All we saw in Frankfurt...

...was the Children's Hospital.

What a nightmare weekend we just had. We drove up to Wiesbaden, Germany (near Frankfurt) on Saturday morning. Denise, Juan Carlos, and Adrian were meeting us there because Denise has to work in Frankfurt this week and we wanted to do some scouting out of the area since we are moving there in the summer. We had great plans to see the towns of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt on Saturday and Sunday then Monday and Tuesday Jason was going to work at the Opel office in Russelsheim while the kids and I went visiting schools and looking at areas to live in.

We did about 25% of what we planned. First of all, we didn't realize that it was Fasnacht weekend in Germany-think Mardi Gras for 4 straight days. Everything was closed.

But more importantly. Lainey got really sick on our drive up. Friday night, she woke up around midnight and asked me to lay with her. This isn't all that unnormal, so I didn't think much of it. But as soon as we got in the car on Saturday, she started coughing. Constantly. Her asthma inhalers didn't help a bit. We kept going, since we were meeting Denise and Juan there. She just kept getting worse. We managed to meet up with Denise and walk a bit around Wiesbaden. Lainey was up and down. For a few hours, she'd act normal and be having fun with Aidan and Adrian, but then she'd have a huge coughing fit. Saturday night was horrid. She coughed ALL night.

Sunday morning, she still wasn't great, but she was in a good mood, so we all tried to go to Frankfurt. We were hoping to take this tour train called the Applewine Express. It was a tram that took you around Frankfurt and gave you apple wine and pretzels on the ride. Well, it was Fasnacht so it wasn't working normally. We tried to just ride trams, but the kids were cold and honestly, Frankfurt isn't so pretty. So we found an Irish pub for lunch. During lunch I noticed Lainey was really hot and still coughing. I decided we'd be visiting the Frankfurt ER. I asked the waitress where the nearest hospital was, and we left Denise and Juan and went to the ER.

They were really nice and between English and German, we figured out she had a temperature of 104 degrees and the beginning of pnuemonia! They gave us prescriptions for anti-biotics, fever medicine and a steroid for the cough. We were grateful we now had an aresnal of meds to make her better. Unfortunately, none of it is working yet! She's still miserable.

We cut our trip short and came home Monday instead of Tuesday. Jason did go to work to check out his new team and office and I did visit one school and drive around a tiny bit. Poor Lainey coughed the entire time, but at least with the medicine her fever stayed down.

The school visit was great. I really liked it and so did the kids. It felt like primary schools back home, only with 15 kids instead of 25! I think the kids will enjoy it. The living areas, were harder to figure out in snow and in a car with a sick kid, but I saw one cute village that may have potential. Wiesbaden, at least the parts we saw, didn't look like much. I liked the Taunus Hills area much more. It's definitely not Zurich, but we know we'll probably never live somewhere as pretty again. Germany is more like Michigan, very flat and more industrial. Still, it will be nice to have more conveniences. like stores and a bigger airport, than we have in Zurich.

At least we got to spend time with Denise, Juan Carlos, and Adrian. The kids and adults all had fun together and made me hate being away. I desperately hope Adrian doesn't get sick from my kids, though. I'll feel horrible, but there's nothing we could do. In fact, JC and Adrian are coming here later today because Denise has to work. I've not been much of a tour guide, and I feel bad for their trip, but I think they understand. Sick kids can really throw a wrench in plans!