Sparkles & Superheroes: Our European Adventure

This past week we went on a ~~vacation~~ trip to Prague. My brother in law lives there and his wedding was Saturday. Looking back, the trip really was great, an incredible experience for us and the kids and I realize how fortunate we are to have been able to go to Europe to celebrate a wedding with our family.

And, if you were to look through my 400+ pictures, you would think it was great. As one friend said to me, "I don't want to hear you complaining it was hard - in every picture J is beaming and A is sleeping or in chilling in the Bjorn" - to that I say: Yes my pictures tell one story, and then there's the truth.

Within the first 24 hours of leaving here, flying for 7+ hours over 6 time zones, I threatened and/or begged to go home at least 5 times. J threw at least 4 tantrums (due to over tiredness) and A was only happy being held. But, here's what the pictures looked like:

Don't we look so happy? And look how cute she is napping in her stroller - well her brother's stroller which means he's on me or Mike - which is where he pretty much stayed for the duration of the week.

Or the afternoon when we went to all these amazing sights for J to see and schlepped all our crap everywhere and she finally passed out in her stroller. We coincidentally bumped into some friends and had a drink and felt like maybe we were sort of on "vacation" while she napped. But...then...she woke up - literally kicking and screaming and we had to high tail it out of there before someone got hurt. I so wish I was kidding. And of course, the little guy decided this would be a perfect time to start screaming also...so we downed our beers and headed for the door. So relaxing being on a trip with two kids.

Then, the rehearsal dinner...Mike and I decided to get our drink on a little bit...

And J decided to throw a hissy fit - so in my drunkeness and her tantrumness I knocked over a chair while taking her out of the restaurant to give her a "stern talking-to" outside. After which she was back to the normal happy little girl we know and love who ate all the new food and hung out with friends and family she doesn't get to see too often. Why she needed me to get tough before being a good girl is beyond me.

After a few days of some "challenging" behavior, I feel like we finally got into our groove. Saturday came and J woke up with a huge smile on her face saying "It's wedding day! I'm the flower girl!" begging to put on her dress and fancy shoes at 7:00 in the morning! She was an amazing flower girl and danced the whole night away -staying up til almost midnight with a huge smile on her face the whole time. I can't thank my brother and sister in law enough for including her in their wedding.