Day 25 (July 3rd)

Al and I woke up around 8:00 AM and the kids were still out cold. We told them the night before that we would leave them there to sleep while Al and I went over to pick up some breakfast. I bought a couple of sandwiches and drinks for the kids and went back to the room. The kids were still sleeping so I figured why not join them. We all slept until around 12:00 PM when I got up to shower and got the kids dressed. We headed out and met Al at her office for lunch. It was raining out so we went down to the Carisch Haus (has a bunch of restaurants). We ended eating Japanese food since they had a teriyaki chicken that Zach would eat (can you see a pattern forming?). I had a warm bowl of tempura udon. After lunch we went over to the supermarket to pick up some basic supplies. The kids had fun walking around checking out all the products in German. We bought some bread, cheese, bananas, sliced chicken, a bunch of waters and of course chocolate. We then headed back to the apartment and snacked on chocolate and played cards (Uno and BS) and worked on the puzzle. I was very surprised when Hannah asked me if she could wash the dishes. Of course, I said yes. She said that she wanted to show us that she can take on responsibility so we would buy her hamsters when we get back to the states. (Our fancy rat died recently and the kids really want a new hamster. I told them if they would take care of it, I might consider it). By dinner time the rain let up and we walked over to the Alstadt and ate at an Italian restaurant. Zach had a cheesy lasagna with no GREEN that he liked very much. I had a fish soup as an appetizer and a spaghetti bolognese with a cold Alt beer for dinner. We all enjoyed the meal and agreed that we would return again. The kids wanted dessert but they were denied since they ate too much chocolate during the day. I think they learned their lesson. We walked around a little and then headed back to the room. Again the kids were wired and we had to force them to shut off their game boys and go to sleep around 12:30 AM. We definitely need to break this late night habit and get them up earlier.