JULY ARTICLE
They come, they go and they come again!
The first week or two of July was chaoticly brilliant! On the 6th Darren flew in, 7th Neil flew in early in the morning, Mark flew in late at night! Once they all arrived we ate, drank and laughed a lot! Then we all took of the next morning after some debarcle with the hire car that Darren and Paul decided they must have (I think Paul regretted this when it took him over 2hrs to pick up!) to Rothenburg. This is a brilliant little traditional German village which just happens to house the biggest Christmas Shop in Germany! We all arrived at various times with the Schabels arriving first, Neil, Mark, Keian and I, then Darren and Paul in style of course. The hotel was gorgeous, it was traditional but renovated beautifully with no two rooms being the same! Once all checked in we headed off to explore the streets and the shops! The streets were all cobblestone and narrow, mostly this is a pedestrian only village with hotel and workers cars the only exception. We were all quite famished so we headed into the ice-cream parlour for a late lunch….YUM!
Dinner was a formal affair in the hotel which was again superb! The boys took it upon themselves to disappear every so often to get the score of the football….Once during dinner I decided to take Keian for a walk in his pram to get him to sleep. I got out the front, laid the back of the pram down and put a muzalin wrap over the top of the pram to reduce the stimuli thus aiding sleep! Off I set down the road through the closed shops and for a bit of tour of one of the sections of the village. There were cafes with seats outside and people walking up and down, I noticed that I was getting a lot of looks and smiles whilst on my travels! I was pretty sure it was not anything to do with the way I was looking and when one couple openly were laughing I looked around the pram side to see a little face and hand peeping out of the side of the muzalin wrap…..Keian had decided that he could sit up and see what was going on whilst I thought he was laying down going off to sleep under there! So with that and him then laughing as I undid the cover I gave up and sat him up and headed back to the dinner, which he then sat up at the high chair and watched us all. He then proceeded to sit up and not even entertain going to sleep until 1130pm…….
The Christmas shop did receive many visits from us all at various times and relieved us of some hard earned Euros but amazingly the exception to this was the Christmas adoring Mark Merry….yes whoaphuckers let it be put in the record books that Mark did not walk away from the biggest Christmas shop with one single thing!!!!!
On Sunday we all headed back to our place for more sit around and chat not to mention LAUGH A LOT time before Daz and Mark headed off back to London. Neil was able to stay with us this time until Tuesday. So there were many more lunches, dinners and plenty of fun during his stay with our Murphy Hotel bursting at the seams again (love it)!
Sadly it came to an end all too quickly but it was lovely to see and spend some time with Neil as always. Oh and a big thankyou to Neil and Doreen for the countless presents for us all! Am still reading the Aussie magazines you sent over Dodi, and have had to fend off Lucy and my niece Caitlin and her boyfriend from doing my puzzles! Man, one delivery of English mags in 6mths and these guests decided to do my puzzles….ONLY until I noticed and then they were given a quick Heave Ho!
My “sack” I mean handbag is also being put to work daily, thankyou!
The week that followed provided Paul, Keian and I the fantastic opportunity to get to spend some one on one family time with the fellow whoapucker family the Schabels! Paul, Keian and I loved getting to know these terrific people better, we learnt many things….Kylie and Kari not only love fine wine but they also are very knowledgeable on the topic…..always handy friends to have, we also learnt that Kari is happy to pull a questionnaire together but then will not reveal a scrap about himself by answering it! Even tried to offer to type it for him! This is one whoaphucker who does not like talking about himself…I know to the rest of this this is mostly unheard of!
Keian took his monthly topple as usual this time off the bed nose first, you will note in the photos the fading carpet burn! Sigh....there I go again working for that "worst mother of the year title"....
We filled our week with relaxing, swimming, lunches, dinners, a movie or two, a visit to St Goar (previous home of the now cherished Cuckoo Clock some of you bought Kyles for her birthday!) and generally spending time with the kids playing and the adults talking our heads off.
We also got to spend Kylie’s birthday with her. The day started with a nice easy day, a trip to the zoo and finished with a nice dinner at Tristans!
The zoo was a hoot, I could have won the funniest home video watching the schabels entering the goat pen with goats going where they shouldn’t, Kari trying to get the goat out but proceeding to let another one in the no go area as opposed to out of it, then Larn having food so the goats mobbing him which resulted in scaring him and Mum coming into the rescue. All of this happened with a number of people watching amused and videoing the whole episode, I on the other hand only got the end of it as I was too busy laughing! It was a fun day out and no doubt not my last visit to that zoo….
Dinner was lovely and the conversation as always contained many funny stories which still make me laugh as I recall some of them, but there are too many to write and not really mine to tell…..
The next day the Schabels headed off again to Paris and the house went quiet! Poor Keian did not like the goings of all our visitors and always spends the next day latched to my leg, I think he fears that one day I might just follow the crowd and disappear without him….bless his cotton socks! This was not helped when the Schabels only had one night stopover between France and Finland and then Finland and Australia! Every time he loved to see the kids return and played with them endlessly, poor Milli when she first arrived could not escape him, and he was quick to try and pin her to the floor! BUT she mastered walking whilst in Europe so by the end of the trip she could out run him! Too cute! We have some terrific photos of them all which I will include! One particular favorite would have to be Milli and Keian in traditional German dress….it must be noted Kari did not approve of me putting Keian in Lederhose (leather German shorts/overalls) and would not even come in the room whilst the photos were taken…..something about having to wear them himself to Luna Park and still having therapy to get over it! Those clogs are a weapon when you have to wear them in the Rotar ride!
All jokes aside the kids looked magic together and Kylie and I loved the photos! Pretty sure you will too!
July also saw the mothers group return to Königstein and we had a terrific lunch where the kids played together (5 under the age of 9mths) and swam in Keian’s pool as it was soooo hot!
We also had Iris over (a friend here in Germany) for dinner who just loves Keian to bits! As always we had Izabella also who loves to be with our Keian....
Paul and I went to a party in July which was an interesting experience as we chose to take Keian! It was stinking hot and he was not ready to settle to sleep! We were both frocked up, me in new pants and top thinking I looked pretty cool….but children are good for ensuring no arrogance develops from wearing flashy labels for clothing! He threw up milk with complete disregard for my pants or top, as did many of the other children there I might add so that the parents who started looking fine ended up looking like they had done the rounds of the kindergarten! By the time we got him to sleep it was about an hour or so before it was time to get him up and head home again! This was a new experience for us as usually we have our beloved Izabella to babysit but no doubt we will have to perfect this art of children, parties and entertainment! And it was terrific to go to a party again and do normal adult things whilst meeting new people!
On the Thursday Caitlin (my 18yr old Niece) and her boyfriend Chris arrived! This ensure the hotel Murphy was again at capacity! I think Cait and Chris wondered what on earth they had walked into with 3 young children and a herd of adults! Quiet was not a word that could be applied to our hotel the next few nights!
We waved the Schabels off in their hired mini bus (literally) on the Saturday night to head to the airport and on to home! Both Kylie and Kari were loathe to leave and I think were a hare’s breath away from staying longer but alas them and their 97 bags (only people that I have seen to date traveling with more than the Murphys) left on the Saturday night! BUT in true Murphy hotel style we had them leave Saturday night and Mark Murphy (Paul’s brother) arrive Saturday night with just enough time to change the sheets on the beds…….
So goes July and here comes August and the adventures that Mark and Paul, Caitlin, Chris, Keian and I all get up to…..
Announcements: Welcome to baby Chloe Mulcahy, baby Blake Bragg, and if I did not already welcome but new little whoaphuckers...Ava Beau Dunstan......