Spring Break Part II

These pictures are from our camera.  I know it would make more sense to do these posts chronologically, but it would take more effort than I can handle at the moment.

Susannah had some awesome dress-up clothes.    They changed things up often, but most often it was Elsa/Susannah, Leyton/Anna and Ellis/Snowmonster.  Fortunately Ellis wasn't quite old enough to care about being a snow monster.

We frequented the bakery often.  Can't beat a German pretzel.  Leyton was also a big fan of all the beautiful baked Easter treats.

During this two week trip, the girls had authentic Japanese, Swiss, German and French cuisine. Not too shabby for two little American girls.

Bathtime and Angelina Ballerina were the perfect pair to wind down a fun-filled day.

Stuttgart trainstation.  Leyton was terrified of the pigeons.  The girls are posing in front of a giant stack of  Ritter chocolate, made in Stuttgart.

The highlight of our trip was the three days we spent in Paris.  Both Peter and Whitney speak French, and after living in Japan for over a year, it was SO refreshing to have companions that can effectively communicate.  Even for me, though I don't speak French or German, just being able to read signs at all was so refreshing.  It made me aware of just how illiterate I am here in Japan.  Oh, to read traffic signs... and restaurant menus... what a luxury.

For the most part, the girls liked the train ride.  And it was a cool, and quick, way to view some beautiful German and French countryside.  It reminded me a lot of rural America, actually.

Princess wands and the Eiffel Tower

We left Japan during the height of Cherry Blossom season.  But the grow in Europe, too, so we didn't miss out.

There is a little playground next to the Tower where we (tried) contained the kids while Mr. Peter picked us up some French cuisine for our dinner picnic.

The girls enjoyed a delicious French breakfast at the apartment before we headed out sight-seeing.   Leyton and Susannah got to share a room, which was very fun for them (and they actually slept too, which was nice).  Ellis and I shared a room, too.  I shoved two twin beds together.  It was her first time not in a crib, and it was.... interesting.  We EVENTUALLY slept.

Spring Break Part I

I am going to post pictures first and go back and edit the captions later.  It's 3:00AM and we've been up since midnight.  Jetlag x 3.  Overall, though, the girls did fabulous on the trip and we had a truly wonderful time.  These are pictures from my phone.  I will post camera pictures later.  Enjoy!

All smiles at the Narita (Tokyo) airport.  Ready for our 12 hour flight!

Leyton did great most of the flight.  She mainly just watched movies  on the in-flight entertainment.  She did not nap.  Ellis did good, too, but she was more of a challenge.  She didn't like her headphones.  She napped the last 30 minutes of the flight.

We left Tokyo at 11am and landed in Zurich at about 3:00 local time, but 11pm Tokyo time.  We had a short layer over and then a quick 30 minute flight to Stuttgart, Germany.  We were so tired on this flight we were basically zombies.

We finally made it to the Mallory's.  We were all rather exhausted, we went right to bed at 7pm.  And we slept soundly.  Until 2am.  Then we were WIDE awake.  Trying to keep two kids quiet all night is no easy task.  

Finally the rest of Germany woke up and we went on a little walk around hilly and beautiful Stuttgart.    We kept the itinerary pretty low-key the first few days, so we could get adjusted.  The girls had a BLAST playing with Susannah and Sarah Avery.  Poor baby, Ellis was constantly loving on her.

On Friday, we packed up four adorable girls and three tired adults and headed to Paris for a long weekend.  Leyton gasped when she saw the Eiffel Tower and shouted "There it is!"

Ellis tried really hard to run away.  Keeping up with her this trip was definitely the most difficult task.

The Tower was cool, but not nearly as cool as the carousel nearby.

Ellis kept shouting 'Horsey' the entire ride.

So fun!

The girls also coaxed Mr. Peter into getting them flower balloons from this creepy clown.

Overall, these girls where amazing tourist.

Train-ride back to Germany.  Thank goodness for iPads.

This is the beautiful church and playground across the street from Susannah's home.  We had lots of fun swinging and playing in the sand.

Plane ride home was a bit interesting.  After about 8 hours, the girls were super antsy, but couldn't get comfy.  I let Leyton lay down in two of the three seats, and she went right to sleep for about 2.5 hours.  Unfortunately, that meant E and I had to share a seat.  She FINALLY fell asleep on my lap for about an hour and a half.  I woke both girls up with about 2 hours to go, thinking they would eat the breakfast that was served.  I was wrong.  They were both fussy for the last two hours.

So painful holding this big kid.  But at least she slept a little.

You can also read the Mallory's side of the story here.