Checking in.
Well, it’s been a bit more difficult to keep blogging on this trip than I had anticipated. For one thing I don’t have access to the computer during the day, and for another I’m not sure what to write about...
We’ve been in Europe (mostly Germany) for about two months now. Like Ruth, I have a slight cold, but am well.*
I’m always at a loss when friends and acquaintances ask what I’ve been up to here... It’s like Pinky and the Brain: Same thing we do every night. I’ve been keeping everyone fed and clothed and tending the small humans and supporting the larger one. I’ve been nursing the baby A LOT, she’s enormous and at 6 months, has decided that sleep is for chumps. I’ve been dealing with the emotional state of a two and a half year old, who (while he loves trains) has decided that moving around every few weeks is pretty annoying and wants stability. I’ve managed to convince my big boy to indulge in daily “nesting” which is cooler than resting, because it involves more pillows and magazines. This is a great parenting win.
But we’ve also gone up historic windmills, visited a “big pink cathedral with spirals”**, visited several fantastic museums, taken a cruise on the Rhine, as well as countless trips on various incarnations of public transport, eaten more boxed cookies than a mindful housekeeper should allow***, explored beautiful natural parks, seen a bit of the Berlin Wall Way, eaten enormous Dutch pancakes. These are not the usual things. These are very special things. We are enjoying them, but they’re hard to process in the midst of all the laundry and cooking and grocery shopping and making sure the children get a daily airing.
Perhaps I could focus on writing about our daily life here and maybe do some playground reviews? The playgrounds are truly epic. Magnificent. I would move to Germany just for the playgrounds (and the bakeries). In the meantime, I may as well blog about them though. Writing does make me feel a bit more sane.
We’re not on holiday, but it’s not quite life as usual. We’re not expats, but we’re definitely not locals. I don’t speak German, and I really wish someone could convince my son of this fact... Or just teach him to use Google Translate. That would work too.
Love, Belligerence&Chocolate
*And I think I am a fine woman and that IS my candid opinion.
** The Dom in Mainz is made from lovely local pink stone with fossils in it. Xavier thinks this is the coolest thing.
*** But it was Eastertide, and I don’t have an oven, or a freezer for that matter, so no ice cream - so I guess it evens out?











