Wordless Wednesday

Potty Seat

Colin is obsessed with Elmo (and airplanes and dinosaurs and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and if anything is going to motivate him to use the potty it is Elmo. So when I found this Elmo potty seat for sale I had to buy it. I am no where near ready to attempt potty training just yet, he won't even be 2 until August. I figure it can't hurt for the seat to hang around the house so Colin can get used to it though. It sits in the living room and every now and again he sits on it like a chair and presses the buttons to make Elmo talk. He does look pretty cute on it though!

He looks like he's really thinking hard about going....but never went.


That's not how you sit on it!


There ya go! Now go go go!

Fruit!

I know I've said it over and over but I love my yard! The cherry tree out back is loaded with cherries and we've been picking like mad to beat the birds to them. Our strawberry plants are also full of berries and Colin is really excited about that. He calls it an apple until I remind him it's a strawberry. He can't say strawberry very well but he can say it in Deutsch...erdbeer! He loves to play in the yard and send me over to go pick him a snack. He thinks he's getting a big treat when I pick it from the garden and give it to him.

Camera Shy

Colin has decided he hates my camera. Anytime I try to take a picture he ignores me, runs the other way, attempts to steal the camera, or just stops being cute so I don't want the picture anymore. He is very into "up" and "down" lately and when he swings he gives you a swing by swing update of "up, down, up, down, up, down". Today he was sitting on his alligator seesaw and rocking and he was practicing his up down up downs and it was pretty cute. As soon as I got my camera he jumped off the alligator and ran to me, smacking my leg and telling me "stop! stop it!" LOL I further tormented him by continuing to video. He then starts mumbling "camera" which to him I guess sounds like candy, and he then decides to ask for candy. You can see the reaction I get when I said no to candy, yea unfortunately that's pretty typical around here. The two year old tantrums have arrived! After he hit my leg and whined about my refusal to give him candy (as if that might change my mind!) he then started pushing me from behind and telling me "go, go" to make me leave so that he could attempt to sneak into the kitchen and steal the candy. Not a chance kiddo!

Mr. Demanding

Here is video of Shel and Colin playing the other day. Colin was crawling on top of Shel and then Shel would toss him up in the air a couple times and then eventually throw him onto the couch. Colin loves it. Here you see Shelby set Colin down and Colin whine about it, then when Shel tries to get up Mr. Demanding orders him to "lay down" and then Colin asks for "seebop" which is how he says bouncy. He uses his word seebop for anything related to bouncing, such as jumping on the bed, being bounced on the couch, playing in a jumpy castle. When he was little we would bounce him on the bed or couch and say "bouncy bouncy bouncy" and I guess that's where he got it from, he just says it backwards.

Playtime

Playground

Colin and I played outside yesterday. We played on his slide here at the house, then he played in his sandbox and then he was ready to go "outside" as he calls it. What he means is outside our yard. I've tried to explain to him our yard IS outside but when he wants to go to the park down the road he just runs to the gate yelling "outside" and pointing in the direction of the park. So we went "outside". He had fun as usual going down the slide 100 times, digging in the dirt, playing in the water fountain, chasing birds and his new thing is watching bugs.

Wordless Wednesday

Shaving cream fun

Colin had a blast playing in the shaving cream today. He wasn't too interested in drawing pictures and writing in it, which was kinda what he was supposed to do. He had way more fun rubbing it all over his hands, face, arms, table, and Mommy. As long as he had fun and it wore him out is all I care about.

Silly boy

he knows his animal sounds though! Loves animals!

Wordless Wednesday

**Colin and I went to the strawberry field and picked strawberries today. He ate a bunch in the field and had more for dessert with his lunch.

Köln Weekend

Köln

Friday morning we headed to Köln (Cologne in English) for a long weekend. I don't know why we haven't been there sooner, as it's one of the popular cities to visit, we just haven't. It's close to 3 hours from home and on the road we saw the Ghostbusters car! LOL (Yes, of course there are pictures in the album!) Friday the weather was nice so when we got there we checked into the hotel and set off sightseeing.

Köln is one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded in 38 BC, and was an important city in the Holy Roman Empire during those times. Today it is known as a travel hub with the huge train station being a major gateway to several major European cities. Trains run all the time every couple seconds and Colin was in heaven watching them! The first place we went was to the most popular destination in Köln, the Dom. It is a crazy, insanely huge and ornate cathedral that will blow your mind. The gothic detail is incredible. The original date of the church construction isn't known but it is first mentioned in documents beginning around 313 and was not the elaborate building of today. In 1164 the bones of the Three Magi were brought to this church to be kept safe and the Archbishop of that time decided such treasures needed a worthy shrine. It was then the fancy building began. The church contains numerous works of art from the 1100's to present in the form of sculptures, paintings and windows. It's very hard to spend the time needed to appreciate these works with Colin. He loves his echo and the second you set foot in a building where he can hear it he starts yelling to get an echo. (Remember the parking garage video from a while back?) Yea, even sweet little old ladies in church get fired up about loud two year olds and their echos....he was adorable 10 minutes ago outside lady...you said so yourself!

After the Dom we checked out the Altstadt (old town area) and wandered along the Rhine. We hit up Gross St. Martin's church and ate lunch. For being a tourist place they weren't very friendly to Americans there at restaurants. We'd sit down and they would wait for a while before coming over to us, they would help all the German tables that sat down after us first and it took forever to get a drink and food order in because they just wouldn't come near you! It was odd, first time we've really had that happen here and it was at every restaurant too! Oh well...luckily Colin didn't have to really melt down and complain about how long they were taking, that would have got us prompt service for sure! We hit up a playground after lunch so that Colin could stretch his legs and run. He had a blast on it climbing and sliding down the fast metal slide, you don't see too many of those anymore. He was flying down it and having a ball. After climbing all over the playground he wanted to play in the sand with the other kids but had to borrow some sand tools. He kept trying to steal other kids' pails and shovels (that weren't playing with them) until a nice lady let him share and play with her and her son.

After the playground we wandered down back to the hotel to get Colin cleaned up and then we went back out for dinner. We saw a couple steak restaurants and tried one for dinner. My steak was good, but it was no rinderfilet gorgonzola from San Rufo Haus. I am going to die when we have to move and my favorite restaurant isn't just across the village anymore. After dinner we walked for ice cream and people watched along the river. We tried to hold out until dark so we could see the Dom and the bridge all lit up but darkness doesn't fall until 10 or later these days and Colin wasn't gonna hold on for all that.

Saturday morning we woke up to cold and rain so we decided to do some museums to stay out of the weather. First stop was the Ludwig Musuem. I was a tad concerned about taking Colin to an art museum with his echo fascination. Sounded like recipe for disaster to me. But we figured out a tactic to keep Colin quiet, flicking him. LOL He doesn't like to be flicked and if you do it he gets quiet. He got flicked, a lot, but we got through the museum. It works in the art museum where it wasn't as busy and the people are all checking out the art. In the church it doesn't work so well because as soon as he makes a peep people stop and stare at him and would bear witness to the flicking. Not so good. We made it through the art museum, which is known for its Picasso collection, fairly quickly. Now I'm all for art that looks like art. It's the art that looks like my 2 year old pooped it that I don't get. Some things were truly beautiful and others...well not so much. Please tell me how an old 70's television sitting in a corner with a constant image of a battery on the screen is art. I'm pretty sure it's just a waste of electricity, and whoever deemed it art was smoking something highly illegal, even if Amsterdam.

Anyway after the art musuem we went to the Schokoladen Musuem to get some goodies. It is by the Lindt chocolate company, which is actually Swiss, but they make chocolate all over the area and it's delicious. We got some in Switzerland a few weeks ago too. We watched the chocolate being poured and molded and wrapped and learned all about where it comes from and how they make it. We got to sample some of course, yum, and then bought more in the store. Colin really liked his sample, it was all over his face.
Here is video of how they spin the chocolate in the molds to make bunnies, santas and other hollow shapes.


Since the World Cup games were on tv and it was nasty outside the restaurants were all packed with people trying to stay out of the yuck and watch soccer. We lucked up and got a small table under a big umbrella in an outside beergarten where we could eat and relax. We also got to people watch, which is fun over here to begin with, even without factoring in the rain, which only adds to the fun. Colin wasn't happy about how long he'd stayed in his stroller and he'd been flicked all morning to stay quiet in museums, so we had to do something to keep him happy during lunch. Thankfully Shelby had picked out a huge fish lolly that was solid sugar. Perfect! Colin had a great time eating it and since it was hard as a rock it took a while, even better! Here is Colin on a sugar high with his lolly...


Colin is OBSESSED with airplanes and trains. He loves cars too, toy cars he can push around and drive on everything from Mommy to furniture to floors. But planes and trains...he goes bananas for. We can't get close driving onto base without him recognizing where we are and yelling and looking for airplanes. In Köln the trains had him super excited. The main train station is right in the center of the city and we'd walk through it several times a day to cut back to our hotel or to use the bathroom. He sat on a bridge with Shelby for 30 minutes watching the trains go by and every time a train passed (literally like every 30 seconds) it was as though he had seen it for the very first time. His enthusiasm and excitement never waivered no matter if it was the 2nd train or the 102nd train.





Sunday morning was nice weather again and we had one more stop to make before we could leave. This is the ONE thing I wanted to see the whole trip and yet it turned out to be the very last thing we did. I wanted to visit the EL-DE Haus which is an old Gestappo prison that is now a museum/historical site. The building was the headquarters of the Cologne Gestappo for 10 years. As if by irony of fate the building was mostly unharmed in the war and is very well preserved. Writings from prisoners still cover the walls of the cells. The museum has many documents from the "prisoners" that were taken and passed through the prison. It explained how charges would be made up and the people captured. Many of the people imprisoned there would be sent on to larger concentration work camps. Very few of them survived in the camps and about 400 people were executed in the courtyard of the building/museum over the 10 year period it was used. The prison walls contain calendars and letters written by the prisoners. Some told of their experience in the horrible prison, others wrote letters to family members. It's amazing how well preserved everything is and how untouched it was during the war. Much of Köln was leveled from bombings (which can be seen in the photo album). After the museum it was time to grab lunch and head home. We still have stuff to see here so we'll have to come back...darn!

Wordless Wednesday

Reason No 5,643

Reason No 5,643 why Germany rocks...
We went out to eat Friday night at one of the restaurants in our village and accidentally left one of Colin's mini kid sized silver forks there. Before I had a chance to go by there and ask if we had left it behind the owner of the restaurant comes to my front door with it Sunday afternoon. How does she know where I live? I don't know, I'm guessing because everyone knows where "the Americans with the adorable little boy" live. I know of exactly two other American families in our village, so we aren't that hard to track down if you start asking I suppose. But still, how's that for kindness and service! I wouldn't even trust someone in the US to give me back my wallet or cell phone with obvious contact info all over it, much less a simple silver baby fork!

Didiland

Didiland

Today we took Colin to Didiland Amusement Park in France. It is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house and it's perfect for little kids. Colin was able to ride almost every ride in the park! He had a blast. When we got to the park we walked right on the first ride, sail boats that went around in a circle on a track, and he was all smiles. As soon as his feet hit the pavement after that ride he was running towards anything he thought he could ride and was so excited. He rode the bumper cars and did a great job crashing into people. He rode the flying elephants, or "elvis" it sounds like when he says the word elephants. Those were his favorite and we had to ride them three times! He rode the river rapids ride and was squealing as we spun around through the rapids getting wet. He even lost his hat on the rapids ride but it caught up to us in the water and we fished it out and got it back. He liked paddling the canoe around in the water and was very excited to ride the horse. We had to wait in line for a few minutes for that one and he must have said horse a hundred times. When he finally got on the horse with Shelby he got the reins and was smacking them and going to town, it was too cute! He was worn out by the time we left and before we even made it out of the parking lot he was passing out in the carseat.

Videos added to Zurich weekend post :)

Zürich Weekend - Part 2

Luzern/Zürich

Sunday morning, Happy Birthday to Shelby! It was raining and windy and gross outside when we got up, so we decided to get out of the big city and drive about 40 minutes to another famous city in Switzerland, Luzern. Luzern is not nearly as big or modern as Zürich and has much more of a romantic, laid back charm to it. We lucked out and when we got to Luzern the rain had let up and it was quite nice for a little while. Just long enough for us to wander the river and some its famous bridges. Two of the oldest covered bridges in Europe are here and they are beautiful. The Spreuerbrücke was completed in 1408 and took over the title of oldest covered bridge from the Chapel Bridge, originally built in 1333 but was restored after it caught fire in 1993. Both bridges have amazing old paintings in the roof and you can see the history in the wooden sides and rails.

We visited a Starbucks along the river for our second coffee fix of the day. We visited a fun souvenier shop where we bought fun stuff to remember our trip. Then we wandered over to the Stadtkeller Restaurant for lunch. It is a traditional Swiss folklore restaurant that has a show along with a meal. We listened to the performers play alphorns, cowbells, saws, accordians, and even coins in ceramic bowls! It was awesome! The food was great too. We both shared Swiss cheese fondue with bread for an appetizer. Then we got salads, entrees and dessert. I had veal strips in mushroom sauce with Rösti (traditional Swiss potato dish) and Shelby had roasted chicken in balsamic sauce with Rösti. Colin was very sick of sitting by the time we even got to the restaurant because all the wet/rain kept him confined to his stroller. He did pretty good though, he danced and imitated the performers and applauded when they were done.
Here are some videos of our lunch...
Colin clapping and dancing to the music:


Playing the alphorns:


Colin pretending to play the alphorn:


A guy playing a saw, very cool!


Playing music with coins in ceramic bowls (look on the projector screen to see the coin inside the bowl):


Colin jamming out in the stroller:


Yodeling


Shortly after lunch the sky opened up and started POURING on us. We hiked up to see the famous Löwendenkmal, or Dying Lion monument anyway. It is there to commemorate the Swiss killed in 1792 dueing the French Revolution. Then we headed up to the old city wall to climb up another tower for a view. After that we decided we were wet enough and stopped by Starbucks one last time and then headed back towards Zürich. We went to a place called Trampolino to let Colin run off some energy. He had a ball of course...look at the pics, wouldn't you?

After that we had to head over to the Zürich Hooters to add another photo to Colin's collection. We drove downtown and found a public parkhaus. The sign on the wall as you drove in said that it was open on Sunday's until 6:30pm. Now it was 6:50 at this time. However, it was a public parkhaus, and they are usually open 24 hours, and the gates were all open. So we pushed the button to spit out a ticket and it gave us a ticket with the time stamp 18:50 on it and the little arm raised up and let us through. We went to Hooters, ate and got our picture and then headed back to the car. When we got to the garage ALL the entrances (for both cars and pedestrians) are closed with metal rolladen gats and locked. Um, shit. I guess they were serious about the 6:30 thing...why in the hell did it let me IN at 6:50 then?! So we walk all around the entire block/building and not a single open entrance. So off to the train station we go, because even though we are only about 3km from our hotel we are tired and don't have a stroller for Colin. We hop on the train and then had to take the train back down to the parkhaus the next morning to get our car back. You don't even want to know what it cost to leave my stupid car in the parkhaus overnight in insanely expensive Switzerland. I'll tell you anyway...53 %$&!*& Franks! I wanted to scream. Lesson learned...regardless of whether or not the entrance gate lets you in the parkhaus after hours...DO NOT PARK THERE!

Zürich Weekend - Part 1

Zürich

Friday after Shelby got home from work we headed to Zürich, Switzerland for a few days. The drive was about 3.5 hours and beautiful as usual. Shelby slept while I drove and when we got close to the border he suggested switching places since I do not have an international drivers license (only because I've been too lazy to take the paper to the proper office to get one) and I can only drive in Germany. I said not to worry, we'd be fine, because entering different countries around Europe is like driving from one state to the next back in the US...no dramatic gates and searches like when you enter the US. So we cross the border and shortly after we approach a toll, either you have a sticker or you don't, I did not so therefore I had to go in the line to buy an autobahn sticker, which just so happened to have the police selling them. Crap. I was worried they would ask for my passport and license, I worry too much. All they wanted was my money and the little man was delighted to see I already had Swiss money and he didn't have to take Euro. 40 CHF (Franks) later...you'll soon read how expensive Switzerland is, and we were off. I promptly pulled over and switched seats with Shelby who drove the rest of the way to Zürich, lol.

We got to the hotel and settled in. Definitely the smallest hotel room we've had so far, but also possibly one of the nicest. We decided to eat at the restaurant in the hotel since we were there and it was late. It was delicious, we had the house specialty, fresh homemade cappelletti. It's like ravioli sort of, I had mine stuffed with spinach and Shel had his stuffed with mushrooms, veal and spinach. It was delcious! It was also very expensive! We'd been warned that Switzerland was pricey...turns out it is actually one of the most expenisive places in the world and the city of Zürich is up near the top of the list of most expensive cities worldwide.

The next morning we woke up early and google mapped the closest Starbucks to the hotel and started walking. We don't get it very often, not even one on base :( so when we have the opportunity we take advantage. In true Zürich fashion, the bill for two venti coffees and two muffins...30 Franks! That's about $26 for coffee, lol. Once we had coffee we started walking to the city, which was about 2km from our hotel. The forecast was calling for 60% chance of rain all weekend but the sky was smiling on us Saturday. No rain at all and even some blue skies and sunshine peeking through here and there. We took full advantage of the weather and walked our butts off to see as much as we possibly could in nice weather.

We saw the outside of the Swiss Land Museum, the Altstadt (where we spent another 17 Franks on coffee at Starbucks), the Fraumünster church with beautiful stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. It was rather annoying that they don't allow photography of any kind inside the church. At first I thought this was maybe due to attempts to maintain the sanctity of the church. However, I doubt this as historic churches all over Germany allow you to photograph them. The main dead giveaway as to why no photographs was the souvenier shop set up INSIDE the church where you could by photographs and postcards of the church interior from every angle...and you know they were a bargain since we are in Switzerland! So I coughed up 3 Franks to buy a stupid picture of the stupid Chagall windows that I could have taken better myself. We walked the lakes and up the famous Bahnhofstrasse shopping street. We saw a flea market full of junk, and various other markets set up in little squares around the city. We went to the Grossmünster church where again you could not take pictures. It has two huge towers that they allow you to climb for 4 Franks a person. The steps are narrow, tight and treacherous...you are literally climbing a stone tower spiral staircase, then you come to an area above the church where the tower opens up some. You then start climbing up steep wooden stairs, and you climb and climb and climb. I read somewhere it's 187 steps but it sure felt like more than that! The view from the balcony is incredible, worth the climb for sure.

For lunch we decided to catch one of the lake cruises that run all day long. The boat ride goes around the northern end of Lake Zürich and lasts about 2 hours. We had lunch on the dining area and then moved to a seat outside on the deck for a better view. After the boat ride we walked around and did more sightseeing and then found a huge park we had seen from the boat. We let Colin run and play for a while on the playground. He had a blast being around other kids and playing in the sand. Then he discovered the jumping water fountains and he was in heaven. He was soaked and full of sand from head to toe...so glad we had a clean change of clothes still this late in the day. After letting Colin unwind we walked over to a Swiss restaurant called Terroir for some authentic swiss cuisine. Their entire menu consists of products and dishes only from Switzerland. The very friendly (and English speaking) manager told us the only thing not from Switzerland in their restaurant is the ketchup, which comes from America. LOL I had a veal meatloaf with mashed potatoes and Shelby ate pike with risotto. After dinner it was time to walk back to the hotel and get some rest. Loooong but awesome day and the weather was great compared to what we were expecting. On the walk back you could see the storm clouds rolling in though, rain was on the way.