Medieval Festival in Vilseck

Occasionally Vilseck has community events held at Burg Dagstein, the fortress downtown.  Usually they're small, but draw in a local crowd.  We heard about a medieval festival, and decided to check it out with low expectations.  We were pleasantly surprised!

It was the first time they've held this event in the 3 years we've been here.  We recognized some of the vendors from other places (for example, the same people were doing camel rides that we saw at t Gutteneck Christmas Market).

Lively musicians and dancers.. the loudness of it all made Tiago cry like crazy

It felt appropriate to take a picture of an old fashion wagon with our modern-day 3-kid wagon.  And that guy was working on a manual lathe.  It's hard enough when there's a power switch.

There was a discount for anyone who came in medieval costume.  I'm sure they just had these lying around.  (Kidding.  You can tell a lot of people do this every weekend.)

Like Xena Warrior Princess, below. We realized later that she was part of a horse show. 

Dedicated genealogist.  His stuff was beautiful.

No fair would be complete without a witch.

Or a little jousting.

The procession passed by us... we saw the pope and the king. 

Here's proof that first children are spoiled.  Hyrum really wanted to get Tiago a shield.  And I told him it didn't make sense to have a shield if you didn't have a sword... so here we were 17 euro later.  

Kastl, Germany

Last month Hyrum was at a training exercise two hours south of Vilseck.  On their drive home they passed through a town called Kastle, and he kept telling me we should drive the 40 minutes back there to check it out.  Last weekend we did some exploring.

I checked Wikipedia beforehand to see what to expect, and it seemed like the main attraction was Kastl Abbey--a monastery up on the hillside.  I'm not sure if you can call it a main attraction even; this was a small town, and the only people we saw while exploring were some local Germans eating outside a restaurant.

We started in the main square, where Tiago entertained himself with this fountain.  (I'm guessing they put this pole up for May Day.)  Then we found a small road to walk up to the monastery.  Of course I mentioned the possibility of driving, but Hyrum is super ambitious and offered to push the stroller so I just walked alongside.  It was a workout! But it was worth it for the beautiful view at the top.

If you look close, there's a cute little boy along the wall!

The monastery dates back to 1105.  There were a few buildings up there to walk around, and the church doors were open so we checked out the inside.

Wikipedia mentioned that a princess died at the monastery at age 3 (back in the 1300's) and her body was entombed there.  Later they mummified her and put up a shrine at the entrance.  And it reported that recently they put the body back in the tomb and had a picture on display in stead.  But... when I walked in I thought, "That's no picture of Princess Anna!  I'm pretty sure that's her."  Kind of gross.  I would have preferred a picture.

The way down was a little easier.

The surroundings reminded me a bit of the Inca Train in Peru, with livestock wandering around on rocky drop-offs and houses nestled into the valley.  [The white dots in the middle are sheep/goats --can't tell the difference]

Mila and Siena at 2 months

Whew.  Two months down.  

Really, though, we've been blessed with two great babies.  Their short lives have been relatively smooth, and things get better with each day.  Around six weeks, they started sleeping longer stretches at night, and going to bed earlier (ie: not 11pm) without crying.  A few nights they slept from 9 til 5:30!  But unfortunately that was a fluke and hasn't happened for a while.  

One advantage of not being a first-time mom is knowing first hand that all phases pass.  I think that's allowed me to enjoy the moments more without worrying about what might currently be wrong.  I worry less about them falling asleep in my arms or having a strange bedtime.  I think in the end things will all kind of resolve themselves, and pretty soon they'll be Tiago's age and eating, sleeping, and growing just fine. And they won't sit still for ten minutes to come lay on my chest.  

Right when they hit two months they started smiling.  That was a fun surprise! I wasn't expecting it so soon.  When we were taking these pictures I found them to be very expressive, Mila in particular.  [Hyrum was standing to my left making faces at them, so you can kind of tell they're watching him-- another fun development.  Once they're able to do things like look at faces, it's hard to remember a time when they didn't do it... but then I have to remember that newborns hardly do anything outside of eat, sleep, and go through hundreds of diapers.]

Mila weighs 8 lbs and is 53 cm long; Siena weighs 9.5 lbs and is 54.5 cm long.  The weight difference makes it pretty easy to tell who is who.  Siena is up to the 14th % for weight, while Mila is stuck back in 0%.  She's pretty little.

Both are in newborn onesies in this picture, but they're clearly a little tight on Siena.

They're sleeping together still in their crib.  Siena's started wiggling a lot more, so sometimes when I go get them to eat Siena has moved over almost on top of Mila.  It's still amazing that they don't wake each other up when they cry.  (I also love having a white noise machine!)

Most days I don't think they're identical.  But then I see a picture like this,where all of their features look the exact same: the eyes, nose, mouth and chin.  And it makes me wonder, again.  Either time will tell, or I'll pay to have them tested.  The one thing that seems different is their head shapes.  (Siena's head is a full inch bigger, and Mila's head is more circle than oval).

Tiago does much better with his sisters these days. He loves to look at their belly buttons.  And every morning when I get them up, I tell him, 'Say hi to Mila/Siena'.  He waves at them and smiles.  Occasionally he'll rub their heads.  And on the flip side, occasionally he throws toys at their heads.

So in conclusion, we really like them.  And because babies make the funniest faces, here's a good one to end with.

Nuremberg Zoo (back in March)

For years we've been talking about going to the Zoo, but we wanted to wait until Tiago was old enough to 'get it'.  He's in a phase (I kind of hope it's just a phase) where he loves to watch animals, so during Hyrum's paternity leave we took the kids and my mom to the Zoo.  It was a good reason to get out of the house, and the babies could stay in the stroller the whole time.  I was at the point where I could walk alright, and we can all ignore the 1.5-week-postpartum body.  

We took the train, since we can't fit 6 people in our car.  It was a mini-adventure on its own.  Tiago loved being outside the constraints of a car seat while we traveled.  And Hyrum was able to sneak in some exercise in transit.  Then we walked up the hill to the zoo.  

It was definitely helpful to have an extra set of hands to help with all these kids.  And two other adults to push strollers since I could barely make it up the hill on my own.

Monkeys and gorillas are always interesting.  What lazy animals!  We sat around long enough to see movement, though.  

Hyrum ran up to a far end of the zoo to show Tiago the lions and tigers.  Meanwhile, my mom and I went to a cafe to feed the girls and eat some pommes frites and currywurst.  We win.  The zoo is so big you could spend hours walking around and still miss 50% of the animals.  

I'm not easily impressed with animals... it's just not my thing.  But the dolphin show was truly impressive.  Maybe it's because dolphins are so similar to humans?  (Or so they say.  I think.)

Instagram, Authenticity, and thoughts inside my head

Last week I joined instagram.

It's fun to share pictures, and look at what other people are doing, but it's also got me thinking about how picture-obsessed our culture has become.  So much of what's on instagram is staged--it's not 'real life' per se.  The clutter is removed, flowers are added, and lighting is adjusted.  The other day I saw someone comment on Facebook that they were taking  a 2-month trip and would 'go anywhere as long as they could get good pictures.'  I thought, Really??  It's not about an amazing experience, good food, new friends, great memories? You just want good pictures to show off?  I'm sure that's not exactly what the person meant, but thoughts of pride and materialism have been occupying my mind lately.

One summer in college (not all that long ago) I took a 3 month trip to South America.  I had a basic camera, and took a decent number of pictures.  But there were no selfies, no photo-editing and I never thought once about who would be seeing the pictures besides myself.  I just took pictures of what I wanted to remember, and what I thought was beautiful.  There was no public forum to give a play by play of how awesome my trip was.  Now it feels like our audience, and their reaction, motivates what we take pictures of.  I'm afraid of what we'll be like 10 years down the road.  Will we be doing things just to take a picture to show the rest of the world how great our lives are?

All that to say, I'm not quitting instagram, but I do want to strive for authenticity.

I also noticed that I tend to write on my blog only about things that have accompanying pictures.  On one hand, taking pictures helps me remember what happens, but on the other hand, there are a lot of thoughts and experiences I have without any associated pictures, and I want to try harder to record them as well.

So this post intentionally has no pictures.  I hope it won't be the last.


A few thoughts I've been having recently:

• When I was driving home from post yesterday I realized I will probably never again live in such a charming, colorful, quaint town.  I love having purple, orange, and green buildings lined up in a row, with the town church in the background.  I love that the whole town is walk-able.  There are always old people out and about, riding their bikes, walking to the grocery store, or weeding their gardens.  And while I don't speak German, and consequently haven't met a lot of the Germans in my town, I recognize a lot of them and see them interacting like they've probably known each other their whole lives.  My neighbor Hans lives alone, and he's been MIA since last November.  Last week he suddenly reappeared,and over the course of an hour I saw dozens of cars and pedestrians stop just to talk to him.  It's a friendly town.  I really think I'll miss living here, despite the rural factor.  America just doesn't do 'cute' quite like Bavaria.
• I had my 6-week follow-up at the doctor.  I was proud to survive the trip to Amberg with all three kids in tow.  It wouldn't have been possible were it not for my super-double-stroller-plus-glider-board.  Even though Tiago fell off once and hit his head on the concrete (which led to me carrying him in my arms) we made it, and everyone behaved, and I got the birth control prescription I need because I don't want to add a fourth any time soon.  As I was talking with my doctor, I was feeling a little nostalgic.  I can't believe I've had all my kids at the same hospital, and had the same doctor the entire time.  She told me I should move back when I'm ready to have more kids.  (Not happening! ha).  It will be very strange to experience pregnancy and child birth back in the States.  I've heard people make comments about ultrasound technicians, and that's completely foreign to me.  My doctor is the one who always does the ultrasounds (and she's awesome at it!) and they happened at every appointment.  On the other hand, it wasn't uncommon here to see a random doctor when I showed up for an appointment, and at my 6-week appt. my doctor asked me who it was that delivered my babies, I couldn't even tell her.  "Uh... he had dark hair... I only saw him for about five minutes..."
• Some days I feel like I've got this mothering thing down.  I can sometimes hold both babies and Tiago simultaneously while we watch a TV show and everyone is quiet and content.  And then last week there was a very stressful day with a lot of crying, and I woke up the next morning with hives, and a vomiting child.  And my kitchen turned into an epic disaster.  But then three days later, I cleaned and felt like I was mother-of-the year again.  A lot of the time I really do enjoy having three little ones running around, and feel like there's a bit of a rhythm to life.  We get to go to the park and eat goldfish and relax at home.  And then there are the times when I just feel post-partum-fat and trapped in my messy house with screaming kids, and I'm glad I can remember that sometimes I like this, and tomorrow will be better. 
• I've been reading President Eyring's biography, and I love it!  Some day I might write more in detail about it, but it's insightful and I've learned a lot about how to work in councils, accepting even seeking criticism, striving to develop certain habits instead of just accepting the way we are, becoming humble while seeking knowledge, and achieving a balance in life.  It's incredible to think of the caliber of men that lead the Church, and how smart and successful, yet humble, they are.  I might need to read it a second and third time for that to really sink in with me...

Enough for now.  I realize I'm writing this more for me than anything, but since I don't keep a real journal, it will have to do.