Berlin is huge! There is so much to see and we hardly saw any of it. On Friday we wanted to stop in Potsdam and tour the grounds of Sans Souci Palace but the skies were looking very ominous with a rain storm so we passed on spending our tour soaking wet (we did this in Munich and will probably never try to attempt sightseeing in the pouring rain ever again). So we drove to our hotel in East Berlin. We took a quick walk around Weissensee Lake and had a nice dinner at a local restaurant.
Saturday morning we were up early and ready to hit the public transportation to get to Zoo Berlin. Aubrey really enjoyed herself, she walked most of the zoo, and we had a hard time keeping Lolo contained in her stroller so she spent just as much time walking. They were both pooped by the time we got out of there. We ended spending over 4 hours there with just a quick stop for lunch. The highlight for me was a little petting zoo area that we went into armed with food pellets that we bought for 0.10 euro! The little goats were aggressive so we really had to watch the girls. They were not mean, just all over you to get the food. I had one goat hit me with his hoof to get more. Aubrey wasn't sure what to think of the goats but did try to feed them. It was cute. Lolo was safely strapped into her stroller for this and enjoyed watching all the animals at her eye level and so very close to her.
After the zoo we walked down to Ka De We, Germany's largest department store. We passed by a church that was bombed at the end of WWII and as they started rebuilding it was decided to leave part of the church there. Let me add that by this point in time my right contact lens was causing me some serious pain. My eye had been watering through most of the zoo and by the time we left I could hardly see a thing! 95% of the time I carry my glasses and lens solution with me on the chance that I may want to switch but that morning I left them sitting in the hotel bathroom and boy did I regret that. My make up was totally off of the right eye but perfect on the left. So the first thing we did was find the bathroom and I tried rinsing my lens with my eye drops and putting it back in...this was unsuccessful! So I gave up, put the lens back in and attempted to wash my left eye make up off. Grrrr! Lesson learned - ALWAYS bring my glasses just in case I need them.
Anyways, back to Ka De We! What an amazing store that I could never, ever in a million years afford to shop at. We did spend time on the 6th floor which is where all the food is. They had so much stuff there. Wine, liquor, pastries, meat, fish, chocolate! We bought a bottle of my all-time favorite wine, EVER. Period. Nothing tops this in my opinion. Eroica Riesling from the Chateau Ste. Michelle and Dr. Loosen. This is a wine from Washington state that I tried several years ago when James and I did a wine tasting at the winery and I purchased a bottle immediately. As far as wines go this one is a little pricey, especially when the winery sells their Reisling at around $8 a bottle and this one was $25. We were totally surprised to see the wine there and even more surprised to see that it was priced at 29.95 euro. If the dollar and the euro were 1 for 1 then this would be a great price but the dollar stinks compared to the euro right now. We did get the wine and it is in my fridge waiting to be consumed as we speak. I was surprised James decided we could get the wine and I totally think he felt bad for me and my pathically red eye.
We initially planned on going to a museum on Sunday morning but decided against it due to the long drive we had ahead of us. We did drive past the Brandenburg Gate but didn't get out as parking was difficult and there were a ton of people there. We will save that for our next visit to Berlin. We will be going back as there is so much to see and do.
Tomorrow will be a week since James left. We have survived the first week of many, many more. I managed to mow the lawn yesterday while the girls played safely in the fenced in patio. The girls seem to be doing ok except for today. Aubrey woke me up at 3:30 this morning with a 101.7 fever. I gave her some Childrens Tylenol and some juice and we went back to sleep. She is still running a fever and has even taken a nap today. We are on the 3rd dose to tylenol and I am hoping the fever starts coming down soon. Lolo has decided that she wants to climb on everything then scream when she can't get down. I have been running all over the house trying to keep her off of things with minimal success. Lolo has also been fighting off nap time. The other day I found her passed out on the floor by the couch laying on a pillow with her butt up in the air. I am amazed that kids really can sleep anywhere. 
I was working on a scrapbook layout yesterday and the girls managed to grab the picture before it was completely finished printing so they have been sharing a picture of their daddy for the past 24 hours. We even made James a quick little video last night using our webcam. I had to download the new software for the camera and we were good to go. I love being able to send little snippets of the girls to James.
I made a paper chain that we will use to count down James' return. Every week we will rip off a link until they are all gone. I hope this little activity will help Aubrey understand when Daddy will be home again.
