Europe 2013: Loire Valley

We took a few days to do a bike trip through the Loire Valley in France. The boys happily stayed with Grammie and Pop and probably didn't miss us at all. Seth planned each detail (as usual) and I happily went along with everything and honestly don't think I complained once! I know it's sad that I am proud of that, but usually my ideal vacations are less "active" and more lazy. Seven years later and I'm realizing Seth's idea of vacations are a lot more fun. (Although I am most definitely not opposed to a relaxing, tropical vacation in my future.) 

Let me start off by saying that Seth was on Cloud Nine each day. He had a smile on his face non-stop and kept saying how awesome it was. Like, he was literally high on life. I'm really glad we got to go and most importantly that my morning sickness had eased up a bit and allowed be to have energy AND be in good spirits. It would have been really sad (and mean of me) to rain on Seth's parade.

We took the metro downtown to catch the train to Paris. By the way, I had to jump off a few stops early and run to a trash can because of you-know-what. Rough way to start the trip. We made it to Paris and had a short layover before our train left for Tours. It was just long enough to get a sandwich, no time to see any of Paris. We arrived in Tours mid-day, picked up our bikes, and headed to Amboise. We arrived late afternoon and were able to check into a small B&B. The lady who ran the B&B also ran an Italian restaurant so we ate there for dinner and it was the delicious, real Italian pizza kind of pizza. She also made the BEST hot chocolate for us in the next morning.

 We headed to the Chenonceau chateau that morning and took the audio tour, which of course I now remember hardly any of because I took too long to blog it. I do remember it being very interesting and soap opera-like (mistresses, disgruntled wives, etc.) The chateau was completely furnished and gave a fantastic picture of how the house was run in it's prime. We spent the night back at Amboise, this time in a fancier hotel, but went back for the same pizza for dinner. 

The second full day we rode to Blois, got lost along the way, but happily lost. We didn't go inside the chateau in Blois. The last day we rode to Chambord chateau (the biggest one we saw) and then back to Blois to catch our train. 

We rode about 90 miles over the three days which was totally do-able. It was nice to take our time, enjoying the quaint towns we rode through, taking long breaks for lunch, etc. I think one of my favorite things about the trip was having endless, uninterrupted conversations with each other. 

Beginning of bike trip, outside the rental shop

Right after Seth snuck some grapes because I wanted to try some. I was nervous there might be some kind of severe jail time for stealing grapes though. (I only ate like 3)

Chenonceau Chateau

Side view of Chenonceau. Excuse the clothing attire. 

Our hotel the second night offered robes so I of course had to put one on immediately. Friends was also on TV in ENGLISH. And I was eating those delicious chocolate Petit Beurre cookies. I was loving life.

Stopping for lunch. Each morning before heading out we grabbed a baquette, some salami, apples, and of course Petit Beurre cookies. 

Second night hotel in Amboise. Seth did a FANTASTIC job at picking hotels this trip.

After going up steep hills and I didn't even complain. The reddish building behind me is where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last years and passed away.

Leaving Amboise in the morning headed to Blois, with our baquettes strapped down for the ride.

Coming into Blois

Last chateau of the trip: Chambord. This was huuuuuuge and amazing but I wished it was furnished more. The other chateaus were furnished for the time periods they were lived in.  This one was so big though it would have been extremely expensive to do.

Europe 2013: Turkey

Fetiye, Turkey. We had PERFECT weather, it was beautifully sunny every day and not too hot. The first full day after getting settled, we had we rented a yacht for the day. It came with a captain and a cook (his wife) who made us a tasty Turkish lunch on the boat. The captain took us to several spots to get out and swim and snorkel. It was so gorgeous and the water was so clear!

Fishing off the back of the yacht with Pop.

These rafts might look dorky but they were the perfect thing to have!

Check out Taft being the bravest he's ever been!





So most people who know me know that I have a somewhat over-the-top fear of fish, sharks, and other sea creatures that could possibly touch and/or eat me. However, after my 4 year old was able to jump off the boat, we figured I should probably give it a go. Bear with me, it takes a while (because a GIANT school of fish suddenly swarm the spot where I'm about to jump)

Party time

Taft was really into snorkeling. Luke... takes after me. 

I really love this.

Taft telling Grammie a story I'm sure.

Not a bad life!

Taft busting a move to "Blurred Lines"

Kayakoy. This town was abandoned in 1923 after the Greek people who were living here were kicked out. 

Ready to find some fish. This was another day when we joined up with a tour yacht, with several other people. this was a lot of fun too but we all agreed the private boat was the best.

Handsome Herways

The kids. 

We spent our days on the boats, at the pool, and one day at a beach that had the most beautiful view. I am SO mad I don't have a picture of it.

Unfortunately while we were here is when my all-day sickness really started to kick in. I didn't cook or help with a single meal. In fact, when dinner was being prepared I would have to hide out in my room with the door shut avoiding the smell.

Despite feeling pretty yucky, we had such a great time. I know where Seth gets his wonderful trip planning skills from. Anita is a pro at finding great places to stay and really researching if the destination is worth it. Tom is the tour guide who's done all the reading and can just tell you about everything! Seth loved spending quality time with his parents and getting to chat it up all day long. Taft and Luke loved getting ice cream every single night after dinner. In fact, they still expect "zert" after every meal now. I loved relaxing on the boat and "accidentally" falling asleep several times.

Europe 2013: London

Tom and Anita were nice enough to offer to watch our kids while we spent 2 days and a night in London. Seth and I had been to London once before in 2007, but really only spent one day in London and our second day visiting Stonehenge. 

It's amazing how much quicker you can move and how much more you can see when you don't have little ones in tow!

Day 1: We got in early in the morning and luckily were able to leave our bags at our hotel. I love when hotels let you do that. London hotels are SO expensive! We spent a significant amount on our room and even though we read reviews, we were a little surprised to see how teeny tiny our room was and found out we had to share a shower and toilet with like 6 other rooms. Yuck. At least it was clean. And the breakfast was pretty good. Anyway, on to the fun stuff: 

We visited the British Museum where we saw Cleopatra's sarcophagus! We also saw the Lindow Man, which was a man found in a bog in the UK in 1984, but they figure he died between 2 BC and AD 119. His body still had skin, hair, and organs! We also went to the Tate Modern Museum and St. Paul's Cathedral. A friend of mine strongly recommended the Tower of London tour and I am so glad we did it! It was really cool. We stopped to try the famous NYC Shake Shack in Covent Garden because we had heard such great things. We were both disappointed and we really like burgers! Seth thinks there is something in London's air that makes things taste bad. We'll have to give it another shot if we ever make it to NYC again. We topped of the night with a showing of The Phantom of the Opera. It was really good, but we were both exhausted and had to watch parts of it with only one eye open so the other eye could rest. 

I've said it a million times before and I say it every time we travel. He's the best trip planner. 

Oldest Royal Palace in the UK. (Pretty sure that's what they said)

Day 2: We rented bikes. It so much fun seeing a city by biking through it. We visited Hyde Park, Victoria and Albert Museum (this was a lot of furniture and fashion design. I could have stayed much longer...Seth not so much), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Natural History Musesum, and the Changing of the Guard. We caught an evening train back to Brussels.  Did I mention all the museums we went to were free? London knows what's up!

Underwhelming. Mainly because we got there too late for a good view. 

This place had the COOLEST dinosaur exhibit. The boys would have either loved it or been totally freaked out. They had a robotic t-rex that I'm not sure was actually life size but it was pretty huge. I also loved the architecture in this building. I kept asking Seth, "what do you think this building used to be for?!" He figured it was always a museum and he was right. 

Recently

Because of our trip to Belgium, Taft missed the first month of school. It's nice that he's not in elementary school yet and we can do that sort of thing. If you can't tell, he was pretty pumped to start school. He loves, loves school. I debated whether or not to send him this year. I felt like it was kind of a lot of money just to play and I figured we could put that money to more recreational activities. However, I am really glad he is going. He loves it. His teacher is awesome. She does a ton of creative projects, sends "homework" home which Taft thinks is the coolest, and puts a lot of thought into the day as opposed to last year which seemed like just a 3 hour play date. 

After we dropped Taft off at school we hit the beach. Luke's double fists in the air say it all. HOOOOME!!

Taft and Luke recently saw a Ghostbuster cartoon and Seth has gotten them singing the theme song a lot. I thought it would be fun to have them be Ghostbuster characters for Halloween. It was a somewhat last minute decision but it turned out pretty good. Best part: I only spent $4 between the costumes!!

Taft's Proton pack. I had fun making this and felt like a pulled a "Kathleen" on this project. My mom was always coming through on projects for us as kids.

Just because I could eat him. 

Taft had his first season of soccer this year. It started out a little rough. He was not happy that he wasn't the fastest on the team. We had lots of talks about good sportsmanship and he's been doing great. He doesn't really have "the eye of the tiger" as my dad would say, but he has fun. A little too much fun. As in Taft's every day life, he likes to chat it up on the field. It distracts his teammates and opponents. Last Saturday's game involved yelling from several parents on the sidelines: "Taft and James! STOP. TALKING!" It's kind of hilarious.  As you'll see in the video, Taft doesn't have a sense of urgency for the game.

Last but not least, Taft had his first primary program last Sunday. I didn't think it was approved to film in the chapel so I took some video before church began of Taft saying his part. And then Luke trying to say Taft's part.

Summer Highlights

These are just random pictures from summer and a lot of repeats from my Instagram. 

Some of our fave friends, Ryan and Becca Christensen, moved about an hour north of us several months ago. We went up a couple of times during the summer and took advantage of their neighborhood pool. 

At a birthday party at the park this summer Taft took it upon himself to move all the trash cans to one location and lined them up in a pattern. Guess he thought the party was lame.

La Jolla  " Children's Pool".  Note Luke's Flinstone feet.

My mom had work in LA for a couple of days, so she drove down to spend her Sunday with us. 

A visit to Dad at work. Aren't they all so handsome?

4th of July Parade on Orange Ave. Our ward reserves a spot for the parade and usually do a breakfast. Unfortunately the last 2 years have been hamburgers and hot dogs at 9 a.m. It's the worst. 

Colie and Jed spent the 4th with us. We loved having them!

The best babysitters/kid entertainers of all time.

A lot of our summer was spent here because, duh.

The Hayes family came from LA to watch fireworks over the bay. Our boys have a great time together.

Pre-bedtime stroll.

Taft took tennis lessons this summer. It was adorable.

While Lukie patiently waits to get bigger to try new things too.

Celebrated Seth's 34th birthday. I don't remember what we did at all, but I most likely made his fave, Tres Leches. 

Oh yeah, I did make that cake and we took it to the Sunday concert in the park to share with friends.

Cabrillo National Monument "Huggy Hug"

Took Taft to buy running shoes and he did a great job testing them out and stretching in them.

Luke had his first real cleaning this summer and I was shocked, SHOCKED, that he was cool with it. Taft had his first set of x-rays done and no cavities! 

Our Disneyland passes were valid again at the very end of summer. Just in time to meet up while our  friends, the VandenAkkers (used to live in Coronado but live in Utah again) were there for their last summer hurrah.

These dudes like mustaches.