The Bradleys Go to Europe- Week 2: Germany

While in Germany we got to stay with 2 amazing host families. I have known the ladies of each household for 15 years but this was my first chance to meet their families. In Munich we stayed with Claudia and Alex. Their home is way out in the country but worth the drive. We only had one full day in Munich and we spent it at Oktoberfest, without kids. Alex was a domestic machine and cared for 6 children all day. He stunned me by taking them all out to dinner, bathing them all, and doing 3 loads of MY laundry. What a life saver.

(Kate and Anna in the top pic, Leia and Lena in the bottom pic.)
While Alex slaved away we went off to play (along with Claudia). We sent Scott and Ben off to find their own fun in the Oktoberfest tents and we met up with my sister Michelle and some other great ladies to participate in her Bachelorette party. She had a basket full of goodies that she had to sell and then the money earned was used to buy beer at the end of the evening. .

She earned plenty of beer money.

The next morning we headed out to Dresden with the intent of catching a football game. Tickets were tricky to get so we ended up exploring the city and none of us were disappointed. Plus we found a beer garden with a play structure for the girls so everyone was happy.
The next morning we headed to Berlin for the anticipated historical part of our trip. The history is very heavy which made for a depressing but interesting visit. We hit the top sites:

Checkpoint Charlie and the museum.
The Bradenburg Gate.

The longest remaining portion of the wall.
A giant pretzel.
And a relatively new Holocaust Memorial. "The stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason." This is one description we found of it and the most accurate.
We spent the following day at Sachsenhausen, the original concentration camp that the others were based on. It was also used as a training facility for soldiers.

Now off to Dresden to stay with our other excellent host family and to meet up with my sister, parents, and aunt and uncle. A much happier part of the trip. We stopped at the host family's house first. Julia (the mom) was our exchange student when she was 16 and I was 12. It was great to see her again and meet her children and husband. She insisted with leave the girls with her while we met up with my family for the Beck's brewery tour. That was a great idea and date number 3 for us!

After 2 hours of touring we were taken to a private lounge and given an hour to drink as much Beck's beer as we could. Now that's a tour.
The concludes the Germany portion of our tour. Next stop: Denmark and the wedding!

The Bradleys Go to Europe- Week 1: Ireland

We landed in Ireland bright and early (and exhausted) to find out that it was a big day in Dublin. The top 2 Gaelic Football teams (Kerry and Dublin) were facing off at 3.30. There's nothing like a big game to add energy to a city. We took a nap and then headed out to the pubs to catch the game.

Dublin won and there was lots of celebrating to be done.

The rest of our stay in Dublin included touring the Viking museum,

and visiting Kilmainham Gaol, a famous jail. We did plenty of walking, getting lost, and being thankful for GPS on our phones. Then it was off to the country.
Our week in Ireland continued with daily meals in pubs and multiple pub crawls. We spent a night in a castle,
and met a knight.
Ensuring it was an educational trip the girls learned about canons while exploring castles.
We stayed in Galway for the last two nights of our visit and took day trips driving North and South. While driving out to see the Cliffs of Moher we stopped to play on the rocks and enjoy the scenery.

(Yes I know my eyes are closed but it was the best scenery shot!) That evening we left the girls with a sitter and went out to celebrate Arthur Guiness's birthday. We ended up on pub row in college central. It was mayhem but a lot of fun.
The next day we stumbled upon a gorgeous castle (turned fancy hotel and golf course),
and then explored an old Abby and graveyard in the nearby town.

After some more driving we got a true Irish experience. Rain, and lots of of it. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey looking forward to exploring the castle, it's gothic church, and walled garden.
It was sprinkling when we left the car, lightly raining heading into the castle, truly raining on our walk to the church, and full on downpour on our way back to the entrance. At this point we were soaked so we decided to visit the garden as well. Why not, we were already as wet as could be. Then the wind started up and we were wet and cold. The garden visit was impressively short (on a sunny day we would have spent a good hour there). We managed to keep up the smiles.
The fun wasn't over, we still had an hour drive home in sopping wet jeans. An added bonus, we got to pack all that wet clothing into our suitcases the next morning for our flight to Munich. Hooray for being a tourist. On to Germany!

4 Years Later

9 days ago my big kid got even bigger. She is officially 4 now and is blazing into this new age with ferocity I did not expect. She is loud and proud about being 4. Every day she asks daddy "Do you have any more 4 things for me?" By this she means things she had to wait to do until she was 4. We're gettting creative. Buckling her own seat belt, showering on her own, and unbeknownst to her..chewing gum. We're saving that gem for a moment that counts.

In a moment of poor planning I committed to a camping trip with friends on the weekend of Kate's birthday. For a bit I stressed about her not having a party and being hurt that we weren't celebrating the way she wanted. Turns out, she's more mature than I gave her credit for. And turns out, camping was pretty much all about her hanging out with friends and expanding her independence (a gift for all of us!). We did manage to throw in a little birthday fun. Kate loves the Rainbow Fairy chapter books. I bought her the Pet Fairy set and scavenged our Playmobil bin to find the pet featured in each book. Using bento boxes I hid the pets with clues around the campsite for a magic filled treasure hunt. It went off better than expected and Kate was pleased with the "treasure" of books at the end. She had a couple of pretty great clue helpers (nice work Claire and Abby). With cake pops for dessert around the fire and an outdoor theater setup to end the day it turned into a birthday to remember.

A few pics from the happy day:

And Now She is 2.

We have spent the last few days celebrating the fact that Leia is no longer a baby but officially a toddler (who thinks she is a big kid). Leia turned 2 on Friday and she woke up to balloons, flowers, and sprinkle doughnuts. Later in the day her good buddy Rylee showed up for a sleepover (Rylee's parents had a conveniently timed vacation so we got her for an overnight). Oma, Opa, Aunt Kristi, and Cousin Aidan came by for dinner with plenty of birthday presents to spoil the girl. The day ended with cupcakes and 3 girls sleeping in one room.
On Sunday we had dinner with the Cook's and brought them leftover cupcakes to share in the celebration. Today we hit the park with Leia's good buddies and doled out more cupcakes, to some freezing little fingers!
While the festivities did not all go quite as I hoped we still had a great time and got to celebrate for 3 days. Next year I will plan her party better and try to remember it will always be on a holiday weekend.
I'm super proud of this kid. I feel like she is starting to rein in her bullying behavior. She shows clear signs of being empathetic even at 2. The lightbulb went on in her brain about a month ago and she has mastered potty training (at least the pee part). We have traded carrying diapers for carting around a little potty. Her language is making leaps and bounds. Four syllable words are her new goal. Watermelon and Pepperoni are my favorites. She is surrounded my a most amazing village of people and I couldn't ask for better friends and role models for her. Thanks to everyone who is helping me raise my children!

Finally got her own sunnies!

Is is a flashlight or a whistle? Both, woohoo!

It's as big as her head.

Mexico Xmas

We spent a week in Puerto Vallarta Mexico celebrating Christmas with our family from Florida. It was a wonderful week of sun, sand, and zip lining. We had a great time and made sure to hit our favorite beachside bar as well as discovering two new restaurants worth going back to. By the end of the week Kate had decided we should move to Mexico. If it didn't sound like a good idea at the time it sure did when we hit the cold weather back home!