Rooooooad Tripppppppppppp!

It means exit, but even after two years I find it funny.

HA!!!!! You said it, I didn't


The plan for yesterday was simple. I think maybe that's where we went wrong. My husband had a seminar/meeting/briefing thing at another base that was only going to last half a day. He suggested the kids and I come down and meet him for lunch, we could do a little Christmas shopping and then he'd just ride back with us. Since the base where he was going to be was much bigger than the one where we are, I jumped at the idea.

In Germany, it gets a bit chilly here in the winter. I mean, I even wear a coat. And hat. And gloves (especially now that I seem to be on dead mouse detail--see my previous entry). For those of you who read this that know me well, you realize what that means. While I am certainly not a perfect parent - far from it - I would like to dress my children appropriately for the winter... including long sleeves and long pants. Perhaps a hat and some gloves to ward off frostbite. Just a thought.

I have been unable to find anything at our BX for S. She's at that in between stage - not an infant, not a toddler. I call her a bascotod (baby/scooter/toddler) But I have been unable to find a single long sleeve onsie for her at the bx, much less a pair of pants. Short sleeve onsies? Check. Pajamas? Check. Cutsey little dresses that will literally allow frostbite on her bum? Check check. Mittens or hats for babies? Nope. I found a pair of nice mittens at the Christmas fair in Dudeldorf last weekend, but they were 19 Euro, which is pretty expensive for something she's going to lose and or chew on (and when I say chew, I really kinda mean spit up). But back to my point. I figured I stood a chance at finding some winter clothes for her. Luckily, Mom sent her some really cute long sleeve onsies a couple weeks ago. Now, of course, she's hit a growth spurt so all of her pants are too short. Sigh. It never ends.

So, off the kids and I go. I was so prepared. I had a well stocked diaper bag, snacks, extra bottles and formula, changes of clothes, toys for the trip (about an hour and a half each way), directions, a full tank of gold..err..gas, kiddie music for the cd player, a towel for spills and most importantly, a caffeinated beverage for me. Sounds so comprehensive, doesn't it? The only thing I left off this list was S's pacifier. This, of course, will be glaringly obvious before the day was over. The trip down was great. Lunch was great. Shopping - so so. I did find two pairs of pants, but was disappointed because at this point, I'd really like S to branch out colorwise from pink and purple. It's been eight months, Carters. Let's move on down the color chart.

Our stroller has been used to the last scraggling, duct taped inch of it's life. It's survived T, many, many plane trips, countless over loadings against the manufacturers warnings, a secret life as a double stroller, luggage cart. and a grocery cart. It's time to retire ol' bessie. She's had a good life. Alas, today was not retirement day, because while we found strollers, there wasn't a single one out of the box to prove that it really was a one handed fold up/down, easily maneuvering, sturdy enough for two kids yet not too bulky model. So, we passed. I have to admit, I'm drooling over a sporty red German version that would be considered affordable were we paid in Euro's but seems on the extravagant side given that in a year neither of my kids will want anything to do with a stroller and we'll basically be using it for imprisonment purposes.

Oh - and I forgot to mention that I filled S's bottles with water before we left. Before you congratulate me on my forward thinking I have to say that I didn't notice that the diaper bag tipped over in the car. When we arrived at our destination I noticed because the stupid avent bottle leaked, soaking my coat, the newspaper, the diaper bag full of clothes and diapers (things pretty important to keep dry in my humble opinion), and T's last artwork masterpiece. Umm... bottle manufacturers? Do you think you could create, say a color coding system for folks like me that mistakenly assume all avent bottles of the same size, shape and color have interchangeable parts and only find out they are mistaken in situations like the one described above? thanks! Oh, and yes, I used the cap. The leak was from the actual piece that you screw on to the bottle, and yes it was tightened.





The calm before the storm Enjoy it-all hell breaks loose in 9 minutes


Jeez.. I just noticed how long this post is. I'll wrap it up in a hurry. Okay! So, very little shopping done due to lack of things to purchase, we decide to head home. The original plan was to head to Trier on the way back to hit the Christmas market. We planned to go Sunday but it was pouring down rain. Pouring rain, high winds and munchkins without proper winter gear equals pneumonia. No thanks. On the way home, we decide to skip the Christmas market in Trier again, mainly because my coat was still wet, we now have a lack of usable diapers, neither kid has napped (which is so far beyond tempting the lack of discipline gods I won't even go there), and honestly we are both tired. And it's dark by 4:30 pm here and parking is a b**ch in Trier. We usually take the train. All is going well, and the kids are snoozing. We are about 30 minutes from home and S wakes with a start and begins to wail. It's a piercing wail - the equivalent I'd guess to being a dog and having a dog whistle blown right in your doggie ear. This wakes up T, who begins to cry too (I assume in a show of solidarity). Things get worse from here. Oh, if only only I'd remembered the pacifier. I break out snacks which helps T, but S wants to be fed cheerios by R or I judging from the fact that she refuses to pick one up in her tiny little baby claws and instead does her best baby bird imitation. Which, let's be honest here, at this point I'm willing to feed her, except she's sitting directly behind me, facing the rear of the car, and my arm only bends in certain ways. I don't want to turn around in my seat because we tell T that he cant do it on a fairly regular basis. T was willing to help, but would give her one cheerio to his handful, which really, really ticked her off and resulted in more wailing by both of them. She did stop wailing when we got to the front gate long enough to go through the id check and coo at the freakin' guard, but immediately picked up where she left off as we went through. Good times, good times. Turns out it was nothing that a clean diaper, warm bottle of milk (a gerber bottle this time thankyouverymuch) and freedom from car seat prison couldn't cure. We SO need a minivan.



Full tummy, clean pants, no car seat...life is good!