Germany Bound!

Willkommen!  That means “Welcome” in German! We arrived yesterday to Garmisch around 1:00 pm and must have looked a crazy bunch, haggard from travelling. We drove down to Gatwick on Wednesday night and hit lots of traffic and then experienced the drama associated with sharing a single hotel room. Riley said it was the tiniest hotel she’s ever seen (yes, she’s very spoiled. The Marriot is simply not up to her standards. We’re working on that) and Lyla decided that it was party time and was bouncing off the walls…and the beds and the suitcases. She overheard us talking about catching the shuttle at 4 (yes, am) and would not stop screaming, “It’s 4 o’clock!” every time we would get everyone settled down. By the time we sang lullabies, told stories, threatened, promised, screamed, cried and coaxed them to sleep, it was after ten pm. This is unheard of for both girls, who are almost always in bed by 7 and, on a very rare occasion, 8 pm. The alarm went off at 3:45 am and both girls yelled and cried about having to wake up. Somehow we managed to repack everything we had unpacked in the panic of the night before and boarded the shuttle to the airport at 4:23.  What fun! Gatwick Airport had a bunch of walking and waits until 30 minutes before the flight to announce the plane’s gate. It reminded me of Penn Station with everyone staring at giant screens in the airport “lounge” waiting to pounce the moment the gate was announced. We were no different and exhaled deeply when we were finally onboard our EasyJet flight to Munich. The relief was short-lived, however, because Lyla decided that she didn’t like seatbelts or sitting or any members of her family moments after take off. After witnessing her escape the confines of the seatbelt from every which angle, I am calling Cirque du Soleil to see if they need a crazy Houdini toddler for their tour. We had taken the advice of many friends who insisted it was much simpler to check the carseat and have her sit in a big girl seat. Needless to say, we will be trekking that carseat onboard on the way home. We eventually got her to quiet down but rearranged our seats several times until me, Lyla and Wayne were sitting together and Riley was sitting across the aisle with strangers. Luckily she made friends with a young lady traveler and didn’t seem to mind. So we arrived in Munich exhausted and questioning the idea of the trip…and living in Europe…and having children.

But I digress…things actually picked up from here. We rented a car with very little trouble and hauled our boatload of luggage to our rental car for the 2 hour ride to Garmisch. Both girls passed out before we had even left the parking lot, providing some much needed quiet for Wayne to concentrate on driving on the right side of the road. Note to future travelers coming from England: roundabouts going in the other direction are scary. And dangerous. And scary.

We made it to Garmisch and checked in at the nice, lovely hotel with an amazing view to pick up the keys to our cabin. We decided to go with a cabin based on a friend’s recommendation (because her no carseat on the plane recommendation turned out so well) and because it would allow more space for the kids to run around and play outside. We pulled up to the cabin and Wayne announced, “I didn’t realize it was an actual log cabin.” Did you think I was making that up?  Being clever? Pulling your leg? This was looking fabulous. The inside was cute but, as Wayne pointed out, lacked a couch (it’s a cabin Wayne!) and, as Riley pointed out, only had one bathroom (thank you diva!). I tuned them both out but decided we should consider pitching a tent in the woods after realizing that Lyla couldn’t quite navigate the ladder up to the loft (where the kids were supposed to sleep) but thought she could and was going up and down, tripping in her crocs and sticking her head between the railings overlooking the kitchen. I not so subtlety reminded everyone that I was their wife/Mommy and not a travel agent and they all must have sensed the urgency because smiles appeared, giggles escaped and even Lyla promised to stay away from the ladder in her crocs. Victory!

The hideous ladder and loft of death. Can you just picture lyla hanging over the top yelling, "What you eating?" 2 hours after her bedtime. I bet Wayne can!

The view from our cabin

We set off to get lunch and then explored the playground while Daddy napped (in the bed…remember…there is no couch). We discovered just how beautiful Garmisch is with the snow capped mountains in the background. Breathtaking. Then we walked back to the hotel for dinner and, to Riley’s delight, checked out the buffet, where my kids ate their weight in peppers, cucumbers and soft-serve ice cream. We tried to proceed with bedtime as usual but with Lyla sleeping in a big girl mattress on the floor of the loft with Riley. As you may have guessed, bedtime turned into a two-hour ordeal that ended with Lyla in bed with me and Wayne upstairs with Riley (I don’t want anything to do with that ladder, crocs or not!) The best part was us threatening to take away her beloved noo noo (pacifier) only to have Lyla hand it right over and us threatening to make her move downstairs, to which she shouted “Hooray!” and ran to the ladder. When Riley cried that we were making Lyla leave the loft, Lyla yelled “Don’t worry about it Riley!” as she bounded down the ladder. When we threatened to get her a pack and play, she decided she wanted one and cried for 30 minutes. Um…how does one get such different children?  Lyla has promised that tonight she will sleep like a big girl upstairs with Riley, which means no jumping on the mattresses, trying to open the window, singing, dancing, jumping on Riley when she’s half asleep or hitting her with pillows. Only time will tell.

Let the Games Begin!

As many of you know, I am an Olympic fanatic. I watched the 2004 Summer Olympic Games from my Costa Rica hotel room and joke that I timed my maternity leave around the Winter Games of 2006 and 2010. I proudly stalked Michael Phelps  in 2008 like every other good Baltimorean, and cheered at his homecoming parade (he grew up a few blocks away from our house in Towson!) So it is an understatement to say that I am excited about the 2012 Summer Games being in London. I am ECSTATIC!  We were lucky enough to score tickets to three football (aka soccer) events…2 in Cardiff and the Women’s Finals at Wembley. GO TEAM USA! I am not usually a huge soccer fan but tickets were available and it seems like a fun event to take the kids to. We were even able to check out the 100 Days to the Olympics Countdown in Times Square when we were in NY and watch some of the Team USA Beach Volleyball players!

While all of this is exciting, the best part (so far!) came last week when the Olympic Torch passed through Cheltenham!  Riley’s school had a week of Olympic activities which included their own Opening Ceremonies and visits from special Olympic guests, including her favorite, Pride the Lion (the Team GB Mascot)!

Riley's class wore the colors of China for the Opening Ceremonies!

Riley sings for Pride the Lion with the Singing Squirrels, her school choir (she's in the yellow dress onstage!)

And then our family headed down to Bath Road to watch the torch go by with some friends. Apparently the torch bearer changes every 300 meters and the one we saw was Leon Taylor, an Olympic Silver Medalist in diving, who just happened to be one of the visitors at Riley’s school! Very exciting!

Waiting for the torch

Ali, Lyla and Riley

Jocelyn, Fleur, Riley and Eva

Here Comes the Torch!

Leon Taylor with the torch (and Riley's friend Eva cheering in the background)

 We are now officially counting down to the Olympics! We can't wait!

Mayday!

Mayday! Mayday! Could you hear us yelling this mid-May after we almost drowned? This April was the wettest April on record here in England and the rain continued for the first half of May. A student was literally kayaking across the cricket field at Riley's school! And then, suddenly, in mid-May it turned GORGEOUS. Like 80 degree gorgeous! Unheard of here! The past two weeks have brought much appreciated sunshine, complete with adorable declarations by Lyla of "Mommy, it's not raining again!"

And so, rain or shine, May was full of days spent enjoying Spring!

Nice shades!

Giggles!

Checking it all out!

Feeding the ducks at Pittville Park

Cheering on Cheltenham Town, our local football team! (Riley made signs)

Happy Mother's Day with friends!

Feeding animals at the Cotswold Farm Park

Sheep shearing demonstration

Baby Chick!

 

Zipline!

Trying to chase the ducks!

Bouncy pillows

Lyla loves to go out "in the garden" (aka backyard)!

Add skipping rope to her list of talents!

Sisters!

Ready for the Queen's Jubilee party at Rainbows and Brownies!

Big Girls Don't Cry!

Ok...well maybe that's pushing it. While my girls still cry, they are getting incredibly big at an alarmingly fast speed. Need proof? See the pictures below. Riley is currently learning to ride a bike without stabilizers (aka training wheels) while Lyla learns to ride her balance trike. The process has been slow for Riley who continues to leap off the bike every time she gets scared.

Lyla yells "Ready, Steady, Go!" as Riley attempts to master her big girl bike!

Ready to roll!

I guess she doesn't quite need the helmet when she is crawling along at a snail's pace!

She's doing it!

Need another sign that Riley is getting too big? She has lost her first tooth! She notified us that it was "wobbly" (as they say here) and, 2 days later, out it came! She wrote an adorable little note for the Tooth Fairy so the Tooth Fairy felt compelled to write back AND leave a shiny two pound coin!

And, just when I thought they couldn't get any bigger, we visited Bourton-on-the-Water, a very cute, touristy Cotswold town. The town boasts a model village that is an exact miniature replica, even including a model of the model. Whoa! My two pretty girls were like giants in the miniature village. Adorable!

And when they weren't busy being giants, they were busy devouring ice cream and taking in the sites. Proof that they are still, in fact, my babies.