Pfew!

August was one BUSY month here in the Meissner household!  My mom came to visit us on August 5th and just left on the 25th. 

It was awesome having mom here!  We did SO much!  I gave her a week to get adjusted and then we were off!  We went off to Weltenburg with some friends for a nice outing.  It was awesome.  When we got to Kelheim (the city where you pick up the ferry to go to Weltenburg) Antenne Bayern, a radio station here, was paying for everyone's ticket!  Score!  We only  had to pay for Charlie, but he listens to Antenne Bayern too!!  But his ticket was only 1.70, so it was cool.

At the little beach at Weletnburg...we were the ones in the tent, which ended up being more like a sauna...

 The girls enjoying a much deserved ice cream.

Then we were off for an adventure in Schwangau...yup, that is where the famed Neuschwanstein Castle is.  We stayed in a lovely little hotel about 10 minutes from the castle and the Tegelberg.  The weather was awesome while we were there.  A bit cool, but sunny, and seriously couldn't have asked for better.  Of course, there was a bit of drama.  Amelia decided that before I picked her up from Schneckenhaus (her day care) that she was the one that wanted to get the biggest wooden stool and tripped over the carpet and bit through her lip a bit.  Awesome.  So, I had to pick her up early and rush to her doctor and then the plastic surgeon to be sure she didn't need stitches, which she didn't.  But she was in quite a mood.  I would be too.  But, we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, so I gave her some ibuprofen and set up her car dvd player and she was good to go. 

The quote of the trip came from her too.  The first morning that we were there, we were having breakfast and a lady was dressed head to toe in a floral spandex getup.  Yeah.  I couldn't make this up!  Anywho, when she walked by, Amelia started saying something that I couldn't understand because she had her pucky in (it was a long night and she was cranky in the morning, so I just let her have it).  It sounded like, "Get down", but I took the pucky out and she started pointing and saying, "Clown. Clown."  I nearly peed myself.

So, we went and toured the castle and walked around a bit, but we were all pretty tired, so we took it easy the rest of the afternoon.  The next day we headed to the Tegelberg and rode the Tegelbergbahn up tot he top of the mountain to walk around up there a bit and get a coffee with a view.  It was quite nice.  After about an hour, we headed back down.  Luckily, we were there early, so when we went up there weren't many people in the gondola, and going down we were the ONLY ones besides the driver.  It was nice.  We were able to chat with him and he said that he goes up and down roughly 60 times a day. 

 A passed out little munchkin...

We got on the road at about 11:30 and were heading home.  About 2  hours into the drive, Markus called to ask where we were and I told him.  He started saying, "Thank God!"  Wondering what the hell he meant, I asked him to elaborate.  He started to tell me that a paraglider FLEW into the Tegelbergbahn lines and that there were people stranded in the gondolas!!  Holy crap!  That could have been us!!  Mom and I were thanking our lucky stars that we left when we did!  Pfew!  Those poor people had to poop through a hole in the floor!  No way.  That would have been awful!

At the top of the Tegelberg

 Mom looking at what to get at the cafe with the best view!

 

 Coming down in the Tegelbergbahn...such a lovely view!

Anywho, we got back to Weiden safely and the next day headed to Hirschau for the lovely Stadtfest Hirschau.  It is always a rocking good time. :)

I gave mom a weekish to recover from the trips and then we got up before the sun did to head to Hamburg on Friday.  My lovely sister-in-law was celebrating her 30th there.  It was nice.  The drive was a bit hard at the beginning.  Amelia got a bit car sick.  I won't go into detail, but it was probably a bad idea to let her have strawberry yogurt before we left.  Lesson learned.

We got to Hamburg and walked around a bit, met up with Sabine, went out to dinner and then headed back to the hotel since we were all pooped.  Mom watched after the baby phone so that Markus and I could have a beer at the hotel bar.  The next day we went on a tour of Hamburg via 1) a Hafenrundfahrt (Harbor tour via boat) and then 2) a city tour with a double decker bus.  Amelia had a nice time, but passed out on the bus.  It was nice to go on the bus.  I saw some things that I haven't seen before. 

We headed back for some down time before Sabine's big party that evening.  There was a big fair going on right near our hotel, so we went there for a bit with Amelia.  It is called the "Dom" and is a huge festival/fair thing in Hamburg.  Amelia loved riding the carousel...as long as she could ride in the Eisenbahn (train) she was good to go!  After that, we went and picked mom up from the hotel and headed off for diner at this lovely little Italian place.

Sabine's party was nice.  It was in a cute little bar in the sternschanse (totally spelling it wrong).    Unfortunately, we couldn't stay too long.  For some reason the baby phone wasn't working properly, so we had to leave around 11.  However, the night of her party was also the night of the Schnsenfest or something like that.  In the past, it has been known for its riots and violence, and if Markus and I were to walk home, we would be walking right though there...ugh.  Luckily, when we got up to a major street, there was a taxi (thank you Jesus!) so we took that.  He drove us through the damn Schansen!  It was interesting to see, but then we came upon a police TANK! and about 3 armored busses and loads of police in riot gear and just loads of police patty wagons.  It was crazy.  I hadn't seen anything like that before.  Freaked me out a bit.  Luckily, it didn't get as violent as it usually does, but damn.  Just seeing those things made me pee my pants a little.

The next morning, mom and I ventured (at 6:30am) to the Fischmarkt.  It is one of those things that you just have to do when in Hamburg.  It is a HUGE market and you can buy just about anything there.  We got pasta from Nudel Oli and some chocolate from the Denmark Chocolate guy...and some of those flat peaches...YUM!  Markus was awesome and stayed with Amelia.

Anywho, the drive back was fine, nothing too exciting happened.  The next few days we took it easy and then mom and I did our trip to Nuremberg.  We just stay the night in Nuremberg before she flies out.  Gives us some mother/daughter time and it is quite nice.  We did a bit of shopping and a bit of eating and had just a really nice time.

It was sad to see her go, it always is, but I will be seeing her in about 20 days, so it is all good.  So, she left on a Thursday, and then on Friday, my good friends from Holland were coming down with their daughter.  That was a lovely weekend.  Amelia and Guusje got along swimmingly.  Of course, there were some disagreements about toys, but seriously, what do you expect from 2 two year olds??  It was nice having Guido and Manon here.  They are just great people and we had great conversations.  Such a nice time. 

Amelia and Guusje, new BFFs!!

They left on Sunday after breakfast and then on Monday, Markus' best friend from University, Hansi, came up for a night.  Poor Hansi.  I was so exhausted from it all that I passed out on the couch at around 9:30.  Then I got up and chatted for a bit, but then was off to bed at 10:15ish.  The boys stayed up until about 12:30 though, so it is all good.

Now it is just Charlie and me in the house this morning and it is quite nice just having some down time.  September is going to be busy as well.  I turn 30 and am throwing a huge party.  I'm a bit insane and have decided to cook for it...maybe we'll just end up ordering pizza, we'll see.  Then Amelia turns 2!  Where has the time gone?!?!  I leave for the US for a whirlwind trip to see my best friend Emliy get married, and then it is already October.  Hopefully October will be a bit quieter...we'll see...