Real Talk: Mini Kur

The question of the week: “Why didn’t all five of you travel to Spain together?” 

I’ve given some quick answers but here is the real story.

Disclaimer and Spoiler Alert: The following post includes a lot of “penthouse problems” as they say in German.

My original vision for this Fall anniversary trip was a two-week splurge at a nice resort in Greece. For a trip to be a vacation it needs the following components:

• Childcare

Ok, I guess the list stops there. Not cooking, no car rental, and having lots of things to do close by are perks. But really, it’s all about the childcare.

My geography plan shifted a bit when we found out some friends would be living in Malaga for the year. Additionally, I thought Spain would be more affordable as we are trying to save for Paul taking time off work to learn German. I booked round trip tickets to Madrid for around 1000 Euros. My plan was to train to a hotel with childcare and then to our friends in Malaga.

After hours of research, I found that virtually every hotel offering childcare starts at four years-old and up. Additionally, we couldn’t find a single hotel that could accommodate five in one room or apartment. I also didn’t have much luck finding a water park type hotel as there are no heated pools past September. 

I put together a plan B itinerary through Madrid and Cordoba. But honestly, I wasn’t very excited about it. I did more research to see if we could affordably bring our beloved babysitter. No dice. It all comes down to this truth, travel with kids feels like a business trip to me. Maybe I get to see some cool things, but at the end of the day, I am there working. Also, traveling is a lot harder than being at home. 

Meanwhile, our plans kept on changing. I had to rebook train tickets and airbnbs three different times. On the last change, I told Paul, “I don’t want to go.” Honestly, I would rather just stay home than rebook this one more time.  It was especially sad to jump ship on our anniversary trip, but I was pretty well done.

After staring blankly off into the distance for about an hour while “awfulising”, as my therapist calls it, I remembered that I once found mid-week cheap tickets to Malaga. And voila, a new plan was born. Paige and Carmen would stay back for three more days, and the boys would train around Madrid and Malaga. I already flew once with the boys by myself to Madrid in 2019, so now Paul could see the city with them.

Hugo's first visit to Madrid's Plaza de Oriente.

I stupidly planned on just doing my “work” etc while the boys were in Spain but then remembered that I really should be taking this time to rest. Because, as we know, I still have a ten day business trip coming up. So, I did a mini Kur.  The key to my Kur is:

1. Reliable childcare
2. Exercise each day
3. No cooking
4. More blogging
5. More sleeping
6.  
   Cake

Thus far I’ve checked out the church we’ll likely attend once Paul speaks more German. I’ve gone to two yoga classes. I’ve dined with three friends. Tomorrow I am going to a sauna with a friend while Carmen is in Kita. I could happily stay here another week enjoying the Kita childcare. But, duty calls.

A Boss is Born

Tuesday, October 11th, 7 am

Hugo stops on the stairs to look at this picture:

Hugo: "Why are you all dressed like presidents?" 

Me: "Mama Connie was a fancy lady. She liked dressing-up."

Hugo: "Can I dress like the president?"

I remembered that one of the Kita teachers had a birthday. We had Hugo make a card.

Paul did his photoshoot thing:

Hugo enjoyed "Huging it" and the teachers thought he was adorable.

Wednesday, October 12th, 7 am

Hugo: "Can I wear my suit to my field trip at the aquarium so everyone thinks I'm the boss?"

Me: "Mama Connie bought cousin Oliver two suits for Daddy and Mommy's rehearsal dinner and wedding when cousin Oliver was your age. I guess you can alternate."

Mommy is playing it fast and loose with "Dry Clean Only"

Let's be honest, until this President phase, the suits haven't had a lot of play since:

Best day ever.

Crosby's passport photo day

Four days a week Hugo is the president. On Wednesdays he wears street clothes for the Kita field trip. He's a Ninja on the weekend (obviously). 

Me: Pose in front of this graffiti that says "I love mom."

Crosby: There is another A. Who writes MDMA? That doesn't even spell anything. 

Sigh.

Crosby chose the nickname "Boss Baby" for Hugo while I was pregnant with Hugo. This nickname lead us to the name "Hugo" as a nod to Hugo Boss. And now the nickname has come full circle. Hugo does all of the usual Hugo things, just in a suit:

Running home through Mauerpark while I follow him by bike.

Running rain or shine. Obviously. 

Going on his weekly date with Mommy. Usually we go to the pool, but when the pool is closed we go to coffee.

Eating food scraps turned homemade potato chips on the bike which clearly leads to...

And sometimes he keeps it classy leaving his jacket on

Hugo did not bring his suit to Spain because he didn't want to be "sweaty". His discernment is clearly presidential. 

Book Report: Scary Close by Donald Miller

I first heard of Donald Miller through the young adult group at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2005. Reading Blue Like Jazz, which takes place in PDX, while being so far from home was like a much needed hug from your grandma.

In the years that followed that DC internship, I read every single book Donald Miller wrote - including the book for men raised without fathers. Clearly the context didn't apply, but I enjoyed it all the same. His books were some of the last physical books I read before my current life of "audio only". Paul and I also found the film adaptation of Blue Like Jazz hilarious.

I don't know if it was divine inspiration or happenstance that Donald Miller popped back into my head a couple weeks ago.  Listening to his most recent non-business themed book, Scary Close,  gave me that same warm fuzzy feeling. In Scary Close, Donald Miller is no longer the lost university student at Reed. He gives the reader an honest look into how he got his life together to able to enter marriage as a whole person. It is especially encouraging to hear his experience with therapy as Paul and I recently started marriage therapy again after a ten-year hiatus.

I loved this book for all the reasons I love his other books - funny and thought provoking musings on faith and life. The other aspect I enjoyed is what I will call mini book reports or "Don notes" of some of the books he read during therapy. On one hand, it felt like he was trying to fill the pages by summarizing these books. However, the book summaries made me feel like I didn't just finish one book, but actually four. He even explained the entire plot of an Italian movie that sounds awesome, but I will likely never see because I spend most of my waking hours supervising this:

On that note, I better head to bed to BE ready for more of this tomorrow.

Unification Weekend at the Castle

The stars aligned for Team Biggs to visit our friend Robyn who recently moved into a castle 20 minutes outside Dresden. Robyn planned such a lovely weekend for us. 

For those of you who are interested in our packing strategy, we are moving towards no-checked bags policy. We have more flexibility with the train, but it is much easier with smaller bags because we can put them above in the over head compartment. Our bag count:

• 1 US cabin size rollybag with Raingear and the Fox Potty
• 1 US cabin size rollybag with Paige and Carmen's stuff
• 1 Euro cabin bag with Crosby and Hugo's stuff (carried by Hugo)
• 1 Euro cabin bag for Paul's stuff
• 2 backpacks for Paul and me
• 1 man purse for Hugo
• 1 foldable travel stroller
• 1 carseat for Carmen
• 1 empty ziptop catch-all bag to put our coats in when we get on the train

So yeah, just 10 seperate items to track. 

"Traveling light."

Our first stop after after arriving was a hipster coffee shop in Dresden with delicious coffee and cake. Did I take any photos? No, because I was in the moment. Also, it was pretty much a Portland coffee shop complete with rainy weather outside. But, Paul did take a picture of what Carmen was doing while we were drinking coffee:

iPhone baby monitor for the win

There was much discussion about if this castle would be an actual castle or more like a villa. Hugo concluded that it was, "a house with a dome on top". Apparently being built by royalty in the 14th century does not qualify as a castle for Hugo.

Renovated in 1890

One of a few remaining busts not stolen before unification.

We did not see the recording studio building as a band was using it this weekend. But, we did see one of the newly renovated buildings where Robyn is living and stayed under the dome in the "hotel" part of the castle.

Paul's view of Hugo and me out our window. Hugo is still carrying around 2 kilos, 5 pounds, of chestnuts in his pockets that he collected here on the grounds. His exhaustion of carrying so much weight around explains why he didn't notice his sister stole his pillow. 

Robyn is also serving as a youth group leader of sorts, and organized a pre-church apple picking adventure with some of the kids who live at the castle. After a ten minute walk down the road, we were in apple paradise. 

Crosby met a friend in .5 minutes. This kid was clearly a boss. He didn't bring a bag, just a stick.

We picked 35 kilos, 77 pounds, in 20 minutes. Also, we paid 36 Euros/$36 dollars for all of them.

The castle community has a church service each first Sunday of the month with a potluck after. Robyn made the service family friendly and the kids were calm.

After church she had the kids bake muffins for lunch.

No sabbath would be complete without a nap:

And then running off the nap:

On Monday, Unification Day, we went into town before catching our train. Our plan was to go to the transportation museum, but we didn't have a lot of time, and there were a lot of fun distractions.

We ended our trip, like many of our German adventures, with happy little sausage eaters at the market. 

Thank you Robyn! We look forward to our next Dresden visit - hopefully for Christmas markets next year.

Proud Parenting Moments

Alla is officially enrolled in German classes starting next week. Additionally, her paperwork came together to be paid for by the state. She continues to be a good sport, humoring me with a photo of her with her Schultüte:

The Schultüte is a traditional present for children starting school in Germany. While this Schultüte is infantile on the outside, its contents included adult beverages. Beer is also a traditional accompaniment to German language learning.

I've had some help in the organizing department:

But the real recent small victories are in the parenting department. In no particular order:

New "Keeping Children Occupied Activity"*: AKA Legal Child Labor

The * is because it also kept me very busy with cleaning everything after pomegranate seed extraction. We ordered a three kilo, seven pound, box with the same company we use to order avocados directly from farmers in Spain. Lucky for Hugo, the harvest season is right around his birthday. TBD if we do this again. It is definitely a special occasion. We did three rounds of seed extractions based around when the kids were already due for a bath.

Three for three with opening mouths at the dentist

Two for three with no cavities. Thankfully dental work is much more affordable here. Speaking of things that are more affordable here...

Hugo's Kita crafting is on point.

Demolishing Left Overs for Breakfast

Paul was not around for many meals last week as he had coworkers in town. The littles helped me clear the fridge by eating "non-traditional" breakfast items, like knodles - ie bread meatballs - for breakfast.

Eating all-the-things with chopsticks

 The kids really like Sashimi - raw fish on a pod of rice - so I ordered a menu that appeared to be sashimi heavy. When the plate arrived with slabs of raw fish meat plain on the platter, I myself thought, "Not my favorite, let's see how this goes." As you can see from the photo, Hugo was literally double fisting the raw meat like the little bear he is. Crosby's chopstick accuracy was around 90%. The littles are still honing their skills. (And yes, we know that mango lassi's aren't Japanese but when in Rome, ie Berlin - where all Asian is also Indian and sushi and Thai - we drink them with sushi.)

Only minor burns while assisting in the kitchen

I kind of wish I was joking about this. She did burn her finger a little but thankfully it didn't blister like Hugo's egg cooking burn from last week. Sigh.

Maintaining Mommy Sanity during a Kinderfest

This SNL skit is one of my favorites. Her facial expression during the birthday party scene is why I keep birthday parties small. The Kinderfests - think bouncy castles, ballon animals, etc - include all of the traditional party chaos I usually avoid. But, when Crosby actually invited Hugo to the one at his school, I had to put on my game face.  I mean, look at him:

Love Tank = Full

Speaking of that face, the original boss baby continues to show all the love:

He took a break from a birthday party to sit and snuggle this sweet little baby.

As my two blog readers know, this blog is mostly a place to post all the photos of Hugo sleeping.

Hugo's Kita birthday celebration ride home. Gift Bag = Pillow

Post Sonic Birthday Party Ride Home:

One block away from the party: Carmen is out, Hugo is deciding if he should use Carmen as a pillow.

Going.

Going.

Gone. This is the point where we parked the bikes and let Crosby play video games while PB^2 enjoyed uninterrupted adult conversation.

And a few recent night time sleep configurations:

Throwback to when Hugo was in Munich and Crosby had Carmen all to himself:

When I extracted her to have her potty one last time before I went to sleep, Crosby was reaching for her trying to find her. I mean, who wouldn't want a piece of this: