Mom and Dad in Berlin!

This post originally included photos, but through my own stupidity, I accidentally deleted them. Despite repeated attempts to retrieve them, they are permanently gone. My heart is broken.

OK, so I already mentioned that my mother is a saint and offered to come stay with our kids so Brad and I could escape Germany for a while and go on the cruise to Alaska.  No really, my mom is seriously going straight to heaven.  She doesn't speak a word of German, yet she came and braved this crazy place and took care of my crazy kids.  She even took them downtown on the train to watch a movie (the movie was in English, but she got them all there)!  Pretty great!

After Brad and I returned, my dad flew in and joined us for a week of partying in Berlin.  I have to hand it to him, too, because after a 12ish hour flight (which included 2 hours 45 minutes of waiting in the plane to be able to take off), he was willing to come to my kids' school to watch the elementary Spring Pops Concert.  I had a hard time staying awake at times, so I don't know how he managed to keep his eyes open.  But, he was a good sport, and my kids were thrilled to look into the audience and see Grandma and Grandpa Larson there cheering them on.

One of the things my parents wanted to see was the castles in Potsdam.  So, one day when the kids were at school, my mom, dad, and I drove to Sanssouci to check out Frederick the Great's old digs.  The weather was perfect for walking around palace grounds, and we learned more about Frederick the Great than I think we really wanted to know. 

Mom and I outside the main Sanssouci residence.  It was surprisingly small, and a big deal was made of the fact that Voltaire lived here for 3 years.  Frederick the Great was apparently a big fan of French culture, but he never actually set foot in France.  Faker.

After a day spent roaming through Sanssouci, we were kind of Palaced-Out.  I had sick kids for a couple of days, so Mom and Dad used that time to ride the train into Berlin and take a bus tour and just wander at their leisure.  They came back smiling, so I assume they enjoyed themselves.  They have now seen more of the Berlin sights than I have, so I feel a little sheepish.

My mom was really interested in seeing Prague, which is only a 3ish hour drive from Berlin, so we used some of Brad's Marriott points (all that travel does have its perks), and spent the weekend in the Czech Republic.  When we were driving there on Friday night, there was construction on the highway, so we got detoured through some amazing countryside just inside the Czech border.  For once, we were all glad for road construction, as the detour afforded us the most picturesque part of our road trip.

As we were driving, this little castle just popped up on a hill beside the river.  We don't know anything about it.  Apparently, it is just a friendly neighborhood ancient hill-top castle.  Doesn't every town have one?

Saturday morning, we got up and took a day tour of Prague.  It was the exact same tour I went on last October when Brad's family was here - same guide, in fact - and it was every bit as delightful as I remembered.  Brad wasn't with us the last time we were in Prague, but he has had to listen to us imitate the guide's accent ever since October.  The first time our guide said "Wenceslas Squee-uhr", Brad turned to me with wide eyes and a huge grin on his face.  He finally got what we've been saying all this time! 

What's not to like about a boat tour?  You sit on a shady boat, enjoy a lovely beverage, and calmly float down a river looking at beautiful buildings that have been there for hundreds of years.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

After the boat tour, the guide took us to the Jewish Quarter of Prague, where we saw this old cemetary.  You have to look closely to see the grave stones; they are 12+  feet up behind that iron fence on the left.  This was the only cemetary for Jewish people for hundreds of years, so they had to get creative about fitting all the dead people into it.  People are buried in layers - up to 12 layers in places - so that is why it is so high above street level.

After a day of walking around Prague, we were pretty tired and hungry.  We found a stand selling Turtlenecks (no, that's not what they're really called, but it is something similar in Czech that sounds like "turtleneck", and they kind of look like turtlenecks, so that's what we called them).  They are like bread dough wrapped around a thick wooden stick and baked, then rolled in cinnamon, sugar, and chopped almonds.  Yes, they are fantastic.  Mom, Dad, and I had ice cream from a nearby stand that was absolutely To Die For.  I think the food was our favorite part of Prague Castle.  Bag all that art and architecture...

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed having my parents here to visit.  They are such great visitors because they are game for just about anything and so easy to hang out with.  It was hard to see them leave, but I was consoled somewhat with the knowledge that the kids and I would be seeing them in Utah in only about 3 weeks!  Yay!  Summer is almost here!

Alaska, baby!

Last week, Brad and I got to join his parents, siblings, and their spouses on a cruise to Alaska.  It was truly delightful! 

The nicest thing about this trip was, of course, the company. I loved just sitting around with Brad's family and chatting, playing cards, or rocking at Team Trivia. It was nice because it was all adults (except for John and Lili's baby, who is nursing, so she couldn't be left at home), so we were able to relax and enjoy each other without being interupted/worrying about kids.

And, of course I loved spending time with my Favorite Mann.

Look at us dancing at the club - how very Love Boat of us!

We traveled with Holland America Lines, and I must say, we were impressed with this cruise line.  We have taken two other cruises (brag, brag, I know), and this was by far the best cruise as far as clean entertainment goes.  Because Alaska is so big, we spent a lot more time on the boat than we have on other cruises, so we were very glad that the on-board entertainment was as good as it was.  There were shows after dinner everynight, and they were all completely within our standards.  There was no cringing at dirty jokes or covering Brad's eyes at the dancers' costumes, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Part of the entertainment was a karaoke competition that Brad's sister Becky took part in.  They set up judges like American Idol, and guests performed on stage for the passengers.  Becky was truly groovalicious singing "Cowboy, Take Me Away" from the Dixie Chicks.

And she won!  Yay Becky!

Another night, they did this trivia game show.  Haley got chosen to be a contestant, and she almost won (with Becky's help from the audience, mouthing the answers as big as she could).

Juneau, AK

The first port we stopped at was Juneau.  We all went on an excursion that took us to the Mendenhall Glacier and then whale watching.

Brad, Dave, and Cameron by Mendenhall Glacier.

Casey, Becky, and me by the waterfall.

On board the boat ready to watch some whales.

We saw this batch of sea lions sunbathing on a rock island.

A humpback whale disappears into the water.

We even got lucky and saw some orca.

Glacier Bay, AK

The next day we sailed through Glacier Bay on the cruise ship. I think that may have been my favorite day. We all just hung out, talked, played 5 Crowns, and drank Diet Coke while we were surrounded by beautiful scenery.

After all the whale-watching the day before, Dave favored us with his Whale Breaching Imitation.  It was stunning.

Sitka, AK

In Sitka, Brad and I joined Becky and Dave on a 4X4 Adventure that took us through a rainforest to a black sand beach on a little island.  It was awesome!

Dave and Becky in their rhino.

This is what we saw as we drove through the rain forest.  I wish the picture did it justice - it was really beautiful.

Stopping for a quick (and cold) break on a bridge over looking a river and meadow.  We saw some brown bear cubs playing in that meadow a few minutes later.

My favorite part of the ride was the time we spent on the black sand beach.  It was completely deserted, and we felt like we were the only people in that little corner of the world.

Ketchikan, AK

In Ketchikan, Brad went deep water fishing with his dad and brothers while the rest of us went on a zip-line course. If you think strapping yourself to a cable hundreds of feet above the ground and zipping along the top of a rainforest sounds fun, well, you are RIGHT! It was scary at first, but by the time we were finished with our morning of zipping thru a rainforest, we didn't want to be done. I loved it!

Lois and me on the ride up to the zip line.

Haley, Katie, Lois, Cam, and Casey getting ready to zip.

 The zip-line course was a series of cables strung through the top of a rain forest. I think we zipped along 10 or 12 different lines. So fun!
 

I didn't even know my picture was being taken - that silly grin is genuine.

Proudly wearing our zip-line medals.

Yay me!

 
Victoria, British Columbia

On Thursday, we finished up the cruise with a night-time stop in Victoria, British Columbia. Unfortunately, knowing that the cruise was almost over and we'd be returning to Berlin the next day kind of soured the whole evening. Oh well.

We only had a couple of hours in Victoria, and we weren't really in a shopping mood, so we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

We learned that Madame Tussaud got her start making wax molds from severed heads of executed people (yeah, gross).  They had a wax mold on display that she made from the head of Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives.  So, I'm guessing this display of all six of his wives is pretty accurate as far as showing what they really looked like.

We were surprised and delighted to see Brigham Young included in this display of prominant religious figures.

We owe my mom BIG TIME for coming to scary Berlin to stay with the kids while we went.  For a long time, we didn't know if we'd be able to go because we didn't know who we could ask here to watch the kids.  Mom saved the day by offering to come and brave the German-speaking world so we could go remember how it feels to speak English in America.  Thanks Mom!

And, of course, thanks to Mark and Lois for organizing the trip and giving us the cruise tickets for Christmas.  I loved every minute of it, and I am so glad we could go!  Alaska rocks!