Aaaand she's off.....

She's officially walking. It's been in the works for about a month now, but I think we can officially say that she's walking now. She looks like a stiff little robot but she's oh so cute meandering around the house all day.

Nyah - 9 and 10 months

 *you can now do peek-a-boo*

*you like to tease us. If we try to catch you, you look at us and crawl faster while you squeal*

*you can pull yourself up without holding on to anything*

*you have been taking steps on your own. One day you took 25 steps*

*you have started yelling at us instead of crying*

*you have the cutest laugh and we can always get a laugh from you. Sometimes I think it’s a little fake, but it’s still so cute*

*you now have 2 teeth on top and 1 on the bottom. There’s another one lurking on the bottom and it’ll come all the way up any day now*

*you pull your socks off anytime you get the chance. There’s no keeping those things on you.

*you are really good at crawling up the stairs but need some help getting down*

*if there’s anything soft on the floor, like a blanket, stuffed animal, pillow, anything - you’ll crawl over and lay your sweet head on it and smile and cuddle with it and say ‘aaahh’*

*we love it when you put your cute little chubby arms around our necks and hug us*

*you sound like you might be saying ‘mama’ and ‘dada’*

Pharmacy Conference in Garmisch

 Ben had a Pharmacy conference in Garmisch, Germany and the kids and I tagged along. We left Friday after Ben came home from work and drove to this really nice hotel we stayed at. Then Saturday Ben got up and went to the conference. The kids and I drove to a gorge called Partnachklamm. We walked about 1 mile up to the gorge and then it said that we had to leave the stroller. So I positioned Nyah on my hip and thought it wouldn't be too bad. When Ty saw the beginning part of the gorge he started freaking out. Like wailing and crying. But lately he has a tendency to not want to do anything and then afterwards realize that it was actually pretty fun. So, mean mom that I am, I dragged through the gorge. At parts it was REALLY dark and a little scary. I gave Ty the tiny flashlight that I have on my keys in hopes it would make him less scared. I made sure he realized that if were to drop my keys we would be in serious trouble. Ü Through some of the tunnels I sang to Ty hoping it would calm him down a little. They were both plugging their ears......not because of my beautiful singing (I try to convince myself) but because of the sound of the water. Laney later told me that she was plugging her ears and singing to herself. 3/4 of the way through Nyah fell asleep. When we got out on the other side I expected a little trail back to the beginning but we were left with the choice of going back through the gorge or picking one of the many trails that were leading all over the German Alps. By this time, Nyah had gained at least 30 lbs and my arms had gained 30 inches. We found a trail that was leading up a mountain that I seemed to remember having a tram coming down from it.....and the sign promised that it would only take 20 minutes. Ty took one look at the trail and decided that he actually was quite fond of the gorge and would rather walk back that way than up the many stairs that were leading up the mountain. He was outvoted. We hiked, the kids ran ahead, my arms grew longer and longer, sweat was trickling down my back (I was thinking about all the millions of pounds I was sure to be loosing), my legs could barely move, the kids would tell me how far they thought we had left.

 We finally made it to the top......and it was gorgeous!!!

 This was the view the other direction.

 Then we found this little tram. It was not maned, you just had to open the door and walk in and when you closed the door it would start going.

 The kids loved it. When we got back down we bought an ice cream and went back to the car. As we were walking back Ben called and I told him all that we had seen. Laney said the background, "It was totally worth it!" ....and that made it totally worth it to me. When we got to the car and reached in my purse to get my keys. I pulled them out and thought they looked a bit smaller, skinnier than usual. Then I realized my car key was missing! I think my heart seriously skipped a beat. I thought about my poor car key at the bottom of the gorge. But then I looked in the bottom of my purse and saw my key that had fallen off my bundle of keys. Phew! (Oh I should mention that Ty had a wonderful time and know looks back on this experience as a good one.....not a traumatic one.)

 After our adventures at the gorge we still had half the day left so we found the walking street in Garmisch and walked down it. It was cool how so many of the buildings and houses had paintings on them. This one was a store that sold lederhosen and dirndlen.

This is my favorite mountain in Garmisch. Doesn't it look cool and rugged and a little scary?!

 Up on the mountain you can see a whitish building....that was our hotel. It was a spa hotel so there was a pool and the kids were überexcited to go swimming. So after our many adventures that day and after Ben came back from his conference we took the kids to the pool. They loved it. We had to drag them back out. Everybody had so much fun...even Nyah, even though she got worried every time Ben dived under the water.

 The next morning Ben had another conference so the kids and I headed up to Eibsee. It was gorgeous.

 We walked around the lake for a while, just enjoying the beautiful scenery, throwing rocks in the lake, and trying to make the clouds part so we could get a good peak at Zugspitze (the highest point in Germany).

 Eibsee

 Ben was done by lunchtime on Sunday so we drove him up Eibsee so he could see it too, but on the way there it started raining. He jumped out to catch a quick peak while we drove around and then picked him back up. Since we had plenty of time to get home we decided to go exploring when we saw a sign that said "Linderhof Castle - 16 km". After a couple of kilometers we drove through Ettal and saw this beautiful cathedral. We jumped out, looked around for a while and continued on to the castle.

 We finally made it to LInderhof castle which turned out to be one of King Ludwig's castle (He also had Neuschwanstein castle built) and I must say that he sure knew how to build castle.

Linderhof castle from the back.

 Ben and the kids in front of the fountain where Ty was very intrigued by the fact that water was coming out of the horses mouths and noses. We decided that it probably was less than comfortable for the poor horses.

 We wandered around for a long time and saw the beautiful castle, the gardens, waterfall, fountains and so on. We were so glad that we made that detour.

Ben controlling the monkeys. There was also a 'grotto' where you had to buy tickets to get in. We didn't buy tickets since we weren't quite sure what it was but as we wandered around and saw the 'grotto' we realized that it was a stalactite cave. Ty immediately freaked out and backed away with a horrid look on his face and kept saying, "we not going in there." (to refresh your memory of why Ty would be scared....look here.) 
We had a wonderful time in Garmisch and would love to go back and explore the area further. Ü

Spring Break in Denmark

 For spring break the kids and I (actually I decided and told the kids) decided to go visit Wendy and her family. Ben couldn't get time off since he's a lone lonely loner at the pharmacy right now. We raced up there and miracously made it in 8 hours(!!!) and the kids were little angels the whole way. We stopped one time to get gas and everybody went potty and then we kept on chugging. We stopped one more time to get gas before the Danish border and so Ty could use the facilities...I mean....bushes one more time. We got there Friday evening and the kids still had time to watch cartoons and eat yummy Danish candy and have a fun evening with their cousins before bed.

 Saturday we got up and hurried over the Danfoss Universe (or Danforsynvors as some people like to spell it... Ü) because you could get in for free since it was the first day of the season. Ty almost didn't make it past the first 10 minutes though. They started out with a firework show and it was so incredibly loud that you could feel the thumping in you body. If you know Ty, you know that he DOES NOT like loud noises (unless he's making them himself) and so he freaked out and was crying and kept saying he wanted to go to the car. But soon it as over and we started running around trying out all the cool stuff they have there. The kids got to try their hand at operating a digger and Laney and I also tried some Segways. We both wish for one for Christmas. They are awesome.

 There are so many cool things there. All experiment kind of things. It was really fun.

 Ty as a hamster!

 Nyah wasn't too impressed though. She's tried it all before. Yawn!!! Boring! Ü

 Laney decided to try and jump over one of the buildings.

 Erin wanted to stand on the building.

And Ty tried to jump over it but just couldn't quite make it.

 Joshua was doing a funny dance on the building.

 Then the Cullingfords had prepared and fun Easter Egg hunt for the kids that they loved.

 Cute Liam and Nyah enjoyed playing together and after we came home Nyah decided that if Liam could walk than she should probably be working on that.

 Sunday afternoon Wendy and I went with the Young Woman in their branch to take some pictures of her in a new skirt Wendy had helped her make. While we were gone Quentin invited the 4 older kids to lunch and a movie. They loved it and had great time. Thanks uncle Quentin.

 Another day we went to a museum by Dybbøl Mølle. It's all about the battle at Dybbøl in 1864. It was very interesting and hands-on and the kids loved it.

 They got to make their very own bullet...

 ...and pancakes. Uh yum, those were super delicious.

 We also walked over to the mill and I took about 5 pictures of the kids in front of it, and I think every single one of them has at least one child with closed eyes. I guess they were staring straight into the sun so I guess I should just be happy their corneas haven't been severely burned.

 ....and they're FREEEEE. (We're still not quite sure what Erin was doing!? Pretending to be a penguin maybe??)

 Wednesday Wendy and her kids had a baptism in Flensburg. We followed them and then stopped and this fun fun beach that had a playground. We bought some bread, cheese and salami for lunch and then had a little picnic. The kids played on the playground for just a little bit and then thoroughly enjoyed the beach for the rest of the time.

 Where is my house on the beach???

 Bottoms up!!

 Nyah was enthralled by the sand the whole time. She also liked the taste of it...for some reason. I tried to stop her from eating it and I thought I had done a pretty darn good job but the contests of her diapers for the next couple of days were a bit incriminating.

 After the baptism and the beach we took the kids to a indoor playland thing. Look at this dapper feller.

 Lots of fun slides, jumpy-castle-things, crazy bikes, balls.

The next day the kids and I started our journey back to Eschenbach. First we stopped in Hamburg and went to an amazing museum that have model trains. IT. WAS. AMAZING!!! There were a ton of people though, but we still loved it. I took pictures but the pictures just don't do the museum justice at all.
Then we drove a little further and stopped for the night at a hotel. The next morning we finished our drive, meet Ben for lunch, where after he went straight from work to a scout camp-out.
Thanks Cullingfords for a WONDERFUL week!!! When can we come back??? Ü

And then Laney turned 7!!

 The little ice cream cones she handed out at school.

 Her cake and ice cream party at home.

 Look at those cheeks! Maybe she needs some helps with ALL those candles. :D

 And opening all the presents. She was so spoiled.

 

Nyah clapping because it's Laney's birthday.

Ty made this cute poster for Laney. Our plan was to bring the poster, party hats, and party horns when she got off the bus and make her embarrassed, but our evil plan was spoiled when we stayed at the school for too long, helping hand out of the birthday treats and Laney just came home with us. Hmmm, maybe next year!! MUUUHAHAHAHA!!! :D