Paris

Paris - one of our favorite places...

Once in Europe our travels between locations were done on really cheap (commuter) airlines that take you from place to place for about $50. Looking back at the trip I am really impressed that we managed to figure out the transportation system. We had our plane reservations, and our hotel reservations, but no travel to and from the airport or any sort of transportation during the stay. We took the trains and subways and managed to read the maps and communicate enough to get pointed in the right general direction. All in all this method worked out well, and only had us wandering with our luggage for minimal amounts of time. The night we arrived in Paris we didn't get in until almost midnight and we hadn't eaten anything. We traveled on the subway about 40 minutes and when we walked out onto the main street it was packed. Everyone was out, all the restaurants were packed and even Sephora was still open. It was great! No one eats until at least 8 or 9 and it has the vibe of New York City.

Champs De Elysee - Right outside out hotel.

The Eiffel Tower

We decided to take the stairs up the Eiffel tower rather than the "lift". Partly because we wanted to say to took the stairs, partly because the lines for the lazy people that took the "lift" were way too long, and partly because we felt cheap and didn't want to pay the extra money.

One of our favorite things on the whole trip was a sunset dinner cruise in Paris. It was a four course sit down dinner with our own private table and live music on the boat. It had the best views in the city and was absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures of our night...

Side note for the picture below - it is rated PG13. Half way through our cruise we hear laughing and cheering. We look, only to see a group of "kids" (I am sure they were college students) mooning every boat that passed. Wade of course had to take not one, or two, but three pictures of this. I picked the picture with the furthest distance that showed the least...but at least it made him happy that I posted it....have I mentioned how easy it is to please him?

Notre Dame

Outside the Louvre

Moulin Rouge - We took a subway just to take a picture in front of this. Not much else was close to it and it seems that most the other people around us did the same.

The last day we went to the Louvre. Most people would plan at least a day here if not two...it is absolutely huge. We lasted about an hour and a half. I love art, but it was so crowded and after seeing the Mona Lisa and some Michelangelo's work, there is only so many huge paintings of naked people that you can see.

You can see we made the most of our time in the Louvre....

We finished at the Louvre and had the whole afternoon to spare. We decided to hop a train and see Versalles (where Marie Antoinette lived).

On the train to Versalles enjoying one of our favorite lunches in Paris (the best bread ever!!! Wade bought 2 loaves of bread...just for himself).

Versalles was amazing and I enjoyed it so much more than the Louvre. I really enjoyed seeing how they lived back then and it helped me imagine it much more than I can through Jane Austen movies.

The grounds and garden were beautiful and so huge...I would have loved to spend a whole day lounging in the gardens with a loaf of bread and a book...too bad it was only about 50 degrees and stormy.

All in all Paris was definitely a place we would like to visit again. There is so much to do and it is busy no matter what time of day...but you can also get lost in the parks and fountains and spend a day doing nothing as well.

Weekend with the Kids...

KyAnn told us about this great water playground on the Base. The Kids loved it.

We went to the zoo.

My idea of the zoo is a two hour event... Be breaf, Be bright, Be gone!

The kids love it and we can get home for Brennyn's nap.

London

We are still trying to catch up on the time change from getting back from Europe. We have so many pictures I figured it would be better (easier on me) to post our trip in sections. So our first stop was London and we were there for 3 days. We flew the redeye from Seattle to London and got in at 11am (9 hours total....not bad), I think this was helpful in totally messing up our internal clocks so we didn't have jet lag as bad.

Big Ben - we took the subway the whole time in London and when we exited the subway station in London with all of our bags, after flying all night we came out and Big Ben was the first thing we saw. I have to say it was my favorite site in all of London.

Wade in the London Eye. This was right outside our hotel and it was a big tourist attraction (trap). It was a great way to see the city, but I think not worth the price and time to go on it. There are fields/park outside the eye and this is where the street performers would be. Wade thought it was funny, but it kind of freaked me out. They had some of the strangest street performers out there and they were always there.

We had to get a picture with one of the many phone booths. I was amazed that there were so many, although I never saw anyone use one...I am guessing because pretty much everyone has a cell phone. So I decided that taking a photo in one would be a great idea. This was how I found out that these must only be in the city to be used as a urinal, since no one ever uses the phone and they smelled worse than a port-a-potty.

This is the shopping district and one of the most beautiful places in the city to view all of the old buildings. It was amazing to see all of the history of these buildings....and to see now they are the same buildings that are now selling Cartier and Burberry. We decided to eat lunch here, and pick a place based on how we always pick restaurants...the busiest place. Why we decided to pick an Italian restaurant in London rather than waiting a week until we were actually in Italy, I am not quite sure...I will just blame it on jet lag...it was the worst Italian food we have ever had.

We went to see Chicago while we were there and loved it. We tried two times to get someone to take a picture of us with the big "Chicago" sign in the background. I am not sure what the communication error was since we weren't even in a country with a language barrier yet, but neither of the people we asked could actually take a picture to get the full background in it. This is the closest we got.

We had to do the most touristy thing in London while we were there - changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. Basically, if you want to see every tourist that is in the city at one time, you go to changing of the guard.

Since Big Ben was my favorite, we had to make sure we got as many pictures as possible. Nothing says London like Big Ben.

This is the London Eye and our hotel. We had the best location here...I am taking this photo from where Big Ben is and as soon as we walked out of our hotel we could see Big Ben in all its glory (okay so we learned that Big Ben is actually the bell and you can't see it, but we saw the tower). Have I mentioned that Big Ben was our favorite?

London Bridge - apparently it never fell down....

The closest picture we have with a double decker bus. We decided to do the tourist thing and do the "Big Red Bus Tour". It was the best thing ever. You ride the bus (it is open and outside on the top) and they tell you all of the history and show you all of London and you can get off and on any place you want. It was a great way to get around the city and learn the history at the same time.

All in all we had a great time in London, but we are both not sure if it was our favorite place or if we would go back. On to the next place....Paris.

Elizabeth and Matt come to Washington!

Elizabeth and Matt came to visit us in Washington (okay...they came to visit family, but we were lucky enough to make the cut in who they visit). We see them all of the time in Utah, but it was nice to be able to have them in Washington, show them our house, and visit all day. I know my mom enjoyed seeing Elizabeth again....minus the duck tape. We love you guys and are so glad that we can spend so much time with you when we are in Utah.

Pizza Party

Alliya's great friends are Sophie and Taylor. She misses them since they moved out in January but we try to do as many play dates as we can. It is so great to be able to let the kids play and at the same time Tracie and I can visit and catch up when the guys travel. I love having such great friends so close. Alliya keeps asking when she can have a sleep over (either with Sophie or at Karen and Jeff's....at this point I don't think she cares which one).

The girls had a pizza party and made their own pizza...such fun and so cute.