So much sausage!

We returned to the apartment we were renting and got everybody to bed. It was called Ferienpark am Darss, inside the Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft (Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park). I thought it would be right up my alley, and in some ways, it was. It was a nice little area that had a playground for the kids. We were renting a two-bedroom townhouse for two nights. It was a good price, more than affordable considering how big it was. Only 20 minutes away from the beach.

I have to say it felt very much like camping. I don't understand this at all, but Germans don't put screens on their windows. Nor do they use air conditioning. So you have to sleep with the windows open, and let the bugs come right in. In Fuhlendorf, I'm pretty sure there were more bugs per square inch inside than there were outside. Spiders as big as tennis balls (okay, golf balls, but still). Numerous giant crane-fly like bugs. Too many creepy crawlers to make it a pleasant stay. Not to mention, the floor was plywood with 20 layers of varnish on it. The rail to the loft was loose and unsafe. (Fortunately the obedient children did not lean on it at all.) The wifi worked well, and considering we are still not set up for internet in our house, that was pleasant for us for a change. (Alex got to play slither.io a little bit.) It was okay for the price, but it is not a place to which I will return.

Regardless, the kids had fun at the playground. Alex took his time to find a lot of bugs. So far no diseases have shown up on his skin, either. And the drive to the beach was easy. So we had a nice morning, David slept in a little bit, and then we went to the beach.

So, many of you might have read the title and thought that we found an all-you-can-eat German-style restaurant. But, some of you may know Europe a little better, and you might have figured out that the beach that we took the kids to on day 2 (Zingst) was actually (yes) a nude beach.  And there was so much sausage there!  I think the average age of the people who actually chose to go nude was about 60. (This is my estimate based on how low their jingle bells hung. And oh by the way, I'm cracking myself up about this right now.) I said to David when we walked up, "Oh. It's a nude beach. I was afraid of that." He said, "Well you didn't mention it to me!"

It didn't bother me, though. I mean, whatever. It wasn't TOO difficult not to look where I shouldn't. Overall it just kind of seemed like a natural thing. I was a little trepidatious about what the children would say or do. But can you believe that we were there for HOURS, and not one of them even seemed to notice. They were just having fun at the beach. And a lot of fun they had.

All in all, it was a long trip for a short vacation. I picked that location because of the warmer weather and August is the best month to go up there. Our next trip (I'm hoping it will be to Garmisch) will be closer and easier. Maybe it will not be as enjoyable for the children as going to the beach, but Dave and I might enjoy it. I hope that next year we will go to the North Sea and spend 3 nights at the beach instead of just two. I disliked sleeping with the bugs so much that I decided we would leave at 4:00 a.m. to come home. It was going to be a rough week and I didn't want to make it worse than it needed to be. So home we went, and the drive was all right because the kids were sleeping and I drove for 6 hours without stopping. Then I only had 2 hours to go after that. The kids were tired when we got home and I ended up being glad I left the Baltic region when I did.

I'm very glad we went. But now I've been there and done that and am ready to go to another place with the family! Or without. I'm not sure which will happen first, depending on how work goes.

I'm a little bit behind on my blogs. I still have to write about the move. My Facebook friends already know how terribly it has gone. But without internet set up, it isn't quite as convenient to write. So I'm keeping track and tethering to my phone in the meantime.

Please keep us in your prayers! We certainly still need them! I am grateful for our adventure (the big one here in Germany), and even the bad stuff is part of the adventure. What I'm saying is, "Thank you, Jesus."

Enjoying the playground.

Ew. Too gross. Alex was having a blast making me take all of these pictures.

Played together almost the whole time.

Having a blast.

So content.

Baltic Sea or bust!

On Thursday we left for our first big trip, heading to the Baltic Sea. First of all, let me just tell you that I was using three different apps and searching everywhere on the internet, and I had the hardest time finding a place up north that would accommodate all six of us. I settled on a place 20 minutes away from the beach.

My plan was to leave around 10:00 and drive halfway if the kids were being good. I was going to stop at Hannover and maybe do some sightseeing while there. The kids were doing so well, though, that I actually drove much further. We made it all the way to a town called Lübeck. I hadn't made reservations for Hannover because I wanted the flexibility. I knew I was taking a risk, but I was also willing to split the family up between two rooms for just one night. We did fill up once. Gas prices were shocking! Dave took a picture for the record.

First David called a hotel to see what their price would be. We were quoted two rooms for €123 each. That was substantially more than I wanted to pay. So I told Dave we would try a gasthaus. We were blessed to stop at Hotel Herrenhof on the first try. They were able to give us two rooms on the same floor, and gave us a rate that was within my expectations. The hotel was clean and comfortable and spacious enough even for Lilly's pack'n'play. It also appears that it was located in a city that is worth a visit. I don't know, though, because we didn't take the time to do that. I think if we go to the North Sea next year as I'd like, we'll plan for two nights at the same gasthaus and visit the city of Lübeck.

Near the hotel, David found an all-you-can-eat Greek buffet called Restaurant Kreta. Why have I never seen one of those before? It was good and they didn't mind the big family at all, so we'll probably go there again next year if we end up in that area again.

Sleep went as expected with the kids, and we had a pleasant German breakfast and then left town. I hadn't successfully made contact with the owner, yet, to arrange to pick up the key, but I wasn't too concerned. We only had a two hour drive to the housing, so we drove to a town called Stralsund. Beautiful little town that we decided to visit for lunch and go shopping in. You see, I had done a typical Patty thing. I had packed the suitcase for the kids on Monday. By the time we left on Thursday, I had forgotten about it completely. Left it beside the bed. Not only did the kids have no clothes for vacation, they had no swimsuits for the beach. Honestly, it's so typical of me that I don't even get mad anymore. And neither (thank the good Lord) does David. He knows!

Of course, the town was beautiful but the parking garage was not. I had no misgivings about having Dave park the van. We exited that parking garage through a sort of tunnel into an empty lot. I said to Dave, how are we ever going to find this place again? I snapped a couple of pictures. We went shopping. Then we were going to eat lunch at a burger joint in town, but they had giant expensive hamburgers and no kids menu, so that wasn't going to work. So I thought we would choose a place to eat on our way to the van...

Which we never found.

Okay, okay. I'm telling the story from home, and eventually we found it. But we walked in circles for at least an hour. That beautiful town looked the same everywhere! Everyone was hungry and we were anxious to get going to the beach. The kids and Dave all were complainy and grumpy, so I finally deposited them at a Subway. And I'm not kidding, minutes after I relieved myself of the stress of taking care of the whole family, I found the van. Did I say that we walked for at least an hour!!!?? Probably more. I deposited the weekend's worth of brand new clothes in the van and went back to the Subway. We had to get groceries and check in before going to the beach. Which we actually did pretty smoothly. But our misadventure due to my stupidity resulted in the fact that the only thing that we did at the beach that day was watch the sunset.

That was pretty.

I told the kids we would go to the beach and watch the sunset. Alex asked, "Is that all we're doing?" He was taking it so literally it was cute. Of course, they played in the sand while I watched them and the sunset. It was certainly an enjoyable evening after we got over the disappointment of losing the van and forgetting the luggage.  Then back to the place where I had reservations, in a town called Fuhlendorf. We'll talk about that next.

Shocking gas prices!

The lovely Hotel Herrenhof

Two tired girls after a long day in the van

Stralsund 1

Stralsund 2

Stralsund