Monday, June 20, 2011

Sommer fest at the kidergarten

This last Friday the kid had a big celebration at their Kindergarten. It was actually perfect because it felt like a going away party!! They had been learning parts for a Cinderella play that some of the less shy kids participated in (mine did not do the play because if you know my kids, you would know, they are very very shy). They have also been working on a song that they sang before the skit started. It was hard to get pictures of our kids singing because they were trying to hide from my camera...little turds.

Here are the few snap shots I was able to take before they ducked behind their friends again.


Sydney was yelling really loud during the play "push me!!!"
If you scream loud enough Sydney we'll push you. She knows this!

Sydney made a little friend during the play.

The kids little production of cinderella. Even though it was all in German, it was very very cute! I have grown to love all these little kids, seeing and attempting to talk to them everyday has been a lot of fun!
The boys making fart noises with their arms. What a talent! Carlos doesn't know how to do this yet, so he is pouting. :(
Jumping rope in the back play area of the kindergarten.

Olivia playing at the BBQ

Rhine river trip

Living on the Rhine is a great luxury. There is so much beauty to be found here! This father's day we took a Rhine river cruise to celebrate our daddy! The castles on the rhine are absolutely beautiful and it is a must when visiting Germany. Just a few pictures of how fun and wonderful it was to be able to see.





Little town Rüdesheim very cute, and very touristy.












We started in Rudesheim and went all the way up to Loreley, and then back to Rudesheim. It took about 5hrs. We ended up meeting a national guard unit from UT and talked with them for a good time. It is funny how you can tell when a person is an american over here. Aside from the english they're usually the loud ones and usually a lot friendlier and not so serious. It was a lot of fun meeting them. I have been dreading going back to the states just because I really love to travel, but after yesterday and talking with them a bit, I feel a little more excited to leave and to actually talk to people around me when we go somewhere. Sometimes you can feel isolated over here where no one you can really relate to outside of the friends we've made from church.

Blake is such a wonderful father for our children. He is very patient and understanding with them, and the kids just love him. I could not have asked for a better father for these kids.
Thank you Blake for all you do for our family to keep us safe and happy. I hope your day was as wonderful as it was for us, we're very happy to celebrate a great day with a great dad!

We will miss leaving here. It has been a wonderful experience for our family. I hope one day we will make it back here to see all the wonderful people we've met in our short time here.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Prague

As we prepare to leave Germany to go back to the States we have planned to squeeze in as many places to see before we leave. Prague was at the top of the list, after hearing from so many people about how wonderful it was. I will start by saying our trip down there was an adventure in itself. Apparently we have become too reliant on the good old GPS because when ours broke we were completely LOST!!! It took us a good 1hr 1/2 after we actually got there to find our hotel. Even then....I was surprised, or should I say AMAZED we made it!! Being in a new country always throws me off. You have to get used to different words and the streets don't make any sense. I have become very used to Germany and can actually read most words appropriately. In Prague Cezch Republic the words looked completely foreign, and through us for a loop. So we get to the hotel, relaxed for a bit and decided to make our way into town...with our car. Probably not the best decision with our GPS on the fritz. We parked and walked through the old down square which I might add is ADORABLE, and then headed to the ever most popular Charles bridge.









We then ate dinner at this cute little pizza parlor. Here is where our experience gets a little more exciting/frustrating. There are these preztels sticks just sitting on the table and the kids just keep eating them because to us, they were complimentary. The waiter takes our orders and asks us what we would like to drink, we say nothing, he says, you have to order a drink. So we're like fine...what ever just give us some water (in Europe we've become wise and brought our own water for eating out because they charge soooo much for a small thing of water). He brings the water and some rolls with butter, complimentary right? WRONG!!! Blake got spaghetti I got some sort of pasta dish and we got 2 pizza's for the kids to share, which I might add the guy said were smaller, so it was a good thing we only ordered 2 because as it was the kids didn't eat more than one. We finish eating and the guy brings us our bill....... A whopping 1800 KC which is about 81 euros. We were astonished at how poor the food was for this price. They charged us for the pretzels on the table, the so called complimentary rolls, to pack our left overs, and a 10% gratuity. We payed and left feeling very taken advantage of, but what could we do?!! Lesson learned, don't eat the "complimentary" food in prague...or have them box your unfinished meals.
We then walked back to the old town square and had some ice cream. On the way back to our car, we came across a "wonderful" little shop that I thought, "let's go get some water and food" because it said "supermarket....here is another look at what it really was.
There's more where that came from!!

Here are a few shots of us eating our delicious GELATO!!!




At our hotel, it advertised a swimming pool and all these fun places to go like tennis court, bowling etc. So we were like lets get this place, all these fun things to do with the kids. So we all get ready to go swimming and trying to find out how to get in the pool, when we finally ask, we are told it cost 20 euro for the whole family for 1hr. The kids were extremely disappointed because Blake and I thought....we're not going to pay this, that's ridiculous. So we went back to our rooms and this is a picture of Olivia crying in front of the mirror. I guess she felt she needed to work on her acting skills?

The next day our experience was much more enjoyable, and the kids had a lot of fun. It was rainy and we had a bit of trouble finding the underground train system, but once we found it, it was smooth sailing from there. We took a tour around town. Here are a few of the places starting with the astronomical clock tower.






The buildings here are amazingly detailed.



We went up to the top of Petrin hill and the view....was FABULOUS!!! It was very scary being so high, especially for the kids. Sydney was not afraid at all of the height. She kept trying to crawl out the window, all the while saying "wow". She is a funny girl.



Hall of mirrors. The kids, and especially me had a lot of fun making our bodies deformed.


I'm telling you Gelato is that good!! Also not to mention the bakery across the street from our house!

Our hike down the hill. The kids were posing soo cute I couldn't help myself.


Castle and Cathedral of Prague



The next day we headed out to find a really fun Dinosaur park to take the kids for some fun for being so good with all the sight seeing we'd done the day before. Here is what we found.



It took 5hrs to get there and 5hrs to get back. Here just a few pictures of how that went!


The kids made themselves a tent.

Eating our picnic at a rest stop.


These two say it all. We were all wiped out from a fabulous trip to Prague!!

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