I updated Sore Loser

I added another video showing just how dramatic dead Colin was being. Scroll down to the Sore Loser post and check out the update.

Job Shadow Day

Job Shadow Day

Today was job shadow day in the KMC and Colin got to go to work with Daddy this morning. It was kind of a vacation day for Daddy, since he didn't exactly have to work. Colin would have been bored to death in his office all day so Shelby took him over to the big squadron ta-do where they all make their jobs look really cool. The had planes out on static displays for the kids to go up in and check out. The fire department was out there showing off their trucks. There was an intel briefing, tower tours and the kids got to play with fighter pilot gear and put on parachutes. There was even a bouncy castle and food. These kids must think their parents go to a party everyday! Colin had a blast though, was very well behaved and enjoyed it. After all the fun stuff with Daddy they came over to Mommy's "big preschool" to visit my job. They had lunch (lucky Colin it was pizza day!) with my Sure Start kiddos and then we attempted to have Colin participate in rest time with my class. He was not having all that but did lay fairly quietly despite being so excited. Then he woke up and put his mat away with the big kids' and shared afternoon snack and story time with them. I think he was more excited once all the kids finally left because then he was allowed to get into all the toys in the classroom. While the kids were there he had to do what the class was doing, which wasn't free play or centers by the time he got there. After I was done with work we headed over to karate class and it was the first day the kids were getting to spar in class. Normally the parents are not allowed in the room and we watch in a lounge area on closed circuit TV. Today since the kids were sparring, we were invited in and I am so glad because it was hilarious. Colin had a blast and was fearless. He got fussed at a little bit by Master George for doing "Hollywood stunts" and falling down dramatically during the fight and being an actor. They are practicing for an upcoming tournament where the kids will do forms and spar. We are not sure if Colin will enter or not, technically they are supposed to be 4 years old to enter. Master George is the one that runs the karate school and the tournament and he said Colin is so tough that he could hold his own and if we didn't mind him sparring in the 4-6 year old category that he'd allow him to enter. We are still deciding, only because it's mid May and our weekends to prepare to move and get packed up are running out. We'll see. Colin thought it was the best karate class yet and I'm sure he'll be busting to go back on Tuesday. After karate and dinner we went to see The Avengers in the theater. Colin could hardly stand waiting to see all the superheroes in the same movie. At one point in the movie a character says "...that's a stupid ass plan" or something like that. As soon as he said it Colin looked to us and in his most disgusted voice tattled on him for saying stupid. Yep, never mind the ass part, Colin was appalled he had used the word stupid, lol. The German theater here does intermissions if the movies are 2 hours or more and it just so happened that when they cut to intermission it was before The Hulk had been angered and turned green. Colin was waiting for that the entire movie because that is the only character he hadn't seen in a movie before. He freaked out and was so upset thinking the movie was over and he didn't get to see The Hulk. We had to explain to him that it was just a potty break and the movie would be back on in just a few minutes...not happy! LOL The movie didn't get out until after 9 PM and Colin had already had a big day with job shadow, sparring and no nap, we thought for sure he'd crash as soon as he hit the car seat. Nope he talked nonstop the whole way home about the superheroes and The Hulk and how we had to play superheroes at home with him. I can guarantee he slept good tonight!

Wordless Wednesday

Sore Loser

Apparently this child has his momma's competitive streak. He can't stand to lose and here is what happened when Shelby beat him in Candy Land the other day. This was over a minute into the meltdown and when he was still carrying on Shelby decided to start filming to show Colin just how ridiculous he was being. Oh boy...we are going to have to start practicing on being a good winner and loser. LOL ***OK Grandma H joked that Daddy should have let him win...so I have to update with this THIRD video from the meltdown. Yes, I'll spare you the screaming and crying for four more minutes in the second video and jump to this one, the third in the sore loser fit series. Watch to the end and how quickly his mood changes when he sees he has won...it's such a drama show on his part. Betty Davis ain't got nuthin on him!

Wordless Wednesday

Koblenz

Koblenz

Friday...
We woke up and packed up the room and car to hit the road. One last stop by Starbucks and then we headed back into Germany to go stay in Koblenz. This is where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers meet and is one place we haven’t been to yet. It turned out to be a beautiful place and our hotel was so nice and we got in so late from traffic and all we decided to stay an extra night. We got a good deal on a very nice four star hotel right on the river and our room has a fabulous view. The room was very big and the hotel has a spa inside and a fancy restaurant. We got checked in and then went walking.

We boarded the little ferry that takes you from one side of the river to the other and went wandering. We got to the other side right at 6 PM, when the last ferry made it’s cross and when the gondolas to the castle atop the hill stop running. So we just did a little walking and checked out the Deutsches Eck (German corner) where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers meet. Then we had dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the river. It was delicious German food and we had a tasty bottle of German wine, yum! After dinner we had to walk all the way back to the hotel because the ferry was no longer running. It was a long walk along the river, then up and across the bridge and back down the other side and along the river again back to our hotel. Colin had his little laufrad (walking bike) so it was a nice stroll and he got plenty of exercise. We came back to the hotel and I got to enjoy some more wine in the big beautiful bathtub in our room.

Saturday...
This morning we woke up and headed down to the ferry to go across and get as much in before the forecasted rain arrived. We had breakfast at a little café and then walked all around the old town and historic center. I had forgotten my camera (UGH!) so after a little walking we caught the ferry back across to the hotel to get it, then got the ferry again (this man probably thinks we are nuts, or we want to put his kids through college) back to the other side. Now that I had my camera we were ready to get on yet another boat for a river cruise. This boat takes you up and down the Mosel river to see some of the castles and beautiful scenery along the river. We had a lunch on the boat while cruising. After the boat cruise we had planned to take the gondolas up to the castle on the hill and check that out. Right about the time our boat made it back to the dock we noticed the gondolas stopped running and apparently they were broken and going to be closed for the rest of the day. We are just not meant to ride this damn gondola apparently! Since we couldn’t ride the gondola we took the ferry (yippee!) back across to our hotel and let Colin go in the pool for a bit to wear off some energy. Later on we rode the ferry back across to wander the old town and get some dinner.

The Post I Hoped I Wouldn't Have to Write...

One Wednesday morning I did a home pregnancy test and it was negative. I was pretty sure then that this last cycle had been unsuccessful, but was still holding out a slight bit of hope that maybe things would change by Friday. That was not the case. Another test this morning confirmed I am definitely not pregnant. Colin asked me about the baby in my belly last night and I had to choke back tears to explain to him that the baby is not in there, that it didn’t grow. He knows the doctor has put a baby in my belly and that I get checked at the doctor to see if it is growing. He got a sad face and went and told Shelby he was sad because his baby sister isn’t growing in my belly. I don’t know what we do from here. There is not enough time to do another round of IVF with stims to harvest more eggs between now and when we leave in June. Even if there was we don’t have the money to do it since we are still paying the debt from these last three rounds off. When we move to the island there will not be an IVF doctor there, it’s too small. I do have embryos frozen in Tucson, but we have no idea what kind of time and money we are talking about to go use those. I honestly don’t know that I want to risk it after three failed cycles this time around. I suppose this makes Colin my miracle baby even more. Shelby and I have always talked about being open to adoption, but that also requires tons of cash we don’t have right now. So at this time, I guess we are just stuck. I wish I could understand why people who don’t want kids or don’t take care of the ones they do have area so easily “blessed” with more. I wish I understood what fate and life has in store for us that we cannot have more children. I hate being a control freak with absolutely NO control over my own body. I will have to find a way to make peace with this situation, at least for now, because there isn’t really any other option at this point.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

This morning Colin slept in until after 8:00! When he was up and we were all ready to go we took the train into downtown and got Starbucks. Then we browsed the flower market, where you can buy a bundle of 50 fresh cut tulips for anywhere from 7–10 Euro! Not just tulips were there, you could buy just about any kind of bulb you wanted, as well as loads of other flower types. We wandered through a couple souvenir shops before making our way up to the Reypenaer Cheese shop. Here we did a cheese tasting and learned about how this Dutch family makes their famous cheese. They’ve been doing this for years, in their old warehouse where thousands of cheese blocks are turned by hand weekly to prevent damage to the cheese and the shelves from moisture. We tasted goat cheeses that were young, in terms of cheese age, at four to eleven months old. Then we tasted cow (gouda) cheeses that were up to four years old. When the cheese is made it is all made exactly the same, the only reason for the taste and texture difference is the age, how long it sits on the shelf. The tasting was informative and delicious. Colin was extra well behaved and earned compliments from the other tasters. Afterwards we went out to the shop and spent way too much money on cheese and a the nifty little guillotine cutter thing for the cheese. We were stuffed!

To walk off all our cheese we walked across town to a science center geared towards kids. It was great, very hands on and all kinds of fun things to play with and see. Shelby and I had a lot of fun playing with all the gadgets and set ups too. We closed the museum down at 5:00 and then started walking again. We wandered all through the center of downtown Amsterdam taking in all the sights. We stumbled into the red light district again and this time Colin was paying more attention. We walked down a side street that looked pretty uneventful but it turned out to be peepshow windows. Some glass doors had the curtains open and inside was a very bored looking woman wearing some lingerie and waiting for prey. Some glass doors had the curtains drawn and I assume that room was either occupied or that girl was not working. Walking right behind us were two men and as they (and consequently we) walked by the windows the girls started banging on the glass to get their attention and opening the door to try to drag them in and make some money. It was all kind of funny but Colin took notice to the ladies and said “WOW!” So we asked him wow what and he said “Those girls are beautiful,” then asked why they weren’t wearing clothes. We told them they were in bathing suits waiting to go to the pool, which he gladly believed and suggested they hurry up before it closes. LOL After that we made sure to find our way out of the red light district before we had to do anymore explaining! We found an Italian restaurant to enjoy some seafood and pasta and then went back to the hotel.

Kasteel De Haar

Kasteel De Haar

We left the campground in the morning and went to Kasteel De Haar before checking into new hotel in Amsterdam. This castle is HUGE and very extravagant. It was built by a spoiled, wealthy baron who married into money and wanted to upstage is wealthy in-laws. He spared no expense and this was frowned upon by the Dutch, who favor a more common, practical style of living. This family lived more lavishly than even the Queen and royals here in Holland. Of course you cannot take any pictures inside the castle, I hate that. Trust me when I tell you it was nuts! The castle is even surrounded by a moat. Still to this day, every September the baron and his family come to vacation at the castle and they invite all kinds of distinguished guests. Roger Moore and Bridget Bardot have been invited and entertained here among many other famous and political figures. Many royals from around the world are invited, but we learned that Dutch royals and rich never attend because they still snub this family’s lavish living quarters. The tour was very interesting and Colin was pretty well behaved. He was rewarded afterwards with a new crown, shield and sword from the gift shop, he loves to pretend to be a knight.
We checked into our hotel and then caught the train into the city’s central station. We found Starbucks and then wandered around. Amsterdam is a totally different place, very relaxed and laid back, bikes everywhere and just about everyone speaks and understands English. We found ourselves on the outskirts of the red light district and had to laugh at some of the window displays selling “toys.” Colin was totally oblivious to the windows and was far more interested in looking for pigeons to chase. We got out of the super touristy area and found a Dutch restaurant that was delicious. I had a steak with some mushroom cream sauce stuff on it and Shelby had salmon and Colin did too. We had Colin pee before leaving the restaurant and then walked to the nearest tram stop on the line that ran back out to our hotel. Right before the train was due to arrive, Colin said he had to pee. With no places around I found him a corner really quick, pulled down his pants and he then refused to pee. Said he couldn’t go and as all this was happening our train came and went and we missed it. Colin got fussed at a bit for crying wolf and causing us to miss the train. The next train didn’t come by for another 10 minutes so we just started walking in the direction of the next station. We got there and sat for a few minutes waiting on the train and of course Colin said he had to pee. Again. So this time Shelby took him off to find a spot and wouldn’t you know while they were gone our train came and went. AGAIN. When they came back I told Shel to just throw the kid in the river because I was about to kill him! So off we went walking again towards the next train stop since we had at least another ten minutes to kill. FINALLY we caught the train and headed back to the hotel.

Anne Frank & Heineken

Anne Frank & Heineken

This morning we woke up early to drive into Amsterdam and visit the Anne Frank House. Since pretty much all of Europe is on spring holiday recess I had a terrible time reserving tickets online for this museum. Midweek we are moving to a hotel in Amsterdam and I was trying to visit the museum then, when we’d already be there instead of when we were staying at the campground 40 minutes outside Amsterdam. Weeks before our trip I tried to get tickets for when we would be in the city, but they had already sold out. They do sell tickets at the door as well, but I’ve been told the lines for that get really long real fast and you spend hours waiting to get in. Not with a three year old, no thanks! This meant we had to just suck it up and drive in one day from the campground. I was very glad we did this because the line was down the street and around the corner to buy tickets, I heard about a four hour wait. We bypassed the entire line, went right to the special side door for advance tickets and got right in. Colin did pretty well, we tried to explain to him in terms he could understand about the Frank family and why this place was important. It was an amazing piece of history to visit.

Next we went to The Heineken Experience to see (and taste!) how the beer is made. The Experience is in the old brewery building, where the company started. Now they have a large brewery on the outskirts of Amsterdam where the beer is actually produced, and the old factory has been turned into a fun, interactive museum of sorts. They have all kinds of fun things to see and play with there. Shelby was in heaven since Heineken is one of his favorite beers. Even Colin had a blast. After that we found a Starbucks and headed back out of town to our campground to pack up camp.

Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk

The weather today was awful. We woke up to cold, rain, and gusty winds. We couldn’t let the weather dictate our plans though, so we bundled up and hopped in the car to drive over to Kinderdijk. This area is famous for their windmills, and there are the most windmills in any one area there at a preserved heritage site. The windmills are huge and beautiful. I didn’t know it until now, but they Dutch families actually lived in them as well. The position of the windmill arms was also used to signify things such as holidays/family celebrations, periods of mourning, etc… Normally you can ride a small boat down the canal for better views of the windmills, but the boat was not running when we got there because of the miserable weather. So we had to walk path to get our views and pictures. I was surprised how many other crazy people were out there walking the path and braving the wind and rain to see them as well. Tour busses of people were there and all out walking.

Backing up a little bit, on the way to the windmills the GPS has us driving all over and had us take a ferry across the road. Don't you just love it when your GPS says "turn right, then board ferry." What the hell? A little advance notice would be nice, turning right and seeing water right in front of you is a little late to be telling us to board the ferry. Anyway...while waiting we took video of Colin.



After getting back in the car and warming up we drove over to the beach to see the North Sea. I hopped out long enough to snap a picture, but it was even windier at the beach so I wasn’t trying to spend much time there. Later that evening we had dinner at a seafood restaurant on the beach. We had great views of the waves crashing on the beach and the food was awesome. Shelby had a huge sole that took up the entire plate and fell off the bones. I had prawns that were as big as my hand and Colin cleaned his plate of fish. Colin was fascinated with the lobsters in the tank at the restaurant and had to keep going over to check on them and watch.

Easter Weekend

I know I say this every time we go on vacation, and it should no longer be a surprise to me, but dear God the amount of crap we require for a weeklong vacation is insane. Seriously…clothes and toys (for both Colin and Shelby) and food/snacks, pillows, 3 computers, and beer, and a coffee pot and….I’ll just stop there because I’m already embarrassed enough. When you travel in Europe you see people check into a hotel with a little, teeny, tiny, wheeled suitcase (if you want to call it that, looks more like a shoebox to me) and that is it. We probably look like a three ring circus rolling up to these people. Anyway…. Once I finally got Shelby out of bed, and we finally got all our crap in the car, and then finally got on the road, it was about two hours later than what I was shooting for.

The drive to Netherlands is fairly uneventful and nothing spectacular to see. Once we got into Holland though you could see some of the differences between Germany and Holland, especially as we got away from the highway more. In Germany there is a lot of green land and pasture but all the people tend to live in the village, with villages dotted all over the countryside. People in Germany don’t typically have very large yards. In Holland there are villages, and people do live in houses that are close together in the village. But, a lot of people also live outside the village and have large yards that are very well kept and beautifully manicured. They have pretty gates at their drive way and large houses and just about every house in the country has some sheep on the property somewhere too. Houses are close together, but not one on top of the other like in the village. They look very expensive, but a lot of people do have houses out there, so either there is a ton of rich folk in Netherlands or the houses aren’t as expensive as they look. The style of houses is also very different looking from German houses. In Holland there are canals and little waterways everywhere, similar to south Florida. The waterways often section of property parcels and peoples’ yards, and they keep your animals in your yard without needing a fence. Speaking of animals, there is an incredible amount of wildlife there. More than I think I’ve ever seen in one place. It doesn’t matter where you drive, just about anywhere you see green grass or water (which is just about everywhere) you will see animals. Swans, geese, ducks, rabbits, sheep, cows, ponies and horses, we even saw a pair of pheasants! Being spring there were baby animals everywhere too. We saw numerous newborn sheep out with their mamas and you could tell their umbilical cords had dried up but not fallen off yet!

After arriving at the campground we got all set up. We didn’t camp, still too cold for that, but we had a little cabin thing, “sunhome” they called it that was perfect size for the three of us and was fully equipped with a mini fridge, a stove and all the dishes and things you need. We didn’t cook though, that defeats the purpose of vacation for us, we love trying new food in the places we visit. After getting all set up and unpacked we had dinner and then dyed some Easter eggs. I had boiled the eggs the night before and brought them along from home. Colin was very excited about the Easter Bunny coming to visit and hiding his eggs. Unfortunately it rained and everything was wet that night so we didn’t hide them. In the morning it was impossible to sneak past Colin sleeping on the living room floor to get outside to hide them so instead I wrote a note from the Easter Bunny and put it in his basket. It said that it was raining when he hopped by and since the eggs were so pretty he didn’t want to put them out in the rain and have the colors run, so he would let Mommy and Daddy help him out and hide the eggs for Colin in the morning. Colin really didn’t care too much the eggs weren’t hidden once he discovered his basket.

Easter Weekend

Easter morning we woke up and Colin went straight for his basket.



The weather forecast during our visit week was not supposed to be the best and when we woke up Sunday it seemed like the rain had already moved through. Since it was only partly cloudy out and not supposed to rain more until that night we decided to change our plans a bit and head to Keukenhof today. I’ve been dying to go to Keukenhof for years, since before we moved to Germany. It is the most famous place in the world to see the tulips. It was amazing, flowers everywhere and it is crazy to think that this incredible garden is only open for 8-10 weeks out of the year! We walked around the garden and took in as much of the sights as we could. Our campground is located in Rijnsburg and Keukenhof is just a short drive away in Lisse, both towns are known for their flower bulb fields and many of the tulips shipped around Europe come from here. The fields are breathtaking, perfect rows of colored flowers are far as the eye can see. I have a hard time picking a favorite season living in Germany, but if I lived here in Holland and got to see this every spring, that would definitely be my favorite season, hands down! After we returned from the gardens we went to the big indoor pool at the campground. There was a large water slide and then a little kid play area too, very nice and Colin approved. We had dinner at the campground restaurant that night before relaxing and resting from our big day.

Keukenhof

Wordless Wednesday