Vienna trip and Maloneys come to town

A lot has happened over the past couple weeks. We've explored new areas of London, big T and I went to Vienna and then our dear friends, Matt and Becki came to visit. First was the Vienna trip. The idea was that Tyler and I would head to Vienna to meet JJ on a business trip. Because of flight times and prices we decided that we would go a few hours before JJ and that he would meet us there. I had flown solo with Tyler before so it seemed like easy-peasy. Everything started out great.  We flew on the best airline ever, Swiss Air, enjoying our pain au chocolat, and they always give Tyler a toy on the plane. This time the toy was a big stuffed airplane. For the kid that loves airplanes and chocolate, this may have been the best day of his life. Then when we got the call from JJ saying he got pulled into a big project in London and was told to cancel his Vienna trip.  As Tyler would say, Uh oh.  I know JJ felt terrible and I tried to put on a happy face but I couldn't help but dread the next 3 days. For starters, if I would have known that Tyler and I were going on vacation by ourselves, I would have chosen a different location (Vienna is great, just not my first choice).  Then of course it was dealing with traveling with a toddler all by myself. Tyler is amazing and I love him more than words can describe but traveling with a nearly 2 year old alone is hard.  I'd like to say that we took it in stride and as my mother calls it, I had a "joie de vivre" or a "cheerful enjoyment of life" about this trip, but the truth is I did not.   Here is the real inside scoop what traveling with a toddler alone is like:
- When Tyler napped I was put in solitary confinement in the bathroom (the hotel room was small, really small so if I wanted Tyler to sleep I needed to go to the only place where he can't see me - the bathroom).  Luckily I had brought a book.

 - Mealtimes are the worst.  Restaurants serve the long, typically slow European dinners that last forever.  We ate at a cafe outside the first night.  Strangers would stare at me for taking my kid there.   Did not seen a single other kid eating out. For lunch on Wednesday when we ate at a cafe in Schonbrunn palace the little guy had a meltdown - two tables got up and moved and I got a lot of dirty looks.  I didn't want to get stared at the second night so I decided to take Tyler for his first trip to McDonald's. Aha - here are where the other kids were!  Tyler looked at the chicken nuggets like they were made of brussel sprouts and proceeded to eat an apple and a tub of ketchup for dinner.
- Sightseeing is like moving at warp speed to see as much as we can before Tyler gets bored. On Thursday we flew through the Haus de Musik museum. I mean we went through the whole thing in 30 minutes - it must have been record time. Tyler doesn't have the attention span. It ends in the gift shop where he has a meltdown out of frustration and I think I broke one of the CD players trying to figure out what cd to buy. Lots of people staring again.

- I got yelled at in German - when I took Tyler home on the subway from the palace and positioned his stroller kind of in the center so that he can hang on to the pole like he likes, I got yelled at by a very angry woman in German about where she thought I should have him in the stroller.

Thankfully it all went pretty quickly and lots of people were extra nice to me and offered to help.  It's hard to travel with a toddler but T and I did have fun and I have a lot of funny memories. Next time we will be sure to take JJ with us!

We got home late Thursday and then it was time for the Maloneys to arrive!  It was so so so good to see them. They stayed only the weekend and then went off to travel through more of Europe.  We had fun watching the Michigan game and catching up.  Their visit was definitely a taste of home that we needed!  

Sunday fun day in the park

We took advantage of some decent weather and went to this old pub for dinner.  They have an amazing beer garden that Tyler loved.  If you can read the sign it shows it's been a pub since 1585 - crazy!

I wanted to get a picture of the boys by the sign that explained the pub's history.  You can tell by the look on Tyler's face he was not amused and wanted to get back to playing.

Big T on the Lions opening day

Primrose Hill street fest.  Tyler was really interested in the clowns behind him

Giving the Harrod's bear a big bear hug at Heathrow while waiting for our plane to Vienna

We had a layover in Zurich and they had a little play area in the airport :)

Tyler chasing pigeons in front of the Stephansplatz by the cathedral

Watching the horse drawn carriages in front of some Vienna stuff (sorry I have no idea what I was taking pictures of!)

Rauthausplatz - apparently they had films and concerts and food stands here all summer.  We missed it by a couple days because there was nothing going on that night!

More Vienna stuff

Can we go somewhere to play yet?

Tyler started to get into it if he carried his cooler.  He also felt very important carrying this bag on and off the airplane.  He's such a big boy!

Pizza dinner giving his cheesiest grin to the couple next to us that took his picture.  This was the first of 3 random tourists who took his picture (which I found a little weird).  Big T is probably all over the world wide web!

Cathedral at night

Breakfast at the hotel - Tyler did have eggs on his plate but he only ate bacon and croissants - breakfast of champions!

Another country, another subway!

More buildings - make it stop Mommy!  Really he was just getting used to having his hood on.

Now this is more like it!  We took a land train around the Schonbrunn Palace grounds

I think the land train was the highlight of the trip.  At this stop they let passengers off to go explore.  T didn't leave the train :)

He definitely wasn't supposed to be walking there.....

Apple streusel!!!

We found a street musician at Stephansplatz

Tyler had some strong opinions about how the mini bar should be organized

Mom - what am I supposed to eat here?

House of Music museum

Tyler loved this exhibit - it's why I took him to the museum.  It's a virtual conductor so that he controls the tempo of the orchestra - he really got into it.  I have a hilarious video.

There was a playground by us that we played at.

Peekaboo by the Strauss statue

Mommy bought herself a beer at the airport.  I thought I deserved it!

This is how Tyler flew most of the time.  He loved the window seat!

The Maloneys are here!!!! We watched the Michigan game with the London Michigan Alumni Club

I missed my dear friend!  It was so good to see them!

The boys were supposed to be serious but JJ cheated :)  We miss them already!

Probably didn't need those beers :)

Becki is running the Chicago marathon and had to do a training 18 mile run Sunday in the nasty rainy, cold weather!  She did it though - amazing!  I sat on the couch :)

Big T had a birthday party at the Transportation Museum while Becki and Matt were running.  The choo choos were a big hit!

Our English tricyclist!

Playing with cars on the couch cushion fort on a rainy day

Good thing we all have wellies - it rained for about 2 weeks straight.  So much that Tyler learned the word "rainy"

Tyler had another birthday party for his friend Nathan last weekend.  He was so excited to be let loose in this kid's funland!

They had a zip line there.  Good thing everything was padded because shortly after this picture he had a head collision with a padded pole!  Probably not an age-appropriate activity yet, but look how happy he is!