T

Princess For a Day

2009-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Abby had a fabulous day doing what she loves most!! The Paul Mitchell School was doing a charity event where they invite young girls to come and be pampered, while the money goes toward their choice of charity (i.e. cancer). Abby wore her Cinderella dress and received an "up-do", a manicure, make-up, beaded a necklace and bracelet, and collected some fun goodies like her tiara barret, flower clip and candy.

Thanks, Tyrina!

We ran erands together afterwards, and she kept thanking me for the great time she had. What a sweetie! She enjoyed her "girls" day and once again proved to me that she is more girlie than I ever was... ok, am.

Deep Sea Fishing

2009-03-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my long awaited deep sea fishing adventure with my friends Ian, John, and Howard. We headed down to Corpus Christi at 4:30 AM on Saturday and somehow arrived without a speeding ticket after pushing 100 mph the entire way down. We got on the boat and it wasn't too long before I started getting seasick, despite the Scopolomine patches that we had prescribed for eachother. As you can see in this picture, I'm not feeling well, but I eventually got over it.

We finally made it out to our deep sea destination about 40 miles off the coast and the good times began. We were fishing for kingfish, which are big time fighters and apparently take off going about 30 mph when they get hooked. This guy took me about 20 minutes to bring in.

One angry fish bit Ian on the ankle. He also later got bit on the hand after sticking his fingers in its mouth.

After a nice day at sea, we all caught our limit and headed back to camp at the beach. We grilled our prized catch over an open fire and headed home the next day with about 60 pounds of fish filets between us. Good times were had by all.

Baby #3

2009-02-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

I guess I haven't officially announced on here that I'm pregnant! I'm at 13 weeks, and am due Sept. 4... another hot TX summer being pregnant, but at least I can swim! I was urged by others to add the little baby ticker that does the count-down for you on your blog, so it's there. It kind of creeps me out, but that's our angel. :) I had an ultrasound yesterday, and was glad to see it looking more like a baby than an alien. The baby looked as if it was sucking his/her thumb... cute. Ben's of course hoping for a boy, to even out the household a little bit. But the real bet will be....... will it have red hair, or not?!

Bocelli Concert

2009-02-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Blogging has taken a back seat for a little while, but I'm going to try to keep up now. There's one thing, however, worth going back in time for... The Cavalleria Rusticana Opera concert was an amazing experience, one I'm so grateful I could be a part of! It was my first official try at singing opera (in the chorus), and I really liked it. There were 5 featured soloists from all over the world, Andrea Bocelli being the most famous. Someone in Mastersingers (my choir) took some cool pics of the event and rehearsals, so here are a few.

Concert Night
(I'm 2nd row, to the far left :)

Outside Municipal Auditorium after the concert

Bocelli playing during rehearsal
On the second night's performance, he came out afterwards to the raging crowd and played/sang his Ave Maria, followed by a duet with his costar, Victoria (who had an amazing, pure soprano voice).

He actually started singing during this photo, so I joined in. :)

Mom

2009-01-20T05:58:00.000-08:00

OK, this is our LAST post about Germany... It's just so hard to part from it (moment of silence), but actually it wasn't. Though we loved it, it was SOOOO nice to get to warm Texas, and get back to our house and toys and ditch the luggage, and head to Chili's Restaurant where the water was ever-filled up, and free no less!

So for our last post, I want to thank my mom again, for making the trip out to see us! I'm so glad she was able to spend time with members of the family (Ulerich and Gerlinde) that she lived with when she was a foreign exchange student during her high school days. My kids and I spent some time with Gerlinde and her family as well, and I was glad to get a glimpse of what a real German family is like. So mom, thanks for the time, the endless herbal tea, the traveling, and the babysitting for Ben and I's trip to Paris! The kids loved having you, and so did I! Love ya~

Spending time with Gerlinde

Abby and Nino still played great with the language barrier!

Heidelberg Castle

Anniversary in Paris

2009-01-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Mary's mom Cathy came to visit us in Germany and somehow got roped into watching the kids for a weekend so Mary and I could go to Paris and celebrate our anniversary. I'm still not sure if she volunteered to watch them or if we pressured her into it, but either way we're extremely grateful. It was the first time we've been anywhere alone since before Abby was born.

We got to Paris by high speed ICE (intercity express) train. It was a pleasant ride through the French countryside at a mere 315 km/h.

Our first stop was Sephora, a gigantic perfume store on the Champs Elysses. We sampled just about everything in the store before deciding on some French fragrances to bring home with us.

The Arc de Triomphe, a war monument built in Napoleon's time, was a cool stop. The views from the top were amazing.

We ran into Quasi Moto at the Notre Dame cathedral, another very cool place and the point from which all distances are measured in Paris.

We happened to be in Paris on the first Sunday of the month, which meant free admission to the the Louvre. The crowds were crazy inside, and we had to elbow our way to the front of a huge group to see the famous, but not all that exciting, Mona Lisa. The Louvre is so massive that we only saw a small part of it in the two hours we were there, but what we did see was pretty impressive. More on that in a future post.

We froze our butts off going to the top of the Eiffel tower at night, but now we can add ourselves to the long list of people to have kissed at said location. Totally worth it.

Strasbourg, France

2009-01-02T22:04:00.001-08:00

Today was a great day trip to France. We drove to the city of Strasbourg (about an 1 1/2 hours from Landstuhl), which is in Alsace and is known as the Christmas Capital of Europe. Our first stop was the area town called Petite France. As you can see, it's a pretty well preserved section of town with cobblestone streets and buildings from the 1600's. It was fun walking around and hearing the people speak French after a month of listening to German.

Our next stop was the Cathedral of our Lady of Strasbourg, built in the 1200s and considered a Gothic masterpiece. The square outside the church was completely packed with people because the annual Christmas Market was in full swing. The cathedral was beautiful from the outside, especially with the Christmas lights and decorations surrounding it.

We jostled our way through the crowd and eventually made it inside. The interior was really nice. There was a large, complicated looking contraption called an Astronomical clock. We were there too late to get a demo, but it looked interesting. There was also a nice tribute on the wall to the American military for their sacrifices in freeing Alsace during WWII.

We wandered the cobblestone streets for a while, then found a place for dinner that served flammekueche, also known as tarte flambee, which is as an Alsation specialty that looks sort of like a pizza. I've added a nice stock photo from Wikipedia to illustrate.
We rounded out the night with some more shopping. Take note of Mary's fabulous new hat in the picture below.

Christmas in Germany

2008-12-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

For the first time ever, we had Christmas with just our family and without me having to work. We had a really nice and relaxing day here in Landstuhl. On Christmas Eve, Mary made a nice dinner and we opened a few presents, including the new pajamas that made Abby absolutely ecstatic.

On Christmas morning, Abby and Olivia found their new dolls and stroller waiting by the tree, then opened up their puzzles and movies and toys. When we were done, Abby said "I need more presents. I'm bored." Gotta love kids.

After lunch, we went up to the Burg Nantein, Landstuhl's small castle up the hill that was built in the 1100s. Abby and Livvie had a great time climbing all the stairs. The views were beautiful and we all had a lot of fun.

For dinner we ventured out to Zur dicken Emma - which translates to Big Emma, or Thick Emma, or Fat Emma depending on your translation resource.

Anyhow fat Emma's specializes in giant portions of schnitzel (fried pork chops that are similar to chicken fried steak). I ordered a half portion, which meant 17 ounces of pork that filled my entire plate. We had fun at dinner and then headed home to play with toys some more and watch our new movies.

2008-12-26T05:42:00.000-08:00

Rothenburg was our next stop. We drove from Garmisch to there mostly along the autobahn... I (Mary) was driving but it's all in kilometers so I couldn't decide how fast I was going (people were still passing me...) but later realized I was averaging 95 mph! There's no speed limit on their freeways... it was nice. :) When we got to Rothenburg, we drove through a gate to get inside the city wall and found narrow, cobblestone streets and very old buildings mostly from the 1300s. Our room had a patio looking out from the city wall into the Tauber Valley, which was a winter wonderland, and the hotel itself is built into the original city wall. That night we browsed the Christmas Market and got half-meter long hot dogs for dinner, and crepes for dessert. Ben stayed out to go on the Night Watchmans’s Tour. It was a really funny, witty tour about the life in medieval Rothenburg and Europe in general. I did it the next night.

In front of our Burg Hotel

The next day we did a lot of walking and looking within the walls and went into shops and bakeries. They have the coolest Christmas store, Kathe Wolfhart, where there’s practically a Christmas city built on the inside (along with a mini villiage with animals running it which the girls loved). We hit the Medieval Criminal and Punishment Museum, which had lots to see—instruments used to torture for a confession or punishment. They had certain punishments depending on what was done and what profession you were. If a baker sold bread that was too small, he could be placed in a cage and dunked in water until he couldn’t hold his breath anymore… or killed if they thought he could hold his breath longer when he couldn’t. Two ladies who fight can be put in a double headed vice where they face each other. They would have parades where those at charge would wear silly masks and bells (sign of degradation) for bystanders to watch and laugh at, or cage people up outside for the same purpose.

Olivia, the flirt, caught this Australian's eye, who was with his friends. A girl from the group asked us if we were American--she heard Abby talking and said she loved her accent! We told her we all like theirs!

The next morning, we checked out and took a stroll along the old city wall. It’s not hard to imagine what medieval times were like in a town like this. Excellent stop!

Olivia's favorite past-time

Going up to the wall

And that concludes our 2 week vacation portion of the Germany trip. We're now settled in Landstuhl where Ben works in the ICU at the military hospital. We are in an apartment right in the town of Landstuhl, and are enjoying our surroundings. We're trying to catch up, so we can put regular stuff on here again... so Merry Christmas, yesterday!

Day 12

2008-12-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

Today, we took the kids sledding at the local ski resort. We rented a plastic toboggan that had metal runners on the bottom. The sledding hill was pretty small, but the snow was packed down hard and we actually got going pretty fast. Abby had a great time. She went down once on her own and did fine. The second time down, she decided to turn around and wave at us. Bad idea. The sled flipped upside down and she went flying. After that, she wouldn’t go alone, but had tons of fun going down with one of us. Livi sort of liked it, but didn’t want to go as much as Abby.

After sledding we got lunch for Abby at the ubiquitous McDonald’s (Abby calls it Old McDonald’s) and went back for our afternoon siesta. In the evening, we ventured into town and found a traditional Bavarian restaurant for dinner. Mary and I had ham hocks and dumplings with bacon dressing cabbage. The girls shared a sausage hot pot – literally a pot of hot water brought to the table with three different kinds of boiled sausage in it. We went back to the resort to go swimming and hot tubbing for the last time. Abby had made a little friend named Isabella the day before, and she was ecstatic when she found Isabella at the pool. We stayed until almost ten o’clock and the girls had a great time. Isabella’s eleven year old brother played with Olivia most of the time, so we just relaxed. Olivia has become a real flirt, and she seems to especially like teenage boys already.

Hanging out in the Lobby before we leave for Rothenburg

Really likin' that lobby...

I heard everyone around saying "S'gott" instead of the usual "bitte" or "hallo" so I asked a local and found out that it's a Bavarian saying meaning, "God's greeting". Now you know some Bavarian trivia!

Day 10 &11

2008-12-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

Day 10, "Ben's Day"--Snowboarding was great today. I realized when I got to the top and was a bit rusty, that it had been three years since I last went. After a few runs, though, I was feeling back to my old mediocre snowboarding self. The place was called Classic Valley, just below Zugspitze – the highest mountain in Germany. Due to lack of good snow, only about a third of the resort was open. The weather was absolutely perfect – sunny all day with perfect blue sky, which made for great scenery. The niceness of the views made up for the less than stellar snow quality and iciness. It was fun being by myself for the day, after 10 days of the girls clinging to me at every move. I pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, then walked back to the lodge through some picturesque farmland in Garmisch. Every muscle I didn’t know I had was sore by the time I got back and the outdoor hottub was really nice after dinner. Hopefully I’ll get to go snowboarding before three years passes by again.

Riding up the gondola, with Garmisch behind me

Nice view of the Bavarian Alps and beyond

German soldiers getting ready for winter ski training

The lodge at the top, with the famous Zugspitze (the tallest mountain in Germany) in the background

Day 11, "Mary's Day"--

I went to Linderhof Palace today, by myself, and it was quite nice! The girls have been troopers, but I think they’re a little “toured” out. It was a freshly fallen snow morning, and as we drove through the mountains and meadows, I had the strong desire to Cross Country Ski! But the palace was pretty, and there was a nice scenic walk to get there. This time, his place was dedicated to King Louis XV (plus or minus—I never was good at the details in history). …BUT there was a piano there he included for Richard Wagner… eh? (If you’ll remember my idea on those two from the Neuschwanstein trip…)

Anyway, after that tour, I went to Oberammergau—the woodcarving capital in Germany. Of course I was abliged to buy a pyramid (one of those Christmas decorations with a “fan” on top, and the candles underneath fuel the spinning…), and some other things-- like the European scarf/shawls they all wear, and other woodcarved goods.

The center one is mine!

View from drive home

*Fun fact on this town for history people: So several centuries ago, this town was spared lives from the Black Death infecting everyone around them. In their rejoicing, they struck a deal with God and performed a “Passion Play”—an all day dramatic story of Christ’s crucifixion—lasting 100 days in a row. They still do this, every 10 years, seeing 5,000 per day during their shows! Anyway, I finished off my “day of alone time” with a heated stone massage at the lodge. Thanks, Ben!

Day 8-9

2008-12-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

Day 8 was a travel day from Salzburg, to Garmisch, connecting in Munich. We had less than 15 minutes at our connection to run with all of our belongings down to another platform. Phew! It was as far as it could possibly have been between the two trains. We made it just as they were about to close the doors and take off. We sat by an elderly German woman who spoke great English, and had a nice ride to Garmisch. When we got to the Edelweiss Lodge (military resort), we thought we’d died and gone to heaven. It was huge and so welcoming with a 2-story open lobby with a blazing fireplace and rocking chairs next to the largest indoor Christmas tree... along with a pool/hottub, restaurants, a spa, and best of all, a big room with 2 queen beds! It was good to have a little bit of America in Germany.

Day 9-- We woke up early this morning to get ready for our tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. We grabbed a quick breakfast and loaded onto a huge tour bus with large windows (great for site-seeing). We drove around and stopped at a woodcarver’s shop (tourist trap which we fell into), a church that was the most visited in Bavaria (because of a statue of Jesus that was seen to have tears and special powers).

Inside church (Christ statue is bottom left)

Once we arrived in Hohenschwangau, we hiked up to the castle on a trail for horse carriages, people, cars, whatever. Abby really loved playing in the snow, but due to our negligence of not putting on the right boots, she got cold, wet feet just in time for a lot of walking. At the top, Ben warmed her feet while I took her boots and socks into the WC (water closet or bathroom) and used the hand dryer to fix the problem. The castle was gorgeous, with a fascinating story. King Ludwig II had it built, and only occupied it for around 120 days until he was found mysteriously dead in a lake in Bavaria. The inside was filled with painted murals of Wagner’s operas. The castle was actually dedicated to him… they were close friends but Ben and I are convinced it was more than that. But it was neat to see where he resided (I’ll see his other residence in a couple days by myself). After that tour, we rode in a horse drawn carriage to the bottom, and dined at the Meuller Restaurant and finished it off with a slice of cake with Bavarian cream and gelled raspberry topping. (Something I’ll definitely miss.)

"Postcard" view of Neuschwanstein Castle

View from top, looking down onto another castle

Our tour bus took us home the scenic way, going through Austria. The snow-capped Alps are beautiful, and make me think winter isn’t so bad. We arrived back at Edelweiss Lodge and the whole bus had to show ID and the bus was totally checked out before re-entering the gates. Guess the guards have to be extra carefull… this US engineered place is quite a bit closer to terrorists.
We hit the pool and outdoor hottub after that, then had a typical American buffet of meats and macaroni and corn on the cob. Great day!

Day 7

2008-12-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

This morning, we checked out who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was by going to his preserved residence in Salzburg, Austria. Come to find out, he has quite a sense of humor, not to mention TALENT, but that’s obvious.

Abby behind Mozart's place, loving her new umbrella

Fun things to see

We spent a lot of the day up at the old Salzburg Castle on the hill. There is a little tram that can take you to the top, but with a long line and our sense of adventure, we hiked. Poor Ben had to push the stroller up, up, up very steep hills… so it was easy to decide we’d take the tram down. But the views on the way up were gorgeous, and the castle was a lot neater than we’d expected. There was a little Christmas Market at the top, and a little marionnette museum for the girls to play in.

Let's go?

Let's go!

Getting higher...

Almost there...

See, I said the view was gorgous :)

Oh, and this too!

After getting back down, I stayed in the shopping area for some more souvenirs. Later that night, Ben took the girls to Hellbrunn Palace where there was yet another Christmas Market, and a mini petting zoo for the kids. I enjoyed a trio concert playing Mozart music at the Mirabell Palace. Where better to hear Mozart’s music than in his old stomping grounds!

The Christmas Train wasn't an all-around hit

...But we usually end on a happy note!

Day 5-6

2008-12-15T05:04:00.000-08:00

Day 5 was a travel day to Salzburg, Austria-- not the funnest. We need a picture of all of the luggage we have and how we actually carry it all when running for a train! I'm sure you'd find it amusing... the Germans do.

Day 6-- This morning was a rude awakening because we all "slept" in a double bed and woke up early to catch breakfast before we met our Sound of Music Tour-guide. Bruno took us around town in his yellow van with a girl from LA in the front, Olivia, Ben and Abby in the middle, and me (the extremely sensitive-to-car-sickness person) in the back. We drove around Salzburg and he pointed out some sites from the movie, made some stops, and drove us into some smaller Austrian towns. The lakes backdropped with the Alps were beautiful! We made a pit-stop for some apple streudel, ice cream and hot chocolate overlooking it all. By the time we got back, I said a quick thank-you and bolted up to my hotel room to throw-up (which I surprisingly didn’t…)

Grounds of Mirabell Palace, with Salzburg castle in the background

Lake in front of Sound of Music house (filmed in movie)

Church "Maria and Capt. Von Trapp" were married in (movie only)

After a rest in the hotel room, we went walking around the town shops, ate at a Turkish/greek spot, bought Abby an umbrella, and witnessed the strangest parade ever! At Christmas time, Demons parade down the street, hitting people and grabbing them, to whip the devil out of them… I guess to prepare them for receiving St. Nick’s goodness.

We topped off the night with a concert/musical extravaganza Austrian style (Salzburger Adventsingen im grossen festspielhaus zu Salzburg) in the location the Von Trapps sang their Austrian farewell. We didn't quite catch the story, but the singing was excellent and beautiful. I love their style of singing!

Pizza's always a winner at the end of the night!

Day 4

2008-12-15T03:32:00.000-08:00

This was our last full day in Munich. We continued our tour of the regional castles by going to Nymphenburg Palace in the suburbs of Munich. We rode a tram (street level cable car that looked like a bus). Olivia loved it and keeps pointing and screaming whenever she sees a bus now. The palace was nice and had several acres of grounds and woods with smaller buildings. There was a carriage museum full of royal carriages from the 1800s.

Olivia & Abby climbing into the royal hunting dog houses

After the palace we ate at a nice Bavarian restaurant and then took the tram back to downtown. We split off for the rest of the afternoon so that Mary could shop alone for awhile, and I took the kids to a toy museum in an old church tower and then got some pizza and walked around for awhile. After we met up with Mary, we had our dessert of the day - a small frying pan full of sweet pancakes covered with plum sauce and applesauce - and then went back to the room to watch the Polar Express, which we had promised Abby.

Day 3

2008-12-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

Today we headed out of Munich to Dachau for some history. We took a guided tour through the Dachau concentration camp located in the suburbs about a half hour from downtown. Our tour guide was an American guy who moved here 35 years ago. He was pretty knowledgable and interesting, and lucky for us, was pretty patient with our kids. Our group was comprised of three other people – one from Finland, two from Scotland. Our kids slowed us down a lot and we even got scolded in one of the rooms when they were playing – “This is not a funny place!” was what the Dachau employee told Mary with a disapproving look. The concentration camp was pretty eery and sobering to think about. It was strange to be there where such an ugly part of history took place.
Mary’s note: I was sickened by the feeling at the creamatorium where so many’s remains were namelessly burned, and by the room just before that titled “Brausebad” (meaning shower room) which was really a gas chamber. Our tour guide told us that Germans won’t use that term for showering because of the cruel interpretation it meant for those in concentration camps.

"Work Makes You Free"

After getting back to Munich, we found a really cool place called Durnbrau that had traditional Bavarian food and waitresses dressed in traditional Bavarian outfits. The place was nice and loud so the yelling and crying from the girls didn’t bother anyone. Our waitress was really nice and let Abby take a picture with her because Abby thought her outfit was so pretty. To eat, I had roast pork with potato dumpling and some sort of cabbage and vinegar mixture. Abby and Livi devoured some German potato soup and Mary had some sort of pasta. For dessert, we had traditional apple strudel with custard cream sauce and a plate of Bavarian cream with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. (Note: The food is listed in detail because Mary wants to remember every detail of what we eat while we’re here.)

Day 2

2008-12-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

Today was our first full day in Germany. We started out with breakfast in the hotel – which was cold cuts, crusty rolls, hard-boiled eggs, and yogurt. In the morning we saw the Glockenspiel at the Marienplatz, which is like a giant cuckoo clock with mechanical people that act out a duel and a wedding celebration twice a day. We took an elevator to the top of the Neus Rathaus tower for nice views of the city and the town square below. After that, we walked to the Residenz where the ruling nobility used to live. It is a whole complex of buildings all turned into a museum and tourist attraction. Some of the rooms are huge and elaborately decorated, and there were a lot of old treasures like jewels and crowns on display. Abby was hugely disappointed that there weren’t any real princes and princesses around, and we had to answer questions about why the they were dead for the rest of the day.

We got pizza for lunch and paid 3 euros each for four waters – ouch! We walked through the Christmas markets again and then walked the main shopping strip and pedestrian plaza. We bought a bunch of candy and an advent calendar at a department store and we found a German toy store and spent some time there buying some extra Christmas presents. Abby and Olivia found a lot of toys they liked, including little doll stroller that they pushed around much to the displeasure of the store employees. Apparently, kids playing with toys in a toystore isn’t acceptable in Germany. At the end of the shopping area, we found and ice skating rink. I thought Abby might have fun so we rented skates and got out on the ice and Abby was terrified. They had kid size polar bears on skis with handles for kids to hold onto, but she was scared of that too so she only made it around the rink once before giving up. Olivia was going crazy the whole time because she couldn’t be with me (on trips she only likes me and treats Mary like a total stranger) so I had to hold while I finished ice skating. Abby got dinner at the nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen (three stories, plasma TVs, leather seating, and a large Espressor bar) and we grabbed curry bratwursts for dinner on our way back to the hotel and then went to bed.