Big News!!

Believe it or not, we are moving again. I definitely have mixed feelings about this development. I love Germany, and am sad to leave. I feel like we haven't seen very much -- I wanted to travel much more than we have been able to. And I have made some dear friends who I will miss very much.

This move has been looming over our heads for over a year now. At first, its possibilty was my excuse for not settling into my house and becoming something of a hermit. I didn't want to hang pictures, unpack boxes, buy curtains, make friends, etc., if I was going to have to leave everyone and everything behind in a matter of months. I wasn't very happy.

When it began to look like we might get to stay I started to settle in. I made friends. They have been such a blessing to me. I haven't shared a lot of what I have been going through on this blog recently, but I have been having a hard time. Whenever Morgan is gone (which is more often than not) something big happens. Just this week I have been flat on my back for days because I injured my back. My friends, when they found out, have been helping with my kids, bringing me meals, making sure my kids make it to and from the bus stop safely, etc. Other friends have helped me through medical scares (I recently had a CAT scan while Morgan was out of town. I am fine, but it was scary, and I am so grateful for my friends who were there for me).

But on the other side of the coin, this move will definitely be an adventure. If you thought Europe was exotic, just wait for the posts from our new home.

It wouldn't be as much fun to just come out and tell you where we are moving, so I am going to give you a short quiz. If you happen to know where we are going (because I told you about it), you are disqualified from the game. :) Okay, here goes:

(A) Morgan is fluent in its two official languages.

(B) This hat is named for one of its most ancient cities:

(C) This movie took place in one of its most well-known cities:

Good luck!

Willkommen

Welcome to our German "castle." Houses in Germany are constructed from cinder blocks, and I imagine them standing in ruins in a few hundred years much like the castle ruins we love to wander around. They are very sturdy, but somewhat cold and damp. And those blinds on the outside of the windows are called roladen. I love them. They can black out a room at high noon, making naptime much easier for little ones. They also come in handy in the summer when it doesn't get dark here until 10 pm.

Come on in . . .Like many single family homes in this area, our house was built as three separate apartments. There is plumbing and electric on each floor to accomodate a kitchen, but only on the main level do we have actual appliances and counters. As you enter our house, you have the choice of going upstairs or downstairs. Let's start up on the main level, shall we?I show you this picture reluctantly, because it was taken quite a while ago, and doesn't look so cluttered now. This is our conservatory. I'm not kidding. That is what the landlords called it, and so we like to call it that in a snooty-sounding voice. Usually we just refer to it as our library. We have two desks for the kids to do homework, our piano, and bookshelves in this room. We also keep our guitars and other musical instruments in here. There is a sliding glass door (that is what the kids' pictures are hanging on in this picture). From this area, if you turn left you enter the main living area, walking directly into our kitchen:Most German houses don't have kitchens like this. They are usually separate from the living area. But we have a more open floorplan. Everything is black and gold and shiny -- not what I would choose if I were decorating, but I can't complain. It is a nice big kitchen with lots of space. Except for in the oven. German ovens are notoriously small. I can't fit most of my pans in it, and roasting a turkey is out of the question. German refrigerators are also very small, and ours doesn't even have a freezer. The base gives us American appliances, so we have a refrigerator in our basement as well. But the part of my kitchen I love the most is behind that slightly opened sliding door:

The butler's pantry! (I know, I know . . . conservatory, butler's pantry . . . don't worry, we haven't forgotten our humble roots. But we can probably host a pretty fun "Clue" themed murder mystery party). Seriously, though, I love this pantry. It doesn't have a lot of shelving for food storage, but I love having the extra counter space. I don't like keeping small appliances on my counters, and usually keep them in cabinets and take them out when needed. But in this house I have them out on a counter and ready for use, but I don't have to see them.

From the kitchen, if you turn around, this is what you will see:

Turn slightly to the left:

Keep walking past the fireplace and you enter our dining room:
The armoire to the left is my computer desk. I love it, because all of the wires, bills, electronics, office supplies, etc. are hidden by the lovely mahogany doors.

Also on this floor are the master bedroom (which is rarely picture-worthy), Liam's room, and two bathrooms. Here is our tub:

Come with me, back out into the stairwell, and up to the top floor. I am not going to show you all of the rooms upstairs because we have recently rearranged some rooms, and they don't look the same now. But to give you an idea of what the upstairs is like, here are a few pictures:

This is the upstairs living room. We use it as our toy room. It is a great space, and I love having a room just for toys. To the left of this room is the "kitchen" for the upstairs, but we use it as our craft room. And just off of the craft room is our laundry room. Through the arched doorway is a hallway where Braden's and Lydia's rooms are, along with a bathroom. Braden's room:This floor also has a guest room with its own bathroom.

The basement is finished, but we don't use it very often. It is a small apartment with a living room, bathroom, kitchen area, storage room, and bedroom. We have used this space for many things. When this picture was taken, I had it set up as an indoor playground for the winter with a slide and ball pit. I have since moved those toys up to the toy room. We completely emptied this space so it could be used as the Jedi Training Academy for Braden's birthday. It was so nice having a separate party room. Right now, it is set up as my photo studio with my backdrops and a tripod.

All in all, we are very happy here. It is fun to have space to spread out. We know that we won't always have such a big house, so we are trying not to fill this one up.

I hope you enjoyed your tour. It was fun to be able to share with you a little bit of what our life in Germany is like.

Grayson at Seven MonthsHere is our sweet little man. Everyone always remarks on how happy he is. He brings us all so much joy. This month he started eating rice cereal. As is our tradition, Daddy got to feed him his first solid food. So far, he likes it. But nothing can take the place of nursing, which he still does on demand, day and night.

He loves his exersaucer, and has just started jumping in it like a little maniac! He looks so cute, and he can actually slide it across the floor when he gets going.

People frequently tell me how much he looks like me. Recently we were at a fun indoor children's play place for Lydia's soccer party, and someone commented on how strong my genes are because my kids all look just like me. Not 15 minutes later, a friend from Scouts that we ran into there remarked that Grayson looks just like Morgan. I guess they are all a really good mix of both of us. Or else we are starting to look alike as so many couples eventually do.

I am so grateful for this sweet little guy.

Long Time No Post

Life has been so crazy lately! Morgan has been gone so much, and when he is not here I go into "survival mode" which unfortunately can't always include blogging. As much as I love keeping up with my family and friends through their blogs, I normally read them while nursing the baby. Which makes it difficult to comment or write my own posts. But Morgan is home (in the kitchen making homemade cranberry sauce with Braden and Lydia), Liam is napping, and Grayson has a full tummy and is happily playing in his exersaucer. It seems that the planets are in alignment, and I actually have both hands to myself to post! So I am going to post several pictures and try to catch you all up on our lives.

Halloween

This year we decided to do a family theme for our costumes. I have been wanting to become a better seamstress, and was hoping to make some of the costumes. Unfortunately, the only theme we could all agree on was Star Wars, and I am just not that ambitious yet. Morgan was going to grow his beard out and be Obi Wan Kenobi and I was going to be Princess Leia. Something you may not know about me is my strong desire to dress up as Princess Leia. It all started in 1979, when my kindergarten class was preparing to put on a Star Wars themed play for our parents, and I was cast as Princess Leia (probably because I was the only one with long enough hair to do the side buns). I was thrilled. But to my disappointment, a sting which I still feel some 29 years later, my class was naughty, and was punished by not being allowed to do our play.

So this year, was going to be my year. Then we found out that Morgan would be gone for our church party, and I decided to be a Halloween Scrooge and not dress up. Bah Humbug! But Lydia made a beautiful Leia. Her costume actually came with a wig, but she was scared of it, so I did the buns with her own hair. I didn't realize Lydia was so afraid of wigs. I knew that Braden has a face paint phobia, but I didn't know about Lydia's fear of fake hair. My childhood would have been a nightmare for them. I was constantly dressing up with my mom and grandma's old wigs, make-up, etc.

Here is Liam (aka C3PO) trick-or-treating. He was so cute, and actually said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at most houses. He was thrilled with his haul. Braden was Commander Cody, and Grayson was the cutest little R2D2 ever. On Halloween night we met our friends on base for trick or treating, then came back to our house for "Halloweenies" (hot dogs), apple cider, baked beans, veggies, chips and dip. We (well the kids) watched Charlie Brown. I also made "Ghost toast" -- ghost shaped pieces of white bread with cream cheese. Instead of just giving the ghosts eyes with the craisins, I put them all over so they would be Charlie Brown ghosts. Thank goodness we didn't get any rocks in our buckets (although they may have the same effect on their teeth as all of the candy we have been consuming).
Cooking Fun
The kids had a day off from school a couple of weeks ago, so we had fun making a special lunch together. We had seen these snacks in a magazine recently, and they were anxious to try it out. Hummus is one of our favorite snacks. We always make our own with canned chick peas, garlic, olive oil and tahini. I had these flower pots from a "dirt" dessert that I made a while ago. Lydia ran out to our herb garden (which sounds much more impressive than it really is) and harvested a handful of parsley. I let them poke holes into baby carrots with toothpicks, and insert the parsley into the ends of the carrots. We then put the carrots into the "soil". It was really fun and tasty.I have a few more posts in the works for this week, so come back! I am planning a virtual "tour" of our house here in Germany. I also need to warn you that we will be going private soon. I will invite as many of my readers as I have addresses for. If for some reason you don't get an invitation, please let me know at melodiehanners@msn.com. I may not have your correct address.

I have hesitated about going private for quite a while now. I don't want to make it difficult for any of you to access our blog. I have also enjoyed finding old friends through their blogs, and being found, as well. I love the internet for this reason. But Morgan would prefer that we make our blog private. I hope you will all still visit us here in cyberspace after the change. As incentive, I am going to announce some big news (no, I'm not pregnant) after the change, so please come back!

You Wouldn't Want to See Me AngryHulk in training. This is what happens when you give Liam a marker and then sit down at your computer for a few minutes. Oh why couldn't it have been a washable marker? Is it too late to change his Halloween costume to the Incredible Hulk? Or maybe in keeping with our Star Wars theme he could be Yoda.

Grayson is 6 Months OldAnd in keeping with tradition, I took rubber duckie washtub pictures! I normally get these taken at Sears when they are six months old. The tradition started because I had done this pose with Braden at six months, and then coincidentally did the same pose with Lydia at the same age. So we did it with Liam, and now I am doing all of my own portraits, and couldn't go to Sears even if I wanted to. So I bought a wash tub at a local garden center, and did a little photo shoot with my cute guy. I know I still have much to learn as a photographer, and this picture isn't perfect. But I will always remember that my Baby Gray was smiling for ME in this picture, and not for a stranger, and that makes it special.

Just in Time for Halloween I don't think there is anything quite as cute as a pumpkin-faced little girl. Isn't it funny, though, how this wouldn't be quite so cute if she were, say, 26. But at the tender age of six, Lydia couldn't be cuter missing her two front teeth. I just hope they don't grow in too fast, because I know just the song for her to sing at Christmas time!

I always knew that I would make a terrible nurse because I am really squeamish around blood and needles. We have several friends who are dentists, and I have a whole new respect for them. I now know that I could never do what they do. Nothing makes me cringe and wince quite as much as seeing one of their teeth hanging on by a thread, or the bloody pulp of the inside of a freshly removed tooth. Lucky for me, my kids are good at removing their own teeth. But they like to get a good laugh at my expense by saying, "Mommy, look!" And I always look. Why do I do that?

After a two year hiatus, Braden has started losing teeth again. He just lost a molar last night. The tooth fairy has been busy around these parts!

I just had to post this picture of Liam. I took it during Lydia's team photos the other night. I thought it was so funny how he posed himself exactly like the soccer players in their pictures. He fell down on one knee and waited for me to take this picture. He is such a character. And really, for as many times as he has run out onto the field during one of their games, he probably deserves a team picture.

And one last picture. I am having too much fun dressing my kids alike. They had these Converse All Stars at the BX, so I had to get them. Morgan has been wearing Converse since the 80's (I think one pair in his closet is actually from that era), so the kids were thrilled to have shoes like Daddy.

Morgan has been gone for a few weeks, and will be home in a few more. We all miss him terribly, but we are keeping busy. I have been especially busy with four cases of ear infections and two cases of conjunctivitis to take care of. I feel like we have been living at the doctor's office lately.

Well, that's it for now. Nothing exciting. But I wanted to let you all know that we are still alive, just trying to get by. Please excuse the ramblings of a tired mother. I'll try to be more coherent next time!

Happy Birthday, Young Padawan!

Today is Braden's 9th birthday. I can't believe how fast time is flying! So to celebrate, I am listing nine reasons my sweet boy is so special:

1. Braden is extremely compassionate. I never have to worry that he is picking on anyone at school. He stands up for the underdog, and doesn't care what others think. He befriends those that he knows the other kids don't like, and doesn't worry about what they will think of him for it. I so admire this in him, and couldn't be prouder of my sweet guy.

2. Braden is a conference-attending Star Wars fan in the making! I have seen all of the movies, but honestly couldn't tell you anything about the story line. He knows all of the characters, and is endlessly building ships out of Legos, drawing ships and Storm Troopers, and talking about it in general. He chose Star Wars as his theme for his birthday party this year, and what an event it was! Morgan and I made light sabers out of swimming noodles, a Death Star pinata, Star Fighter cookies (he decided against a cake this year), Death Star pizzas, and Yoda Sodas. We trained 14 (yes, I said 14!) nine-year-old boys in the ways of the Jedi, and had a great time. I think my favorite part of the party was when he was opening his presents. He sincerely loved everything his friends gave him, and after opening each gift, he hugged his friend and said "thank you, Buddy!"

3. He loves to play soccer and baseball, but he isn't really competitive. He is still a little cautious, but he truly has a great time out on the field, and it shows on his face.

4. He is a Cub Scout, and loves all of his meetings, campouts, activities, etc. Morgan is his Den Leader, and also the Committee Chair. We are so proud of all of his accomplishments.

5. Braden has always had a special bond with his dad. They are like two peas in a pod, and look and act so much like each other. When Braden was little, it was funny to hear him say "I'm my Daddy's clone." I love it that they love each other so much.

6. He is an avid reader. He can devour an entire chapter book in one evening. He especially loves The Series of Unfortunate Events, The Hardy Boys, Captain Underpants, Beverly Cleary's Fudge Books, and Star Wars books. He also loves reading the scriptures.

7. He is a loving and protective big brother. He and Lydia have their spats, but they play so well together. One of my favorite sights is Braden reading a book to his sister. He is very protective of Liam, and helps me follow him around wherever we go. And he loves holding and cuddling Grayson. I am so happy that the younger kids have such a wonderful big brother to look up to.

8. He has many interests. He has done Tae Kwon Do, horseback riding, sports, swimming, etc. He is now learning to play the piano. True, I have to coerce him into going into our music room for his lessons every week, but he is doing well, and I catch him playing the Imperial March on his own quite frequently!

9. Braden is my special boy who first turned me into a mommy. We have learned and grown together as I have tried to figure out this journey called "motherhood." I love this guy with all of my heart, and am so grateful to call him my son.

We already had his party on Saturday, so today we are going to spend family time together. Morgan and I are meeting him at school for lunch. I sent in 24 brownie cupcakes for him to share with his class. And tonight he has chosen steak and sweet potatoes for his birthday dinner (a change from his normal spaghetti birthday dinner). And today at 4:31 p.m. (8:31 a.m. Utah time) we will snuggle on the couch and look through his baby book and I will give him his "birth minute kiss." I have to take all of the snuggles I can get, because he is growing so fast, and there may come a time when he won't want to cuddle with me anymore. But for now, he is still my sweet little man. I love you, Bubba!

Mommy Workout

Several years ago, at a yearly physical exam, my doctor asked me if I was getting regular exercise. Embarassed, but honest, I replied "well, not unless running after two small children counts." He smiled and, a little condescendingly, said "I'm afraid not." Well Mr. Doctor, I beg to differ!

The following is an exercise plan that anyone with access to one or more small children can do while they accomplish other important tasks. Follow it closely, and watch the pounds melt away!

Warm ups: To warm up, simply jog around your house looking for keys, sippie cups, socks, etc. Another good warm up is to run around looking for items to restock your diaper bag.

Now it is time to head to the grocery store.

Squats: To maximize this workout, strap a 15 pound infant to your chest. This accomplishes two goals: you will be forced to keep a straight back, even when bending over, and carrying the extra weight increases your strength.

Place your toddler in one of those great shopping carts that look like a truck that they get to "drive." Invariably, they will eventually discover a way to escape once the novelty of turning the stearing wheel wears off. This is where the fun begins! Bending at the knees (so your infant doesn't fall out of the Baby Bjorn), squat down to pick up your toddler. You will be able to work in many, many sets of this particular exercise, especially if your toddler has freed himself in the open candy bin section.

Resistance Training: Your toddler is not going to come with you easily -- use this to your advantage. The more resistance, the more calories you will burn!

Cardio Workout: Chances are, he will get away. You will be required to run up and down grocery aisles, enabling you to work in a great cardio workout.

Weight Lifting: After driving home, carry your infant in his car seat (which somehow adds roughly 152 pounds to the weight of your child) and your toddler into the house. Proceed to carry bags and bags of milk, canned goods, produce, meat, etc. -- enough to feed a family of six for a week -- into your house. Feel the burn!

Lunges: After you have put most of your groceries away, your toddler will find the bag containing a glass jar of spaghetti sauce. Lunge toward him in an attempt to retrieve it before it drops. If he has good toddler reflexes, he will do what all toddlers do in such situations. No, he won't gently place the jar back into the bag. He also won't walk over and hand it to you. No, he will throw the jar. Onto the tile floor. (why, oh why do they do this?)

Bonus: Now you get to work up a real sweat cleaning up shattered glass mixed with tomato sauce!

Upon completion of this workout, you deserve a break. Cool off by placing your toddler into a warm bath. The spray created by his splashing is really quite refreshing. You will feel like a new person.

I know this workout must be working, because I can feel it in my muscles. But I can't figure out why I don't look like a Victoria's Secret model. Perhaps it is my stress-induced ice cream addiction? Nah.

Liam's 2 Year Photos



At two years old, Liam is a bundle of energy. I love his happy personality, his thirst for learning, and all that he adds to our family by just being here.

• Liam loves his Daddy so much. Whenever Daddy comes home, he runs toward the door screaming "Dada, Dada!" He also screams for "Dada" whenever he sees a Jeep. Morgan drives a green four-door Jeep Wrangler. The car on the road doesn't have to be green or a Wrangler, but he recognizes it as a Jeep and assumes that his "Dada" is driving it.


• Liam loves cars. He is constantly playing with toy cars, and whenever we are driving anywhere he goes crazy yelling "car! car!" the whole time. He even sleeps with a toy Mini Cooper that Braden gave to him sometimes.


• His language is exploding. Every day he learns new words.
• Okay, don't judge me, but I have let the kids watch Sponge Bob Squarepants several times this summer (I really don't like it, but they love it!) Now, whenever Liam sees a picture of Sponge Bob, he sings the theme song. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. The other night, while we were camping with the Cub Scouts, he saw a Sponge Bob camp chair. Morgan had to physically remove him from the campfire program because he gasped out loud, and then started singing the song at the top of his lungs. When he sings it it sounds like "Bob bob bob bob etc." I really have to try and catch it on video because it is just too cute.
• I have tried to capture some of his personality through the pictures I took (above), but I wish that there were some way to capture the feeling of his damp warm head on my shoulder as I rock him to sleep each evening after his bath. Those moments each evening when it is just the two of us are some of the most precious moments of my life.
• Liam generally needs two or more baths a day. Definitely at least one each evening after dinner. Sometimes two if he decides to rub apple sauce or oatmeal in his hair during breakfast. Occassionally three if he jumps in a mud puddle or finds a marker.

When he is awake, I rarely get to sit down. When he is asleep I miss him. I can't believe he is already two. Happy birthday, Little Man! I love you!

Happy Birthday Sweet Liam!

Liam turned two on July 28th, and we celebrated with a Car Party last Saturday. For Braden's 2nd birthday we did the same theme, so it was fun to repeat it for Liam's 2nd birthday. And he has just started to really love cars. He has always got a car or truck of some sort in his hands, running it up and down walls, chairs, his legs.

We invited two families from church with children the same ages as our children. So everyone had a great time.

Everyone got one of these hats and a checkered bandana. I love dressing up the kids at our birthday parties in whatever theme we are doing. Liam sampling the cupcakes before the party:
Our backyard decked out in pennants, license plates, orange cones, even a hub cap the kids found outside on our road:

Our "car" fare -- apple "wheels," Bugles (cones), and Liam's favorite, pizza:The birthday boy:
"Blowing out" the candles. I try to be so prepared, but how could I have guessed that our candle lighter would be non-functional at the party. We really tried to come up with a way to light the candles (and gave the kids some interesting ideas on how to create fires) but ended up using two battery operated votives left over from on of my Girl Scout ceremonies. It's probably just as well. Liam is a very curious boy, and I don't know what he would have done with two drippy real candles set within blowing reach . . .
Miss Lydia:
Brady-o:Our gift to Liam was a big wheel and a bike helmet. He just looked so cute riding his new bike with his fishy helmet on.

I can't tell you how much we all love this little guy. He just makes everyone around him so happy. I will write more about Liam at two years of age once I get his two year portraits done.

Photography Lessons

I have always been interested in photography. Recently Morgan encouraged me to take a correspondence course in professional photography that had been recommended to me by some local photographers. It is a great course from the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP), which has been in existence since 1910. I am really enjoying the course. Interestingly, one day as I was doing my reading assignment, I felt a connection to my Grandpa who passed away several years ago. He was very interested in photography, and I remembered my Mom telling me that he had even studied it for a while. When I was talking with my Mom later that week, I told her about NYIP, and she said, "That's where Grandpa studied!" My Grandpa was from New York City, and he actually studied at the Institute when he was a young man!


My brother, Nick, has a natural talent for photography. I am amazed by the beautiful photographs he takes. I, on the other hand, don't come by it as naturally, which is why this course is so great for me. (In all fairness to myself, my interest is portraiture, and my subjects are pretty squirmy).

NYIP sends me books, CDs and DVDs and when I finish an entire unit I take a test and do a photo project. I have learned so much just from Unit One. So I thought I would post my photo project for you to see what I have been learning. They aren't the greatest photos, but I learned so much doing them.


This is the walking path near my house where we go on family walks and bike rides. The purpose of this picture was to have everything in focus. I achieved that by using a smaller aperture (larger f-number) for a greater depth of field.

Another part of my project was to show motion in different ways. This picture of Braden is an example of panning. I used a slow shutter speed and moved the camera with him as he passed, resulting in him being in relatively sharp focus, and the background being streaked. Because the shutter was open for a longer amount of time, I needed to use a smaller aperture so too much light wouldn't enter at once. It also helped that we took the picture in a shady area.

This picture shows motion in a different way. I used a really fast shutter speed (which worked fine because it was a really bright day) to freeze the motion of the ball being pitched to Braden.
Finally, in this picture of Lydia, I focused just on her face, and the background is blurry. I achieved this by using a larger aperture (smaller f-number). It is the opposite of the first picture, in which I wanted great depth of field.
It's actually amazing what the average digital camera can do. I did this project with a regular camera that allows me to use manual overrides. I look forward to doing my next project.

3 Month Portrait My sweet boy is now 3 months old. This month's portrait features Grayson wearing our little white tuxedo. All three of our boys have now been blessed in this tux. It was made for Braden by our dear friend, Amy Nichols. She used remnants of satin from my wedding dress to make the bow tie, lapels, and cummerbund.

At three months old, he is smiling a lot and cooing. He loves his Daddy, and always has a ready smile for him. In fact, he is smiling at Morgan in this picture (Morgan is my photography assistant, and can usually get a good smile out of the kids). Grayson is a good sleeper, and usually sleeps from about 10 or 11 p.m. until about 3 or 4 a.m. before he is ready for another nursing.

He is such a blessing to our family, and we all love him so much.

Paris!

Yes! You were all right. We took a family vacation to Paris this week. I have always wanted to go there, and it was incredible. I'm going to share the memories in list form:

Things I want to always remember:

• Taking our time to get there and back. It is only a four hour drive, but it probably took at least six hours each way with bathroom breaks, Grayson's nursings, diaper changes, etc. But it was so nice to not be in a hurry and enjoy the trip. I am so proud of Morgan for driving in Paris. Most people recommend avoiding that part of the experience, but he is a very able driver, and is used to driving in big cities all over the world.


• We have a family tradition of saying "wheeeeeee!" (on this trip we said "ouiiiiiiiiii!") as we drive through tunnels. The tradition was started by Braden when we lived in Monterey, California, every time we went through the long tunnel there. We don't go through many tunnels in Germany, but there were several as we entered Paris, so Liam was able to join in the tradition. He was so cute with his deep voice, and he caught on by the second tunnel!


• The food! French food is to die for! It is so different from German food. While we were there we had crepes, quiche, sandwiches on real french bread, croissants, omlettes, and lots of Orangina. Yummmmy!


• Our apartment. Traveling in Europe is not always geared toward large families. (side note: Coming from a family of eight children, I never thought of four children as being a particularly large family. But sometimes I think we might as well have four heads for the looks people give us!) Hotels here generally don't allow more than four people per room, so you either have to pay for two rooms and split up the family, or sneak your children in. The other option, though, is to rent an apartment for your stay. We stayed in a beautiful old Parisian apartment building on the Rue du Louvre, just a five minute walk from the Louvre! I loved the apartment because it had so much character. I felt like we were able to experience Paris more fully than if we had stayed in a Marriot or Hilton.

• The Grevin Wax Museum. This wasn't on my list of "things to see in Paris" but it was right next to where we picked up our Paris Passes, and it was included in our passes, so we decided to go. It was really interesting, and not creepy at all. World Leaders. Doesn't Morgan fit in well?
  
• The Eiffel Tower!!! I have always wanted to see it. It was really beautiful. But what kind of a nerd am I that all I could think of was Superman rescuing Lois Lane?

• Cruising the Seine.

• The Louvre. I was so excited to see the Mona Lisa. I have seen many of those beautiful works of art in books, but it was amazing to be in the same room with the actual objects that were touched by the masters who created them. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised that the Mona Lisa was encased in glass, and cordoned off. I guess I always just pictured her sitting in a quiet hallway of the Louvre. Instead, she sat there, forever posing for flocks of tourists' pictures that would put Brangelina to shame. I found it quite funny that in the Mona Lisa room some tourists stopped to take pictures of none other than my Liam! It was so cute!
  
• The irony of covering up to discretely nurse Grayson on a bench in the Classical sculptures section, just a few steps away from Venus de Milo.


Mother and Child

I love the Etruscans! This is the Sarcophagus of a Married Couple. I told Morgan I want us to be buried in one of these!
Winged Victory


• The Parisians. They were lovely. Don't believe what you hear about them being rude.
  
• I was so proud of Morgan's French abilities. We still haven't learned much German, so it was nice to be in a country where at least one of us could communicate! Next, we need to go to Romania or England, where we will both be able to speak the language.

Lest I make traveling in one of the busiest, most-visited cities in the world with four small children look deceptively easy, here is one more list:

Things I hope we'll forget in time, leaving us with only the memories from the above list:

• Sore shoulders.


• Being trapped in line at the Eiffel Tower for 30 minutes with Liam screaming his head off in the baby backpack. Once we finally reached a point in the line near the front, where we were able to escape, he stopped crying and fell asleep! We were all too traumatized and exhausted to go back in the long line, so we bought 4 Euro (roughly $6) slushes, and took a break. We never did get to go up the Eiffel Tower.
  
• The cost. The exchange rate is pretty bad for Americans in most of Europe. That, combined with the elevated tourist prices made this trip pretty pricey. If you think gas prices in the States are bad, you should see how much it is here. We normally buy gas on base, where we get American prices. But we needed to fill up in France for our return trip, and 3/4 of a tank cost 90 Euro!! That's almost $150! Crazy!
  
• Whining. It is always hard for parents when they go to a lot of effort and expense to do something fun with their kids, and their kids don't appreciate it the way they had hoped. I am not mentioning this to point the finger at my children, who were, after all, just being kids. They had no way of knowing how much I have always wanted to go to Paris. They were actually really well-behaved, but my expectations were hard to meet with four small children. As much as I could have spent days rambling around the Louvre, it just wasn't as fascinating to my kids. I think they are due for another trip to Legoland!

Despite the difficulties (and really, what family vacation is perfect?) we had a great time, and made precious memories. We feel so blessed to live near so many countries and cities with such rich histories and cultures. Vive la France!