Brightwood Lights

As a mom without a TV in the house, I don’t get to see too many movies these days.  But today’s episode at the grocery store really was like being IN a movie.I try to minimize the number of mornings dedicated solely to running errands, so I often find myself heading to the grocery store late at night or swinging by the dry cleaners and post office with the stroller en route to the playground.  But about once or twice a month, we have to forgo fun morning activity (usually the playground) in favor of tedious tasks.

Today was one of those days.  After a rough night (continued teething woes for Andreas), we got a late start getting everyone dressed, fed, and ready for the day.  Because of the specific items I needed for a few recipes I’m making this week, I knew we’d need to head to two grocery stores to complete our list.  We headed out for the dreaded errand run and made good time getting through both stores.  Even better, we had successfully avoided meltdowns. . . but I could tell we were on the brink.  Andreas was NOT happy about the extended search for chicken bullion cubes (Aisle 4 at the New Hampshire Avenue Shoppers, for future reference).
So as I’m pushing to finish up and get home for lunch and naps, admittedly buying peace from Andreas with a graham cracker, the check out woman gets chatty with Simona.  Bad move.  I guarantee you that a 3-year-old can out-chat anyone.  Even the chattiest of grocery clerks.

Then, as is liable to happen around here, a random acquaintance of the clerk walks up and joins the conversation.  Pretty soon, Simona is pulling up a pant leg to show off her “owie” from tripping on the sidewalk on Sunday.  Now, mind you, this minor scrape had already spent two days covered by a Curious George band aid (which in turn meant not bathing for two days).  Suffice it to say that the wound was well on its way to being healed.  But, the clerk and her friend decide that a band aid is necessary, and preferably a Barney band aid.  They begin discussing looking for the first aid kit, which, I’m sure, would contain no Barney band aid.  I’m already envisioning such a prolonged search for Barney that nap time will have come and gone before we finish paying, so I, smilingly but firmly, convince them that Simona really is OK and that we can skip the first aid kit.
Finally convinced, the cashier resumes checking groceries but now is singing the famous “I love you” Barney song.  Simona hears it, jumps in, and before you know it, we have a grocery store sing along happening.   I am not lying.  Two cashiers, Simona, and customers in each of the two check line are singing.  Andreas is amused and entertained; I am able to quickly finish my transaction; and we manage to leave the store as the MOST (instead of the usual LEAST) popular customers.

Crisis averted, and another successful morning as a mom is in the history books.

A brief summary of our trip to Germany:
The only part of the trip that I anticipated with stress rather than with excitement was the travel.  Getting myself and the kiddos to and from Germany was a daunting task, despite knowing that many people have endured much, much more.  Thankfully, all worry was for naught.  The kids were superb through the 20+ hours of flying and the additional hours in the airport.  I even had Johnny Isakson, one of Georgia’s two senators (and one of the few US Senators I would even recognize!) compliment me on their behavior at the airport in DC.  (I thought it was Senator Isakson, but I wasn’t sure until I saw his name on his luggage as he walked away.)

We did have a few small “incidences” along the way.  Our flight from DC to Newark was delayed, and we were in danger of missing our connection to Hamburg.  So I was rebooked on a “just in case” itinerary that would have taken us from DC to Newark, Newark to MADRID, and Madrid to Hamburg.  Not only is Madrid NOT AT ALL on the way to Hamburg, but such a route also would have taken an extra 12 hours.  Now, I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, but definitely NOT by myself with two children and with a limited supply of diapers / food / Euros!  Thankfully, all went well and we caught our connection in Newark.  Still haven’t made it to Spain, but someday. . .

And on the way home, we missed our Newark-DC connection but were easily rebooked on the next flight out and made it home without further problems.  Again, the kids were amazing.

Our time in Deutschland was great.  We ate LOTS, trying to (literally) cram in all of our favorites in a limited amount of time.  We spent a few days traveling to Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, which were great.  Being there almost exactly 20 years after the fall of wall was great timing; unfortunately, two little kids are not all that interested in exploring the historical significance of these cities.  So, we took in what we could and focused on enjoying time together as a family.  We’d definitely take the chance to return to these cities to see some more, but we also think our next few years of family vacations will emphasize kid-friendly activities over touristy sight-seeing.

The time in Glueckstadt was fun but too short, as always.  It’s been amazing to see our children get to interact with their great grandparents, and we are trying hard to take advantage of that for as long as possible.  Simona got to attend a German preschool for a morning, which she loved.  Andreas sampled his first ice cream, and both of them got spoiled by family.  Caleb and I particularly enjoyed sitting with Nancy’s Dad and Oma in the evenings, telling stories, drinking beer (or water!), and eating Schwarzbrot.

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Other updates:  As mentioned we lost our camera in Germany.  We do have pictures to upload and hope to do that soon.  (These are from my dad’s camera and from our video camera.)  My parents generously gave us their old digital camera, but we need to figure out how to get pics off the camera and onto our computer, so post-Germany pictures may be a while in coming.  We’ll try to stay on top of it!