Marriage Retreat



View from our balcony of
the snowy night

This past weekend we were blessed with the opportunity to attend a marriage retreat sponsored by my Collin's job.  Just so my single friends know, his company also offers retreats for single people too.  I honestly think more companies would benefit from offering retreats to their employees.  Work relationships and people's personal relationships are so important in life.  If you live to be old, your boss most likely will not be the one sitting by your death bed, it will hopefully be your family.

Our retreat was in beautiful Garmisch, Germany, in the midst of the German Alps.  Our hotel, most food, and childcare were all provided for.  It was such a blessing to be able to go this year.  We were also excited to finally stay at the Edelweiss Resort. Last time we went to Garmisch it was booked.  Edelweiss is very American-style (which after staying in many European hotels with Caden we really appreciate American-style).  There were also three restaurants in it and every room had a private balcony.  The location was beautiful and the hotel kid-friendly.

 

Reutte, Austria

On the retreat we took a personality test and learned ways to better communicate with one another.  Collin and I are stronger in opposite personality traits but overall are not extreme in any of them.  He is a DC and I am an IS.  I love personality tests and learning about differences between people based on their personality and mine.  Of course my minor is in Communications so anything to do with communication I really enjoy.

On our way to Garmisch we stopped in Reutte, Austria and walked around the cute little town.  I bought a photo snow globe made of plastic that I will put a picture in just for Caden.  He loves the glass snow globes but I'm not about to give him one of those!

  

Besides the retreat we enjoyed taking Caden to play in the snow, letting him ride down a slope in a sled, and taking him swimming in the hotel's swimming pool.  He even had his first experience in a hot tub.  It was outside and it was snowing so the hot tub was more warm than hot.  He really enjoyed it as did we.  Collin and I also did some shopping one afternoon and bought some more essential cold weather gear.  I finally got some ski/snow pants and better gloves for example.  We had thought about going skiing but the mountain with the easy trail down was not opened yet.  We looked at the closest mountain to us and you would have to ski the blue down and it looked a little steeper than we remembered.  Plus it has been a number of years since either of us skied so we decided not to ski this time.

The childcare was actually very good.  Caden doesn't do very well away from us.  However, they tended to his needs and took great care of him.  They even complimented us on Caden's language skills.  They asked Collin if we read to Caden a lot because of all the words he knows and how big of interest he has in books and letters. 

Saturday morning Collin took Caden to the childcare and sadly Caden threw up in the car on the way there.  It was a mess.  Collin ended up not making it to the last session because he was busy cleaning up vomit in the rain and snow.  We are starting to think Caden was probably upset because I was gone and that's why he threw up.  It has been really frustrating trying to figure this out.  He has been on reflux medicine for not even a week and has already thrown up 3 times.  Needless to say, I don't think the medicine is helping.

Other updates: We hopefully have a renter for our house!  Our previous tenants moved out unannounced which made it a little tighter on us financially this Christmas season.  On the positive, I have had several photo shoots these past few weeks and LOVE it!  Meeting new families and kids is awesome.  Helping create precious memories is even better.  We also have a few more Christmas parties to go to and then it will be Christmas.  I hope everyone is staying warm and safe.  Here are a few more pictures from our time in Garmisch.  

Collin and Cade walking in the snow

At the play ground at our hotel

Cade sledding down the hill

Cade about to go down the hill



Beautiful view of the Alps



Scary Santa

This year Caden finally got to meet Santa Claus at a fundraiser event called Holiday Magic.  We waited around 30 minutes to see him.  It was a long line!  About 10 minutes before it was his turn to see him he threw up all over his clothes and the floor.  Thankfully my MOPS group was selling children's clothing so I was able to quickly find a new outfit for him and scored a cute jacket!  I just felt bad that he threw up, again.  I'll write more on that later.

At first Caden was pretty curious about Santa.  He kept wanting to cut in line to see him.  Once he got in his lap he wanted down.  So Santa handed him a few mini candy canes.  Caden thought those were neat.  But after a minute or two he was ready to go.  After getting a few pictures of just Caden and Santa, Caden's friend, Peyton, joined in.  She wasn't a big fan of Santa Claus either.  I guess they don't know yet that Santa is the one who leaves all the cool presents on Christmas morning.

Christmas Tree Time

Last Friday we went hunting for a Christmas tree.  We went to a tree farm about a 10 minute drive from our house.  It seems like since Thanksgiving, when we got our first snow, we have had snow and rain almost everyday.  So needless to say, it was COLD, wet, and there was a lot of snow on the ground.



There was so much snow Caden got stuck in it!

We picked a medium sized tree this year.  We were not sure how Caden would "act" around the tree.  He broke a ball ornament at one of the Eiffel Tower's gift shops, sneaky little guy - took it out of my hands and threw it - and loves to point and grab at the ball ornaments.  We should know that anything that looks like a ball is made for kicking and throwing!  So...we didn't want to get a huge tree in case he decided to try and knock it over while trying to get an ornament or decided to try and climb it!  Sheesh, let's hope not!

Which brings me to my next point.  We found a great tree and so far we have two ornaments on it and two strands of lights.  We are testing the waters slowly as we train him to just look at the tree.  Caden occasionally touches a light and says "hot."  Today he went to one of the wooden ornaments and grabbed it, I told him "no, no, don't touch" and he let go of it.  So...maybe we can put the rest of the ornaments on the tree soon.  He has really done a great job around the tree.  Except he loves pulling the Christmas tree skirt off and hiding under it or using it as a cape.  We haven't put any gifts under the tree yet because he likes playing with the Christmas tree skirt.  And I didn't want him opening any before Christmas Eve.

Here are a few pictures of our tree hunt and tree.


I'm ready!  This was taken outside our house.



It's cold out



There are so many trees!

Collin about to teach Caden how to chop down a tree



Collin getting ready to chop down our Christmas tree



Here is our 2010 Christmas tree!

When we arrived home we were greeted with the door-to-door Christmas tree salesman.  He had a truck load of Christmas trees outside our house.  We pointed to our tree and told him we just bought one.  Last year they came by our house too.  But it is more fun to go to a Christmas tree farm and find the perfect one.  Plus we got a better deal going to the farm than buying from the salesman. 

Collin looking at the truck load of Christmas trees

Collin talking to the salesman

Thanksgiving in Paris



On the train to Paris

We have so much to be thankful for. We thank God everyday that we have plenty of food to eat, a warm place to sleep, a wonderful family, and many extra things to make life more comfortable.  I think Thanksgiving is a great American holiday to spend with family and close friends.  Unfortunately, since we live in Germany, it was just the three of us for Thanksgiving.

Snow view from the train

This year we decided to go to Paris for Thanksgiving.  If you are unable to spend the holidays with family you might as well go somewhere cool.  Although if we were able to spend the holidays with family we would choose that over traveling.  Tough decision but family does mean a lot to us.  On Thanksgiving morning we woke up to a nice snow fall. Thankfully our neighbor offered to drive us to the train station in what he called a "Blizzard." We took the ICE (high speed) train from Germany and it took around 3.5 hours to get to Paris.  We stayed in a kinder wagon, a special area reserved for parents with children and it was great.  It was a private room with only six seats and a table.  There was an area for them to walk around and play without being in the walkway or escaping.  Coming back from Paris there were technical problems with our ICE train so they put us on a SLOW French train with a transfer in Germany.  We ended up being two hours delayed and not getting home until 11pm.  Poor Caden was so tired as were we.  He didn't sleep on the train at all!  

On Thanksgiving we ate Beef Bourguignon and Coq Au Vin. For dessert we had Creme Brulee and Apple Pie.  I love eating and when I travel so much of my experience is the food I eat.  In France my favorite thing to do is sit in a cafe drinking coffee or hot chocolate and eating a nice dessert.  They have some of the best desserts in France.



We were really hoping to meet up with one of Collin's cousins but because of communication problems in Paris we were unable to do so. Thankfully we had a great time and are looking forward to hearing how her trip went once she's back in the States.  



Caden asleep on the Metro.



Traveling with a busy and adventurous toddler is a lot more challenging than traveling with a baby.  Thankfully Caden is a great traveler and is used to going places since we have traveled so much with him.  We still have to change up how we do things.  The metro in Paris is great when you don't have a stroller.  Collin got stuck trying to get the stroller through the tiny entrance a few times when the handicap gate was either unavailable or nonexistant.  We bought a new German stroller that is a full size American, but not the full size German with great shocks and adjusts nicely so your child can lay flat and you can adjust the feet as well.  We bundled Caden up nice when we went out and he was actually able to take a nap everyday in his stroller from 1 hour to 2 hours.  A few times he fell asleep while I was holding him whether we were on the Metro or walking around and I'd just lay him in his stroller and he slept like a baby. 

 


Collin & Caden on one of
the balconies at our hotel

We spent 4 nights in a 3 star hotel. We had a suite on the top floor (6th floor) with two balconies. We had three beds and a crib. They gave us that room because they didn't know how old our son was when we booked our room. It was a nice hotel except we didn't have a shower but a bathtub. That was interesting! The bath was nice for Caden but was not so nice for us. 



During our four nights, five days we went to Museum d'Orsay, the Louvre, Montparnasse Tower, Arc de Triomphe, walked along the Champs Elysees, night walk along the Seine River, sunset cruise along the Seine River, toured the Eiffel Tower, ate at Restaurant Tour Eiffel 58, located in the Eiffel Tower, and did some shopping. 

 

We were talking about our favorite things we did and funny enough it was eating - at the nice restaurant at the Eiffel Tower and a few of the other yummy restaurants, the Seine River Cruise, the Montparnasse Tower, and going to the various toy stores with Caden.  We liked the toy stores mainly because it gave Caden a chance to roam more "freely" and explore.  We found some wonderful gifts for him, one for Christmas this year and a few things for later down the road.  We had talked about going to Disneyland Paris but since it was snowing and raining almost everyday we decided to try and go in the spring when the weather is better.  We also enjoyed the museums although the Louvre was very challenging to get around with a stroller.  It's so huge that we felt like mice in a maze trying to find the very few elevators.  When you don't have a stroller it is still massive but a little easier to get around since you can use the stairs. 

 

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation.  I'll post more on Facebook.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! 

 Night walk along the Seine River

 Outside the Louvre

 Inside the mall part of the Louvre before going inside

 Enjoying hot chocolate and a yummy dessert at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant

 Top of Montparnasse Tower

 Eiffel Tower

 At the Restaurant Eiffel Tower 58

Talking 17 Month Old and Turkey Trotter

Yesterday Caden turned 17-months.  There was a 2K Turkey Trot in Mannheim that we decided to go to.  Caden walked most of it and even walked through the finish line.  He looked around when everyone was cheering for him wondering what are these people doing?  He really enjoyed the 2K walk and even won a medal.  On top of that we won a free Turkey thanks to one of the raffle tickets we were given after the race.  I grew up running 10K races with my family and hope our family will continue that tradition and walk/run different races when we are able to.

Stopping for a picture on our walk

Caden's first medal

Caden has been going through a lot of changes these past few months.  He loves his gymnastics class and can do a somersault almost by himself.  He'll roll forward but often goes to the side.  He does it perfect when I'm spotting him.  He also can flip over the low bar in gym class and LOVES the balance beam.  He even walked backwards on it last week.  I'm so glad we're in the class because I really think it's building his confidence. 

Other physical things he enjoys doing: running, throwing, kicking, climbing (on the couch, on a chair, on a box, anything that looks interesting), and dancing which is more of a side-to-side movement.

In terms of speaking, he is saying a lot and able to copy most short words we say.  He now says "bye bye" when Daddy leaves for work and tells me "Good morning" when I get him in the morning.  He points to things like the light and says "light" the moon outside or any other moon-like shape and say "moon."  The most obsessed thing to idenifity is trash cans.  Even in the car if we drive bye a trash can he'll point out the window and say "yucky."  If we're somewhere and he sees a trash he's off to go touch and point at the trash and say "yucky."  Now I just say, "yes, that's a yucky trash, and that's a wall, there's a chair..." etc. to try and get his focus off the trash.

His newest thing is letters.  He loves letters and numbers.  His favorite letters are C, D, E, and O.  However, he knows about half of the letters.  I have an ABC puzzle that we play with frequently and we'll take turns putting a letter in.  Then I'll ask him where's the J, K, O, L, T, etc. and he'll look pick it up and put it in place.  He knows, A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, K, M, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, and Z.  We do the same thing with a number puzzle.  I'm amazed at how much he has learned and what he knows.  The letters C, D, E, and O he will point to in signs and say them when we go out. 

The other thing he loves to do is tell us what animals say.  We play this game a lot in the car and with some of his stuffed animals at home.  He knows the sounds for cat, dog, pig, sheep, horse, donkey, duck, cow, and bird.

He is also getting better at idenfying colors.  The ones he consistently gets right are: blue, purple, red, yellow, and green.

Caden's getting better at identifying clothing too.  He knows what socks, shoes, and jacket are.  He loves to try and put his socks and shoes on.  He'll even try and put his shoes on me!  I can ask him to get his socks, shoes, or jacket and he'll bring them to me.  I love this! 

He knows a lot of body parts too.  He knows where his head, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, chin, fingers, hand, toes, foot, and belly button are.  He can point to yours too if you ask him!

Caden's vocabulary is really growing.  He not only knows a lot of English words but some German words now too.  Here are his German words that I can think of that he can say:

Opa - Granddad
Oma - Grandmother
tschüss - Bye (informal)
Hallo - hello
Brot - bread
neine and nay - no
Wasser - water
ohne - without
apfel - apple
wasser (vasser) - water

Here are the other words he knows and says that come to mind right now:

Mama, Mommy
Daddy, Dada
Granddad
Cathy
Drew
Audra
NeeNee
Shawn (Shaaa)
Michelle (Shell)
Lacy (acy)
Caden
Honey
Water
cat
dog
duck
pig
horse
apple
sheep
zero
yucky
trash
sit
milk
drink
feet
toes
more please
thank you
bye-bye
hello
hi
kitty
shoes (I love it when he says shoes)
socks
jacket (yacket)
hot
no
book
read
keys
please
swing
park
car
ball
up
eat
yogurt (ogert)
cracker
cup
belly
head (ed)
eyes
color
moooo
meow
quack
heehaw
nah
oink (oinka)
baaa
tweet (weet)
blue
purple (urple)
red (wed)
yellow (ellow)
puzzle (uzle)
drink
banana
apple
bread
meat
potato
mushroom (usoom)
peas
tomato
blue berry
kiwi
bath
moon
night night
light
money
out (for outside)
yummy
Amen
diaper
poopoo (when he goes poo)
peepee
boot
bath
a dog (he says to dogs and sometimes horses)
oval
oh
lion (Collin's favorite word to hear him say, sometimes lion sometimes yayon)

There are probably more but those are words I can think of that he says and attaches a meaning to.  We feel so blessed to have Caden as our son.  Everyday he is learning something new or discovering something different.  Separation anixety is back and he does not like it when I leave him in the nursery for MOPS or PWOC (my ladies' Bible study).  Thankfully good child workers can calm him down quickly where he enjoys being with the other kids.  I love it when I come and get him that he runs to me and gives me a BIG hug.  He's such a sweet kid.  He also can throw fits which Collin and I are learning to deal with.  It can be stressful sometimes because when he isn't happy he lets EVERYBODY know.  Naps are going well, he sleeps for 1 hour - 2.5 hours a day.  At night he sleeps anywhere from 10-11 hours.  That's the update for this past month.  Here are a few more pictures.

 Working out

 At the park

 Playing with Peyton

Do dogs meow?

Caden now knows the sounds of several animals.  We were so surprised a few weeks ago when we were in the car and we asked him some questions:

Parents: What do cats say?
Caden: Meow, meow, meow

Parents: What do dogs say?

Caden: wuff, wuff

Parents: What do pigs say?

Caden: oinka, oinka

Parents: What do donkeys say?

Caden: Heehaw, heehaw

Parents: What do ducks say?

Caden: quack, quack

Parents: What do sheep say?

Caden: baaaaaa

He is also pretty good at identifying animals in pictures and his stuffed animals.  However, since we do not have any live animals, he doesn't see them everyday.  We were in the parking garage in Mannheim Saturday night and he a saw a tiny dog behind us in line to pay.  He pointed at the dog and in an excited voice said: "Meow, meow, meow."  Collin and I looked Collin and said: "Caden, that is a dog, a small dog.  But yes, that dog does look kind of like a cat.  But that is a dog, woof, woof."  We laughed once we got to our car.

Rabbit Museum, Family Pictures, and Visit from the Ukraine

Last weekend we went to a Rabbit Museum in our small town.  The museum is in the bottom of our water tower.  We met our city mayor and got to climb our water tower and see the beautiful views of our city.  The museum was free which is always a plus.  Caden liked all the rabbits.  

 One of the views of our town in Germany

 Family picture - Caden wanted to run around and play, not stop for a picture

 Stairs in the water tower

 Collin and Caden in the museum on the ground level

On Halloween we decided to do our family photo shoot at the Heidelberg Castle.  If you want to take your own family pictures I highly recommend a remote control.  They are pretty cheap and worth every penny!  You can see more of our pictures on Facebook. 

Last week our friends, the Nelsons, stayed with us one night.  They were flying to the States and had a layover in Germany.  They are missionaries in the Ukraine and we met up with them in Prague last spring.  They now have a two month old son.  They are an awesome family and we were so glad we got to see them, even if it was only for a night.

 Caleb - what a sweetie!

 David and Liv

On a sad note, our tenants ran out on us.  We just found out yesterday that they vacated our property and left it a mess.  Please say a prayer that there is not much damage and that we find a new family to lease or buy our house soon.