Sesame Street

The USO sponsored Sesame Street to visit all the European Army bases.  Kate has just started getting into characters from movies and shows.  Her favorite character is Abby Cadabby, which wasn't part of the show.  She did, however, think the character Katie was Abby Caddaby and was content with that.  Kate was super cute and dancing to the music.  All her friends sat around her doing the same routine.  They loved it. 

Colton, Emme, and Kate

Kate, Colton and Chase

Dresden, Germany

Sometimes the weather really puts a damper on your planned trips.  We only spent two days in Dresden because I knew I wasn't going to enjoy much sight-seeing being 9 months pregnant.  Bryan sometimes thinks being pregnant is a walk in the park.  Silly boy.  Dresden is a beautiful city in eastern Germany.  Almost everything is rebuilt because it was bombed so badly during World War 2.  The main church Frauenkirche is beautiful and different than many of the other churches we have visited.  It is decorated with pinks and flowers and cherubs.  

 This is the largest porcelain wall in the world.  It is called the Procession of Princes.  

 Beautiful gardens.

Kate is being silly in this picture.  She has now come to the age of not wanting to take pictures or not looking at the camera when taking pictures.  In this picture, she decided to pretend to be sleeping. We went on a steam boat ride on the Elbe river.  It was fun, until it down poured on us and everyone scattered for shelter at the bottom of the boat.  We also went to a famous dairy store called Molkerei Pfund and had all types of cheeses.

The next day we hiked around the Saxon Switerland National Park and walked across the famous Bastei bridge.  It had unbelievable views.  I definitely want to go back and hike around more of this area.  And enjoy it more because I am not pregnant.

Waiting for Jane

We have had crazy weather this summer.  One week it will be 90-100 degrees and then the next it will be in the 50-60s.  Germany doesn't have air conditioner, so it is pretty miserable being pregnant and hot.  We have spent the afternoons napping in the basement or sitting in front of a fan trying not to touch one another.  Kate doesn't really seem to notice.  

 Bryan tried to win a spot to do the 10 mile run in Washington D.C., but was beaten to the six opened spots.  The male who crossed the line first did so in 52 minutes.  And I think the number six was 58 minutes.  Crazy fast.  Bryan broke his personal best and crossed the line at 1 hour and 11 minutes.  He is usually around 1 hour and 20 minutes.  He did awesome!

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool. It is right around the corner from our house and has 4 different pools- diving pool, lap pool, wave pool, and kid pool.   We got a pool pass and it has been well worth it with the heat waves.  Kate is learning to not be so picky with the water temperature since the pool never really warms up, unless you are in the baby pool!

Triberg, Germany

We really enjoyed our time in Triberg.  We hiked up the waterfall- the highest waterfall in Germany. 

 The hike wasn't that far or hard, but while we were hiking we thought we had so much more ahead of us and I was starting to get worried being 9 months pregnant.  But we made it to the top and even hiked to the monastery and lake near by.

 One of the seven waterfall tiers.

 The whole family at the top.  

One of the main attractions of Triberg is the coo-coo clocks.  Bryan and I were totally set on not buying one, but we found a not-so-pricey one and bought it.  It is super cute with a little girl on a rocking horse with a water mill and dancing people.  Kate loves watching the clock every hour it goes off.

 We stayed at a fun little farm house with kittens and cows and pigs.  Kate looks super cute in this picture, but she is pretty much strangling this poor kitten.  She really does love animals though, just a little rough with them.

This is our first time doing the rodelbahn.  I can't believe that let me go 9 months pregnant.  The guy was pretty funny asking if I paid for one ticket or two tickets.   

 Kate and the cousins loved the ride.  She went three times with Bryan and raised her arms the whole way.  She is definitely a thrill seeker.

There was a festival going on that weekend and Kate really wanted to get her face painted.  The painting was free and is a picture of a pony.  My brother thinks it looks like the pony has magical barf.

Rheinfels Castle Ruins

After Belgium, we all traveled down to the Germany to visit the castles on the Rhine.  This castle was by far the coolest castle ruin we have visited.  There were secret tunnels that required flashlights and crawling.  It was pretty fun for the kids.  

 Jackson running through the castle.

 My cuties!

Beautiful Rhine River.  It would be very fun to do a river boat tour.

Bruges, Brussels, Ghent

We met up with Bryan's family in Belgium.  Renae, Lydia, Emily, and Brayden flew in from the states and Rachel and Brent came over from England.  We spent six days with them and then the following weekend with them.  We had a fabulous and stressful time.

 Bruge is beautiful.  We could have spent more than the afternoon there.  Kate really enjoyed all the horses pulling carriages.  We went to the Coco Story and learned about how they Belgians make chocolate.  Totally worth it.  You get fed so much chocolate, it almost pays for the ticket.  The chocolate is definitely better here.

 Bruges, Belgium

 We stayed at a great farm house with lots of fun stuff for the kids; swing sets, go-karts, games, highchairs, bicycles, and cribs.  The kids probably preferred staying at the farm house over seeing the tourist spots.  I got to ride the bike to France because it was only 5 km away.  I just wanted to say I road my bike to France.

 Brussels, Belgium

Manneken-Pis was the main attraction of Brussels, oh, and the Belgium waffles.  The street vendors made the most delicious waffles.  I could have eaten 10 of them.  Manneken-Pis is a little statue that represents the history of Brussels.  Every now and again, the city dresses the little statue in clothes for the holidays or a celebrations.  The little statue has over 800 outfits.  

 Cousin picture.

Menneken-Pis

Kate and Bryan is front of the church that house the famous artwork "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb".  It is an alter piece that has been stolen several times; a piece is still missing.