Our Germany Trip!

Okay, I'm totally exhausted, so I can't write too much. Our trip home was about 22 hours door-to-door and then I had to work today on not much sleep. Lily and I woke up at 4:30 this morning (darn jet lag!).

Our trip went so well and I'm so proud of Lily, she is a wonderful little jet-setter. Even though we flew standby, all of our flights went according to plan. Lily did great on the plane, sleeping soundly and playing quietly for all of the flight. We had a 2 hour drive to my grandmother's (Oma) house from the airport and Lily enjoyed looking out the window and eating her socks.

Here are some pictures of our adventure (warning: I have a LOT to share!)

Our flying buddy, Beth, flew with us both ways with her two kids Claudia and Keegan. As a US Air employee, Beth gave us her "buddy passes" so we could fly very cheaply and made this wonderful trip possible. I am eternally indebted to her!

Lily in front of Oma's house -- it was so cool to see her there! I spent so many of my childhood days playing on that porch!

On her first walk in Seubrigshausen (the town my Mom is from, which is where we were staying)

Here she is checking out the local church, which is where I was baptized and I'm hoping she'll be baptized someday as well (we didn't have time on this trip)

Lily hanging out with Oma, her Great-Grandmother Aurelia Schmitt. Lily said her first (and only) German word to Oma. Lily had gotten into Oma's flowers and Oma was saying "Nein! Nein!" and then Lily turned around and looked at her and clear as day said "Nein!" My baby is a genius, she's bilingual at 8 months!

I just love this picture!

A view of the town from the top of the hill (sorry, my camera took the pictures weird, they look blue and way overexposed)

Cousin Jenny had the magic touch -- she put Lily to sleep for many naps by softly rubbing her belly and singing Elvis tunes (Thanks Jenny, you rock!)

Playing in the grass near the community gardens. Lily likes to eat German grass too, in case you were wondering :)

Lily's laufstall, or playpen, afforded Mommy more than a few breaks

I love this one too, it's a good view of those bottom teeth!

On Saturday, we attended my cousin, Uwe's, wedding. It was Renassaince themed and was absolutely breathtaking. Here is the handsome couple before their nuptials (apparently, the superstition of not seeing the bride in her dress is not customary there)

Lily got a little fussy during the service, so I took her out for some fresh air. You can tell from the picture that she perked right up when she saw Mommy take out the camera! This is the outside of the church where they got married. It's in Saal an der Saal (I think that's how you spell it), a small town near Schweinfurt.

The day was overcast, cloudy, and cold. But at the end of the service, when we are all singing a beautiful hymn, the sunlight shone through the stain-glassed windows right on the couple. It was a touching and very spiritual moment!

Here are a few more wedding pics. The couple walked out of the church into a row of roses held by their attendees. At the end of the line, Uwe was blindfolded and told that now he'd have to withstand his first test of marriage. He had to sit on a children's toy car, blindfolded, as his new bride guided him through a maze of flowers in vases and collect each one of them to make her a bouquet. He succeeded!

The reception was held in a castle in Meiningen, about an hour away. It was breathtaking. Here is a picture of the castle from the outside. The next picture shows the German custom of the newly married man and wife sawing a piece of wood in half. I didn't know this existed before, so I learned something new! The rest of the pictures are from the reception, which featured a court jester as entertainment and a four course meal! What a way to get married in style!

The wedding was great and Lily loved all the clapping and singing. She even took a short nap under the table! The rest of the week was spent with family, trying to pack as much quality time into a very short vacation as possible. The first picture is my cousin, Kristina, who is pregnant with baby Gwendolyn due in January -- can't wait to meet the new addition!

Finally it was time for the trip home -- which, let me say, was a LONG one. We awoke at 4 in the morning and were driven about an hour in the rain (and dark, since the sun doesn't come up there until about 8 am) to Wurzburg to the train station. We waited on the train platform for about 30 minutes until our train arrived. We travelled home with 8 bags (we brought a LOT home with us), so it was hectic to get all of that stuff and the baby safely loaded on the train. Lily enjoyed the train ride. Here she is with my mom, checking out her own reflection in the train window:

After the hour and a half trainride to Frankfurt, we had to go through some major security checkpoints (the Germans really know how to do things right!) and then wait for a few hours for the plane. Luckily, there were plenty of open seats on the plane, so our standby status wasn't a problem at all. Lily did exceptional on the 9 hour flight home. She was quiet and had fun standing up on her carseat and talking to the TV set that was embedded in the seat in front of her. She slept a great deal and played quietly with her toys. I am truly blessed to have such a versatile, happy baby! Here she is on the plane, sleeping soundly. What an angel :)

PS - You can check out some more pictures on my cousin Jenny's blog. She is currently in school in Coburg, but skipped school in order to spend some time with us and I'm forever grateful that she did. I don't have any cousins in the States at all and it never fails to amaze me that I can be such good friends with someone and then BAM! I remember that I'm actually related to them! I miss you already, Jenny!