FINALLY!!!!!

Sorry it took so long to finally put up a good post. I actually wrote this first part on Saturday morning and then we left on a small road trip and I didn’t get a chance to post. So pretend it’s Saturday morning when you read this first part …

We left Tuesday (4/10) morning from Orange County and had stops in San Francisco and Chicago before flying to Frankfurt. Makayla did really well all the way through Chicago but the flight over to Frankfurt (about 8 hours) was an eternity. She was a little fussy and didn’t sleep at all. Adjusting to the time difference (9 hours ahead) has been really hard for her so I haven’t slept in days. Boo! Even though she doesn’t have a normal sleep pattern yet, she is very happy when she is awake which is better.
My Grandparents, my Aunt Kelly, and my cousins (Taylor and Bryce), flew over with me. That was a big help in the airport and on the plane. My Grandparents are staying for 3 weeks and everyone else only 10 days. It has made the adjustment a lot easier since Steve is busy with practice and meetings. At least when we got lost on the subway our first day out I wasn’t alone ;)
We got here Wednesday morning and relaxed for a while before we took our first subway ride. We rode downtown for dinner and totally got lost trying to figure out Frankfurt’s subway system … of course, nothing was in English. Makayla was very cranky and only slept for 45 minutes at a time the whole night. There was a lot of crying … from both of us!
Thursday everyone went on a bus and boat tour of the city, but Makayla and I just stayed at the hotel with Daddy and relaxed. Our hotel is really nice. We’re staying at the Golden Tulip in Frankfurt-Offenbach. It’s not “really nice” compared to what we have at home but based on European hotels it’s really nice.
Friday we made a successful subway trip downtown and went to the mall. We were looking for some Galaxy gear. Grandpa bought a hat but the rest of us decided they might have a better selection at the game.
For those of you who know the significance behind 47, you will appreciate this story … The stores at the mall have numbers instead of names to locate them and we walked and walked looking for the Galaxy shop … wouldn’t you know it, it was store 47! Kelly noticed. She was like, “Oh my God, look …” and pointed to the number. So, we took a picture.
We went back to the hotel and later took a taxi to Old Town for dinner. We walked around for a while after looking at all of the shops and we walked so far that we made our way all the way back to a subway station and rode that home. We are going to be pros at using the subway!
Each night Makayla has gotten better. The second night she was up but no crying and last night she actually slept a little more. Today is game day and we are so excited. I will probably not post this until after the game so I can post it all together and not have to write again for a couple days.
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The game was fun! Steve did so well, hopefully you all watched. IT was so loud in the arena though because fans here are allowed to have whistles and noise makers and they are crazy!!!! But Makayla did really well with the noise and even took a nap during the game.
Steve had Sunday off so we just hung around and then Monday morning all of us (except Steve) took a road trip. Grandpa rented a brand new Mercedes mini van (I took pix for you Shawna ;)). First, we drove to Fuessen Germany and went to Schloss Neuschwanstien (the castle from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). A horse drawn carriage took us up to the castle. Then we drove to Austria and went to Innsbruck and Salzburg. Salzburg is where the Sound of Music was filmed so we saw the Von Trap house, the glass house, and a bunch of other stuff. We also took several castle tours before we headed back to Germany. We stopped in Munich and saw the Glockenspiel (basically, the world’s largest coo coo clock) and had dinner at the Hofbrau Haus (the biggest beer hall). On our way home, we blew our back right tire and were stranded in the dark and cold on the side of the autobahn …. It sucked …. But, Grandpa changed the tire and we finished our drive. Of course the tire blew right outside of Frankfurt … we were about 5 miles from the hotel and no one had cell phone service! We made it though! Kelly and the kids leave tomorrow and life should become pretty normal now. Makayla and I are done traveling for a while and are getting comfortable in the hotel. Posting should become much more regular now too. I won’t be able to post everyday because we don’t have the internet but I can use the team’s computer lab when they are at practice. Well, I have you all caught up now. Now it's picture time ...