Happy 4th Birthday Alyssa (Paris Day 1)

Jonathan's brother Nathan bought a stay at an apartment in Paris at a charity auction so he invited us to come with him.The kids had a five day weekend at the end of May so we decided to head to Paris! It ended up that it was on Alyssa's birthday, but we just celebrated a little early. She didn't seem to mind (except that we didn't bring any of her toys or movies with us).

Our first day we took a train out to Versailles. When we arrived the night before, it was very warm. We decided to go sans jackets. Not a good idea! We were freezing. It was nice that we were able to spend quite a bit of time indoors. We toured the Palace first.

We sneaked a little picture in front of the gates while we were waiting in line to get in.

The inside, as would be expected, was amazing, albeit ostentatious.

Lots and lots of gold, and chandeliers in The Hall of Mirrors.

I don't remember the name of this room, but it had paintings of battles dating back to about 700 AD. 

That is a bed, if you can't tell, and the walls of the entire room were covered in the same ornate tapestry. 

I was surprised by how vast the grounds were. We were worn out after walking around.

Alyssa was enjoying herself frolicking around the flowers. We tried to get a few photos of her alone since it was her big day. I still can't believe she's four already!

Alyssa loved this fountain. It's difficult to tell from the angle, but around the bottom there are different animals. She loved the turtles.

Here is a picture looking across the grounds with the palace in the background. Jonathan and I were exhausted by the end of the day. We had forgotten the stroller and Alyssa refused to walk. She would just sit on the ground. Stubborn girl. I wonder where she picked up that trait?

In one section of the grounds, there was almost a little village with small houses, a stream, and even a farm with animals.

Kobe's taking a little break to check out the map. What is it with kids and maps? My kids are obsessed with them.

After we left Versailles. We went home for a little dinner then went to see if we could find a boat cruise for the evening. 

Here is the best picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. It's really difficult to get everyone in, and the whole tower, without making them look teeny. Oh well.

The boat cruise on the Seine was nice, but really cold. It was light when we started off, but by the end it was pretty dark.

The Eiffel Tower was really beautiful at night all lit up. I have three more days to post, so hopefully I'll get the rest up this week. I've been such a slacker! We went to London in February, and I still haven't posted those. Once I finish Paris, I'll do a little back tracking.

A Cautionary Tale

This is what happens...

when you allow a three-year-old...

to dress herself.

Maybe, I should exert a little more control.

Stirling Castle (aka Finally a Post After Three Months)

I have a huge list of posts that I should have done, but haven't. Tax season was a little crazy this year so at least I have an excuse (a flimsy one I know). Maybe I'll start with the most recent and work my way backward as I have time. There have been a slew of bank holidays lately that have involved a four day weekend. Last Friday we decide to take a quick drive to check out Stirling Castle.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, but a little breezy. It was nice to get out without our heavy jackets. Despite being a bank holiday, it wasn't too busy.

Right when we entered the castle, we found the Queen and her lady-in-waiting. Alyssa didn't want to get her picture taken with them, so Daddy and Devon joined her. 

Alyssa looking coy.

The castle sits high on a hill. The surrounding views are beautiful. I tried to take a photo with my zoom lens of the William Wallace Memorial, but the day was a little to hazy to get a good one.

In the Great Hall, they did a reenactment of how the queen would enter for a feast. We all had to rise and bow. The kids thought it was pretty fun. Because we were there the day before Easter, they had a feast laid out to represent what their Easter feast would have been like. Daddy wanted to have a photo of Alyssa on the throne with the Queen. She wouldn't sit on the throne without Daddy though.

The chapel had some beautiful paintings and tapestries on the walls. Alyssa had to have her picture taken with the unicorn tapestry.

Our kids always love the cannons at the castles.

A little ice cream as a treat as we left the castle. 

Stay tuned for the next installment of our adventures. I promise I won't wait three months to post next time.

First Football Game

We finally found Kobe a football team to play on.  He is now part of the Johnstone Burgh Football Club.  He had his first game this past Saturday.  I am pretty impressed with myself that I'm already posting it and not waiting until March.  It was freezing!  Below is a photo of how Alyssa chose to watch the game.  

Kobe was supposed to sit out the first half, but some of the players on his team were late so he was able to start.  He had such a fun time.  His team is pretty good too.  It's amazing watching 8 year olds passing to each other down the field and getting so many shots on goal.  

I was able to get a few action shots, but I missed both times that Kobe scored a goal.  I did manage to catch one of his post-goal grins, as seen below.  He has a fun little celebration that he does when he scores.  He runs with his arms stretched out like an airplane.  Too funny!

He was really happy after the game.  They won 11 to 1.  I'm really glad that he is able to finally participate in something that he is so passionate about.

Below is a full picture of the Johnstone Burgh uniform.  It's interesting that they start with sponsors early.  Each team has one and it's logo is on the front of their shirt and on their pullovers.

Kobe was only disappointed that he didn't score a hat trick.  I ignorantly had to ask him what that meant.  I learned that a hat trick is when you score three goals in one game.  And that's your useless fact for the day!

Thanksgiving in Scotland

I'm way late on this.  As usual.  Thanksgiving was interesting for us this year.  It was a first for us to celebrate it in a foreign country.  It's strange also to have the kids go to school.  I do admit that it made it easier to prep for dinner without my kids running around.

Jonathan's brother Nathan came to visit.  He and his friend Emily spent some time in London then came to visit Scotland for a couple of days.  They arrived the night before Thanksgiving and were planning on leaving early in the morning for Edinburgh.

Nathan was concerned that so many people showering in the morning would be a problem.  We assured him that we had plenty of hot water.  Our thermostat seemed to be broken so our water was super hot and went a long way.  We woke up the following morning to find that our water heater had broken.  Uh-oh!  We all had to take bucket showers (not fun when you have long hair).  Luckily we have an electric kettle that boils water very quickly.  What a mess!  I had to keep boiling water throughout the day so that I could hand wash all of my china.  It took forever!

It all worked out and we were able to enjoy our dinner.  We invited the missionaries from our ward and two of Jonathan's co-workers, who also transferred from the San Diego office.  The missionaries kept the kids occupied while we finished preparations for dinner.

We had a full table and it was really fun.  It was like the "Young Single Thanksgiving Dinner" as every one was single besides Jonathan and I.  There was a lot of food and a lot of laughter! When is there not laughter when Nathan is around?

The kids had their own little table in the kitchen.  Jonathan's grandmother, Grandma Rothe, has a tradition of providing everyone with chocolate turkeys from See's Candies.  She sent them to Nathan, and he kindly used some of his limited luggage space to bring them for us. Thanks Nathan! They had all eaten so much we wanted them to wait until the next day to eat the turkeys, but Alyssa couldn't wait.  She ripped off that foil and promptly chomped off its head.  It looks like Nathan wanted a taste as well.  

Hopefully Nathan will visit again.  Next time, we'll have hot water.  Promise.

My Little Welly Monster

This little girl makes me laugh every single day.

Halloween (Very, Very Late)

Halloween was only a month and a half ago.  I'm a little (very) late posting these but I figured you'd like to know how we do Halloween around these parts.  We went to a Halloween Party at our church the night before.  The kids had a blast.

Alyssa was a witch (she took off the hat and didn't want to carry the broom), Kobe was a football player (we picked up a German football jersey while in Berlin), and Devon was Jango Fett.

Alyssa was loving the candy!  She ate quite a bit before we left.  They had some games as part of the festivities and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Kobe did some bobbing for apples.  He tried several times, but he couldn't get his mouth open enough with the braces.  They kindly gave him an apple anyway.

They also did a little donut-on-the-string fun.  They did a little better at donut game than the apple bobbing.

We did a little pumpkin carving on Halloween.  We had three pumpkins.  Kobe and Devon drew the faces that they wanted and we did the carving.  After Kobe's was carved, I let him use the knife to clean up some of the edges.  I was terrified, but he was careful and he still has all of his fingers!  I count that as a success.

Above is Devon showing off his pumpkin.  Because Halloween was on a Sunday, we didn't allow the kids to go trick-or-treating.  They did have fun passing out the candy.  Alyssa wanted to be in charge of the candy and would get angry when anyone else touched the bowl.

One interesting tradition here is that when the kids in Scotland go trick-or-treating, they have to tell a joke before they can get their candy.  Good thing to know for next year.  We'll make sure our kids have their jokes prepared.