Grey Squirrel

Today was Alexandra's first recital. She has been taking ballet this year at daycare, not really sure what she has learned but she was very excited about her recital. The song was Grey Squirrel and her big debut was scheduled for this evening.

At 10:30am we had a dry run, so the kids would know where to stand and practice on time on the big stage. True to form, Mommy shows up with Alexandra, and quickly realizes that she is supposed to be wearing her costume. Of course, Mommy messed that one up. She was the only kid practicing without the costume on.

At showtime, Mommy was backstage helping keep the kids organized and got to watch all the exciting performances from the backstage view. Alexandra did great, and she was a beautiful Grey Squirrel

Good Bye Minkie!

Today we have reached a huge milestone in Alexandra's life. She spent her first night without the minkie. For all of you who do not know her, her minkie (pacifier) has been her best friend since we was little. On the way to the hotel in Frankfurt on our last night in Germany, she realized that her last minkie had a hole in it. She said she was going to throw it away when we got to the hotel. I panicked a little, you would too - a 10 hour plane ride without the plug is no fun. I suggested waiting until we got home. She went to bed on Wednesday night and appeared in the kitchen on Thursday morning and announced she was throwing it away. I was shocked - I thought surely she would have changed her mind. We went and got Daddy, he had to witness the big event - and boom - it was in the garbage. Last night was a little intense, but she went to sleep without it. Good Bye Minkie - we will miss you.

We made it!

We have all arrived safely back from Germany. We had a great setup on the flight back and got lucky to have a whole row to ourselves. Anthony and Alexandra only took two short naps on the 10 hour flight home, but in general behaved themselves very well. The trip was very intense for us, we did not have the best weather and the kids were probably a little young for the adventure - but overall - it was a great time. It is always nice to see family, and always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Growing up, every summer we would return to Germany and stay at the '"summer house" in Wangen. I have so many great memories of playing outside in the backyard overlooking the lake bordering Germany and Switzerland. It was a place we always went with my dad - he just loved it there. So when we had the opportunity to have the kids go - I was all about it. It was Onkel Dieter's birthday. Both my cousins Stefan and Sibylle were supposed to be there with their family. We packed the kids in the car and headed over to Wangen - only about a 15 min ride from Radolfzell. We arrived to find that Stefan could not come because Charlotte was still sick from her recent Adnoid removal - what a disappointment.

When we walked into the house, Alexandra and Anthony instantly ran outside to play with the other girls. They had the table set up nicely for lunch and the kids had a great time playing in the sunshine. All the kids played very nicely together, despite not really being able to understand each other. It is just amazing how much they look alike, especially Alexandra and Carole.

At times, Anthony would get left behind, the girls seemed to think he was always messing up their playing and pretending. They made pizza's out of the flowers in the garden, played in the sandbox and of course - had Popsicles. Amelie was able to teach Alexandra all kinds of scary things on the swing - she was very impressed.

After lunch we walked into downtown and they played some more on the little playground. We had a great time, we even decided to all go to the animal park the next day together.

Rottweiler Dog

Today we went to visit with Onkel Hans, Tante Monika, and Britta in a town called Rottweil. This is the oldest town in the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemburg and was about 1/2 way between Radolfzell and Singelfingen where they live. We planned on meeting and walking around and having lunch.

Alexandra was very impressed with all the "dogs" and big things she could take her picture next too. Apparently, this is the town that Rottweiler's are named after - they used to be a butcher's dog. We had a great lunch and then it was time to part ways again. The time in Germany always goes by so fast - but we will try to visit again soon.

Hopeless Romantic

Daddy really is a hopeless romantic at heart. Today was a relaxing day in Paris, we slept in a little and decided to go to Palace Versalies - just outside of Paris. Oma had gone there a long time ago with my dad, so I wanted to see what it was all about. We took the metro around 10am and arrived to find a HUGE line. After standing in line for about an hour and a half, we got up to the entrance and booked a special guided tour of the palace. The tour was nice, took us through the different rooms and showed us some beautiful things.

One of the most impressive things was this clock. It was built to run until the year 9999. It has been running and just has to be wound once a month - it was precise. Amazing and very beautiful. After walking through the house and the Opera house that was built from wood to look like marble, we moved onto the gardens out in the back. Here is where the romance starts. They had an area where you could rent a row boat and row up and down the "water way." Daddy wanted to do it - I of course thought he was crazy. But there we were, in the middle of the water and I think it was our favorite part of the time in Paris. We just loved it. What a great view of the Palace and it was so nice and relaxing. Way to go Daddy!

Mission Accomplished

Not only did we successfully find the Arc de Triomphe, we successfully walked up the 284 steps to the top. I had been practicing my stair climbing at work to prepare for this day. I had been to Paris before so I knew what we were in store for. Tight quarters, and very twisty steps..all the way up...and down. Robert is afraid of heights, but this view was worth it. Unfortunately, it was a little overcast, so it was not very clear for pictures but the picture in our head will last forever.

While on the lookout tower we could see the Eiffel Tower. We thought it would be a good idea to walk, it did not really look that far away, besides we would be able to see so much more of the city. Man was that a mistake, it took us over 2 hours to get there.