Christmas marketing in Cologne

One of the things I love about living here is experiencing Christmas Markets.  Even if I were a world traveler (which I never was before), I doubt I would make it to Europe during the Christmas season when the markets are going on.  I think it's pretty special that we have this opportunity.  There are some small Christmas markets in The NL and in Belgium, but Germany is really hopping during Christmas time.  Of all the German Christmas markets, Cologne, Germany probably has the most big markets in one city.  We were warned that it would be way too crowded, especially with kids, but we just had to try and hit up Cologne to do some Christmas marketing.

Since Stephen & Afton were visiting, we thought it would be a great time to go.  With my 2 older kids at school, we loaded up the car nice and early - 4 adults, 4 kids, 4 hour drive.  It actually wasn't too bad.  And with the exception of the cold rainy weather, it was an awesome day...

Keeping the kids happy

Zoey & Aves with Elsie behind

Not sure what the sign says, and Elsie wouldn't get near the Santa

But E was fine with this Santa, oddly

Eyeing all of the yummy treats

Checking out all of the handmade items

And the interesting people

The Cologne Cathedral was huge

And so were the tantrums in said cathedral

Frohe Weihnachten!

Paris!

Ah, Paris…my new favorite place.  Picture this: me & ry, our car, 4 hour drive to Paris, 2 days, no kids,  & a museum pass to all the great spots.  If you can't visualize that, I'll spell it out for you: F-U-N!  And great food.  And a nice little break from traveling with kids.  And a GREAT aunt & uncle named Stephen and Afton who were willing to watch our kids.  You get the picture?  Good, because I can't post any.  But I CAN post a slideshow of all the fun stuff we did together…


In 2 short days we will be on a plane to Texas.  Traveling in Europe is fun, but living here is also super inconvenient.  I can't wait to be back in America and live the easy life!  No more worrying if stores will be open, going to 4 different stores just to get the basics, or worrying about parking or having to bike home from the grocery store in the rain.  I never thought I would see the day when I missed going to a place like Wal-mart, but I totally do.  All. the. time.  AND I miss the sunshine.  There is NO sun here for the majority of the day.  It is really starting to mess with me.
On the other hand, making that flight is sort of like having a baby.  The whole 9 months I won't even let myself think about the delivery part because I hate it so much.  I try to block out the awfulness of it all until I simply can't ignore it anymore (like the night before my delivery) and then the anxiety just washes over me.  That's how I feel about flying to America with 4 little people.  The 9 hour flight over here was SO AWFUL and my kids were actually well behaved.  Having to be crammed in a public place like that for so loooooooong with strangers is not my cup of tea.  Add to that falling asleep next to people you don't even know, then being woken up to be given snacks and food that you don't really want…wow it really IS like being in the hospital and having a baby!  But if I can just keep my eye on the prize of being in America for 3 whole weeks (my proverbial "new baby"), I know it will all be worth it.
Did I mention that I will be flying back to the NL with the littles ALONE?  Yeah, Ry is going back 1 week early to work.  That flight will be the hard one.  Guess I will just have to start planning our next trip to look forward to.  I am thinking Croatia & Greece when my MIL comes to watch the kids.  That sounds like a good sequel to Paris, right?

*Update: I figured out how to beat the system, so now I can post all of my favorites from Paris!  Before you judge me for posting a plethora o' pictures, let me remind you that Paris is like picture-taking paradise.  Everywhere you look, you see something interesting or iconic, so lay off me for being a little snap-happy.

 The Louvre...

Me and my girl Mona

Ry's favorite

 Champs-Elysees...

Arc de Triomphe…

I am sure we climbed at least 1,000 steps over the weekend!

 The Eiffel Tower...

Cliche, yet necessary!

Taken from the top of Notre Dame…I love this picture!

Notre Dame…

The Locks are for Lovers!

One of the best things we did was take the time (and money) to sit down and savor an authentic French brunch.  We are officially fans of French cuisine...

 This is the WWII Deportation Memorial.  Each tiny dot on the walls is a crystal representing 1 Parisian Jew that was deported during the war, there are over 200,000...

 Doing some thinking...

 At Napoleon's tomb...

Ry got really into Napoleon on our trip.

We need to go back and take the kids to Eiffel Tower, at least so they have that memory.  And we will definitely go back with whoever wants to visit us and make the drive over.  But, I am so glad that we got the chance to experience Paris, just the 2 of us.

Sinterklaas 2012

My view on holidays is: the more, the better.  I feel the same way about vacations, in case you haven't noticed (ryan's dad often jokes with us that work and school get in the way of our real life - which is all about vacations…at this point that is spot on).  Back to Sinterklaas, the story goes something like this:

Sinterklaas resides in sunny Spain all year except during Sinterklaas time.  At the beginning of December, he hops on a cruise ship and sails to a port near you to give gifts to all the good Dutch children in Holland and Belgium.  If you think this is a big job, don't worry, he's not alone.  He brings with him his court jester-like Zwarte Pieten (translation: black petes) to help him do all the heavy lifting (if you think these zwarte pieten are sounding eerily similar to slaves, you might be on to something).  Anyway, these Pieten, who are actually white guys that are painted completely black (shhh, don't tell the unsuspecting Dutch children), come and leave a gift in your shoe each night for about 2 weeks.  Then, on the night before "sinterklaas" you get a larger gift.  

As a parent, you might think that sounds like quite an investment to be giving so many gifts, but let me just tell you, the Anderson children have never been so well behaved.  They are BELIEVERS and so am I. 

Here's how we celebrated our new holiday:

First, at the "Intocht" at the harbor to welcome Sint back to Nederland.  He comes in on a cruise ship with all the piets.  See the piet on stage with the afro?  That's Disco Piet...

Then, we started putting our shoes out each night.  Could I have suggested that my children NOT put out their ugliest oldest shoes?  Yes, but this part was all on them.  If they forgot to put their shoe out, they didn't get anything.  If they did not go to bed on time and behave throughout the day, they were also high and dry.  Check out Kaydree's heartfelt letter...

 Then, we celebrated at the Pwc Sinterklaas party, it was quite the bash…

E getting her Glitter Tattoo 

Face Painting - the really pretty kind, not the messy and ugly kind

Mesmerized by Sinterklaas on stage

 Another thing about Sinterklaas, the Dutch have hundreds of songs for this holiday…probably more than Christmas songs.  We had to sing a Sinterklaas song in Dutch in front of the whole firm/families, apparently this is the tradition for newcomers to the country.

 Sinterklaas gave each child a present (which we hand selected via internet prior to the shin dig…I'm telling you, this holiday is a BIG DEAL here).

E with her Piet Hat 

A proudly holding her new Snow White bath Barbie

I can't wait for Sinterklaas 2013 and the well behaved children that will inevitably accompany it.