Y2W19 - Family Road Trip (kind of)

My mom left on Tuesday bright and early so it was pretty much back to the real world for me. Starting Wednesday morning (which was also supposed to be picture day) I was prepared to get the girls up, showered, dressed, hair fixed just so, and get them to school on time when a friend of mine called and said she would come pick the girls up for school so I wouldn't have to take everyone out. What a blessing. It gave us more time to work on the hair. We only found out later that day that picture day had been rescheduled. Now we have to go through all of that again next week.

A highlight for Bailey this week was that she was voted by her class to be the Student Council representative for her class. She really wanted the job and had to make a speech in front of her classmates. She was elated on Thursday when she found out that they had voted for her.

It was great that it was a short week. We had the German Unification Day Holiday on Friday. The girls and Greg had the day off so of course, being the Christensens that we are, we planned a day trip. We thought that Lleyton was up for some light travel. We decided a trip to Trier would be just the thing. It is about an hour and a half away. First, Avery would not wear matching shoes. We were delayed about 20 minutes by this fact. Then, she forgot her coat so we had to turn back and get her coat. This set us back about another 10 minutes. We finally get off around 10:30am. I was thinking that was not too bad for a family of six, showered, dressed, dvd player and movies, snacks, breakfast eaten, etc. Then we hit the freeway. There was a huge STAU (this means traffic jam). So, Greg quickly looked at the map and we got off on a more scenic route through the Mountainous terrain. It was a beautiful drive and we were feeling quite lucky to have gotten out of the Stau when we did. We were about 45 minutes into the trip when Bryn announced that her tummy hurt. Next thing I know, I am hunched over the passenger seat holding a plastic bag for her to throw up in. Unfortunately I was not quick enough to get the first round. We did not think to bring extra clothes for Bryn so we had to take her drenched coat and shirt off. Luckily we went back to get Avery's coat, so that is what Bryn got to wear.


We were only five minutes away from Adenau, where the famous Nürburgring can be found. This is an old F1 race track where you can pay to take your own personal car on the track and go as fast as you want (the only catch is you sign a waiver and all insurance is waived). Apparently Unification day is a very popular day for the Ring as it was packed with people. There is a lookout point where you can watch the cars speeding by. At this point Lleyton was awake and needing to eat, so I fed him and stayed with Bryn while Greg took Bailey and Avery to look at the fast cars. After they returned, Lleyton filled his pants (something he never does except when we have to change him in the car on the front seat) which was quite the humorous double-team Greg and Ellyn event. We decided at this point it may be better to return home and try again another time.


Saturday, we did some shopping in Bonn. We took the train into Bonn because Greg put Lleyton in the Baby Bjorn and it worked great.


Bailey is missing from the picture because she went with her friend Olivia to the Juvenile diabetes Walk-a-thon they were having in Köln. It was a little chilly but sunny and perfect Fall weather.


General Conference doesn't start over here until 6:00pm so we had the whole day to play and conference in the evening. The girls are working on their Conference Activity packets in the picture below (thanks to the Garns). I couldn't even make it to the second session. Let me just say that I am grateful to have these gentle reminders about what is important in life, that it is possible to always improve, and when things are hard it is usually for your own good. I will try to have a cheery disposition tomorrow morning when it is once again the dreaded Picture Day.

Comments

Mandy said…
Hi Ellyn! It's Mandy Tousa here! I got to your blog from the Brinton's! It is so fun to catch up on your life! Congrats on your new little guy! I can't believe you are in Germany! We had dinner today with Rob and Rebecca Thompson and somehow it came up that you guys are friends! I know it's been a long time, but we really cherished your friendship when you were here!
nickyfish said…
How are you? Sounds like you're taking full advantage of your Germany experience. When I see the pictures of the quaint German villages, it brings back great memories from my trip to Germany. Congrats on your baby boy! I'm sure he's at least several months old, but I'm still happy for you! Great to see pictures of your darling family.

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