Family Fest

Evan's school had a "Family Fest" that we were all really excited to attend!  It was centered around the Olympics - each child was given a card, after each activity they received a stamp, and when you got all the 'required' stamps you got a certificate of completion ... or a gold medal  :)  The kids had so much fun doing all the games!  The school went all out too - it was better than going to a carnival!  Here are the kids sporting their face paint from the night of activities!

My Life ... at Random

(a little house out of the central 'town' area - I love that it has Eschenbach on the side)

This is my life ... a little dull and uneventful but my life none-the-less.  

Each day I wake up at 6 AM to get ready for the day.  The little kids wake up whenever (usually 6:30 AM) but I wake up the older girls at 7:00 AM regardless.  They all eat their oats (except Anika who thinks they are disgusting and will only eats Cheerios) and they are out the door by 7:30 AM to catch the bus at 7:45 AM.  Sometimes I am motivated to go with them to the bus stop, other times I am not and just wave to them from the front door as the bus drives by.  I have to mention that their bus is not a typical bus, it's just a German van with 3 other kids inside besides my kids.  Lately I have been extra motivated and Evan and I will ride our bikes to his school.  Evan LOVES this, especially since it is mostly down hill!  The other day we even got to see a dead mouse on the side of the path which makes it all the more cool.  After coming home from dropping off Evan (either by car or by bike) the baby takes a nap, Anika watches a movie and eats ALL morning long (seriously) and then we are off to pick Evan up.  Evan comes home and eats lunch, and then we are off to pick the older girls up.  The girls come home, eat lunch, practice piano, finish up homework, play hard, have dinner and then it's off to bed.  The highlight of the week is when I take the kids to the German bakery in town.  They LOVE it!

So here are some pictures of what I see on a daily basis!

(This is the view driving up into town to get the girls.  To the right is the Eis (Gelato) place.  Straight ahead is the Rathaus, the blue triangular topped building covered by the trees.) 

(A random memorial)

(The church on the bottom of the hill - there is also a church on the top of the hill)

(The bakery that we go to the most.  The usual lady is seriously the sweetest thing ever!  Emi loves the crescent roll with Nutella in the middle, as do I.  Yum!)

(The view looking down the hill standing in front of the bakery.  This is the Rathaus from behind, again it is the blue triangular topped building in the center.)

(This is a view of the bike path that Evan and I take to school in the mornings.  He gets to coast down it on the way there, and I'm the lucky one who gets to climb it on the way back with two little people in the bike trailer behind me.  This little A.D. 1700 building is a tiny little chapel with candles lit almost 24/7.  The kids like to say a little prayer here - or make a wish - while they are waiting for me to catch up in the stroller when we take a walk through a town called Thomasreuth)

(This is a sweet little town at the bottom of our hill called Thomasreuth.  It smells terrible but we love taking a stroll here every now and then to catch a glimpse of all the farm animals.)

(The bus stop in Thomasreuth.  I love the painted walls!)

(Chickens!  The kids love these!)

These 2

This picture was taken the day we went swimming at Monte Kaolina.  After our swim we stopped by a little farm and picked a HUGE bowl a strawberries.  I mean HUGE - the silver one from Ikea HUGE!  I was able to make 3 batches of freezer jam, Strawberry shortcake, a cookie sheet with drizzled chocolate on them and still had left-overs.

Anyway ... that is not why I posted this picture ...

These two are so cute!  The older one is such a character, making up songs for her baby brother, making silly faces just so she can get a smile, asking me if she can change his diaper to help me out of a bind, telling him constantly how 'stinkin' cute' he is, and trying everything possible under the sun to get him to wave goodbye to her in the mornings before she leaves for school.  I love watching their sweet relationship grow!  I absolutely LOVE this picture of them too!

Let's Go Swimming!!

About 30 minutes from our place is Monte Kaolino (official website HERE).  More info. HERE too.

They have a HUGE sand hill split in half: on one side is where you can climb up and jump down (like the sand dunes) and on the other half is where you ride a ski lift up and either ski or snowboard down the sand.  They have a roller-coaster, which is basically the Alpine slides in Park City on a track, and lastly, they have a swimming pool.  The pool, or pools are seriously the best!  There is an older kid/adult pool, a pool for just the diving boards, a big yellow water slide that goes into a couple inches of water (NOT a pool) and a kiddie pool.  I have never been so relaxed at a public pool in my entire life, it was awesome!  The kids had an absolute BLAST!  They played for hours and hours!

Father's Day 2012

BEFORE
AND
AFTER

You would think that after medical school and residency we would be able to enjoy Father's Day together as a family.  Not so!  Due to all the soldiers coming home from the 172nd we had to sacrifice our daddy for Sunday's Father's Day so he could do post-deployment well checks.  I can't complain though, the patients that were seen were probably so excited to be with their families from their year long deployment.  The kids and I made dad a movie and posed for these sweet pictures.

Crawling ... Almost!

This little man is all over the place.  He twists in circles and it's hilarious.  He is back and forth from his bottom to his hands and knees, rolling to get to his destination(s).  He is so curious; far too curious for my taste.  I can't put him down for more than a few seconds before he starts crying and complaining for me to pick him up.  In this area I can't wait for him to crawl ... I can wait otherwise.

Note: This was taken a good month ago and he is now crawling all over!  It is seriously cute!

A few hours in Verona, Italy

We only had a few hours to spend in Verona but with Rick Steve's in our back pocket we knew we would be able to see all the highlights and leave feeling like we got to see everything.  I'll be honest, all I really wanted to see here was Juliet's wall (you know, from Romeo and Juliet & Letter's of Juliet).

In the Piazza delle Erbe

We jumped in front of this fountain for this picture right after a couple that had just been married, in her wedding dress and all, had gotten their picture taken.

Juliet's Wall

Side note: in front of me and to the right a guy purposed to his girlfriend!  How romantic is that?!  I tell you I'm a sucker for romance, Miles isn't really and was NOT as impressed as I was.  

The kids holding Juliet's hand for luck in finding true love.  Traditionally you are suppose to rub something else but I told the kids otherwise (the nice shiny clean area is what you are suppose to rub).  Emi being observant asked why everyone was touching the statue there and asked if she had to too.  She was relieved when I told her 'No'.  What a cute girl!

An ancient Roman stair case ... leading to nothing.  Cool just the same though!  We did however climb the 'tower' off to the right in this picture.  

For more pictures go HERE to our other blog

Cinque Terra with Love

The Lover's Lock

Here is proof that we ALL love each other in our family.  While visiting the Cinque Terra we decided to do the 'easy' walk from (town #1) Riomaggiore to (town #2)  Manarola.  It was perfect for the kids and between these two towns there is a famous 'love' walk with these two adorable statues kissing.

The family!

For more scenic pictures go HERE