Sasha's Bedtime Adventures!

Sasha's bed time is 8 PM. Last night we had people over for dinner and they didn't leave until after 8:30, then we just let Sasha stay up until about 9:30..for no reason. We assumed he'd be really tired and go straight to sleep. Usually, we'll check on him every so often until he falls asleep - this can take anywhere between 30 min and 2 hrs, depending on how wound up he is and how distracted he chooses to be. Well, because our guests stayed so late last night, Regan and I both spent a couple of hours after Sasha went to bed talking with our families back in the states, which we would usually do earlier. When we finally wandered up stairs close to midnight, we realized neither of us had checked on Sasha since we put him to bed. Well, this is what we found:

Urban camping?

From this picture it may be hard to tell, but he pulled all of his blankets, pillows, and toys under his bed, then used the mattress to block himself in. He was passed out down there by the time we came in. I feel like lately he's been getting a little too creative at bed time! I have found him sleeping everywhere but his bed! I'm not really sure where this is coming from. We thought this particular set up was too funny to take down, so we just left him as he was. Of course, around 4 AM he came into our room and got in our bed. Oh well. At least he slept in until 8:30 this morning! I'm definitely not complaining about that!

Story Time

This winter has been a rather lazy one for Sasha and I. We can often be found like this:

Just a couple of brain-dead zombies

In an attempt to force us out of the house, I've been bringing Sasha to story time at the library on Ramstein AFB every week! He always has a fantastic time. Sasha loves to read, though, so I'm not really surprised. They always do 2 or 3 books and then have a craft of some kind. 2 weeks ago they made masks:

Sasha's was very fashion forward!

And then this past Thursday, all of the books were about ducks and chickens, so they made little chickens out of cups. Sasha carried his around for 2 whole days before it finally "disappeared" in the car. By that point, there wasn't much left that resembled a chicken...

They both kind of have shifty eyes...

We usually follow story time with either a) lunch with Papa at his office, or b) playing at the indoor park on Ramstein if Papa is not available. There is usually some grocery shopping mixed in somewhere, too. Basically, it's become our day to run errands. One thing I WILL NOT miss when we move back to Ohio is being 30 minutes from everything. I like having a Kroger 2 blocks away! 

New Year, New Stuff, New Things...and Things.

AAAH A new year! A new year with new goals and new stuff and things!

I made a goal this year to post every Sunday on this blog...and then promptly forgot. oops.

I'm posting today, though! It won't be much of a post. I just realized I didn't post 3 days ago when I was supposed to, so I felt OBLIGATED to post something. I don't feel like posting what I had planned for last Sunday because that will take a while and this is totally a whim.

This January is pretty mild so far. I'm not complaining, mind you! No snow, not too cold...a little grey, of course, but if it wasn't I'd be worried. January is the month of nothing for us, I think. We have no plans to do anything and I intend to keep it that way. Story time every Thursday and church every Sunday is enough this month.

I've decided to open up a private youtube account for family videos (mostly of Sasha) - Grandparents will probably be the target audience, but anyone who follows this blog is welcome to it as well. That's on my to-do list for this week, so hopefully when I post on Sunday, I'll have a video for you to watch, too! Of course, that brings my total number of youtube channels up to 3...which may be a bit excessive. We'll see how it goes!

In other news, I've made an insane list of goals and resolutions for not only myself but the entire Brant clan! I should just pick one thing at a time for us to work on, but that's just not how my brain works! Our big family goals for this year:
-FHE every week no matter what!
-Visit the temple once a month (even if only one of us can go)
-Eat our meals together as a family at the table
-Go to bed on time (all 3 of us are terrible at this)

mmmm that's pretty much it. I'm sure I'll add to that list. I like to have so many goals that I feel overwhelmed and give up after just a week or two...at least it SEEMS like that's what I like because that's what I always do!

Weekend in Berlin!

This past weekend, we went to Berlin. We're counting it as our first trip there, even though we'd been there before. Of course, that was in 2010 on our way to Poland and was for less than 24 hours. 

In any case, it was Sasha's absolute first time! 

We left for Berlin around 9:30 AM on Friday the 9th of November. The drive was pretty uneventful. It took us about 7 hours to get to our apartment in the West of Berlin. The apartment was great! It was cheap, had a full kitchen, balcony, and a separate bedroom for Sasha. The only thing that wasn't so great about it was the distance to the city center...which we demonstrated after we had dinner the first night. We decided to walk to the Brandenburg Gate, just for kicks. That turned out to be more of an adventure than we planned on. It took almost 2 hours to walk there. Needless to say, we took the train back.

The next day, we spent the morning at the zoo. Sasha went between being scared of the animals to being completely enthralled by them. My personal favorite exhibit was the nocturnal animal room under the cat house! They had Aardvarks!! I don't think I'd ever actually seen one before. It was awesome. I was really impressed with the Berlin zoo. It was huge and had tons of different species and a huge playground and I loved it. We spent 3 hours there and I really wish that we could have stayed longer.

After the zoo, we went to the Brandenburg Gate to meet up for a free walking tour. The tour was supposed to be 3 hours long, but we ducked out early because it started raining on us. The part of the tour we went on was great and informative, but we didn't have our umbrellas, so it just wasn't meant to be. Later that night we went to a grocery store and stocked up on some more food...and that's about it.

On Sunday, we tried to go to church, but the trains just weren't being our friends and when it became apparent that we were not going to make it in time for sacrament, we decided to just go to the city center again. We hung around and ate lunch on a bench, until around noon when we had reservations to go up in the Reichstag. I kind of forgot the Reichstag is a government building, so I was caught off guard when we had to go through an airport-style security check point. At least we didn't have any knives or whatever in our backpack! The dome on top of the Reichstag is so cool! The view was great and the dome was beautiful and there was a free audio guide, too! It was great! We stayed up there for about an hour.

The Brants at the Reichstag!

After that, we wandered over to the East Side gallery and walked he whole length of the wall. Then we went over to the Wall memorial. The sun set around 4:30 PM, so we didn't have a lot of daylight hours. By the time we got to the Wall memorial walk, it was dusk. By the time we finished, it was pitch black. We still had a great time and I learned a lot. I remember learning about the Wall in school, but that was about it. The Soviets were crazy talk! 

The next morning, we were on the road by 9 AM. We had another uneventful, easy drive home and the rest is history! I wish we could have stayed in Berlin for a whole week. There was so much more I wanted to do! At least we did all of the major stuff. And who knows? Maybe we'll go back again!

Brants in Berlin!

The Blog Shall Rise Again!

Well, that was quite a gap in posting. I won't bother backtracking. I'm sure we did lots of terribly interesting things since March, but you're just going to have to deal with not knowing what any of it was! HA!

Last Wednesday was HALLOWEEN!! I really love Halloween, though not so much here in Germany. I haven't even bothered to wear a costume for the past 2 years. Those who know me well will know how strange that is. Getting fabric here just isn't as fun: at the German stores, it's really expensive, and on line, I can't see it in person before I buy it! I've been buying fabric on every trip back to the states that we make, but I just wasn't thinking about Halloween in July. I'll try to plan ahead next year, though.

 Our ward had a trunk or treat ON Halloween, which I thought was a little odd. They also decided to cancel the chili cook off aspect of the activity and JUST do trunk-or-treating. That's fine for the kids, but it took a lot of the fun out of it for me. There really wasn't any time to socialize and it ended up feeling more like a primary activity than a ward activity.

Sasha dressed up in the dinosaur costume that his Grandma Brant got him. He LOVES it!! He wore it most of the day because we also went to Halloween story time at the library. He kept getting down on his hands and knees and roaring. It was cracking me up. The costume is so adorable, too! I love the tail! Sasha was a little shy at the beginning of the night when the kids were doing a costume parade. He just wouldn't join in! But as soon as the trunk or treating started, all reserves were lost. Candy was to be had and the only way to have it was to walk up to strangers in vans. Now if that's not creepy, I don't know what is!

Check out that smile! He's cute and he knows it!

That's it for this update! I'm going to try to put myself on a schedule to post at least every Monday! So...see you soon?

Spring Bucket List!

I keep seeing people make bucket lists for different things (Christmas, Spring, etc.) and since I just LOVE to make lists, I thought I'd make one for us, too!

Poor Sasha is going crazy with all of this bitter cold weather! I call this our "Bring Out The Sun, Already" Spring bucket list:

1. Make Easter baskets

2. Color Easter eggs

3. Plant flowers and vegetables in garden

4. Fly a kite

5. Go see the tulips in Holland

6. Go on a picnic

7. Go to the zoo

8. Make cookies as a family

9. Make cotton ball art

10. Make clay and build sculptures

That's all I have so far. I'm counting spring until the end of May, and when June starts, we'll have to have a SUMMER bucket list (which I already have a ton of ideas for). I'll probably add more things to this list before the end of May, too.

And now it's about time to Skype with the fam back in the states!

Mediterranean Cruise January 2012

So the time has finally come to type up a report of our cruise. I'll start where I left off back on January 19. We were in Bavaria, at a military resort called Edelweiss. We stayed there from January 19-21. Regan went snowboarding on the 20th, and I stayed at the resort with Sasha.

This is how I found Sasha the morning of the 20th. Looks comfy!

Sasha went swimming for the first time ever at the resort pool! He LOVED the water, but hated his life jacket haha.

On January 21, we drove from Bavaria, over the alps, to Italy. The drive, according to Google Maps should take about 5 hours. It took us closer to 9. There was a TON of snow coming down, so traffic was slow and backed up in places. The trees looked so lovely, though!

Winter wonderland! Not so good for driving, though.

Here is a video of our drive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjdiQNmbCyY

We spent the next few days staying with our friends, the Lazenby family, in Italy. They live about an hour away from Venice, which is where our ship was leaving from. On Monday January 23, we hopped a train to Venice and got on board the MSC Magnifica! The first day was spent eating, going through safety drills, and getting used to being on a ship.

Me and Sasha all ready for the big safety drill!

Here's a video of our 1st day on the ship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zffri304qbM

On January 24, our ship made port in Bari, Italy! We didn't have a tour booked, so when we got off the boat, we tried to find one. We ended up taking a 1 hour tour in a rickshaw! So fun!

The Brant family in a rickshaw!

After our tour, we still had free time, so we walked around for a while and tried to find souvenirs. I used my amazing Hello Kitty powers to find a little Sanrio shop! I got an ice cube tray and a hair clip. We also walked along the shore line for a while and it was really beautiful. We had the best weather of the whole cruise in Bari.

Here is a video of our 2nd day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0v6a8P6s4U

On January 25, we had a lovely day at sea! It was a pretty lazy day with lots of naps and eating, but I explored the ship and found lots of new places! It was also the Gala night, so there was a fancy dinner and show, and everyone was dressed in ball gowns! It made me wish that I had a gown.

The Brants on Gala night!

Here is a video of our 3rd day on the ship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYTeLCz8_nE

On January 26, we made port in Rhodes, Greece. We had arranged for a private tour which took us all over the island. My favorite part of the tour was visiting a small town called Lindos! It was very well preserved and exactly what I pictured a small town in Greece to look like.

Me and Sasha on the acropolis of Lindos!

Here is a video of our 4th day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2wfPqw8Ew

On January 27, we made port in Haifa, Israel. We had booked a private tour with our friends, the Lazenby family, and had a little mini-bus and tour guide to take us through the holy land! We visited Galilee and the Sea of Galilee, but not much else. Sadly, daylight was not in our favor and neither was time.

Sasha and me on the tour bus in Israel.

I love this picture of us on a boat on the Sea of Galilee! So funny!

Here's a video of our 5th day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFKy55i9Wwo

On January 28, we woke up in our hotel in Jerusalem early so that we could fit in a whole day of sight seeing! We saw a LOT that day. We were able to see the Garden of Gethsemane, The Garden Tomb, The Wailing Wall, and the old section of Jerusalem. We had an AMAZING lunch of traditional Israeli food. So good. It was an awesome day and an unforgettable experience! I wish we could go back and spend a few weeks there.

The Brants in Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

Sasha moving a mini-version of the stone in front of the tomb! Strong boy!

Here is a video of our 6th day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDTIfgBo0Q

On January 29, we didn't do much of anything. It was an at sea day and we were all pretty tired from our whirlwind trip through the Holy Land. Lots of naps were had, lots of food was eaten, and lots of nothing was done.

Here is a video of our 7th day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK60Kg9uciI

On January 30, we made port in Athens, Greece! The sky was clear, but it was SO cold that day. I was freezing (and I HATE freezing). We were able to see some really cool sights, but our tour guide, George, was a little weird and didn't seem like he was used to giving tours. Instead of just taking us around, he kept saying "It's up to you." as if we knew where everything was and where to go next! But we still had fun (making fun of George).

Sasha and Me on the acropolis in Athens, Greece!

Here is a video of our 8th day of the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvKE9knDIoM

On January 31st, we had another at sea day. Our friend watched Sasha during his nap for us so that Regan and I could go on a little date. We went to the Tiger Lounge and had some (non-alcoholic) drinks! It was really nice to relax together.

mmm those drinks were good!

Here's a video of our 9th day on the cruise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sIMVqx4KzA

On February 1, we made it back to Venice and said goodbye to the MSC Magnifica!! We left the ship in the morning and were back to the Lazenby's house by early afternoon.

Papa and Sasha saying goodbye to the ship!

Here is a video of our 10th, and last, day on the cruise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKQ1cp0nGsU

And so it ends! It was such an amazing trip! I absolutely LOVED the cruise! I hope that we can go on many more.