As it has consistently worked out so far this year, we needed to make a trip to the capital on one of our family member's birthdays. It just so happens that KB's birthday and DB's half birthday fall on the same day. Traveling to the capital has become both easier and more difficult in the past year and a half. Easier since we now live in a city that has daily high speed trains headed straight to the capital ever half hour to hour - so much easier than flying or taking the 10 hour slow train. It is more difficult since we have two young kids for whom staying in a hotel, no matter how nice, gets old fast.
Traveling was easier without kids. Well, duh, but I still felt like saying it. Our trips now revolve entirely around seeing pediatricians and dentists, eating at restaurants within walking distance, going to Ikea, and staying at hotels four times the cost of the filthy hotels we stayed in before kids.
I am not trying to complain though. The upgrade in hotels has been nice. The nice hotels have softer beds, better pillows, baby beds, better towels, great service, cable TV with foreign channels, and this one even has a top sheet rather than just a duvet cover - it blew my mind!. However, my absolute favorite nice hotel amenity is the swimming pool, which was the deciding factor in choosing our hotel on this trip. We thought if our poor kids have to be drug around all day, miss naps, and eat unfamiliar food, at least they can go swimming and it can be the highlight of the trip for them. Even a month later the swimming pool is the only part of the trip that AB remembers. Totally worth it.
Taxis are sometimes great and sometimes stressful, especially when it is raining and/or during rush hour. To avoid this, we stayed within walking distance of everywhere we needed to go. We ended up walking a lot, but considering the amount of food we ate, it was probably a good thing.
Did you know that by law we are supposed to wear swim caps at all pools in the country we live in? I am sure you did not know since I myself just found that out. As an American I feel really weird since wearing a swim cap because 1) I am not a serious swimmer...yep that is basically it, I always feel like a poser wearing one. AB is pretty proud of her hat. She even likes to wear it around the apartment sometimes.
Later that evening DB crawled into bed, pulled out a Sports Illustrated magazine (thanks Grumpy!) and took a few minutes to unwind. Seriously he did this all on his own. He is quite the observant little boy.
After we returned home AB and I made daddy a "looks bad but tastes good" German chocolate birthday cake, daddy's current favorite. Happy 31st birthday daddy!
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