Heidelberg: The rest of the trip

I just realized that I never posted about the rest of our Heidelberg, just the chocolate store. Guess you can tell what I really enjoyed in that city!

After the chocolate store, we walked along the main street, stopping at various shops.


We found a great shop where you could make your own tourist shirt.

Marion chose hot pink with 'purple sparklies'.

After lunch Marion treated us to a game of 'yell as loud as you can in Betti's face'.
Unfortunately, Betti loves this game. Townes, our travel companion, did not. Marion slowly learned this over the course of our trip.

The following day we got lost but eventually made it to the Heidelberg Castle.

You could see portions of it without buying a ticket to the group tour but, unfortunately, could not see inside without that group tour. The group tour was 50 minutes long... we decided to not put Marion, or ourselves, through that torture.

However, you don't have to pay extra to see the big ass wine barrel at the castle. This thing holds 228,000 liters.

I wonder how many Marions that would be?

Other highlights of the castle: great views...


and a cool clock.


On our final day in town, we walked along the Philosopher's Walk. It was a beautiful day for a work out, I mean walk. But well worth it when we found our picnic spot.

The Philosopher's Walk is across the river from the castle and has great views as well.

I really enjoyed Heidelberg. It was nice to spend several days in one city and really get to know it. If you get the chance, go! And don't forget to swing by the chocolate shop.

When toddlers attack

She spots you.

She charges.






And then, when she is close enough, she falls into you with a fit of giggles.

Marion's world

Last night I bought some socks, brought them home, and asked Marion to put the pile on my bed.

She said she was counting them out.

Right now Marion's enjoying her lounge chair in the nice weather while Betti naps.

Strawberries and bubbles add that special touch. Unfortunately she has a special habit of shaking the bubbles bottle and spilling it everywhere.

That doesn't stop her from making it work.

Such a cutie, I wish she would look at me when she smiled once in awhile.

What is that about?

Gotta run, she's created a 'beach' outside and wants me to join her on the lounge chairs. She'll be the perfect spa partner one day!

Celebrate!

We had a small get together on Friday to celebrate Betti's first birthday.

First, Marion and I made cupcakes for Betti- green cake, pink icing, and sprinkles.

Next, Betti got dressed up in her birthday outfit and played with her friends.


And finally, Betti devoured a cupcake.


Maybe we'll get a better reaction from her after her next birthday cake?

Marion, on the other hand, loved the cupcakes. I think she had two, although she could have snuck some without me noticing. And when Brian got home, she shared his by taking the first bite. She managed to bite off the entire iced top half, stinker!

One year!

My littlest girl is one year old today!

She's gone from a blue baby, pissed at being in the world...

to an observant, inquisitive toddler running after her sister and parents.


Nothing about her pregnancy or birth was easy. She convinced us that even if we wanted to have a third child, there was no way we'd attempt it overseas again.

She's made up for her trying entrance by being a joy to be around. She loves "head kisses" (touching your forehead to hers), emptying the plastic recycling bag in our kitchen, and playing with her sister.

Until it goes too far.

She weighed 10.26 kilos (22.6 lbs) and was 79 cm (31 inches) long at the doctor's yesterday. According to her pediatrician, "A big girl!" She prefers vegetables to fruit and loves cheese and pasta. She has also been caught eating markers, chalk, and crayons.

Betti loves her bottle and is always coming up with new ways to get around while drinking it.

And she loves getting caught in the process.


We can't wait to see what she does next.

Happy Birthday Betti!

Has it really been a week already?

Wow, time flies when you are busy planning your life. Who am I kidding, we've been busy planning for the last several months. But while we've been planning for months, nothing was happening. I can plan with the best of them but I had to wait on alot of things. And, amazingly enough, everything happened in the last week.

Here's the rundown...

Brian's contract is officially up in a few months. We decided we would like to stay through the summer for various reasons and, last week, we received approval for that.

At the same time, we've tried our best to prepare for the move while we waited for approval. That has included looking at and applying to preschools for Marion, contacting our daycare provider for Betti, and looking for houses. We started the process for all of these way back in December and then...

On Wednesday we received word that Marion was accepted into our first choice preschool.

On Thursday we heard from our daycare provider who thinks she can accept Betti but will know more in July.

On Friday we put an offer on a house.

On Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we negotiated with the sellers of the house.

On Wednesday we came to agreement and went under contract on the house.

It's amazing how everything came together all at once. Of course we are far from over but I won't bore you with all of the details of our move. But needless to say, I have several good reasons for not posting lately! And, while these developments have been excitement, sadness is always right there with it because each step is one step closer to leaving Switzerland and our friends. But I'm trying not to think about that right now... we still have a good amount of time here!

So what did you do this week?

Gentle Schmentle.

I'm throwing the word gentle out. My girls have fun without it.

Note: Betti's true reaction was so much better than what I caught on camera. She just gets a little distracted when there is a camera around. So take what you see here, multiply by about a thousand, and then you've got the insanity I witnessed today.

Apparently winter wasn't ready to suck it.

Hard to believe we were at the park having a picnic a week ago. It is freezing here right now! Boooooo.

He might be on to something...

Our friends over at Viva Pierre brought this gem to my attention.

Enjoy!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
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She's a tough one

Marion and Betti's rough housing resulted in blood today.

I guess the good thing that came out of this is that I now know when Marion really knows she has done something wrong. In the time it took me to get to Betti, Marion had booked it into her room and into her tent. She wanted no part of what was to come.

Hopefully that means Marion will not lay on top of Betti and hit her face into the floor again anytime soon.

And my little toughie... she stopped crying and was giggling again as soon as I picked her up. Rugby may be in her future.

Changing things up

You may have noticed things are a little different here.

Well, it took two years, but I was sick of the black background. So I lightened things up.

Brian disapproves, saying the black made my pictures pop. I had no idea I was living with a designer.

Hope this color is easier on your eyes!

And our chocolate winner is....

We have a chocolate winner!

I was going to ask Marion her favorite number but when she responded "A,B,C" I realized that was a no go. Betti just slobbered and pounded on my keyboard. So I had to resort to a random number generator. One of these days those kids are going to earn their keep around here.

Anyway, the results from www.random.org declared Caitlin as the winner!

Congratulations! I'll be sending your gift off in the mail within the next week.

Thanks for participating! I think I'll do a giveaway once a month from now on so stay tuned!

Heidelberg: The Chocolate Store

We traveled to Heidelberg with our friend Kacey and her son Townes. Both of our husbands were working up there so we road tripped it! We decided to explore Heidelberg on our first day there. So with no real plans, we strapped the kids into the strollers and started walking. And walked some more. And then some more.

Turns our our rental was a little further away from the main street than we thought.

So we were a little tired when we walked past something beautiful.

Beautiful fresh flowers?

Eyecatching, gold leaf window display?

Chocolate store!

It was only 10am, but we stopped. And I'm not ashamed to admit that.

The store was even more gorgeous inside.


And we loved the quotes painted across the ceiling.


But the best part, by far, was the hot chocolate. It was thick and delicious and seriously yummy.

Oh. my. god.

Marion loved it in there. The gentleman who was in the store at the time got a kick out of her. Despite my many 'No's, he gave Marion many, many, many chocolates.

I'm pretty sure she enjoyed that store as much as we did.

So if you are ever in Heidelberg, stop into the Chocolaterie St. Anna No. 1. You won't be sorry.

And stop back later today to see who the lucky chocolate giveaway winner is!

Fasnacht

The Sunday before we left for Heidelberg, Brian and Marion caught our town's Fasnacht parade. It is nothing like the big parades you would see in Basel or the bigger cities, but it was fun.

Marion came home covered in confetti.

Popeye's backside.

I don't have an explanation for these guys (girls?).


You go little town!