McKay's recent

McKay has a problem. His pants refuse to stay up and he's constantly showin' his baby moon. This has recently been compounded by his new preference for boxer briefs to regular briefs. These don't stay up too well either - not enough junk in his trunk as the saying goes. Anyhow, now the problem is worse. As he pulls up his pants, he never seems to get them over the briefs so he has all this bunched up fabric above his struggling waistband. We may have to go the suspender route because belts just don't do the job. I just wish he was a little more shy but he thinks he's cool stuff and that textiles are optional.

As I've been working with McKay on learning to read, I get such a kick out of his pronunciation. Some of his sounds have a definite German influence and it's so adorable! The best is when he gets talking to Morgan and gives her commands in German. He has no idea he's doing it!

McKay really likes to practice phrases he likes by saying them over and over in whatever situation or conversation he's having. "You gotta be killing {kidding} me!" was it for a while until recently he's taken to saying, "That's totally freaking me out!" He uses it or variations of it for everything. Hilarious!

Today I could tell he was worn out from his school's Fasching party and Morgan really needed a nap so we did some quiet time. McKay protested until about the minute before he joined dreamland. I snuggled up to him as he was sucking his thumb and rubbing his ear. He'd stop and say, "I'm not sleepy." He must have said it at least a dozen times before he finally succumbed. Only problem is that he's a grouch to be woken up which makes it fun times for me when I have to get them up to go get Easton from school. Oh well, it was an hour and a half that I got to each lunch and do laundry in solitude!

The Berlin lockout and icing on the cake!

Ryan was set to fly out Sunday morning to the States and we loaded everyone up to go drop him off. We were already missing him! But as we got in the elevator, I noticed Morgan was missing her coat. Grrr. And then my key didn't work in the apartment door so I hollered to Ryan for his key. He remembered that he'd left it in the lock inside the apartment. We'd need a locksmith. Great. And I'd left my cell phone in the apartment, no biggee, just an inconvenience since Ryan had is laptop and the manager's info.

Ryan ran across the street to use the internet at Starbucks and send the apt manager an email shout out for help. After dropping Ryan at the airport, I tried to pass time until the appointed hour Ryan had set in his email for me the apt manager to meet. The manager didn't show so I took the kids across the street to the Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie until I figured out how I would call him. Museums and little kids don't really mesh well so I had to manage my expectations. I would have loved to stay and read everything at the museum, but we breezed through stopping for poignant images or displays to explain what was happening before, during, and after the Wall was built. The kids especially liked the different methods people had devised for hiding in vehicles and trying to find the replica stuffed doll inside some vehicles.

After checking our apartment again for sign of the manager, we were sitting in the car warming up when I mentioned to the kids that I had to figure out how to call the apartment manager. Easton asked why I didn’t use the phone booth next to our car. Smart kid! And not ten minutes later, the manager was there and the locksmith could be there 45 minutes later. Easton saved the day! In this age of cell phones, how does he even know what a pay phone is?!

With the serious chill outside and Morgan not having a coat, we used that 45 minutes to do a Unter den Linden drive-by tour. The kids seemed to enjoy this a lot since I prepped them to say “Oooo . . . Aaaaah . . . Awesome! . . . Cool!” on que! And then we met up with the locksmith to pay a hefty 142.80 euro. Ouch.

I was exhausted after our fun morning adventures so we hunkered down with Toy Story 3 in the apartment until early dinner. We went to snap a picture in front of the nearby stretch of remaining Berlin wall before heading to Vapianos for dinner. Man I love that simple rucola ravioli dish!!! The kids had pizza and then danced like dervishes in front of the fireplace while I finished. Ahhh, I love near-empty restaurants!

After dinner, we headed to a great chocolatier shop at the corner of the Gendarmenmarkt. It had some beautiful chocolate models of Berlin sites, chocolate bear bigger than McKay, and a bubbling chocolate volcano. But we were there to choose among their huge selection of truffles. We boxed up a dozen and would have stayed for their famous hot chocolate but it was a bit too refined a joint for "Me vs. the 3." So home again, home again, jiggity jig!

On Ryan's layover in New York, he apparently shot worried emails out for someone to check in on me. Many thanks to Tamsyn for laughing it out with me! At that point in the late evening, I had almost finished writing up our trip after the kids had gone to bed and saw a lot of humor in our mishaps. But the fun wasn't over yet. Easton had passed out early on my bed with a tummy ache and I just had a gut feeling he'd be sick later.

Sure enough, he initiated our final day of the trip shortly after midnight by throwing up all over the bed. That was fabulous, my favorite way of being awoken from a deep sleep. Luckily, that seemed to be the end of his troubles and we had no incidents on our way home. Our only "incident" was Morgan's prolonged exhausted whining tantrum asking for gum which she had devoured during my five minute absence that morning to move the car. Stinker! Five days with no naps had caught up with her. She and McKay zonked out minutes after we got in our van to drive home and she napped for three hours, waking up refreshed and feisty as ever. I'm so tempted to write something on her forehead bandage as if it were a cast! Suggestions?

There you have it. We survived our vacation to Berlin and lived to tell about it!

Berlin's got a great ER!

Aren't they cute?! We arrived in downtown Berlin a few hours before we could check in to our apartment. We had to be creative with the 23F frigid weather! We tried to check out the Berlin Story bookshop and 25 minute film about Berlin’s history but the shop has gone bankrupt and had to move out of their posh Unter den Linden digs around the corner just this week! So the movie wasn’t an option to kill time, but we got a few souvineers for the kids with the East German pedestrian crosswalk images that look like this . . .

We decided to walk down to the Brandenburg gate for a photo op and some hot chocolate. Man was it cold!

Ryan grabbed his Starbucks hot chocolate while I lined up for the kids’ Dunkin Donuts. How ridiculus, but man was it packed with people from all over! The kids loved picking out their own donut and then it was back out into the cold to walk back to the car and check in to the apartment. It was nice to know the lay of this city since we’d been here before for Ryan’s marathon in September 2009.

Now for the fun part! Upon checking into our apartment, the kids were running from room to room checking things out and Morgan fell and split her forehead open on the edge of the bed. It began to bleed a lot as head wounds do and I used a clean diaper on her head which she was not thrilled with. It was immediately apparent to Ryan that it would need stitches. This was seriously the thing I’ve feared would happen since we arrived in Germany and it happened on "vacation" no less!

After effectively scaring the apartment manager off, we haggled a little over who would go with her to the hospital. I had hoped Ryan would jump at the chance at it since I have the routine medical care stuff already – shots are traumatizing enough for me! But after it was all done with later that evening, Ryan confided that it shook him to his core to see his baby girl bleeding so much and to know that he was going to be gone for over a week the next day. He misses us in advance of going away and this just compounded it. Oh well, bring it on, right? Earning my pay!

Luckily, our foray into German emergency care was better than could be hoped for. Not having done the emergency care here before, I was duly oblivious and luckily very blessed. At the closest hospital my GPS directed me to, I pulled into a private hospital employee parking lot and then walked myself into a secured medical unit with German military MPs milling around its hallways. I was very kindly redirected to another hospital with a KinderKlinik – a children’s hospital where someone who dealt with pediatric cases could treat her. My first thought was, “Really?! No one here can put a few stitches on her and send us home?! Come ON!!!” But it was worth the redirection.

Upon arrival to the other hospital complex, I miraculously did a beauty of a job parallel parking right in front of the place. This in itself buoyed me up with so much self-confidence I could have done just about anything at that moment! So I set off with my baby girl in her stroller into what looked like courtly palace grounds that held a KinderKlinik hopefully near the entrance.

This hospital was so amazing! Entering it’s stone façade gate, the security guard/info counter man showed me on the map which building down the “grand alley” was the KinderKlinik. I forged straight ahead just as he’d directed into what opened up as an elongated beautifully groomed courtyard with mature trees, fountains, and park benches. The courtyard “alley” was lined on both sides with specialized modern medical facilities – orthopaedic, a women's clinic, and others I didn’t understand the names of until I got to the KinderKlinik.

Once inside, I followed the red cross signs hoping I was right in my assumption that it meant emergency care. I got our passport and insurance card out and braved myself for the check-in encounter. A very friendly matronly woman tried to help me initially but had to go grab a young gal who was able to do our admissions in English. With Morgan’s blood-matted hair and makeshift bandage job, she looked duly pitifull and the women were so darn nice! They all smiled knowingly as I told them what had happened. This admissions process was so much easier than any ER trip I’ve had in the States and far less paperwork!

Then we settled into the waiting area with a handful of parents with sick kids who were mostly passed out while Morgan romped in the playroom. I clandestinely made and scarfed down a ham and cheese sandwich from the back of the stroller where I had hedged my bets in preparation for an all-night wait with pregnancy hunger. However, just as I got to the last bite of my sandwich and read a good couple paragraphs in my book, the doctor was calling our name!

We went back and Morgan instantly was stuck to me like skin that whimpered. The young doctor who spoke great English pulled her bandage away as she began to scream and writhe and then he left the room. He came back with a nurse and told me it was good it had bled so good because it cleaned the wound and they would simply glue it closed and bandage her up. Hurray!!! No painful stitches!!! I had heard of the glue magic and had hoped this would be our fate! The nurse and I held Morgan down with great effort while he administered the glue and she screamed bloody murder. And then it was all done and Morgan, not the nurse, took a bit to calm down with the help of a playroom teddy bear she’d borrowed for the occasion. By the time she was back to herself, the doctor returned with his complicated write-up of post-care instructions to not get the area wet for 5-7 days. Easy-peasy!!

Being able to go to the KinderKlinic for emergency medical help and only have a handful of parents with their children to wait with was nothing short of a miracle to me! All other emergency cases seem to be directed to the appropriate klinics and I can’t say enough about how grateful I am for how this all worked out!

Morgan and I returned to the apartment at about 8pm. After our auspicious arrival, we were so emotionally and physically exhausted to enjoy our digs and locale. Little did our apartment manager know, he hadn’t heard the last of us this weekend!

Tropical Islands, Berlin

Ya know how we had to cancel that family Disney cruise this summer? Well, we tried to make it up to the kids by planning a kid vacation. Outside of Berlin, there’s a huge air hangar that has been turned into a tropical island experience. We figured the kids would love it and we could also show the kids the sights of Berlin since Easton’s class studied Germany’s reunification this past fall.

This will go down as a trip of infamy in some respects as you'll soon see. First off though, Ryan was notified last Monday that he needed to be in San Diego for meetings beginning on Tuesday, Feb 22. We weren’t returning until Monday afternoon from Berlin which meant he’d have to leave our vacation early and I’d be on my own with the kids in Berlin for a day and the return flight. Not a huge deal since Ryan and I feel pretty familiar with Berlin from our trip in 2009.

But Ryan’s passport went through the wash. Luckily he was able to get processed Wednesday for a temporary on base but still had to miss our flight to Berlin on Thursday morning so he could drive two hours up to Frankfurt and get the temporary issued. Poor guy, this was such a stressful experience! Meanwhile, I flew alone with the kids and luggage for the hour flight . . . and we had to leave the house at 4:30am. That was fun! The kids absolutely loved the flight and McKay's face was one of pure joy the entire ride! I heard a few chuckles from passengers who understood his exclamations now and then. Morgan was his echo because she must always have the last word.

After getting his temporary issued in Frankfurt, Ryan drove the remaining five hours to Berlin to join us at Tropical Islands. While Ryan was driving, I wasn’t able to check into our Novasol vacation rental until a later hour so the kids and I headed to the Islands on our own. The kids had a heyday, I was wiped out! The kids spent four hours straight in just the kiddy pool.

Morgan loved the slide while McKay and Easton loved this huge inverted cone that would fill with water until it tipped and soaked everyone below. There were also lots of different fountains and the water was nice and warm until you got out and got chilled – not my favorite!

Four hours later, we met up with Ryan at the rental and did our grocery/stock apt with necessities run, made dinner, and played some fun games of UNO with the kids. I think UNO was the highlight of the trip for me! Realizing Easton has a full grasp of the game and loves to be silly and stick it to us; seeing Ryan melt as he dealt Morgan in and her sweetly say “take-you” for each card; and having McKay just want to snuggle up to his daddy but still be a part of the banter. We all then collapsed into our beds at 8:30 happy to be all together again.

On Friday, we enjoyed a full day at the water park. The kids absolutely loved it and were so easily entertained they would never have left if we’d been up for it. The park is open 24/7 and when we left at 8:30pm there were all sorts of young people just arriving.

We stayed in one of the vacation homes just across the street from the park and were very pleased with our choice. The converted hangar is quite isolated in its location for a good 10 miles or so and so we loved the convenience of these adjacent homes. We found the price pretty reasonable as well since our overnight stay also included park admission. Inside the park, everything is charged to bracelets you wear and you settle the bill at checkout. I can imagine settling the bill can be a bit scary for those who don’t keep track of all their fun! Because our kids were perfectly content to swim and play, we saved a lot by hitting the grocery store and packing our food into the park. The one meal Ryan and I did eat there was not very impressive while the kids were thrilled with their gelato. There’s plenty of other activities and costs inside the park if you’re up for it such as a hot air balloon ride, spa services, water slides, lockers, and such.

With Ryan there, the kids wanted to swim with dad so that’s what we did!

Ryan tossed the boys around in the water, we did many rounds of Morgan’s favorite motorboat game, and we tried all the different pool areas. Easton’s favorite was the base of a waterslide. He’d watch carefully for someone coming down and then position himself to be pushed back by their wave and the current. He especially loved including McKay in his fun and it was so fun to watch them enjoy it together!

After the pools, we took the kids to the playground area. Trampolines, paddle boats, jungle gyms of different sizes, go karts, and air hockey were the favorites.

I seriously don’t know how they were still standing by the end of the day! When it was time to go home, we had two mishaps. Easton had lost his bracelet and while his bracelet couldn’t accrue charges, we still needed to find it. Ryan and Easton went off to look for it and they tell me that Easton wanted to say a prayer. After the prayer, they asked for help from a staffmember and as it happens, someone had turned his bracelet in to the lost and found! Each person’s bracelet has a number so it’s pretty easy to track in their computer system.

However, back in the lockers we had a bigger problem. Our stuff was missing – our coats, boots, clothes, my wallet, our key to the rental home and car. I was on the verge of tears more than once between imagining worst case scenarios like someone breaking into the house and taking our laptops and passports, thereby stranding us and jeopardizing Ryan’s work trip, to just feeling like an exhausted baby who needed to go to bed! Once again our prayers were answered and our things had been taken to the lost and found because our locker hadn’t locked securely. We sure were blessed beyond measure!!!

For those interested in the vacation homes at Tropical Island:

There are two hiccups we encounter with vacation rental homes. For instance, you never know what necessities will be on site and which to bring. This one had linens available to rent per day including a bed sheet, duvet cover, pillow case, bath towel and a face towel. But there was no toilet paper, hand soap, dish soap or kitchen towels or rags. This Novasol also had the added feature of having to note your water, gas, and electricity usage for invoicing afterwards. Upon arrival and departure, you note the meter readings. It made me feel like the utility Nazi! I began noticing all the lights we kept on, how long and hard the water ran when the kids washed hands or brushed their teeth, and the heating settings in each room. Too bad I’m not as vigilant with this at home! The guys that run the front office for Novasol were really fun and tried to keep things light, which must be a gift as people settle their utility and park bracelet bills on departure with them! They were so amazed at our measely 48 euro bracelet total and just had to know my secret which was simply that our youngin’s don’t like to eat out much and were perfectly content with the offerings covered by our admission!

A loverly weekend

Image courtesy of ldschurchtemples.com

We took a "templefahrt" to Frankfurt this Saturday! Sorry Mom, but I knew Dad would get a kick out of the local lingo. It's about two hours away. Walking through the doors, a wonderful feeling of peace and refuge washed over me and I got emotional. What wonderfully sweet and bilingual temple workers we had! We missed the English session by minutes but using the headphones worked out just fine in the following session. I had just finished reading "The Holy Secret" by the author of "The Peacegiver" on the way up and it ends with talk of covenants and why we make them. It was so timely to be pondering this as we were also asked to be the witness couple.

On the way home, I got to ask Ryan a billion questions about his work which was fun. One of the things he's working on right now he can actually talk about and you can see the link here. His part deals with crowdsourcing and as we watch events in Egypt and the Middle East unfold lately, it's interesting to see how this crowdsourcing stuff is a big deal. He often doesn't talk about work at home and our evenings with the kids don't really lend themselves to such discussions so it was so nice to have him all to myself on our drive before I passed out. It's a passenger problem I have, can't stay awake!

Our Sunday mornings are always a blur with church beginning at 9am and a half hour commute there. Yesterday morning everyone woke up and came in to snuggle on our bed and it was just so comfy and wonderful that we had a hard time getting up and moving. We got ready in record time since we also had to be out the door a little early to swing by and fill up our two cars with a newer large family in the ward. {I not-so-secretly hope they never find a house and have to stay in the hotel nearby so my new favorite babysitter stays close. A girl can dream, right?}

The problem with scooting out the door so fast and driving myself was that usually I'm putting on my makeup while Ryan drives us to church. I didn't even remember this technicality until we were sitting in sacrament meeting. To my horror, I couldn't even remember looking at my face before we left! What if there was dried up drool around my mouth or eye crunchies?! Wouldn't that be lovely. And I'd already been face to face with three good friends as church began! Oh dear, but oh well!

Later that evening Easton and I attended a baptism. We're looking forward to him being baptized this year and with an upcoming baptism preview meeting and our recent Primary / FHE lesson on Jesus' baptism, this came at the right time. My favorite parts were hearing Easton sing the hymns and then the discussion we had the entire way home about baptism in our family. Man I love this kid!

So today is Valentine's Day. Our kids' schools don't celebrate it so we didn't do the whole routine this year which was kinda nice! I was able to sneak a Valentine note into the boys' lunches which was fun. I decided yesterday that I'd make a nice dinner for us since it's sadly been awhile.

After a busy snuggling Morgan on demand (so rough, I really hate that part of my job! *wink*) and running errands, I began making dinner at 2pm since I knew I'd lose an hour picking up Easton from school. Just as I was needing to go get him, Ryan got home early! YAHOO! He wanted to fix me dinner but I was already well into my preparations so he put Morgan down for her nap and took McKay with him to get Easton. To cook in solitude listening to something nice is a wonderful thing!

I realized I was going to have a lot of leftover stuffed shells and called a friend to tell her not to cook tonight. Spreadin' the love! It'd have been nicer of me if the times I've made food for her had actually turned out to be better food. It's the thought that counts, right?

By the time we sat down to eat, I'd already gotten to sample the salad and pasta but was underwhelmed with the results. The menu sounded better than it was -- stuffed pasta shells (sauce too sweet); a green salad with strawberries, nuts, and feta (greens too bitter, candied walnuts just aren't my fave); and secretly mixed pink milk.

Highlight of the meal: McKay catching sight of me pouring the pink milk into Ryan's cup. Amazed and confused to the extreme! The boys kept tasting the milk, sure it would taste different. It was seriously a mystery to them and that made my day!

Low point of the meal: Morgan's screaming tantrumSSS of refusal to eat a single bite and being denied dessert. I will go grey earlier due to her, I'm sure of it! The boys' teachers have each commented as much to me as well. We ended our evening watching a little Charlie Brown Valentine special and eating Ryan's peanut butter kiss cookies.

I wish I looked forward to silly holidays more so that I would endeavor to make them more memorable. I think Ryan took care of making it memorable to them by letting them pick out bubble tape gum and HubbaBubba at the store. Those kids number the days I put a surprise treat in their lunches! I was so proud of Easton for giving his beggin' best friend his lone cookie today. What a great friend! And although the dinner effort is always lost on the kids, it was made with love for my wonderful husband who is putting dinner away. I love and appreciate him more and more as the days go by! It's so great to have my best friend love me back despite my innumerable glaring faults! That's love!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jumparoo!

I can't help it, such simple joy is hard to beat! Besides, what if she's meant to be a renowned trampoline gymnast now that it's back in the Olympics. It could be in her genes - my dad was a gymnast in college and trampoline was one of his events.

This is her happy place.

And back to Turkey

Our last full day in Istanbul rained heavily but we were ambitious. We went to the Topkapi Palace, the Suleiman the Magnificent Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and then treated ourselves to a Turkish bath. It was awesome!

Topkapi Palace - This palace was built after the Ottoman Turks sacked this easternmost city of Christendom, then called Byzantium in 1453. The Ottoman's ruled from this Palace for 400 years until they built a new palace a short jaunt down the Strait to keep up with the grand palace fashions of the time - Versailles.

Inside the council room where the Grand Vizier and council administered the affairs of the empire and received local and foreign envoys. There's a metal grate on an adjacent wall where the sultan could watch and listen to the envoy's entourage while not being seen. And it's exterior:

Topkapi Palace is perhaps most famous for it's harem which denotes not only the wives, "favorites" and concubines of the sultan, but also where they lived. Learning about the harem was fascinating! The day to day servants of the Harem where black eunuchs, mostly Ethiopian. The sultan ruled with his mother, the mother sultan. She would select his wife and subsequent wives or concubines. Each of these wives or elevated "favorites" had a huge stake in their sons who could become the next sultan. Imagine the politics and horrible intrigues that followed for centuries as each woman fought for her life and sons - since the ruling sultan may also have brothers! When your son became sultan, you got to send the other wives and their children away or have them killed - however you worked it. These women lived so closely together there could hardly be many secrets among them, yet history tells some pretty amazing tales! My RS guidebook calls the harem "the carefully administered social institution that ensured the longevity of the Ottoman Empire." But it was so much darker than that sanitized description!

The throne room. The ornate thrones are behind glass in the treasury.

And a view looking up.

Within the grounds of the Topkapi Palace is Hagia Irene. I was really excited to see this but it was closed up with archeological digs surrounding the entrance.

This is where the Second Ecumenical Council took place in 381AD where Christendom debated theological questions such as whether Jesus was divine, mortal or both.

Near the gate, we could have had our fortune told by these two white rabbits or their friendly chicken friend by the gentleman's shoulder. We passed since we were headed to another big site: the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent.

I didn't have time to take pictures inside because we just sat and soaked up the newly renovated interior at first. It was light, simple and very impressive - amazing architecture. Then we were shooed out for the beginning of the next prayer service. It was probably 47 degrees outside, but some of the men would stop to do their ritual washings at the line of spigots you can see if you enlarge the picture.

The Mosque was quite a walk up away from the Topkapi in pouring rain. We headed next to the nearby Grand Bazaar. We were starving by this point and this busy antithesis to the peaceful mosque was not a good combo for our hunger. It was wall to wall people, but surprisingly spacious to other bazaars I've been to and sadly very repetitively touristy rather than the traditional sectors of tradesmen.

The only wares I was tempted by were the ornate costume where to outfit some really good-looking Nativity kings bringing gifts! But instead we opted for finding food! We stumbled upon a simple chicken rotisserie kitchen that made chicken soup, chicken and rice, legs or breasts with rice and an assortment of simple puddings. We had some yummy rice pudding and a vanilla pudding with pistachio and shaved coconut on top.

Our weary, wellfed bodies were then struck with genius! Let's visit a Turkish Bath! We found some recommendations in our book and headed back to our hotel because I was firm on my no public nudity clause and wanted to grab my swim suit just in case this "family establishment" held a surprise or two. Sadly, the one we wanted to visit was real close to the Bazaar so we trekked down the hill and then back up in the rain again.

It was awesome! Here's the website - and the initial picture here shows how covered we were.

They provided a big towel/cloth for men and women. Women also were given a “bra” (more like a string bikini top and some shorts so you really could feel covered with the towel wrapped on top. I was a bit apprehensive about the modesty issue and the fact that I don’t like sauna type stuff but this was pretty good once I got used to it.

You spent 40 minutes in the hot marble steam room where that huge slab in the middle of the room is seriously hot and fit many people! Or you could be in one of the side niches where the fountains let you cool yourself off with bowls and the floor and stoops are all heated. Then your name is called for a 15 minute sudsy, exfoliating scrub down and massage. Seriously felt awesome! Ryan said it was much better than his Turkish bath experience in Budapest years ago, especially since it was smaller and no naked old men!

After the scrubdown, you cooled off in the sauna until you wanted to go relax in another room all wrapped head to toe in light sheets where they tried to sell you hydrating beverages. We hung there for about ten minutes until a young family with three kids came out and needed seats. I'd seriously enjoyed watching them arrive in the sauna. The parents did their best to rein them in, but kids that young saw the fun cereal-size bowls and fountains and couldn't resist breaking into the best water fight of their lives! They stayed contained to their alcove, but their laughter was infectious and I could only imagine my three doing the same thing.

On our way home, we stopped by a confectionary shop. The shop owner was very nice and while working the register and telling you to sample all the Turkish Delights and other sweets. Now that's how it should be done! So we sampled and sat down for some sweets and hot chocolate. What a great day!

A fantastic gift trumped!

Back when Ryan and I were dating and dreaming about things we'd love to do in our life, I'd casually mentioned I'd love to go on a Mediterranean cruise. Fast forward almost a decade and living in Europe has made that a realistic option with Ryan watching for deals since we arrived.

So Christmas held big surprises this year! Ryan had excitedly planned a late August Disney cruise for our family. And last fall he'd secured another great deal for him and I on a Mediterranean cruise for this May. 2011 was looking pretty untoppable!

And so it should come as no surprise that it actually could be.

December 23. A positive pregnancy test!!! I was so excited and figured it'd be fun to surprise Ryan with the news on Christmas Day if I could keep the secret three whole days. It seemed like forever!

Ryan shared his Disney surprise with us on Christmas Eve - he was too excited to wait for the boys' reactions on Christmas Day. They delivered with squeals of joy and we spent the evening watching all the fun online videos. Cruise date, Aug 27.

My guestimated due date, Aug 18. Hmm . . .

I could barely stand waiting for Ryan to open my surprise gift for him. I even caught it on video!

{Sorry for my nervous excited laughter, I couldn't help it!}

It was great fun to watch him work through the flood of emotions. Speechless, excited, overwhelmed, even some happy tears from us both.

The due date. I know it registered initially to him, but ten minutes later or so I had to remind him of the due date again and then he was laughing in shocked disbelief, "You trumped my gift!"

Later that day in Skype sessions with family we shared our news. Ryan got great laughs from them about how he'd love to go ahead as planned with the cruise and when the crews protested my boarding of the boat, he'd act outraged and holler, "How dare you say my wife is pregnant!" Jokes about our baby being born out on international waters, acting surprised going into labor . . . it went on and on with all his inherited theatricality!

In reality, I told him not to change plans until after I'd had my first appointment and gotten past the first trimester since I've miscarried twice before. This week, he came to the first appointment so now everything looks official! I'm 12 1/2 weeks pregnant and the ultrasound showed that thrilling evidence of our little baby.

Ryan really wants to know what we're having and I was pretty close to saying I wanted to be surprised when the doctor said he thinks it's a boy, but it's really too early to tell for sure. If you ask Ryan, he'd love to have another girl. He's always been like that - his sister's five girls were pretty little when he got to spend time with them and they sucked him in! Boys are great fun, but there's something about little girls to their daddies!

And the cruise in May? Not going to happen either because I'll be past the 20 weeks allowed. All Ryan's hard research and patience! I felt so bad but what do you do?!

Be thrilled and feel so blessed for our coming addition!

Snow Cousins!

McKay has been dying to try skiing since Easton was able to a couple years back and now his school friend are also skiing. We recently met up with our Munich Carter cousins for a ski weekend.

When I took the kids to the ski shop for equipment rentals, McKay was all over it! He watched every part of the operation, especially as they worked the bindings to fit the ski boots onto the skis. When he got his helmet, I had a hard time getting him to take it off the rest of the evening. He was just too excited! Morgan was completely undone not getting her own equipment and I had to threaten leaving her at the shop before she pulled her kicking and screaming heap of a self off the floor to come home with us. Easton? Just cool as a cucumber as if this were the most routine errand, although it was keeping him from food and he let me know he was not pleased.

As we all arrived at Edelweiss Lodge & Resort down in Garmisch, the kids were all so excited to see one another again it was so adorable! We got the kids settled into a room to watch movies and eat pizza while the grown ups went to enjoy a delicious sit down meal without kiddos. Ryan soon discovered his newer European-looking slim jeans weren't quite cut out for the spinach cheese dip, filet mignon and mashed potato feasting ahead of him and I think that's one of my favorite laughs of the weekend!

Every time I sit down and have time to talk with adults, I realize how socially retarded being around little ones all day and living in my head can make me! Add a bad night's sleep and a busy day of packing and cleaning to the mix and I'm down right unfit for public interaction - but the food was yummy and conversation fun and interesting. I'm so glad they're all stuck with me!

Saturday morning was chaos! We didn't really plan out our morning the night before so getting everyone fed, outfitted with gear, and to ski school on time became a logistical challenge but all went well in the end. While everyone McKay and older was on the slopes, Tamsyn and I got to do the fun stuff with two toddlers - grocery shopping, packing up the rooms to check out of the hotel, snap pictures of everyone skiing, and keep the two toddlers entertained/bribed until we could get them to the pool. Yup, regular mom duty. It's so glamorous and really made it feel like a vacation, don't you agree Tamsyn?!

And here's the proof in pictures of their fun!

Easton and Lizzie's ski school:

Easton, Lizzie and her mortal enemy behind her are heading out to the slopes!

This wasn't a funny picture until we saw how their day progressed.

The kids first had to take a ride down the slide to get to their slope!

Mastering the "pizza feet" before side stepping up the carpet for another practice run.

McKay got private lessons from Dad. I have a hard time watching because my lack of skill on the slopes makes me uber-nervous for my babies. But I love watching Ryan ski so effortlessly it amazes me every time! I hope my boys remember that their dad taught them first and that they grow to love the sport.

All decked out and ready to take on the mountain!

If only you could hear McKay's scream of death at this moment! He'd actually skied down like this with Ryan before, but had wanted to ski between Ryan's legs on this run to show mom. Poor kid! But he wants to go again, so he must not be scarred for life!

The real reason my kids love this hotel -- the pool!

I didn't get any of Easton in the pool because I was hijacked by a niece and nephew dying to hit the stores on base for American goods. Seriously funny! Jason manically paced the aisles taking stock of his options and adding the costs on his phone as he went while Hayley took things much slower and stewed over each of her decisions. In the end, all their favorite junk foods won out. Soda, cookies, candies, plus the obligatory "dad tribute" to the founder of their feast. Soon everything was loaded up - everything $25 a piece could buy them!

Morgan's true love of the weekend was this carousel. She quickly figured out that if she sat on this clown fish, the on switch was just in her grasp and thank goodness it was not coin operated!

Those smiles above are the reason my part was worth it. Them and Starbuck's hot chocolate on demand.