Touring Stockholm, Sweden during a marathon

These kids are seriously troopers.  We hauled them around with us almost every single day to a new city filled with walking, walking and more walking.  They were amazing!  Stockholm was filled with a lot of walking due to a marathon taking place and closing down all the trams and buses.  We kind of missed out on being able to tour around in some of the museums because of the marathon but we still got to see a ton of Stockholm.  I think we walked 10 miles that day.

Tallinn, Estonia

I think Tallinn, Estonia had  the coolest doors of our whole trip!  Check these out!  I love them!

Touring Russia for a Day

The first day the kids spent the day in the kids club on the cruise ship.  We decided that the Hermitage probably would be the best place for 5 kids.  Best. Decision. EVER!  On day two the kids had to come with us, they had to experience St. Petersburg.  We drove around in the bus a TON and weren't allowed to get out and take a lot of pictures.  But with the few stops that we did have freedom to walk around we took advantage.

First Stop ... The Church of the Spilled Blood

(my kids know it as the Candy Church because it looks like it has Candy all over it)

Helsinki, Finland

Check out Evan's cheek in the picture on the left.  Do you see the HUGE bite marks?  Guess who did it?  You got it, the little boy in the picture on the right, the one looking all cute and innocent.  Gotta love it.  I remember a neighbor telling me years ago that their little girl was a biter, and right then and there I wished to never have a toddler that was a biter.  Well, my luck ran out and I got myself a biter.

Riga, Latvia

On the side of this church was a huge wooden horse.  We had to climb up and take a million pictures!

The kids love the prayer candles in each church we enter.  I swear, all kids LOVE fire.  

Grandma with my girls

Klaipeda, Lithuania

This little girl of mine can be a bit crazy, and that is exactly why we love her so much.  "Mom, take a picture of me!"  This happens over and over with all sorts of facial expressions.

Gdansk Poland

Gdańsk, Poland

After we drove in a taxi for 45 minutes from the port of Gdynia we arrived in Gdańsk.  There was some run going on and our taxi driver, with a little help from some random little old lady walking around the city, was able to sidestep a few barricades.  It was awesome!  This little lady just moved the barricade for our driver like it was nothing.  That was when I fell in love with the Polish!

I love these two pictures (above and  below)!  We had just gotten out of the taxi and Emi followed Kenneth to this fountain. This isn't anything 'special', special as in it doesn't show up in the Rick Steves book, and yet it is beautiful and so characteristic of Europe.

A Day Exploring Denmark

Our first port stop was Bornholm Denmark.  This is actually a really important stop for our family and our family history.  On my husbands side, this is where his ancestors were converted to the LDS church and left their homeland in search for American and the prophet Joseph Smith, the leader of their new faith, the first prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Here are the kids waiting to catch a bus to the small city where our ancestors were baptized and where a lot of family members were supposedly buried, Nyker.

The kids in front of the domed church where our ancestors once lived (not in the church in the town).  The kids are holding onto hooks where people would tie up their horses when attending religious meetings.

Another Haircut

I don't know which one I like better, the top or the bottom, the before or the after ... at least from these two pictures.   Before his haircut, when his hair was dirt, it kind of looked cool, when it was clean it looked girly.  With this new haircut he looks handsome, sophisticated, and oh so cute (still)!

I love this little boy of mine!

Our Last Trip to Nuremberg (I think)

We no longer have a car, so we got to ride the train into Nürnberg.

First Stop:  DB Museum ... or the Train Museum

www.dbmuseum.de

(adults 5 Euro, children (age 6-17) 2,50 Euro)

The kids watching a HUGE train exhibit.

Upstairs in the museum is the kids zone.  I am not exaggerating when I

Saying Goodbye to our German Friends!!

With the kids in German school we had always planned our vacations around when they had their holiday breaks.  They got a two week break for Easter (that is when we went on our Mediterranean cruise) and then they got a two week break in June.  For the break in June we planned our second cruise: A Baltic cruise.  Sadly, we decided this would be a good ending point for the kids and their school (we would only have a few more weeks after the cruise until we moved).  The kids needed to start saying goodbye to their friends, their music teachers, and their school.  Words cannot express how heart-wrenching this was.  We absolutely LOVE the Germans!  We have LOVED our experiences here!  We feel so blessed to have been able to be welcomed into their lives, country, and culture.

I felt like I had to do something BIG