The Sign Says,

We have a blog where we keep posts of Rebecca's funnies. This morning, another funny was created and probably since it had to do with him, Jorg wanted it shared here too:

Jorg left at 6ish this morning to catch a flight to Sweden. Rebecca said goodbye to him last night. When she woke up around 8:00, she asked about her daddy. I reminded her,

"Honey, he is gone on a little trip. And he'll be back in a few days."

She paused for a minute, pointed at the blank wall, and yelled,

"NO! That sign says, STOP! STOP, daddy. NO going on trip!"

I have no idea where she got that from. Though Jorg wishes we could've gone with him, I think it made his day to know hew is missed by his little sweetheart. And we had a good laugh over her imaginary stop sign.

Thankful

A couple of weeks ago I was having, one of those days.
Long story short, I was by myself on the train, riding back from the Olympia tower where I had retrieved my lost wallet.

I was glad it was found, but miffed at myself for losing it in the first place.

Then, as I was crunching on some roasted almonds I bought since I was starved, one of my teeth cracked! In my head, I started listing off everything that was going "wrong" in my "terrible" life.
*Lost wallet
*cracked tooth
*rainy day
*it was my parent's last day
*my mom wasn't feeling well
*crowded subway train
*etc.

I let myself go on for a little bit and then a little voice said, "stop! enough! Now that you've let yourself go into this pity party, it's time to list your blessings!" so I did. It was slow at first, but once I got started, I couldn't stop.

My mood totally changed. And I noticed I felt lighter. I looked at the people around me. I hoped they were as blessed as I am. I wished they knew who they were. Why they're here. And that Heavenly Father loves them. Because I do! And I am so thankful.

Christmas is coming

The other night I went out with Rebecca. It was actually around 4 or 5 but gets dark so early now.
She likes to go to the "city". We have our usual places we always stop. She likes that predictability, as kids do (and so do I!)

So we go to the "castle" (Neues Rathaus) and go inside the courtyard where we see "Rapunzel's tower" and "the two scary lions". Then we make our way through to Statchus. And usually eat our way there, stopping for pretzels, rolls, or pastries at a bakery, or for ice cream.

Here is what we found the other night. The Christmas markets will soon open and things are starting to get Christmasy!Here is the store window of one of the department stores. So fun!

And Stachus went for this to this:

I wish she were old enough for ice skating because she was so excited about it.
At the very same time, and with all my heart, I so glad she's still my little girl

Portable DVD Players

sure come in handy with a Snow White obsessed toddler on a...

Indeed, we did join our "prince" on his trip to Frankfurt! After a 4 hour drive, the first evening was spent in the car and in McDonald's while Jorg was at his appointments. We were running late and didn't get time to check-in to the hotel. I wondered if we made the right choice to come and tried not to grumble too much, since the reason we are here in the first place is so that he can work. Frankfurt was okay but not near as nice as Munich. I saw many people who just looked...evil in their eyes. Even though Munich is a bigger city, I don't see evil-ish looking people very often. I feel really safe in Munich. If I so much as even drop a glove, someone is chasing me down to give it to me. If I need help lifting the stroller somewhere, there are many hands to help. People smile and greet you with, "Gris Got" which means "God is Good". It's a bavarian thing. I love that. Well, I didn't feel the same in Frankfurt. Jorg agreed. He actually worked in Frankfurt for a year back when he was still single and well, he agreed. While I was wondering around with Rebecca, I saw some missionaries pass by and stopped them. I didn't have much to say to them, except, "where are you from? and how's the work?" but it was so nice to see those two good faces. Other German cities are also very nice, such as Hannover, Bremen, and Kassel. I don't know why Frankfurt is such a bummer.

After Jorg's two successful meetings, it was finally family time. And we drove about 20 minutes out of Frankfurt to the Frankfurt Temple (go figure). It was pretty. Rebecca was excited. It was just great to see the place where my honey first went through the temple and where he went on youth trips.

We stayed in a fun hotel back in Frankfurt and the next day, headed home. But we took our time and stopped wherever we wanted! We found an American style outlet mall. It reminded me of the one we visited this summer in California. It was a pretty new place and they were setting up for Christmas. We didn't buy anything. We don't need anything. But it was fun to stroll around and window shop.

Then we stopped in Nuremberg. Jorg had never stopped there. We thought it would be great, but we weren't prepared for how awesome it really was! We just "had" to stop and go through the castle. Rebecca kept asking where the princess was. She has been in 2 castles and 1 palace now, and the poor one has yet to see her a real princess. We try to explain, but really...how do you explain that one to a 2 year old? "They don't really exist anymore, honey." "Huh, what?" Just too sad. So she was the princess here with the official burger king crown:

We headed into the city and I saw this cute puppet store on a quiet, narrow street. As I looked into the window, I had to think of Gapetto's shop! It was just darling, all of the dolls and trinkets in there. Too bad it was already closed for the day.then we ate some stuff:
and Jorg ate some of the famous Nuremburg sausages. They are small because they used to shove them through key holes when there was a ban on sausage selling. The ban was made so that only the restaurants could sell sausage, at least that's what Jorg said when I asked. There are some places where it looks like Venice, the water flows through the buildings. I didn't get any great pictures, the top right photo is the best I could do.They have a really famous Christmas Market here, and we saw the booths! But it doesn't start until Sunday. So glad we stopped. It was a great weekend and we even made it back for church on Sunday morning this time.
We Like It!

A Fun*fun*funny

with Omi, the ducks, and...

Just like at home, fall here brings unpredictable weather and it was in the 60's one day last week.
We like it!
(though poor Hans probably didn't last through the morning.)

A Sampling

Neuschwanstein Castle
Rebecca wore her princess dress-up over her coat! People really got a kick out of that. Our girl is well-watched in Germany, since there aren't a lot of children. It was a nice hike up to castle for my dad and I , and my mom & Rebecca took the bus. Jorg stayed down in the car to do some business on his laptop, using his cell phone (he went through the castle as a teen)!
The castle was amazing, built by a lunatic king who loved swans. Translated, Nueschwanstein means New Swan Rock. They didn't let us take pictures inside.

Rothenburg
We found this castle and the "Romantic Road" on the way! It was a great adventure. NOT doing it justice I would say that it was seriously old, seriously neat-o, and had seriously great shops.

Salzburg
Sound of Music tour: Rebecca slept through it, Jorg has never seen the movie, the parents liked it, I really enjoyed it! We sang along to the tunes playing in the van. We loved the stop in the mountains the most. And that gazeebo where Jorg stole a kiss was pretty darn cute.

In Salzburg we also visited the castle and Mozarts house. The picture of Rebecca and Jorg below is my favorite picture from the 300-something we took :)
It was a magical trip and I'll remember it forever.
Also, check out my dad's hat! He looks so natural as an Austrian.

After my parents had to go back home (sigh), the fun continued with Birgit. We went to the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich.
Rebecca's favorite was the Carriage house. She has seen a lot of Cinderella in her 2.5 years!

We love our parents, we love these places, we loved having a great time together.

Itinerary

The grandparents watching the grandchild watch, Snow White.

Here is the original itinerary that I emailed to our parents. It was nice to have a plan. We stuck to it pretty good, switching a few things here and there.

8th Sunday - John and Rose arrive!, rest, see a little of Munich. We'll go to Marienplatz

9th Monday - we'll meet you at the Mueller bakery for breakfast (near your hotel)! tour Munich (possibly Olympiapark
and the BMW Museum)

10th Tuesday - Neuschwanstein Castle

11th Wednesday - tour Munich (possibly Deutsches Museum)

12th Thursday - tour Munich, Birgit arrives in the morning possibly walk from Odeonzplatz to Marienplatz to see Rathaus-Glockenspiel
and eat a real Bavarian meal at the Hofbrauhaus!

13th Friday - Rothenburg

14th Saturday - Salzburg
It's cheap and relaxing to get there by train.

15th Sunday - church, relax, Munich - English Garden

16th Monday - tour Munich (possibly Nymphenburg Palace)

17th Tuesday -(John and Rose leave this morning :(
tour Munich (possibly Deutsches Museum)

18th Wednesday - open

19th Thursday - Birgit leaves this evening :(


We had a car the entire time my parents were here, since it was cheaper that way. We used it for the day trips and to and from the airport. Other than that it just sat in our parking garage since it's faster, cheaper, and more convenient to use the dreaded public transportation.

My parents stayed at a nearby hotel and Birgit stayed with us. Except for one night when we all stayed in Salsburg.

We ate SO well!! Bakeries, bakeries, bakeries, german restarants, Austrian restaurants, good food at our house, and Jorg and his mom went to an Indian restaurant. Sometime I will do a food post since I'm collecting pictures of the yuminess we eat here.

I really enjoyed showing everyone around Munich. And of course they were all impressed with my cosmopolitan self. It made me remember that first day when Jorg picked us up and I told him I would never go anywhere in the city without him. And I didn't for a few weeks! But I got the hang of it. And now I am often able to help others who look lost.

The weather was really good for the most part. Especially when we were in Salzburg. We didn't even need jackets.

Rebecca loves each of her grandparents so much that she, on her own, split her attention rather evenly. For example, she had a blast playing with Omi in the horse fountain (salsburg) for a while. Then told Birgit, "Okay, Omi. Now you go up there. Now Mimi...come down here now." and played with Mimi for a while. She snuggled up with both grandmas on the couch. What a lucky, lucky girl!

It's quiet around here now. Well, except for the little cutie who is twirling around and screaming the song "Once upon a dream"! Jorg is going to Frankfurt today and staying one night. We are trying to decide if we'll go with him or stay and go to the zoo. Rebecca has been presented with the options (go to the zoo, or sit in the car for a looooong time). And she says, "Sit in car for looooong time to do the trip with daddy!" OVER the zoo. So I guess she's made up her mind. Hmmmmmmm...

Whole Gang in Salzburg

Jorg's mom and my parents both booked their flights (seperately) while Rebecca and I were in the air! Awh...how sweet that they were missing us already. But there was a miscommunication and they booked their trips overlapping. I didn't know how it would go, but it was super comfortable and couldn't have gone better. We had a great time together. My mommy and daddy fly out tomorrow morning :( I will miss them so! At least for another month. Birgit will be here for a few more days!

When I get time to sort through the rest of the pix I will put them up.

Mimi and Papa Tour Munich

Day 1

Inside of Theaternkirshe, a model, and this cool thingie I discovered one day:

Theaternkirshe, Hall of Heros, one of the meat shop windows:

Lovin' the grub: my dad is eating pig knuckle!

The weird blue baby being trucked around in front of the Old Town Center:And my two favorite men:

It is heaven to have them here!

Elders

We ran into Elder Hunter (from Alpine, UT) and Elder Crane (from Bear Lake, Idaho) on our way home from the store the other night. They are the missionaries assigned to the International Ward we attend.

And we had them over to and impromptu dinner of spetzla noodles, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Rebecca warmed right up to them, climbing under the table to get between them. And she gave them kisses!
At one point, Elder Crane asked, "does she ever stop talking?"

It wasn't a coincidence that we met! I'm 100% sure about that. It was timed just right and there were too many variables to ignore. I don't know if they had just been praying really hard for some physical nourishment, or if it was because we needed the spiritual nourishment. But we loved having them over and hope to do it again before we leave.

BFF's

Jorg was gone for 2 whole days and it was literally just the two of us. I appreciate living by family and friends so much more now. I really went crazy sometimes. Even though she's just one kid, she requires a lot of attention.

And it was my sole responsibility to give it to her, so I did!
and in these pictures we were having a blast.
At the duck pond

On the bus

In the city
(It starts getting dark here so early now (at 4:45ish).

Rebecca found some playmates who's parents were affiliated with the 'Jesus Loves You' crew. They met at Karlsplatz Stachus which usually looks like this:
but the water wasn't on.

So the girls played a fun game where they jumped from pod to pod, and Rebecca would try to touch their feet. The girls had no idea what she was saying to them in English. But she talked the them anyway and had a ball.

We like it!

Toy Museum

I try and get out when Jorg is working (he often works from our apartment), so we don't have to try and keep Rebecca quiet, and she doesn't have to BE quiet. Sometimes we go to the "2 parks and ducks."
The other day we went to the Toy Museum! It's is located in the old town hall, pictured below. The museum is a chain of rooms in the tower there. Rebecca loved climbing the tower stairs, "By.my.self!"

I thought she looked so cute sitting there in the subway.
She chose that brutchen to eat from the Muller bakery at Arabellapark.

They had really fun displays of vintage toys.

She went straight for the windowsills in each room to take a rest and hang out!

We ended the trip with a stop and McDonalds for some nutritious chicken nuggets!
A very laid back and enjoyable outing for the two of us.
Jorg was sad he had to miss out.

update

I finally added the rest of my pictures from Lane and Kim's wedding day. Click here.

the Wolferts Tour Munich

me: "Is Annalie your cousin?"

Rebecca: "I'm a friend to Annalie. I teach her."

Hofbrauhaus!: http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/

A street concert with these men from Tibet. They could sing in two voices at once.
and waiting for Rathaus-Glockenspiel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus-Glockenspiel
at Marienzplatz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marienplatz

Playing near the Chinese Tower in the English Gardens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englischer_Garten#Chinesischer_Turm
Jorg had to go out of town for a day and a half and it was so very nice to have company while he was gone.

We finally found the limited edition, American Brownie flavored Muller Milk!

We met Jorg's cousin Annelie who lives in Munich

We're so glad you three could come!!
Now anyone else ready to book their flights?
Omi, Mimi, and Papa are coming next week too and we're so excited.

HOT

Here are some old photos we dug up of Jorg and his sisters: