Back To Reality

Every summer I think k I will continue to update the Blog and then nothing happens until school starts again.  Oh well, we are living our best life during the summer :)

We had such a wonderful summer break and we are all struggling a little bit this week to get back into a routine.  I know it will get easier and we will all soon appreciate the routine, but oh boy we have had a few rough mornings.  School started on Tuesday and all was well.  Day 2 not so much.  Ha!

We have one that started Middle School......she wouldn't even let us walk her to the front door on the first day.

And one that started 1st grade......he wouldn't let go of us at the front door:).  

Oh and this is the most natural smile we get from him for pictures.

This next picture is more like them....

Backpacks were ready to go the night before

Now back to what we have been up to this summer.  We spent a wonderful month in Europe and had so much fun making memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.  

I was quite proud of myself to pack me and all three kids in one suitcase and then a backpack each.

First up we headed to New York City and spent one night there.  

We walked around the city and played in Central Park before we had to head to the airport at night.  

Scott had to head back home again for a while, so it was just me and the kids that headed to Germany.

We had a connection in Zurich and then finally made it to Cologne.  The kids were amazing travel buddies.

On our first full day there we went to the see the fireworks by the river.  They have a huge fireworks show in the city around midnight, but we always just watch the smaller one earlier in the night that is close to my parents house.  A lot of boats line up on the river to head downtown and it is always such a fun and pretty sight.  Those boats will see several ampler firework shows along the way until they hit the grand finale downtown.

The kids love this evening.  Sparklers and fireworks are always fun.

This boy may like fire a little too much

Lots and lots of boats line up.....and all of them have different music going, so you hear quiet the concert.

The next day was my moms birthday and she invited some friends over for brunch.

This is my kind of bread table.....oh how I miss all of the bread, but its probably a good thing I don't eat like that every day.

The next day we headed to the Netherlands along with my brothers family.  My mom rented a big house for us for several days.  The house was big enough for 16 people and there were 9 of us, so we pretty much all had our own bedroom.

Nice nice dining table for 16 people:)

We walked to downtown Domburg and checked out the market.  It was a little chilly that night, but we had good weather the rest of the week.

Sharing a few fries as a snack, because the kids were SO hungry:)

The wagon came in very handy for all of the cousins

We had to check out the water that evening.

We checked out some bikes, but ended up not renting any

Heading to the beach the next day.

All the bike parking......you know you are in the Netherlands

We had a wonderful afternoon at the beach.  It was not too hot and the kids played on the playground, built sandcastles, played soccer and beach ball.  They loved that we didn't have to apply sunscreen every 30min.

I had to do a lot of sandcastle judging.  You know that never ends well.....

Then we buried Evan about 100 times......

Hannah worked some more on her masterpiece

Nora collected a lot of seashells and put them in my backpack to bring home......we had to cut her collection just a little bit.

Domburg is a really cute little town.

  

Enjoying a little ice cream after dinner

When we headed back to Germany Scott was waiting for us at the house.  We didn't give him much time to adjust after the long trip and headed to Phantasialand Theme Park the next day.  We had a great time.  There are lots of rides all three of the kids can do and it was not very crowded.  We rode some of the coasters 6 or 7 times.....

This water ride was a favorite (Nora was not big enough yet for that one)

Of course we had to refuel with more ice cream.......and those are the only pictures we have from that day.

We visited Bubenheimer Spielelnd for a day and the kids had a lot of fun.  Once again we didn't get many pictures, because we were busy running around all day.  It's a big outdoor play area with several playgrounds, a few rides and a water play area.  

There is also a corn maze and you had to find 8 stamps in the maze and solve a puzzle to be entered into a drawing.  

Evan was on a mission to find all 8 stamps in record time.  At times I was sure we would lose him in the maze.

The next morning was our annual trek up the Dom cathedral.  This was the first year that all 3 kids made it all the way up on their own.  Woohoo! No more carrying kids up a small spiral staircase.

We made a stop half way at the bells

We made it to the top.

This view never gets old.  I do love this city!

Family Selfie

Love this family picture....almost everybody is looking

533 steps up and 533 steps down with no complaining.....which was mainly due to Scott bribing with with 1 euro each if they can make it up and down without complaining.

Scott had to head to Spain that evening for a work trip and we were gearing up for a heat wave in Germany.  Stay tuned for part 2 of our Europe adventure.