Prom!

AJ & Stefanie both went to prom this year. The prom at their school is for grades 11 and 12, but Stefanie's boyfriend is in grade 11 and asked permission for her to be able to attend with him.

AJ went with his best girl Livia. They make a beautiful couple. We spent an hour or so before prom with them and their friends at Livia's parents house, drinking champagne and toasting the seniors.

Livia & AJ

Joe's mom is a professional portrait photographer and she took these amazing photos. You can check out Charlotte's amazing work here: http://www.starupphoto.com/

Joe & Stefanie

Fruhlingsfest

It's that time of year again. Dirndls and Lederhosen are out and we're enjoying the spring bier festival!

Andechs Trail Run!

Today I combined mine and Steve's "passions". Mine for running, his for enjoying the atmosphere and bier at Andechs. It was an 8.4km trail run and seriously tough.  The first half was pretty flat with some little hills but the second half felt like I was constantly running up. The last part of the race was straight up, including steps.

BUT, I got second in my age group so I was thrilled. My prizes were a four pack of beer, a backpack, and a water bottle belt. Not bad for a 10€ entry fee!

Paris

Steve, Rachel, AJ, Missy, Stefanie & Brianna

We had a busy spring break and Paris was trip number two. With Brianna visiting and Steve needing to be in Paris for a work trip it was a no brainer - to Paris we go!

Our first stop was of course the Eiffel Tower. I truly believe it is one of the things in the world you really need to see in person. Just like the Grand Canyon, a picture really doesn't let you see the Eiffel Tower.

Steve opted to play photographer while the kids and I went to the top. Lines were long but the weather was nice and it worked out that we were at the top for sunset. I don't think I could have planned that! The views were wonderful. We also stopped at each of the floors that are open near the bottom. The first floor with the glass bottom is really cool. It's fun to look down at the people below the tower.

Halfway up - Rachel, Brianna, AJ & Stefanie

Stefanie, Mkssy, Rachel & AJ

Our second day Steve had to work so it was me and the kids and I had a full, what they would not so nicely call, Missy Day planned.

Our first stop was The Louvre. It was crazy crowded so we dug out the Rick Steves book and found a faster way. Definitely cut our wait time in half. Since it was so incredibly busy we only saw our top two - Mona Lisa & Venus de Milo. Even though I had warned the kids they were still surprised at how small the Mona Lisa was.

Brianna, Stefanie, AJ & Rachel

Next was Angelina's because Auntie Mellie told us we had to go there. It was warm so I couldn't convince the kids they should have hot chocolate but they did enjoy their desserts. I had the hot chocolate and it really was delicious and very rich.

Stefanie, Brianna & Rachel

Afterwards we headed through the Tuileries Garden to the Museum d'Orsay. Along the way we stopped for a carrousel ride. The kids were thrilled they got to have two rides in a row.

Brianna & Stefanie

AJ & Rachel

Rachel, Brianna & Stefanie 

The d'Orsay was fabulous. The building is amazing and I really enjoyed the artwork. I especially liked the Impressionist gallery. The kids also were really able to enjoy it. It helped that it wasn't nearly as crowded as The Louvre. Afterwards we had lunch at a sweet little bistro and walked through Paris.  We headed over to Centre Georges Pompidou to see the outside escalator. There were lots of street vendors set up on blankets. The girls and I had some fun checking out the trinkets, AJ was patient.

Brianna, Stefanie, Rachel & AJ

We met Steve for dinner and walked down to Place de la Concorde, just to have a little view of the city at night.

We started our next day with Notre Dame. I love it but the kids just aren't so impressed with any church at this point. We have visited a lot of churches.

Notre Dame

We walked over to St. Chapelle, the kids were impressed by the stained glass images here. It is amazing. Each individual pane has a scene from the Bible. You can follow the story around the chapel.

St Chapelle

We walked through the Tuileries Gardens and stopped to have lunch. It was a beautiful afternoon to sit in the garden.

Caught Steve on the other side of the camera!

Then we headed towards our Fat Tire bike tour. Along the way we stopped to see the Arc D'Triumph

Rachel, Stefanie, Brianna & AJ

The tour was terrific and we had a great timing learning Paris history with Alexandria while tooling around the city. It's such a great way to cover a lot of ground.

Brianna, Stefanie, Rachel, Safety First AJ & Missy

AJ, Stefanie, Missy, Rachel & Brianna

Our last day in Paris was also great. Steve, AJ, Rachel and I headed to Napolean's tomb in the morning.

Then we returned to the hotel for Stefanie & Brianna and headed to the Sacre Coeur.  We started at Moulin Rouge (smaller than I thought) and walked down Pigalle in Montmarte taking in all the interesting sites. We walked up to the Sacre Coeur and the kids patiently checked out another church.

AJ, Rachel, Stefanie & Brianna

Then we found a little side staircase that headed down to a sweet cafe.  We shared a bottle of wine with the kids during lunch (when in Paris) and then it was time to head to the airport.

Rachel, Brianna, Stefanie, AJ, Missy & Steve

Cheers! Brianna & Stefanie

We ended our trip with macaroons, they did not disappoint.

Happy Easter!

Steve, Brianna (substitute DelRosso), AJ, Rachel, Stefanie & Missy

Happy Easter from our family to yours! We had a great day with church at our favorite Monastery - Andechs and a fun lunch with our expat friends at a Bachspielhausen. A delicious restaurant located in a bakery.

The kids started off with our traditional Easter Egg hunt and thankfully found all the eggs!

AJ, Rachel, Stefanie & Brianna

Rachel made a new kind of lamb cake from cupcakes. We all appreciated her efforts!

Rachel

We even had Easter outfits.

Brianna, Stefanie & Rachel 

48 hours in Venice

Bridge of Sighs

What a great trip to Venice we had our friends the McGraths. It was a little dodgy getting there but once there it was a glorious 48 hours.

We left the day after we didn't get to go to Amsterdam. We knew there would be some snow on our route but we didn't correctly anticipate quite how much. Once the McGraths made it to our meeting spot (two of the three roads out of their town were closed due to fallen trees) we headed south. Less than an hour into a trip it got very, very, very snowy. 4-6" on the unplowed mountain roads. It was more than a bit slick. Steve and Cheryl did a fabulous job navigating through the snow and sliding up one mountain and thankfully not into anyone or anything else. Lots of cars were stuck and as we headed down another mountain there was a line of traffic behind a truck that couldn't get up the road, the driver was busy putting the chains on his wheels.

Cheryl & Missy - we made it, the sun is out!!

But the further south we headed the warmer it got and by the time we got to Venice (it only took two extra hours) it was awesome. We parked in the last two parking spots in the lot across from the main train station in Maestre. Our luck was changing! We hopped a train to Venice and walked through the winding streets to our hotel at the base of the Rialto bridge!

AJ & Missy

It was late afternoon but we had enough time to see Doge's Palace. The Palace was amazing and incredibly ornate. We all took our time across the Bridge of Sighs, sighing along the way. Apparently it's just a legend that prisoners sighed as they walked from the palace to the prison and took one last look at Venice. That is most likely true because you can't see much through the windows!

AJ, JC, Chris, Stefanie, Brianna & Rachel

View from The Bridge of Sighs

Afterwards, we walked along the water and checked out the bridge from the outside.

Steve & Missy

Rachel, AJ, JC, Chris, Stefanie & Brianna

Then we decided to find the famous "Harry's Bar". The adults enjoyed a bellini while the kids were sent to look for drinks outside - bellinis were too pricey for teens!

Steve, Missy, Cheryl & Steve

Saturday was a beautiful day. St Mark's was closed at the morning but Steve & Steve found us a tourism deal which included a free taxi ride to Murano. It was a great and quick ride and then we had a fabulous glass blowing demonstration. There was of course the obligatory hard sale to buy something in their store but we all safely walked away.

AJ & JC

Rachel, Brianna, Stefanie & Chris

The kids had fun exploring the island and finding fun souvenirs to buy. It's a pretty island and there are so many great shops to visit.

Chris, JC, AJ, Stefanie, Rachel & Brianna

 Afterwards we headed to Burano. This island is so very pretty with all of it's differently painted houses. We had lunch and Cheryl and I desperately tried to buy something with the lace that is made there but just couldn't find anything!

Murano

We did the must see Grand Canal boat ride next. It is nice to just cruise down the canal looking at all the grand and formerly grand mansions that line the canal.

The six kids wanted to have dinner on their own so we sent them out for a pizza night while we had a double date. We had a lovely dinner and then of course an even lovelier dessert and of course lemoncello and grappa.

Our last day in Venice we finally visited St Mark's. It had been a little tricky finding it open, the risk of visiting right before Easter. Everyone was properly awed by the size and intricacy of the designs. I think the kids really had the most fun on the roof overlooking the squares.

Roof of St Marks - Rachel, JC, Chris, AJ, Stefanie & Brianna

The Steve's opted out and we're sitting on St Mark's Square enjoying a beer when we came down. Cheryl and I joined them for a drink while the kids went to get gelatto.

Gondola rides were the last thing on our list. Since Steve and I had been on one we opted to take pictures. Cheryl and Steve had a romantic ride and the six kids had a fun one. Another great thing to do on a beautiful day in Venice!

Steve & Cheryl

JC, Brianna, Stefanie, Chris, Rachel & AJ

It was a great 48 hours and more than made up for the Amsterdam travel problems.