Longest day of Owen's life

 The day after Owen was done with school we left for our trip to Germany.  The day started at 3:30 am when we left our house to drive an hour to Stanstead Airport.  We had to be there at 4:30 am for our 6:30 am flight.  The one cool thing, was that they have a Meet & Greet Car service.  We drove up to the terminal, met a representative from the parking company, handed over our keys, and walked right inside.  And when we returned, we called them after we had gone through customs and they met us outside on the curb.  It's just like Rachael in Michigan but we had to pay them :)  And they were only about 10 pounds more than parking and taking the shuttle.  Well worth it! 

 Brian was super dad and he took the three seats with the kids.  I was on the other side of the aisle.  I thought they might fall back asleep at some point, but no.  They were awake the hour in the car and for the flight.  I think it was less than a two hour flight though, so not bad.

 We landed in Berlin at 9:30 am and took a bus to a friend of Brian's from his mission.  Owen was super excited to be riding another bus!! 

 And thanks to google maps, we were able to get off at the right bus stop and walk to Schaum's house.

 Owen was a big fan of the ladybugs (ladybirds if you're in England) until one bit him.  Then they weren't cool anymore.

 We had a really nice time visiting with Irene Schaum.  She didn't feel comfortable speaking English so she and Brian mostly spoke to one another and I smiled a lot.  She was very sweet and made us awesome sweet rolls and then let us take a bag of them with us.  One sounds really good right now actually!

 We stayed there until around 2:00 and then we walked a bit to the UBan (underground train) station and went a few stops to our hotel.  Ellika finally fell asleep while on my lap, which was good because she was really tired, but a bummer because I had to carry her and Brian had to carry all the luggage.

 By 3:00 we were checked into our hotel room and I was able to let Ellie sleep comfortably!

 Brian and I both fell asleep for a bit too, but Owen was busy coloring some wooden dinosaurs and playing tic tac toe on my phone. 

 By 4:00 we got everyone up (Ellie could have sleep forever!) and walked to McDonalds.  You know, you can make fun of McDonalds all you want, but when you need something to eat quick and you have kids, it is so nice to be able to go there.  We took the 100 bus, which takes you all around the big sights of Berlin.  We stopped at Alexanderplatz and walked around a bit and shopped for another umbrella... it seems everywhere we go, it rains.

 Then we got on another train and went to the Bugatti and Bentley dealerships.  I would totally take this car, but I would change the color if I had all that money!

 Now this one... I would be happy to walk away with as is.  It was beautiful!

 And for Chad and Stacey who happen to like Volkswagen's (shame on them :)) we had to take this picture.

 Then we walked to the Brandenburg Gate.  Owen was getting pretty tired at this point, so Brian carried him a bit of the way and I carried Ellika for some of the way, but I have to say they were fantastic little troopers. 

 This blue bike was funny to watch.  You can put like 6 people on it and they just peddle around.  Looked kinda crazy.

 Brian asked me to marry him right at this spot a little over 7 years ago.  It was fun to go back and remember what a great moment that was and how happy I have made him since then :)

 Of course a few things have changed since then... a three year old in the picture and a five year old taking the picture!

 We walked on past the Reichstag Building to catch the 100 bus again.  Notice Owen was being slightly less cooperative when I asked him to pose for a picture. 

And by 7:30 we were back at our cute hotel.  We got the kids some ice cream and then Owen was finally able to go to sleep!  Seriously, what a trooper he was!!