baby's first baseball game

You may remember that it was opening day 2015 when we found out I was pregnant. I got the call that morning and met Jon at the ballpark a few hours later where I presented him with a little league baseball that said "Baby Hardin Coming December 2015." This was the look on his face. It will always be one of my favorite memories.

Fast forward 1 year, and we were right back at the ballpark again for opening day 2016, this time with said baby in tow. I'd say life has changed just a bit...

Of course I was a little nervous about how Charlie would do during a long baseball game - especially now that he's grown out of the I-can-sleep-anywhere-anytime newborn stage. Well, it turns out I had nothing to worry about. Charlie LOVED the baseball game. He was completely mesmerized by all the sights and sounds, and he apparently thinks the sight of Mom in a baseball hat is the funniest thing in the world.

He just sat in my lap and watched the game. He is definitely his father's son. He wore his headphones during the opening fireworks and to help take a little snooze during the 7th inning stretch, which was interrupted by cheering for a Bryce Harper home run that even the headphones couldn't muffle. We made it through a 1.5 hour rain delay (another napping opportunity for Charlie) and lasted until the very last out just before 9:00 p.m.

Alas, the Nationals didn't win, but I'd still say our first game was a major league success.

opening day 2015 vs. opening day 2016

P.S. I also have to give the Nationals props - the new nursing mom's room is amazing. I was able to just nurse Charlie in our seats during most of the game (yay for roomier, cushy club level seats!), but once it got a little cold and a little past his bedtime, we moved to the nursing mom's room. It's outfitted with nice chairs, plush changing tables and the game on TV. I have a feeling we will spending lots of time there this summer. :)

just taking a little rain delay snooze 

i'm too busy having fun to smile. 

checking out the nursing moms room

bumpmoon

I can't believe it's been over a month since we got back from Hawaii. Time flies when you are busy growing a tiny human.

I'm pretty sure we've already talked about how fun the flight was for this momma, but I would do it again today if the end destination was somewhere as amazing as Hawaii. I know it sounds like a cliche destination, but it's such a wonderful place. I'm not sure it could ever disappoint any traveler. I was there for all of 5 minutes before I was glad we chose an island getaway over a city. Someday, I will get to Paris, but now was not the time.

Jon had never been to Hawaii, and it had been years since I had been. We flew into Honolulu and spent 2 nights there. It was a good way to get over any jet lag and ease into our vacation - Honolulu is also home to some of the best restaurants on the island so we took full advantage of that. Our only must-do was Pearl Harbor, where we spent almost an entire day.

After our brief stint in Honolulu, we moved on to the main event: Kauai. I'm not going to do a day by day recap because I'm pretty sure that would be beyond annoying. I'll hit some photos highlights, but you can just assume everything else was a wonderful mix of beach bumming, pool relaxing, spa lounging, sunset gazing and general vacation bliss.

the view from our hotel balcony in honolulu

surprisingly put together after 8+ hours on a plane.

submarine tour at Pearl Harbor. it was really hot that day. i spent a good portion of the day sitting in the shade with all the elderly tourists. #noshame

this jeep was courtesy the baby bump. there was a little bit of a wait at the car rental place for midsize SUVs, which is what we had reserved. the guy took one look at me and gave us this Jeep which was ready to go....and it was a good thing because we needed it on more than one bumpy beach access road. 

baby bump waiting for the sunset.

the helicopter tour was the highlight of the trip. i got a little nervous when a guy coming off the tour before us was holding his air sickness bag, but baby and I took it like champs. much of the island isn't accessible by car so unless you want to hike for days (we didn't), this is the best way to see everything. it did not disappoint. 

this baby looks huge. focus on the pretty canyon beyond us. 

i took one step on this swinging bridge before deciding it wasn't meant for me. jon liked it, though. :)

fact: i don't love the beach. i usually make it about 20 minutes before i need to find shade.

peeking out the lighthouse.

And here are some really pretty scenery photos. Like I said, I don't think this place could disappoint any traveler.

And some food porn:

this lady makes amazing malasada (Portuguese fried dough) from a tiny cart outside a kmart. best. find. ever.

coconut shaved iced with coconut cream topping. be still my heart. i had this twice even though it was 30 minutes from our resort.

tropical hot dog - also had this twice on both sides of the island. :)

traditional hawaiian plate lunch. best pulled pork of my life.

a fine dining version of cotton candy. also know as a cloud of yumminess. 

Our Ginger Family is Growing

Munich, I'll drink to that

Hey, remember that one time we went on a vacation over 3 months ago and I just now finished blogging it? Yeah, me neither.

We trained to Munich later in the day on Thanksgiving. After checking into the hotel, we walked a few blocks to the main Munich Christmas market. It was quite large and quite crowded. While it wasn't my favorite market, I've still never met a Christmas market I didn't like. And you'll be proud to learn that we switched things up this time - instead of fried dough, we got fried potato pancakes. [And yes, three months later, I'm still working that trip off. It's all salad and pilates around here these days.]

After browsing the market, we wandered over to Hofbrauhaus, one of the most famous beer halls in Germany. You can't go to Germany and not visit a beer hall. Although this one has become quite touristy, it's still worth a visit. If it couldn't be turkey and all the fixins, at least it was a pint and pork knuckle for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a fun experience, but I'd probably be fine never repeating it again. I was overwhelmed on a relatively quiet Thursday evening. I would never survive during Oktoberfest.

thanksgiving of champions.

The next day we took a 20-minute train ride to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp site. I'm not really sure how to write about this experience. I thought it was very informative and a moving memorial site. It was the coldest day of the vacation - an overcast day with chilling winds. I was bundled up, not outside that long, and still freezing. It made me realize even more how the thousands of people enslaved there had suffered in rags without coats or shoes, starving, sick and weak. We both learned a lot, and I'm glad we went, but it was heartbreaking.

the names of everyone that perished at Dachau

On a brighter note, that night we had what was perhaps my favorite meal of the trip. Considering we ate a lot of great food (see pilates/salad reference above), this is high praise. Dallmayr is a gourmet food shop and market downstairs by day and a michelin star restaurant upstairs by night. It was so fancy and delightful. I loved every bite. After dinner we went to a smaller market where I ate, you guessed it, fried dough!

and no, i am not flipping you off. or am i? 

On our last full vacation day, we took a day trip/tour to the castles. We drove through the mountains making stops in one village and at two castles. I'll be perfectly honest, this was not my favorite day, and it was primarily due to the weather. It was (again) cold, drizzly, and foggy. I'm sure the drive was beautiful, but we couldn't see a thing. Even once we got to the base of Neuschwanstein Castle, it was completely hiding in the fog. We walked all the way up to the top, but even from there, we wouldn't have known we were at a castle. I guess I'll just have to go back someday.

We did tour the inside and that was very enjoyable. It's a somewhat modern castle, which was built to look much older. I bought a puzzle, which we put together over Christmas. I like to joke that I had to buy the puzzle so I could know what the castled looked like.

i walked all the way up that hill for this? wah wah.

We finished off our last full day with a very traditional meal at a very traditional German restaurant. And then it was time to fit everything we brought + everything we bought back into our suitcases. No easy feat, but I also feel so accomplished after a good packing job.

it doesn't get more German than this.

The next day we had a few hours before our flight left so we visited the Residenz, aka the city palace for German rulers from around 1500-1918. It was room after room after room of palace opulence - much of it destroyed and then later rebuilt after WWII. Adjacent to the Residenz is a beautiful theater that was also destroyed and then restored to how it looked in the 1750s.

There was one last stop at a market for one last bite of fried dough and sausages.

The flight home wasn't as cushy as the business class one on the way over, BUT we had one huge bonus - there was one live TV channel on our flight and it just so happened to be a sports channel that was showing the CBS feed of the Packers vs. Patriots game. I have no idea how we got that lucky, but we got to see the Packers win just before landing. If you think watching a game with me is an experience, you should really try watching a game with me on a packed international flight. It's maddening to not be able to yell during a football game. I did my best, but I think the Croatian lady next to me thought I was certifiable.

thank you, lufthansa. 

Thus ended the vacation. Now on to the next one. :)

Salzburg. Swoon.

Sorry I've been MIA. First it was the craziness of the holidays, and then I had the flu, which knocked me out for a solid week. Since then, it's been catching up and more catching up. Here is a quick summary of the last month of my life: Christmas was wonderful. The flu was not wonderful. The end.

I'm in a bit (more like a trench) of a sports depression today after Green Bay's loss yesterday. I needed something to cheer me up, and I thought reminiscing about Salzburg might do the trick. I'll be back soon with some non-vacation life updates. Hang tight.

_______________________________

Before we left on our trip, I had a sneaking suspicion that Salzburg would be my favorite stop. I tend to like smaller destinations where you can walk everywhere and see everything. It turns out I was right. I love being right, and I love Salzburg.

We arrived in Salzburg in the evening. We stayed at the Sacher Hotel, which was my favorite hotel of the trip. The room was on the smaller side, but it was beautifully decorated. It didn't hurt that it overlooked the river and one of the pedestrian bridges that connects to the heart of the old city. We dropped our bags and started exploring. All I wanted to do was see what treasures were hiding on the other side of that bridge.

i want this wallpaper. 

a tv built into a bathroom mirror? ok, cool. 

room with a view.

We wandered through the city to the Cathedral where we caught the last bit of a choir rehearsal. We enjoyed the main Salzburg Christmas market in the square outside the cathedral along with several others we stumbled upon along the way. Much like the city, the markets in Salzburg were my favorite. They were smaller, more intimate, not nearly as crowded, and full of charm. We ate dinner standing up at Walter's sausage stand. Walter is the man. He literally cooks his sausages inside a tiny cave hidden in an alley. It was the perfect vacation night.

walter.

this market had animals. i died.

The next day we were total tourists and went on the Sound of Music tour - after sleeping in and almost missing it (another total tourist thing to do). It was a perfectly fine experience and a good way to see the city and surrounding area without freezing. If traveling in the summer, I probably would have planned our own walking tour, but sometimes it's just easier to follow the crowds. But by the end of the tour, I wanted to poke my eyes out thanks to our cheesy guide and his terrible jokes. It's probably the first time I've never tipped a guide. He's lucky I didn't leave him with a parting punch in the face. Apparently corny tour guides bring out my hidden rage. ;)

thee gazebo.

do-re-mi

where they filmed the wedding scene.

this guy also made it into the movie. he was my favorite.

In the afternoon, we did some more wandering, shopping, and cafe dining. That evening we went to my favorite Christmas market of the entire trip at Schloss Hellbrunn. This is where the Sound of Music gazebo resides, but don't be fooled, the gazebo has no connection to the actual palace. It was built just for the movie and moved to the grounds of the palace after it's original location tired of the gawkers. I loved this market because it had a beautiful palace backdrop, but was soooo cozy. They also really brought it in the lights department.

schloss hellbrunn market. 

That night, we had dinner inside a mountain. I'm not kidding. It was an old WW2 bunker turned high-end restaurant. It was an incredibly cool dining room experience, and the food was awesome to boot. Win/win.

dinner in a bunker!

Our last day in Salzburg (happy Thanksgiving!) was all about the fortress. We picked the perfect day. After zero sunshine since arriving in Europe, we finally saw the clouds lift just in time for some great views. I really loved the fortress. It's one of the oldest and most well-preserved ones in Europe. It was first started in 1077 and expanded by each subsequent archbishop. It was also a very successful fortress because it was never successfully invaded. The overachievers walk up to the fortress, but we happily took the lift.

oh hey, the alps.

this is how you'll find Jon during 90% of our vacations. 

inside the fortress.

riding the lift.

I was so sad to say goodbye to Salzburg. Not to mention we were over halfway done with our vacation. We took a late afternoon train to Munich for the third and final stop of our Christmas market tour.

bye bye salzburg.