Mei Hao

Christmas Morning 2011 Video

2011-12-25T15:23:00.002-06:00

Rough edits of our Christmas morning 2011, coming down the stairs and opening gifts from Grandmas and Grandpas. Notice around minute 2 who finds the scissors first. The bird sound in the background is from "Hedwig" a snowy owl from the Audobon society, apparantly they don't all say "Hoo, Hoo".

Merry Christmas!!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-14T11:29:00.001-06:00

This was the best Trick-or-Treating our neighborhood has ever seen. The house are almost all built now and there are so many more kids! Henry was Sensei Wu (from Lego Ninjago) and Lizzy was Snow White. Her "Tank you! Ha-P Hal-ween" was amazingly cute.

You can kind of hear her lines at the start of the Video.

They got TONS!! of candy so I carried Henry's big bag (which we filld by the end of the night) and he used his hat flipped upside down.

Veterans Day 2011 Program at Henry's school.

2011-11-14T11:27:00.001-06:00

Henry's School put on a Veterans Day program for active duty and veterans in the area. They had all the Veterans sit up on the stage and all 1200 kids from the school packed into the lunch room. It was really sweet and made me feel proud to be a part of the military and proud of the school for teaching the kids to love their country.

A New Party Game for Parents

2011-09-27T09:33:00.001-05:00

A few weeks back, on a Thursday, Henry had a tumble in gym class at school and had to go to the nurses office. When he came home he was still protecting his left shoulder, but didn’t seem be in much pain. We gave him some tylenol and he slept well that night; and we figured he’d be fine in the morning. He was a little sore in the morning so Anna got him a sling on the way to school. He hardly slept Friday night, but seemed to be doing a bit better. Some friends invited us to go up to the Guadelupe river and Henry was his normal self throwing rocks, swimming and jumpin off rocks (with a wince when he landed) in the river, which was barely a stream after 8 months of serious drought. That afternoon, we finally decided to go get an X-ray…

You don’t have to be a Radiologist to figure this one out. I stopped by the ER and they hooked us up with a kids size sling and ACE bandage to secure his arm against his chest with for a week or so. The Orthopod at church says the sling doesn’t do any direct good, but indirectly they slow kids down and keep other kids from tackling them. Which helped us feel better about letting him go two days with a broken clavicle. But when I ruefully admit to letting a radiologists son go two days with a broken bone before getting X-rays, it’s surprising how many parents openly admit they’ve done the same and some even say it like they’re trying to one up me. First, it was 3 days on a wrist, then a week on a toe, with the prize (so far!) going to two months of gymnastics on a broken wrist…though I’m not sure that one really counts since it was more of a slipped growth plate. It was actually kind of fun to hear everybody’s stories…would make a great party game…especially watching the shock and disgust on the faces of those parents who have never been so negligent with their children…yet.

Took Henry back on Saturday for his follow up and it seems to be healing well. The extra bone around the break is called callous and part of the normal healing process. Henry is back to normal life after about 3 weeks now.

If anyone can give two months a run for their money, let me know!

Lizzy know what’s up with Black Licorice

2011-07-09T11:59:00.001-05:00

Euro Day 13

2011-06-17T09:39:00.002-05:00

Thursday May 26 2011
So the rotator flight actually got changed…being a private charter carrier with modern-ish aircraft, usually they’re right on schedule, but the 24 hour delay puts our BWI arrival behind our Southwest tickets home to San Antonio. Same thing happened last time, except it was my fault that time. Anna is starting to get morning sick, so we decided to just head down to the terminal and head back to the states today if possible. There were only 13 seats available on a KC10 (inflight refueling tanker) but we were the lucky ones (no luck actually…just a long time on leave already) and got on.

Our Plane out the Ramstein Terminal window.

Absolutely, positively the coolest flight ever! We climbed up the stairs and the 60 passenger seats were already half full with air crews sprawled out…even a 1-star general in a flight suit (he had a special car drive him to the plane.) The several teams were returning from a 8 week deployment. We had a row to ourselves (with 3 feet of leg room, yay…notice Anna’s crossed legs about 8 inches from the seat in front of her ) in the middle about 15 feet back from the cockpit door which was still open and we had a decent, if limited, view through it.

As I was doubting they we keep it open for take-off, one of the crew asked Anna if she wanted to sit up in the cockpit jumpseat for takeoff! Seriously! I couldn’t believe it. So she jumped up, got seated behind the general who turned out to be one of the pilots, and put on a headset through which she could hear the crew, air traffic control and other planes pilots talking.
After we got above 10,000 feet the boom operator (the guy that directs the gas nozzle into the receiving plane) told Henry to knock on the cockpit door when he was ready. Henry got the same treatment, headset and all.

The boom operator, Sgt Josh Bonner (I think), was so great with Henry answering all his questions. After the cockpit (I took a brief turn up there too, the view is spectacular) he took us back in the cargo hold (only the lower half of the plane holds fuel, there’s cargo in the rest of the top half) …

and then down to the very tail where the boom operator works.

He had Henry get in the operators seat… and push the lever to open the window (still glass…have to keep pressurized )and showed him some pictures on his laptop of them refueling fighter jets.

He then uncovered another window under Henry’s feet (which was a little disconcerting for a Dad that’s afraid of heights). Through the window we could see the English channel that we were flying over and even a large boat on the water.

Henry closed the windows and we headed back up passing the 20 or so spare tires they had brought with them for the deployment…one of which had blown out with a huge gash and back to our seats. Sometimes Space-A is not-so-lucky…but sometimes it is. Truly an unforgettable experience!
We got into McGuire AFB NJ around 7pm. The flight crews families were waiting for them on the tarmac to welcome them home from deployment which was a sweet sight. They all went up on the plane after we got off.

We got our bags, arranged for a van to take us in to the Philadelphia airport where we rented a car then drove to a hotel on the outskirts of Philly. It was 1030pm by now…the kids had fallen asleep on the shuttle and Henry fell back asleep on a chair while waiting for the car.
Our plan for tomorrow is to see some Philly sights in the morning then head down to D.C. to see Dave and Margaret again. Anna’s parents happen to be in town visiting them so it will be like a mini Hedengren reunion.

Euro Day 12

2011-06-17T09:11:00.002-05:00

Wednesday May 25 2011

After sub par pain-au-chocolate—we’re becoming bread snobs, we packed up and headed into Beaune (A) to check out market day. We’ve all the other town’s market day so had to try this one even though it was the small market, not the giant Sunday one.

It took us a while to find it in the maze of streets but once we did we got a half kilo of beautiful cherries and some strawberries so it was worth it.
Lizzie made a mess though. Strawberries and cherries all over her dress and since it was her last clean dress Anna had to go do some shopping. (Anna—Yay!) We found an adorable little sun dress that has gotten her many a second look on the rest of our adventures.

Couldn’t pass up this lime tart before leaving, though.

It was time to start heading back to Germany and the quickest and most scenic route led us through the Alsace region. We stopped for lunch and playgrounds in Colmar(B). The playground was packed with kids since school is out on Wednesdays but the kids had a great time playing with the other kids. Language really doesn’t seem to get in the way when you’re on a playground.

After playing, two crepes, and candy necklaces for the kids we decided to go investigate the two beautiful church’s whose spires we could see from the park. Both were beautiful though we only went in the free one. The kids aren’t always as reverent as could be wished in cathedrals. This cathedral was one of my favorite. It has one of the more beautiful Christ statues I’ve seen, but maybe I just liked that it was a happy, non crucificed Christ benevolently holding his hands out. Kind of like "The Christus" statue at Temple Square in Utah except for in color.

After checking out the church we found some sandwiches and pretzels for lunch. The Alsatian chicken salad sandwich was the favorite of everyone and even though Dell had ordered it he kindly gave it to Anna and Henry and ate the curry chicken Panini instead. There were a few accordion players trolling the town center playing the stereotypical French accordion music…which seemed perfectly normal here.
The pretzels turned out to be a little hard but were perfect for feeding the pigeons. Henry and Lizzie were in heaven and Lizzie was especially cute when she crouched down in her super low squat and just hung out there at pigeon level watching the birds. A German couple stopped to watch her for a while. I tell you, it’s a great sun dress we got her.
Then a last ice cream and back to the car. We’re stuck in some pretty bad traffic now. In all our driving we haven’t seen any accidents, maybe the first one is up ahead.

…Well we made it back to Ramstein (C) and were able to get one of the family rooms. It’s feels like we’re already home with a Chili’s around the corner, prices in dollars and everyone speaking English, although I keep wanting to speak French to people. The room is only available for one night and the Rotator is flying out the day after so we’ll see able where to stay in the morning.

Euro 2011 Day 11

2011-06-07T18:39:00.001-05:00

Tuesday May 24 2011

Just one more push…a word about camping in France.

It’s not KOA, National Forest or National Park camping like in the US. The places are generally quite nice and predominantly used by retired folks in European sized campers (about a half as big as the normal US motor home or trailer.) They all have little playgrounds of varying quality and usually some other activity like mini-golf (which Henry and I played this morning), ping-pong, Wi-Fi, or a volleyball court. Most have real restaurants, like the one we ate at tonight. We’ve paid between 16 euro and 36 euro (the Chateaus costing more) per night. And they all have hot showers blocks with push buttons that provide about 20 seconds of hot water. So on the mornings when the air in the shower house is still chilly when after twenty seconds ends it’s really hard to resist the desire for just one more push.

Croissants, pain-au-chocolate, a quick round of mini-golf with Henry and we hit the road. We have dual GPS guidance (ours from home and the one that came with the car…we call the Hans and Leisel) which allows us to avoid the freeways and confidently travel the backroads, skipping the toll booths and seeing the villages and countryside. This morning we drove by several Loire valley strawberry farms while they were being harvested that looked so good I was tempted to pull over and beg them to sell me some. I missed a turn the GPS twins recommended but decided to drive on as the backroads all seemed to be pretty closely interconnected and luckily came across a farmers stand. We picked up 2 pints of perfect, freshly picked, heirloom variety (not gigantic, tasteless varieties) that were absolutely delicious. Lizzy was wild about them and almost ate a whole pint all by herself.

We continued on passing through cute little village after village that subtly shifted in architectural style at the kilometers ticked away before finally arriving at the Guedelon Castle site (Point B) in Burgundy.

This is the castle, almost halfway done, which has been under construction for just the last 15 years using only 13^th century tools and techniques. It was awesome. What was surprising was that laying the stones was actually the easy part, quarrying, shaping and cutting the stones is the hard part. They had workstations set up for each of the components for building the castle—quarrying the stone, shaping the stones, basket weavers, woodcutters, carpenters, tilemakers, cloth dyers, blacksmith (stone cutters wear out several tools a day they say), mortar pit, farm, stable, and the old wooden fort that usually existed before the castle. (Watch the video at their website for a better feel) I wish we spoke better French, because people were asking the workers questions about their jobs and materials.

Henry’s favorite was watching them make the mortar….the kids are volunteers, the big guy is full time.

… Lizzy liked the donkeys and the wandering dogs…

…Anna liked the basketweaver…

… and I liked the human powered cranes with two workers walking in hamster wheels to provide the force.

At the tavern we all enjoyed perhaps the cheapest meal for four ever eaten in Europe since the introduction of the Euro—a surprising delicious 4 euro chicken stew and a bunch of hard rolls. There were tons of schoolchildren and a decent number of tourists there and we had a great time. They guys seemed to be well on their way toward realizing someones insane dream…maybe it would work in America :)

We drove another hour to Vezelay (point C) with it’s pilgrimage church famous for relics purported to be Mary Magdalenes bones (the Da Vinci Code referenced the apochryphal belief that she ended up in Provence, France).

There was some sort of service going on with cowled women doing some sequence of bows and such so I took the squeal-prone kids out and let Anna further investigate (not close enough to take a picture without intruding).

We also finally got our Christmas tree ornament for the trip here…we get an ornament for each trip we go on which makes decorating the Christmas tree a warm flood of memories from around the world.

After Vezelay we continued east through Burgundy on the denouement of our French tour and stopped for the night in Beaune. Rick had recommended some expensive-ish restaurants here in wine country, but when we saw that the campground restaurant was open, pretty busy, reasonably priced and that there were other kids there we decided to side with convenience and give it a try. Turned out to be pretty good…especially the huge salads that preceeded our main courses. People say American portions are big, but when you order a “Menu” (a 3 course value meal) we got a lot more food than we would have at an American restaurant.

Euro Day 10

2011-06-05T09:47:00.001-05:00

May 23 2011Day 10

First a few more roadside poppy pictures.

We slept just outside of Angers (point A) in a nearly empty campground, may have opened recently for the summer or something. Although there were no warm croissants waiting for us in the morning, the manager was very friendly. In fact, when I asked for recommendations for the best Chateau to visit in the Loire she wrote down a list then suggested a campsite a friend of hers ran near Cheverny, one of the popular Chateau. She also got us directed to a nearby bakery before a severe butter deficiency set in. With a bag of the standard croissants, chocolate-au-pain, and a brioche in case of emergency, we headed out Chateau-ing.

Our first stop was in Chinon (Point B) where a fortress, that at various times had housed Richard the II (Lionheart), Charles the II (France) and Joan of Arc, sat perched on a hill above vineyards and the Loire. The castle had been partially reconstructed after falling into disrepair but still had a great feel to it.

View from the parking with some nice gorse (the yellow shrub).

Upon entry we were told to swipe the guidebook they gave us against these “E” symbols which would start English narrations for the areas we were in. Very clever bit of technology. There were also videos depicting events and people in the castles projecting on artful little screens set in the middle of the rooms which we all loved.

I think our favorite part was climbing up narrow tower staircases to the tower-tops then down even narrower passages to the dank dungeons.

Beautiful views of the Loire and Vineyards from the towers.

After Chinon we drove through quaint villages, pastures, and vineyards with their caves (we think it means wine cellar) to Usse for a quick look at the Chateau the inspired the Sleeping Beauty story (that’s two Disney castles we’ve got covered with Tangled being copied from Mont-Saint-Michel).

Then on the Chenonceaux (the bridge castle) with a brief stop for some pastries…still haven’t tried all the ones we want yet and only a few days left. At Chenonceaux (Point C) we first explored the maze…

…then walked by the stables…

…the cute gardeners cottage which seemed to be bursting with wisteria…

…and the formal gardens…

…before getting to the castle (partially under repair)…

…which spans the river Cher. Wow, an 8 picture sentence. The river was low due to the weather.

The ornate rooms were kind of standard castle fare, but the really cool part was the kitchens. Several rooms filling and spanning the piers in the river made of light cream stone with wooden furniture…

a big black stove that actually seems like it wouldn’t be too hard to cook on…

…and gleaming copper pots, pans and pudding moulds. Wouldn’t mind incorporating some of those themes into the dream house…or dream-chateau. On the way out we stopped to let the kids play in the kids area…

and stroll through the vegetable garden with paths bordered by apple trees just two feet high (Anna knows the technical term for this somehow…maybe all the Regency period books she reads).

At this point we had decided to cut out the Dordogne portion of the planned trip due the arriving a few days later than expected and not wanting to drive the extra 8 hours over two days it would take to see it (plus $200 in gas), so we put it on the list for the next visit…maybe in two years…and went looking for a sit down dinner. We felt like Italian and found a suitable place in Blois (pronounced Blah). The kids meal came with a plate sized thin pizza, juice and ice cream (actually a decent price despite being 8 euros), I got their antipasta which had 4 little cups of toppings for the crunchy bread. I really don’t know what was in the things, but it tasted good and seemed pretty fancy-doodle to me…even had some kind of fish eggs in one. Anna had a three-cheese penne which turned out to be pretty strong flavored and I had a delicious eggplant lasagna. We all shared the kids ice cream for desert—a scoop of pistachio and one of white-chocolate.

Another roadside Loire chateau…Belvedere I think.

We decided to camp at the recommended campsite near Chiverny. The manager was a happy friendly guy even before I gave him the message from the campsite manager in Anger. We’re getting pretty speedy at setting up camp…under 10 minutes to have everything ready…and let the kids play at the playground for a while.

They even have a common room available with Wifi and plugs which makes this a more comfortable, if less scenic, place to log than any others I’ve had recently. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to visiting a castle that is being constructed from scratch by a bunch of history buffs using only 13^th century techniques which is halfway complete with only another 13 years to go. As I’ve been toying with this idea of building a medieval village as a hobbyist/tourist attraction somewhere in the States it may be useful. Reality check—I know to do it the way it would need to be done would probably be prohibitively expensive, but dreaming is free :) …and hey, these guys seem to be doing it.

Euro 2011 Day 9

2011-06-03T18:27:00.002-05:00

May 22 2011 Day 9
First a few more pictures from the Chateau we camped at last night. Great playground, by the way.

I got on the internet for the first time since DC at the chateau to try posting a blog post and check where nearby churches were and found one on the way to Mont Saint Michel, but it didn’t start until 1120am. So we slept in a little and took time to enjoy our warm croissants and pain-au-chocolate (croissant with chocolate chips) with a light drizzle coming down outside the tent. So far the only rain we’ve had. The drizzle lasted less than an hour and we got packed up and headed to Countences (Point B)for sacrament meeting.

The meeting house (a retrofitted shop) was nestled a corner of a square that used to be the fish market which sat between two grand cathedrals, choir practice happened to be going on in one…just a few people, nothing grand. The LDS branch was tiny!! Just 25 members on the rolls of which about 15 are active. There were about 15 people in the tiny little chapel including us, another visiting American couple (from American Fork, UT) and a senior missionary couple from Idaho. The senior couple were the speakers, the Sister went first and barely spoke any French so the Branch President translated for her. Her husband had both worked and served as a missionary previously in France and spoke pretty fluently. The kids were pretty good (they don’t understand much even when it is in English) and ended up playing with the other kids present who were similar ages in the row behind us.

After church we drove toward Mont-Saint-Michel (Point C) which you could see rising ghostily from the bay even miles away. The tides are huge here (up to a 50 foot swing) and so when the tide is out there is an enormous tidal plain. On the parts that rarely get water there were sheep grazing peacefully with nothing but the wind around them and the island abbey fortress in the distance.

We parked a 5 minute walk away (no room for cars inside) and walked in playing tracking games in the wet sand with Henry. The island basically consists of walls surrounding a single main street (up to 15 feet wide in some places!) that winds it’s way up the abbey.

Henry jumping from one of the walls

Cool Old elevator system to get stuff up to the Abbey. We explored the street and played on the ramparts but skipped the actual abbey (seen lots of free churches…why pay 12 euros a person to see another just because it’s on an island). On the way down we got ice cream before heading to Dinan.

Dinan (Point D) is a cute town in Brittany that is located as far up the Ranges river as sea ships could travel so it thrived as a trading town, but didn’t grow a whole lot once some bridges got built. We followed a Rick Steves walking tour through town with a stop to climb the old bell-tower for amazing views of the city with it’s slate roof tiles.

Anna and Lizzy climbing up through the trapdoor to the belltower lookout.

Henry kept his ears covered because the bell sounds at the top of the hour and it was 5 to.
In the old days you paid property taxes (guess they had them back then too) based on the sq footage of the ground level, so clever merchants built larger upper levels for some tax-free space so much of the town resembles Pisa.
On the steep walk down to the port we decided to attempt a sit-down meal with the kids and ordered gallettes and crepes which were just ok, the griddle needed to be cleaned or something, but the rustic restaurant with the owners dogs circling (ala my old dog Kirby) for table scraps was fun. After dinner we stopped for a bit more ice cream before heading south to the Loire. We camped that night in Angers (Point E) More poppies on the way.

Euro 2011 Day 8

2011-06-02T18:08:00.001-05:00

May 21 2011

With the exception of a few perfect snow days skiing, I don’t think I’ve had a more pleasant morning than this one in my life. We slept in ‘til about 0830, actually, the church bells rang at 0700, but after giving Anna her shot we both snuggled back up in our sleeping bags until 0830, when I remembered that super-suave French accent man had said that the local bakery delivered hot croissants to the office at 0830 and that was enough to get me up. We were pretty much out of clean clothes so I started some laundry and picked up some croissants (half with chocolate) which were perfect. Anna had gotten cold in the night and not slept well, so I wandered around the campground/chateau grounds with the kids talking to the chickens and ducks with them.

The sun was out and it had really warmed up to perfect day temperature. After showering (this place had a few family shower rooms)and packing up we rented some bikes and biked around the campground (I had promised Lizzy who kept reminding us with “Bike?”….”Bike?”….”Bike?”. ) After the ride we set out with a plan to stop by the nearby village for lunch.

The village of Blangy-la-Chateau turned to be unspeakably cute and we decided to just get something quick from the bakery. This bakery was the source of our perfect croissants a few hours earlier and basically is what every other bakery in the world tries to be like. There were all kinds of bread loaves on the back wall, baguettes sticking vertically out of a wooden bucket, buttery croissants and other bread specialties left of the counter and a full assortment of precisely prepared pastries on the other. Behind the counter was a 60 year old French baker-ess who didn’t speak any English. Being a bread person, this was heaven. We got a loaf of bread, a half-baguette length thing with ham and cheese baked into it and a slice of blackberry crumble. We decided to head back to the Chateau and had lunch on the lawn in front. While we were eating the owners girls (who live in the chateau…yes, we both considered the possibility of Teleradiology from a Norman Chateau) who were about a year older than Lizzy and Henry came out and played with them. Overall it was just one of those places you never want to leave and I’m pretty sure we’ll be back.

(the picture doesn’t do it justice…so I stole the one below from the web)

After lunch we drove a ways North to the Normandy beaches. Patches of bright red poppies showed up along the highways and the margins of the fields. The American Cemetery at Omaha beach (B on the map below) was everything is should be as a memorial to the dead. It focused on the lives of the soldiers, their strengths and their contributions in a modern visitors center with lots of video and audio. The 10,600 perfectly aligned crossed sitting atop the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, which France has given to the US, was a beautiful and fitting tribute to those brave men.

(the edge of the cemetery…Omaha Beach is seen at the right edge)

We tried to get Henry to understand, as well as ourselves, just what courage it took to jump out of those boats or airplanes under heavy fire and fulfill your objective with chaos and death all around. I got a better idea of it by visiting, but just a glimpse, and I guess I don’t really want Henry to ever really understand what that experience is like.

After the cemetery we drove down to the beach and walked along a ways. The kids were tired and hungry by this point so we didn’t stay long. On the way home we gave into the desire for some familiarity and went to McDonalds for dinner. They must make a killing over here because the food cost more in Euro’s than in dollars even with a 1.5 conversion rate.

We had set up camp before hitting the cemetery at the Chateau de Martragny (C on the map) which was just beautiful in just about every way. I’ll just let the pictures describe it. I had to steal a rare quiet hour alone and sat at the edge of the reflecting pool catching up on the trip log while the sun set. I’m getting kind of close to accomplishing my professional goals—medical school, residency, etc—and wondered what kind of work oriented goals I would be setting after and having a little Chateau seems like a pretty good one right now.

(loved the little cottage)

Sigh…sad to leave this place too.

Euro 2011 Day 7

2011-05-31T18:41:00.003-05:00

May 20 2011 Day 7
Paris. Wow. Honestly, I started today with something of a “cheese-eating surrender monkey” opinion of the French, but I was totally impressed with Paris. When I drive down Provo Canyon, I often think to myself, if this canyon were anywhere in the country outside of the Mountain West it would be a National Park. Walking around Paris I thought the same thing about the buildings, in a city full of beautiful buildings, only the best make the tourist books.
We took a shuttle from our campground (no leering this morning, whew) to the metro where we figured out how to buy a ticket from the machine on only the third attempt and took it to the Louvre station. The building is immense and beautiful…except the modern art the Europeans feel they need to add to old things…not a fan of I.M. Pei’s pyramid, but they probably made him do it. We didn’t actually go in, parents with 2 and 6 year olds don’t get much out of huge, expensive museums. It’s going on the list of places to save for later.

From there we walked along the Seine to Notre Dame which has an average exterior, but the interior is probably the most impressive I have seen. I’m not sure exactly what it was, that made it so great, but I think it’s a combination of the scale (one of the largest and tallest), the interior design and the sun streaming through the stained glass windows. We sat in the chairs for 15 minutes (Lizzy had to go inspect a “Jesus” picture). Henry like the statue of St Denis on the outside holding his severed head in his hands.

After Notre Dame we walked to Luxembourg Gardens which were just beautiful and had the best kids playground I have ever seen. The zip-line, climbing ropes and sandbox were awesome along with sundry other playsets. Must not have the same type of lawyers in Europe as America. The kids didn’t want to leave after almost 1.5 hours, but we had enjoyed our time and had more to see.

I hadn’t realized the scale of things on the maps we’d looked at before. Most of the other towns we’d visited were pretty easy to walk 5-10 minutes between the sights, but Paris was much bigger. Even the normal buildings between the famous ones were well designed and decorated. Every street we walked on was pleasant. But we had walked enough at this point and hopped on the metro to Montmartre and the Sacre Cour basilica.
Luckily we chose to get off at a different station than the one Rick Steves recommended and thus unknowingly avoided surfacing from the Metro in the red light district. The basilica is on a steep hill just North of the river and there are a few hundred steps leading up which were a tough climb…Lizzy is big on doing steps all by herself right now and did almost two thirds of them before letting me carry her. Henry on the other hand took most of them at a run. At the top there was a mini concert on the steps and a bunch of Bangladeshi cheap souvenir vendors that would scatter when their lookout spotted the police almost like it was a game put on for the tourists.

After the cathedral we grabbed a ham and cheese crepe (cheapest calories in town, we’ve kind of given up enjoying sit down meals with the kids, rarely turns out well) which we enjoyed in front of a very talented bass playing street performer.

We wandered down the back side of the hill and took the Metro to the Arc de Triumph where we watched another street performer whose best trick was hopping on one hand in step with his music.

We then walked down the Champ de Elysses/ rue de diane to the Eifel tower. Lizzy had fallen asleep on the way and not wanting to repeat the previous night where she napped too late as we drove I rested in the park with her while Henry and Anna climbed the stairs to the second terrace or the Eifel Tower. Henry was a trooper and climbed up and down in record time. Much of the climb conversation consisted of how many scoops of ice cream such a feat deserved so once back on solid ground we quickly found an ice cream vendor and purchase 3 scoops—one for mom, two for Henry. Pistachio, Lemon, Chocolate.

Pretty much tucker-less at this point we headed back to the Blois de Bologne, picked up the car and headed Northwest towards the Normandy beaches. Driving to our campsite about 15 Km off the freeway we went for about a mile on this one lane road that was so completely tunneled in by trees I had to turn on the lights to see. We arrived to camp at the Chateau de Brevedent after sunset, the reception worker noticed me knocking at the office door and came out from the bar in the chateau to greet us. I started with my two-weeks worth of French, but his English was perfect, more than perfect actually, it was the kind of accent that make women swoon. Anna stayed in the car : ) , and we got camp set up in the chilly night.

Euro Day 6

2011-05-30T08:03:00.002-05:00

May 19 2011 Day 6
We slept in. On the way to Ghent I had gotten so tired we had to pull over in a little town and Anna took the kids for a walk so I could nap for 20 minutes. (Anna--the walk was wonderful. We saw horses, chickens, and just wandered little streets.) We got in and got the tent set up around 1030pm and to sleep around 11pm. Anna and I woke up around 6 but went back to sleep. Wefinally rolled out of our bags around 1040 in the morning, showered (and left behind my razor), packed and headed for Brugges, Belgium (point B) by noon.

We both really liked Brugges. The city had been the prosperous center of power in Belgium during up to the late 18^th century when the Belgian king and his Hapsburg wife dying in rapid succession thus giving power over to the Austrian empire. To add injury to insult, the port silted up over the next hundred years economically isolating the city which led to it’s preservation while other cities modernized during this century.

Both the churches we went to were beautiful. The Church of the Sacred Blood (a vial of red crusader loot is purported to be the blood of Christ) had been gutted by Napoleons “secular” troops, but had been beautifully painted in vivid colors.

The Sacred Blood was actually the lucky one, another church across the square was torn down and it’s bricks sold. It also had an earlier chapel attached with a very ancient feel due to its simplicity and dimness. The Sacred Blood was a big draw for many of the people visiting the church. A female priest who spoke English, Flemish, French, and who knows what else invited anyone who wanted to come up and pray over the relic to do so. I enjoyed watching people reverently climb the throne to have their chance to pray. We just watched and enjoyed the art. One series showed events leading to Christ’s crucificiation and burial. Henry correctly pointed out that they were missing the most important part though—Christ’s resurrection.

Henry found out how door knocker rings can be both fun and dangerous if you're not careful where you leave your fingers.

Lizzy leads the way!

We walked along the city canal (the highway for goods brought in from the sea) to the Church of our Lady which was beautiful in the traditional gothic way and had a beautiful Madonna and Child statue by Michelangelo, the only statue of his to leave Italy.

There was also a coloring table in the back corner for the kids which Henry and Lizzy sat at for about 20 minutes giving them and us a nice break.

After the church we walked to the Bejinhof, about an acre sized walled convent community in the city) which consisted of two rings of houses and chapels around a central part with daffodils and trees. All very calm and beautiful, except for Henry jumping around to catch the cottonwood fluff that was floating through the air.

An ancient nun walked by and seemed happy to smile with Henry and especially Lizzy.
Before leaving for Paris we stopped for Flemish beef stew with fries, Belgian waffles with chocolate and strawberries, and the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had.

The waffles were good, but the thing that makes them better than a normal raised Belgian waffle recipe was the real chocolate chocolate sauce. Yum.

After lunch we hopped in the car and headed toward Paris. At a gas station along the way I got to use the French I’ve been learning in the car for the last 3 weeks which was fun. It even cost less than $100 to fill up the car today…the $60 toll for the freeway from Lille to Paris was a kick in the pants though. We hit some traffic but still got to our campsite on the banks of the Seine in the Bois de Bologne well before dark. The campground is kind of loud, dingy and Anna was not happy about getting seriously leered at by backpackers on her way to the Ladies restroom. But it is close to the center of town and we’re looking forward to tomorrow if the kids ever fall asleep…the price for sleeping in.

Euro 2011 Day 5

2011-05-29T08:05:00.003-05:00

May 18 2011 Day 5

We woke up around 6am thanks to the jet lag to a chilly morning (50 F). When I say we, I mean Anna and I, packed up everything we could then finally had to wake the kids up. On cold nights Henry would just slide deep into his mummy bag (not sure how he kept breathing). We hadn’t gotten any Euro change yet and hadn’t realized we needed coin for the showers so we just packed up and headed north on a 3 hour drive to Holland to see the Keukenhoff Bulb Garden (point B on the map)

We saw dikes, old style windmills, and reclaimed land along the way, but as we got near the area we saw lots of green tulip fields with no blooms and started getting concerned. It was the week before the garden closed, but we saw tour busses in the parking lot and they happily took our 45e (70$) so we figured they must stagger their bulbs so they would have blooms. We were largely wrong. They had a few small beds of tulips in crates, but due to the unusually warm spring everything in the ground bloomed early (hottest in 50 years…bet that Global Warming will be the favored term instead of just Climate Change this year in Europe).

The gardens were still reasonably nice gardens and they had a great playground for the kids where Henry rode a zip line, climbed on a ropes course sort of contraption, and had a falcon zip 3 feet above his head (on my shoulders) during a Raptor show.

Lizzy liked talking to the animals at the little petting zoo and the poffertjies.

There was an indoor display area full of giant lillies from the Jurassic period (not really, just seemed dinosaur sized) that filled the air with an amazing scent.

We left feeling pretty disappointed and irked they hadn’t notified us before buying our tickets or cut the price and headed to Delft (C on the map). Delft was cute, we walked around the square and saw the two historic churches in the City (the “Old” and “New” church).

The “New” Church is where William of Orange (namesake for William and Mary college) and all his heirs were buried—so new means about 15^th century here. The style said a lot about the Dutch, very simple and efficient inside with wooden crosspieces supporting a wooden ceiling that gave it a slightly Norse vibe.

We had lunch at a little café with dutch pancakes—plate sized thin pancakes (almost crepes) with butter and powdered sugar or syrup. Oh, bikes and bikes lanes everywhere, big bikers those dutch.

That evening we drove to Belgium and after we couldn’t find anyone at the nice campground we had planned to stay at we found one in Ghent (point D). We got set up there and popped out for a big bag of Fritjes (Belgians are big into ”French Fries”). The cheap and huge bag was some nice hot filling food after car snacks.

Euro 2011 Day 4

2011-05-29T07:24:00.001-05:00

May 17 2011

We were one of the first 20 people to get a spot on the flight due to already having been on leave for 3 days at that point. The flight left around 12:30 am and Lizzy fell asleep before takeoff with Henry dropping right after. They both slept until about 40 minutes before we landed in Ramstein where, knowing where to stand during the customs briefing we were one of the first ones in line and got our bags right away…but things slowed down shortly after that.

The military has a code system for alertness level-FPCon Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Delta kind of like the old Terror Threat Color. Alpha is normal, at Lackland we’ve been at Beta since Osama Bin Laden was killed, I’ve never seen Delta before. Ramstein was at Charlie when we arrived then as I was picking up the rental car they started an exercise raising the level to Delta. That meant the equipment rental and cell phone stores had to send their German employees home and close if needed. Not a huge deal, slowed us down 40 minutes and we were going to rent two sleeping mats for the kids and get a European SIM card for our phone so we could make campground reservations, but so far we’ve gotten by ok.

We got our food and everything squared away and headed toward Koblenz around 5pm. Our friends the Suhrens just moved from Texas to village on an island in the Rhine, Niederwerth, so Gehrig could go to Business School.

It was a beautiful little village on the river with wild swans and cygnets (Lizzie’s animal book says baby swans are called cygnets)…actually maybe not so wild, since we were able to feed them a roll left over from lunch.

We met Laura and walked around the village, along the Rhine and some of the surrounding fields with her then chatted with them after it got dark.

Anna and Laura used to go grocery shopping together taking Ella and Lizzy who seemed happy to see each other again too.

We didn’t want to have our jet-lagged kids up at odd hours in the night in their little apartment so we headed to a nearby campground (in Bad Bresig) for the night. The campground sat in a canyon with grassy strip to place tents along a small gurgling stream that fed into the Rhine about ½ mile downstream.

May 16 2011 Day 3

2011-05-27T07:05:00.004-05:00

May 16 2011 Day 3

Woke up at Dave and Margarets, had a pleasant morning with them and got some laundry done (I know, only 2 days worth, but who knows when we’ll get another good chance). We went to see their new place (set to close June 27), a beautiful little colonial style townhouse in a great neighborhood...rats, just realized we forgot to take any pictures.

Then on to the DC Zoo (which is free with free street parking, lots are lots more) and saw probably the coolest Zoo exhibit I’ve ever seen. There were two thick ropes strung between a string of towers about 30-40 feet above the ground and going over the walkway between two enclosures. (Pictures to follow). We looked up and saw a super-shaggy Orangatang hanging over one of the enclosures which then proceeded to monkey swing over the path to the cheers of the gathered onlookers far below and climb down the other side.

One of the more interesting exhibits was a report on a not-so-secret government project Dave discovered to create a human-lizard hybrid. Gotta love DARPA.

After the Zoo we had Gyros and made a quick visit to the National Cathedral before we had to head up to the Baltimore airport. That’s where we’re at right now in the USO kids room watching Shrek. Our flight leaves at 00:20 am with roll call at 1030 (about 30 minutes). There’s almost 80 seats available so we’re pretty much guaranteed a spot. Yay!! Spending the weekend in DC instead of Germany may have been a bit disappointing initially, but we got to see Dave and Margaret and Olin and just had fun being together as a family. It was perfect.

May 15 2011 Day 2

2011-05-27T06:41:00.003-05:00

May 15 2011 Day 2

After the late night last night we slept in and took our time getting ready and having breakfast. I went and picked up a rental car while Anna got the kids a bath and our stuff repacked. On the way down to D.C. to see Dave and Margaret we came across the Washington D.C. temple which stunningly appears after a bend on the highway. So we stopped at the visitors center for an hour or so. There was a funny article in a California paper after the San Diego temple was built about how Mormons ignore the “separation of Church and Interstate” which also applies to the DC temple...really is beautiful though.

We made it to D&M’s place in around 1:30 and just enjoyed the afternoon and evening chatting and watching the kids play. Lizzy and Olin are only a few months apart and get along quite well for two-year-olds.

We walked around a natural trail area/park that, after 4 months of drought in Texas, seems impossibly lush and the kids played “Pooh-sticks”…yes Dave confirmed that feculent name is indeed what they call it in the Winnie-the-pooh books when you throw a stick in a stream on one side of a bridge and watch it come out the other.

Dave and I are about to play “Call of Duty” with Mark online, nice to have a brother-in-law show up when you need cannon-fodder.

Euro 2011 Day 0 & 1

2011-05-22T01:43:00.005-05:00

Friday May 13

You get what you pay for. We showed up at the Space-Available terminal in San Antonio this morning to find out that the flight had been changed to Rota, Spain and delayed until Saturday. So we made sure we were all squared away for the next day and went back home. Probably just as well, Anna was feeling really sick (a cold) and who really wants to fly in a C-5 on Friday the 13^th? We toyed with the idea of changing plans and just going to Spain, but it was the Tulips in Holland that seal the deal. We called the Dover terminal and they say they have a flight going to Germany tomorrow, so we’ll just switch planes there. Lizzy and Henry both loved watching this Japanese Anime movie “Ponyo” that’s kind of a Japanese version of The Little Mermaid story. Lizzy likes fish I guess.

Saturday May 14

You still get what you pay for. So we showed up earlier than we actually needed to at the terminal…free long-term parking right there a few steps from the door is nice. After waiting a few hours we took a bus across the runway to where the C-5 was parked. Man those are giant planes.

We went up a set of stairs into the cargo bay and then another set of steep stairs/ladder into the seating area. It was cool to see the cargo bay empty, wish we could have taken a better picture.

Pretty comfy, wide seats with lots of leg-room. Lizzy slept most of the way and the rest of us played with our I-things. There's even an escape rope available if things get dicey!

Once we arrive in Dover we find out that the Germany flight has been canceled. So we decided to try for Spain anyway. Unfortunately, we didn’t have ourselves booked all the way through to Rota and a bunch of troops showed up and their gear filled the flight up. So after hanging out in the terminal we got a shuttle van ($150 for all of us for the almost 2 hour drive) to the Baltimore airport where we’ll stay the night and rent a car in the morning to hang out with Dave and Margaret in DC until Monday when we’ll catch the “Rotator” (a commercial charter troop carrier…nice flight). We had a good time with the other passengers while we waited. Only one person was seriously distraught. The kids could care less. Henry played Wii with two other boys for about an hour while we were trying to get out plans sorted out. On the drive over Lizzy went from a novice “raspberry” blower to being able to “pppfffttttt” as well as anyone…silly cute girl.

So we’ve just turned the lights off at the BWI Sheraton. Happy to be in a nice bed instead of sleeping in the Dover terminal, like three other families were doing, waiting for an unscheduled flight to Germany to show up before the next scheduled one on Tuesday. Good luck to them. Look forward to seeing Dave, Margaret and Olin tomorrow. Hope they don’t mind the unexpected visit.

Pictures

2011-04-16T12:01:00.007-05:00

Catching up on the last month or two in pictures:

Henry finally got to have his birthday Beyblade tournament.

We got out to Lost Maples for a night of camping and a little hike in Late March, partly as a practive run for our Europe trip in May... and I don't think we'll be getting much sleep.

Great Splash!

Anna wanted to build these shelves for the playroom. Again I must say that nail-guns/brad-nailers rock. Just one more coat of paint to go until we're done now...pictures to come once we're all finished.
They Like each other. It's sweet.

Made it up to the Guadalupe river last week. Been really droughtly down here so water levels were low...but just about right for the kids.

Great Form.

Cinderlizzy...I know, wrong dress.

Conference Weekend

2011-04-04T00:44:00.002-05:00

Inspired by Genreal Conference this weekend. (General Conference is the twice annual LDS meeting/broadcast where the church leaders speak over four 2 hour sessions and we tune in via satellite, internet or TV/radio). Henry actually paid attention to some parts, partially motivated by rewards from the "Conference Treat Bag". Every time there was a song Lizzy would run over to the computer and wave her hand with the music.

Last Monday, when I got home Henry told me he was ready to ride his bike without training wheels. So I took them off, got him lined up, held on for about three steps and let him go. I wasn't sure what was going to happen since I've never taught someone how to ride a bike before, but as soon as I let go he just took right off ! Here's the video I managed to get once I got over my surprise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwGm557IXQ4

Lizzy's had a big moment tonight when she put "pee in the potty." Henry had no interest in our plumbing until he was 4 1/2, but Lizzy has been copying her GeGe (older brother in chinese and what she calls him) when he sits on the potty for a month or so now...must be a girl thing.

Dell

Henry and the Lego Fiery Furnace-Shadrach, Meshad & Abed-Nego

2011-02-13T11:27:00.004-06:00

Now that church starts at 1pm we've got lots of time Sunday mornings...so much so that retention of sanity requires some creativity. Henry actually came up with this mostly on his own. We reviewed the story before the shoot, but he had it down pretty well beforehand.

Watch the video here on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyEi1yzDKuM

(For accuracy, Nebuchanezzar, after seeing the fellas come out only commanded people to respect the God of Israel, not that they had to pray to Him.)

more Henry

2011-01-31T19:51:00.002-06:00

Tonight after family home evening Henry came up to me and said "Mom, when I get married can my name be turkle?" I said sure (after all by the time he gets married he'll be an adult and if he still wants to be called turkle when he's in his 20s so be it.) When I asked him why he nonchalantly answered "it just sounds cool."
How I love my little boy. He is so fun and so so sweet. Here's how sweet he is. Last night I had a fireside to go to so a neighbor sat with the kids until me or Dell got home. (Dell was on call all weekend.) When Dell and I were doing the turn off all the lights routine Dell went to turn off the light in Henry's room. Henry sleepily called out "mom." When told it was Dad there he handed Dell a card he had made for me. Inside was beautifully written "I love you" and a stack of pokemon cards. In the morning he told me he'd picked out the cutest ones for me. How I love my dear sweet kind hearted little boy!

"Nice job, Dad!"

2011-01-24T08:53:00.002-06:00

Recent Henry quote:

Dad: "Henry, here's one dollar for your allowance and 50 cents for cleaning the banister and baseboards. And I gave you an extra 5 cents because you were so thorough."
Henry: "Oh, thanks Dad! ...Nice job using the word thorough!"

Nothing like praise for your vocabulary from an almost 6 year old.

For Sarah

2011-01-18T20:55:00.002-06:00

I promised my dear friend Sarah S. that I would post something today. (She was threatening to send nasty emails if I didn’t and if you know Sarah you know those are pretty fierce words from one of the nicest people I know.) So for Sarah, and for all of you that haven’t given up on us, here’s a quick summary of the past few months.

Hiked Enchanted Rock with some of the young women from church. These girls had all completed a special challenge to earn the hike and we had a wonderful time.

At the top

Went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Where we seem to have had such a great time we forgot to take any pictures. But we played with both our families and even had all the Dunns gathered together for a big family reunion. Let’s just say it was a full house, lots and lots of fun, and we wish we could see them all more.

For my birthday I came down with the nastiest flu I’d ever had. Three days later it hit the rest of the family. Luckily I was up and crawling at that point. Fevers of 104 plus, nausea, body aches, and it left us exhausted for 2 weeks.

Poor, poor Lizzie resting and trying to keep the fever under control.

Henry and Lizzie spent a lot of time on this couch watching Blue’s Clues, while Dell and I lay in our bed watching “Lie to Me” and “In Plain Sight” on the laptop. We all got caught up on our tv watching and Lizzie who had never really been exposed to the magical thing now hops around the house singing “think, think, thiiiinnnk.” And sings blue’s clues whenever she sit in our giant, overstuffed “thinking chair.” It’s pretty cute.

Christmas

We were almost feeling human, but Henry was excited enough about it that he feel down the stairs on his way down Christmas morning.

Top of the stairs

Bottom

But no injures and nothing but excitement when he saw this.

It was a great Christmas. We took things slow. Rested and just enjoyed being together. And let me just say Texas is the perfect place to get a bike for Christmas. We were able to go out and ride about in perfect 70 degree weather. (Lizzie got the blue y-bike)

Lizzie Christmas eve with the puppy her brother got her.

Lizzie and one of her favorite presents. (Thanks grandma!) Baby goes with us almost everwhere and it’s so fun to see Lizzie being a little mother. She does tend to whack people with her baby and I’m pretty sure she didn’t learn that from me, but other than that baby is well cared for.

Henry got legos galore. (See the smile. Mine was pretty big too. We love legos Henry and I.)

And all in all it was a great Christmas.

After Christmas Dell took the kids to the zoo one morning when it first opened and discovered that being the first one in the bird feeding place means you get to hold a lot of birds.

henry was nervous at first

but soon got the hang of it

Lizzie just stood at a distance and watched.

So that’s pretty much what we’ve been up. None picture things include:

Dell’s hard work in residency was punished by being made one of the chiefs (duties so far: assembling the call schedule. Lots of time staring at little excel spaces and dealing with other peoples problems.)

Me being called to be YW president for our ward which brings me lots of happiness because I love, LOVE working with the young women. But has also caused me to stop sleeping well because hey, we’ve got 34 young women and 8 adults and there’s just been a lot to co-ordinate (and worry over.) But I think I’m getting the hang of it all and will soon return to the relaxed Sister Dunn the girls are used to. It helps that the ladies that work with me are amazing. Amazing. I’m learning a lot, hopefully growing too, and just hoping that I can help the girls see how wonderful and loved they are. Because they are.

Henry now has a bunkbed instead of a mattress on the floor. Yay! Now his room looks like his parents love him too. (It was always a little embarrassing when giving tours to go from Lizzie’s painted, decorated, oh so cute nursery to Henry’s mattress on the floor, random stickers on the wall hodgepodge. But with the addition of the bed great strides has been made for sibling equality.) He’s also doing great in kindergarten and reading really well. Every day the school sends a book for him to read to me and book for me to read to him home in a little blue bag. It’s so much fun and he amazes me with the words he can sight read. I’m so excited for him to feel like a reader. Books are such a wonderful way to explore the world.

Lizzie sings and dances constantly. She also insists on helping with everything. Tonight after dinner she did a great job scrubbing the pots. Cinderlizzie is really beefing up her resume. She also has opinions on everything. Especially clothes. I start to fear the day she can dress herself because an editing eye is really needed with some of the combinations she pulls out in the morning. She is also sweet giving hugs and kisses with abandon. But then, Henry does too. I’m so lucky to have such great kids to be with. Today we went out to the green space across the street. It has a little circular path in it. Henry rode the y-bike and Lizzie happily chased him. They could have done that for half an hour. I love watching them play together.

So Sarah, there’s your update. And I promise to not let so long go between posts again. If I do forget for a while feel free to send a nasty email my way and I promise to get something up right away.

Henry's Beyblade commercial

2011-01-18T17:57:00.004-06:00

It could have been a $6 Christmas for Henry. Santa, Parents and Grandparents got him some great gifts. But since Christmas he's been obsessed with a $6 stocking stuffer called a Beyblade--a spinning top with a launcher and designed to "battle" other tops. Yesterday during what is known as quiet time, Henry grabbed my Ipod touch with it's camera and made this. check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puG02PH04fo

Most of the words and all the tune is original. It's a little long but make sure you see the end. Feel free to skip the middle.

pumpkin patch

2010-11-01T09:32:00.001-05:00

Last weekend my sister Mary came down from Austin and we all drove up to Medina to Love Creek Orchard’s pumpkin festival. We had a great time and Mary made it even better. We’re so lucky she’s at UT-austin now.

Painting Pumpkins

Mary’s mummy cat was by far the best

Wahoo! A family picture. We haven’t had one of these since Lizzie was born.

Our cute little pumpkins

The animals were the biggest hit. Lizzie loved petting this pony and feeding the pigs. She just ran around the pens jabbering to herself and squealing with excitement. Henry was calmer but still excited. His favorite thing was the snow cone we had for part of lunch. I liked the band and sing-a-long.

Barrel rides. Henry took great care of Lizzie.

snoring

2010-10-01T09:45:00.001-05:00

I just put Lizzy down for an early nap and as soon as I lay her down she started fake snoring. Oh how she makes me laugh!

Family Reunion Day 1 and 2

2010-09-20T15:57:00.001-05:00

Day 1 was a trickling in day. Emily and Jared with their two cute kids were the first to arrive. Henry was soooooo excited to see his cousin Sam. Sam is two years older than Henry though amazingly patient about playing with younger kids. Henry idolizes him. Mary and my Mom and Dad arrived in the evening just in time to go to dinner at Beefy’s Backyard BBQ. Yummy yummy food and really relaxed environment. We ate in the backyard near the playground and the hardest part was getting the kids to stop playing and eat. The adults had no problem eating. Beefy makes some good burgers!

Day two was San Antonio Riverwalk day. We did the Alamo, the river boats, and ate at Boudros for lunch.

The Alamo

The boat (don’t you love Henry’s face?)

Look at my beautiful sisters!!!

Pioneer day—only posted 2 months late

2010-09-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

Here’s a quick update.

Pioneer day. Mormon holiday celebrating when the pioneers arrived in Utah. Our stake always throws a big party. Kettle corn, snow cones, bounce house, water balloon games, lots and lots of food, but every year the highlight is the pony rides. This year was no exception.

Look at that cute cowboy! And that sweet little pioneer girl.

Lizzy loved the horses. As in when we got out of the car she made a beeline to them and she mostly just stood and watched them while we waited for our turn. And here’s what happened when she had to get off her horse.

Is it wrong to find this picture funny? I need to get the pictures my friend Sarah took. She takes the best pictures of Lizzy. Sarah, can I hire you for a photo shoot?

When the family gets together…

2010-08-23T21:40:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago all my family but Mark (we missed you Mark!!!) were able to gather for a little reunion here in San Antonio. First can I just say I love hosting people. Seriously, it was so much fun planning and organizing what to do. Anyone else want to come visit?

Here’s some quick snapshots of what we did—just to tide ya’ll over for the complete play by play.

Sitting around talking. We Hedengrens do talking well!

Water games in the front yard with the cousins

Meals around our big table. (It was fabulous to be able to sit around and just eat and talk.)

cousin time (Nothing says togetherness like a gallop on a pony together. Go Lizzy and Olin!)

Okay, that’s just some. later I’ll post about sea world, six flags, guadalupe river, rodeos, caves, boats, and lots and lots of yummy restaurants. For now I need to go to bed. Henry’s got school tomorrow and that bus come way too early. (7:12!!!!)

who’s got the look

2010-08-23T21:28:00.001-05:00

Is Henry a future male model? Please no. This was his outfit on the way to a swimming party. All parts choosen by him. And the poses were all him as well. As was the request for pictures.

Work it Henry, work it.

Kitchen

2010-08-23T21:25:00.001-05:00

Sorry it’s taken me so long to put these pictures up, but for those of you that have been asking, here you go. Here’s the results of way too many hours and late nights I couldn’t afford. It was tough, but we think it was worth it. And I love doing projects with Dell. He’s great to work with and we always have fun when we’re building something together.

Here’s the new island/bar area. This is my favorite part. We took it from painted sheetrock to wainscoting with just some MDF, pine, and paint. It changes the whole look of the kitchen.

A look at the new granite—love it! And the new sink—may love it more. And a peak at Lizzy’s head. She wanted in on the action.

The rest of the kitchen. Of course, now we need to paint the cabinets. Maybe in a couple of months… :)

shelf baby

2010-08-04T11:33:00.001-05:00

Last night Dell and I were hanging a mirror in Lizzy’s room in preparation for the family reunion we’re hosting for the next week. (More on that later.) Lizzy siddled up to her dollhouse bookshelf, cleared a shelf and climbed on up. Dell handed her a blanket and she looked so cozy we had to take a picture.

Henry wanted in on the action too. But we convinced him the bottom shelf was more his territory. Since we made the bookshelf we’re pretty certain of its structural load limits. Or lack there of.

4th of July

2010-07-15T16:48:00.001-05:00

With the 4th of July on a Sunday things got spread out and it almost didn’t seem like the holiday really happened. The 4th we went to church, came home and had naps and then at the last minute decided to join Alec and Dixie, and Sarah at the parking lot of La Cantara to watch the fireworks from six flags. I’m so glad we did. We all had a blast. I loved getting to talk with Dixie and Sarah. Dell loved having time with his brother. (Doug was a hero husband and stayed home with the little kids so Sarah just had the two big boys with her.) And the kids loved waiting for the fireworks and the fireworks themselves.

Lizzy was tired and so wasn’t sure about the whole thing. But the dog in the background kept her entertained. She’d walk up and bark at it until it “talked back” then wander off, and then come back and do it all again.

The boys sat on to top of Alec and Dixie’s mini van. Which was in itself super cool. And with glowsticks….. awesome. Then add in some fabulous fireworks and I think it was little boy heaven. Not to mention the fact that the cool big cousins were so kind to the little kids. Noble and Liam, you guys rock!

At the first “boom” from the fireworks display Lizzy burrowed into my chest but as the noise continued soon she and I were echoing each sound with a “boom” of our own. Lizzy was pretty amazed by the colors that appeared in the sky. She seemed to like the quieter, closer ones more than the big bangs in the sky. Henry liked the big bangs. Dell liked all of them, and I loved the ones that looked like golden popcorn shimmering in the sky. Nice work six flags! You put on a great show. And we even made it out of the parking lot relatively quickly.

The continuing adventures of cinder-lizzy

2010-07-15T16:35:00.001-05:00

Sure Mom, I’ll help with the dishes. I’ve got a pair of shorts on my head so I don’t need to worry about my hair getting dirty.

Look what a good job I’m doing!

Hey look! I can brush my hair with this thing too. (That’s when I leaped in and decided the dishes looked great and Cinder-Lizzy could find another chore to do.)

Drive thru?

2010-07-15T16:33:00.001-05:00

Lizzy loves her little ladybug push/ride toy. (Henry loves it too, but that’s a story for another post.) Yesterday I found her in the pantry riding it and grabbing a snack. She then scooted off snack in hand and I scooted off to grab the camera. Here’s the reenactment.

Pulling up

Making her choice. Applesauce eh? Nice healthy choice Lizzy.

Riding off. Just need to get me a spoon now.

I needed this

2010-07-13T07:46:00.001-05:00

So yesterday was tough. Lizzy was sick, Henry was actually really good, but I was stretched to the limit and the little things bothered me. How I hate when I feel that way. This morning I was checking my email and had a friend request from a young woman who I taught when she was a 12 years old. (She's engaged now and about to graduate from college-- now I feel old.) But on her facebook page she had this message. It's from one of my most favorite talks ever. The one I go to when mothering gets hard, because it does sometimes. It made me cry, but helped me remember where my strength comes from. So thanks Jessie, for putting this on facebook. I needed it. And in case any of you are having a rough mothering day too, here you go.

so proud of myself

2010-06-14T07:36:00.002-05:00

Okay, now I sew a little—mostly straight line things like baby blankets and curtains—but I’ve never considered myself as someone crafty. But the other day our Young Women’s presidency decided the girl’s needed something special if they completed our challenge of reading the Book of Mormon. Now the president and second councilor are jewelry makers so we went that direction and you should see what we made. (And I’m so proud of myself. Due to Dell being on call our out with the missionaries a lot I cranked most of these out by myself while watching TV. It feels good to have made something that really intimidated me in the past, but in actuality was pretty easy and loads of fun. Anyone else need a courage necklace? Dell’s on call again this week.)

Here they are.

We handed this one out to all the girls today. They all get “courage.” When they complete the Book of Mormon they’ll get the circle that says “strong.” (Which fits in perfectly since Elder Bednar challenged our stake to read the Book of Mormon looking for “in the strength of the Lord.”) The scripture on the card is from Joshua 1:9. It’s the young women/young men theme for this year and one of my all time favorite scriptures. “Be strong and of a good courage, be not not afraid neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

good helpers

2010-06-14T07:26:00.001-05:00

The kids are pretty good at helping us with yard work and the other day we were trying to spread out a small load of dirt. It was dumped on our driveway and we had to spread it about to the rest of the yard. ( I use “we” lightly here, Dell’s the only one strong enough to carry the wheelbarrow full of dirt. I spread the dirt once it’s dumped and Henry and Lizzy are responsible for picking out the large rocks. Lizzy especially loves this.)

Looking good Lizzy.

Go Henry go!

Pigtails

2010-06-14T07:18:00.001-05:00

Look! Lizzy finally had enough hair for some pigtails.

Blackberries

2010-06-02T15:35:00.001-05:00

Most of our garden is not thriving, but the blackberries…. oh the blackberries. We’ve picked bowls and bowls full. We’ve made blackberry cobbler 4 times and had plenty for snacking too. I love sun warmed berries fresh off the vine. In fact, it’s been two days since we’ve picked and I’d better get out there. Hmmm, maybe blackberry cobbler for dinner tonight.

Aren’t they too cute. They love each other so much.

Henry’s itching one of the 100 mosquito bites he got on the father’s and son’s campout.

The graduate

2010-06-02T15:27:00.001-05:00

Henry graduated from pre-school yesterday. I was surprised how sweet it was. The sight of all those little kids walking into the cafeteria with their paper graduation hats made me tear up. Oh dear. I’m sorry the pictures aren’t better, but Lizzy had been woken up from her nap to go to the graduation and she needed to be held the whole time which makes for tricky camera work.

The graduates waiting for their diploma

Henry getting his diploma from the principal. He got the award of “most inquisitive.” Each kid got an award that the teachers came up with such great ones. Best Puzzle builder, best helper, even best line leader awards were given out.

Henry with his beloved Mrs. James. Can’t you just see how much he loves her?! Really. He loves loves loves her. I’m so grateful for him to have had such a wonderful adult in his life. And one that loves him too. Thank you Mrs James for being such a great teacher.

log cowboy

2010-06-02T15:22:00.001-05:00

Hiking back to the car in Lost Maples State park we had another river crossing. This crossing had a nice smooth log section floating in it. And Henry knew right away it was perfect for riding. Here’s the log cowboy!

Lost Maples- memorial day

2010-06-02T15:19:00.001-05:00

We’ve spent too many weekends working on projects so after spending most of Saturday working on the yard we were sure grateful for a holiday on Monday. We packed up the kids and the camelback and headed for Lost Maples State Park. It’s my favorite state park. I love the hills, the cliffs, the trees, the river, and the… river. Really, the river steals the show sometimes. And the kids love it too. Here’s so photographic proof of their love.

Lizzy was not hesitate at all, but walked right in. It was very shallow where we started her playing. At first she just wanted to horde rocks, but she soon got the hang of throwing them into the water and threw rocks for 20 minutes straight. (She really is a Hedengren/Dunn. Both my family and Dell’s are good rock throwers.) I’d give her a pile of rocks and when that was gone she’d sign for “more” “please.” But then that was too slow for her so she sat herself on a large rock and would throw a rock in, reach over and grab it out of the water and throw it again. She kept throwing the same rock for a long time. And it was a good rock, the size of a small grapefruit. It made a very satisfying splash. Lizzy would grunt her “1,2,3, boom” with most of the throws too. She’s so funny.

Dell and Henry hiked up the stream a bit until they found this perfect swimming hole. The water came up to Henry’s chest and he loved jumping and playing in there. Lizzy and I hiked up when she tired of rock throwing in the shallow part and we introduced her to a little pond that came up to her waist. She LOVED it. She splashed and splashed the water and tried to grab rocks to throw in.

By the time we left this part of the river, Lizzy, Henry, and I were soaked. Dell stayed dry because I was the one carrying LIzzy (and getting splashed by her rock throwing.)

The hike itself was glorious. The temperature was perfect. Just hot enough that being wet wasn’t uncomfortable, but cool enough that being dry was comfy too. And the sky was my favorite shade of bright bright blue.

Henry hiked the whole way, though on the way up he started to run out of interest so we then had to be jedi soliders sneaking up on seperatist troups. We set traps, cast spells (not sure where that came from, maybe super mario brothers), and snuck along as quietly as we could at times. We each had a stick. Mine a small wand, Dell’s large and curved and so was a bow, and Henry’s big thick stick (which he’d brought from home) was his sword/wand. You can see his stick in the picture of him in the swimming hole. He lugged that stick the whole hike and we even brought it home again for the next hike.

Lizzy, doesn’t sleep in her carseat very well, but it looks like the backpack is a better place to nap. Here she is.

going, going….

GONE

When it rains…

2010-06-02T10:34:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was finishing up preparations for a baby shower I was hosting that morning when I heard the sound of a good Texas rain. Racing to the front window, this is what I saw.

now the side yard

and finally the back yard

The ironic thing is that we had just refilled the sandbox on Saturday (since the last big rain washed all the sand away.) bye bye new sand. We have since landscaped the area on the other side of the fence from the sandbox in a way that should divert the water from the sandbox and onto the grass instead. Then it’s just like irrigation right? Or maybe we can convince KB to keep the construction debris picked up so it doesn’t clog the grate on the drainage opening.

Hoping to clear at least the lake in the street (to allow people to park for the shower) I quickly changed my clothes and ran out to the curb where I filled up a bucket with stuff and then the waters magically receded from our yard. Hmmm, maybe when we sell our house we can list it as an occasional river front property. :)

Mother's Day Love

2010-05-09T09:35:00.002-05:00

After walking over to sit in his seat, Henry had this to say to Anna this morning:
"Wow Mom! You look different from over here...kind of interesting...like a Wolf Mommy!"

A shout out to my brother Mark

2010-05-07T10:30:00.001-05:00

My brother Mark is an incredible, talented photographer. He does a great job with landscapes, but his real specialty is people. Somehow Mark seems to able to capture who a person is with a camera. It awes me. You should see the pictures of my kids he’s taken. It’s made it impossible for me to go to studios. His pictures can catch glimpses of the soul. It’s beautiful.

He’s spent the past 5 years or so travelling around the world interviewing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (my church yea!) He’s shot thousands of photos and interviewed so many wonderful people. The result of these interviews, photos, and travels was recently published into a breathtaking photo book The Mormons. I love it. I love it that it is the lives and faith of everyday ordinary people. People like me. (I’m not in the book. If you buy it see if you can spot my mom though.) I love the interview with the Sunday School teacher in Cambodia. The convert in New York. The picture of the old man vacuuming in a foyer. The bishop riding his bike to visit a member. The missionaries in South America. The lives, hope, faith, doubt, imperfections, and strivings that all of us who are trying to follow Christ have. Check it out if you can.

Those of you lucky enough to be in Utah, the BYU bookstore is carrying it. And talks are going on with Deseret Book (send them an email and ask them to carry please.) If you don’t have that option you can to to http://www.byubookstore.com/ePOS/form=item.html&item=9786169400011&store=439 to order the book.

Oh and here’s a link to a short bit of the DVD that is based on the book. http://vimeo.com/7331102

So way to go Mark! You’ve got such talent and this book you have created is a beautiful masterpiece. I’m so proud of you!!

(Oh and wouldn’t it make a great mother’s day gift for those of you still trying to figure on out?)

Race Day

2010-05-01T15:27:00.001-05:00

This morning was the BYU alumni association (san antonio chapter) 5K race. And even though I seriously considered chickening out when I found out Dell would be post call that morning, I’m really glad I went.

Henry was a total trooper. He had some pre-race jitters, but we talked those out on the drive there. (He was disappointed it wasn’t an obstacle course sort of race, he was hoping for some little tunnels that only he could fit through so he could save the day. )

Once we got to the stake center where the race was starting from it was amazing how many people we knew. I saw an old friend from beginning of residency, lots of people from our ward and people that looked vaguely familiar. Ahhh, BYU alums.

Henry did a great job running the race with his friend Samuel. Henry ran maybe 1.75 miles (run, ride, run, ride style), Samuel ran a little over 2 with only two brief stroller breaks, and Lizzy never complained and seemed very content to ride in the chariot. The toughest point for me was when I was pushing all three kids in the chariot at mile 2.25. Henry and Lizzy were in the chariot with Samuel sitting on the handlebars. I had to use all my upper body strength to hold the chariot up while running. All in all pretty fun for my first official 5K. In fact, I’d love to do another. Especially on without the kids. While we finished with a pretty respectable time I’d love to do one where I didn't’ have to stop to let kids in or out of the chariot and to be able to run at a pace faster than my 5 year olds. :)

Henry’s pre-race posing. Don’t you love the shirt? It says play to win. A sentiment I hate, but Henry loves it because it’s green and has a trophy on it.

Lizzy ready to race.

aren’t they cute?!

coming in to the finish line (this is actually a reenactment. I was too busy running and keeping the kids running to take out my camera, so we redid the finish line in on of the lulls while waiting for the other racers to come in.)

crossing the finish line!

Great job everyone!

sledding with grandma

2010-04-22T12:48:00.001-05:00

The downside of our trip to Utah over spring break was the worst cold I’ve ever had. So on our last day there Dell let me stay in bed all morning long with a book. Lizzy napped, grandpa was at work, and Dell, Henry, and Grandma Laura went looking for some good sledding. They found it.

I’m going to try and post the picture of Henry tearing down the hill, clearing the jump, and somehow sticking the landing soon. It totally makes me giggle.

Thanksgiving Point

2010-04-22T12:42:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful spring break in Utah. We played with both sets of grandparents and saw some good friends. Here’s some highlights/pictures of our trip to Thanksgiving Point. It was fabulous to watch the kids around the animals. Lizzy was absolutely ecstatic and Henry loved pointing things out to us.

Lizzy and Grandma Beth admire the horses

The cow admires Lizzy. (And unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of the moment when the giant cow tongue tried to lick her.)

Running to the horses. Look at those faces!

Cute Henry riding his pony.

Lizzy was thrilled to be on a horse. No fear at all. Just smiles and cheesy grins for everyone.

when it rains….

2010-04-22T12:32:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we got a good texas rain. I was in Chicago and missed it—more on that later—but Dell got some great pictures. Enjoy a glimpse of what happens here when it rains.

The water eventually crested the sidewalk and we had a river running through our side yard which washed away some of the sand from our sandbox—and just a week after we put new beautiful sand in too.

monkey see, monkey do?

2010-02-24T09:11:00.001-06:00

This morning after taking Henry to the bus I was wiping the kitchen counters. Lizzy crawled over to the cabinet where we keep the towels and dishrags, opened it, grabbed a towel and crawled to a spot on the floor where water had splashed while loading the dishwasher and proceeded to wipe it up. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can teach her to vacuum?

Cinder-lizzy

So proud!

And to prove this isn’t an isolated occurrence here’s a picture from the other day when Henry and I were doing our chores and wiping baseboards and windowsills.

Lizzy will be available to clean your house when she is 16. Until then I’m hogging all her skills.

Clean baby clean!

Zoo Day

2010-02-17T09:42:00.001-06:00

Since Dell had President’s Day off and he’d been working all weekend long we decided we needed to do something fun and so to the zoo we went. It was Lizzy’s first time and I think my favorite part was introducing the animals to her. She loved seeing them all and did the sign for elephant at the elephant (and the bear, but we’re working on that) and said “blub blub” for the fish. I think the fish and the hyenas were her favorite. Not sure why the hyenas, but she sure squealed, smiled, and reached for them. Mangy animals. We’ve got to work on her taste in creatures. :)

Looking at the hyenas

Henry feeding the birds.

Lizzy playing Praire Dog.

Jedi training party

2010-02-17T09:29:00.001-06:00

Henry had his heart set on a Jedi party so we passed up the free party at the Karate studio and had a party at home. (At the Karate studio they would have done everything but provide the cake and pizza, oh the easiness of it all.)

It ended up being fun for everyone—dell and I included. When the kids arrived they put on their Jedi training uniform (simple wrap around tunics I sewed from pottery barn crib skirts I got for 97 cents each. Not bad for organic cotton.) They also decorated their “jedi bags”—gift bags sewn from the same cotton. We practiced using the force first, but tossing bean bags with our eyes closed, playing pin the light saber on darth vader, and trying to drop bean bags onto targets from great heights to reveal the candy prize below.

We also did light saber training. They had to keep their balloon from touching the ground using only their light saber.

Dell also taught them some fencing moves—thrust, parry, etc… and dueled with each kid to reinforce the moves.

Once training was complete they each got 3 jedi bombs (bean bags) and a special pen to begin their jedi missions. The first mission the young padawans had to complete was rescuing princess Leia. She and some of her friends were trapped in balloons in the guest room and the jedis had to pop all the balloons to rescue the people. Total mayhem, but fun.

Look! H-y rescued 3-CPO. Nice work!

After the princess rescue it was time to cross the lava to Yoda’s cave. (Or make it from the couch in the playroom to the master bathroom using only things you could grab from the couch.) This was probably the favorite—I think they did this three times making it tougher each time by removing objects. The big cousins—Noble and Liam were a huge help.

(Preparing to set out for Yoda’s cave.)

We also destroyed the separatist base with our jedi bombs. (a blanket fort that we collapsed using our bean bags.) We had a bunch of other missions planned and Dell was all set to make an appearance as the made up character Darth Malicious, but we ran out of time.

After Padawan Pizzas with light saber veggies (mini pizzas with carrots and celery sticks) we had cake and ice cream and parents arrived. All in all it was fun and while it was a lot of work it was definitely worth it. Though next year, I’m campaigning for the Karate party. :)

Oh, and Lizzy liked it too.

yellow belt

2010-02-15T06:59:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Henry had his belt test. It was awesome to see him trying so hard. He really wanted his yellow belt. He was tired of being a white belt surrounded by belts of many colors.

Here he is doing a palm heel strike. (The great teacher had the kids turn and do their moves facing their parents for a bit to give all of us some photo opportunities.)

Henry about to break a board—a real board! And he did it in only three tries! Go Henry.

The class after getting their new belts being fierce.

Now the class being their normal selves. Silly.

Picnic

2010-01-28T05:48:00.001-06:00

Monday was such a beautiful day and Dell was home since he was starting nights that day so when Henry asked for a picnic as he got off the bus we just had to make it happen.

We had leftover, peanut butter sandwiches, pear, chocolate milk, and watered down juice. Lizzy was like babyzilla and walked/crawled through everyone’s food. She got filthy. But she did become proficient at drinking from a straw sippy cup.

Thanks for the suggestion Henry. It was a fabulous picnic.

Happy happy birthday Lizzy dear!

2010-01-24T17:40:00.001-06:00

How we LOVE you!

where has the time gone

2010-01-24T17:34:00.001-06:00

On Friday Lizzy turned one. ONE! I can’t believe it’s been 12 months, 365 days, a whole dad-gum year. Really? Really? I don’t believe it. I know that people said time goes faster when you get older, but if a year goes by in what feels like 3 months at 34 what will time be doing when I’m 50? 6 days? At least Henry’s mission would fly by at that rate, but really, where has the time gone?

I think that’s a problem with life in the mild climate of Texas. Most days are beautiful and you go from warm, to perfect, to hot, to perfect to warm, to 2 months of cold mixed with warm, and then back to perfect. With enough random weather thrown in to keep you guessing and so you don’t have the daffodils, roses, colored leaved, and snow that give you sense of time passing instead you have the same thing day after day and suddenly you’ve gone from

this to

this

seriously, how did this happen?

Happy New Year

2010-01-24T17:19:00.001-06:00

Hope ya’ll had a great new year’s eve. We had one of our best ever. Some friends invited us up to their property up north a bit for a hot dog/marshmallow roast and fireworks. It was beautiful to be out of the city, and our friends are some great people so being with them is always wonderful. We had a great time roasting hot dogs, marshmallows (though Henry does not like his toasted apparently) and enjoying the fireworks. Dell’s decided that the ones that shoot into the air are the only way to go and next year we’re forgetting about sparklers and fountains and just going for the big guns. Henry liked building the fire and wearing a head lamp when the sun went down. LIzzy liked being outside. She sat on her chair and clapped and she likes snuggling when the sun went down and it got COLD. I liked sitting by a fire. It made me long for camping and now that it’s getting warm we may just have to go next weekend Dell’s off. I also loved coming back to our place for sparking cider and games after putting the kids to bed. And we even stayed up to almost midnight. :)

Dell and Henry get the fire going.

Lizzy enjoying her seat.

Henry covering his ears for the loud fireworks.

Christmas at the Westin Hotel

2009-12-23T17:09:00.001-06:00

The Westin Hotel does a great thing every Christmas. They host the Holiday Legends party with bells, cowboy poets, choirs, and snow!

It starts in a grassy area in back of the hotel where a local choir sings and the kids admire the view and freak their mothers out by leaning over the ledge. This year we were lucky enough to go with cousins! (Seriously, having Alec and Dixie nearby is beyond wonderful. Henry loves his cousins so much and I love my sister-in-law. And Alec is our dedicated BYU football buddy. Games are so much more fun with him!)

After the choir warms us up the cowboy Makin Dust comes out and starts telling us some Christmas legends. Like what the first settlers used for Christmas trees and where the whole idea of decorating cookies came from. And the kids all get a small bell. Remember the bell. It’s magic.

From the grassy area we move to fire pit near the pool (no pictures of that since I was too busy trying to keep Henry out of the pool.)

Then we move to a rocky area behind the hotel where some more tales are told and songs are sang.

And then the kids all close their eyes and ring their bells and…. IT SNOWS!!!

Then when the hands get too cold from throwing snowballs we head into the warm lobby for hot cider, sugar cookies, and fine chocolates. Yum!

dingo

2009-12-23T16:58:00.001-06:00

Okay it was really a coyote.

The other day on the way to take Henry to the bus we decided to drive instead of walk because it was cold and drizzly. As we pulled out of the garage I saw a shape on our front door and wondered if we had a package I’d missed (glorious amazon.) When I angled the car so the headlights were on the front door I saw two beady little eyes staring back at me. Icky!!!! There was a coyote on my door mat!!!

(and no that’s not a red bandana on him, that’s the wound that kept him on my doorstep.)

When Lizzy and I got home I quickly called wildlife rescue and they sent a sweet volunteer out to try and catch him. He was skittish so it ended up being me, the volunteer, and two neighbors that got him into the kennel that would take him to the animal hospital. I’m glad he got cared for, but I sure threw that mat away fast. And cleaned the whole porch. Coyotes are really mangy looking.

Santa Lucia Day

2009-12-23T16:52:00.001-06:00

My family has some Swedish blood and so my mom usually tried to have us do some Swedish traditions. The favorite is Santa Lucia day December 13th. The oldest daughter dresses in white with a crown of candles on her head and brings her parents sweet rolls in bed. All her siblings carry a candle too and sing. It is to celebrate the return of light as the days start to get longer (technically that should be the 21st, but they’ve always done it on the 13th. Guess things are different in Sweden.)

This year we managed to remember Santa Lucia day and made the traditional citrusy braided bread. Then Henry donned a star hat and carried and candle while lizzy who was too young for a real candle wreath on her head wore a hat that had plush candles on it. We then went caroling to a few of our friends to drop off the bread. Henry loved getting to carry a real candle and blow it out at each house.

Bethlehem

2009-12-23T16:45:00.001-06:00

Took the family to Bethlehem to be taxed. Okay, not really taxed but this wonderful church in a small small town north of here does the most amazing thing every December. They turn the town square into Bethlehem. The baptist church there turns the town square into Bethlehem. Real bethlehem. There are full sized buildings, a wall around the city, and hundreds of people-- adults and children-- dressed in biblical clothes. And the people stay in character. Bartering for persimmons in the marketplace. Reporting to the romans to pay taxes, and sometimes being thrown in jail for not paying. Making rope, putting kids to bed, having a simple family dinner, it's all fabulous and you feel like you've stepped back in time. There are even camels! And after walking through all the hustle and bustle you pass the over crowded inn, the roman soldier eyeing all the rabble with suspicion, turn the corner and amid the sheep (real ones) and the group of men haggling over something, is a cave where a man, a woman, and a baby sit among the hay, and a star hangs overhead, and people dressed in parkas and gortex stand quietly and reverently. Then people walk silently (there's no rule about this, but it somehow just seems to happen) out of the city walls to where sweet baptists give hot chocolate and cookies to wake us back up. It's amazing. Temple square-like, only earthier. (And with yummy bread to eat. The bethlehem baker does some amazing stuff over a fire. And I love that all the bethlehemites have Texas accents.)

The front gates of Bethlehem

Dell and Lizzy bundled up because it was COLD (for us anyway, it was like 40!)

Henry driving a roman chariot. Look at that grin!

My cute bundled up kids

We’re still here

2009-12-23T16:44:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. We journeyed to Utah for Thanksgiving. Dell presented a poster at the biggest radiology conference in Chicago (great job dear!) and got to spend time with his parents who were also there for the conference and our good friends Sarah and Amiel who live in Chicago. Needless to say I was very jealous that Dell got to see all those wonderful people and I didn’t. But Dell’s parents are coming in January and he’s going to send me to Chicago in the spring to see Sarah so it’s good.

Dell has pretty much been on call since he came back from Chicago so we’ve been in survival mode—do the bare necessities and let things like blogging fall merrily by the wayside, but Dell is actually not on call today and will not be tomorrow either so partying and blogging are back on. So here’s what we’ve been up to.

I had a sewing day with a good friend Lucy who taught me how to make cute skirts for little girls. Lizzy models hers here. Oh and yes she stands now—even unassisted.

Henry started Karate—here he is getting his white belt. He actually was so excited and overwhelmed he started to cry and couldn’t start. Poor tired tender kid. In the car I asked him why he was crying. He said “I don’t know” in such a sincere, confused voice. I asked him if he would cry next karate he class to which he wailed “I hope not!” He’s been dealing with emotions like this a lot lately. I think Christmas is a little overwhelming when you’re 4.

covered in love

2009-12-02T20:57:00.002-06:00

I wish I had the camera so you could see a picture of what I'm about to explain, but alas, the camera is with Dell in Chicago where hopefully he is taking all sorts of great pictures.

Today Henry and I played the Curious George helper game which is a great kids game where occasionally you get a card that says "ask another player if there is anything you can get for them." That's Henry's favorite card and he will play it over and over again. I sometimes have a hard time thinking of things I need after the first 3 times. Well the fourth time he got the card I asked for a blanket because hey, it's like 45 degrees outside now. Brrrrr! So Henry opened the hope chest and got me a big blanket. But that wasn't enough to make me "warm and comfy"-- his words. And so he got every throw pillow in the room, 2 more blankets, stuffed animals, tissues, a ball, two toy reindeer, part of an amazon box, a bowl of apple slices (that I had gotten for him when I had the what can I get you card) and a pine branch that he's been treasuring since our trip to Home depot to get our tree. Then, as I sat buried and bundled and surround by love Henry fanned me with a little paper fan so I could smell the fabulous pine smell better. I am the luckiest mom ever to have such a sweet sweet sweet little boy.

(He also, while I was dropping a goodie off at a friends house, dumped an entire container of cereal puffs on his little sister. He says it was the only way to get her to stop crying. It sure worked, but she was buried in cereal puffs. Hmmmm, maybe he was just trying to make her warm and cozy.)

Corn Maze

2009-11-03T16:11:00.001-06:00

Halloween morning we took off to Hondo for the South Texas corn maze. Despite being a longer drive than expected (Texas is BIG!) we had a great time. Here’s some picture highlights of our time there.

Henry climbing to the irrigation pipe slide. Nice use of everyday farm stuff.

Pumping water for the rubber duck races

Henry posing in the maze. I have no idea where he learned to pose like this but I love it. Such a little model.

Climbing the bridge in the maze. Fun way to see just how big the maze is. another great pose by Henry.

About to leave the maze. We followed all the scripture based clues and never made a wrong turn. Despite not having a clue what the answer to question 3 was. “what animal was the first out of the ark?” and no, dove was not one of the options.

Listening to the cowboy story-teller. Great animal sounds and fun stories. I got to play the role of a skunk in one of the stories. Lots of fun. :) He came and talked to us for 20 minutes after. He and Dell had fun chats about bats. I guess he leads a tour at a nearby state park known for its bats.

Lizzy was doing this when an employee came up and asked us to enter her in the costume contest. We knew we had to do it when they said she had a good chance of winning cause she was so cute. And she did. 2nd prize. Which got us a little pumpkin, a medium bag of kettle corn, and a drink. Not bad work Lizzy. Way to go. Everywhere we went people stopped us to tell us how cute she is. Does a mom like anything more?

Jumping on the giant air “pillow”

How tall is batman this year?

Halloween

2009-11-03T15:58:00.001-06:00

Sorry to the grandparents that we haven’t posted these pictures earlier. Here’s the kids in their Halloween costumes. Wish we’d been able to capture more shots of Henry. We may have to recreate some moments just to get his great batman moves.

Henry as Batman

(this is actually not the complete costume. The complete costume calls for all black clothing, but this was at the corn maze and we didn’t want all black with that much hay around. And at trick or treating time we were all too excited to remember to take pictures. At least you can see a good batman pose.)

Lizzy as a flower child/princess/fairy/puff

She actually took second place at the corn maze costume contest in this. We just think she’s cute.

More pictures of the Lizzy girl

Hay is such a pain to get out of tulle. But so worth it to get a fun picture of her.

football baby

2009-10-09T10:37:00.001-05:00

For the first BYU game we decked the kids out in appropriate BYU attire. Lizzy was a natural with our toy football. Doesn’t she look fierce?

(the wisconsin football is only because it was bought in Wisconsin. We actually have no loyalties to the badgers and in fact usually cheer against them. Sorry guys, but your offense is pretty boring.)

Heading back to the states

2009-10-09T10:29:00.001-05:00

September 22, 2009

So I made a tactical error when setting up our flights. Either I had got the time wrong that the nice (commercial contract jet that runs between Baltimore and Ramstein air force base) return flight was arriving or they changed it after I bought our Southwest tickets with the result that the trans-atlantic flight would arrive after the Southwest one left. It wouldn’t be a big deal if I didn’t have to be back at work (something that could be worked around) or Henry didn’t have to be back at school. Apparantly in Texas if your (pre) school child misses 8 days or more they send the Truancy Officer to your house to lop off the parents heads, fine them $350 and proudly display the piked heads on the playground fence to intimidate other parents from giving their children cultural experiences. (sidenote, we did have a note from the truant officer but so far our heads our attached and we have solemnly sworn not to have him miss school for any reasons except being sick until Jan 15th when he can once again miss up to 8 random days.)

So as I type I am sitting on the top deck of a C-5 (huge cargo plane which can carry 8 tanks, yep tanks) headed to Dover, Delaware. This is the real Space-A. They have actual airplane seats (not webbing) but they face backwards. It’s pretty loud so we all have earplugs in. (Lizzy’s are held in by the hat she is wearing) and the temperature isn’t really well controlled so we’re kind of bundled up, but Anna and both kids are sleeping so it’s not that bad. Kind of a fun adventure. And it’s the first time in 6 years being attached to the Air Force that I’ve actually flown in an Air Force plane. Now I just need to fire a gun and I may even feel like a soldier. We were hoping to get spots on a Medevac flight to Andrews AFB in DC since Dover is actually in the middle of nowhere as far as the East Coast goes, but couldn’t get on…darn wounded soldiers taking seats from vacationers. We still need to find a way to get to Baltimore for our flight tomorrow but I’m sure we’ll find a way.

(flying in a C-5. We look pretty comfy huh? There’s so much leg room that I think I prefer it to commercial. We even got a box lunch with lots of food and drinks. Henry liked being able to wander around and peek down into the cargo hold. No tanks this time though. Just boring pallets of stuff.)

update: we did find a way to Baltimore. There ended up being a bunch of us needing to get to baltimore so we called around and found a taxi that brought a big van with a trailer for our luggage and drove all 12 of us (eight adults, 4 kids) to Baltimore. It’s a long drive and it was the middle of the night with most of us having been up for the past 20 hours. Our nice driver dropped us off at our airport hotel after dropping everyone off at the airport where they were meeting local rides. We hung out at our cheap hotel until morning when we took the shuttle back to the airport and spent the 7 hours until our flight hanging out at the USO (oh bless their kids play room, internet, playstation, big screen tvs, free books, cribs with clean linens, and free ice cream and cookies hearts.) We also discovered a fun place at baltimore airport if any of you non military people are passing through with kids. There’s an observation deck with comfy chairs and lots of airplane related things for kids to play on. Henry had a wooden plane to fly- with room for 10 passengers, a wooden baggage truck to pretend to drive, and there were actual plane parts that you could look at. It was fun for Henry to see a cross section of a 727-- “here’s where your bags go” – and the rest of us were a little worried when we saw just how small the tires on the landing gear are. “We really land on those things!” Henry especially liked being our tour guide and showing us around the airplane related exhibits.

the Rhine

2009-10-09T10:14:00.001-05:00

September 21, 2009

Another late start, we tell ourselves that we’re trying to ease the adjustment back to US time zones, but the apartment is so comfortable with Henry in his own room and Lizzy in the living room that it’s too tempting to not take some time for ourselves. An hour and a half drive got us to Bacharach, a wine-making town on the Rhine. We drove down the steep Rhine gorge walls covered with grapes into basically a long, charming one-street town to catch one of the Rhine cruise boats. We had a few hours to spare before the boat left and had lunch at a rather yummy Italian restaurant and of course some more ice cream. German dairy products are just better.

(the streets of Bacharach. Notice the all important sign Eis Cafe. Eis is german for ice cream.)

Bacharach

(Throwing rocks in the Rhine while waiting for the boat.)

The Rhine cruise was awesome. It was nice to be able to just sit one the deck in the sun (without which the cruise would not have been nearly so nice) and watch the villages, their churches and castles, and cargo barges go by. Lizzy made friends with a friendly flight attendant from Singapore who stayed interested even after the little one spit up all over her shirt.

(a view from the boat. The castle in the river was key in the napoleonic wars. General Blucher was very sneaky here and built the first pontoon bridge to victory.)

We got off in St Goar another lovely little village and hiked up to the Castle overlooking the river. As we went up through the castle garden and vineyard Henry brushed up against a sawtooth leafed weed with silvery things dangling from it…yup, stinging nettle. That took about 10 minutes to take care of and by the time we got up to the castle it was time to head back to the boat for the ride back.

(walking to the castle, or in Henry’s case riding. Such a hard life. Riding on your dad’s shoulders while eating a European pastry. Dell has crumbs in his hair. Such a good dad!)

(Hey Henry what’s that plant? Oh stinging nettle. And how do you know that? Yep, Henry found stinging nettle on the hike. It even blistered. Luckily we were kind of prepared and had water, alcohol wipes, neosporin, and bandaids.)

(view from the hike. Notice the vineyard in the foreground. It was heavy with grapes.)

(Lizzy slept most of the hike up)

(the castle. We had to turn around and hike back to catch our boat almost as soon as we arrived here. There are some benefits to having a car when you’re traveling with kids.)

The return ship had a slide and playground toys on the sun-deck which allowed both of us to fully enjoy the scenery. A 5 year old little Japanese boy named Takami kept calling for Ren-ri (took us a while to realize he was saying Henry) played together on the slide and were really cute despite the complete language barrier. Turns out his family are our Japanese counterparts travelling Germany with 2 kids nearly the exact same age as ours, unfortunately the language barrier extended to the adults as well or I’m sure we would have had fun comparing kid traveling stories.

Henry was very hesitant to play with Takami at first but as you can see from the picture by the end they were playing really well together. They did this over and over, laughing each time, then racing each other up the ladder.

Etternach:Luxembourg

2009-10-09T09:49:00.001-05:00

It was raining/drizzling while we were in Etternach. But that didn’t deter Henry from heading straight to the river.

We fed the ducks under this old bridge

Hanging in the park. I love European parks. I always feel less like a tourist and more like I belong when at a park.

The streets of Etternach.

Trier and Luxembourg

2009-10-09T09:41:00.001-05:00

September 20, 2009

We got off to a slow start this morning. Anna and I stayed up too late watching USC lose to Washington in college football and hoping to catch a bit of the BYU game…soo sad, glad we couldn’t watch it. Once we got moving we drove to Trier, a city on the Mosel (a tributary to the Rhine near Luxembourg) that had at one point actually been home to the Roman Emperor Constantine (yes, that Constantine that converted the empire to Christianity and all). I don’t think it was really a capitol for the empire though as there would have been more ruins left. What was left was impressive though—the black gate which was made without mortar and still stands several stories tall, Constantine’s palace/throne room which was converted into a church, and the ruins of gigantic baths. After seeing so many ancient seeming castles and such from the medieval period going back another thousand years in history was really astounding…and I’d never realized that Northern Europe was that important to the empire. We had lots of fun exploring the tunnels beneath the baths with Henry pretending to be the slaves that kept the water coming and warm. Despite all the meltdowns, whining, feeding stops, traveling with kids leads to fun things you wouldn’t otherwise do. (And to be fair to our kids, there weren’t as may meltdowns as you’d expect from jetlagged kids and the feeding stops just let you savor an area for a bit longer.)

(the black gate)

(The Dom. My favorite of all the cathedrals we saw this trip.)

(Inside the Dom. The Dom is famous because of a relic it has. Supposedly the Emperor Constantine’s wife, St. Helen, brought Christ’s robe back from Jerusalem sometime in 300 A.D. or so. The robe is kept here in the Dom. A beautiful alter holds it but it’s behind glass and I couldn’t get a good picture of it. The ceiling over the alter is like the white one in the earlier picture only the background is a salmon/pink color. Very pretty.)

(addition but onto the roman basilica- red brick structure behind the pink- Lizzy had a snack in this lovely garden. Henry played I spy and Simon Says with me while she ate.)

(the slaves in the tunnels)

(Leaving the tunnels- the slaves escaping toward freedom!)

Besides the Roman ruins the old-but-not-Roman-old city was charming with interesting French influenced architecture and a long pedestrian market square with several ice cream shops that had to be sampled if we were to come to any conclusion as to which was the best.

The cathedral was one of our favorites that we’ve ever been too (I think Anna said it was her favorite). Instead of a Prince or King, Trier was ruled by an Archbishop who was also one of the Electors (of the Holy Roman Emperor…aka German High King) which granted him considerable wealth and influence and the cathedral was largely a memorial to the Bishop Princes of the centuries. What made it different was the back was done in a beautiful black and white marble design and the remained in green and red marbles. It was also unusual in the range of access tourists were allowed—usually the choir and nave areas are off limits. But you could go all the way forward to where there was a shrine containing a holy relic that was claimed to be the one of Christ’s robes. I generally assume that all relics related to Christ or the original apostles are shams, but this one was brought back from Jerusalem around AD 320 by the Emperors wife so I give it a 1-3% chance of being real.

After Trier we drive a few miles to reach Luxembourg…unfortunately we had just filled up on gas, because the clever Luxembougois apparently realized that if their gas tax was only $3 a gallon instead of $4 all their border resident of their larger neighbors would buy their gas there and they’d end up with more tax revenue. Anyway, we stopped in Etternach, one of the recommended small medieval towns and enjoyed a walk along the river, some rain, feeding ducks, an Abbey, and some baked goods. We kept the day short and headed back through the Ardennes forest to the base.

pictures of Rothenburg OB

2009-10-09T09:09:00.001-05:00

Dell and Henry in the city center near one of the medieval fountains.

Lizzy having a snack in the courtyard of the cathedral.

so cute!

The convent garden

Henry peeking through an opening in the wall around the city. I’m holding his foot because this part of the wall is on top of a very high cliff and even though I don’t think he could fit through it made me feel better.

in this picture I think Henry is cuter than the city in the distance.

tree climber!

De-sanding shoes after a stop at one of the playground/parks on the outside of the wall.

Henry up on Dell’s shoulders after getting tired of walking for two hours. But you can tell he’s still having fun. We loved Rothenburg. Everything about it was cute and it was a perfect place to wander at a kids pace.

Rothenburg OB

2009-10-09T08:58:00.001-05:00

September 19, 2009

Garmisch, Germany—Woke up to another beautiful mountain morning and unfortunately had to pack up and head northwest. Incredible traffic coming into Garmisch, must be for the weekend, glad we’re heading the other way. We skirted past Munich…German freeways seem to generally avoid the towns and cities. Got off the freeway to join the “Romantische Strasse” (the street was actually used to haul salt from the mountains to the Rhine river where the salt is transferred to barges…not particulary romantic, but great marketing, the Japanese especially love it). We stopped at a few small towns, Donauwertwhich had pretty pastel buildings connected one to another all the way up winding streets. Then Dinkelsbuhl, a medieval walled city with similar architecture (very different from Bavaria) and a yummy bakery for lunch.

(Pretty cathedral in Dinkelsbuhl)

Our main destination today was Rothenburn ob der Tauber, said by the eminent historian Rick Steves to be the best preserved Medieval walled city in Germany. We liked to it. The town within the walls was well preserved and had beautiful colored stucco houses. You could walk most of the way around the town on top of the wall and there was a beautiful greenspace below the walls that looked out over the Tauber river gorge. We actually got out the guidebook for this city and followed Rick Steves walking tour. He was right, the clock was a bit of a let down—when they mention moving figures we actually thought the figures would move, but it seemed two windows opened, then closed. The little gift store Rick recommended though was amazing. The friendliest people own it. The parents, kids, and grandkids all work there. They all chatted with us. We bought a little Christmas decoration thing, but they gave Lizzy and Henry little toys for “being good kids.” There was such an air of kindness there, that in some way it was one of my favorite parts. Though the beautiful castle garden and the walk along the wall were probably the top activities of the day. There’s really no way to describe how fun and wonderful it was just to wander the city. Then the kids started to get fussy (There’s a town down south called Fussen that we’ve started telling Henry “Fussen ain’t just a city in Europe”) and we had a long drive Northwest to Spangdahlem to make or we would have liked to stay longer and wander some. We stopped for dinner in an industrial town that seemed a lot more like America complete with sprawl, families with more than 1 child and grown men wearing shorts and t-shirts…it was kind of nice. We’re staying at another base, Spangdahlem, located in the center of a triangle made up of Luxembourg, the Mosul valley and the Rhine Valley and we’re trying to decide what to do with the 2 days we have here. We’re in a fantastic $42 a night furnished apartment with 2 bedrooms, laundry (perfect timing), living room, kitchen and dining room…even had a pak-n-play waiting for us in the room.

Garmisch day 2

2009-10-09T08:51:00.001-05:00

Friday September 18, 2009

Garmisch, Germany—After three days of drizzle, clouds, rain and kids up in the night I awoke to one of the most beautiful mornings ever. Clear blue skies with wispy clouds trapped in the crags of the mountains, the smell of fresh rain and a little woodsmoke in the air. It was amazing. We were beginning to thing our whole trip would be accompanied by English weather, but we were spared this day and made the most of it. I took the kids to look into some activities while Anna got some much needed uninterrupted sleep.

Then we had a quick breakfast and headed over to rent some bikes from the Edelweiss Lodge. Luckily they cater well to families and we were able to rent a tag-a-long trailer bike for Henry and a bike trailer for Lizzy and headed out on a trail across emerald green cow pastures studded with little barn, through quaint little alpine villages and through lush forests on our way to the Eibsee about 1000ft above the valley floor. Unfortunately, the gear was not as light as ours at home and we’re not as fit as we once were and as the trail got much steeper Anna had to give up and feed and played with Lizzy while I essentially dismounted for the last 2km and pushed Henry and our bikes the rest of the way up. (Anna also learned the valuable lesson of making sure you eat something before trying to bike up the alps. She felt better about herself as she watched plenty of people on nice bikes in spandex turn around at the same point too.) The lake was serene and beautiful, but with Anna waiting I bought Henry an ice cream cone which he calmly ate with one hand holding onto his handlebars with the other while we flew down the steep (but pretty smooth) mountain path. The ride home was fast and lovely again. Even though we bit off a little more than was reasonable it was a fantastic ride on a perfect day.

(Henry pedaling along)

(biking through a pasture on the way to the lake)

(a little pit stop in said pasture. Notice the cows in there with us.)

We turned the bikes in and headed across town to a little alpine slide which is perhaps a better value than anything else denominated in Euro’s—9e for 6 rides. Anna and I took turns with riding with Henry and let him control the speed for the last few. I would brake for him occasionally, but Anna was gutsier and let him floor it. We ended up buying the picture they took of the ride (again reasonable at only 2e) because Henry looks exhilarated with his hair blown back and Anna looks like someone who knows the consequences of going too fast but being driven by one who doesn’t. (We didn’t hit the brake once the whole way down.) (I’ll try and scan and post this picture later)

We still had some daylight left so we all drove up to the Eibsee (Lake we were biking to) so Anna could see it and Henry could feed the ducks. We all got a kick and a few nips out of tossing bread crumbs or even letting them grab them out of our hands. Then finally back home for another microwaved dinner (we eat out once a day) as clouds were rolling in again. Both kids actually went down well and are simultaneously sleeping, a seeming first since arriving in Germany, and so should we.

trying new windows live writer

2009-10-09T08:34:00.000-05:00

So, we’ve been having computer issues. First we got a virus, then we ordered a new computer, then that computer had an issue with its video card where everything on the monitor was a nasty shade of green. Made you sick to look at for too long. Now we once again have white tones instead of green and blogging can resume.

thanks dave for the recommendation

awesome, my picture is now the right way.

2009-09-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

Garmisch day one

2009-09-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

Thursday September 17, 2009

Garmisch, Germany—Another rough night, but better than the first, kids seem to be adjusting to the time difference. Henry loves the “shed” or cabin and asked to go back to it all day long which made his parents very happy. (Not) You have to have a key to unlock it from the inside, so maybe tomorrow we’ll just leave him here.

45 minute drive to the WeisKirche, a relatively tasteful Rococo Church built in a field in the middle of nowhere. There was a service going on when we arrived so after watching from the back for a little bit we wandered around the fields and got to know the cows (with bells and full udders) and friendly horses a bit better. Lizzy loved the horse and even tried to pick its nose. After the service ended we made it inside and tried to find something Henry could find interesting since we’re bound to be seeing more churches…Cherubs were the trick. The weiss kuchen, a sort of apple flavored fried scone, also helped curb the whining.

Then to Oberammergau, a small village on the “Romantische strasse” that stretches from a point right in the center of Germany down to Neuschwanstein, which is known for its woodcarving. The carvings were exquisitely detailed, artful and realistic, especially the nativity sets, but we didn’t really feel like plunking down $500 for a nativity set right now…maybe in the future when the pieces will be chewed less. Had a really yummy lunch at an Italian restaurant. Lizzy makes friends with the female staff at all the restaurants we go to and here the cashier followed us outside for some cheek-pinching.

Next was Linderhoff. Of the three fancy palaces/castles that Ludwig II built (Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee, and Linderhoff) this was the only one that was completed and really lived in. It was actually quite modest in size…if not in décor…unless golden gilding and a “I really wish I was a snazzy French king instead of a Bavarian king subject to Prussia or Austria with Kleinfelters syndrome so I’ll just devote my fortune to shrines embodying Wagnerian operas” motif is your thing. Above the castle was the Grotto a building built to be a cave (and a good likeness at that) cum opera house (much more cave-y than opera-y). Great setting though, I guess I can’t make too much fun of a guy that put his castles right where I would have up in the mountains. And the cave was cool and really made. They built walls, covered them put dirt and plants over the roof to blend everything in with the countryside and even made stalactites and stalagmites. It was also one of the first places in Bavaria to get electricity. I find that interesting, a cave getting electricity. The cave was used for plays and operas. Can you tell Ludwig loved his opera? Interesting recluse guy.

Finally, back to Garmisch for some dinner and “knights and princesses” in the “shed”. Knights and princesses involves Dell and Henry hanging out in the loft, Henry with his sword, Dell with an invisible bow and arrow. Lizzy just sits on the floor of the loft while I bustle about downstairs tidying etc… and providing appropriate comments. Save me brave Henry, etc…. Henry’s Knight name is Sir Henry the strong eyesight—since he is strong and has good eyesight. Dell’s is Sir Daddy the clever hider. I think Henry shows a real knack for knight names, don’t you.

Ruette

2009-09-25T15:06:00.003-05:00

The little museum near Ruette was one of the best I've ever been to. I loved that they let us touch everything. We even tried on armor. I'll post pictures of that once I figure out why blogger is having such issues turning my pictures.
This picture is of Henry being knighted after he successfully completed the questionaire for kids in the museum. He is in good company because Rick Steves of guidebook fame was also knighted here.

once we hiked up to the castle we all had a fun time playing around.

ulm

2009-09-25T14:52:00.004-05:00

The Market Place in Ulm. Lots of little stalls selling fresh flowers and produce. Everyone carried a basket to put there purchases in. I would love to do my shopping that way. Lots of moms on bikes with their kids in a trailer or bike seat. Seemed pretty idealic to me.

The cathedral in Ulm. Nice Gothic style.

Ulm and Reutte

2009-09-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

September 16, 2009 0900 We woke up in Stuttgart at the Army hotel, had breakfast (Henry forgot to check on his ice, which was for the best) and headed down to Ulm to see the famous Gothic Cathedral. The trouble with GPS units in old towns is that they try their darndest to take you right to the place you’re looking for which became a problem as we were driving down a 10 foot wide “street” shared by lots of pedestrians. Luckily a nice german man did his best to explain where the parking garage was. We drove very slowly out of the pedestrian zone and walked to the Cathedral’s square where there was a farmers market filling the square with produce, cheese, honey and other farm goods filling the square. For some reason there were also two gentlemen surrounded by 6 secret-service looking guys with suits and earbuds. Seems kind of like overkill just to get some fresh produce, but to each his own.

The cathedral was Gothically beautiful and were were lucky to catch part of a service with lovely organ music and a sonorous female voice echoing back and forth the 450 feet from nave to rose window. Henry’s not a huge fan of old churches, Lizzy doesn’t mind them…maybe he’ll like the Rococco one tomorrow. Lunch was bratwurst on a roll for the boys and bakery pizza for Anna.

After some dithering on what to do the rest of the day we headed further South, driving at times near 100mph and still getting passed, towards the Alps and the Austrian town of Reutte. We drove through so many picturesque towns—tight clusters of red-roofed, white-walled houses surrounded by lush green farms, pastures and pines, and framed in front of towering granite peaks. Near Reutte we visited a “hands-on” medieval museum at the foot of hiking trails up to several ruined castles. The museum was perfect for kids and the young at heart. They provided a game for Henry where he had to answer a question for each room to get a letter that made up a secret word and if he got the word he would be knighted and given a certificate. My favorite room was the armor room where you actually get to try on different helmets and body armor. The plague room scared Henry too much so we didn’t see much of that. We’re usually not ones to make obligatory purchases at gift shops, but this time Henry walked out with a little wooden sword.

The hike to the castle ruins in a light drizzle took about 30-40 minutes and we spent another 45 minutes playing knights and princesses around the ruins and taking pictures.

Garmisch, where we are staying the night was only a short, but amazing drive away past the Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain. We got settled into our “rustic cabin” at the Edelweiss military resort—bedroom with double bed and bunkbed set, loft with two sleeping mats, small living room, electricity, heat, but shared bathhouse a short walk away for just $57USD a night We spent almost that much for our German dinner…hearty, lots of cheese. In the free marketplace of ethnic foods, there’s a reason German cuisine hasn’t taken over the world. (The rest of the Edelweiss resort is pretty fancy and still reasonably priced for what and where it is).

guten tag

2009-09-19T17:10:00.005-05:00

Hi ya'll,
I thought I'd try to post some of our adventures in Europe since we're lucky enough to be in a place with internet access and football and we're waiting for the BYU game to start. Yep it's midnight, but it's dell's birthday and we've got some laundry running so why not stay up all night. Oh yeah, right, we've got kids and they're sleeping right now so they'll be up in the morning. Oh well, football comes first and mountain dew should carry us through the day tomorrow, or er today.

Anyway, here's some of Dell's daily log and some pictures. Enjoy. Most is written by Dell though I comment at times.

Germany September 2009

Sunday Sep 13 0944—Leave officially started and signed up for Baltimore to Germany Space-Available flight.

Monday Sep 14 1230—Depart for airport. Southwest flight to Baltimore was good, Lizzy was a tray baby (sitting on the tray with her back against the seat in front…optimal position to elicit smiles from passerby).

1800 Arrive in B’more, go to Space A desk to check in. Roll call starts at 2030 so we wait in the USO with free snacks. We’re pretty confident at this point we’ll get on the flight. Roll call, 45 seats available, we’re not in the first 5 called…or then second…getting nervous…or the third…more nervous…thinking about ways to get over to Dover to take the flight from there the next day…not in the 4^th group called…very nervous…finally second to last called…big whew! Pay $60 for our 4 seats. Load up with all the soldiers going to Iraq. Henry and Lizzy asleep by takeoff. Lizzy wakes up to feed once, Henry wakes up 8 hours later when we’re getting off the plane. Awesome. Kids look adorable as they sleep. Henry has a ski hat pulled over his eyes to keep out the light/sun coming in from the windows. Lizzy has a pink sweater over her green pjs and a blissful expression as she sleeps. All passerbys comment on their cuteness.

Since Dell and I can’t really sleep (hazard of being on last row—can’t recline seats) we find other ways to pass the time. Dell watches in flight movies while I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yep, real title of book. It’s Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. Quite entertaining really, Jane Austen’s actual words mixed with oriental style zombie fighting. Buffy meets the Bennets.

Tuesday Sep 15 Ramstein Germany 1230—Get bags, customs, I take base shuttle to the Rental car place and return for Anna and kids. Stop by the commissary for reasonably priced (dollar denominated) car food and we’re off.

1700—Heidelburg—Starting to figure out our GPS, stick-shift driving, remembering how crazy fast some Germans drive on the Autobahn. We’re clipping along at the posted 130km/h (75mph) and every few miles someone comes flying by us going 90-100mph. We finally got the GPS taking us to the right Heidelburg Castle which was a really cool partially ruined partially restored castle all made of this warm red rock with great views overlooking the town and river. We especially liked the large old houses in the hillside neighborhood we walked through to get to the castle…you could see the inspiration for a lot of the design elements we would see in the nicer older houses in Milwaukee. As an extra bonus, we just happened to park next to this little hillside park with the coolest slide that the lawyers would never allow in America. This was particularly important because Henry now likes Europe (he wasn’t thrilled after the long flight.) Henry did love the castle though. He ran from place to place and would make up stories about the things we see. “this fountain was where the good guys would get drinks with their cups just like Jesus did.” (I think there was some confusion with the woman at the well story from the new testament.) Castles are great places for 4 year olds. He just ran and ran about. What’s here, what’s here, that sort of thing. Oh and you should have seen the stairs we navigated—lugging strollers and children. I am going to be sore tomorrow.

Once we figured out how to get out of Heidelberg we drove to an army base near Stuttgart where we checked into an army hotel. Henry got free hot chocolate from the automatic coffee machine in the lobby (“It’s a robot!!” in amazement) and he also enjoyed the park behind the hotel. Once we got to the room Henry noticed the mini-fridge had a freezer and before we knew it he had three cups of water in there to turn into ice, it’s a cute but sometimes messy hobby of his. I like the fact that the pack in play comes with cute teddy bear sheets and matching blanket. Plus the old guy at the desk takes the time to show us around. I love travelling among the military. So many nice people. As we left the airport a nice man in uniform gives us a hand with the stroller and one car seat. (you should have seen us. Stroller laden with bags and one car seat perched on top. Me carrying Lizzy, Dell carrying another car seat, military duffle bag and rolling our one suitcase. We looked laden.)

After settling down nicely in the hotel and heading to sleep at 9:30 it’s now almost 2 am and Dell and Lizzy are splashing in the bathtub while Henry sleeps soundly and I type on the computer. Dang jetlag. Henry is unphased, but Lizzy….. She knows it’s just 7 pm and will head to bed in a bit. I think we may have to stop by the commissary for some unisome or Tylenol pm for Dell and do some sunlight therapy with lizzy tomorrow to help her reset her clock. She’s sure cute about it though. Cooing and laughing in the dark. Luckily Henry is sleeping through it grandly. We will work on getting her to be as great a traveler as her brother.

Henry in Heidelburg

view from the castle

Awesome hillside slide

botanical gardens

2009-07-21T17:21:00.002-05:00

I started this post long ago, but was having trouble getting the pictures oriented the right way. And now the computer with all the pictures has died and so it will take a bit before I can find the pictures again. Luckily we've got most things backed up. Whew.
Anyway, this was a fun saturday excursion we took to the San Antonio Botanical gardens. The gardens are an old works project and are nestled in a fun miniture valley near the zoo. There's a waterfall, tons of ponds with tons of Koi, and lots of beautiful plants. You know I loved it. Henry loved the fish and the waterfall. Dell liked being out of the hospital and actually seeing the son. And Lizzy seemed to enjoy staring at leaves. She takes after her mom. Leaves make her smile.

We still exist

2009-07-21T17:06:00.003-05:00

Sorry about the long hiatus. I'm really not sure what we've been busy with, but I think I've been busy, at least too busy to blog.... okay, I've been reading books and watching netflix. Sorry, but it is summer so cut me a little slack.... please.... Anyway, here's some pictures and such. And I may even get a real post up before we go swim at a friends house. Summer, it's tough, but someone has to do it.

Lizzy smiles. She's a very happy baby and especially loves smiling at Henry. For some reason she thinks him walking down the stairs behind her is the funniest thing. Never fails to get a good laugh.

Don't you love the crooked grin? Sorry about the bare bum, but it's a classic baby photo right? I couldn't post the ones of her huge naked thighs because someday she'd be really embarassed by it all. But oh, those photos are priceless.
Beautiful baby. Picture by Henry. He takes a lot of pictures, but he gets some that are great. So grateful for digital though. I'd be furious if he took all the pictures he did on film.

sometimes it's not good to let them dress themselves

2009-05-14T11:06:00.003-05:00

Shirt on legs, underwear on head, and a big grin. Too silly for words.

Orange Quinoa Salad

2009-05-14T10:58:00.003-05:00

Here's the Salad I made for our trip to the Guadalupe river with the Hansens. It's a fun summer salad and pretty healthy since quinoa is a nice whole grain with lots of protein. You can add chicken if you're not feeling so vegetarian. :)

Orange Quinoa Salad

Dressing
1/4 Cup Fresh Orange Juice
2 T. olive oil (extra virgin)
1 1/2 T. buttermilk (I rarely have buttermilk so I just do the milk plus vinegar thing)
2 tsp Honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

Salad
1 1/3 C. uncooked Quinoa
2 3/4 C. water
1/2 tsp salt
2 green onions thinly sliced
1 C. dried cranberries
1/3 C. fresh parsley-- chopped
1 handful of chopped almonds

optional- feta cheese

Wash quinoa. (This is very important, if you don't wash the tannins off the quinoa it will have a bitter taste.) Wash by placing in a fine sieve and covering with water. Rub quinoa between hands for 30 seconds, then rinse. repeat two more times.
Bring water and salt to a boil, then add quinoa, cover and simmer on low heat until all water absorbed. About 20 minutes.
Add cooled quinoa to other salad ingredients, cover with dressing and refridgerate until ready to eat. Top with feta if desired.