Shameless Bribery (a.k.a. Back from Bavaria pt. 1)

This weekend was a long one for Ben and Ian (one perk of army life is that Ben gets a 4 day weekend for every federal holiday  - even minor ones like Columbus Day) so we studied our maps, packed up our bags and headed to Garmisch.  Determined to cram as many unbelievable sight-seeing experiences into four days without compromising our childrens' ability to behave or our sanity, we scheduled as many child friendly activities as we could.  And resorted to shameless bribery.  It started out so innocently.  "If you guys are really good today, maybe we'll stop for a pastry at the bakery," and "Please remember that you have to hold one of our hands at ALL TIMES if you want to earn your treat tonight."  By day two phrases such as "It is time to put on Castle Manners - if you can be really good today we'll stop at that Chocolaterie we passed last night and get some really fancy chocolates" were heard on occasion.  As day two waned it was more like "If you can be really, really good during this tour of the castle, you can have a treat as soon as we get back to the car - please keep on walking."  And after four days of hiking, touring castles, visiting churches, and traipsing through museums, we made the unfortunate mistake of taking the scenic route home.  Now, I acknowledge that using food as a reward is not the greatest parenting strategy, and as a general rule, I try to avoid doing it.  However, after a few hours in the car, and hearing one too many high pitched shriek, my parenting devolved into, "If you will just use polite voices and not require any parental intervention for the next hour, I'll give you a mint from my purse."  Shameless. 

All kidding aside, the kids were amazingly well behaved and we had a great time.  The weather was beautiful, we didn't get lost, our hotel wasn't a dive, and really, the kids were excellent.  They were troopers.  We walked A LOT, and we saw A LOT in a short amount of time, and they, for the most part, were cheerful, obedient, and excited to see and do new things. It really wasn't until day 4 that their ability to restrain themselves really declined.  So, as Ben and I realized, next time we travel (especially when we take longer trips) we'll need to have a day or two where we do nothing but play in a park or stay at the hotel and color, or watch movies.  Taking a tram up a mountain doesn't count as kid time. 

Okay, enough with the jabber - here are some pictures.  I'm posting this in two parts because there are just too many pictures to include in one post.  So, for today you will see documentation of our trip up the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany) and sometime soon you will be treated to a tour through the castles of Mad King Ludwig - Patterson style.

Here are Ben and the kids ready for a trip up the mountain...

                                          

...at a stop along the way...

                                                          

...and at the Glacier (just below the summit).

                                            

                                

And, to prove I was there too....

                                            

And finally, some pictures of pretty mountains (okay, I'd call them spectacular)...

             

...and the view from the top.

                                          

Ballerina in Training

Here, as promised, are some pictures of Naomi in her ballet clothes.  Because I have had a hard time finding someone here to photograph our kids, I have been messing around with my camera and with photoshop.  I'm still not sure on the B&W conversions.  I think it will take a lot more practice.  So, those of you who are really good at this, DON'T LAUGH.  You know who you are.

                                        

                                         

                                                              

                                            

Amsterdam

So, this trip was actually back at the beginning of September.  The very beginning.  Like, Labor Day Weekend.  We went with some friends and stayed in a very fun, very family friendly resort in the Southern part of the Netherlands (it was only about a 4 hour drive).  We stayed in a little bungalow (very basic, but also very inexpensive) and had at our disposal a huge indoor water park, a lake with paddle boats and canoes, bowling, tennis, ping pong, mini-golf, restaurants (although the food was REALLY not so good) and lots and lots of playgrounds.  It was a perfect spot for us to spend the weekend.  I was recovering from an illness (I'm fine now) so I was able to relax while Ben played with the kids.  Although the trip was mostly centered around family play time, we did manage to drive up to Amsterdam for a day.  It was wonderful.  I had never been to Amsterdam, and didn't really know what to expect.  I've heard some pretty sketchy things about Amsterdam (the city of pot and prostitution) so I was a little worried about the environment.  Turns out, the red light district is very defined (it's actually a tourist destination), so it is easy to avoid, and if you avoid it, you're pretty much fine.  Amsterdam is really a beautiful city.  I really want to go back - one day was not enough.  The things we were able to see:

The Anne Frank House

                                                                

I didn't take any pictures of the actual house (the outside is not much to look at, and there is no photography allowed inside). This is a statue of Anne the is right around the block from her house.

                                                                  

This is the church around the corner from Anne Frank's house.  I really enjoyed visiting the Anne Frank house.  Having visited Auschwitz as well as the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, I've witnessed the horror of the Holocaust on a large scale.  Seeing the Frank family's hideout and reading their letters, as well as quotes from Anne's journal, and imagining trying to keep my children quiet for 2 years, hidden in a tiny space and never letting them outside was touching in a more personal, more intimate way.  I think sometimes we see tragedies unfold in the news and they are so huge, and so horrible that they are literally mind numbing.  I think it is good to see how world events (historical and contemporary) affect individuals because through doing so we develop more empathy and a greater desire to effect change.  On a lighter note, I read Anne Frank's diary when I was in elementary school, and it was exciting to see a place I had imagined as I read.

The Rijksmuseum and the VanGough Museum

                                 

           

Okay, so only the first picture has anything to do with the museums.  (Once again, no photography inside.)  I loved both museums.  A big plus for us was that 80% of the Rijksmuseum was closed for remodeling, so all of their treasures were packed into one wing of the museum.  Had I not been traveling with young children, I would have enjoyed a lengthy ramble through the entire building, however, with kids in tow, the condensed version was perfect.  We saw the Vermeers and the Rembrandts and we did it all in 90 minutes or less!  Between museums, we took a break for lunch and some play time on yet another REALLY unsafe playground.  We went to the VanGough museum after lunch (Ben carried a sleeping N through the entire museum and all the way back to the car) and then headed back to our bungalow.  We had a great day. 

*Oh, and for any music nerds out there - here is a picture of the Royal Concertgebouw.  It is right across the plaza from the museums.  If you look really, really closely, you can see the golden lyre.