SimpleBabyTravel.com

The last few days have been spent mostly visiting with old friends.  We arrived at the Holst’s house in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and were treated to a homemade curry compliments of Seth.  It was fantastic.  Also very nice to spend time with Seth, Jen, Eli and Jonah.  I couldn’t believe how big Eli is, 5 and incredibly smart and adorable.  I remember when he was born.  Time flies.  Seth and Justin went to Penn State together and were Acacia brothers.

Seth and Jen are balancing demanding careers as Dr.’s and I’m impressed with how well they are balancing it all with family life.  It’s not easy.

Stella and Jonah Sharing Blankies

Jonah and Stella had a great time playing as they are only a few months apart in age.  Sharing their blankies and playing together.

We were lucky to also get to have the famous Permanti Brothers sandwiches with TJ Ladner on Wednesday for lunch.  Great to catch up and always a good laugh when he’s around.  TJ was also a fraternity brother of Justin’s.

Seth, Eli, Justin and Stella

Wednesday night we were off to visit the Dee’s.  Stacy and Chris just moved back to Pittsburgh and are getting settled in with Grayson and Beckham.  Again, really nice to catch up with old friends we haven’t seen in quite awhile.  Chris and Justin became friends thru mutual Penn State friends years ago.

Chris and Stacy also have very demanding and high profile jobs and seem to be doing very well with doing it all and raising two very kind and smart boys.

Sharing an Apple Picnic with the Dee Boys

Thursday we did a networking lunch with some local Pittsburgh real estate investors.  Actually took Stella along and she’s now called our little “closer.”  Who can resist a cute kid?  That’s what you call a family business.  Lunch was at Fat Heads…Yum!

Yes, we are on an eating tour of the East coast…stay tuned for some other classic good eats!

Today we hit Penn State and took Stella straight to the Lion Shrine for a photo opp and big Nitanny Lion “roar” (she’s mastered the skill quite well).  And then we hit the creamery to pick up some ice cream for the weekend- my personal favorite stop at PSU!

Nittany Lion - Go PSU!

Arrived at Andrew Goldberg’s house and he treated us to a fabulous home cooked meal and was a very gracious host.

Thanks to all our hosts over the last few days.  Very much appreciated.

No real baby tips to share.  It’s been a sleepless night the past 2 nights.  Stella was in the room with us both nights and woke up and wouldn’t really go back to sleep. Tonight we have her in a huge walk-in closet in our room so we hope to get some sleep.  I know it sounds terrible but it’s basically her own room.  We all need some sleep.  Stella included.

Now that’s  a real sign of a working mother… Today during a break at our conference I had to grab some diapers.  They sat under my chair just about the entire rest of the conference….

It’s been 5 long days of non-stop information overload and learning at the Dan Kennedy Information Summit.  A room full of 900+ information marketers.  We learned a ton but now to really try to find the time to do something with it.

I continue to struggle to be a good mom, wife and entrepreneur… times like these (that is, incredible learning and networking opportunities) I realize how hard it really is to balance it all and do them all well.

Thankfully, my ever social husband, handled all of the networking for us.  Being pregnant did not really allow me much energy for socializing after the events ended each night around 8/9 pm.  And, Stella needed a little mommy time (and mommy needed a little Stella time) each night.

Granddad and Stella

We were blessed to have Justin’s Dad here to help us out.  His girlfriend Teresa also came for a few days and helped spoil Stella rotten.  They made her fresh hand squeezed orange juice each day…need I say more.

I have been to St. Louis several times when I worked for Senator Bond from Missouri but this time I actually got to see the Arch, it was beautiful and we were lucky to have gorgeous and warm weather the day we checked it out.  The downtown area continues to be a ghost town which is quite sad considering that it seems to hold a lot of potential.

The St. Louis Arch

The travel is beginning to wear on us a bit but we were lucky and had a suite for the week here in St. Louis - which is one of my baby travel tips I’ll share with all you families out there.  When you check into your hotel, ALWAYS ask if they have a bigger room.  Quite often you will get a free upgrade.  We actually didn’t even ask in England and got a bigger room as they said we’d be more comfortable with the crib if we had a bigger room.  It never hurts to ask.

If I’ve learned one thing while traveling, overall, you get a lot of free upgrades, pass the line, etc. when you have a baby.  It’s a nice perk given how exhausting travel can be sometimes, especially with children.

Another tip is during cold weather months, is to be sure to bring a large carry-on bag to put all your coats in.  On our flight over from England, the bag I had only had room enough for Justin’s light coat and Stella’s so I just put mine in the overhead.  Well, 8 hours later and exhausted, I left mine on the plane…never to be seen again.  And it was new…nothing special but a bit chilly without it.  I’d actually recommend tucking a lightweight collapsible bag inside of your carry on that you can pull out after you get through security, etc. to store all the coats.

We are off to Pittsburgh in the morning to visit Seth and Jen Holst and their 2 little boys as well as Chris and Stacy Dee and their 2 boys.  We haven’t seen them in ages and we are looking forward to our visit!

First, thanks for all the many well wishes.  And yes, it was a surprise to us too!

Long day of travel.  Left Marlow at 9 AM after 2 hours of cleaning and last minute prep.  The check-in process at Heathrow was beyond ridiculous.  Interrogations and line-ups and showing your passport at every corner.  Quite frustrating.  But Heathrow aiport is still quite nice, good baby changing rooms and tons of Duty Free shopping.

The flight to Philadelphia was on US Airways again.  We got a good deal on our TransAtlantic flights so we flew First Class again back.  It was a nice treat (although US Airways does nothing in regards to any bells and whistles).  Nice to recline my chair, have 2 nice meals and watch a movie (”Baby Mamma” - good mindless movie if you haven’t seen it and by my girl Tina Fey - “Go HOOS!”).

Stella only slept 1 hour for the entire 7 - 8 hour flight.  She was actually quite good considering.  We are in the lounge at Phili right now and she’s been wild.  Running around and sitting on people’s laps (our very social little girl).  It’s nearly midnight local time in England and she’s going strong.  We can only hope this means that she will sleep once we arrive in St. Louis.

Tomorrow it’s recuperating and our conference starts on Thursday and goes strong until Monday night.  It will definitely be an exhausting but productive next few days.

Granddad (Justin’s Dad) arrives tomorrow night to help us with Stella.

Quite lucky to have family again to help us out during these work events.

Tomorrow we leave England for St. Louis.  It’s been a nice visit here in October and we are a bit sad to leave.  Stella and I went to the park for the last time today and said goodbye to the duckies, swans, geese and birds.

The Free Press - the Pub I worked at

We went to visit Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there twelve years ago.  It was really nice to go back and visit a place that really impacted my life quite a bit.  It wasn’t really the place but the experiences I had when I went abroad that first time, and on my own.  I told Justin as we were walking around Cambridge how lonely I was on that trip but what a great experience it was.  I also had many visitors, Lee Ann Daly McCoy, Tara O’Kelley Friedman and Mandy Bean.  I also visited Mandy and Tara in Paris (where they were living at the time) and then traveled all over Europe with Tara and some on my own.  My mother also got to come out and visit with me which was great.

It was funny how I felt like the pub I worked in was much smaller than I remembered and the city of Cambridge was much bigger!

Monika and Vik with Stella

On Sunday we had a nice long lunch at our friends Vik and Monika’s house.  Justin and I met Vik when we were traveling in SE Asia in 2002.  They cooked us a fabulous Indian meal and it was really nice to catch up.

On to our Big Announcement.  The Lee family of three will soon be four!  As of tomorrow I am three months pregnant!  The baby is due on May 19.  Yes, a major suprise as we had not planned for me to be pregnant while traveling.  It has been an adjustment and a bit of rearraging and figuring out but we continue to believe that things happen for a reason.

I had not seen a Dr. during the entire first 3 months but finally got in to have all the routine blood work and some very high end ultrasound work done on Friday in London. I had a new test that just came out called a nuchal fold test that checks for genetic disorders.  It’s now becoming the second test after blood tests for genetic testing before an amnio is given.

Baby Lee #2 is doing well.  Results were good for low risk of genetic disorders.  No orders for a amnio but would be our choice for further testing.  We are declining any further tests.  Size and everything on target.

There was a red flag raised for a heart leakage (tricuspid regurgitation) but the Dr. said to just have it checked at 20 weeks with a full echocardiaography.  My report says that it “could be related to a chromosomal abnormaility, cardia or other structural defects or it may remain unexplained.”

She said in her opinion the baby was healthy.

The test and ultrasound were the most extensive around.  They don’t even test for the heart leakage issue anywhere else in all of Europe (East and West).  I know they just started the nuchal fold test in Canada and the US in the past few years and my guess is that only at high research institutes in the US/Canada would you get anything this extensive.  So as we learned from our last attempt at both getting pregnant and having Stella, the more you look for something to be wrong, the higher likelihood that you will find something that “might” be of concern.

Apparently the baby has a big nose (good indicator of no Down’s Syndrome) and I was there for a very long time and had to jump up and down, move my legs, shake my bum…etc., to try to get the little “very difficult baby” (as the Dr. put it) to move in the right position.  Hmm…is this what we have to look forward to, “a difficult baby.”

The tests I had were done in an amazing facility (very high end modern furnishing - Eames chairs, designer hand soaps and lotions, hand towels…art work, floating glass staircase…you name it and quite a “ladies that lunch” clientele, very “Posh” indeed).

We hope the world is ready for one more Lee.

Little Man-U Fan

Stella keeps looking at the ultrasound pictures and pointing.  We’ll see how she reacts when the little one arrives.

Off to St. Louis for a very big and long week of conferences.

Special thanks to Na-na for letting us use her place in Marlow.  It truely was a home away from home.

To those I have not been able to talk to and tell you the news personally, my apologies!

Marlow has been a great home away from home the past month.  We’ve actually settled into a bit of a routine here and have some favorite things to do with Stella.

It’s funny as one of the reasons I was looking forward to this trip was an escape from the routine.  But now I’ve found myself happy to just have a weekly and daily routine here in Marlow.  Maybe it’s a routine in a new place that makes it enjoyable.  Who knows.  I’m a restless soul I guess.  Always up for something new.

Onto our favorite things.  Ducks, Geese and Swans oh my…they are everywhere right on our doorstep on the Thames.  It’s been wonderful to wake up and look out the window onto the Thames and the beautiful bridge.  And ofcourse our regular trips to feed all the ducks, geese, swans, birds and just about anything else that is swarming on the docks.  Stella has gotten quite brave and goes pretty close and has even learned to throw the bread since we’ve been here.

Feeding the Duckies

Higginson Park.  We go there at least once a day, assuming it isn’t raining, and sometimes twice.  It’s right out the backdoor and it’s the best playground I’ve ever been on.  Very nice and all this great Swedish equipment.  Stella loves going to the park and we can’t walk by without her pointing and wanting to go.   They also have a merry-go-round on nice sunny days and weekends.  Stella loves it, mommy, not so much, I get a bit sick going in continuous circles…I know, I’m pathetic!

Merry-Go-Round in Higginson Park

Walks on the toe path have been really nice and especially this time around as the fall leaves are beautiful.

We have also found a local farm we can walk to that is open on Friday’s and Saturday’s so you can buy their local meat and eggs.  Stella has been able to explore all the farm animals she reads about and we even fed the pigs last weekend.  As a former vegetarian, I have to say I did find it a bit nauseating to see the creatures I was about to cook…but by the same token, as a cook and lover of all things natural, it was nice to see a working farm and know my meat and VERY fresh eggs didn’t travel far to my plate.

Feeding the piggies

My grandfather (my Mom’s Dad) had a great farm and I grew up eating wonderful produce, eggs and meats that were fresh and wholesome.  It’s nice to get some of the things you grew up with even when you are in another country.

And we can’t forget the library.  Weekly reading groups have really been nice and being able to get some new books out for Stella was great.  We even found a few English books that Stella really liked and picked up a few for her to have.  If you haven’t read the “Bing” series, I recommend it, but beware, your child will become addicted.

This is our last weekend here in England.  We are going to Cambridge on Saturday as I lived there for 5 months almost twelve years ago.  We are going to hit the pub I worked in, the Free Press, for lunch and then walk around the High Street and “Backs” of the colleges.  I’m really looking forward to going back there and hope that the owners of the pub are still there.

We are having dinner at our friend Vik’s house on Sunday.  He and his wife Monika are cooking us a nice Indian meal.  We met Vik when Justin and I were on our last adventure in S. E. Asia.

We are getting excited about heading back to N. America.  While we have had an enjoyable time in Europe we are looking forward to getting back to our American conveniences and being closer to friends and family and in a better time zone for work.

We have exciting plans for the next month and are really looking forward to the weeeks ahead.

Since we had Stella I truly understand what people said to me for years before I had children, “you’ll never know the love you can give until you have a child.”  It is clear to me now how much you can really love someone.  It’s a love you can’t even explain.  An unconditional love.

The past few days I’ve really thought about this a lot.  A recent story in the news here in England has been haunting me.  Terrorizing me actually.  I heard the story in the car on the way back from Liverpool.

A man had been charged and sentenced to life for snapping his 16 month old baby daughter’s spine.  Hearing the story on the radio was heart wrenching and painful just to listen to.  How could anyone have the strength and anger to snap a child’s spine?  And it was her own father? What parent could be so evil and uncaring to a poor helpless child?

Well on Saturday I actually read the paper and got the entire story.  This little girl had been mistreated and abused since the day she was born.  Malnutrition and severe dehydration (she weighed a little over 13 pounds when she died, a very low weight for that age, Stella weighed that much at a mere 6 months) was the likely reason that this evil man was able to break the little girl (Amy’s) spine.

Amy also had a broken arm, leg and ribs and bruised terrible.  Amy hadn’t been seen by a Dr. since February.  Her mother lived with her father who was also pregnant.  The mother only got a 1 year sentence.

I am now haunted with the thought of what her unborn baby sister or brother will go thru.

Mercifully, according to the doctors, Amy died instantly and suffered no additional pain.  Given that her mere 16 months of life were spent in pain I can only hope she’s in a safer and happier place.

I wanted to write about this as it has really impacted me.  I look at our sweet Stella and think I don’t know what I’d do without her and am so thankful to have her in my and her Daddy’s life.  We shower her with so much love each day.

So I dedicate this blog post to Amy.  I hope that in some way she knows that there is someone out there who cares about her and is sending her a little bit of love.

Hug your children.  Give them kisses (in our cases hundreds a day).  Play with your children.  Listen to your children.  Enjoy your children.  All they need is LOVE.

If you don’t have children, I’m sure there are some “little people” in your life in some way that you can probably make a difference in making sure they know they are loved.

Part of our trip was planned to visit family and friends that we haven’t seen in awhile and especially since we have moved to Vancouver.   While it means we are moving around a lot, it’s been nice to see a lot of friends and family.

This week has been spent visiting Justin’s family and hitting Manchester so Justin could see a Manchester United game (a missing item on his “resume of sports events” that can now be “ticked”).  While the week had its challenges with poor little Stella having a pretty bad cold, it was a nice trip.

Francesca and Stella

We started out at Eden and Janine’s house in Stratford Upon Avon.  Wellington, Justin’s Dad, had arrived there for a visit so we met him for dinner with Eden, Janine and Francesca (Justin’s cousin).  It was a nice visit and good to catch up.  We had not seen them since 2005 when we were over for a visit.

We then headed up to Manchester so Justin and his Dad could go the match.  We stayed in a really nice hotel, Yang Sing Oriental Hotel.  I highly recommend it if you are going to Manchester.  Free breakfast, mini-bar and very nice/ornate rooms.  There’s also a great Chinese restaurant attached where we had a nice dim sum.

Stella and I spent the evening shopping and then hanging out in our hotel room with room service and a movie.  It was very nice mommy/daughter time which was quite fun for me as she’s finally old enough to relate to  - well sort of - and “hang out” with.

I even picked up a pair of proper English riding boots!

Manchester is a great city, shopping, culture and a variety of ethnic cuisine.  And of course they have teh best footy team Man-United!

Helen and Stella

We then headed back to Liverpool to visit Justin’s Grandmother Alice and also see some close family friends (and Justin’s Mum’s long time childhood friend), Helen, Charles and their lovely three boys.

Charles and Samuel with Stella

It’s been nice to let Stella spend some time with family and experience the life and culture of her roots here in England.  We look forward to the next few months as well where we will be taking her to Pennsylvania, NYC and of course VA to visit and experience some of my roots and places where Justin and I both have many memories.

That is the one thing about travel.  Outside of experiencing new things (which we love to do), it’s also nice sometimes to go back to your roots and explore and remember who you are and where you came from.

Back to Marlow for 10 days and then off to St. Louis for work on November 5.

Some Baby Tips:

Make sure you travel equipped with a few relief medicines, balms, etc. for baby in case they get a cold and you find yourself unable to get to a market.  Stella unfortunately picked up a really bad cold last week at the little daycare/play time we took her to.  I had a few things that I knew helped relieve her cold with me and picked up a few other things here.  At her age there isn’t much you can do but Vicks balm and menthol vaporizers really help.  Unfortunately I was unable to find a cool mist vaporizer in England.  Apparently no one uses those here.

Another thing to think about if you are traveling in Europe.  Don’t run out of diapers on a Sunday (and in some places, any day for that matter).  We were rationing out our last diapers last Sunday as I didn’t realize I was out until 5 pm on Sunday and every shop was closed.  Thankfully we made it with the last 2 diapers until morning but we could have been in BIG trouble!

It’s been a nice week and half in Marlow. We’ve gotten caught up on work and life and have settled back into “the simple life” a bit. Stella even started a mini-childcare for 2 hours today at the local community center. I dropped her off and I could barely get her coat off before she was off and running and never looked back.

Stella and Mommy Having Some Fun

Clearly, Mommy must prepare for her little bird to take flight sooner than she had expected!

Train to London

Last weekend we went into London to visit with some friends, do some shopping and eat some yummy meals. We met up with Emma, Simon and Tiffin on Saturday at “Inn the Park” and had a nice long leisurely lunch in the park. Emma and Simon live in London and Tiffin was in town on his way home from work travel. They are friends from Vancouver and went to high school with Brandon (Justin’s brother).

Stella took some breaks and walked around the park carrying her new Louis Vuitton purse and was quite a hit. It’s her favorite thing to do, that is, walk around and carry her purse. And by the way, no, I’m not crazy, I did not buy her a real Louis Vuitton…she got a really nice fake while we were in Greece.

Lunch with Tiffin, Emma and Simon

Dinner at Aaya - yes, it was "HIP" and Stella loved it

Saturday Justin, Stella and I went to a very stylish and hip Japanese restaurant, “Aaya,” and all ate well. Stella even gobbled up her favorites: edamame, barbeque ribs and yam tempura. It was a great evening even with a small baby at a non-kid friendly restaurant. We had contemplated a babysitter but after finding out the prices (nearly $200 for 4 hours) we decided to risk it and take her with us. She was fantastic and it was an enjoyable meal. Don’t miss the lobster salad if you ever go! Yum.

After a very un-restful Saturday night…we were staying at the Le Meridian, Piccadilly, great location but incredibly loud and “wild” on the streets (and of course Justin had to stay up to watch the Penn State game and woke Stella and I up several times)…we were off for yet more great food at the very famous and old “Wolsley’s” for breakfast and then a bit of shopping at Selfridges and Zara (there was a line-up at noon to get in the door at Zara).

Tip: If you are in need of a stroller repair and are in a big city, hit some of the high end department stores. Selfridges had a bike shop and we think they “finally” fixed our tire issues on the Mountain Buggy.

We capped off the trip with an early dinner at a dim sum and tea house. We had some great dim sum and the place was just beautiful to look at.

Clearly the food was the draw for us to London and since we hadn’t had much Asian food in awhile we were all about getting our fill. (We eat Asian food at least 2-4 times per week in Vancouver so we were definitely missing it).

A few tips for traveling with a baby in a big city: As I’ve said before don’t over plan and wear very comfortable shoes. We failed on both regards. We had big plans to do a ton of stuff while we were in London but we only ended up doing about ¼ of the things we had planned. We both wore shoes that killed our feet and we even ended up buying Justin a new pair.

Plan for at least one nap in the hotel for your baby if they are still taking 2 a day. Stella only got 2 full naps the two days we were in London and both were in her stroller. It did not make for a very happy baby for much of the time we were gone but we still made the most of it.

Take cabs. While we tried to use the tube to be more environmental and save money (at the end of the day it was NOT much of a cost savings anyway) it was so much work with a stroller. There were few lifts/elevators and carrying bags and the stroller up stairs is not ideal, especially after being tired after walking and sightseeing, shopping, etc. all day. We finally just gave up and walked to most places and then cabbed back.

Be prepared for crowds. While we had just visited Munich and we live in Vancouver (both reasonably sized cities) I had forgot how crowded the streets are in London. I guess you also pay more attention to it as well when you are navigating with a stroller. Have patience and breathe…

We have a lot going on with our business right now but hope that the end of the week will bring some success and relief from a bit of stress.

The weather in England has actually been very nice and we’ve been enjoying walks along the Thames and exploring a bit. Stella still loves her daily trip to the park.

Outside the City Walls of Dubrovnik

Of everywhere we visited so far I’d say Durbrovnik was my favorite.  I highly recommend it to anyone who dreams of a Mediterranean get-a-way right out of Conde Nast.  Thanks to Craig we had a gorgeous villa with amazing views.  (Minus the 300+ steps from top to bottom—but we all have strong calves now).

Our Villa - A View From the Sea

There were kiwis, fresh herbs, lemons and limes growing right on the property and a lovely garden with roses and all sorts of trees and flowers.  This was amazing given that the villa was literally built into a cliff.  A lot of history in this house as well, it was used as a look out point during the war.  For more information check out this article that was featured in the Washington Post in 2002 where the writer stayed in our villa.  And yes, they left us homemade apple streudel as well.

The View From the Garden

Old town Dubrovnik is a beautiful walled city with red tiled roofs.  We did the walk around the entire wall and had some great views.  There’s also a monastery, one of the oldest operating pharmacies in Europe and many galleries.  I read that the City of Dubrovnik spends 22% of their budget on cultural projects - that’s a lot given the country is still recovering from war torn status.

View of Old Town Dubrovnik from Tower Lookout Window

There’s a lot of debate amongst the locals regarding how and if they want to become a big tourist destination.  Dubrovnik is already being called the Riviera of the Adriatic and there are 4-5 cruise ships docked their on any given day.  The locals didn’t seem to keen to have any of us tourists there either.  The friendliness of Greece was virtually non-existent here.

We also hit Korcula, an island about 100 KM from Dubrovnik.  We were lucky to have a very traditional and yummy meal at our friend Randy Farac’s family’s restaurant, “Mate” in Putnap on the island.

Lunch at Mate

Most of the trip was spent relaxing on our porch overlooking the Adriatic and cooking fantastic meals in.    While we had a pool and steps right into the sea it was too cold for swimming.  Justin and Craig did hit the sea twice just to say they had been swimming but Sanaz and I weren’t going to brave the cold.

The only complaint anyone had was that since the Dubrovnik area and Croatia for that matter isn’t very toursity, outside of the Old Town of Dubrovnik we were hardpressed to find many shops or restaurants in the little villages we went exploring in.  We did find a great roadside stand selling fresh oysters and mussels.  We got 2 kilos of mussels for 16 kuna…that’s about $3.50 US!

There is a lot to see in Croatia and it’s on my list for a repeat visit.  I think the best way to do it would be to do a sailing trip so that you can hit all the islands and coastal villages.  Maybe in a few years when Stella won’t be falling overboard!

We are back in Marlow now and back on line and contactable via phone easily.  So back to a normal life again.  We are here for a month so we hope to get caught up on work and with friends and family.

As for the simple baby travel…we have to say that we are ready to not get on a plane or go anywhere for awhile.  With Stella walking she doesn’t want to sit still for long.  So perhaps the simpleness of baby travel may be coming to a close but stay tuned!

A tip on staying in a villa with children.  Check out how many stairs there are and if the place is child friendly.  We knew going in that our villa was not recommended for small children.  We figured that since she was just learning to walk it would be OK.  Carrying her up and down the stairs wasn’t so bad and she actually climbed a few herself.  However, the challenges of baby proofing were quite high this go around and she actually fell from the picnic table while Justin and I were sitting and standing right beside her.  But children will be children and they are going to fall!  Our villa did provide a pack and play and high chair again which was great.

We continue to be happy to have had these experiences traveling as a family and look forward to our future plans.

So there were way less children at Oktoberfest than I had anticipated. From what I’d seen on line I thought there would be quite a few but I was wrong. NONE in the tents at all and a few at the fairgrounds. Ms. Stella was quite a hit as you could imagine.

Our visit to Oktoberfest was even more exciting as we got to see our good friends Alison and Stephen Lukan and Sanaz and Craig Pentz.  Old college friends of Justin’s and actually Pentz and Lukan were my roommates back in the day.  They’ve always felt like “brothers” to me so it’s always really nice to see them.

It has been 12 years since I visited Munich and I forgot what a great city it is.  Beautiful, clean and very nice.  We’ve had some great Bavarian meals (even got a night out with our friends last night as my Dad watched Stella).  We were also lucky enough to have some local guides compliments of a friend (and chef) of Alison and Stephen.

Oktoberfest 2008

My Dad really enjoyed Oktoberfest…maybe a bit too much.  He left today and it was sad to see him go.  Little Stella cried.

Sanaz, Alison and I got all kitted out in our Dirndl today!  Was fun to get into the spirit of the festival.  Although I think we had just as much fun shopping for our dirndl as we did wearing them!

Alison, Dreama and Sanaz in Our Dirndl

We are off to Dubrovnik, Croatia with Craig and Sanaz tomorrow for 6 nights.  Should be a nice trip and our last “vacation” before we are back to the grindstone full time!

Some tips if you plan to ever bring a baby or children to Oktoberfest.

Go ahead, it will be fun but have patience.

Go early and try to go during mid-week versus the weekend.

Leave before 6 pm as it gets pretty “ugly,” not a good scene for children.

The food in the tents is very nice but we actually enjoyed the food outside in the fairgrounds and there is tons of different things you can try at more affordable prices.

We actually got a lot of “free passes” since we had a baby.  Getting into the tents was easier and we even had a really nice server chase after us and gave us a table.  NOTE:  it is not easy to get a table reservation in the tents.  Reserve early or know a local.

Don’t take a stroller on a weekend.  The crowds are elbow to elbow.  We took our stroller on Thursday and Stella even had her afternoon nap there but today (Saturday) we used the Kelty Kidds backpack again and it proved to be a worthy purchase.

Daddy and His Weisn Princess

One last word on Germany.  Everyone has been very nice to Stella.  She’s gotten more free toys from restaurants, hotels, and even random people in the festival tents.  She was a lucky girl.

Justin, Craig and Stephen are watching the Penn State game tonight at 2 AM local time…we have to be up at 7 AM to get ready for our flight.  Wish me luck!