Mom's Here!

Oh my God!  Vaiosina and I are in heaven!  My mom is here and we are loving it.  She's been watching Vaiosina while I've been at work and they're just having a grand old time getting to know each other again, which honestly didn't take too long.  We took my mom out to have Indian food tonight. It was her first time and she loved it.

 

Have I mentioned that I LOVE having her here?

 

My heart is literally overflowing with JOY!

 

On Friday, we leave for Poland.  My mom's going to get her Polish Pottery on!

Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival 2012

It's that time of the year again!  I LOVE FALL!  You guys might remember me posting about this last year. The Finch Family ladies drove down to visit and join us at the Ludwigsburg annual pumpkin festival.  We took Vaiosina for the first time last year and she loved it.  I swore last year to go again this year.  It was so fun to share this with our good friends yesterday afternoon.  The weather was absolutely beautiful too.

 

The festival is held at the Ludwigsburg Palace, which in and of itself is a sight to behold. Last year's theme was dinosaurs.  This year's was Switzerland.  We saw a Swiss Army knife made of pumpkins, as well as the Swiss Alps, some Swiss farmers, cows and other things we really couldn't figure out.  The fairy tale children's garden was there and we went on a boat ride and visited Rapunzel's tower.

 

The best part, of course, was the food.  We had pumpkin bratwurst (which Vaiosina enjoyed much more this year), pumpkin fries, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin soups.  I even snagged 4 bottles of pumpkin wine, which I remembered from last year.  It's so crazy to see how much Vaiosina has grown from last year. 

 

Yesterday also made us miss Malu.  Last year, we went later in October and it was so much colder.  I have fond memories of sitting on haystacks near the bonfire with him and with Vaiosina staring so intently at the flames.  I also remember Malu trying to feed Vaiosina to one of the dinosaurs.  Fun times. 

 

Anyway, here are some pictures!

 

 

The pumpkin festival goes until the end of October.  My mom will be visiting us and arrives on Tuesday. I'm going to take her to see this.  No reason to limit this year to one visit.  Plus, I need a reason to go back and get more pumpkin wine!

 

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Contagious

That's what the doc says she is.  Contagious. 

 

 

She wasn't 100% certain, but said that she heard something in Vaiosina's lungs.  Pair that with her nasty cough and voila!  She's getting treated for bronchitis.  There was some redness around her throat, but the strep test came back negative.  The 5-day doses of Zithromax should (hopefully) get rid of the bronchitis!

 

She also can't go back to the daycare center until Friday. That means I'm off from work both days.  Although it's awesome that I get some time off to be with her...I'm missing a lot at work.  It's totally killing the workaholic in me.

 

In any case, the trip to the doc was actually a great one.  Where Vaiosina usually starts whimpering the second Dr. Simpson calls her name, she gladly went in and came out tear free.  Even bear-bear got the full treatment.  What a great pediatrician we have!

 

Well, this picture doesn't show Dr. Simpson, but a nurse who took Vaiosina's vitals.  Poor thing...doesn't she look miserable?  And tired?  After all, she did wake up at 0230 with a 102.9 degree fever.

 

While I'm at it, let me give you her stats (2 years, 1 month):
Weight: 28.5 lbs (75% percentile)
Length: 34 in (86% percentile)
Head: 48 cm
No change from her 2 year appt stats

 

And forget that she's wearing the exact same outfit she wore in the picture I posted of her yesterday.  Hey, I do laundry like a maniac around here!

 

Up until this morning, Malu had spent the last three days training at the top of a mountain in Berchtesgaden with his company and was essentially unreachable.  He didn't find out until this morning that she's been sick.  Stuff like this can be really stressful for a mom flying solo.  I mean, I was practically in tears when he finally called and I broke the news to him.

 

I think what gets me so emotional is the fact that he hasn't officially deployed yet and she's already getting sick.  I have a long way to go, but I've managed to get through unscathed so far.  Tired, but unscathed.  Nope, no panicking from this mama. I'm on a roll!  Let's see how long I can keep this momentum! 

 

Thank goodness for caring friends and an office crew that definitely has my back; not to mention the outpour of encouragement from family and friends through Facebook.  I wouldn't be able to do any of this without you!

 

Anyway, better get to bed.  Got a full day ahead of me and this girl keeps me on my toes even when she's sick!

 

Good night!

My Sick Girl & Weekend Recap {Ramstein & Tubingen}

I spent today nursing my sick baby girl.  I suspected something was coming.  Over the weekend, she'd started coughing and complaining of a sore throat.  I suspect it's the change in weather (gotta love fall!) or maybe she just caught a bug at school.  Who knows?  All I know is that I was happy to be home from work taking care of her.  After work yesterday, I'd dragged her over to the PX to buy a few things (namely a much-needed pair of running shoes).  As soon as we walked through the door, the grabbed her bear-bear and climbed into her bed.  Shoes and all.  I had to pull her out to give her a bath; poor thing.

 

 

She woke up with a 102 degree fever, which broke by early afternoon.  I'd spent the day pushing tons of fluids and by evening, she was her usual springy self.  She is, however, a bit hoarse.  I'm taking her to the doctor in the morning just to see if we can rule out strep throat.  Let's cross our fingers for that!

 

As I sit here making this post, baby girl is sound asleep and I'm semi-watching the Hunger Games.  I figured I'd tell you guys about our weekend since I've seen the movie a few times already. 

 

On Saturday, I drove out to Ramstein Air Base for a bazaar.  It's basically the same bazaar we have here at Patch Barracks every spring.  The bazaar rotates through all the military bases in Europe (or maybe just Germany) and Ramstein is just a two-hour drive away.  A friend and I just figured that we'd head out there and see what we could find, if anything.  The PX at Ramstein is also tons better than ours.  We had to do the token stop at Johnny Rockets before even thinking about doing some shopping.  Nothing like a good American burger and a strawberry milkshake.  Vaiosina loved it!  After a good hour or so of shopping, we stopped to take a break and a pretty decent picture, if I may say so myself.  Love my little girl!

 

 

What's really cool about that day is that I actually drove to Ramstein and back to Stuttgart without any problems. Not sure if you guys remember, but I got into an accident over a year ago.  Since then, I basically have a stroke anytime I'm on the autobahn.  I finally made an entire trip without freaking out.  Go me!

 

On Sunday, Vaiosina and I ventured out to Tubingen, one of our favorite cities in Baden-Wurttemburg (our German state; of which Stuttgart is the capital).  We'd been to town a few other times and just love going back.  It's a sweet college town just 20 miles away from Stuttgart and is situated on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.  As such, the town is very picturesque with buildings dating back centuries (like it's town hall, it's castle, and the University of Tubingen), streets lined with canals, cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways and the traditional half-timbered, medieval houses.  Actually, one of the times I was in Tubingen previously was for the same festival we returned to see on Sunday--the Umbrian-Provencal Market. 

Every year, Tubingen's partner cities--Aix en Provence and Perugia--present their regional and home-grown specialties.  I'm talking wines, cheeses, produce, spices--you name it.  Last year, I took some pictures, but never posted them.  This year, I totally forgot to bring my camera and ended up using my iPhone.  Still got some good ones.  It was an utterly perfect day in every way--the weather, the atmosphere, and the company :)

 

 

 

 Too bad all of this goodness turned sour with Vaiosina getting sick.

Let's hope the doctor gives us a thumbs down on strep throat tomorrow morning!

Have a happy hump day tomorrow everyone!

P.S.  Malu's doing well.  We hear from him every now and then when he has a spare moment from his training.  We'll be meeting up with him this weekend in Nurnberg.  We are very excited!

 

The Sunshine {Take 4} : Team Dance Class

Last week was the first day of Vaiosina's Toddler Team Dance class.  If you recall, she wasn't too thrilled last week.  I mean, she was nervous and she spent pretty much the whole time observing what was going on.  Yesterday was her second class and she was worlds better than last week!

 

She was jumping around, squealing, and dancing.  It was great.  At one point, she went to the front of the class (even beyond the instructor) and just started shakin' her little tail-feather.  I think the instructor was quite impressed too.

 

This picture is a little blurry, but what can I say?  Everyone was gettin' their groove on :)

 

 

Needless to say, I was a very proud mama.

 

P.S. I was also trying not to be a total stage mom, but that's kind of hard to do.  My excuse is that I have to capture this stuff for my mom to see.  Yeah...I'll stick with that.

 

With that, this is my submission for this week's installment of the Sunshine Project, hosted by Summer and Kim!

 

 

Thanks for hosting ladies!

 

 



Mobilization & Dance Class

Malu left yesterday to start mobilizing for his upcoming deployment.  Basically, he and his unit will be training and preparing to deploy overseas over the next two months. Back in the states, Malu would always mobilize at Fort Dix, New Jersey.  There was usually one four-day weekend closer to their departure date that they'd be released to visit family, go on a short trip, etc.  Here, although he is technically mobilizing in another German state, he's only two and a half hours away at Grafenwoehr.  This means, that when there's down time over the weekend, he may be able to squeeze in a few visits here and there. 

Additionally, next weekend the unit will host what's called a Yellow Ribbon event where all the unit soldiers and their families link up for a meet & greet and to connect with resources before the deployment.  Lodging is paid for, which is a nice bonus, and you get to spend time touring the area at which the event is hosted.  We'll be in Nurnberg!  So while it's not officially good-bye, I still had a hard time after he left yesterday.  I mean, this is pretty much the beginning of the deployment (which, including mobilization, will total 11 months).  And even though he's a few hours away right now, he's still not here :(

 

Somehow I manage.

 

Work and just everyday life just kicks right back in to gear and there's no room for moping.

 

Today was my first official day back at work after leave.  It was busy.  I still have tons of catching up to do.

 

Vaiosina also started her first day of the Parent & Toddler Team Dance class that I signed us up for.  For the next two months, she and I will spend every Wednesday afternoon (it's a 45-minute class) at dance class.

 

Today, she was very timid.  She was content to just watch for the first half hour.

 

 

I didn't feel the least bit bad.  With a class full of tots, it was hard to keep anyone's attention.

 

 

She didn't really warm up and start dancing until about the last ten minutes, but it was still fun.  I'm pretty sure that after about two classes, she'll start groovin' like she usually does when it's just us at home.  As a matter of fact, she was showing me some of the moves she learned while on the potty tonight.  It's going to be a great time for the both of us!

 

I decided that we'd treat ourselves to personalized pizzas for dinner.  Vaiosina loved making them!

 

You see?  Even though we're missing part of our trio, we make do.  We're just fine.

 

Malu had been telling Vaiosina for weeks that he'd be leaving soon and that she was going to have to take good care of me and that she is.  I'm so glad that she's here to keep me company.

 

I love you baby girl.

 

And to Malu...we love and miss you so much!  Hope that we get to see you when you catch a break!



Just Us & A Perfect Weekend

On Saturday, we spent the day out and about...just the three of us.  Add beautiful, summer weather and the German outdoors and what do you get?  Perfection.

We've taken to riding our bikes a lot lately.  Our trip to Lake Constance really inspired us to dust off our bikes and get them out and running!  It's been awesome...although I'm still trying to get used to riding on the roads with traffic.  It can be scary at times, especially when you're the one toting the little one!

I think I've mentioned this several times before, but Germany's (and pretty much all of Europe) outdoors are just heavily laden with trails that people hike, bike, and run all year long.  As you ride the trails, especially on a beautiful day like that day was, you run into tons of people either hiking, walking their dogs, parents/grandparents walking their kids/grandkids, people picnicking and riding bikes.  Even more so, you run into biergartens along the way--restaurants with outdoor seating where people can take a break from the trail to enjoy a nice drink and/or meal. 

On our leisurely stroll through the woods and a mere 15-20 minutes from the post gate, we stumbled upon a biergarten that we had been to before with friends called the Katzenbacherhof.  The place has a ginormous playground that Sina loves (complete with slides, swings, and a sand box), a small restaurant, and just an overall relaxing atmosphere.  And thank goodness we ran into when we did--I was needing a break.  Those trails are quite hilly! 

Here are a few pictures...

Vaiosina absolutely enjoys being out on the trails--probably because she doesn't have to exert any energy!  She actually falls asleep from time to time.  What a lucky duck.  She couldn't get enough of the little sheep.  She kept singing the "Baa Baa Black Sheep" song to herself.  It was so cute.

 

The playgrounds here are just amazing.  I mean, we have cool playgrounds back in the states, but it just seems like the ones here are much more elaborate and more fun--even to us adults!  Coincidentally enough, a lot of the equipment at this particular park had U.S. Corps of Engineers engraved on them.  Why don't they have swings like this at home?

This is my favorite picture of Vaiosina from that day.  Love that smile!  She was clapping and asking for more!

This girl is quite fearless. Even more so when daddy is around and, of course, he encourages it.  Look at her go!

We enjoyed a great lunch!  Grilled steak, wurst and potato salad.  Yum!

Didn't I tell you she couldn't stay away from those sheep?  And there's me hauling precious cargo.  There's a lake along the trail; just minutes away from home.  Love it!

We spent the rest of the weekend doing much of the same.  We've really been lucking out with this gorgeous weather!  I hope it continues at least until Malu leaves (yup, the ugly deployment is rearing its nasty head).  

Hope everyone has a great week!

Turning 2 @ School!

This morning, in the five minutes that it took for me to get Vaiosina on the potty, get her clothes and her shoes on, I must have said "Happy Birthday!" to her about a million times.  At one point, Malu asked, "gosh, how many times do you have to say it?"  I simply replied, "I'm going to say it all day long!"  Not sure about anyone else, but my parents always made a big deal out of birthdays.  And it's not like I had a huge party every single birthday.  It's just that they always did something to make the day extra special.  And that's just something I want to pass down to Vaiosina because birthdays are just that--special.

As I said yesterday, there were no big plans for today.  Malu and I brought some cupcakes for Vaiosina to share with her little friends at school.  You would have thought that we brought those kids the world with how they reacted to a few plastic containers full of chocolate cupcakes.  It was so much fun.

I decided not to care how dirty she got today and put her in one of her cute skirts only because it matched her birthday shirt so nicely.  Before getting to the school, I had Vaiosina saying, "Today is my birthday!"  It's the first thing she said to each person she passed by on the way to her classroom.

Our precious little lady :)

One of the teachers made her a little bunny birthday sign.  So cute!



The teachers had the birthday song playing on repeat in the CD player.  Vaiosina loved it! It's one of her favorite songs.

We were so surprised that she was able to keep her t-shirt clean.  The tables and floors?  That's another story.  Happy as a clam!



Her little buddies.  There were more kids on the other side of the room!

"More, please?" she asked.  Chocolate...always a crowd-pleaser.



What a lovely afternoon it was.

We took her out to dinner and opened a few presents here at the house. We were able to Skype with my mom, which made the day even more special.

Thanks to all of her teachers at school and for everyone who has showered her with gifts the last few days.  Thanks in advance to those who will continue to shower her with gifts over the next few days (because we are being told there are packages coming in the mail!)  We are so fortunate to have loving, generous family and friends. 



2 Years Old!

Our baby turns 2 years old in a few hours!  I cannot believe how fast time has flown by.  Our baby's not a baby anymore and I can't stand it.  Look how much she's grown! 

It has been an amazing year, although I've been horrible lately about sharing with you guys.  We've experienced lots of 'firsts' and have had so much fun along the way.  Vaiosina has her 2-year doctor's appointment this week.  Once I get her stats and a clean bill of health, I plan on catching all of you up on how much she's developed over the last few months.

Nothing big planned for this year.  Like last year, we plan on keeping it low-key this year, although I do have a little get-together planned at mid-month; somewhat of a combination farewell for Malu (he's deploying)/Vaiosina's birthday cookout.  I am, however, going to bring some cupcakes to her school tomorrow and Malu and I plan on taking her out to one of her favorite places tomorrow evening.

Can't say enough how thankful we are that God blessed us with this special little girl.  Best two years of our lives.  Can we just keep you at this age forever? 

Happy Birthday our little darling.  We love you!

The Sunshine Project {Take 3}

It's that time of the week again!  The Sunshine Project is something that  my blogger friends, Kim and Summer started with the specific purpose of allowing you to share what brought sunshine into your week with the blogosphere.  Cool, huh?  All you have to do is post and then link up on either of their blogs.  Easy enough, right?

No surprise...mine is about Vaiosina.

At the playground yesterday

And the things she's been saying these days. 

Every morning, I go in to work, sharing details about what Vaiosina said either the night before or early that morning (while getting ready for work/school).  It's been a while since I blogged about how much she's grown in the last few months.  I believe the last detailed post I made about her was at the 19-month mark.  She's about to turn 2 in 4 days!  I can't believe it.

In any case, she can basically repeat what you say and has learned a lot from school and other people.   She can sing tons of songs (in tune!) and has memorized lines from her favorite books and movies (Disney's Tangled is her most favorite). It's amazing and very funny at times.

Anyway, there's pretty much something different each week...sometimes each day.

One week, it was "not nice, daddy (or mama)."

Two weeks ago, it was "Awesome!" anytime she saw something she liked (pronounced "awww-tum").

She knows she gets a piece of chocolate every time she uses the potty.  So whenever she's done, she says, "I potty! Chocket pease?"

One night last week, I read her a Cinderella book then put her in one of her Cinderella-printed nighttime pull-ups.  It just so happens that all of her daytime pull-ups are Cinderella-printed as well.  Anyway, the next morning, I pulled out another set of Cinderella pull-ups to put on her and she said (sarcastically), "Rella again???".  Yeah...it's the only print they carry at our commissary (for girls, at least).  She said it for a couple days, every time I put on a new set of Cinderella pull-ups.  I bought her a set of the boys Cars printed pull-ups yesterday. 

Everytime she sees the Olympics on TV, she says "Dun-dun" for London and "The Eye!" because she went on the ride during our trip and loved it.

Last night, she was shaking one of her toys and sang, "Shake shake shake; shake, shake, shake...booty!"  Because she's heard me sing it before.

Last night, she also started saying "Oh man!" every time she dropped something.

And this morning, she called me by my first name.  "Uh-chelle! Buh-bye!" she shouted at me from the living room (my first name is Michelle).  Ummm...no baby girl...it's mommy!  But it made me laugh.

Tell me it doesn't make you laugh!  She's a riot.

Love her to death.

Another ray of sunlight...Malu will be home on Saturday!!!  Yay!!

The Sunshine Project {Take 2}

I hope Kim and Summer don't mind me linking up a little late for this.  They normally do this on Thursdays--shame on me!   However, I didn't want miss the opportunity to shed some light on what brought sunshine into my life this week! 

First, we returned from our trip to London on Monday.  You guys, I can't even tell you just how much fun we had.  What an AMAZING city!  Although we were only there for 2 days (actually, less than that), we saw so much.  I definitely plan on sharing the details very soon!

Second, we literally had a lot of sunshine this week, in terms of the weather.  The only downside was having to be in the office most of the time instead of spending time out enjoying it.  Not to mention, there is no air conditioning in most of the office buildings (or in housing) and 80+ temps with your full uniform kinda stinks!

Third, on Thursday evening, Vaiosina and I went out to dinner with some friends to a restaurant called the Schnitzelhaus.  This place serves giant schnitzel--the kind that covers your entire plate!  Dee-licious

Fourth, today was Vaiosina's first time at a movie theater.  I'd been contemplating taking her to see several kids' movies over the course of the past few months, but always worried she wouldn't sit still through it or would make a fuss.  I think I need to give this little girl a bit more credit because she did great!  She saw Madagascar 3 today and loved it.  Stayed awake through the whole thing, enjoyed popcorn, and snuggled with me for a little bit of it.  What a blast!  Of course...Bear Bear's gotta tag along.  He loved it too :)  (Sorry about the blurry photo!)

Finally, thank goodness for Skype!  We got to chat with Malu today.  There's nothing sweeter than seeing your daughter kiss her daddy on the computer screen.  She even says "Muah!" when she kisses.  Too cute.  Less than a week and he'll be home!  So proud of all you do sweetheart!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend!

Bathtime Fun

Just having good, old fun in the bath tonight, although she doesn't really look it in this photo.  I swear...she was smiling just before and just after I took it!  I posted this on Facebook tonight and thought you guys would get a kick out of it.  Totally brings you back to the Little Rascals movie, doesn't it?  Oh, Alfalfa!

We're off to the United Kingdom in the morning folks.  London baby!

See you when we get back!

The Sunshine Project: Take 1

Today, I'm linking up with Summer @ Summer's Story and Kimberly @ Kimberly's Corner for the Sunshine Project.  It's actually their 4th week doing it--this is my first installment.  It's simple really...you just blog about something(s) that has/have really brightened up your week.  When you're done, go to Summer or Kim's blogs and leave your link on their Sunshine Project posts.  Too easy!

I don't think it's any surprise that Vaiosina is my absolute sunshine.  Like any tot, she's got her moments, but she really is such a fascinating and fun little girl.  She just started potty training last weekend.  Truth be told, I thought she was ready months ago, but I didn't want to push it.  But last Friday, I just decided to plop her on the toilet that morning and she peed in the potty.  She peed in the potty all day at school that day too.  The next day, I had her pooping in the potty!  We've been continuing on with her potty training (and kudos to her teachers at school for keeping up with it) and she's doing great.  This week, we're in pull-ups and I'm over the moon excited--for her and about a soon-to-be diaper-free life (that is, until the next little one comes along; whenever that will be)! 

No, I don't keep her potty on our living room ottoman.  This was specifically for the photo opportunity!  That's her travel potty anyway--that sucker's going into the car!  So proud of you baby!  Keep it up!

It also shouldn't be any surprise that Malu brings a lot of sunshine into my life as well.  He's been at a school for two weeks now and he's doing really well.  We actually got to Skype tonight and that just made my heart pitter-patter...even if it did take him forever to give us a call!

Last ray of sunlight...we're going to London this weekend!  Yay!  One more day of work and we're there.  Very excited!

Anyway, thanks to Summer and Kim for allowing me to link up!  I hope everyone's week has been filled with wonderful, happy moments!

Hamburger Fischmarkt

Wow!  It's been such a long time since I've posted that I almost forgot my login password to this blog!  It really is sad that I haven't been consistently updating my blog.  You guys have been missing out on so much in our lives.  We've been BUSY!  What's worse is that I haven't been providing statuses on how much Vaiosina has grown in the last few months.  No worries though...I plan on catching you guys up.  I also plan on giving this blog a little makeover, but let me just get to business for now.

Malu is out of town due to yet another TDY.  So it's me and my little bug for now.  We spent most of the weekend relaxing at home.  This evening, I just wanted to get out and do something fun--not to mention, I had nothing planned or cooked for dinner. 

The Hamburger Fischmarkt has been going on downtown for the last week or so.  Not too sure what the story behind this festival is, but I did some Googling.  The original Hamburger Fischmarkt (Hamburg Fish Market) is a 300-year old market located in the city of Hamburg, which is six hours north from where we live.  Hamburg is Germany's second largest city with an 800-year old harbor that is one of the largest ports in the world and the second busiest in Europe.  The fish market is a huge open-air market showcasing all kinds of seafood, fruits, nuts, flowers and teas from all over the world.  It sounds a lot like the Pike Place Market in Seattle to me.

Anyway, the city of Stuttgart brought the some of the sights, sounds, and definitely the tastes and smells of the Hamburger Fischmarkt in the form of a festival right in the middle of downtown.  As with any festival located in downtown, it was crowded and a pain in the butt trying to maneuver Vaiosina's stroller in and around it.  However, it was fun and we had some really good eats.  Despite some drizzling, the weather was comfortable (although breezy) and I managed to enjoyed myself.  I think Vaiosina enjoyed herself as well.  There's not much complaining once you give this little girl a cup full of ice cream :)

In this picture, we're nearing the entrance to the festival.  I tried my best to get a shot of those flags that said Hamburger Fischmarkt.

Fried seafood galore!  Calamari, fish sticks/nuggets/paddies, shrimp, mussels...you name it!

They even had shrimp scampi.  See that big pan?  It was filled up with scampi.  Yum!

What's a fest without beer?  Here's Sina enjoying her ice cream next to this mini bar.

Okay, so these kinds of sandwiches are sold everywhere around here.  I believe they're herring sandwiches.  The fish is served sashimi style (ugh..raw!), with sweet mayo, pickles and onions. There is nothing or no one on the face of this planet that could possibly convince me to try one of these.  What do you think?  Would you try it?

Our dinner a.k.a. "heart attack waiting to happen."  I didn't finish it all, but it was delicious!

Strawberry wine.  I held off on this for obvious reasons :(

A ship bar.  Too cool!

So that fruit basket...there was a booth where these guys put out about 20 or so baskets and tossed all kinds of fruits into them--grapes, plums, nectarines, pineapples, apples and oranges.  You see it's filled to the brim....we got it for 10 euro (which is like, $12).  What a steal!  Truth be told...I really wanted the basket.  Vaiosina loves those grapes!

We called it quits after about two hours.  And only in Germany (or maybe in all of Europe) will you run smack dab into a completely different festival on the way back to your car.  We did some browsing for a while then made our merry way home.

Like I said, I'm extremely behind in posting, but will do my best to get you guys caught up to speed!  I kind of hated that I was in such a blogging funk.  Time to get back to it!

Happy Sunday everyone!