February 2015 Road Trip: Venice & Germany

Road trip! First we drove to Aviano AB in northern Italy, first stopping by the port where our cruise from which our cruise had departed so we could collect my toiletries/jewelry chest that we had inadvertently left behind. Praise God it was intact! That was the good news...the bad news was that I was getting hit with a horrible stomach bug that wiped me out for 5 out of the 7 days of our vacation. I missed getting to see Venice with Ted and the kids. Tobin actually wasn't feeling great either, so he and Arden opted to stay with me in the TLF to help keep an eye on Seanin, since I was in no condition to really care for a baby, but it would have been difficult for Ted to navigate the train and all the walking with ALL of the little boys. The Venice travelers had a great day, and it was fun to see their pictures when they returned! It was the first day of Carnivale, so there were some interesting costumes!

Carnivale costumes in San Marco Piazza

It was a beautiful, sunny day, but very chilly! Charis and Lucan pose on a bridge overlooking the Grand Canal.

Zaden and Lucan and a lion...close to St. Mark's.

It was a "stretch," but Ted made it to the top!

This was a street...with a name...and addresses...and even Kenna could touch both sides!

The next day we drove to Garmisch, Germany, to stay at the Edelweiss Lodge. Somehow I had mixed up my dates (I had made the reservation nearly a year previously!), and our room wasn't actually reserved until starting the next night. Thankfully, they were able to find us a comparable suite, but it did involve me having to move everything out of one location and into the next the following day, with my stomach still giving me issues while I was watching little boys while Ted and the older kids went skiing/snowboarding. Ah, well...being sick in a resort in Germany is better than being sick at home...I guess?!

Since we had planned this part of our vacation to meet up with a couple of families from Naples, it actually WAS better than being at home! I was thankful to be able to rest and just hang out with Shauna and Carla at various times, and our kids enjoyed spending time together playing games, watching movies, or swimming.

Tick one off Ted's bucket list: snowboarding the Alps!

Kenna's first time on skis...she loved it!

Charis, Jasmine, and Faith in the hotel pool

Tobin and Zaden

I spent parts of my sick days working on a digital scrapbook album of our marathon adventure/Greece trip, so that was something that was satisfying for me to be able to do, and I did enjoy being in the lodge looking out over the beautiful snowy scenery outside! The last couple of days I felt well enough to leave the room for a couple of outings. One was a dinner date with Ted at the restaurant we had enjoyed during our previous visit. It was during this meal that I learned German meat loaf is, in fact, a large hunk of what looks like fried Spam. *shudder* Thankfully the soup, potatoes, sauerkraut, and apple strudel for dessert was more than enough to fill me up!

For one of the days, the B family and we drove to Dachau to tour the concentration camp, a difficult but (I think) important experience. The younger kids were young enough that things pretty much went over their heads...they weren't too happy about walking around the outside portion, as it was bitterly cold despite the sun. But the museum part was at least warm, although definitely sobering and sad. It's hard to imagine such unspeakable cruelty...and yet so many forms of injustice and oppression still exist all over the world. A good reminder for us to "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute" (Proverbs 31:8).

Walking through the entrance/guard house

A reconstructed bunker...hard to imagine how many bodies would have had to share this space for sleeping.

On a happier note, Ted decided to spend our last full day in Germany taking the kids sledding so that the non-skiers could enjoy some snow time! I stayed in the lodge with Seanin and was perfectly happy with that arrangement, but I'm so glad the kids got to enjoy the day on the mountain with Dad!

Tobin!

Lucan!

Charis & Zaden!

Time for hot drinks!!