Cesky Krumlove, the Rottenburg of the Czech Republic

This was our last little trip to the Czech Repulic ... I know sad!  I am so glad we made the effort to come, this place was incredible!  It was quite the drive out, but the scenery was beautiful and the town was so fun to explore.

Showing off the hand carved wooden chairs

Coburg and a little bit of family history

A long time ago in Coburg Germany our ancestors once lived.  Before leaving Germany we had to go and see where they lived, maybe walk where they once walked, and maybe just maybe see where they worked even.

Here is the town square.  I love a good German town square.

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.

Our Anniversary

Last minute we called our AWESOME friends, asked them to watch our older kids (kept the cute little man pictured below), rented a car (since ours was already headed across the ocean) and drove out to the Netherlands to see the tulip festival in Keukenhof.  

We got to stay in this cute bed and breakfast on the border of Holland and Germany (pictured above) and got to spend the weekend of our anniversary together sightseeing.  It was fabulous!!

This little guy was the perfect addition to our afternoon in Keukenhof wandering around the beautiful tulips!  I mean, come on, who wouldn't love that face?!

Last Ludwig Palace and a Over-the-top Rococo Church

Linderhof!!

This is yet another one of Ludwig's Palaces in Bavaria, Germany.  It was actually the one he lived in the most and is completely finished.  I really liked this Palace, I highly recommend going!  I loved the peacock room, all the mirrors, the crystal chandeliers, and the gold paint over everything.  Yeah, I could probably live here too.

When exiting the tour, and the Palace,

Herrenchiemsee Castle - Another Ludwig Palace

Sometimes we do crazy 'day trips'.  We have this huge obsession that we have to do everything possible to squeeze in as much as possible before we move back to the states.  To be honest, I think in the process we are going to end up broke ... but at least we will have good memories and some amazing pictures.  We won't have any regrets though, and I would do it again in a second too!

Our Last Easter Market in Prague!!

Our last trip to the Prague Easter Market!  I am still in denial!

I just HAD to document how steep this elevator is!  You seriously have to hold onto your little ones!

We didn't really explore much this day.  Basically we shopped around the square, ate crepes, shopped some more, climbed the tower again, and visited with the LDS missionaries.  I love that we see the missionaries ALL the time, in each major city that we have been to.  The Lords work is moving forward.

An afternoon in Waldjugend, Eschenbach

Not even 10 minutes from our home is this little walking park.  That is really the only way I can describe it.  It is circular walk (about 2 km) with 'stations' every 100 yards or so where the kids can stop, play, and explore.  Each 'station' is different - with different toys or games or something to discover.  It is really neat!  Everyone likes going and it is perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon! 

Ludwig's Memorial with a bit of Castle Ruins in the Mix

This was not our original plan ... I wont go into details about what happened to our original plan but lets just say motherhood never takes a vacation, even if you are on vacation.  An hour into our original trip we had to stop and never started back up again.  We searched the internet and found something fun nearby and spent the whole day exploring.

We found ourselves at Wallhalla Memorial built by Ludwig

For more information go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla_memorial

And there are a ton of pictures on our 'other blog' you can check out!

the kids running down the side of the building

My little girl showing off how she can balance

"Mom, look it's Jesus.  Take a picture!"

Playing around the outside of the Memorial some more

My little man with his awesome hair!

More playing!

I love these cute girls so much!

Next Stop, which just happened to be on the next hill, Castle Ruins!

I have a love / hate relationship with castle ruins.  I love them because of how cool looking they are, how charming they can be, and how much the kids love running around them exploring.  I hate them because I am scared to death my kids are going to fall and kill themselves somewhere.  Seriously, they scare me so much!   

With it's own little cemetery in the front

I love this little window/door with the old bricks

No railings or bars to keep one in

See what I mean about them scaring me?  See ya, baby!

Can you see my girls?  I couldn't contain them, they were all over the place

The view from the top

Visiting Friends (Luxemburg & Trier)

It was a long weekend and our original plans were not going to work.  We had to do something though, we could waste our time at home.  Oh, how I love traveling!

We called our friends and headed to Luxemburg to visit them.

Our first stop was the Luxemburg American Cemetery and Memorial

Here the kids are standing in front of George S. Patton Jr. grave site

For more pictures of the cemetery check out our 'other' blog 

Then we headed into Luxemburg itself.  There are more pictures on our 'other blog', but this is a picture of the friends we went to visit.

The next day we headed to Trier, Germany

It was so nice to visit our friends and visit new sites around Europe.  

Our favorite spot - Trier!!!  We loved it!

January in a nutshell

We couldn't stay put during Christmas Break so we decided to drive 7 hrs to Auschwitz Poland.  Then to Krakow, then back to Germany via Freiberg and Dresden and then home again.  Yeah, we are pretty much crazy and like to do things last minute.  

Auschwitz was a very humbling, saddening experience.  While there it started snowing, which made it all the more real and sorrowful.  What took place here was awful! But we cannot forget what took place here, no matter how awful it was and is to reflect on it.  All over the camp are these words:

"Nations who forget their own history are sentenced to live it again"

AUSCHWITZ

KRAKOW 

Krakow was a really neat city, we were so impressed! The bus system was probably the most expensive we have ever taken in Europe but still a cool city.  The food was awesome, our kids loved the dumplings.  At one point I had a beet stew with dumplings in it and it was like I was in the movie Ratatouille, except I was taken back to when I was little visiting my Grandma's house on the farm in Canada.  I still dream about this beet stew, it was delicious!  Plus I really miss my Grandparents and visiting their farm and playing kick the can with my cousins.  Anyway, we wandered around the city in the evening, and then in the morning visited the Palace.  A short visit but pretty neat.

DRESDEN

Back in Germany again and loving how cheap the public transit system is!  Here the kids are playing a new version of the 'quiet game'.  I think we were trying to get them to stare at a certain color the longest ... or a letter.  Miles and I were laughing so hard!  I love how competitive our kids are!  Anything to keep them quiet.   

@ HOME

My little man is seriously into everything these days!  I cannot tell you how many times he turns on the dishwasher in a day, or turns it off for that matter.  Here he dumped out his little bag of Cheerios and is eating them off the floor.  What is a little dirt with a Cheerio?!  Cause, lets be honest, do you really think I mop my floors all that often with this little busy body around?!

Yup, now he is emptying the toy basket and climbing in - why not?

SLEDDING IN AUSTRIA

Some friends invited us to go sledding in Austria with them.  Now, this is not your typical sledding trip.  This particular sledding is extreme!  You buy a ski lift ticket, rent a sled (or bring your own from home if you are Austrian) and take the ski lift up the mountain for 10 minutes.  Once up on the mountain you sit on your sled, try to steer back and forth while going down steep switch backs.  Did I mention they are the old fashion wooden sleds?  As you are going down the mountain the Austrians are zipping past you going super fast trying not to run into you!  It takes you at least 20 to 30 minutes to get down the mountain.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!  I had Anika in front of me so I couldn't really rest my legs and it was killing my legs to hold them up, steer, or brake the entire run.  Anika was a riot!  We only made it down twice but the first run was the best.  She sat in front of me and over and over she kept telling me to go faster and how shocked she was that I didn't tell her how fun it was going to be.  The second run she was not so enthusiastic.  Instead, she kept telling me to slow down and screamed at me that she was freezing and that her feet were wet.  Hence only the two runs.  We then headed back to the hotel and jumped on the beds.  When we got home the next day all of us had tons of bruises all over our bodies to prove that we had a blast!  It was a great to experience an Austrian style sledding trip!

This is the view from our hotel room.  Gorgeous right?!  We parked our car at the hotel parking lot, checked in, then walked for 5 minutes to the ski lift.  Man, I love Austria!

MORE @ HOME

This little boy makes our family so happy!  I don't know what we would do without him, he is such a joy to have around and such a cutie!

Here is just a little taste of our little spit-fire!  Don't you just love her choice of attire - a fancy velvet shirt with a feather collar and tights.  Yup, those are just plain tights.  She wore it all day too.  Oh, and that is Nutella all over her cheeks.  I am such a great mom.