The Clark's European Vacation, Part II

Sunday, the 13th, we went to Neuschwanstein castle… For those of you who know me well, you know that this is the castle for me. I think the first time I was there (nearly 10 years ago!?) I said "I would live here" and probably meant it. I was told a story (on that trip, I think) that Walt Disney tried to buy the castle to have it moved to the United States for Disney World, but they wouldn't let him, so he used it for inspiration for the current Disney castle. Is that true? Who knows, but it is known as "the Disney castle". Anyways, moving on. :)

Prior to leaving for the castle Jordan saw this:

and decided it would make the perfect Jeep ad, so we had to have a picture!

On the way to the castle we stopped at a wood carver’s shop. It was really neat and we were told about "Smokers", and we decided we had to have one. I'll get a picture of him sometime... basically it's a wooden carved statue that you put incense into and the smoke comes out of his mouth. It's pretty cute. The shop had a lot of very neat and ornate things, most of which were pretty expensive. But, since they're hand carved, they would be worth it, if you had thought to take that kind of cash with you.

 The carved cow... 58.90 Euro

We also stopped at the “Church in the Meadow”. The church is absolutely beautiful and contains a very interesting statue of Jesus. The story that we were told says that some Monks were asked/commissioned to create a statue of Jesus out of other statues. When it was finished it was so life-like that it disturbed people. I'm not sure if part of the requirement was to make it look like Jesus post crucifixion or not, but that's what it was. Anyway, people were so bothered by it that it was put away in an attic of a house in the village. Years later a woman moved into the house and found it. She brought it into her living room and prayed. When she was praying one day it began to cry real tears. When word got out that the statue cried real tears people from all over would come to her home to see the statue. Well, she couldn't have all of these people constantly in her home, so they moved the statue to this church. When we go to the church there was a service going on, so we went into a little restaurant that has amazing doughnuts. They were great and we had hot cocoa (which was not sweet and I didn’t like).

 The doughnuts ~ Abby loved 'em, too!

The Church in the Meadow

Then onto the castle. Beautiful!! There are two options to get to it – wait in line and pay 5euro/person to take a horse and carriage up, or walk. We walked… I’ve been there twice, so I didn't think the walk was too pleasant (especially since it was cold!), and I remembered correctly. It seemed to take forever, but probably only took 20min, and was up hill the entire way. It was good to walk, don't get me wrong, but I was trying to keep pace with two soldiers who are used to taking regular PT tests and work out a lot. The castle was amazing. It was built by "Mad" King Ludwig II and was never finished because he died (a mysterious death) prior to its completion.

 Our Family!

  In front of the castle

Neuschwanstein

We walked back down the hill and ate at a great little restaurant on our way back to the resort. Authentic Germany food, which is actually pretty good. Heavy, though, they like a lot of pork and do a lot of gravies and sauces and spatzel (little dumpling-noodle things, which are great and Abigail loved).

On Sunday we rented a sled and took Abigail out into the snow. She loved it! She cried when we came back inside. We took the bus into town and ate at a German restaurant there. Again, good food!

Sledding!

 Haribo macht kinder fro!

On the way home there were two other little girls, maybe 2ish, on the bus and Abigail started saying “Hi” to them and all three of them were squeaking and squealing by the time we got to our stop. It was priceless! Monday was spent just hanging out and being a family.

The Clark's European Vacation, Part I

I decided our trip was way too long and exciting for just one post, so I'm going to break it up into I-don't-know how many posts.

Part I:

Our European Vacation started March 10th at 1328, when our flight left KCI for Chicago. We landed safely in Chicago and had 4 hours to get Abigail some dinner and get to our gate. That's a lot of time in our world. I asked the United Information Specialist, Joe (I made up his title), where I could heat up food for Abby and he told me about a great play place for her... located one terminal over. I was worried about pushing her stroller and carrying our gear (a backpack, and sling diaper bag, so not a lot) that far, and being in a place I didn't know. But, Joe assured me it wasn't terribly far and that Abigail would love the play place. So, we went for it. And, I'm very glad we did!! There was a play airplane and a maze made of flags. Abigail had a great time and burned some energy.

We boarded our flight for Germany and Abigail cried, I mean screamed, for about 10 minutes, then slept for almost all of the flight. About an hour before landing I changed Abigail into her dress and got ready to meet my hubby!! We landed in Munich about 1000 and were met by a driver, who was to take us to Garmisch to the Edelweiss resort. Jordan and I had emailed and decided we were to wait for 10 minutes for him prior to leaving Munich, because he was pretty sure he'd be able to meet us at the airport. As you can imagine, I was scouring the crowds of people all through the airport, while I picked up our bags, clear until we got in the car (van really, but car sounds better, right?). Well, no Jordan, and we couldn't wait any longer (per our driver) so we were off. Abigail and I both slept in the car on the way to the resort, which means we must have both been tired! For those of you who haven't been to Europe, the drivers there are crazy! Their roads aren't as wide as ours, and they are "zoomers" ~ weaving in and out of traffic ~ I'm pretty sure I'm glad I slept.

Here are a few pictures of our time in the airport and Abby sleeping on the plane:

(Click on the image to enlarge it)
Yes, that's puppy on Abigail's back. No, I didn't have to attach the leash ever.

Anyways, we arrived at the resort and went inside to check in. We were too early and had to wait. So we waited, and I asked if we had any messages, "no". Okay. While we were waiting I realized I no longer had my cell phone. Awesome. I knew it wouldn't work in Germany, but it has so many pictures, videos, phone numbers... could I really have lost it?? I had it when I got in the van at the airport, so that's where it had to be. Right? Luckily, I planned ahead and had typed out a sheet with all of the "important" numbers I might need, including the limo company who sent the driver to get us from the airport.

We were finally able to check in and I somehow maneuvered all of our bags and Abby into our room. Phew! We made it! Oh, I should add that when the room was ready and I was able to check in they told me I had a message from my husband (funny, I thought I asked about that initially?! "Sorry" was the answer I got), "he got delayed in Frankfurt, but should be in this afternoon or this evening". Okay, at least I knew where he was, and that he should hopefully be there that night. I immediately called the limo company and they said they would have our driver check his van and they would call me back at the resort.

Abigail and I explored the resort, ate dinner at their buffet, which proved to be fairly difficult. Has anyone ever tried to go through a buffet holding a 17-month-old's hand? Not easy. Anyways, we ate dinner and went back to our room. I gave Abby a bath and I wanted to take a shower, so she showered with me. As we were toweling off, the phone rang (~1800hrs). It was Jordan! He made it! I quickly threw Abby's dress on her and threw some clothes on myself. As I was trying to comb through my hair there was a knock at the door...

He made it! He was there! We were together again!!  I can't begin to tell you how amazing it was to be hugging him... it was wonderful.

Our first "official" day together, Friday, was spent relaxing, catching up, swimming, and doing some "housekeeping" things, like getting diapers (I say "official" because since Jordan didn't get in until 6, his leave didn't start until the next day). No phone call from the limo company, so I called them. Our driver didn't find my phone, and apparently he is very trustworthy. I wasn't afraid that he had stolen it, after all it was no good to him, it didn't work there. But, dang it! There went all of my pictures, phone numbers. Dang! Friday night Abigail decided she didn't want to sleep... about 0130 Jordan and I both called our moms in a panic. Why is this child, who normally sleeps so great, not sleeping?! I know there is a 7 hour time difference, but she slept so great the first night?! Well, at 2, she finally fell asleep... that's 7pm back home. Lovely, were we going to be stuck with a child who refused to change her internal clock for the entire trip?

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from those first moments, or from the rest of the first night, but here are a few from the Friday:

(again, click to enlarge)

The view from our room was spectacular!

The resort had these adorable rocking chairs in front of a huge fireplace.

Abigail loved to climb in and out of the little ones and "rock rock".

Okay, that's all for tonight... a pretty long post for 2 1/2 days, huh? I guess I'm going to have to work on that, or this trip will take a whole month to blog about!!

QUICK update!

I don't know where I left off...

Jordan is here, he got here about 6PM on Thursday. Abigail and I had kind of given up and were getting out of the shower when the phone rang and he was here! It was such an amazing reunion! We're sooo happy to be together again. It's been emotional, but great.

We have decided not to go to Rome ~ the first night, Thursday, Abby slept great (probably b/c she was so tired from the trip in) but the second night, Friday, we were up till 2AM, which is her normal 7PM bedtime back home. We were terrified that this was going to continue. Saturday we went to Neuschwanstein Castle and besides being tired, from getting such little sleep, we were worried about keeping her quiet ~ she did great, and was by far the best babe in the group ~ and didn't catch too much of the history of the castle. We decided that since Rome was a city full of history and there was so much that we wanted to take in that we would skip it for now, and hopefully come back in a few years. It didn't help that our train tickets have yet to get here.

We've swam and visited the base a few times, and Jordan and I are going to Ski tomorrow while Abigail goes to the daycare. It's funny b/c both Jordan and I didn't want to have to send her, but every little girl or boy she's seen she's tried to play with, so we think she needs the interaction with other kiddos.

Quick story ~ yesterday afternoon we ventured into the city of Garmish. We wandered around downtown, visited some shops, and had dinner downtown. We took the train back to Edelweiss and there were two other babies, probably about 2 years old. It was so funny b/c Abigail started a baby conversation with them, and they were all squeaking and talking on the bus! It was adorable!!

Hope to post more later.

We made it!

So this is going to be a super short post, but we're here. Abby and I are at least... when we checked into the resort they told me that Jordan was stuck in Frankfurt, but should be here this afternoon/tonight... it's 4:15PM here and still no sign of him. Anyways, I found out the internet is free, so if I have time I might update again!

GI Joe (My Hero)

Since we're getting ready to leave, and Jordan is already in route to us, I think it's safe to do this post now. Note: I wrote this when I turned in my final entry for the LBB & Dharma Design Challenge. The contest is over now, and I ended up getting 4th place!! Never in 100 years would I have imagined being a finalist, much less doing that well! Thank you all for your support!!


I had been struggling with this dress for a few weeks. I had this vision in my head of the perfect dress for Abigail to wear when she sees Jordan again in Germany, and I couldn’t get a tie-dye color to match my vision. Until this weekend.


This is my fourth, and final, entry in the Lil Blue Boo and Dharma Trading Design Challenge. I used the recycled t-shirt hoodie pattern, and lengthened it (with a ruffle) to make it into a dress. I picked up this “GI Joe” t-shirt clear back at Christmas time and had been waiting for the right inspiration to make it into a dress for Abby. Well, Germany seemed to be the perfect inspiration, and when I saw Ashley’s hoodie pattern, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I used Dylon’s Olive color to tie-dye some white knit fabric, and it turned out perfectly (after trying other colors, which looked horrible with the t-shirt). I knew that I needed to put some pink in there somewhere, so people knew Abigail was a girl (in case the ruffle didn’t give it away!).

I added cuffs to the sleeves (from the collar of the pink t-shirt) and used Ashley’s freezer paper stenciling technique to add a red, white and blue stripe to the ruffle.

It turned out perfectly, and I think Abigail’s dada will be very happy when he sees it! Of course, he probably won’t care what we’re wearing when he sees us, but he’ll love the dress, I’m sure of it!

The finished product

A detail shot of the hood/collar.

I used pink thread, and I’m really glad I did ~ I really love the contrast

Abigail loves it!

And, now it's time to go!

Really?! (in a good way!)

As most of you know, I started sewing when Jordan left for Afghanistan. And, if you've been following the blog for any length of time, you also know that I had a few enteries in the Lil Blue Boo and Dharma Trading design challenge... Well I found out today that I'M A FINALIST!!

I was so excited I was practically dancing in my office at work! I have only been sewing again for a few months, and there were some really amazing entries. I am still in shock, I think. A lot of the other enteries were made by ladies who are pretty amazing... they have etsy shops and lots of followers, so I'm really blown away that I'm in that kind of company!

Now, it's up to YOU to decide who wins! Voting ends on the 9th and you can vote once per computer, so spread the word! Go here to vote! My entry is the last one (#15), titled GI Joe "My Hero" dress (no there wasn't a blog post about this dress, more on why this weekend)...

Thank you!!