Back and Happy

I'm home and I must say I am happy and tickled pink. Santa made a special stop for the kids since we were elsewhere for Christmas. Everyone is still asleep and the house is nice and quiet.

I can't wait to see the munchkin's face when she wakes up.

Here are a few pics from my camera from our vacation. Next up will be pictures that my father took.

Here we are on our way back from touring Neuschwanstein castle.


Here is B posing with Granparents Johnson.


B get's a hug from Grandpa Johnson in front of the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin.


I couldn't resist taking a picture in front of a slab of the Berlin wall. Not only is it a piece of history but a piece of art in of itself.



And here is B looking at a river in Strasbourg france.

Happy Holidays!

B and I are celebrating Christmas with my dad and his wife...in Vegas! It has been a day of lounging around. Ends up B is getting a cold.

We head back to Portland tomorrow and we are more than ready to go home. I just hope the weather cooperates.

Last night in Germany

This will be our last night in Germany and I am very happy to be headed home. This has been a wonderful trip in many ways. We were able to see family we haven't seen in awhile, and we got to experience a whole new part of the world. Traveling while sick is hard. Traveling with a five year old is hard. Add those two together (along with jet lag that won't go away) makes for a very grumpy me. I wish I could just "get over it" as C would say, but I nearly fell asleep in my salad during dinner. How can one be bubbly and bright with dressing on their forehead?

So keep all this in mind while I recount our adventures.

We took an overnight trip to Berlin. It took a long 8 hours to get there. Our hotel room had a bunk bed and not much else. It took us a few minutes to find the restroom which we originally thought was a closet. And what we thought was the toilet was actually a shower. That night grandma watched the tot as the rest of us walked down to the Brandenburg Gate. It was all inspiring.

The next day we had breakfast and walked the whole family down to the gate, passing by the Holocaust Memorial. B couldn't get enough of running up and down the stone pillars. Then the grandparents suggested something ingenious...taking a bus tour of the city! So for 15 Euro a piece we sat in a warm Double Decker for two hours hitting all the major spots. This included the Victory Column, the Parliament building, the Emperor William Memorial Church, the Berlin Wall memorial and check point charlie. We got some great shots, got a feel of Berlin and did it all without taxing ourselves too much.

The drive back was much shorter (5.5 hrs). Exhaustion won, we went straight to bed.

Today we drove to Strasbourg France and walked all along the city center. We saw a huge Gothic style church and shopped the Christmas market. The squares were packed full of people and if it wasn't for our guides (the grandparents), would have easily gotten lost.

We've checked our flight (make sure it wasn't cancelled or anything) and packed our bags. I'm ready for bed and ready to go back to the states. B and I will be spending two days in Vegas before heading back to Portland. I've been watching the weather updates on CNN. Can't believe the amount of snow and ice! Kind of happy we'll be in Vegas for a bit. I hope the airports are up and running by the end of the week!

Heading to the country

Yesterday morning we left and traveled south west. The weather turned from cold and rainy to cold and snowy within hours. Whenever I think of Germany in the winter, this was how I envisioned it; rolling hills bathed in white.

Our first stop was Neuschwanstein castle. Getting to the castle is journey in itself. We took a carriage ride to the near top then had to truck it about 1/4 of a mile up a steep incline to where the entrance was. Boy was this castle HUGE! Once at the top we had to wait for our tour to begin. It was cold but the people watching was choice. There were folks here from all over the world.

Once inside you climbed many many steps. That was the theme of this castle i think. Many Steps! My lungs were about to explode. But we were able to see an opulent throne room, amazing wood craftsmanship in his bedroom, a very strange grotto room and wonderful murals painted everywhere.

If you were to ask B what her favorite part of the trip was she would say it was the snow fight that was had once we were back at the car. I think it was when my dad and her joined forces to use me as a target that it really started to get fun! Afterwards we drove to a little ski town called Oberau.

We stayed in a quaint Germany hotel. Our room was large but very cold. Everything was tile or stone, but Blake and I were content once settled under our down comforters watching German TV. The next day we set out early after a traditional breakfast of bread, meat and cheese. We stayed around Fussen for a bit looking at old churches and going through little villages. My dad was able to get some killer shots and B got her fill of snow.

Now I am about to pack for another trip. This time we are headed north east to Berlin. From the Bavarian countryside to the countries largest city we venture!

Bronchitis hits!

It's almost 4am and both B and I are wide awake. We awoke at the same time wide eyed and bushy tailed. We read some. Tried to go back to sleep but neither of us succeeding. So we resolved to give into our situation.

Yesterday's plans were put on hold when the doctor came to visit, took one look at me and ordered me to stay warm, drink lots of hot tea and take antibiotics. Our hope is to catch it before it becomes pneumonia. Luckily for me, grandma Johnson had a bout of Bronchitis a few months ago and had in stock some wonderful medicated cough syrup and has a respiratory thingy that makes me all jittery but able to breath like a normal person.

So no Christmas Villages for us. But B did go shopping with grandma for two things and came back with quite a bit more. The Opa's went off exploring for a long while and I got in some great knitting time. So the day wasn't wasted. I do feel like a dud though and keep kicking myself. If only I had done something about this cough before I left....

In 4 hours we will be headed on our way to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. It'll be a four hour car ride, but we plan on staying overnight in the area and doing as much as we can. I'm excited to get out and see some of the countryside. There was even talk about making a quick stop to France on our way home...LOL. Not a bakery or restuarant, but a different country! I can't get use to the idea that everything is so much more compact here in Europe. The roads are small, the cars are small, the trash cans are small (they are wicked recyclers here!) and other countries could be within driving distance!

Life in a German village makes me smile with happiness. I've met two sets of neighbors and they have both been gracious and very friendly. I can see why this is the second German tour for the Johnson's. I am blown away that my daughter gets to experience this...even though she did say the sky looks like Portland sky.

"We have icky clouds too" she said...

Comedy of Errors. And other things to laugh at.

I'll have to admit, I am one of those people who can put unbelievably high expectations on future events. Playing them out in my mind like a lifetime original movie. I always have great hair and the background music is always Oscar worthy.

Well...I believe I have attracted all the possible bad travel juju for years to come because of these expectations. In getting to Germany we have succeeded in the following: Missed two flights, lost a cell phone, lost two video game cartridges (sorry c, will replace!), I fell on some stairs and landed on my back, B had an potty accident and it looks like my little cough that I left Portland with is becoming an infection of some sort.



But here are the good things. The luggage that was on the flight to Germany that we missed was waiting for us when we got here. The counter guy at the Frankfurt airport was very nice. The Johnson's received my last minute email with the new flight information so they were there to pick us up. Good thing since we forgot to get their contact information! Yikes!!

The Johnson's live in Rauenberg Village. It's small, quaint and exactly what I envisioned. And the best thing ever is their next door neighbor is a respiratory doctor who makes house calls!

For our first dinner out we had Turkish food at Can Kebap Haus Bistro and Cafe. It was delicious. Even B enjoyed her food! We tried to eat at two other traditional German restaurants but they both had private parties.

Everyone slept well but me. This darn cough is getting the better of me. I hope after the doc see's me today I can get some medicine to nip this in the bud. Today we are planning on going to a christmas village. It should be fun. Until then....

Getting ready

It's hard to believe that this time tomorrow Blake and I will be landing in Vegas. And another 24 hours after that we'll be in Germany.

Today is all about laundry, cleaning, packing and getting as many snuggles with my boys as possible before we go. Of course, this would be easier if I wasn't hacking up a lung every 5 minutes and whenever I get 2 feet of the boys they run away screaming "Typhoid Mary! RUN!!"

Note to self: get some rest and take lots of vitamin C.

I'll try to blog as much as I can. If that means I have to tackle some unsuspecting German to get on his laptop...so be it!

sicky pants

This has been the week of sick.

It all started Tuesday morning when B complained her neck hurt. I didn't think anything of it since her forehead felt normal. Later that day I received a phone call from her daycare provider saying, "Her temp is over 100 degrees and she's complaining that her neck hurts".

Now I would like to think of myself as a level headed mom. But when I got off the phone I immediately called the doctors office as I Googled symptoms of Spinal Meningitis. I thought back to the stories her father would tell me about his bought as a kid and I immediately went into freak out mode.

But after talking with the nurse I started to settle. I gave her medicine and that night the fever broke. The neck pain turned into a soar throat and my freak became a little less intense.

By Thursday we were back to our normal routine. But once again I received a phone call from her daycare provider saying, "I think she has pink eye." Poor thing. Her right eye was irritated and there were goobers in her tear ducts. So friday I took her to the doctors and it was confirmed that she had Pink Eye AND an ear infection. After many loads of laundry, washing of hands, disinfecting door handles and little B taking antibotics, life is starting to settle.

The whole family worked together to get a truck load to the leaf recycling drop off. It was awesome to see the kids work hard and have fun at the same time. Much better then being glued to the TV on Saturday morning like they usually are! We then bought a Christmas tree from the Optimist Club and made the house all glittery and shiny.


Both kids had birthday parties to attend to this weekend and although B was on antibiotics we only stayed for cake and presents. She was a little upset that she couldn't stay and play but I felt like a heel for taking her in the first place. The doc gave the thumbs up to go, but the thought of parental judgments made me sweat the entire time we were there.

She is doing much better today and her eye looks great. But the week of sick has exhausted all of us. She's currently chilling on the couch watching the Wiggles Christmas special on tape.


But like I've been saying to myself all week...better now then when we're in Germany!!

Oregon Zoo & Food

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful thanks to C who decided to cook! Yup that's right. We had fresh baked bread, turkey, pirogi's, stuffing and much much more! I didn't have to do much but knit. Not too shabby!

Friday I took the kids to see Bolt (cute movie by the way), but by Sunday I was ready to break down the walls just to escape. I love our house but it is small. Much smaller then our last house and it's hard to find a quiet space. So by Sunday I was ready to get out. So I grabbed B and we headed to the Oregon Zoo.

Blake had some personal moments with a squirrel. She tried really hard to talk him out of his nuts. But it was obvious who was the nutty one!


Then she couldn't stop saying Egret. "Eeeegret". "Egreeeet". It was cute.


Then we hung out at my favorite exhibit.


If only I had remembered to bring my needles!


I really wanted to take him home with me...

It was surprisingly warm and it didn't rain. The zoo was quiet for a Sunday and both B and I were exhausted when we got home. That's the sign of a good visit!

Gobble Gobble

This may be a day early but...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Here are some items I am most thankful for.

Family and Friends.
Without them my life would be meaningless and boring. Thanks Deborah for flying to Portland and spending a weekend with us. Thanks Dad for coming with Blake and I to Germany. Thanks to Chris and Ranen for adding a little boy humor to my day (a girl can never be mooned enough!). And thanks most of all to my beautiful daughter who challenges and astonishes me every day.

Work and home.
Sure there are some bad days. But work isn’t my life and it’s easy to leave it in Beaverton at the end of the day. Not to mention it gives me a steady paycheck. The house is the hug that holds my family in its embrace. She’s my patiently awaiting canvas.

Body and Mind.
My family is in good health. What more can I say?

Girly things.

It's been a while hugh?

In Peanut fashion, I am going to summarize the last few weeks in a few bullet points.

* Obama. Right On.

* Crochet. Need to do more. Want to do more.



* Saturday Girl's day out.


We went to the Children Museum for the day then had some ice cream afterward. Yeah, they had fun!

* Saturday Date Night. Chris took me to Miz Kitty's Parlour Vaudeville Novelty Show and Revusical. We had SO much fun. I heart Portland!

* Sunny Sunday. Took advantage and planted some bulbs in the front raised bed while nursing a hangover.

Life is good.

Snack Party at the Pink Palace.

Last night C and I were invited to a dance party in B's room after dinner. Costumes were required so C and the dog came as a couple. Noro was the husband and C...well, let's just say he is amazing at applying eye makeup!

B was a princess and a gracious host. We received little snacks of crackers and cheese and we each took turns dancing with B to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. We ended the evening with a string puppet show!

Here is the party pineapple shot of the night:


The yellow mouse electric type pokemon with a beer bottle shot: (every party has one...)



And here we are at the end of the night dancing away looking all cute:

1st Halloween in St. John's.

This was our first ever Halloween in St. John's. Let's just say I've finally recovered enough to write about it. We had a great time but it was a looooong night.

I left work early that day so we could get the kids dressed. We decided to spend the first part of our evening at downtown St. John's. After a nice dinner we started hitting the shops. It was so cool to walk along the drag and into these little shops that we would never normally go to. There was lots of foot traffic and it was nice to run into other parents and kids. Not to mention the variety of treats we received. I mean, who can argue with Pumpkin Gelato!

After we exhausted downtown SJ we headed into the neighborhoods. Compared to suburban Beaverton I felt there were fewer houses participating but the ones that did were generous with the size and quality of their treats. Let's just say the kids scored big time! After 2.5 hours of additional walking around the kids were ready to relax at home. Actually it went like this.

Candy

Ahhhhh

Candy

Ahhhh

Candy

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh


I retreated into the bedroom to knit while Chris had the pleasure of keeping the kids entertained. It was a late night and everyone, parents included, crashed at around 11.





Overall the princess and the alien of death had a great night.

Shameless Band Promotion!

Check this out!

C is in a great band. Their first official show is in December. So if you happen to be in Portland and dig a little sophisticated Hobo music, please join us!

I'll be the groupie in the back with a handmade band shirt... knitting!

v

Oh so happy house!

"Some kid in that stadium is going to remember this moment for the rest of their lives." -C

Chris was there in '80. He was there during the '83 loss.

Our house bleeds red.

Another Busy Week!

It's been another busy but fun week. I finally got around to taking a picture of B's new scarf. I had tons of left over swish superwash yarn so I created a simple garter stitch scarf with stripes based on the Fibonacci sequence. The scarf is lovely but declared "itchy". Ah well, at least it looks cute and may one day be worn either by B or by one of her dolls!

C busted a move on the clubhouse. It has walls and a roof now. (roof pieces can be seen on the porch) He needs to do some finishing touches like putting on flashing, the door and a window but with good weather it should be done soon! The kids took advantage of the sunshine and spent some quality time playing house. They put B's plastic kitchen in there and decided it needed a moat. Ahhh childhood!



On Saturday night I took the kids to the St. John's spooktacular. It was super busy so we spent most of the time standing in line looking at all the costumes. It was like a precurser to Halloween and the kids got a kick out of wearing their costumes! I decided to dress up this year and spent $12 dollars and two hours creating a Pickachu costume. Oh, don't worry. Pictures forthcoming next week!


Today we baked halloween cookies. I was humbled when C noted I was using the wrong type of sugar in my frosting and had melted the butter rather than soften it. A man who can hammer AND bake. How did I get so lucky!

We also took some time to go to Sauvie Island to go through the corn maize. It was beautiful, the kids had fun and we now have some super cheesy pictures to add to our collection!

Atop the hay pyramid...


Children of the corn...


Farmer family...


And to top off my week we had a group pumpkin decorating party at work. Our group was assigned "rock group", so we created Kiss pumpkins. Gene is my favorite!



Even though I had a ton to do, it was nice to have some fun at work and bond with my fellow PA's. They truly are a group of great artists and great people!

Clubhouse and Bean.

It's been a while since I've blogged. I swear I'm suffering from pre winter blues or the I want to be lazies. But we did manage to have a great weekend.

It all started on Friday night when we picked up the bean. The kids were so excited to have her come and visit. Bean stayed with us for an extended time earlier this year and they grew quite attached to her. She is smaller then Noro, smells better and (as sworn by my daughter) has the softest ears EVER! She adjusted to her new surroundings after a day. Then the next, she was gone.


While I was busy reading and not doing much, my dear sweetheart was in the backyard building this...


I know! A Clubhouse. The kids are beyond excited and I'm blown away by his skillz. Now I can't help but look around the house and think, "hmmmm...i wonder what a miter saw and a compression gun can do here?"


Mostly we tried to be outside since this may have been the last weekend we see of the warm sun. We took hikes, chilled outside and BBQ'd.

More action...and pumpkins

What a week!

We took the whole family to the first pre-season Blazer game. It was fantastic, fun and totally worth the grumpy five year old that showed herself the next day.



Yesterday we went to Plumper Pumpkin Patch. It was busy but we had a great time posing for silly pictures.



There was too much happiness happening so we stuck the kids in the stockade.


But petting some animals, going on a hay ride, traversing many mazes and picking out pumpkins made everything much better.


Today we took a hike in Forest Park. Noro was delighted.


He's the big black blob on the right.

Then we finished the week with some pumpkin carving.


I'm actually ready for a nice relaxing week at work. :-)

sick weekend

What's worse then having sick kids? Having healthy ones when you, the parents, are sick.

This weekend has been tough. Both Chris and I have colds. Moving or functioning on any level would be impossible without massive amounts of drugs. But we somehow managed with minimal psychological issues forming in our children.

Though sick, we've been keeping busy. We bought Blake a booster seat. She absolutely LOVES being a "big girl".



It was hard to let the old one go, but it was time!

I finished up my sewing class with this little number.



It's a shirt...just in case you couldn't tell. It looks okay on, but it's pretty evident that I need more practice. So I did and created cloth party bags. Dinosaurs for the boys, princess for the girls. I can finally sew a straight line!


On the knitting front I finished the clapotis. The FO pics will have to wait until after Christmas. I needed a quick knit so i whipped up the Lady Detective Hat from Knit 2 together. I just need a decorative buckle to finish it off...



I also started the Mystery Sock Pattern by Through the loops. We'll see how it goes. I'm a big fan of two socks, toe up on one circular needle. I've never knitted top down so I'm curious to see what heel the pattern will call out and how I'll handle the stress!



If it's anything like the new lace shawl that I've frogged 3 times this past weekend, it'll be harsh! At one point chris walked into the room at precisely the wrong time and had to dodge metal needles as they hurtled past his head! Whoops.


The kids have had fun though. The boys got a little Blazer action in at the Family Fun Fest.


And they put on one heck of a puppet show that included a puppet eating shark and little critters that liked to show us their butt.



What a weekend!

Party Success!

Yesterday's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese was a success. And how could it not be? The kids went ape over the games. There was food, cupcakes and ice cream. Blake got to spend time with her friends and she ate up being the center of attention!

The big day.

Scene: 7am in a pink bedroom.

Daylight streams into the room casting a warm glow over the sleeping child. The door opens slowly. Silent feet gently tip toe up to the bed.

Mom singing: Happy Birthday to you...Happy birthday to you....Happy birthday dear...

Child groans while covering head with her comforter: Mooooooommmm STOP! Your waking me up!


...And that was how our day started. But after some errands we stopped at OMSI and the day became all about Blake and having fun.






By the end we were both super exhausted. But she managed to have enough energy to open presents. Thanks to all family members who sent gifts and for those gifts still in transit.

Tomorrow we have her birthday party. She requested a Chuck E. Cheese extravaganza this year. After two years of planning and throwing parties I was more than happy to let someone else cook, entertain, then clean up the mess.

And honestly, wouldn't you subject yourself to Chuck E Cheese madness for this cute face?