Noch einmal, jetzt mit zwei!

We're going to do it. We're going to spend several weeks this summer in Munich. Don't try to stop us.

It's true that we ought to be stopped. We'll have a five-month-old and an almost-three-year-old. The number and weight of the baby gear ALONE should deter us from this adventure. But we've found a rental apartment on the third floor of a house in Schwabing, and it has started sounding like a great idea to our sleep-deprived brains. (I'll give you a moment to stop laughing about the whole third floor element of our trip. No, there's no elevator. Weeee, we're insane.)

But I've got all kinds of justifications built up to defend this trip...

First of all, if we're going to be sleep deprived, we might do it in Europe. We haven't slept through the night for a year, so jet lag can't impress us.

Second, no one can argue that Europe is bad for our fertility. We've had positive pregnancy tests shortly after both of our last trips abroad.

Speaking of those trips, we've almost recovered from them! The French rental apartment that was built for dwarves and sought to kill our entire family? The Italian baby food made from rabbits? We're almost entirely over those experiences, such that we've idealized them as repeatable.

Also, I used to live in Munich, so it doesn't feel as stressful as Rome, Paris, or, say, Istanbul might. It's a perfect home base for some smaller trips around Germany and into Italy, and my German family can come visit us while we're camped out there.

And you really can't argue with Biergartens with playgrounds -- Prost! (That's Chebbles in a Wurzburg Biergarten playground last June.)

Plus, once September rolls around, Chebbles' academic career will be in full swing. OK, that's a pretty crazy way to view preschool, but they will be going through the letters one by one, and I don't want to be responsible for her missing out on the letter "G."

G is for Germany, my little friend.

It's also for "Go crazy," "Got diapers?" and "Guess who pooped on the upholstery?"

OK, I'm going to book this trip before I get any more rational about it, or before anyone tries to talk me out of it.