Hello, Bonjour, Goed dag, Guten Tag, Gudde Moien!

Yes, we were in that many countries this past weekend.  Five to be exact.  No more than four in a day, but five total.  I'm going to let you all try to figure out which "hello" goes with which country...  and no googling it to cheat!  

I can't believe we actually did it.  Our first trip to the continent as a family.  It was quite the experience, and we learned a lot.  But we had a great time.  

We got up early and drove to Dover to get on the ferry.  The boys were so excited to "drive our car right onto the big boat!"

Here is N looking out the window of the ferry.  It rained from the moment we got on the ferry, and continued all day long (well, except where it turned into snow)!  Yes, the only country it didn't rain in that day was England.  How's that for irony?

Then the real fun began.  To get to Germany we had to drive through France and then Belgium.  We needed lunch and decided we needed to take home some yummy French goodies, so we stopped at a French grocery store / cafeteria.  It was pouring out, so we didn't feel like roaming around town.  First the caferteria.  Let me tell you, my five years of high school French was still really rusty at this point, and I was sooooo not able to think fast enough.  As the lovely little French woman behind me was pushing my tray along much faster than I could mentally translate, I just ended up pointing at random foods.  Let's just say we ended up with an interesting lunch!  

Then we wanted to go into the store to get some Nutella, bread, wine, and cheese.  Yummy!  We saw "truck carts" you know, the cute ones kids ride in the front of and pretrend drive around the store.  We had told the boys we could use one of them in the store, after all, we were taking them on an eight hour car ride... truck carts seemed like a reasonable request for them to make.  However, said carts are locked up next to a sign that seemed to say something about an attedent, a form of identification, and €1.50.  OK, so after Korea I'm used to paying a deposit for a cart.  But I couldn't figure out why I would need a form of ID, nor did I see an attendent anywhere in sight.  So while trying not to make a huge scene in the French supermarket, we try to move the boys to the normal carts that I can actually figure out how to unlock.  But they weren't convinced and so a very nice French woman saw our misery and took us over to the customer service desk (ahhh... the attendent) and told her we want a cart.  Mind you, we were waaaay over the truck cart at this point, but didn't want to offend this nice woman who was trying to help us.  Eventually I figure out that to use the truck cart I had to leave a form of identification as a deposit and pay the €1.50, which was not a deposit, but a fee!  €1.50 to use a cart!  This entire conversation went on in French, no English.  Remember I only had high school French, and it's been (ahem) a while.  So I kept thinking must have missed something.  Nope.  Take it from me, if you ever travel through France, don't get a truck cart for your kids!  It's not worth it.  We eventually did get our French goodies and headed out.  Back into the rain.

Which somewhere around Brussels (which by the way is a HUGE city, and I don't recommed hitting it at rush hour... not that I would know) turned into snow.  Snow and traffic.  Let's just say our eight hour drive got much, much longer.  We did eventually make it to Germany and our friend Christie's house.  

After a not quite long enough night's sleep, we went touring in the morning.  We stopped at this amazing old castle right near Christie's house.  The boys had a great time exploring.  N had to go up and down every possible staircase and wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the castle.  And I do mean every one.

This is my new favorite family photo.  I love the back drop of the old castle wall.  

Miss Christie was very helpful in letting Noah explore every corner while I kept taking pictures!

We pratically had to drag N out of there.  I think we will be visiting many more castles in our future!  We spent the rest of the day letting the boys refuel with lunch (mmm weinersnietzel and French toast...) and rest with really long naps.  But they weren't long enough because after dinner we experienced a massive N melt down.  I mean massive.  I suppose that's what you get when you take a three-year old who really, really likes routine and drag him through five foreign countries in four days.  However, on the way to dinner we had a really funny conversation.  N wanted to know if Miss Christie is a pilot like daddy.  We said no, she's a doctor, like when you're sick you go to the doctor and she makes you feel all better.  He responded by saying, "Oh, I don't like that!"  Which cracked us up!

The next day we went to another city, Trier.  The drive was beautiful.  Germany definitely has the some really neat little towns.  The roads were amazing.  If you've ever wondered how a country with mountains has the autobahn and really high speed limits, the answer is bridges.  Huge, huge bridges that literally span entire valleys and go over entire towns.  Amazing engineering.  I couldn't believe how high off the ground we were!  I tried not to think about the fact that were on the very same high bridges the night before in the snow and dark, and just didn't know we were that far up!  

N was almost asleep in the car when we got there, and was more than happy to continue to rest on Daddy's shoulder.

Our first stop was lunch right off this amazing square in the center of town.  I think these buildings are so beautiful!

N loves Europe.  I think he had hot chocolate with almost every meal.  Here he is enjoying his before his Belgian waffles.  Hot chocolate and waffles for lunch, what could be better?!  Well... maybe the banana and Nutella crepe that I ate.  Yum!

After we finished off our way yummy lunch we headed to the main attraction in town.  The Porta Nigra.  Which was built in the 2nd century.  Yes, I said the 2nd century.  It was the original gate into town, and is still pretty impressive.  

We went inside and climbed up to the top floors.  Now, I am mildly afraid of heights.  And my children and husband are not.  So they always want to go to the top of every structure and peer off the ledges, down to our impending doom below.  So usually E takes one child to the window, and I plead with the other to allow me to stay safely in the center of the room.  Thank goodness we had Miss Christie there.  She held onto little e and they could all peer through the not quite close enough for my comfort bars in the windows, down to the plaza below.  

She even carried him up the stairs for me, so I could focus on the walls and try to pretend we weren't as high above the incredibly hard stone floor as we were.  And no, we don't think the cement staircase dates from the 2nd century... unless they had some amazing ironworkers back then!  

Here is the other side of the gate.  We were way up in the top of that structure!

Then we went to the local cathedral.  Amazing.  It's interesting to me how many renovations and additions these old buildings have gone through over time.  This is a good example of a building with two very different architectural styles.  This church was built over several centuries!   

Sadly on Monday morning it was time to leave.  We decided to take a different route home and drive through France the whole day.  (We at least know some French... not so much German!)  But before we got out of Germany E was very excited to take advantage of driving on the autobahn.  I think he had the Jetta up to 90 at one point on a down hill stretch!  (I didn't know that until after the fact... which was probably a good thing!)  We did have another driving snag on the way home.  We made a wrong turn before we left Germany and ended up in our fifth country of the trip.  I'll let you all try to figure out what country that was!  We cracked ourselves up because we had a conversation that went something like this.  

me:  What road are we on?

E:  I don't know, I'm just following Emily (our Sat-Nav, or GPS).

me:  I think we're going the wrong way

E:  What does Emily say?

me:  I don't know, what country are we in?

Yup, it could be bad when you don't even know what country you're in!  The country borders in the EU are pretty much just like state borders in the states.  We only had to show our passports once the whole trip, and that was to get back into England.

We did eventually end up on the road we wanted to be on in France, and we had great weather for the drive home, so we made good time.  We were going to be a little early for the ferry, so we decided to stop in a random French town and just drive around and see the sights.  This town (which didn't even get a listing in my France guide book) had this amazing cathedral sitting on the top of the hill.  We drove up some really windy streets (and wrong way down a one way... ooops) and stopped to take a photo of this amazingly huge church.  When I was a kid, my family took a trip to New Zealand and my parents were quite taken with all the hills and sheep.  I was not.  I just couldn't (and still can't) figure out what was so exciting about all those sheep.  I'm pretty sure N and e feel the same way about churches.  E and I are so fascinated with all the huge, and I do mean huge, old churches around here, that we always point them all out to the boys... but to them, it's probably just another really big church!

Finally we made it back to the ferry that would take us back to England.  The boys are still recovering from all the activity, but we had a great trip and I'm already planning my next one!

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery...

Hi... I'm K.  I'm a dish-aholic.  This should come to no surprise to many of you.  I like dishes.  I mean, I really, really like dishes.  I have multiple sets of them, all for different occasions.  Therefor, I should not under any circumstances be allowed into a store that looks like this.  

Or six more just like it.  Seriously this is like sending an alcoholic to an open bar, or a shopaholic to the mall the day after Thanksgiving.  It's just bad.  Bad.  

This is my new favorite thing.  It's from a potter called Burleigh.  It's so English I could scream.  I love it.  I acquired said amazing piece of British dish-work on my potteries trip yesterday.  We visited seven different pottery outlets in a town called Stoke-on-Trent.  I repeat, seven pottery outlets!  It's the pottery capital of England.  Everything was seconds (imperfections that I usually couldn't see) and on sale.  Glorious.  

Not only did I find that amazing teapot, I also found Christmas dishes.  Yes, I know I already have Christmas dishes.  Just follow along and refer to the title of this post.  

These dishes each have a different phrase from "The Night Before Christmas" on them, along with the picture that goes along with each phrase.  Each plate in the set is different.  No, I didn't buy the whole set (I do have a little self control...) but I got enough that we can use the as our everyday Christmas dishes next year... with the intention of adding to it over the next couple of years!  I've spent all day looking at them, and I like them even more as the day goes on.  I love pottery outlets!

If you want to see the rest of the set (or go outlet dish shopping), you'll just have to come visit me!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!  OK, so I'm a bit late, but here are some of our Christmas Day highlights.  Santa was quite good to all of us, and this has probably been my favorite Christmas so far with the boys because N really got excited about everything.  He checked the plate of cookies we left the night before, and was happy to see they were gone, but the stockings were filled.  Here is the tree in all it's glory.  We sort of had to point the boys towards it, but once they saw it, they made a beeline for the highly coveted Rockets that Santa left.  Santa was very smart and brought two matching Rockets, to avoid fighting.  Way to go Santa!

Since we are in the UK we needed "crackers" in our stockings.  They all contained crowns and Pooh Bear stickers.  What grown adult doesn't want a Pooh Bear sticker?  Can't you tell how excited E is to get his crown and sticker?

N is very excited to get his very first big boy Lego set.  So long Duplos!  He was so excited by all of his presents, and wanted to play with each and every one of them.  We had to open each one and get it out before he would open another.  It was so sweet, he was truly excited about each one!

Little e shows off his favorite new ball from Aunt EJ.  She got one for each boy, and they are huge hits!  You will also notice that he has plastered himself with Mickey Mouse stickers from his stocking.  It kills me to see him use them all at one time... me, I would painfully measure out how many stickers I could use a day to ensure I had complete sticker coverage for the next week or so.  Not e, all at once is his motto!  No time like the present!

This race track was the big present from Grandma and Grandpa W.  It came with a pre-apology.  As in, "Sorry K, this toy might be a little loud... but it looked so fun!"  It's a race track where the cars are supposed to go around the figure eight and crash into each other.  When they do they make a fantastic crashing noise and the hood and doors pop open.  It's a little boy's dream!  And it took every adult male in the house (plus N) to put it together.  Literally!

Here it is in all it's complete loud crashing glory!  Little e is mesmerized... and still sticker covered!

Whoo it's been a tough morning of present opening and playing... time for a little break!

OK, break over.  Time to wrestle with Uncle E!

Here is N and daddy putting together the Lego airplane.  I was so impressed with N.  He had amazing spacial reasoning.  He could look at the picture and figure out where the piece was supposed to go.  And he concentrated on the whole project.  I thought E would be putting most of it together, but N really did it.  I predict many, many more Legos in our future!

Eventually we did end the present opening and started dinner.  More yummy food.  N got this apron in his stocking and put it to good use helping his Aunt EJ make the deviled eggs.  A favorite for both of them!  N loves to help me in the kitchen and we have been putting the apron to good use since he got it!

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas.  We are getting back to normal around here, but I do have a few more pictures from the family's visit that I'll get up eventually!

Christmas Eve

Well, all the excitement has died down here.  We had E's whole family in for Christmas, and despite some really cold weather, and lack of beds, we had a great time!  We did quite a bit of sightseeing, but I think we had some of the best times just hanging around the house.  Here are a few pictures of Christmas Eve.  

 

Aunt EJ, N, and Uncle E decorating Christmas cookies.  I think N looks just a little like his uncle!  Strong jeans...

Little e just loves a camera... 

 

N was all about "sprinkling" the cookies, but little e was way into the red hots.  I think this particular reindeer had like 17 red hots in it by the time he was done.  I think it came down with a nasty case of the measles or something!

Later we went to the children's Christmas Eve service at Ely Cathedral (built in the 11th century...  An 11th centry cathedral for Christmas Eve!  I mean, how cool is that?)  Before the service N and Aunt EJ check out the giant Christmas tree inside the cathedral.  It was my first time inside, and the scale is amazing.  

Because it was a children's service, the kids were invited to come sit on the floor in front of the alter where a little nativity play took place... complete with a live donkey!  A donkey in church.  N was a little leary of sitting up front with all the other kids, so he happily sat with his aunt on the pews, but little e was all about sitting up front where the action was!

Here we are outside after the service.  

Then it was home for Chistmas Eve dinner (yum!)  Where I found out that British sausages do make a nice substitute for the potato bologna I grew up with...  I made my family's traditional Swedish Christmas Eve dinner... well, without the lutefisk and fruit soup.   Eeeewww.  

Then it was time to leave Santa some cookies.  N really seemed to grasp the Santa thing this year, and it was fun to play with it, while still trying to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas.  N picked out one of these cookies for Santa, and the other for the reindeer.  We told him that usually the reindeer prefer a carrot, but he thought they would enjoy a cookie more.  We had to admit, that his logic was pretty sound!

Christmas morning pictures will arrive at a later point...

Party #2, Santa #3

This week was also the Christmas party for N's little school.  I love his school.  I love his teachers, and by now you all know that I do not love children's Christmas parties.  This one was not my favorite, but I really did enjoy watching my little guy interact with his classmates and his teachers.

These crackers are a British Christmas tradition.  When you pull them, you get a loud "cracking sound" and a cool surprise inside.  N and his little buddy helped each other open theirs!

N's had this little ruler inside.  How cute is this kid?

And he got this tissue crown... it was a little big for him.  Here he is with one of his teachers.  We love her!

Mmm... more sugar.

Here is N getting a cuddle from his other favorite teacher.  He was sitting on my lap, then I saw him eyeing his teacher.  I asked him if he wanted to go sit with her, and he happily agreed.  So much for mom! 

And of course.  Santa.  Or Father Christmas.  Again...  Yes, that makes three.  Anyway, I think we're all done with Christmas parties for now.  But it's been fun, and I think we're ready for the big event later this week!

Little Reaper Christmas Party

So Saturday was the Christmas party for our kiddos.  These are normally not my favorite events.  Lots of toddlers, lots of sugar, and lots of chaos!  But this was hands down the best kids Christmas party we've been too.  We had so much fun and the ladies who organized it did a fantastic job!

Here are some of the highlights.  Before we went, we put up the tree.  This year the boys both wanted "Rocket" for their special ornaments.  If you don't have a preschooler in your house, you probably don't know who Rocket is... but for those of us that do, we are all about him!

N is usually not a big fan of craft time, unless it involves glue and glitter (or crumbs as he calls it!)  Lo and behold, there were ornaments to be decorated with both.  Dad and little e made a nice one, and N did his own... very neatly decorated glitter ornament.  He did a star, and each line on the star had to be decorated with a different color of glitter, no overlaps, no repeats.  That's my kid!

There was also these trees to frost.  Sugar cones to be covered in bright green frosting, and then sprinkled with all sorts of fun sugary delights.  It was a preschooler's dream come true!

Well done there boys!  (Try to say it with a British accent, it sounds much better that way.) Oh the sugar.  They're giddy with excitement and anticipation of the sugar high.  

Mmmm... more sugar.  Instant sugar high gratification.  I think they each ate like four cookies during this particular gathering.  Little e would just walk over and help himself (or con one of the daddies near by with his charming smile, and get a cookie that way... he's a clever one!)

Then stringing of beads.  Again, N isn't a huge craft fan, but this appealed to his sense of order.  Little e couldn't quite string the beads himself, so he would point at either a bead or bell, apparently at random (at least I couldn't figure out a pattern) and I would string them for him.  But not N.  He wanted one (and only one) bell, then a perfectly uniform row of red beads on his necklace.  He was so proud of it.  You'll notice he's wearing it in all the subsequent pictures

Here are all the kids getting ready for a fun game of present opening.  They sat in a circle, passing around a present, then when the music stops the kid holding it gets to open the outer layer of wrapping, revealing a small treat and another present.  This continues until you get to the big present in the middle.  I think it's a British thing.  The older kids got it, but the little ones just kept looking at all the wrapping paper!

N wasn't sure this little girl knew what she was doing and kept offering his helping hand when it was her turn to open!

Finally it was his turn.  

Then Santa arrived.  Yes, that is our second Santa of the year, and no, they look nothing alike.  I thought N might start to figure something out, but he was more than happy to go sit on this very scary looking Santa's lap for a gift!

All the boys got these cars.  It cracked us up because instantly all the boys were down on the floor making "vrooooom" noises and pushing their cars around, while the girls stood on watching!

The next day (after the first sugar high subsided!)  We let the boys eat their ice cream cone and frosting sugary Christmas trees.  They were pretty excited, but we made them stop long enough to take a picture!

N just dove right into his, but little e wasn't too sure how to begin.

He eventually figured it out, and was quite pleased with the result!  Mmmmm.   Food coloring.

Yup, the Christmas sugaring has begun!  Bring on the next party!