visits with schmeema & papa butch

We've had the pleasure of seeing Schmeema & Papa Butch twice in the last month! Charlie and I flew to Wichita in mid-April while Jon was at a work conference in San Diego. And last weekend, they came to visit us here in Alexandria.

Yet again, Charlie was an expert traveler - and thank goodness because I was flying solo this time. He made friends on all of his flights and barely made a peep the entire trip. We spent one night in Wichita and then drove down to Oklahoma to see Aunt Megan, Uncle Aaron and cousin Abby. Schmeema and Papa Butch will hopefully be moving to Norman, OK soon so we went to shop for a house. Turns out house hunting is not Charlie's favorite activity, but he hung in there like a champ.

This is what I do on planes.

First time sitting up in a high chair (just shy of 4 months old) - with the help of mom's boppy pillow.

Do we have to go look at another house?!

Abby sharing her toy with Charlie. 

Do we have to fly home, Mom?

While they were in town last weekend, we celebrated Schmeema's birthday and Mother's Day. Schmeema and Papa also had the pleasure of babysitting while Jon and I went to a wedding. It was the longest we'd been away from Charlie - and the first time someone else had to put him to bed - but all parties survived. I think we'd let them do it again. ;) On Monday night, the adults went to a baseball game while Charlie stayed home with a sitter. This whole leaving the baby with a sitter thing is pretty great. :)

Happy Birthday, Schmeema!

I showered AND did my hair. #adulting

Meanwhile, Charlie stayed home with his grandparents.

Sorta behaving during church...

Every family has THAT person. 

Learning how to sit up with Schmeema.
He is doing so well, and can completely support himself upright without help for several seconds.

happy birthday to me

You may remember from my forgotten 30 by 30 bucket list (that flew out the window once I learned I was pregnant) that I had planned to turned 30 in Paris. If it wasn't for Charlie, I definitely would have been in Paris on February 25th. I'm not mad at Charlie for putting a wrench in my plans, but it did leave me with a pretty grim outlook on the big day.

Instead of Paris, I had plans to go to the spa, and Jon offered to cook me a delicious dinner. With a 2-month-old at home, that sounded like just the right amount of celebration. Quite honestly, we couldn't really come up with anything better...or so I thought. It was a pretty big production just to leave the house for a few hours that morning to head to the spa, and I knew we weren't quite ready to leave Charlie with a babysitter - more for the sitter's sake than ours. It's hard to ask someone to watch your baby when he is still too little to be in any kind of routine. And even though he does take a bottle, he still just wants his mama sometimes...errr, all the time.

My first surprise of the day was Jon making me breakfast that morning. It was no ordinary breakfast. He made homemade waffles complete with freshly whipped cream and berry compote. It was delicious, and I was appropriately impressed. My time at the spa was equally wonderful, and I even got to do a little shopping afterward since Dad assured me Charlie was fast asleep at home.

Things turned a bit strange when I got home. I wanted to take a shower, but Jon insisted that I open my presents first. I protested (I didn't want to look like a hot mess in any birthday photos), but he won. I thought maybe he had something up his sleeve, but after opening all the gifts, nothing had materialized (although it should be noted that I loved everything I opened!). After the presents were opened, Jon immediately suggested I should go shower now. Again, quite strange since he had told me to delay the shower earlier.

Once I came upstairs, he announced that there was another gift. I opened the bag (it was in a baby gift bag) and inside was a weekender bag that I already owned. Hmmmm. That's weird. I was quite confused, BUT, inside the bag was a note telling me to pack my bag because we were going to enjoy an overnight stay and private dinner for three at a mystery location. Squeeeee! I was so shocked. I really didn't think Jon had anything planned. He's not the greatest at pulling off surprises. And by not the greatest, I mean he's pretty terrible at surprising me.

Now I was in a hurry so I hopped in the shower, got ready, threw some things in my bag and quickly got everything packed for Charlie. We hopped in the car and I caught up on birthday phone calls while Jon drove us toward DC. We ended up at the Jefferson hotel near the White House in downtown DC. It wasn't quite Paris, but as Jon pointed out, it was a hotel named after a famous Francophile. :)

Not only had Jon booked a lovely suite complete with a travel crib for Charlie, but he had talked the fancy schmancy hotel restaurant into serving us a private dinner in the sitting room of our suite. The table was already set and there were fresh flowers in the room. It was all so lovely, and I was completely blown away. It never would have worked to bring Charlie to a fancy restaurant so Jon brought the restaurant to us. It felt like a true night out - I even did my hair, put on makeup and enjoyed a glass (or two!) of wine. The food was divine, but my favorite part was sharing it all with my two favorite boys. I felt very loved.

After a good night's sleep for all, we ordered room service breakfast the next day. As a little kid, I thought room service was SO fancy, and it's still one of my favorite guilty pleasures. There is just something wonderfully luxurious about hotel robes, slippers and room service.

Even though we were just a few miles from home, it felt like I was world's away. It was such a nice retreat and a really great 30th birthday.

birthday breakfast. yes, i like the fake syrup better. don't judge. 

I still can't believe Jon made this without any help.

Opening presents. Charlie got me a poop emoji pillow. How thoughtful of him.

What is this strange thing on my head, mom?

A table set for two.

Charlie eyeing my cheese course.

Choosing from the room service menu.

I think Charlie is already a fan of room service too.

cherry blossoms

I have a love/hate relationship with cherry blossoms. I think most locals do. While the trees are beautiful and a welcome harbinger of spring, the mass of tourists that descend on the city in late March and early April almost makes you want to send the trees back to Japan. Thanks, but no thanks.

While driving into the city the other day, I posed this question to Jon, "Have you ever seen a tourist family in DC that looks like they were having fun?" The answer is no. Friends, yes. Couples, yes. Family with kids, not so much. The parents look exhausted, the kids look bored, and everyone looks like they are tired of walking. As my mom would say, DC is a work vacation, and if you come during cherry blossom season, you are guaranteed extra work thanks to expensive hotels, crowded transportation (actually, make that crowded everything), and long lines wherever you go.

Given the above, I wasn't the least bit upset when I realized our weekend in Philly corresponded with peak bloom. We heard from several friends who braved the mall over that weekend that it was a complete madhouse. Some people didn't even make it the tidal basin.

We came up with another plan to enjoy the blossoms without the hassle. We woke up early (way early) last Monday morning. We parked at Jon's office, hopped on the metro and walked all around the tidal basin. It was a perfect morning and we practically had the place to ourselves...well, ourselves, and all the trash the weekend crowd had left behind. Like I said, it's love/hate with cherry blossom season.

It's the only way to do it, and I'm so glad we did. Also, that's another thing crossed off the 30 by 30 list.

i look really awesome, but who bothers with hair and makeup at 5:00 a.m.?

city of brotherly love

We spent last weekend in Philly sightseeing, baseball watching and relaxing. Here's a little recap of our visit in the city of brotherly love. 

We took Friday off and took a leisurely drive up to Philly. We checked in to the Rittenhouse Hotel and enjoyed their afternoon tea. I love a good high tea, and this was one of the best ones I've had stateside.

That night we went to the Nats vs. Phillies game. Another ballpark crossed off our list, but unfortunately, it was overcast, chilly, and the Nats lost. We went to a second game on Saturday night and it was a repeat of night one. Luckily, the colder weather kept a lot of Phillies fans away so we didn't have to deal with any hecklers. Despite being the city of brotherly love, Philly sports fans aren't exactly known for their love....unless you count their love for booing and heckling.

Saturday morning we started with lattes to fuel up for a day of historical sightseeing. I've never done any of the touristy things in Philly so it was fun to take it all in on a sunny, but breezy day. There was more to see than I thought. We walked A LOT. However, because we did this trip a little more spur of the moment, there was no real planning involved. This is very unlike us...and it reminded me why we usually plan. By the time we strolled over to the old city, Independence Hall tickets were already sold out. Oops. Jon assures me it's just a room so I'm assuming I would have been unimpressed anyway.

Midway through the day, we stopped for cheesesteaks at Sonny's. They were delicious, but I think one cheesesteak every 4-5 years is probably enough for me.

I know this doesn't look great, but it was. I could only eat about half of mine. Cheesesteak: 1. Katie: 0.

Jon finished his like a champ. I definitely recommend Sonny's if you are ever in Philly.

don't be fooled. tis the city of brotherly love in name only.

We brunched on Sunday before crossing the river into New Jersey. I've briefly been to NJ before, but I wanted to make it a little more official.

We randomly picked a park on the riverfront to walk around, but we stumbled upon the USS New Jersey, which is apparently the most decorated US battleship. I wanted to take the tour, but we didn't have time. Again, we probably should have planned better. Maybe next time.

Last, but not least, we did a quick drive-by of the Rocky steps before heading back to DC and cherry blossom madness. On our way back home, we literally saw a mile-long stretch of cars parked on the interstate shoulder. People will stop at nothing to see those trees.

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. :)