The baby comes in just a few weeks, so I need to finish journaling the summer, or I won't ever finish! :) Pardon the notes. Just some things I want to remember.
Days 1-3 - Bacharach, Rhine Valley, St. Goar Tour, & Burg Eltz Tour (Fri/Sat). Church in Aachen and a little walk around Laurensberg/Castle Park. (Sunday)
The Morgans visit this summer was "epic" for both Melissa and I. When do you get 5 weeks of time out to be with your sister....ever? Never! This never happens! But it did! And I was super-proud of us for planning it and making it happen. Had we had all the money and time and energy in the world, this might not be a big deal, but...we have 3 kids each (one of mine in the belly, but that is still a factor!) and live on different continents. So, that is quite a feat!
We both spent so much time planning the trip all year, which was both really fun......and time sucking. What we both realized was that when you have researched something in March, it's hard to remember in August what the details were. :)
Also, it's impossible to plan out perfectly what you will do with Rick Steve's, trip advisor, restaurants, and keeping in mind budget, kid-friendly activities, and the ever unpredictable weather.
So, we didn't go for "perfect," but we did do the best we could to make it do-able and enjoyable for the kids, within our budgets, and at the same time, see something of Europe and the area ourselves, fulfilling our interests in history, art, etc. Along with the kids, we also had to be careful of my pregnancy (swelling and dehydration go together, for example), and Melissa's health. She was on a very strict diet regimen, which on vacation was not possible to follow 100%. So we had to go for "good enough" and not "perfect" on that too.
And I think we did a bang-up job of a family-friendly vacation! The kids had a great time together. Luke was the oldest, and therefore the most patient with activities. He did well reading his nook when things were slow. I think the younger kids did well with getting out for 4-5 hours of fun and then hanging out in the apartment playing together for the afternoon.
Timmy and Aaron are in LOVE with Luke, Kinley and Seth. Timmy was obsessed for a while about drawing, taping and reading his handmade nooks like the cousins. He had a "French-a-lots" nook and an English nook and a German nook.
Before the cousins came, he was obsessed with making his "Theatre" which was just mostly scribbling pretend writing on a paper and taping it to the wall. But after seeing the cousins making comics and reading their nooks, that became the new obsession. I had to make him a binder for all his comics, nooks and Mcdonald's smurf papers. :) He would know if some scrap of paper was missing!
I have to give my hat off to Adam, who after returning to work, sacrificed his family staying here for 3 weeks, and was home by himself. Apparently he worked a ton and got lots of projects done. Good job Adam! Thanks for letting us enjoy your fam!
Scott was also a trooper and super supportive. We made plans with the idea in mind that our boys would be in Kindergarten during the last few days, when we went to Paris. When we realized they would be in summer vacation, we planned to all go together. Scott realized close to the trip that it would be too stressful for all of us in Paris with 5 kids, and decided to keep his work time off and entertain our little ones at home. That ended up being for the best. They were really too little to enjoy Paris, so thanks to Scott for that sacrifice. It made our Paris trip more flexible. We were able to stay out later ( You've got to see the Eifel Tower twinkle lights!) and be more mobile.
I had wished I kept a journal of all the funny moments! It was amazing how many teeth came our on this trip for example. The Morgan kids lost at least 6 teeth between the three of them, didn't they? There were teeth coming out all over the place! :)
Aarons awake - guess this will have to do for a summary. :)
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