Our Germany trip

From April 29 through May 10, Tanja and I were in Germany with the kids. We first visited our sister Susi and family; we then went to see our grandma. Here are some photos from the trip:



As you can probably tell, Susi lives in an absolutely beautiful region. Every time I visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen, I'm awestruck. It was also wonderful to see my beautiful nieces and nephew for the first time in one-and-a-half years. The cousins were very cute together.

Here are just a few notes about the trip:
Air travel: Much to Tanja's envious annoyance, Sara slept about 80% of the flights in both directions and then still managed to sleep fairly decently the first night in each destination. She did brilliantly!
Luggage: We had a lot of stuff. A lot! I had a stroller, a suitcase, a car seat duffel bag, a carry on, and a diaper bag. On the way there, Tanja had a stroller, two suitcases, a car seat, a car seat cart, and three carry ons. Our luggage was so excessive that our precious sister Susi actually transported it up to our grandma's for us a couple of days after we had headed there on the train. It was so excessive that random strangers offered to help us at the airport. As we set up strollers and loaded luggage carts at the airport in Frankfurt on our way home, a European couple came up to us. The man actually said, "Please, I can't stand watching you try to handle everything alone. Please let us help." It was pretty bad. We also got stuck in the airplane gangway when we arrived in Munich because we took too long to get off the plane. Apparently the people in charge of the gate assumed everyone had disembarked.
Traveling with a toddler: Ryan did pretty well, but he's two. Not only that, but he's a two-year-old with the strength and size of a four-year-old. He's therefore not easy to manhandle and doesn't always understand that certain things just aren't allowed... like running past airport security, for instance, or climbing up on luggage x-ray machines, or screaming "Me out! Me out!" after the first five hours of being strapped in his car seat on the plane. Tanja also had several sleepless nights with him while he tried to adjust to the new time zone, which is nine hours ahead of PST. I have already told Larry that if I decide to go again when Sara's a toddler, he's coming with me.
Introducing Sara: Baby Girl loved, loved, loved Germany. She's almost always a pretty content baby, but she's not necessarily the most smiley kid on the block. Well, in Germany she was suddenly all smiles, all the time. I don't know if it was the clean air, the language, or what, but she was definitely in her element. Tanja and I both taught the kids variations of the "Sara Jo song." It was so cute to hear them sing it. Here's a video clip of them with Tante Tanja. Make sure you turn up the volume a bit:



My grandma also absolutely loved her and commented more than once about how sweet she was. I'm so glad I had the chance to introduce Sara to her.