Palmengarten, Part I

After recovering from our experience with time travel we were ready to see the sights. (Time travel sounds so much cooler than yes, we changed time zones) James only has one day off a week so we have to make it count! Our first Saturday we set out for the Palmengarten. It's a beautiful botanical garden set in the heart of the city. I believe I read somewhere it was 50 acres. It was wonderful.


I've been learning quite a lot about myself on this trip. It became apparent to me pretty early on that I'm fascinated with architecture. I hadn't really noticed it before. Who goes to a botanical garden and comes out with mostly pictures of buildings? Evidently it's me because I have like three pictures of flowers. But the greenhouses are so beautiful....

Oh look, here's a flower picture. An orchid.

Another pretty building in the background with a fountain.

Just outside the main entrance.

The kids were most fascinated by one little duck in a fountain.

Contemplating...?

Gorgeous paths

Even a pretty time out spot.

Another nice building/path shot.

About halfway around the gardens they have a fantastic playground. That's Fisher and Piper on the bridge. And it's easy to see in this one how it really is right in the city.

A sweet shot taken by Daddy.

Fisher "adventuring" as he calls it. This one was also taken by Dad.

This was my FAVORITE greenhouse.

And another flower. They were all written in German so I have NO clue what this is scattered in the tulips.

This is the rock and heather garden. Fisher was particularly drawn to the stream. Go figure.

Even a fun little cave.

All in all it was a fabulous day. So fabulous in fact...part two is coming up. Stay tuned.

Love,

JKFP

The Food...

Daddy, this one is for you. :)


The food here is...well, it's awesome. Awesomely awesome with a side of creamy sauce. I'm not sure if lots of Italians have moved here and opened up restaurants or if Germans are just really good at cooking Italian food. I suspect it's the first one. And it's amazing. Stupid good.

Here's what our favorite Italian place considers a kids drink. (It's just water) And she loved dipping bread in the oil and vinegar.

This here is THE BEST pasta dish I've ever had. In. My. Life. Huge tortellini's filled with cheese. Artichokes and tomato with some crazy sauce and more cheese.

This is Uncle Jay. (Fisher's middle name is Jay - named after him) He's working here too so we've seen lots of him! This is a great chili place. We mostly eat outside. The reason for that is super obvious to anyone who has (or ever has had) small messy children.

And this one is just super cute with a side of sneaky.


Nice hair.

I'd never really had much German food before so I didn't have any sort of baseline to go from. But it's crazy awesome too. You'd have to figure Germans KNOW how to cook german food though.

This is a kids meal from one of our favorites. Piper ate it all. Except the potatoes.

Aaaaand here's mine. German noodles (I forget what they're called), and the skillet has chicken and mushrooms and this super creamy sauce, and of course the salad. Stupid good.

Poor Fisher was wiped out on this day. He nibbled a few bites of soft pretzel (which you get everywhere) then fell asleep at the table. Hard.

This is from our very favorite place so far. We ate outside (of course) and they had this great sandbox for the kids. Those kids spoke English so it was a nice treat.

This is the Frankfurt Schnitzel. Apparently they have regionally specific schnitzel. Sort of like with BBQ. Texas v/s North Carolina. Totally different. Anyway, SUPER GOOD.

This was James' dinner. Basically a HUGE pork chop. Like two inches thick. Also super delicious.

The pastries here are KILLING me. Here's a deliciously amazing spinach and feta pinwheel. It's super flaky. Tastes like spinach and feta wrapped in awesome and air.

James got tapas. Lets see...wings, mushrooms, olives, feta, and (as Piper says) dip its.

And here are Piper's potato wedges with more dip its.

I decided pretty early on to eat and enjoy. Obviously. We've been given this amazing opportunity to experience another country. If we don't live and enjoy it to the fullest...did we ever really deserve to get it in the first place? I think no. So my intention is to savor every moment and delicious bite while I'm here. We'll discuss my waistline later. On second thought, lets not. :)

Love,

JKFP

Leaving on a Jet Plane...A German Experience

Guten Tag!!

Sorry this post has been such a long time coming. Those of you who know me know that technology and I don't get along very well. Needless to say, getting my computer set up with this router....well, you can probably figure it out. It took a while.

Any of you who might have wondered just what all is involved in travelling internationally with small children....this one's for you.

Here are our checked bags. Just for the sake of detail...they weighed 48 and 49.5 pounds. Our particular airline (us airways) doesn't charge bag fees (under 50 pounds) for international flights. For now. So, one for me and one for them.



Then there is the holy cow I'm gonna be travelling ALL DAY with these crazy kids I'd better carry on everything I can think of...

Yes, I carried most of that by myself. Nevermind that I carried Piper in the pouch and pushed Fisher in the stroller too. Part of the time anyway.

A cute Denver airport shot. We had just made it through security. Which took FOREVER.

On the flight from Denver to Philadelphia.

They stayed awake that whole three and a half hour flight. Which really kinda freaked me out as it was naptime. But they behaved VERY well. I had gotten a new DVD player (Piper broke the old one two days before our roadtrip from hell) and a brand new (they had no idea I'd even gotten it) movie. Tangled. Which they LOVED! SO not just a chick flick.

Dinner at the Philadelphia airport.

We got all ready for bed at the Philadelphia airport. Vitamins, medicine (they had that terrible cold), teeth brushing, and a clean diaper for Pipey. That whole "no sleep on the first flight" thing kinda worked in my favor because this was Fisher even before we took off...

Here's Piper not more than an hour behind him.

That one was an eight hour flight! They woke up about 45 minutes before we landed. Piper did get up once for a bottle somewhere in the middle. She was particularly frustrated with the seatbelt being around her while she slept. I wouldn't say I got to sleep very much. I woke up at every twitch and snort. Terrified that my run of good luck would be up and they would scream the rest of the flight. But that never happened. They. Were. Awesome.

And the reward after a very short customs line...

Daddy!!! Kisses and hugs. (not a super great picture - but essential to the story)

I've got a couple pictures that I feel accurately show jetlag. It can be hard to describe with pictures. But I think I've done it.

The first one.

This is the one that really drives it home.

That's EXACTLY what it feels like. But we did eventually get over it. Thank goodness! So all total my travel day included...

1) An hour and a half drive to Denver (thank you very much Carly and Johnny!!)
2) Two hours through Denver airport security and onto the plane.
3) Three and a half hour flight to Philadelphia. With no naps.
4) A three hour layover at the airport.
5) An eight hour flight to Frankfurt
6) Short customs line and a quick ride to our apartment.

Whew! That was a LOT!

Three days of jetlag later and we were ready for the weekend. Which I'll show you in the next post. We couldn't be happier to be with James again! We missed him so much. And we've been having one adventure after another since we've been here. (which I'll share with you of course!)

Love,
JKFP

P.S. I miss Bob. He would love it here. There are dogs everywhere. Trains, shops, even in the restaurants. Really.

A fun Sunday

So a couple weeks ago our dear sweet Ruby turned the big 4! We were invited to go along with her family to the Denver Aquarium. (We'd been before but Piper was just a baby) We all piled into their van (they have one of those huge van's that's like driving around in a living room) and headed to Denver.

Here the kids are munching bagels and rockin out.

Piper seems to be at a really good age for this. She LOVED it.

A huge turtle.

Very posed. And excited.

When I am filthy rich I want a wall aquarium filled with jelly fish. FYI. I love them. I could fall asleep watching that gentle motion.

One of the cool things offered there is scuba diving classes. They are in the tanks where we all can see them. It's SUPER fun. Everyone waves at the little kids in the tunnel portion.

This is arguably one of my better photographs. I like it anyway.

All in all we had a wonderful time! We all broke apart for naps then met back up for cake and ice cream that evening. It was a great way to celebrate a wonderful little girl!

Love,
JKFP and Bob

******
And just in case you were wondering...the kids are totally sick. And we leave day after tomorrow. I did end up taking them into the Dr. yesterday. Strep. So we have antibiotics and a really great cough syrup with codeine in it so BRING ON THE 12 HOUR FLIGHT!! I'm glad I took them. They'll be feeling much better by flight time. Wish me luck...or just call me crazy.

A day in the life...

Our days right now can be summed up in three words...packing, packing, packing. We leave for Germany in three days and the kids are sick. Both have terrible colds. One of the worst ones we've had in a while. I'm still fine though. I imagine I'll get it as the plane takes off. But that's okay. At least I feel good enough to pack now and I don't have to push it to the last second. Here's hoping they magically get better and I don't get it at all.

I figured I'd leave you with a few pictures of day to day life these last few weeks. You will please excuse the piles of laundry and the little rat's nest that always seems to be in the back of Pipey's hair.

Story time in Fisher's bed.

Here we are having a tea party with a super special tea set that was made just for them.

(that's Piper's stinky cheese face)

Here is Miss Pipey navigating the Nook. I had to password protect everthing because she would be online looking stuff up. And Fisher accidentally bought a book.

If you look closely you may notice the game is the right way up.

Fisher reading Piper the Highlights magazine.

Playing with homemade playdough.

Potty training with clothes on. Sort of.

So there you have it. How we spend our days. I may be able to post once or even twice more before leaving. Unless I get sick too. Fingers crossed.

JKFP and Bob