On Thursday, we ventured up Germany’s tallest mountain, the Zugspitze and it was absolutely amazing. We did not climb it as it is still covered in snow and even through from the peak we were warm in short sleeves, there were plenty of people still skiing. If only Abe wasn’t 2! Before I tell you about the day, late me start by saying that none of the pictures I took saved to my camera. When we got home last night, I was heart-broken! So for my story, I will use other people\’s pictures to help illustrate the day.

We got up and decided to go hiking around a lake called Lake Eibsee. This lake is an alpine lake and it was just beautiful. The water was crystal clear. It was mating season so we saw plenty of wildlife which was just awesome to watch. The boys loved the lake and loved seeing so many animals.

Here is the lake with the Zugspitze in the background:

After about 90 minutes we decided we wanted to go to the top of the mountain. So we rode this lift up to the bottom and saw the most incredible views. Because we were on the highest point in the bavarian alps, we could see everything. It was Ian’s favorite part of the vacation. Here is a view of the lake from above:

and a view from the top:

After all of that, we decided to go down these alpine slides. You sit in a toboggan looking thing and it takes you to the top of a hill and then you control how fast or slow you go. If you to too slow, it generally pisses off the people behind you, but at first it’s scary! Ian and I went together and Drew and Abe were behind us. The slide takes you through all of these twists and turns. It was so much fun. For the second time, Drew and Ian rode together in front of Abe and I. Ian apparently told Drew, “Mommy screams like a little girl!” He left off the part that he does as well! We rode that about 10 times that day. It was a blast.

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Being that we live in Europe and we are within reach of so many great places, I decided that we needed to get out and explore… and explore we have! We decided to fly to Salzburg, Austria for our trip. The airfare cost less than $300 for 4 round-trip tickets. How could we NOT go?!?! Now when we arrived in Salzburg at 8am today, we rented a car and drove to Germany. We wanted to go into the Alps for some fresh mountain air. If we left today, I would feel content. It was a 2 hour drive so when we got here, we had plenty of time to kill so we decided to go hiking and playing in the Alps.

Here is the view from the car on the way here (yes I held the camera outside of the window!):

Luckily we had prepared ourselves for the Alps by watching the Sound of Music this weekend. The mountains were sprinkled with edelweiss and when we reached the top it was gorgeous. At first we all sat down at the top and just looked around. We didn’t have a whole lot to say as the sight was incredible. Words wouldn’t do it justice. That lasted about 3 minutes when Abe decided he needed to find some sticks. So boys being boys decided to have a sword fight while I watched it all

Here is another picture of the view. The building on the left is a beergarden which we visited before heading back down!

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I’ve mentioned before that since arriving in Belgium, we routinely stumble upon parties and parades here! Well, this past St. Patrick’s Day was no exception.

We looked for any festivities in the area, but we couldn’t find anything so we decided we wanted to explore a city that we hadn’t been to yet, Tournai. Tournai is the oldest city in Belgium and really doesn’t get much attention from foreigners or travelers which is a shame. Tournai is considered to be one of the most important cultural sites in Belgium. The mixed Romanesque- and Gothic-style cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai and the belfry, the oldest in Belgium, have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

As soon as we leave the car, we start hearing music playing and at this point we are about 1/8 of a mile away from the city center. As we get closer, we can see people are dressed in costumes and it’s ironic that the first group of people are dressed up as Smurfs, considering the smurfs are a Belgium creation. And yes, that is beer in their hands.

At this point we still have no idea what is going on, so we just decide to make our way to the Grand Place which is the city center. There is confetti all over the street and people adorned in various costumes. The food and beer is plentiful! As we’re walking, we come across the gorgeous cathedral. This building is just overwhelming in size and presence.

The streets are getting more and more packed as we wind through the cobblestoned streets to the Grand Place.

We finally make it to the square and it is just one huge party. People of all ages are there and we are in the minority because we don’t have costumes on!

The boys had a blast and so did we. It was quite an unexpected surprise. We didn’t even get to really explore the town or the sights as we were too busy having fun!

There was a huge parade which was great to watch.

And here is another view of the town:

Tournai is only about 20 minutes away so we will go back one of these weekends.

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Little Mister “E” and I recently went to Euro Disney for a school trip. As the title of my post demonstartes, it actually isn’t called that. It also isn’t called the big name I gave it, with my stunted French comprehension. I will say one thing about Euro Disney… it’s huge.

I actually felt bad for Ian and the other kids as they trudged across the park and its expanses. I felt like I had been walking through the woods all day by the time we went back to the buses. But, all in all, it was a good trip.

Ian beagn his photographic career by taking this picture of me in the Grand Mall (pronounced ghrannd! mahl)

I hope he keeps with it.

While at Erou Disney, we got see the most important thing ever… Buzz Lightyear

The head moving around and the talking in multiple languages freaked me out, but Ian was happy as could be. We shot up Zurg, although it is important to note that I won on the points tally.

Finally, we rode the tea cup ride. Three times. The last time Ian said he was going to barf. It’s great being a dad.

Other Websites: Walt Disney World Tickets Get really cheap Walt Disney World Tickets from Ticket2You.net, the number one authorized dealer of Disney World tickets.

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Last Friday we took the train and rode into Brussels to see Dave Matthews perform live in concert. The show was amazing. It was just him and Tim Reynolds playing an acoustic set. Some friends of ours watched the boys and we had an awesome time. The city was so alive. Every time we go down there we see things we hadn’t seen before. I can’t wait to go back to that part of town and just enjoy the night life.

The next day, the whole family went up and explored the city some more. We started off in what is called the Grand Sablon. We walked around a nice antiques market they have every Saturday and Sunday and stopped by a famous chocolatier, Pierre Marcolini.

The chocolate is some of the best I’ve had and living in Belgium, I think I’ve tried the best! Afterwards we walked down to the main square in brussels called the Grand Place. On our walk we stumbled across an interesting parade and I have no idea what it was for. People painted themselves with black and wore pink and black while carrying this little baby. This isn’t the first time we have stumbled across interesting things like this in Brussels. I still have no idea what it was for, but it was interesting nonetheless!

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So, we were in Brussels earlier today running some errands and after the train ride, we all had to use the bathroom. Here in Belgium, and i think across Europe, most bathrooms have a person who looks after the cleanliness of the bathrooms and you pay a small fee to use it; usually about 50 cents. Ian and I were going to pay and I thought it would be funny to tell him what the lady or gentleman who is in charge of the bathroom is called: Madame Pee Pee or Monsieur Pee Pee. He just kind of smiled and said, “Ohhhh.”

I take him with me into the ladies room and he goes into the stall next to me. While we are doing our business I hear him in there snickering to himself and then I hear him say, “That is disgusting!”, and he laughs harder. At this point I’m a little concerned that Madame Pee Pee has not done her job adequately and there is some foul thing in Ian’s stall.

So we come out of the bathrooms and I ask him, “What was so disgusting?” and he just starts laughing and says, “I can’t believe they are called Madame and Monsieur Pee Pee!!” and he just laughs the whole time while we wash our hands. I probably shouldn’t have told him, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact he had been sitting there thinking about that.

Yes, I’m up for mother of the year.

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The next couple of days we spent experiencing the city and all it had to offer; at least we attempted to. There is so much to see and do it is impossible to see it all. I’ll try to walk you through the city as we saw it.

Prague gets a lot of attention for its architecture; and with good reason.

This is the astronomical clock in Old Town Square

Below are a few pictures of Old Town Square

This is Charles Bridge which is pretty famous:

and some more pics:

I still have a ton more but I have to edit the pics. To be continued…..

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I think most of you know that in January we went to Prague. Yes, that was 6 weeks ago and you’ve all been waiting to hear about it!

Well, we decided to drive to the city. It is an 8 hour drive and we figured it would be cool to see europe that way. We left bright and early and it took us about an hour and a half to get into Germany. It was really cool driving through cities like Copenhagen and Nurenburg and over the Rhine river. These are places that I heard about in school and are so important in our history that it was neat to see them even if we didn’t spend any time there. The drive was beautiful. When we entered Germany we were definitely in another country. Belgium is hard to explain, but you don’t find the rolling green hills that Germany has. The boys were somehow great on the way there. No whining, no fighting, it was a good ride!

Once we got to Prague, the sun went down. It was neat to see the city, but we did get lost driving in downtown. It took us about 2 hours to find the hotel and we were thrilled to find it. Once the house sells we are getting a GPS with both Europe and the US installed on it. The hotel was pretty. We didn’t get an elaborate room because we were on a tight budget, and I had actually brought sleeping bags for the boys, but they were kind enough to give us a couple of cots for them.

The room was really nice actually and once we got in and got settled we decided to head out for dinner before coming back for the night. Right around the corner from our hotel there was this awesome italian restaurant which we ate at a couple of times. They had the most awesome soup which was perfect because it was chilly!

We woke up bright and early the next day and the hotel offered a full continental breakfast. They had the traditional european fair: cheese, breads, sliced meats; but they also had what we as americans would expect: tons of cereal, fresh fruits, yogurt, eggs, bacon, sausages, etc. I had read it was pretty pricey to eat in Prague so I made everyone eat until they were full each morning. I’m the budget girl this trip! After breakfast we started our day!

We left the hotel and walked towards Old Town Square which was just a beautiful area. It is cloudy and drizzling, but the atmosphere is so alive. The buildings are so old and beautiful. I was entranced by the city. I will post pictures of the buildings in the next post

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Well this is bittersweet for me. We have been waiting for our house to sell for a long time now and while I can’t wait to give up that extra house payment, I will really miss our house. We’ve moved around so many times and this was the first place that I have really called home. I know it was more than the house; it was the friends I made and the area itself. But I loved this house and it was perfect for our family. I am kind of sad that chapter in my life is coming to a close completely.

The house is set to close on March 2. They received the Powers of Attorney finally so everything should be in order. I’ll update you on what happens.

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Why?

That’s all I want to know. Why do I have to watch dancy, prancy French looking things during the pre-game show of the Superbowl? Why? I get enough of that crap where I am, so I why must I suffer through it on US TV. Am I being tested? Have I sinned? I don’t know and after the artsy opening I just watched, I don’t care.

If this game sucks it will not be because of bad players or bad refs… it will be because everyone is so creeped out by some dips attempt to make art out of a base and violent thing like a football game. Where do they find people to make this crap. Is there beauty in this stuff? Yes. There is beauty in all things, but why do they have to make it weird and creepy? Crap!

Double crap!! It’s Midnight here and this had better not be crap. That’s all I’ve got to say. I hope it goes better, cause I can’t take anymore football player glamour shots or weird sequences about growing up and doing ballet AND football.

Billy Joel’s voice cracked!! Then he got artsy. This is going to go on all night. WTF!! Some deaf chick was signing, waving her arms everywhere!! I didn’t know Florida was the new Seattle. The thing that really sucks is I’m watching on the armed forces network, so I don’t even get to watch the commercials, just public service announcements about really strange things like how to own a pet. Really. How to own a pet. Yup.

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