Best At Being Handicapped goes to…..
Pippi, who endured three weeks without her “BYOO”. She asked a few times for her sidekick blanket, but was a really good sport when we told her it would be a while before she reunited with it.
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The Most Fun Award goes to…..
Navy, who did everything, tried it all, and never stopped looking for fun — even this time when we were in the middle of a really cute store, she found a huge bug to keep the fun alive.
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The Biggest Adventurer Award goes to…..
Scout, who kept the adventure alive at every park, in every country, on every leg of the car ride — AND in ever restaurant!!! Hallelujah!
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The Biggest Copycat Award goes to…..
Dash, who literally became the “Peeing Boy” in every single spot we stopped.
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The Best Co-Pilot Award goes to…..
Nonnie and Micah are a tie on this. Nonnie wins because she sat in the front helping us see everything to go and check out, and she also sat in the back where she sang songs for hours with the children. Micah wins because he was, and always has been, the ultimate navigator and finder of treasures!
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The Best Packer Award goes to…..
Micah!
According to him, his spacial reasoning is spot on at all times.
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Best Chef Award goes to…..
Micah!
He did the best job of keeping us all fed with delicious sandwiches and snacks at all times! And his good nature, when everyone barked out their orders, was unparalleled.
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The Self-Contained Award goes to…..
All of the kids.
They were an absolute dream the whole time — although they must learn, that wrestling isn’t one of the adult’s choices for a great past time.
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AND THE BEST AWARD OF THEM ALL…
THE BIGGEST TROOPER AWARD goes to…..
This lady in the mug shot!
Poor Nonnie got herself a black eye on the last day, by tripping over our mass amounts of luggage into the lamp shade.
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Honestly…it was all a perfect dream vacation…even if I had to sport a mother with a black eye during the last part!
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My award you ask?
Obviously…THE BEST DRIVER AWARD.
I would take on ANYONE in a driving competition in Europe. From driving down steep and crazy tight parking garages, to speeding on the Autobahn in Germany, to getting many, many picture tickets sent to us in the mail after getting home…I dominated that van!
After driving over 1400 miles in the course of three weeks, the sad day has come to head home. We ended up back in Belgium late last night, and headed to the airport at an asinine time this morning. Micah was meticulous about getting our suitcases exactly under weight, and the people checking us in were impressed!
When we got on the flight, my mom lucked out by getting a free spot between her and Navy. The other kids huddled up with Micah, and I had a spot in front of them. It was actually all very ideal, because Pippi played roving seats.
When we got to LAX, the kids were zonked out!
But luckily they woke up to go through customs pretty seamlessly.
After getting luggage, and then going through the customs checking line (because of a free apple from the hotel that my mom got - that the security dog sniffed out), the kids were so tired…I felt for them. They were moving along in the wee hours of the morning — although it was just the early afternoon for LA.
Thank goodness our car ride home was smooth sailing for these cute kids who trooped through a long day.
I just hope that they will troop through their first day of school, that is tomorrow, just as nicely!
To break up our drive back to Belgium, we made a quick stop off in Luxembourg.
I don’t know if anyone will ever quote me, but I’d say that Luxembourg is “the hidden jewel of Europe”. It is spotless clean, everything is really nice, and the downtown area was ridiculously charming.
Check out the gelato.
How darling are the flower cones!
This was just my snack from a local deli. I’m a sucker for a cheese plate, and this one was delish!
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But out of everything that Luxembourg had to offer….my kid’s very favorite thing was there….introducing the coolest park my kid’s have ever played at:
Pirate Ship Park was nothing short of amazing. My kids played for hours, and could have stayed all night long. The “ship” was literally a life-sized pirate ship…and that was just the ship. there were dozens of other things to do. It was literally awesome.
Unfortunately, we had to drive on. But our stop in Luxembourg was awesome.
As we drove, we realized that Scout didn’t get out every single jiggle in him at Pirate Ship Park, so we had him run on a country road, to get all jiggles out!
It’s so sad that our trip is coming to a close.
But how lucky are we that we even got to be on such an adventure!
Not ever being in the Alsace region of France, we didn’t know exactly where our stomping grounds should be.
And then we arrived in Strasbourg.
Everything I love about France was in Strasbourg, and I wished we had booked a few more days there.
There were french flea markets.
Navy found a few rings to disperse to loved ones when she got home.
There were french carousels. There is literally nothing more charming than a “token’ to get on one of the charming french carousels. I think Dash and Pippi took at least three rides each!
Honestly, Strasbourg was one of my very favorite stops during our trip…it was just…so FRENCH!
The french food is always so beautiful, and exciting to eat.
The top of my list, was the french shopping!
THE FRENCH SHOPPING!!!!!
Look at these two girls, eating a french ice cream cone, waiting outside of a french shop to finish it…while Nonnie and I shopped inside. I am not sure if there can ever be a more perfect picture taken! (With regards to “my happy place”.)
Micah, who knew that my one short day with french shops everywhere around us, took the kids to an amazing outdoor park. He said that they had an absolute blast. I was so glad to hear that, because Nonnie and I had an equally great time at Galleries LaFayette. I’d make that trade all day, every day! We met up for dinner, and hit up one of our favorite places of the whole trip — Sushi! Can you believe that we found amazing sushi in Strasbourg, France?! It was so good, we went back the next day before driving on!
Our early morn, to late evening French day was awesome. My kids were wiped…but they somehow knew I had my camera out as they were “sleeping”, and thus began a wrestling match before bed. At least between my two french boys. Maybe all of that shopping did them in!
Viva La France!
And Strasbourg — you haven’t seen the last of me.
Our first stop on our way back to Begium, was Colmar, France. It was a darling and picturesque. We walked around for a few hours, and had a good time. I will say that as lovely as it was, it was a bit of a bummer, because it was really touristy. It reminded me of Brugges…the town was amazingly beautiful, but the amount of people detracted from the scenery.
But let’s be honest — I am getting too spoiled by our trip.
Any day you can get me into a town that has cobblestone streets, darling storefronts with the owners in them, and the french language spoken everywhere, is a plus in my book!
Pippi’s too, as she dragged Nonnie into a few stores for treats she saw from the windows!
We were only in Colmar for an afternoon, and it was the perfect amount of time. Now we are off to another french town. And do you know what I have to say to that?
Oui Oui!
We spent the most days in Lauterbrunnen. It was the only AirBnB we reserved, and it ended up amazingly well.
The chateau was hundreds of years old — with low ceilings (almost too low for Micah), but it was awesome. It was located in Lauterbrunnen, which is at the base of the Alps (and Murren & Jungfrau), and right above Interlaken. Basically it was in the perfect spot!
Our chateau was next to a running stream, steps away from a waterfall, among meadows filled with wildflowers, had a swing set that entertained the kids for hours, had the perfect amount of beds for our crew (even though they preferred to cuddle up), had a perfect dining nook for all of us to enjoy Micah’s gourmet dinners, had really nice neighbors who loved our kids and their shenanigans, had a mini tramp that the kids were obsessed with, had a crazy steep cable-hike up the side of an Alp, and was a short drive from every single cool thing around! I could have easily stayed for another week without even flinching! It was awesome.
There is no doubt that the highlight of the kid’s trip was paragliding over Interlaken. They were all completely willing and ready to go — without any sort of hesitation. Micah and I went too, and it was awesome. When I went to Interlaken many years ago, I called to see if I could paraglide. We ended up having to leave to Germany too quickly, so I have always wanted to return to go. Dream fulfilled! Our only regret, is that we didn’t have Pippi and my mom go. Both said they would have after we asked. Bummer!
Another highlight was going back to Murren — where I had stayed years before. We had to take two gondolas up to the no-car city. When we got there, the scenery was spectacular, my kids drank from every fountain, and Pippi continually found wild moss for me! (I love wild moss…pretty cute she knows that!)
Above Murren, we took the funicular to “Flower Park”. It was an incredibly cute park, that the kids were obsessed with. But I was obsessed with the “happy cows” who were just roaming the mountainside with their cowbells ringing. It was an experience you can’t create. It was awesome. The best, was Scout kept putting grass in the side of his hat, and the cows kept licking it out. When they call these cows happy, I really think they are. With their views, and their constant green grass to gaze on…what a life!
The only bust day was when we went to Junfrau. It was supposedly a must-do, but by the time we got to “The Top of Europe”, everything (skiing, sledding, zip lines) was closing down. So Scout was rad, and put a bag on himself, and did his own sledding! He is rad! And Navy took Pippi down the way to some pretty soft snow, and made a snowman with Pips. Navy is rad! The ice caves were pretty awesome. Especially when Pippi spotted the frozen guy from Ice Age! So even though it was a bust — we had a great time.
And how rad is Nonnie, who played SlapJack on the way up and down with the kids!
And how awesome is it, when you get Lindt chocolate passed out from the conductor!
Obviously we didn’t leave Switzerland without some fondue.
I LOVED it — especially the cheese.
The kids LOVED the chocolate.
And finally…
I promised Navy many months ago, to take her to a chocolate making class. It was way more fun than we even thought it would be. We learned a ton, and both got to make three chocolate bars. It was so fun to take two hours away from everybody, and have a special date with my cutest girl!
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Switzerland…I am so glad we spent the most time with you. you are a sight for sore eyes…and you delivered on all of my promises (I made to the kids!).
I think out of all the places we were going to visit on this trip, Switzerland was at the top of all of our lists. I came after 8th grade, and have wanted to come back ever since. There is nothing like Switzerland — where every single angle could be a picture on the front of a postcard. It is gorgeous! Everywhere you look, it is green, and the water is the color of a blue jewel. Our first stop was Zurich for a few days. But our road trip to Zurich was a fun day in and of itself!
I don’t think I have ever seen a cute ice cream shop like this ANYWHERE in the U.S. How freaking cute is it?! So cute…I just HAD to stop!
Check out the fruit and muffins we got at a cute shop on the side of some road we took. Picture perfect berries, and yummy treats!
And don’t get me started on the flowers everywhere! Here are some gigantic Teddy Bear sunflowers, I immediately became obsessed with!
Our first stop in Switzerland was a gas station with what appeard to be a small park attached. Of course my kids ran to the park, and there was more than met the eye. The two-story slide was the ultimate hit! the kids got going so fast, it was actually a little sketchy. Micah went all out on the basket swing (yes, I looked away), and Pippi took a horse ride, with the most amazing scenery behind her! Yep — a postcard at every turn! And did I say this was a gas station!
We were all oohing and aahing at the color of the water and all of the waterfalls, so I pulled over at a turnout. We walked down some stairs, and wouldn’t you know it…a swan! Of course…because it is Switzerland!
Of course we hit up a few parks. This was a favorite…it was kind of trampoline style, and Micah was “skying” all of the kids at once.
My kids favorite thing about Switzerland, is that you can drink from any water feature…and this is the first place we tried it. And yes…it was cold and delicious. Why? Because it is Switzerland!
One of our favorite things we did, was rent boats on Lake Zurich. They were paddle boats, and we divided the girls and boys up. After a bit, the kids really wanted to jump in, so we told them to strip down (because that’s how they do it in Europe) and hop in. Dash was naked, and Scout and Navy were in their unders…and they went back and forth between our boats in the freezing cold water. Then Micah braved it across the lake to the spouting water — and they took a ride under it!
After the cold, we set up shop on the grass area to have a picnic. Micah made amazing sandwiches of local bread, local cheese, salami and all sorts of jams and honeys we have bought over here.
After — we hit up our 800th ice cream cart. And Micah broke up a variety of Swiss chocolate for us to taste test. Micah’s taste tests became so fun in each country! He would make us blindly taste the chocolates, and judge our favorite. He was trying to get the best chocolate narrowed down, so we could bring back chocolate bars for everyone.
And of course, we hit up church just outside of Zurich. Pippi must have been too tired to be reverent, because I had to take her out for her to stand in the corner twice! Poor little traveler girl was maybe on fumes? During Sacrament, we sat right behind a family that reminded us a ton of our friends, the Nichols. After we started talking, and they had lived abroad in several places — including China…with the NICHOLS! Isn’t that crazy! I am always amazed to have common ground with people — even all the way in Switzerland!
Our time in Zurich was awesome! Our Hyatt was incredible, the weather was amazing, the city was vibrant, and our activities suited us perfectly. So far, Switzerland is just how I remember it. Perfect.
We spent two day sin Munich. The first, we spent at Dacchau — a must see. The concentration camp has come a long way since the last time I saw it. In fact, there have been new discoveries since I was there 25 years ago. And this time, we didn’t get everything stolen out of our car when we toured it. Dacchau is an emotional day, and I am glad Micah got to see it. He and my mom both spent a few hours walking through it. I spent an hour and a half, but the kids were getting restless. So in an attempt to keep the grounds sacred, I took my kids away.
When we left, I took Navy to about the coolest place an imagination can create!
Next to a flower field, there is a drop box to leave money…and a knife to CUT YOUR OWN FLOWERS!!!
I dropped in a few Euros, and Navy scoured the flowers for some she loved that were all different.
We talked about it, and it was literally our dream come true!
The next day, it was rainy, so we spent our day at The Deutsches Museum.
It is the world’s largest museum of science and technology, and it was cool.
Very, very cool.
Afterwards, we tried to hit up the famous Munich Glockenspiel. Too bad we missed it just minutes. But no worries — we saw a street band that had Pippi dancing for three straight songs! The only street band that has ever rivaled these guys, was the street band Micah and I saw in New Orleans. Both should have had a record deal.
Clearly, the dancing wiped her out!
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BUT STOP THE PRESSES!!!!
We saw and did some amazing things in Munich, but the most amazing thing we all witnessed…..
Scout ate REAL pizza with red sauce!
He even dipped it in olive oil and balsamic!
Scout is ten years old, and has refused pizza all of these years…until now!
Hallelujah!
And lucky us….that isn’t the only new thing he has tried. He has had numerous cheeses, salami, sashimi, california rolls, and plenty of other things that he would have never touched two weeks ago!
It’s literally a European miracle!
My mom had one request for the entire trip.
She wanted to visit Rothenburg, Germany.
Done.
She nailed it.
I think Rothenburg is the most picturesque town I have ever visited.
Every single street was charming…every single one!
Rothernburg is also the place where Pippi got the “German Dress”.
My mom insisted she have it, and it became the only thing she wanted to wear the rest of the trip.
I’ll have to admit — it was about the cutest dress up I’ve ever seen.
Rothernburg has incredible Christmas stores everywhere. And these weren’t cheesy little stores. They were, in Scout’s words “Legit”.
Becuase this is a touristy city, the kids loved all of the shops with things to buy. Probably because most of them revolved around Christmas, or Knight’s fighting equipment.
Scout and Dash were in the fighting mood all day.
We loved this city with cobblestone streets.
They featured the greatest food truck I could ever imagine — a cheese truck, with fresh cheese from all over the region.
By the end of the day, we were tired…and a lucky few cuddled up to each other, as the last purchases were made.
Nice call Nonnie.
We had a quick overnight in Mainz, Germany. We didn’t get to explore much, but we headed outside our hotel at dusk.
This may have been Pippi’s favorite hotel, because Rapunzel’s tower was just outside our window. Before she woke up in the morning, we kept saying…”Oh..I saw her!” Then when Pippi would look, she unfortunately had just gone out of sight. She was getting so frustrated, but it was actually pretty hilarious. So when we were in the room, her permanent spot was on the ground, next to the window to hopefully catch a glimpse of the princess!
The kids were obsessed with the bath in the hotel. They had it set up, so that the shower was really big, and inside the big shower, was the tub. So our kids closed the shower door, and had the biggest splash fight in the highest tub they have ever had! And probably will ever have.
We stayed on the Rhine river, so once again, my morning run was incredible.
I loved that every run was a little different, but the runs along the water were my favorite.
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