Isle of Wight

Last week took a short, 5 day break to the Isle of Wight - a small island off the southern coast of England. We were a bit nervous packing since we have had absolutely no sun and it's been a bit chilly, but it turned out to be really nice and we saw a lot of sun. I guess the weather is on our side. The Isle of Wight is known for it's fossils and being the top place in the world to find dinosaur bones. So, of course, Jacob was ecstatic! We went to a museum and got to hold 65 million year old bones. Jacob loved it. We also did tons of fossil hunting on the stony beaches (found a few too!). But, mostly we hung out at the beach. The boys loved building sand castles and running in the water. Jeb got his first taste of the beach - literally! It was a great relaxing time before we start school next week.

The Olympics

We are having fun watching the Olympics this year. Last week was swimming, which had the boys jumping up and down yelling, "Go America!" They know where their roots lie! This week we are watching track and field (or Athletics, as they call them here). This morning was women's long jump. I wish that we hadn't watched it. Aiden is adamant that daddy's can run around the track, but not mummies. I told him that mummies can run around the track just like daddies. The reply I got was priceless..."no they can't, they just fall in the sand." Get it...the long jump?! :)

Jeb's First Haircut

Well, after getting our vacation pictures back, we decided that Jeb's hair was a bit out of control. Actually, Tom has been saying it for awhile, but I just couldn't snip my baby's hair! So, I finally took the plunge on Monday. Me and the boys walked to town and went to the trendest place to get it done. He just sat and let the girl do her thing. He never took his eyes off her though. He is a curious little man. It looked very "English" when done - not the way that my friend Kim normally buzzes the boys. So, I took the clippers out at home and buzzed around his ears and back of his head. He looks pretty good almost chunky! He is still the happy baby he always was - minus the combover and a little bit fuzzier!

Our Trip to Central Europe

We just returned from a 9 day roadtrip to Central Europe. We drove through 6 countries: England, France, Switzerland, Leichenstein, Austria, and Germany. Our main stay was in Lucerne, where we enjoyed walks through the old town and across the chapel bridge. The kids enjoyed the trip with travels by train, boat and cable car. We ended the trip with a tour of the champagne caves in Reims, France. These date back to the 4th century when the Romans dug them out for chalk to make buildings. This was actually Aiden's favorite day. The rest of the trip is documented in the posts below. We had such a great time...here are our highlights:

*The sound of cowbells as we ascended the Shilthorn
*Watching Jeb swim for the first time with the Austrian alps as a backdrop
*Screaming at Aiden to not drop his pants and pee in the bushes at the very crowded lake
*Walking hand in hand with Jacob in Lucerne
*Tom's head whipping around in disbelief that 60 year old women do like to sunbathe topless
*Eating our dinners in outdoor cafes
*Being in a real life Cinderella castle
*Watching our boys enjoy other countries and their cultures

It was a memory making trip! We hope to go back!

High in the Swiss Alps

We had two days of traveling up mountains in Switzerland. The first was the Schilthorn. What great views of snow capped mountains and pristine valleys below. It was nice and sunny, so I sat with Jeb so he could sleep and Tom and the boys hiked around the mountain (I was a bit nervous!). They had fun...every boys dream is to play with rocks and counquer a mountain!

The next day was Mt. Pilatus. We got on a boat at 8:15am (can't believe we got out by that time!) and we enjoyed a 30 minute cruise around Lake Lucerne. We had the boat to ourselves and drank in the morning sun while listening to our children run about the boat. Thank goodness no one else was on with us! We then took a cog train (the world's steepest) to the top of Mt. Pilatus. We walked out into a cloud. Shoot, we couldn't see anything. And it was cold! Oh well, there were caves to explore with stories of dragons. We then took a gondola ride down to a playground, so everyone was happy. In all, it was a fun experience!

Back to Lucerne to walk to city and do a bit of shopping so Tom could have a true Swiss watch. Hard to shop with three rambunctious boys, so I took them for ice cream while Tom made his big purchase. I think the women helping Tom was happy I did (this place was like walking into Tiffany's...not a place for kids!).

Neuschwanstein Castle: Straight from a fairy tale!

We debated on whether or not to see this, but we are so glad that we did. It was a rainy day, but as we toured the first castle, the sun came out. Thank goodness! What great views again!!

This castle was built by Ludwig II. He was super extravegant. The outside of the castle is said to have inspired the Disneyland Castle. It takes 45 minutes to walk up a very steep hill (with stoller and buggy board attached - our legs got a workout!) and at the top sits this amazing castle. We couldn't take pictures inside, but just to give you an idea of the extravegence of this place, Ludwig's bed and bedroom is made of carved wood which took 4 men 14 years to carve!

20 minutes to run down this time. Thank goodness we didn't lose the stoller on the steep road down! Just enough time for some sausages and ice cream. Back in the car to Innsbruck!!

Austria: Our most relaxing moments

I've always said that Austria was my favorite place in Europe and now I remember why. We had such a great view right out our window. Innsbruck sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. We absolutely loved it.

The kids needed a break, so we went to a little lake 15 minutes outside of Innsbruck. It was all locals and us, but we had a great time. Jeb had his first encounter with swimming and loved it. We did feel a little out of place with our pasty white skin that hadn't seen the sun b/c of the horrible English summer! I'm sure we were blinding to the Austrians around us. Oh, and yes, it is Europe, so tops were optional. Tom seemed to be the only one who noticed! Ha!

We took a round about way back and saw some pretty stunning views. The kids slept as Tom and I enjoyed the quietness by driving to different spots and taking it all in.

Munich: Our last major day

We arrived in Munich around noon (after Tom hit the guardrail on the Autobahn...only minor damage to the van door...much less then I did last Feb)and went into the city center. It was 90 degrees! The kids were starting to whine for the first time this week, so we went back to our airconditioned hotel. A few hours later we were sitting in a beer hall listening to men play music in their lederhosen. Jeb got up close and personal! What a meal - pretzels, sausages, kraut (boys wouldn't touch it!) and a big beer for Tom. It was fun.

Next day was dreary and it was appropriate as we headed to Dachau, the first concentration camp. This was my second visit here and it still gave me chills to see what went on here. Tom got the more indepth tour as I stayed with the boys outside. I'm glad we went. At some point the boys will learn about this terrible moment in history and we'll have pics to show them they were there.