The first day always hurts

What seems like this morning, but was now 2 days ago, we left for our trip to Germany!! It is 1:47 in the morning right now and I can't go to sleep (obviously because it's 4 in the afternoon my time). Ah! For some reason, it seemed easier last year, but who knows.

So, I'm here to post of our first hours here! Um, this is going to be hard to admit, because I have always been a French girl. Love France, love the food, love the country... everything about it. But, I have to say that in only a few short hours, Germany is pretty darn amazing.

But, before I go into that, I need to recap the flight with 2 kids- which was a breeze for some reason. And, this is why:

1. Steve and I traded off- (3 of our seats were together) and one was away. At first, I was jumping up and down shouting that we needed to be all 4 together, but it was the best thing ever!! I took the first leg with the kids, and then Steve would take the second. So- it gave each of us some time to sleep, get away and breathe. It was awesome.

2. Food. I brought around 25 packages of this...and the kids inhaled them and didn't get messy.

I would recommend this to anyone who has kids... the best invention ever. And, then the usual subjects (goldfish, gummy rabbits, crackers, lollipops, granola bars).

Sure came in handy with our flight from SFO-NYC, because they charged for snacks! Can you believe this? If you want a little bag of pretzels, you've got to pay for it... crazy.

2. The right toys, from order of importance:

playdough (my kids love this stuff and it can always entertain for huge chunks of time, markers/crayons/coloring book, beads and string (to make necklaces), stickers for emilie to put all over her tray and then take them off and put them on again for hours, the ipad with tons of apps, tape and scissors, puzzles, and of course a movie (but, they probably only watched 2 hours out of 12, which is pretty amazing, right?

3. Some serious heavenly grace. They were so good, really happy, never cried. A huge blessing.

Now on to Germany:

I was too tired to lug out my cluncky camera, so this is the best I could come up with right now to describe what we saw for 3 hours as we drove from Zurich to Fussen. GORGEOUS. Green hills, the cutest/most fairytale towns you've ever seen, cows with bells frolicking in the grass, happy farmers whistling in the breeze, glass top lakes with people relaxing on the shores, Steve and kept on saying every 4 minutes (this place is sooo pretty)...

and then maddie threw up, and threw up and threw up,

but, it was still beautiful!! hee hee.

After our long drive, we finally arrived in a small town just outside of Fussen (right beneath the Neuschwanstein castle.) We did not plan this- but our balcony looks right at the castle! (ok, behind a tree, but still cool!!)

We're staying at Hotel Waldmann- a small family run hotel that is perfect for the kids (trampoline, swings, places to run... and so close to "Sleeping Beauty's castle.")

We were so tired, so we slept for a while, and then scraped our bodies out of our beds to get dinner and ended up at the best place in Fussen. I can't remember what the place is right now- I'll ask Steve, but, we put on bibs, ate duck, lamb, sausage, roasted potatoes, green beans and sauerkraut... it was a gluten free FEAST. I was loving every lick of my fingers.

The people are so friendly, I can't say enough, and even though I feel bad that I don't know one word of German, everyone speaks English and goes out of their way to help. ..

Steve is trying to put Emilie to sleep in the other room right now (she is having a hard time adjusting to the time), I'm sitting here very very awake, and Maddie is sleeping like a champ! I'm going to try and channel her sleeping bug...