Days 5 and 6

Sorry I didn't get to blog last night. Maggie didn't wake up until 10 am and therefore didn't go to bed until about 11:30 pm. I guess this is a good time to fill you all in on the jet lag situation!

Sleepy girls at 10 am

For the first few nights, the girls were going to bed at around 8 or 9 at night (excuse me; 20:00 or 21:00. While the 24-hour clock is useful, it's one of those things I find annoying about Europe. There are more, but we'll get there). "Yay," Nick and I would think. "That's a great bedtime!" But then, they'd wake up at 11:30 or so, just as we were going to bed, and be up until maybe 2 am. Not fun! But, I was jet-lagged too, so I didn't mind them being up. Besides, we were all hungry. One thing I've noticed about jet-lag is that my sleep cycle recovers more quickly than my stomach. That is, I find myself not hungry for breakfast, when that's usually my biggest meal, and very hungry in the evenings, when I'm usually not hungry at all. That evens out after a few days though.

On top of the jet-lag and hunger, there was thunder and it was very hot. Anne got us one of those stand-up air conditioner units which was very helpful, but we didn't use it on the first day because it was missing the piece to block the open part of the window you have to open to exhaust the heat. On the second day I just closed the window down on the pipe enough to keep it in place and stuffed a curtain in the gap. Good enough! Maggie was so, so happy when I did. She laid down on the mattress on the floor that we were all sleeping on and said, "Ahhhh!" with a giant smile on her face.

Fortunately, the girls started sleeping through the night two nights ago. Unfortunately, I was either still jet-lagged or still struggling with the bit of insomnia that started about a month ago. I didn't have a clock in the room with me, but I was easily up until 2 am. And so, Maggie slept until 10 this morning because she didn't go to bed until 11 last night, and I wasn't able to wake her up because I was still asleep.

More good news is that we went to IKEA yesterday and got the slats for my bed, so that's set up now. The girls are sleeping peacefully there right now. They're sleeping there because they still don't have beds. But they have something much better than beds!

Makeup tables!

Nina's been wanting one like grandma's for weeks, so I thought, why not? I want her to be excited about our place here, and I put them together out of a bunch of inexpensive IKEA odds and ends--5 Euros for each end table, 5 for each stool, and 4 for both of the mirrors (actually there were 4 in the pack, maybe I'll find a use for the other 2). The lights were the most expensive, but you can't not have lights at your makeup table! They're so cool that I might have to take them and an outlet converter back to the US with us.

The plan was to continue on to an indoor playground after IKEA, but it was big, we were tired and still jet-lagged, and Nina didn't feel great (poor kid had diarrhea for a few days after we got here. She just gets everything!), so we told them about the makeup tables and they were happy to go home.

Instead, we took them to the indoor playground today. Bogi it's called, our other favorite indoor playground, Farbi, is only open on rainy days in the summer.

Bogi was fantastic. It's huge, with multiple bounce houses, 8 trampolines in a giant padded trampoline room, this crazy fun play structure, all kinds of slides, a ball pit, and more. The girls were in heaven. And Nick was able to come along and work because they had WiFi!

I'd elaborate, but it's almost midnight and I'm tired. However, I can't fail to mention that this wonderful indoor play area was not air conditioned. I mean, really? It was HOT. Poor Nina was flushed a bright red the whole time we were there. Austria, if you wish to bill yourself as a first world country, you need 1) air conditioning and 2) ice. Until these items are provided on a somewhat regular basis, you will not break second world status. I don't make the rules here, I only enforce them.