We are here!!!

Just to let you all know we have safely arrived in Calgary! The trip went really well and before we knew it Lily looked out the window and shouted, "I can see the Rocky Mountains!!! Look Finn, look!"
We had to tell her though, that the hills shortly past Nuremberg which she spotted out of the train window were sadly not the Rockies quite yet. :)

We took the express train to Frankfurt and then flew directly to Calgary. Air Transat was not Lufthansa, but it wasn't horrible either. I started to get a bit worried when we had to be refuelled because of a 5 min delay before take-off with running engines, which made the pilot decide we didn't have enough fuel left to make it to Calgary. But in the end we got there all right and after a little mix-up with the luggage we even got all our suitcases back. (The plane went on to Vancouver and it's apparently really hard to separate the suitcases according to destination when you load them.) So, with the refuelling and the luggage problem we were about 2 hours late, but when we finally got here we were greeted royally by Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Kristine. We have a really nice van that Grandpa bought us (I know! Isn't this incredible?), we went out for dinner and the kids held up really well until about 9pm, which means they were up for almost 24 hours. Lily napped a few hours on the plane, Finn didn't.

Because of Lily and jet lag we didn't sleep much past 2am, but that was to be expected.

It's awesome to be here, looking forward to all our adventures!

Countdown to take-off

Tomorrow we'll be leaving for Canada  - finally! We're wrapping things up around here, enjoying the summery warm weather, eating all the food from our fridge and making last minute shopping trips. Neil just barbequed our lunch and now I'm so stuffed I need to take a break on the couch. What better way to digest than with my laptop in front of me?

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Here's Lily yesterday, asking me a million times if she could put this, this, or that into her carry-on. Tears have been shed over the fact that I wouldn't buy another plane ticket so Rosalie the unicorn could come on the trip.

Finn decided he will ride to Canada on his stick horse.

I checked the weather in Calgary and let's just say, there is room for improvement. :) So for now, we're enjoying summer for one more day. (All of us except for Neil who has been hit hard by allergies since he came back from Japan. We're hoping he will leave them behind.)

Do you want to come over and help me fit this into our suitcases? I bought most of it this morning after we realized we will see a lot of people and stay at a lot of places. Maybe if I eat half I can fit the rest?

And, you will never believe what happened on Thursday night. I'm still recovering from the shock. The big bad B-word has been rehabilitated. Seriously. Look, here:

B.O.N.A.N.Z.A.

 After the kids were in bed we sat on the couch and Neil looked through the blog and watched that Sting video. Maybe it was Sting saying that Bonanza is "everybody's favourite", Stings great voice, or the Bonanza footage in that clip (unlikely), but he, MY Neil!, said he wanted to watch that episode with James Coburn. 

I about fell off the couch. 

In the Sting vid, the sequences where Adam is wearing the red shirt and chaps (*swoon*) are taken from a 1961 episode called "The Dark Gate." James Coburn plays Adam's best friend, Ross. Coburn and Roberts work very well together on screen (Coburn started his long career as Pernell Roberts' buddy in the 1959 western "Ride Lonesome" starring Randolph Scott, and you're welcome to borrow the DVD from me ☺), but don't get used to Ross. This is the first (and the last) time you'll see him, even though Adam allegedly has been hanging out with him constantly for the past 15 years. Funny how we never ran into him or heard of him before! But of course, this is Bonanza.

Anyway, back to Thursday night. I couldn't believe my ears!

So, I put in the DVD, and soon Neil and I were cuddled up on the couch, sharing a beer and watching Ross whats-his-name slowly succumb to schizophrenia, turning from best friend and loving husband into criminal, murderer, wife-beater and eventually wife-beater-to-deather. And, of course, because where would be the tragedy otherwise, the man who has to put an end to this madness and shoot Ross is none other than his best friend, Adam. In short: it's just the kind of uplifting, romantic story you want to watch right before going to bed, in the dark, with your husband who, come to think of it, has been acting rather strange lately too, especially tonight.

But, I could hardly pay attention anyway, because I kept wondering what on earth this was all about!? MY Neil, WANTING to watch THIS? I concluded there are three possible answers:

1) Sting has something to do with it. If STING says it's cool, it might deserve a closer look. (um, maaaaybeee.)

2) Neil does kinda realize he'll be stuck with me for the rest of his life, and if this is what I like, then he'll suffer through it somehow, because for some crazy reason he still  ♥  me. (would be my preferred option, but it's most likely number)

3) He was afraid if he went to bed early to sleep off his cold/allergies/jet lag like he had done the previous nights he would wake up to yet another Bonanza blog post.

Which, of course, he didn't. Not the next morning anyway. ☺

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P.S. And by the way, in case you need something to tide you over until my return to the bloggersphere, A LOT of episodes have reappeared on youtube. Just sayin'.

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P.P.S. Lily wants me to post this, as it is her favourite clip. She is a water rat and wants to watch this numerous times a day. She is especially taken with the ending, where Hoss wakes up Joe. It's given her some great ideas and I wouldn't be surprised if she snuck in our room with a cup of water one morning.

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Take care, everyone, and we can't wait to see our family and friends in Canada!

Claudia, Neil, Finn and Lily

It's Against the Law! And I have a twisted memory.

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From now on, don't trust ANYTHING you read on here. Not a word. I caught my significant other in the Act. In the abominable act of wanting to edit one of my posts. I know. I didn't think he had it in him either. Which post? The recent one where I quoted him saying a sentence that contained both the unspeakable B-word and a word that starts with "cr" and ends with "ap." And no, it wasn't the offensive B-word he wanted to edit. I've been told my memory is twisted. (I mean, my imagination I knew about, but my MEMORY? That's a new one.) Anyway, and even if, IF, he had uttered such a thing in a state of mental turmoil, well, it has no place on "our" blog. I told him it's no good to edit it because by now the handful of people who actually care to read my ramblings have long read it anyway.

So, last time I checked it was still there. If it disappears we'll have positive proof this account is being hacked.

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And, since I'm at it I'll just vent away some more. We discussed this topic with a lovely bunch of ladies (heelllooo!) over birthday cupcakes and tea this morning. And it inspired me to procrastinate even more to take a break from packing and organizing my house to write this really important blog post. 

So here we go.

I hate the copyright police. Big time.

We don't own a TV, so I rely heavily on youtube and other internet media for my entertainment. I was sitting here the other night with my laptop and headphones while my sister and Neil were chatting away (yes, I'm social like that). Occasionally I would overhear fragments of their convo such as, "If she at least liked Startrek instead of B------, then we could send her off to the Trekkie conventions," and other insults. I just cranked up the volume. To hear - nothing. There is this mafia like organization in Germany called the "GEMA" which makes sure not the smallest morsel of good music (including film music) meets an unpaying ear. SO much on youtube and other sites is blocked in Germany. Speak of breaking a child's heart because they can only watch part 1 of Bambi as there is music in part 2. BLOCKED! I'm not sure how this works, but I have watched some videos on youtube and when I wanted to click on them again they were blocked. Like there are little GEMA spies counting clicks from Germany, and if it's anything to do with music or other copyrighted stuff they wave their red flag. ERASE! IT'S AGAINST THE LAW!!! Can you believe that I got a warning the other day, because I uploaded a clip of the kids to youtube where a song was playing on my laptop in the background and I happened to mention the song in the clip title? Ridiculous.

So, I couldn't watch the Sting concert I told you about in my last post. Most songs are blocked now. :(

But, in my aimless wanderings through the youtube universe I did come across a hilarious video that I need to share with you. (Which is probably against the law!). The topic of course is B------. I just can't leave good enough alone it seems. On the other hand we'll be gone for a month soon, and the thought of leaving you with such a long B------ dry spell - well, it's plain unbearable.

About a year ago the copyright police swept in and terminated accounts of users who uploaded B------ episodes for everyone's enjoyment. Because that is against the law! Sometimes only the sound was removed (music was copyrighted still, but not the film material). Imagine, I had to go out and buy the DVDs, which is not against the law. Only against Neil's law.

Anyway, one brilliant individual posted this clip with the remark: "Who would have thought that everything those Cartwrights have been doing, was AGAINST THE LAW...as long as they did it on YouTube."

Amazingly, it's still there. So enjoy it while it lasts, before the GEMA spies catch on! (By the way, the picture quality is much better if you click "watch it on youtube".)

Of course, if a person really really liked this and was afraid it could be gone soon, they could also download it and save it on a CD or their hard drive. Against the law.

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☺

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I'm Hanging My Head (or am I?)

So, I think it would be safer not to mention the big bad B-word on here anymore for a while. That's too bad.

 Just as I was really getting into the whole thing. I mean, I'll be in the middle of cowboy country very soon, complete with a stay at a ranch and all. Now, what does that leave me with to properly prepare? Country music? If you know anything about Neil you will know that the mere mention of names like Garth Brooks or Johnny Cash can trigger a pretty strong gagging reflex in him. But, I DO know that he likes Sting. Good! I like Sting too - a lot!!! "Desert Rose" is still one of my favourite songs ever.

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So I have some nice ♪ music ♪ for you to brighten your day: STING! Performing his song "I Hung My Head" live in Berlin in 2010. Crank up the volume and enjoy! Someone took it and kindly added some video footage, due to the little revelation by Sting at the beginning (I'm not surprised, as the man's obviously got great taste).

And, while this song was written by Sting, some of you might be more familiar with the cover version. That's right; the one by Johnny Cash. ☺
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But, in all honesty, I do like Sting's version better than Johnny Cash's, although Sting did say he is really pleased when country singers cover his songs, because he has a "very healthy love and respect for country music." As I said, the man's got taste.
And most of that Sting concert 2010 in Berlin is on youtube, including the complete version of the above song. Great concert!
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See, a whole post where I don't mention the B-word even once. Even though I would have been in pretty good company, don't you think?
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And with that, back to conquering Laundry Mountain, packing and planning. One thing I won't need to worry about bringing to Canada is my riding helmet. It's cracked, and I have no idea how it happened. Honest, I don't. I coulda swore it was whole yesterday, and today I found it broken. Go figure. I wore it anyway, seeing as Neil made me swear with a hand over my heart last night that I indeed do wear it when riding Bella. The sacrifices I make for that man.
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Dear Neil,

Sorry to hear you are having a rough day at the office today.

Well, tell me about it! Life on the other end of your paycheck is not exactly all unicorns and rainbows either. (And I don't just mean having to physically wrangle my laptop from you while you're shouting, "Aaaaah! I'm editing this post! How does this work again? All this Bonanza crap on here!!!")
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You know, all they want to do is eat, eat, eat. Give them treats and war breaks out. Ask them to actually do something YOU want them to do and they get grumpy - playing with their friends is so much more fun. They make messes everywhere and NEVER clean up after themselves. Dirty doesn't even begin to describe them, and as soon as you got them reasonably clean they have nothing better to do than roll in the next mud puddle. But you know me - I'm hanging in there and toughing it out.

And don't even get me started on the KIDS!

☺

Countdown to Canada

If all goes well we will be in Calgary in a WEEK! Now there's a crazy thought, considering I am in no way, shape or form prepared for take-off. And, as often happens when I feel a bit overwhelmed, I do - a whole lotta nothing. Okay, I shouldn't say "nothing". I'm thinking about all the things I still need to do CONSTANTLY. It's tiring, I tell you. And - I recently got our International driver's licenses taken care of. (Decided they are nothing but a money-making scheme and that we won't be getting them this time. Our German ones are valid after all.) So, I feel a bit better to have that out of the way. But on to the really important issues.

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Late, late on Father's Day this tired, but happy father returned to the safety of the home hearth from a country where toilet seats are heated, coffee comes from vending machines in hot aluminum cans, and he suddenly felt quite tall.

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He didn't have much time to recover from jet lag, however, because THIS little bundle of joy came to our house for a mini vacation the next day, a sleep-over included.

GIMME THAT WATCH, DADDY, AND NOW!

Thank you kindly.

The next morning, chipper as a bird. I will let you guess which of the two had been up for hours at that point.

Sophie is so much fun, and getting so big and strong! Her long term foster parents are doing such a good job taking care of her. She loves to play "airplane" and can hold this position for a long time. (Try it - it's HARD!) We are so happy to still be a part of her life, even though we were "just" the emergency foster home.

And she learned how to make loud, inappropriate noises with her mouth - featured here in an impressive duet with her big sister.

Speaking of inappropriate. By now you have probably figured out that I miraculously survived Neil's reading of my blog post and him coming across that last picture. 

It wasn't easy.

But, you know, all this "distance makes the heart grow fonder", and me describing in vivid detail how I peed blood and how horrible that FELT, and then limping around just a tiny bit while groaning a little and putting my hand over my kidneys (or where I thought my kidneys were) - in a nutshell: I'm here, but I sure got an earful. So, I'm officially letting you know my husband is very embarrassed. That his wife and kids watch Bonanza. And, especially, to see such a picture on our (OUR?! - as in: I blog, he reads?) blog. 

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But seriously, c'mon. If it got past the censors in an era where married couples in TV shows still had two single beds in their bedroom and where there were rules as to how many buttons on a shirt could be open - who am I to judge?

And with this, I will post what will most likely be the last Bonanza picture you will ever see on "our" blog. The four main actors often complained about the horrible scripts and mindless dialogue. Now, I am not an expert on ASL (American Sign Language), but it looks to me like they let the producers know in no uncertain terms what they thought of this particular episode. Sometimes a gesture does say more than a thousand words, doesn't it.  

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And health wise? Thanks for asking; I'm doing much better. (Remember, Neil hasn't read this post yet.) I am still taking antibiotics, and suffering some side effects from them, but overall I'm good. And as soon as the kids are back in Kindergarten on Monday morning I assure you I'll be on that horse faster than a rat up a drain pipe. Yippeeh!

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How Bonanza (and antibiotics) saved the day

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Weeeell. Things sure don't get boring around here. Especially yesterday. Today I can almost laugh about it - almost. Why do these things tend to happen at the most inopportune time? Not that there is ever a good time for a kidney infection. A WHAT? Yeah.

You see, I woke up yesterday morning feeling not so great, but not too bad yet either. Like, I figured I had what would be my first UTI (Uterine Tract Infection) ever. (Be warned, this post will be TMI - too much information.) I didn't know then, what I know now - that if you are actually peeing blood (see, I warned you!), you should maybe not just carry on with your day as if it's no big deal. But - I figured if it didn't clear up on its own I could still go see a doctor the next day. Because you see, I had planned on spending the morning like THIS:

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And let me tell you, if you have NEVER spent your morning like THAT you are seriously missing out. Yeeehaaaw!

So, I put on my cowboy boots and jeans, got the kids off to Kindergarten and drove out to the stable. By the time I got there, I felt worse. Way worse. By now I could tell my body was really fighting something, and it wasn't just a couple bad guys in a bar fight.

(P.S. Aaaw, poor Adam, did we lose a tooth there?)

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I said hello and goodbye to my unridden horse and went to see my gynecologist. By now, I was feeling nauseous, had the chills, my hands were numb, I had trouble seeing, and my whole body ached. Not to speak of the pain when I needed to pee, which was a constant urge. In short - I felt like the chuckwagon had run me over at full speed.  

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My friendly doctor took one look at my pee sample and at me, put me on a bed, dirty cowboy boots and all, and pumped me full of antibiotics right then and there. I also got some water and pain killers - aaah.

I told her I wanted to go home because I needed to pick Finn and Lily up in 2 hours, but she looked at me like I was the two-headed calf and said, "You have a rapidly progressing infection, are severely ill and that amount of blood in your urine is nowhere near normal for a UTI. I'll have you transferred to the clinic where I work part-time. There is no way I can let you drive your wagon home in your current state."

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Awesome. Just what you want to hear when your husband is half a world away, your neighbours are on vacation and you have no relatives nearby. To make a long story short, I rested up at her office, the pain killers and antibiotics kicked in quickly, and I convinced her to at least let me go home to make arrangements for the kids in case I did need to go to the hospital. So I high-tailed it outta there before she could change her mind, with strict orders to phone her immediately if things got worse again or I would not be significantly better within the next few hours.

I picked Finn and Lily up, and told them they could watch DVDs on my laptop because I needed to rest. Which I did. I think I slept for 3 hours straight.

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I have a whole new appreciation for antibiotics now. What I am on is powerful, where one dose is usually enough to clear up an uncomplicated UTI. I am on 2 doses a day for 10 days.

I'll be ready to party again in no time!

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And, you will NEVER guess which DVDs Finn and Lily picked to watch. ☺

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P.S. I know most of you think I'm totally looney for watching a family show from the 1960s (now, that might or might not include my absentee husband), but I promise you, Bonanza is so awesome. Not just because Pernell Roberts was one of the greatest actors ever (so what if he hated his role as Adam!), but because of all the bloopers and inconsistencies. You haven't noticed? Okay, I'll humour you. I have time on my hands since at 10:30pm I am still doing laundry and will be for a while. (My precious son managed to throw up on all three beds in his room tonight in one fell swoop - the top and bottom bunk, and the trundle underneath. Don't even ask.) 

So, here we go: do you notice anything in these pictures that does not belong in the 1880s?

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(Hint: look for a pick-up truck parked behind a shed and a "well hidden" cable on a table.)

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And then (parental supervision advised! and I promise, I haven't told or shown my kids this!), there of course is the well-known fact that a certain cast "member" (no pun intended), ironically called "Little Joe", had a strong aversion to underwear.

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Neil will kill me for posting this. I'll just blame it on the meds I'm on. I haven't had this much fun making a post in a long time.

And my dryer is done. Time for the next load!

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Happy Mother's Day

to all of you mamas out there!

I had a wonderful day, even if Neil was sorely missed. (Especially tonight when I had to clean the cats' litter boxes. Do they always poop this much!?)

Anyhow, back to our TOTD (topic of the day). 

Finn and Lily surprised me with breakfast in bed - such sweet kids. My wish, however, that they let me take a little post-breakfast nap until an "8" is the first number on the stove clock, was sadly not granted. Up and at 'em is their motto!

Wow, look at all those gifts. The mugs and paper hearts with roses they made in Kindergarten, where we had a very sweet Mother's Day celebration last Friday. Songs, recitals, coffee, cake (baked and decorated by the kids), sandwiches and alcohol-free prosecco (shudder, but it's the thought that counts)  - THE WORKS. Then I got a very nice card and a book this morning. Getting spoiled for sure.

The rest of the day was also a hit. 'Cause, look, who we got to spend time with! Happiness all around.

We went to a little open-air festival where Sophie's foster mama performed with her fellow Oriental belly-dancers. You know, one of those Bavarian excuses for people to sit on benches under chestnut trees and drink beer. But the belly dancing was new.

And no, Neil, I didn't take a video. You'll have to keep working on Christine to put on a show just for you. ☺ Lily took pictures with her new camera though.

Speaking of Lily, she kept asking me, could I get her some of that "fur we can eat," please?

Huh?

I finally figured out what she meant, scroll down to the last pictures and you'll see.

And they had cotton candy twice today. The first time, and the last. I had forgotten what a yucky, sticky mess that is. Not to speak of the fact that they acted a wee bit crazy after they ate it, and complained of a tummy ache and a headache, respectively.

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Good night!

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P.S. Did you know that in Japan it is considered absolutely rude to blow your nose in public? And that Neil has a major cold right now? Well, now you do.

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Water, baby!

When summer happens on a Thursday in May, you gotta make the most of it. Like, keeping the kids home from Kindergarten and hitting the pool! The Freibad in Ingolstadt is one of our favourite places to be in the summer. Finn and Lily were THRILLED to go there for the first time this year. Thanks to a heating system the pools are always a very nice temperature, and the Freibad opens at the end of April. And thanks to most kids being in school we practically had the place to ourselves until about 2pm.

Lily all ready to go, circa 6:30.

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Arrived at destination. Kids wanted to go back home to get "forgotten" pool noodles. Informed them they were left behind on purpose since pack mules are not part of family. At least not the 4-legged ones. 

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I briefly thought about Neil slaving away at the office when I took this picture. Briefly. Very briefly. Okay. I might have just made that up, that part about thinking about Neil. But only because I was too busy watching the kids.

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When I wasn't sitting by the baby pool chatting away with my friend Courtney making sure Finn, Lily and little Nathan were safe, I supervised Finn's and Lily's efforts to revive last year's swimming skills. Finn is doing really well.

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It took Lily a little longer to find her water legs again, but after a while she remembered how to do the breast stroke without ingesting half the pool water.

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Snack time!

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Play time!

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Diving time!

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And time to go. The pool is really close to downtown Ingolstadt - actually some of the buildings housing changing rooms and showers are parts of the ancient city wall - so we decided to stroll into town ...

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... for some ...

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... ice cream ...

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... more fun ...

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... eating waffles and watching ...

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... barefoot musicians.

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Then we went home for more water (showers) and more food.

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And before we knew it was time for bed. Lily and Finn at 8pm.

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And the kids, circa 8:02pm.

Good night!

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And P.S.:

A good night and a good flight to our daddy and husband, who is en route to Japan right now. We miss you already!

Or why else do you think I would sit here blogging at midnight on our 11-year anniversary? ☺

P.P.S. You didn't leave your razor here on purpose, did you?