The last few days have been perfect, exactly how I would like to vacation with my kids. We have woken up late (around 10 or 11), hung out at the house doing puzzles and reading, and then spent the afternoon at the beach. There is a nice little beach here in front of the lake, probably about 100 feet long, with lots of sand. There are usually about 40-50 people there hanging out. It’s perfect for the kids because they can play by themselves and hang out while we (me, John, and Bonnie) lay on the beach and read or sunbathe. One of us is usually playing with Oscar in the sand or swimming with Olivia, but we take turns. It’s been so nice, because I’m essentially just a third parent helping them. They don’t leave me completely in charge a lot, and are making sure I get free time to hang out during the day. (For example, right now, Bonnie and John are napping with Oscar and Olivia is watching a movie on Bonnie’s computer). They treat me respectfully, and don’t cut me a rough deal in anything. I feel more like a friend than an employee, which is a good relationship.

At night we all go have dinner together, usually with Veronica (Bonnie’s aunt), and Friet, Adrien, and Jasper (Bonnie’s cousins, all brothers in their 20s/30s) and then I take the kids and put them to bed. The past two nights, Olivia has gotten scared or lonely and has slept in my bed, which I really don’t mind. I have my own room with a sweet princess bed (curtains around the outside) so I don’t mind sharing with an adorable 7 year old. It’s been really interesting, because I have found my expectations to be flipped. I thought Oscar would be easy, and Olivia would be the difficult one. On the contrary, Olivia has been nothing but sweet and polite to me. We have asked her, on many occasions, to be mature and adult-like, and she has risen to the occasion beautifully. She shares well with Oscar, and tries to be the bigger person whenever conflicts arise. I can imagine it’s hard to share the Mom you had to yourself for 4 years. Oscar has been very whiny and needy. There’s nothing surprising about that; he’s 3 and I understand that it’s hard for him to trust me. He loves his mom, and she feels bad when she leaves him with me, but he really needs to learn that he can’t have her at every moment. It’s a constant struggle because we have fun and get along during the day, but he can also be cranky “don’t talk to me” or “not you. I want mama”.

This is supposed to be a travel blog, not a nanny blog. Sorry for getting sidetracked. It’s been hard though, being here without communication with the outside world. I’m writing this in Word, and I’ll post it when we can get online. Germany itself is beautiful though. We’ve been in this same town since Monday (today is Friday), so I don’t have much to report on, but it’s quaint. Today for lunch we went to the Bider (Beaver) café, overlooking the lake, and enjoyed some beer with sprite (very yummy) and lunch. There is a nice path that goes around the lake, and we have seen many families riding their bikes around. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that we all rented bikes to use to get back and forth to the beach. It’s so nice because the schloss is right in town. So it’s about a 10-minute walk to the beach, but would take the kids longer. So we ride bikes to keep it short and fun, and it works well. I forgot how much I enjoy riding a bike. And I just feel so, well, European when doing so. Oh! I forgot to mention the schpaghetti ice. I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it, but that’s how it sounds. Apparently they have them in every ice cream shop in Germany. It’s what it sounds like…vanilla ice cream (spaghetti) with a raspberry sauce (marinara) and white chocolate (shredded cheese) on top. It was so wunderbar! Haha. I love being here; it’s been so nice. I am very much looking forward to Hamburg, where we go Monday! Hooray!