Cochem and the Mosel River

Nick had the day off this Friday (I'm assuming it was for Easter, even though Easter was last weekend. The Air Force has been frustrating with family days and holidays lately. Apparently there's too many people getting DWI and DUIs, so they've been taking away some of them, punishing a LOT of families for a few people's mistakes. I'm sure it's really going to stop them from drinking. Anyway...). So we decided we would go to Cochem, a town on the Mosel River. The Mosel is a river that runs from France into Germany down to the Rhine. It's a really windy, decent size river, through an absolutely gorgeous valley, with steep hills on either side. And, there's a ton of vineyards all over the hills. They have boats you can ride up and down the river, as well as a walking/bike path that follows it almost the whole way. Very nice. We were going to go on Friday, but Stella got sick late this week, and we thought it would be best to let her rest Friday. Plus, it was supposed to be 75-80 Saturday, so we were all for a nice trip.



We got to Cochem after an actually pretty drive along the autobahn for a change (usually it's pretty dull), and stopped at a restaurant a little off the beaten path for lunch. Stella was clamoring for pizza, so we had to honor that, since she seemed to be doing much better. It was the first time she actually seemed really interested in eating for a few days. We had a very nice lunch outside on their patio, and Stella had a lot of fun trying our food, and then riding on this rocking horse thing that was in the platz. She was in a great mood. Once refueled, we headed up to the main attraction of the town.



Cochem is known for its very nice castle, perched atop a hill in the middle of the town, its wine (like every other town along the Mosel), and the very nice riverside streets with shops and restaurants and stuff. The castle is really nice. It was completely destroyed in 1689 by King Louis XIV of France, and sat in ruins for 200 years. Then, they rebuilt it according to some old plans they had. It's quite amazing how they can do that. We took a tour (unfortunately in German, but we had an English info paper to read instead), which was cool to see some of the inside of the castle. Really, it was just so nice to hike up to the castle and enjoy the view and the lovely weather outside. Stella did quite well, although during the tour she was a bit cranky as it was naptime, and crashed afterwards. She just wanted to walk around (or, be pushed in her stroller) on the "mountain." She was still not quite herself, but we figured instead of her sitting around the house watching movies, she could just sit in her stroller and watch the scenery roll by.

*WARNING--the following is a description of something rather gross that happened next. Those with a weak stomach be warned!*

Well, we thought we'd be "sneaky" and stop for a little while so Nick could have a glass of wine, and I my ice cream I'd be wanting all day. There's something about walking around in beating down sun that just makes ice cream so wonderful... Unfortunately, Stella has ice cream radar that is finely honed, and woke up the instant we stopped, and kept asking for some. Mom couldn't resist and shared. BAD idea. Mom got up to go to the restroom, and came back to Daddy holding Stella, who was very upset because she had just thrown up all over Daddy, who I must say handled it all amazingly well. We have passed the parenting embarrassment test with flying colors, if you ask me, as we were in a very public place, still at the restaurant (though outside and on the edge of it thankfully, so as not to have her getting someone else or their stuff covered in grossness!) and didn't get embarassed. There's something about it being your kid that you just couldn't care less what other people think, you just want your child to feel better. You do what you can to conceal/clean up the grossness, but there's only so much you can do. Thankfully, we were right by a patch of grass and most if it got there, not on the table, etc. AND, Mom thought ahead and brought a change of clothes for Stella, and Daddy even brought some, too. So while he went back to the car, Mom got Stella all cleaned up, only to have a repeat 5 minutes later, though we all stayed clean this time. I felt kind of bad for the other people in the area having to watch, but what are you supposed to do? You can't run to the bathroom with a 2-yr-old mid-sickness, or really move anywhere. I just didn't make eye contact with anyone, only heard a few tourist walking by going "Aw, crap! Gross!" (Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were American. Other people probaly said stuff, too, but I couldn't understand it, so that was nice) So we pretty much buzzed out of there as quickly as possible, after cleaning it up as much as we could.

On the way home, we decided to follow the "Moselstrasse" instead of the autobahn for a while, just because the weather was so nice and Stella was calmed down and watching a movie (Thank you, Schulte's, for that wonderful DVD player! It should come in handy on the airplane and subsequent car trips, as well!). It is a beautiful drive. We passed many, quite full, campgrounds on the way and hope to stay at one of them sometime soon. Anyone who comes to visit, we have extra sleeping bags! The only problem with driving this road is that it takes about 3-4 times as long to get home. We didn't go the whole way home that way, but stopped for some dinner at a very nice, though rather expensive for how much food you ("don't" as Nick would say) get. It was very tasty, though, and Stella had the worst diaper blowout I have ever seen while we were there, so I think it made up for it a little bit. We ended up home at about 9, gave Stella a dip in the tub, and got her to bed. We crashed very soon thereafter, especially Nick, who had started the day with a 6 am bike ride with a good friend of ours.

After a lovely day, even given Stella's incidents, we were quite tired. I am very thankful for the circumstances of her incidents as well, especially since we weren't at home with a cabinet full of cleaning products and laundry. Advice for parents: having your kid get sick outside is much better than inside a restaurant, or even in your car for that matter. All in all, it wasn't that bad, and the weather and beautiful scenery more than made up for it. I hope we didn't gross you all out too much, but hey, wait till you have kids. I feel like we just got initiated into a club!

Easter

So here she is, our little Easter girl, all dolled up. And, yes, Mommy made her dress.





Our day was very nice, especially since the sun was shining (and has been ever since!) and it was about 60-65 outside. A VERY nice Easter this year! Our church service was very nice. Afterwards we had some friends over for a big Easter lunch, along with some of Nick's co-workers.





The kids had a lot of fun out on our patio with a little Easter egg hunt we put together. Stella didn't quite "get" it, but with Mommy's help she found 6 eggs. She was having a lot more fun shaking the eggs (with coins inside they make very fun noises) than looking for them, but that's okay. There were gummy bears in some of the eggs, and she wanted to eat them immediately, of course. Then, she felt she didn't get enough, so she kept stealing them from the other kids, who kept thinking it was their siblings. Oops! We got it cleared up quickly, though. The rest of the day we spent just hanging out, enjoying the nice weather. We hope you all enjoyed your Easter as well.

Fun with Stella

So I know we're terrible about updating this, but we haven't really done much interesting stuff lately. The most interesting stuff is just cracking up at Stella's random antics. So I figured we'd just have to do a post about her.

The other day, while Nick was at work, she had a particularly fun-filled day. First, while I was getting the breakfast dishes cleaned up, she decided she would help clean up, too. Apparently, with spring here and all, she figured we wouldn't be using the fireplace again soon, so she took her broom and started "cleaning" the ashes out. Onto the floor. Awesome! (she has done this a couple times now, and I have been completely unable to hear her do it, or catch her in the act.) So then Mom decides, well, might as well vacuum today instead of tomorrow.

While vacuuming, Stella decided she was hungry, and helped herself to a little snack. She came out of our room and Mom found her with while all around her mouth and a fairly chewed up chapstick tube in one hand. Gross!

Then, while continuing to clean the floor, Stella thought she'd have some fun with her rainboots and go splash in some puddles. Only it hadn't rained in about a week, and she was about two pairs of shoe-changes after her rainboots (she must have forgotten that she changed her shoes!) and the only puddle she could find was Jackson's dog dish. Quite inventive, I must say.

Well, Mom finally decided that she needed to lay down for a few minutes after all the excitement of the morning (and trying to get over this obnoxious respiratory cold during which she pulled a muscle in her ribs--believe me, so not fun!) and Stella found some laundry that was drying on our radiator. She decided to "help" Mama by putting some of it away (on the floor) and bringin one particular undergarment to her resting mother, saying "Nurse! On." Like I said, she's clever.

So that's one day. The next day, we had gone to the PO to get mail, and Stella received an Easter package (one of 3 she received, in addition to two Easter baskets from our landlady and the people we buy milk from--she has enough candy to last until she's 5!). So later, when Daddy came home from work we opened the package. Inside she found some stickers, in addition to some other fun stuff. She played with Daddy for a while, and ended up with a sticker on her forehead. Later, after dinner, she decided she was still hungry, and chose a black crayon as a tasty snack. Mom and Dad thought that wasn't the most nutritious option, and gave her a cracker instead.



The following day was pretty normal. When it's nice outside we usually either just go outside to our lovely and huge backyard (up beyond our landlady's amazing garden), or go for a longer walk up on the trails at the end of our street. This evening we decided to go out on the "grass" as Stella had named the backyard. She gets this really hopeful, sweet look on her face, eyes opened really wide, and asks, "Gwass? Gwass? Puh-wease?" How can anyone resist that? So off we go. Now, our neighbor upstairs has a daughter, Lena, who is...eleven, I believe. They have a trampoline in the backyard. After a major windstorm last fall (hurricane velocity winds reported at some of the bases!), it seemed to be completely kaput. However, there was some miracle, and much to Stella's delight, it has reappeared. Naturally, once we get up to the top of the backyard, the first word out of her mouth is, "Bounce! Bounce!" This time, we thought we'd bring the camera along. Here's my fave shot.



I think we'll call it "The Ascension of Nick" for now. You can even see his shadow on the ground. Too cool. Anyway, Stella had a lot of fun bouncing with Daddy (my sore rib muscles wouldn't allow me to bounce without pain) and she even learned a new trick. I'm going to attempt to put a video here on our blog, but if for some reason that doesn't work, you can view it on our YouTube site here . So here goes!



Pretty funn stuff. She was very proud of herself, and after doing it a couple times more, told Daddy, "High five!" Love it! Oh, and by the way, I have enabled comments to be left on our blog now, if you so desire. More to come soon...