Mom's Visit

I have been informed by certain people (thanks mom) that I have not blogged recently. Life here has either been noting to brag about or just busy.

Mom came to visit back in December. She arrived on December 12, the day before her birthday, & stayed until December 20, when we flew back to the US for Christmas. Her only demand was shopping ... at the Christmas Markets. Now I am not a fan of huge crowds. Or Christmas (thanks Dad for failing to get me a Christmas present - and NO, driving the Corvette twice does NOT count). Anyway, I grumbled, but we went. Our first stop was Bremen. Dagmar drove us to Bremerhaven-Lehe where we caught the train to Bremen for the day. We went on a Saturday, which was crazy. Mom bought a few things ... we saw some of the famous sites of Bremen - namely the Statue of Roland & the Bremen Musicians. On Monday, we went to Hamburg for the market. I kinda liked Hamburg; it wasn't as crowded which may have been because of the weekday excursion. We bought a few things in Hamburg as well. And remembered to wear our long underwear (we nearly froze in Bremen!).

On Thursday, we went to Tanja's, as usual, for riding lessons - Mom got to see the girls ride Holly & Dagmar & I on our friesians - Dagmar on Tarabas & me on Dirk. Sunday was the barn Christmas party in Ihlienworth. Several barns get together & put on a show - we saw vaulting, jumping (through fire), & a bunch of other acts. Tanja's group also participated - I lead Larissa on Holly.

Friday, we stole Leena & took her in to Otterndorf to act as translator we need be. We found the local Christmas market, ate at Bruening (a great little cafe), found a doll museum, & just walked around town in general. I think Leena had fun. :0)

On the 19th, Dagmar drove us to Bremen when she returned from work. We took mom to IKEA which is a huge home store - like Lowe's or Home Depot but SO much better. Afterwards, she dropped us at the hotel where we checked-in, ate dinner, made a wake-up call for 4am, ordered a taxi for 5am, & went to bed.

At 5am, we were in the taxi on our way to the airport (it took a whole 5 minutes). We checked-in & waited. Our flight to Munich was nothing - very easy. The flight from Munich to Chicago, however, was a slight problem. When we landed in Munich, all we saw was white - snow or fog? Well, it was a little of both (Munich is close to the Alps). It was so cold that our plane wheels were frozen to the tarmac & they had to de-ice our wings. An hour & a half later, we finally departed.

Arriving in Chicago, Mom & I were originally on 2 different flights to Evansville. I managed to fly stand-by on hers, so we called dad & Cynda (who were picking us up) to let them know when we would arrive. We got to EVV & I turned on my phone - voice mail from Cynda saying I needed to call her. Apparently Dad had forgotten to bring Chuck's Christmas present & decide to return home to pick it up, figuring that if he forgot the present, he's be dead & if he arrived an hour late, he'd be dead. So while we waited for him, I hung out with the security guards & asked where we could find an O'Charley's for dinner. After getting directions from them, Dad & Cynda finally arrived. We loaded up the car, headed to the barn to give Chuck his Christmas present, & then to O'Charley's. After dinner, I think I lasted about half an hour because all I remember is mom waking me up when we got home & telling me to go to bed. Guess I wasn't the greatest company, huh Cynda? ;-)