Maggie's 3rd Birthday party and a trip home!

We returned to Texas in August and was immediately busy getting settled. While it was wonderful to be back stateside, I was bummed that we didn't have the time to make it to Kansas and see family. So after working with the boys' school schedule, Ron's work schedule, my parent's work schedule and my brother's work schedule, we finally narrowed down a weekend that we could all meet in Kansas. This weekend was almost two weeks after Maggie's birthday but since she shares a birthday with my nephew (whom at this point I had yet to meet!) we opted to have a joint birthday party and weekend get-together. It was perfect!

The drive from Houston to Wichita went off without a hitch. Google said it was a 10 hour and 8 minute trip from our driveway to my Aunt's house and we made it in 11 hours and 12 minutes. Two adults, four kids, two dogs and we stopped three times.

They are awesome little travelers.

We actually got to Kansas a day before we had originally planned which worked out well because we had time to get situated in the hotel and an extra evening to visit family. Friday my parents came down with my grandma. It was so nice getting to see them and the kids didn't hesitate one bit (which I thought Maggie might).

We bundled up (it seriously started to snow in Wichita, in mid October when this gal only brought flip flops) and headed to lunch. We spent Friday relaxing with grandparents, hanging at my Aunt's house.

Saturday my brother made it over and we took family photos and had a party. I was VERY VERY excited to meet my nephew and see family that I hadn't gotten to see in two years. I cried several times, but they were tears of complete happiness and joy!

Some of the family photos we snagged:

 

Great Grandma Phyllis with all her great grandkids

 My parents with their kids and grandkids

Nanaw and Papa bought the kids' Halloween costumes for them this year...I sure have a lot of superheros protecting me! 

By 3:00pm everyone had made it to the house and we were ready to party.

 

 I think it's pretty neat that these two share a birth date and even though Abe is in Nebraska, and Mags is in Texas, they were able to celebrate together :)

So fortunate that we were all able to meet up and spend the weekend together. Now I can't wait for Christmas to do it all over again. This is what the holiday's are about, and this is what I missed the most while in Italy. 

I cannot wait for Spring Break 2013!!

If you think that sounds slightly like something I have said before, well you are right. Last year I was super excited and could not wait for Spring Break 2012. Last year we went to Tuscany with/at the same time as the Brocks. (I say ''with'' but with 6 people in each family we have to take separate cars, stay in separates places, etc).

We had a blast!

So shortly after last years Spring Break we started talking about where we wanted to go for this year. B and I knew we wanted to take the kids to Disneyland Paris but over the summer would be too crowded, Nanaw and Papa were coming to visit and we didn't yet have our tourist passports. We got to talking to the Brocks once again and they were also planning a Disneyland trip in the near future....one thing led to another and Spring Break 2.0 was born!

That's right ya'll for Spring Break we are headed to PARIS!! How freaking exciting is that? For this small town Kansas girl, I feel like I need pinched! We will be spending the first 4 days/3 nights at Disneyland. We have a family-room in a partner hotel nearby (Disney resorts didn't have a room big enough for all 6 of us, they wanted us to book two rooms..ugh!) and we have park passes to both parks for all four days. We can take our time and really have fun! The Brocks also booked Disney for those same dates! We will be there together but will probably split up quite a bit once in the parks because they have been to Disney parks before and we haven't yet navigated the park with kids. {Random factoid, B and I eloped in Las Vegas, then spent the day after our wedding at Disneyland California}. Our boys could.not.be.more.excited!

They are saving their money, they are planning on meeting Buzz Lightyear, they look forward to riding the the flying Dumbos and hopefully they are big enough to ride in Crush's Coaster because they are really excited about that. We also reserved a 'Breakfast with the Characters' meal so hopefully they will love it! Truth be told I am nervous since Logan was freaked out by the Sesame Street gang at Sea World.

So on the fourth day, we will leave Disneyland and head for the apartment that we will be renting, in the 6th Arrondissement. We found the apartment on VRBO.com which is rental website. Most people when traveling in Europe do not book a hotel; they are small and very expensive. Many people rent a property from a website such as homeaway.com, VRBO.com, or even vacation rentals from tripadvisior. It gets you a better deal, a bigger place at the cheaper price, usually right where you want to be and has the amenities of home: washer, dryer, bathtub, kitchen, etc. The hotel still had some appeal for me (indoor swimming pool if it rains, extra pillows/towels/etc a call away) but this will save time and money and immerse us into a neighborhood usually reserved for the locals.  Now the Brocks also found a place but I believe there apartment is in the 16th arrondissement. While we will be split up for this part of the trip, we hope to meet up for dinner at some point!

So, the apartment...I love it and we haven't even seen it. This is the one we rented. I have a friend who recently moved from Paris who helped us when narrowing down a 'district' to stay in and I am so glad for her help. We are in the district she thought would be perfect for us! A five minute walk from Notre Dame! A 15 minute walk from the Louvre, and a quick Subway ride to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe. It's 5 mins to the nearest metro station, which has a line right to the airport so when it's time to say goodbye, it should be fairly simple. Oh and literally right across the street is a Starbucks. Like 10 feet from the entrance to the apartment. Oh how I've missed thee! (I'm sure its a sin to drink Starbucks in Paris but I plan on doing it over and over...I gotta make up for a years worth of missed time!)

While we don't have a daily itinerary, we do have a list of ''Really, Really Want to See/Do". While traveling with young kids I realize a ''Must See" list is a bit of a pipe dream. Ideally we want to...

• Visit the Eiffel Tower, go up to the top!
• Ride in a double decker bus for a ''hop on, hop off'' tour of Paris. 
• Visit the Louvre, admire the art, see Mona Lisa's smile and take a forced perspective photo similar to this..

taken from google images...links to here:http://cookingaweighthelbs.blogspot.it/2012/09/our-trip-to-paris.html

• Climb the tours of Notre Dame (all 422 steps...)
• Eat a french baguette, buy and eat macarons (ideally from the famed Ladurée ..it is a 10 minute walk from the apartment we rented) and the boys want to eat French Fries and French Toast while in France. 
• See the Arc De Triomphe (the boys recognize it from the movie Cars 2)
• Visit the Jardin du Luxembourg, also less than 10 mins from our Apartment, and ride the carousel and perhaps rent a toy sailboat. 
• Visit the Orsay Museum and/or Musee de l'Orangerie (several of Monet's pieces are here, love love love Waterlilies) 

And just relax, if there is any time left! We will be there for one full week and it's ''moderate'' tourist season. We're planning on getting the Paris Pass so hopefully that will cut down on the long lines and expense of travel. Overall I'm just excited to go!

Nanaw and Papa's vist Day 11: The Zugspitze!

On our 3rd day in Germany it was decided that no matter how rainy and overcast it was, we were going to the top of the Zugspitze. This is ''the thing to do'' so to speak, while in Garmisch. It's the tallest point in Germany and you get to the top via cogwheel train or cable car. It's 2,962 meters high...definitely a big deal for my mom who is scared of heights and myself, who has a fear of bridges and pretty much anything that requires me to be suspended in the air. So we drove to the little train station and waited (for a very delayed) train.

It was a crowded station:

 Once on this cog-wheel train, it was so crowded, we didn't have seats. The kids sat on the floor and the grown ups stood...

 It stops half way up to let off the yahoo's that want to hike to the top...or those that want to take pictures. I did NOT get out as it was a very steep dropoff right after that gravel. Papa did though and he hustled to get back on. There was one poor guy who got left behind (and I'm not kidding...train totally left his ass on the side of the moutain, he had gone to pee somewhere).

 The cog wheel train stops at the glacier. In the winter time, this is full of skiers and sledders...in August it was full of tourists and a little bit of snow.

 From the Glacier to the actual Summit, you have to take one of these cable cars....

 Yeah, it's freaky. I took a dramimine as I knew I would get motion sick when it was time to ride that!

 In the above picture you can see that silver/grey metal near B's head that is jutting over the side of the mountain ..here we are on that overlook.

 After a few pics (slightly terrifying to be hanging of the side of a mountain...literally...on a metal thing that you could see through the bottom of on a windy day) it was time to ride the cable car. Here goes nothing!

 

 We made it!

 These are the people that went to the literal peak...I was not about to trek out there...1/2 our group was in in flip flops!

 It was obviously, extremely overcast out. We were in a cloud and could see absolutely nothing below. In all honesty, it was probably better for Nanaw as you really couldn't tell how high up you were.

 On a clear day you can see into Germany, Italy, Austria and I think Switzerland. We had to take the postcards word for it though...

So after all this, we ate lunch and then prepared to take the really BIG cable car all the way back down to where we parked. Took the cog-wheel up, take the cable car down and experience both...except a storm rolled in complete with lightning. They prohibited anyone from using the Cable Car and just about pushed us down in a cog-wheel train. After all of this, we decided we would just head home. We were leaving early enough in the day that we could stop and see things if we wanted to. Good thing we did that because by the time we reached Austria, the rain had stopped and Austria is GORGEOUS!

 We kinda got temporary lost and found this adorable cemetery!

 These tiny cabin/sheds were everywhere. Nanaw and I loved how they stacked the wood 'just so' around each window.

 Looking down at the city of Telfs...

 We decided to stop in Innsbruck Austria for dinner. Such a cute, cute town!

 I felt like I was walking around on a movie set!

The picture above, with us in front of the Golden Roof...funny story. We're standing there and see this family all taking turns of taking pictures of 2 in their group since the 3rd had to hold the camera...I offered to take their photo and it ended up being the SAME family who took our photo when we were on the Glacier of the Zugspitze, in Germany earlier that morning. They were on vacation from Korea. Such a small world when you run into the same family, on the same day, in TWO different countries!

After walking around the pedestrian area, we ate dinner and headed home.  See ya next time Innsbruck!

ciao!