Troy & Sophia planned a fantastic birthday party for me today, and Sophia was so excited she was jumping from our bedroom (where I was napping while they set it all up) to the kitchen for the princess themed party. So sweet, and she was really proud of herself. And Troy too of course. It was so special for me, one of the best birthday’s I’ve had in a while!
xx
No, I didn’t run it – although I think it will be on my life list from now on given how flat it is – but Sophia & Troy went around the corner from our house while the race was on (it took us 1/2 hour to drive the 10 min to the gym this morning) and Sophia raced the runners at kilometer 35 (I bet they were pretty pissed that a 5 year old could keep up at that point).
The heat is on, the snowflakes are falling, and we are getting ready for the storms that are coming. There are lots of clothes that are required for schools in Germany. All students must have snow suits, rain suits (including boots, pants, and a coat), extra clothes for daily use (pants & lots of shirts being most important, and house shoes of course).
We were counting on waiting until we went to France for half term break before buying a snow suit (with the one from last year being such a hit), 
What else do you do on a rainy afternoon than paint, and decorate some very overpriced pumpkins… Sophia had a playdate with a friend from her school, and Alexandra just wanted to participate in whatever they were doing. 
Daily life has taken over us all, in between the snow & freezing weather. Troy has been traveling like the frequent flier he should be, Sophia has been doing amazing at school, Alexandra walks into her nursery school in the mornings without a glance backward at me, and I am running about in the mornings trying to catch up (in between dr appts, grocery shopping, trying to get our internet back, and the gym).
But at the same time, the girls look sooooo cute!
Troy traveled to Cyprus for business and had an afternoon to explore the capital city of Nicosia. It was a strange trip from the start, missing his flight from Athens. And this odd experience didn't stop during his stay, having never seen water on the island - arriving at night and departing at 3 am. Nicosia is said to be the only country capital in the world that is still divided. You remember the struggle between the Greeks and the Turks...well it lives on in Cyprus today. The capital is literally split through the middle, with the UN buffer zone (in some cases less than 100M) between the two sides. I'm told I can pass easily from side to side with a US passport, but I wasn't going to try it before my flight. I walked the entire perimeter of the buffer zone, and you have an amazingly beautiful city that is absolutely war torn. I'm not talking just about bullet holes in the walls. I'm talking about the sand bag bunkers still through the main streets of town, the UN officers asking me not to take photos, and much of the area within two blocks relegated to warehouses as the local government gives away the space to fund the restoration of downtown Nicosia. I believe there is a reluctance to rebuild, only to see it torn down again. The primary conflict that led to the divided city ended 35 years ago, yet it still lives on in the day to day lives of those in Cyprus. I tried to show you some of the beauty, as well of some of the conflict that goes on today in Nicosia.Following the chaos of the morning, both girls were understandably needing a bit of quiet time, so lunch was a rather low key affair & led to a few fun photo opportunities…
A few last views of the girls on the carousel & some views of the grounds from the Ferris Wheel. By the time we hit the top the crowds were amazing!
We needed a real lunch though, so we left & headed for our favorite local beer garden, the Park Cafe.
Both Tuesdays during the Oktoberfest are the official “family” days, which works great with the German school system (where the kids don’t start until they are 6, and even then only go to school until noon until they are 10, when they are tested & tracked as to where they will end up in life – a University & beyond student, a technical school graduate, or a high school graduate. Seriously – at 10 YEARS OLD!!!) Sorry for the digression, anyway, family day doesn’t really work with our family schedule, so we went Saturday morning. The last weekend. Crazy, and a bit dumb, but Sophia was dying to go (really they are trying to make it more family friendly & a lot of her friends had already gone). So we all dressed up, and spent the morning at the Wies’n. 
Sophia picked out a few rides to go on:
The carousel of course,
the “fun house” which didn’t last very long (loud noises of air are very scary…)
And the Giant Ferris Wheel – our favorite because we all were able to go.
** Side note on the stroller. Strollers are not allowed on the Wies’n grounds on weekends or holidays. Understandable, however we were stuck with a stroller at the entrance that we then had to put somewhere. The very kindly police officer directed us to the “checked luggage” area, which opened at 11am. Not very helpful when you are there at 10:15am. Right next to the “hold area”, was a children’s play park where there were a number of unoccupied strollers at random locations. We bit the bullet, figured we’ve gotten 5 good years out of this stroller & pushed it next to the bushes. 90 min later we returned to find our stroller in the same place, and at least 30 other strollers lined up perfectly behind it… We were obviously not the only ones caught unaware.
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