Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Tom and I decided to take a guided tour out to see Neuschwanstein Castle, and on the way, we stopped at another castle, Linderhof, built by the same King, Ludwig II. I was not looking forward to the trip since it was grey and rainy in Munich, but it was sunny for us! And I may have had a minor meltdown when we pulled into the town and the side of  Neuschwanstein Castle that we saw was covered in scaffolding and I was worried it would all be like that and I would have terrible pictures of something I've wanted to visit for forever!

Waiting for the tour of Lindehof.

I'm sure this is prettier in summer.

Love him.

I honestly wasn't a fan of the first castle. It was small, and since it was modeled after Versailles, it was really over the top. In a small space, that just doesn't work for me- I ended up feeling closed in. The gardens were pretty, but I'm sure they're a thousand times better in the summer when they're green and the fountains are working!

The outside of Lindehof.

At least I got to see snow!

 I did get to take a picture next to a giant swan, so that was exciting. I should really make an album of all the awkward pictures I have next to animals...it's going to be awesome.

I would have gotten closer, but it was staring me down.

On the way to the castle, we stopped in a small town where the houses are painted with biblical and fairy tale scenes. Thankfully, we were able to find a Christmas ornament store there, so we have 2 small ornaments from Germany! We didn't get to take pictures of some of the really cool houses we saw driving in,  but it was a cute little town that would be fun to visit again!

I think Once Upon A Time could be filmed here.

When we got to the town below Neuschwanstein, we had some time for a quick lunch, then we headed up to the castle. We took a bus and then walked up to the "hanging bridge" (to quote my wonderful boyfriend) to take pictures of the castle. I was freaking out about having to go out on a bridge up that high, especially since I thought it was going to be old and scary. Apparently it's quite sturdy, even if it is old, but the boards still shake when people walk past you, which terrified me. Tom was fairly certain I'd cry and have a panic attack, but I did surprisingly well. Not only did we get some great pictures, I walked all the way across the bridge and back just to prove that I could. If that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, you obviously don't know how much I detest heights and that I get freaked out looking over high balconies sometimes.

After I hiked across the bridge and back. So proud and excited!

My Prince Charming. (You knew that was coming).

See that bridge?

That's where we stood. 

We had some time to wait around in the courtyard before our tour started, so we took some pictures, and I amused myself by watching a little girl count the steps from one courtyard to another. When she got stuck on a number I helped her, and I basically became her counting guide. When she finally made it to the bottom, she turned around to ask me what she'd counted to, then ran off to tell her family. Sorry if I freaked them out, but she was so cute, and so serious about it all that I had to help her!

I like making him smile for pictures.

Perfect for a destination wedding right?

Afterwards, we tried to ride back down in a carriage but apparently you need to buy the tickets for it before you go up, so we hiked all the way down. I did make us stop for ice cream when we got to the bottom since I was denied my carriage ride, but I don't think Tom minded. After that, we headed back to Munich to eat more delicious food and drink some more beer. It was such a long day, but I've finally seen the Sleeping Beauty Castle! I can check it off my life list!

Adventures in Preschool

If you don't know, I work 3 days a week as a 3yr old preschool teacher. It's basically the job I've been prepared for, since my degree is Early Childhood Ed, and I've student taught in preschool and helped out with those kiddos since I was like 18. (True story: I was one of the youngest VBS teachers at my church when I was 18, but I was totally stoked about a pirate themed VBS and my kids LOVED my excitement. It's also where I memorized my absolute favorite Bible verse ever. Joshua 1:9. I can sing you a song with motions if you like.) (Side note: This is usually how my conversations with Tom go. I usually bring up some random song and ask if he'd like me to sing it. Sadly, he usually says no.)

Anyway, you'd assume that it'd be a piece of cake for me to teach my 12 adorable kiddos. And normally, it is pretty easy. I spend a lot of time on the floor, watching them play and teaching them how to share and talk through conflicts instead of yelling and hitting. (It's way more fun then it sounds....most of the time.) I also try to teach them to do things themselves. So I usually say "you did it!!" a lot, which is awesome because now my kiddos say it to each other when someone does something new or on their own. It's precious and also hilarious to see how they repeat EVERYTHING i say. (In fact, they can direct quote me on the rules of the class, whose job it is to tell kids what to do, and sometimes on how to share.) My favorite was probably when one kids was taking a toy from another and a third child told the boy he needed to go get the teacher to help him.

We do actually learn too. We talk about the calendar, the days of the week, count the days in the month, do some addition and subtraction, sound out some letters, and read lots of books. I love reading books in silly voices....it's probably one of my new skills. I'm also awesome at singing songs and fingerplays. It's so much fun to be ridiculous with kids because they don't care.

It's hard sometimes to teach them to not hit and to share. It's hard to be enforce consequences or to sit a child out when they look sad, but I'm getting better. Sometimes I think I'm the strictest/meanest teacher ever, but then I get hugs from my kids when they do something on their own, or they come running to me when they're upset, and I feel like they get that I love them, and that's why I don't let them get away with everything. It's pretty good practice for being a mom.

One kid today had a scrape on his hand and after about 10 minutes, he finally let me wash it. When I tried to put a band-aid on it, he freaked out and started screaming and crying and begging me not to. It was more traumatic for me than for him, because he was fine once it was on, but we did it! I feel like this is some good experience for being a mom, and that makes it all a little easier.

To end this on a good note, here are some of the awesome things my kids said/did today:
- when coloring a cat "My cat's name is The Cat." (this happened twice, with 2 different kids)
- 2 of my boys running to the window on the playset to wave at me, and laughing as I waved back.
- "Miss Hampton, I did the puzzle all by myself!" "Those pieces aren't in the right place...." "I know!! I tricked you!!""
- Lots and lots of hugging goodbye and saying goodbye to each other.
- "I trapped Santa in my trap house."
- My hug from one of them when I told him he got his lunchbox put away all on his own. It was a very exciting occasion.
- Finding out I'm referred to as "my new teacher" after being there 3 months by one of my girls.

Aren't they adorable?? I think so.