Ausfahrt**

And we're back. It was a whirlwind of a week with a lot of togetherness time in the car. It was partially a working trip for Daddy which left the 4 of us exploring Mannheim on Fat Tuesday. We had no idea what we were in for, and unfortunately for us, left our Halloween/Mardi Gras costumes at home. The weather was not very cooperative, but we were able to enjoy a carnival, unending costumes for all ages, dancing in the streets and tons of really yummy food. (See below...also note that some people are not wearing costumes. The eighties are alive and well here in Europe, white gogo boots and all.) After a looooong day there, we jumped back in the car and drove to Innsbruck, Austria. Our first day we drove up the mountain and took a cable car up to explore one of the ski resorts. We learned that we are several years away from enjoying a ski trip at that particular resort as a family. (Perhaps light years away from actually enjoying a ski trip at all. As I watched parents struggle with their own skis and belongings along with the skis and belongings of their children, I suddenly became very aware of how much work my parents did all those years we went skiing. Have I ever said thank you? THANK YOU!) We hadn't planned on skiing this trip at all, but wanted to look around and get some ideas of what things are really like for little ones. We discovered some much more family friendly hotels with ski schools and entertainment for our youngest family member that will be a much better fit next winter. Our second day we woke up to clouds and rain and even considered heading home a day early to break up the driving a bit, but we decided to make the best of it and by mid-morning the day proved to be gorgeous. We enjoyed a visit to the Alpenzoo (after driving on some very steep and winding roads made more for pedstrians than vehicles-YIKES!) and then drove into the mountains to one of the toboggan runs. It was beautiful and so quiet. We had almost the whole area to ourselves. It proved to be quite a work out for us parents getting the children to the top of the run and we discovered that our youngest family member is probably about 6 months to a year away from truly enjoying sledding at such a fast pace and ending up with a face full of snow (oops!), but our two big kids had the best time. They had been completely overwhelmed by chaos and busyness of the ski resort and seemed happiest with the simple, quiet and isolated snow for sledding. (Note that no one was harmed in the filming of one of our children sledding directly into a tree, seen below.)

We really enjoyed the hospitality of the Germans and Austrians. Everything is so clean and organized...Amazing! We didn't find one dirty bathroom or restaurant. We ate way too many soft pretzels and were delighted to find that the McDonald's still have fried apple pies rather than baked. We couldn't find a way to fit a visit to Salzburg into this trip--too far--and though we looked, we didn't find our own Frauleine Maria to help out around here. We know we don't have 7 children, but some days, these 3 can feel like 7. Especially when they have been in a car for 10 + hours and have spent the last several weeks passing all kinds of viruses back and forth so that at least one of them has something that hurts at some point. Especially when the youngest TSE has discovered that she has been missing out sitting quietly by...she is no longer content with the status quo. She wants to be moving and standing and doing all things big. Daddy basically unpacked one suitcase into another and left for Florida yesterday leaving us with piles of laundry to sort through. The kids are all happy to be back home in their beds and with their toys even if Daddy did have to rush away. Now they are stuck with an exhausted Mommy who needs a vacation to recover from the vacation. Where is that Frauleine Maria?!

**After hours of driving in an even more foreign country than the foreign one we live in, we parents resorted to potty humor to entertain ourselves. Mommy and Daddy repeatedly read the signs for exit in our best German accents-- Ausfahrt--until even Hannah was repeating it. One morning in the hotel she kept repeating, "Fahht!" Smiling, I asked her what she meant. Nathan was giggling uncontrolably and translated for us. "Mom, she is saying Fart which is French for toot!" Where does he come up with this stuff?