Monday, June 23, 2014

Allie's West European Tour

Allie's West European Tour
After Allie survived getting stuck in iceland overnight, 3 days in Paris and a day in Brugge, 
she met up with Scott in Eupen Belgium Train Station on her birthday!  We had a great week, and appreciate her coming to visit.  It was a breath of fresh air to spend a week with our sister and also have an excuse to take family time together.

We toured around Aachen, which included a Super-C view...
 An Aachen Cathedral Tour....
 A hike up and around Lousberg...
 The "hangematte" hill.
There are 5 hammocks hanging on Lousberg with this view.  Nice weekend hangout local.
 Lovely woods atop the Lousberg.
 And of course, the sightseeing in Aachen was incomplete, until Allie saw "the backpack."
We posted a few pics already of our American Cemetary/Maastricht day.  Somber trip to see "our boys" at the cemetary, and a nice cool tunnel tour in Maastricht (in English this time!  Much better for us than dutch!)
Then we had dinner, french fries and ice cream in Maastricht, stopping by some shops and the infamous cathedral bookstore.
 We spent a day exploring a new trail in Hohes Venn.
 Allies favorite day by far, she said was the Kletterwald.  It was also my first time to try it out.
 We liked all the crazy obstacles.
 But the zip lines best of all!  Course 10 man!  Zip line after long zip line!  So fun!
Allie lost her glasses on the spiderweb in the woods.  A piece of wood broke under my feet on the most awkward spot of Course 12, which bruised me up a bit.  Which goes to show that the Kletterwald is awesome, because the states would never allow such recklessness. :)
 The kids had a great time with Aunt Allie.
It was especially super-supportive of Allie to get Cora each Sunday ready for church and carry her around in the Ergo during our hours long church meetings.  Thank you Al!
Scott and I each had a turn to go downtown in the evening with Allie, WITHOUT KIDS, which is a huge treat to us these days.  When I went, we stopped at Cuperellas.  They even have a new vegan cupcake flavor each day.  We also loaded up on ice cream and sorbet and walked around the Eurogress grounds.
Allie's last day, we dropped the boys off at Kindergarten.  Here's is Timmy with his new (to him) Schulranzen.  Then, we drove with Cora to Amsterdam for the day.
We had the obligatory stop to nurse the baby in Best, Netherlands.  Ironically, the same exact spot I needed to stop last time!  It has the best McDonalds, I have ever ever seen, complete with a huge Michael Jackson tributary statue outside. :)
When we arrived in Amsterdam, we checked into Allie's Airbnb and then headed into the city for a boat tour.  Afterwards, we wandered the streets in the West Church district.  
In the evening, the Anne Frank House line was remarkably not too terribly long, so we decided to wait.  We were in line about an hour, which was well worth it.  Remarkable museum, and very very meaningful and memorable.
We then had amazing Indian food and then said our goodbyes.  
Cora and I headed back at the tram stop to the Park N' Ride after a long day.  
We had left Aachen at 8 am, and made it back home at midnight.   Was a great day trip, and a great week with Allie! 

Friday, June 20, 2014

World Cup

Watching the World Cup
 Aaron's "spaceship."  He made this "for mom"
 Cora loves her jungle playmat (krabbeldecke)


Friday, June 13, 2014

Conversations with Aaron



"I am 5 a wong wong time"    (His 5th birthday was 2 weeks ago)
"I wiw be 5, and then 6, and then 7....and then 49, and then 50!  And then I'w be SO big, I won't fit in your house!  I'll have to go wike this (crouching) to get in your house!"
"I wiw get bigger and bigger"
me:  "I hope you'll be as big as daddy."
"I hope I'w be as big as you mommy.  You wanna know why?"
me: "Sure."
"I hope I'w be as big as you because I wike you better than daddy.  Because you have more gooder hair than daddy.  You have some good hair.  And because you got the baby."
me: smiling and writing down what he said.
"Did you white what I did say?!"

Breathing fog onto the window....Aaron says "Wook!  It's white wike ice!  Ice is bwue.  And white sometimes.  Yeah.  Powice (Police) have whites.  Sometimes dey are bwue...sometimes dey are wed.
I say "Whites?  What do you mean?"
He says "LLLLLLLLLLights!"

This is Aaron's picture of our family at the zoo. 
 "I have an idea mom!  I want to put tape on the door, and when Daddy walks in it, he'll have tape face!"
Later, I saw where he got this idea.....
 Mother's Day treat boxes the boys made in Primary for me.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Allie's in Town!

Aunt Allie is here visiting!
 We visited the American Cemetary, Maastricht, and the tunnels.
The English tour in the North Caves was really nice.
 We enjoyed a nice hike on Lousberg, visiting the hammocks.
 In town in downtown Aachen for "Karlsyear"

Yay