Our Trip

I posted my pictures of this trip on facebook, so I'm not going to repost them here. This was our spring break trip to Europe.

Day 1

Sunday. After church we came home, frantically finished packing, and then took a late afternoon flight to Munich. Ethan and Noah and I sat together, and Scott sat with Meredith. She was the best traveler of us all - - not a peep out of her. She is such a happy little girl! We slept pretty well on the flight and arrived the following morning. Somehow all her diapers got packed with

Day 2

Monday. Usually after a long flight we like to head straight for a hotel, but today was a little different. The flight was the last one we took as non-revenue passengers, because our benefits expired April 1st. We wanted to leave earlier, but the flights were too full. So we had to shorten our trip just a bit. It worked out fine, but we were pretty tired and gross feeling by the end of the day! We got our luggage and picked up our rental car and then headed to Neueschwanstein Castle, about a 2 hour drive. The weather was great, sunny and cool (I don’t like it too hot, especially when we’re hiking around). Scott got a great little mini-van for us and we were able to fit everything in (amazing!) Noah sat in the far back with his backpack full of random toys. Ethan and Meredith sat in the middle row, and Ethan did a great job of looking after his baby sister. He was so helpful throughout the trip, I don’t know what we would have done without him. Scott and I sat in the front and used his Garmin (GPS) and the car’s navigation system and did a pretty good job of not getting lost. Even with the GPS I would have been terrified of driving all over (7 countries!) but Scott did great. Even on the autobahn, where cars were passing at incredible speeds. I did pound the imaginary brake a little bit, but Scott was patient with my back-seat driving, and I did help out a little bit looking for signs and things.

What a beautiful drive we had! In some ways I wish it had been later in spring, the grass was green and a few flowers were up, but not many. On the other hand there were much fewer tourists and the weather didn’t get too hot. I would love to go back sometime in late spring, though, to see the blossoms.

We parked at the bottom of a steep hill and then hiked up to see the castle. Our incentive for Noah was the possibility of seeing “the Beast” - - he just saw the Broadway show and was very excited about the enchanted castle. The views from the top were beautiful, and it felt great to stretch our legs after so many hours of sitting. We did a guided tour of the castle, which was built by “Mad” King Ludwig in the late 1800s. I was amazed at what great shape it was in. The murals on the walls were gorgeous. Ludwig was obsessed with Wagner and had several of the rooms painted to represent different operas, like Tristan and Isolde, Lohengrin, and Parsifal. Everything was quite ornate. King Ludwig may have been crazy, but he did build a very beautiful castle - - it was one of 3 he had built, and I would have liked to see the others. I was interested in learning about his life!

We got back in the car and drove on to Dornbirn, Austria.

Day 3

Tuesday. We got up, ate at the hote,l and drove to Appenzel, Switzerland. We were hoping to be able to see Sonja Elkuch, but she didn’t respond to our email. We loved the town though. We went to a couple of the most amazing florist shops I’ve ever seen (and you all know how much I’ve always wanted to be a florist). Easter is really big in Europe and the decorations were wonderful. In Switzerland, especially, the displays were so elegant and beautiful. We had a mediocre lunch (the Swiss aren’t known for their food, except for specialty items like chocolate and cheese, and everything is so expensive!) But we finished up with delicious gelato, a family favorite. And then Scott discovered a shop devoted entirely to cheese. It smelled so bad inside! Just like an old, forgotten baby bottle. But the cheese was very good and we all enjoyed our little snack, especially the boys.

We drove through Liechtenstein and took a few pictures, but really didn’t have time to stop and see much. I wish we could have seen the Elkuchs or Rudisuhlis, but maybe another time.

Day 4

Wednesday. Got up and checked out after breakfast. We first drove to Innsbruck, Austria, specifically to see the alpine zoo. Again, we had a lovely day. It rained just a little bit, but not enough to spoil our fun. Thanks to our portable DVD players, the kids were awesome in the car. Scott made some fun CDs to listen to as well. Anyway, the alpine zoo was pretty neat. It probably qualifies as the world’s steepest zoo, since it is basically built right into the mountainside. The specialty, of course, was alpine animals. They did have some farm animals too, and I took pictures of the goats, and a really ratty looking sheep. While I was doing that a cow mooed very loudly and scared Noah. He screamed and ran down the hill hollering and waving his arms. It was pretty funny. He has ridden elephants and a camel and not been fazed, but the cow freaked him out.

We saw some other fun animals, including a lovely brown bear. Noah just loves zoos, and it was a big bribe to keep him happy on the plane. We had lunch there in Innsbruck, and would have liked to spend more time there, it’s a cute little town. Our pizza was wonderful, best I’ve had in a long time. And of course we had to have some more gelato. A day without gelato in Europe is a wasted day, in my opinion.

We had to leave quickly in order to get to Balzano, Italy, before it’s natural history museum closed. There they have an exhibit of the world’s oldest man, Otzi. Ethan had learned all about him in school last year so it was very interesting to see him in real life (so to speak). He was found on the border of Italy and Austria (just barely on the Italy side). Extensive scientific tests have been done on him to show how he lived, what he ate, and what his life and death were like. Along with the mummy itself they have all of the clothing and tools found with him, as well as a fount of information about him. It was very well done, and only a little creepy.

We drove on into Italy and stayed in Padua (Padova). It took us longer than we expected to get there. We drove through miles and miles of tunnels, right through the mountains (the Dolomites). It was beautiful watching the sun set, but we were pretty tired by the time we finally got to our hotel!

The next day we went to Venice. Scott and I went 6 years ago and it was so romantic. Not so much with kids. It took forever to find the train station and park, and we’d decided to take the stroller, which was probably a mistake, since the streets are all cobblestone and there are a million stairs. It did help with Noah though, he got pretty tired of all the walking. Scott carried Meredith in our little baby bjorn and she did well. It wasn’t that fun though, because it was very crowded and I’d forgotten how much Italians smoke. And then it started to rain pretty hard. So it wasn’t the most fun day of the trip, but at least Ethan got to see Venice, and we did get some pretty great pictures. And of course we had gelato again.

more tomorrow . . .

Marching Forth

I’m writing this from Dornbirn, Austria. I wanted to get it done before we left on our spring break trip, but we were just too busy. We’re having a lazy evening in our hotel, so it’s a perfect time to write. I’m sitting here in my room with Noah and Meredith (Ethan is in the other room). The rooms aren’t very big, but one whole wall is windows and the view is beautiful. Tree covered hills, green grass, and lots of white houses with red roofs. It’s lovely.

March started out wonderfully with a trip to Utah to visit Beebs. This was one of the few trips I’ve taken all by myself. It felt weird to just pack one tiny little suitcase. I missed Scott and the kids, but it was sure nice to fly solo! I had to check in 2 big bags (Mom and Dad’s old red luggage) filled with hand-me-downs from Meredith to Elise and a bunch of cute stuff I got on a huge sale at Children’s Place for Beebs and Heidi. Also a lot of the boys’ old clothes which fit Weston and Aidan.

I don’t know how Beebs juggles 4 kids, but she does it well! It was so much fun to see her! We went shopping and I bought Meredith an Easter dress. Beebs made about a thousand pancake balls for me - - she is such a great cook (also yummy Café Rio salad!) And we had fun just talking and watching “The Office.” Heidi came down on Friday night and the two of us and Milena went to the OneHeart concert in Provo. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much, music-wise, but it was fantastic! And thanks to Heidi’s celeb-status we had great seats. I had a blast and was also very touched by the pictures of orphanages. I feel honored to be peripherally involved in such a worthwhile organization! I’m in awe of all that Dushku does, and all that she and Heidi did to start OneHeart up. Great job guys!

Saturday was shopping day for Heidi, Milena, Rowan, Beebs, Elise and I. Boy are those babies sweet! Elise is such a little dolly, and Rowan is so good-tempered. Elise looked so tiny compared to Rowan and I missed how tiny Meredith once was. It was fun to watch Rowan’s progress because he’s so close in age to Meredith.

We had a fun lunch at Chik-fil-A, one of my all time favorites. Great food and wonderful service, and I love that they’re closed on Sundays! We don’t have them in Chicago, so it’s a tradition to go there when I’m in Utah. Then we shopped at several different places, including Target, where we wore bunny ears all around the store. Very mature. And our trip wouldn’t be complete without a trek to Costco. By the way, they now carry a type of almond snack called Mrs. May’s and they are so delicious!

Mom and Dad and Hilary and Uncle Adam came over for a while to Beebs’ house and it was enjoyable to talk to them. And Heidi and Beebs and I had so much fun playing cards and eating snacks and laughing (mostly at each other).

I was bummed that I had to leave Sunday morning before church, because I wanted to see Elise get blessed and visit more with family, but it was a good thing I did, because I had to fly through San Francisco and it took me all day to finally get home. I was so happy to see my boys and my baby! And I think Scott had a renewed appreciation for all the housework I do (I won’t mention the state of the house when I got there . . .)

The next week was my turn to play single parent, Scott had meetings in Arizona and St. Louis and then went to Paris (for fun) with our friend John. I would have been fine, except I caught a terrible cold (I think I got it from Dad!) After about 10 days of suffering I finally went to the doctor. He said my ears, throat, sinuses and 1 eye were all infected. If I’d waited to go in any longer they would have had to amputate my head! Ha ha. Poor Meredith and Ethan also were sick during the month. I’m so glad spring is finally here and we’ll hopefully all stay healthy for a while!

Scott’s parents recently were called to be leadership missionaries for 18 months in New Zealand! They are really excited to go, and we’re excited to visit them at some point. They came for a quick weekend visit in March and it was so nice to see them! We had an early Easter while they were there, just little fun baskets of goodies for the kids. It was especially nice to have Meredith’s first Easter - - we bought her some really cute little bunny ears! It was also the Pinewood Derby that weekend, so we got Noah’s car ready and went. As is traditional (for the past 5 years, anyway) I made the certificates, and also frosted cookies for the boys. Noah came in 2nd place (actually he tied) and we all had a great time.

Noah is doing well. He took a month of swimming lessons through NISRA and recently started Special Olympics track. In school they’ve been studying animals and where they live, which is right up his alley, since he loves animals so much. A recent favorite phrase is, “no way!” He says it when he thinks something is really cool. We all think Noah is really cool himself. Scott took him to Beauty and the Beast downtown and he said Noah couldn’t have been better-behaved. He was just perfect, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Ethan recently read a book about World War II and became very interested in that era. He also read a book that highlighted both world wars, and is now reading “The Pianist,” which is about a Jewish man who lived in German-occupied Poland. Ethan is a very thoughtful young man. He’s been really trying to show his maturity lately (because he wants a new video game) - - but it has been so nice! He is so willing to help out around the house and with Meredith.

Last Sunday Meredith fell halfway down the stairs before Scott caught her. So scary! It was especially traumatic for Ethan, and now he has appointed himself Meredith’s bodyguard. He sure loves his little sister!

And who wouldn’t love her. She is seriously the best-natured baby in the world. She is so cute, quite tall for her age and with less of a baby face now. She started creeping for about a week and then graduated to crawling. She loves to be active and aware of what is going on around her. Scott thinks she should be in the book of world records for best baby traveler. On our 8 hour flight to Munich she didn’t even fuss once. Somehow the diapers got packed in the checked bags and she had to use Noah’s pull-ups, but it didn’t faze her. She smiles continuously! We are so crazy about our little sweetheart!