Ch-Ch-Chamonix!

We spent our February holiday skiing in Chamonix, France (Feb. 13th -21st, 2009).

After eating our delivery of New York Pizza (which was nothing like the real deal) and Tony wrapped up his evening meeting, we all piled into the car and set off for Germany. We left at 6:15 and arrived at our German hotel just past midnight. It was quite a hairy ride through Germany, as it looked like we were traveling through the Twilight Zone......the snow was dumping and the Autobahn was impossible to see. The boys slept the entire way there, so they had quite a bit of energy to burn at our midnight arrival. Nothing a cartoon or two didn't cure!

We had the car unpacked and the boys ready for bed in no time. We actually had time to hit up the hotel bar twice before it closed at 1am. We enjoyed wine and beer in our family suite while watching German TV.

After a great breakfast in the hotel, we set out for the second half our journey....another 6 hours in the car before we arrived in Chamonix, France. We passed by Lake Geneva and through the amazing Alps. The most striking part of the drive, and maybe the most unbelievable ever, came in the last hour. After bending around Lake Geneva and crossing the French border, we began a 40 minute ascent & decent over a 2-lane mountain road. Even with the temperature dropping nearly 10C during the climb, it wasn't enough to curb Tony's sweaty palms. In typical European fashion, safety was in the hands of the beholder. Guard rails were virtually non-existent. Though making for an unobstructed view off the shear cliff, this didn't make for the most relaxing drive.

We pulled into our chalet at 6:15pm. After getting the low down on the town and the chalet from the property manager, we set out to get our usual basics from the nearest grocery store....milk, cheese, booze, beer, wine, and snacks.

Sunday was our final "free" day, as we would be busy the rest of the week skiing and snowboarding. We spent the day walking around downtown and enjoying the local cuisine of French onion soup and cheese fondue. As the outside temperature kept dropping, we kept our body temps rising by refueling with beer and hot chocolate. Late in the afternoon, we all put our bathing suits on (it's important to note here that we put on board shorts and a bikini). We entered the indoor swimming pool, paid our fees, and headed down to the locker rooms. While leaving the front area, Stacie noticed something interesting out of the corner of her eye....a sign that had a picture board short with a line through them, and a picture of a man wearing Speedos with a thumbs-up sign. She immediately started cracking up because she couldn't wait to see Tony's reaction when she broke the news to him. "No way" was his reaction. We decided that we were not going to rent Speedos for Tony and the boys (which was actually an option they had for us), so we got a refund and went back home. We had plans to return to the pool just to take a picture of the sign, but never found the time. Tony did tell Stacie that he would've rented a pair for himself because he has no shame, but we were NOT going to stick our boys in those briefs!

Monday morning started early with a hearty breakfast. After the 4 of us got bundled up in our ski apparel, we drove to the Panda Club, where the boys would spend every day taking ski lessons.

After getting the boys situated at their lessons, we headed over to the gondola to head up the mountain. The mountain turned out to be a bit of a challenge for Stacie who preferred sliding the whole way down on her ass to skiing down!

We had booked a babysitter for Monday night weeks before our trip so we could enjoy an adult only dinner! The sitter was scheduled to arrive at our chalet at 7pm. As the minutes ticked away, we realized we weren't dealing with a Dutch babysitter. At 7:45 Tony phoned the sitter to see where she might be. Turns out.....she had forgotten. Strike #1. We're sure most people we know would agree that for 20 euros and hour, we wouldn't have forgotten! She finally arrived at 8:15 (thank goodness we hadn't made reservations). We had kept the boys up so they could play a bit with her before we realized she was going to be so late. So, of course, they were still awake when she got there. We introduced them to her, and she quickly realized that she knew them from the Panda Club. She told them that they better go to sleep or else she was going to be mean to them at their skiing lessons the next day. Not the most brilliant thing to tell children. Strike #2. We let her know what time we would be back...midnight.....we know, we know, we're old, but we were exhausted from the travelling and the first day of hitting the slopes. She said, "Oh, I'm so tired too. I had to deal with 170 kids skiing today. Don't worry, I will probably be asleep before the boys are". Okay, need I say it? Strike #3. We got out of there so we could get back quicker!

We walked around downtown in what seemed like circles, until we found the restaurant we were looking for....Casa Valerio. We sat at the bar for dinner, as the restaurant was extremely tiny and crowded. We were surprised we actually got in without any reservations. The bartender was fantastic and directed us toward one of the most delicious Italian wines we have ever tasted. Tony enjoyed his Osso Buco and Stacie enjoyed her Saltimboca. We had a great time and were bummed when we had to leave the restaurant to walk back home in the -20C weather.

We arrived home 45 minutes early to, yep, you guessed it, find the babysitter asleep on the couch. And this 22 year old English chick was really scheduled to return on Thursday evening? Yikes.

Tuesday turned out to be a repeat of Monday: up early for breakfast, skiing, snowboarding, and eating! We bought a sled so that we could have a "snow stroller" to tote the boys to town with. Avery has decided that his "batteries run out" after the first 3 minutes of every outing. Carrying him more than 2 or 3 blocks was no longer an option due to extra 10 lbs. of snow gear he was donning. Bryan joined up with us around midnight at our chalet. He would be spending the rest of the week enjoying France with us.

We decided to take the day off on Wednesday. We took the boys sledding with their new sled. Stacie decided that sledding was her favorite snow sport and had more fun than the rest of the family! Carter and Avery had more fun rolling down the snow hill that sledding down it. After sledding, the boys enjoyed a ride on the chariot (sled) while munching on granola bars. We purchased some Chamonix art to beef up (or see "start") our collection on Tuesday as well.

After getting back to the chalet, we let the kids take a bit of a nap. During the rest, we went out behind the chalet and put together the "frosty-foundation". Once awake, Carter and Avery grabbed the carrot in the fridge, rounded up some scraps from outside and brought Frosty to life. The strangest thing about this unique frosty came to our attention the next morning. It is almost as if he was a bit full, as we found a pile of steamy poo sitting right behind his bum when we went to look at him the next day. (Not sure if it was some sick adult trick from the night before, if some animal just happened to relieve near the snowman or if Frosty really did come to life and let out his dinner?)

Thursday found the kids back at the Panda Club, Stacie on the flattest bunny slope ever made, and Tony and Bryan on the extreme Alps range. However, after dropping the boys off at their lessons, we decided that we needed to thaw out before we hit the slopes. Bryan ordered a cappuccino, while Mr. & Mrs. Q opted for hottie totties....French coffees! After the slope-shredding was complete, we ended the day with another slow lunch at the restraunt closest to the Panda Club.

That night was round #2 with our English baby-sitting friend. She arrived on time (after verbally highlighting that she would earlier in the day) which allowed the three adults to partake in some village fun. We found a small restaurant online that had a great menu at a very reasonable price. Though good in taste, the food lasted with all of us a little past the dinner hour. Coincidentally, Stacie started to feel a bit sick right around dinner, as well, both Bryan & Tony got all of the same symptoms (minus the throwing up) that were experienced from the "Austrian Chicken" just one year prior.

Friday found Stacie relaxing in the Chalet with Avery while Carter set off for his last day of the Panda Club & the big boys headed over to the Brevent peak to check out some new slopes. Carter ended the day with a "Panda level 3" diploma, and Tony came back with some memories of the most fantastic views ever.

We all ended that night at the Chamonix Micro Brewery where we loaded up on some burgers & beers with some of Tony's friends from work and their families. After the cold walk back, we played a bit of Jenga, then called it a night. What a great trip!

Hallo D & Double D

So nice to get some good friends passing through town. We have come to get to know a lot of great people, but nothing can top a trip from the Lucas'.

Up until their arrival, we had not yet found a babysitter. Knowing how well the four of us are capable of enjoying the town together, this was the perfect catalyst to go find one. Through a babysitting service, we booked two different girls for the first weekend that Darryl and Marquisha were here. As it turned out, Maaike, who came on the first night, was a smash hit, and we have been using her ever since.

The visit of Q (DD) & Dhawg was filled with some of the usual, but always enjoyable, leisurely biking and walking around the Dam. Upon night fall, the four of us got out for 4 incredible nights of entertainment.

Of course we had to introduce the Lucas' to Quinto's on the first night that they arrived. Having just got off a plane from London (where they spent a week), there was no need to give them time to adjust to the time zone. The dinner and service at Quinto's was how it always is.....fantastic! A few weeks later, our favorite waiter Dave told us that the owner was getting a bit upset with him that night because he wasn't doing anything but hanging out at our table.

One of the other nights out, we decided to venture over to Boom Chicago, an improv comedy club run by(you guessed it) some guys from Chicago. Having just finished off a few late bites of sushi, we arrived a bit late, but it turned out to our advantage (or so we thought). We were seated at the "VIP" table, as the guests who had reserved it did not show up(per the host). Lucky us (again, or so we thought) we got seat middle-center seats. The show was good (American bashing comedy), the beers expensive, and the laughs were hearty! At the intermission, we all took a "break the seal" break. When the 4 of us joined up at the table again, we all got a bit nervous.....except for Tony (who seemed to be in on the joke).


The only table with a table cloth, center piece (that we swore for a few minutes was armed with a mic), and candles, Darryl, Marquisha, and Stacie became paranoid that we were set up by being seated at the "VIP" table and were going to be pulled up on stage to perform some improv of our own! Upon further investigation, we noticed that there were cameras aimed directly at us and we had some repeat customers, pointing and smiling at us. Darryl immediately started placing the blame on Tony, to which Tony had no idea what he was talking about. Darryl assumed that since Tony was making a push for the show ever since their arrival, this was his doing. We did learn that Tony was NOT part of the set-up, but it sure looked that way. As it turns out, we were being "observed". After the intermission, the MC walked directly over to our table and started the embarrassing interrogation. After getting some one liners and personality insights from everyone but Tony (another reason D,Q, & S were convinced Tony was in on it, the actors, dressed as Darryl, Q & Stacie (note, Stacie's actor was a skinny guy) were all up on stage playing out an MTV Sweet 16 improv scene. It was filled with references to Marquisha's Louis Vuitton dream shopping spree, Darryl's monotone answers and Stacie's call out of "Rock Out With My Cock Out" when asked what her favorite saying was.

Darryl & Marquisha.........we had a blast! Thanks for the visit, but damn you! Before you came, we had never ventured to one of the ham & kaas croissants from the bread shop around the corner. Now they are an unhealthy morning staple. We will always give a shout out to you before our drinking escapades......Long Live the B-12!

C'est la vie Ron & Roxanne

Ah, the weekend trip to Paris. I remember talking to Stacie before coming out here saying how nice it would be to head down to Paris or Milan instead of Home Depot & Costco on the weekends. Well this was our first weekend getaway to one of those two locations (though Stacie's 3rd trip so far to Paris in the past year). With only a couple of weeks remaining on their European adventure & Halloween right upon us, we thought what better place to head to than down to Disneyland & Paris with Ron & Roxanne before they moved back home to the States.

We stretched out the weekend a tad and left for Disneyland early Thursday morning arriving to the Sower's residence around 6:30 am to pick up the better half of our caravan. Following a gentle 5 hour drive down, we made a quick dash to the store for some cheese, wine, beer & waffles of course. Post check-in to our Marriott apartment (highly recommended), we got on to our first of 3 Disney visits for the weekend. The downside of Halloween at Euro Disney....the cold. After only a handful of rides, we made the call to head to dinner, not inspired by hunger growls, but rather at the prospect of curbing the cold shivers and frost bitten toes that had come across everyone. We ended up enjoying the warmth so much that we watched the Lion King dinner show three times!

Prior to calling it a night, Avery wanted to head into Buzz Lightyear. When we saw the line, we decided to just wait until the next day. Then on our way out, a lady offered us some Fast Passes that allowed us to get on the ride only 15 minutes after running into her. What luck! Not necessarily for the ride, but for the sake of avoiding the wrath that Avery would bring upon us after he heard the news of no Buzz for the night! We rode on Buzz (oooh, yeah) and then headed home to our hotel.

The next morning we started out at Hollywood Adventures (think California Adventure). The best part of the day was taking Carter on Crush's Coaster(a Nemo themed ride) with Stacie and Ron, while Avery hung out with Roxanne on the Lightning McQueen tea cups. The roller coaster was similar to Space Mountain, as you were in the dark for part of it, but you were riding in a 4 man pod (turtle shell) that floated around, and spun and dipped. Stacie rode with Carter in the pod and hung onto him for dear life, fretting that he would let out a blood curdling scream at any moment. Though it gave Carter (and his Mommy) a good scare and sea legs, the little guy decided to go again later on in the day!

After heading back to the hotel for some lunch, afternoon refreshers & naps for the kids, we targeted Disney once again, costumes a-blazing, to ring in Halloween. Initially excited, we ended up a bit disappointed as it turned out the park closed at 8pm for a pre-paid shindig. The night did deliver a good laugh, though. Due to the freezing cold weather, we thought it would be best to bundle the boys up under their firemen costumes. The belly laughs came after we looked at Avery and realized he looked just like the kid in The Christmas Story. He was so bundled that he couldn't put his arms down. Needless to say, the kids were not happy campers being so immobile, so the costumes came off!

The next morning, we jumped on the early train bound for Paris. As it was Ron's last chance to take in the sites, we fast tracked many of them on that rainy Saturday afternoon. When the walking and wetness got to all of us, we ducked into a nice Brassiere that worked out just right... great food (pizza --> Rabbit stew), cold beer, reasonable price (Ron was paying) and good service.

On our way back to the hotel, the train happened to stop right by Disneyland, so we headed in for a few more rides (why not, with the season pass, it would be dumb not to go back in).

The next morning, we picked up, packed up and then soaked up the sun's rays that were finally beating downoin the patio in the back over-looking the Disney golf course. We enjoyed the morning for a bit and contemplated staying just one more day. Finally, we hit the road for a lazy Sunday drive home. At our gas-up stop, we decided on a lunch stop in Antwerpen (this would allow Ron to check one more box before commencing his short assignment). Just a bit later, we noticed Ghent on the GPS map and decided it would be good to change the lunch target (as we hadn't been here yet either). Since Ron's mobile was out of juice, we resorted to the "pen on paper stuck to the passenger window while pulling up on the side" trick to let them know the plans had changed. Great call, what a picturesque town! Though we were only there for a few hours, we decided that we needed to add this to the "must-see more of" list.

Thats right, even the fat guys can do it

Last June while Pete & Bonnie were in town, Stacie & I headed over to celebrate our anniversary in London for the weekend. While there, we met up with our friends Bryan and Erica who convinced Tony to meet them in Lisbon at the end of September to run a half marathon. Having never run more than 7.5 miles, the idea seemed like a good one for two reasons, stay in shape over the summer & go see a new town while in the process.

So after a few months of getting ready to run 13.1 miles, the Q'z headed off to Lisbon on the last Friday in September. Unfortunately, Bryan & Erica didn't end up meeting us like they said, but we had a great time anyhow.

Upon arrival to the hotel, we enlisted our regular routine of heading to the grocery store down the road to stock up for the 4 day weekend. When done buying the fruit, Port & variety of treats, we took a few train connections down to the exposition center on the water front to pick up Tony's number & tracking chip.

Stacie was very excited to see all that the water front exposition center had to offer. Coming off the train we walked through a huge indoor mall that not only had almost any store one could ask for, but had a couple of HUGE grocery stores. Note: every time we see a huge grocery store, we get very excited as the stores in Holland pretty much suck (small, minimal variety, etc.) and are clearly the worst in Europe from our point of view. It would turn out that we would spend a lot of time in this area over the span of the 4 day weekend.

That evening we headed down the street to a white clothed local Portuguese restaurant. We ended up eating some great local cuisine at a fairly inexpensive price. In looking back, Lisbon has been the most affordable big city in Europe that we have visited so far (nice dinner for 4 with a couple bottles of wine ~60 euros, cups of coffee ~40 euro cents, etc.).

On our second day, we headed back down to the waterfront area to spend some time at the local aquarium. Before enjoying the aquarium, we stopped at a Brazilian bar-b-que restaurant which in itself was worth a trip to Lisbon. Great views of the ocean & endless cuts of great meat made for a fantastic meal. On our stroll back to the train from the aquarium, the kids played in the wave pool that lined the walking path.

Along comes Sunday morning, Tony has to get up early to head over to the race that starts out on the Vasco de Gama bridge. Leaving the hotel at around 7 am for a 10:30 start, it would be a few hours before the Q'z hooked back up again. The journey from the hotel took Tony back to the waterfront exposition area from where he caught a bus out to the center of the bridge. After standing in the cold wind for about an hour the race kicked off and 1 hour 58 minutes later Tony finished his run through the streets of Lisbon.

Once complete, Tony headed over to get the gift bags and most importantly, the popsicles that they were handing out. Even in the crowd of thousands, Tony spotted Stacie & the boys walking around thanks to the bright green Cal Poly shirt Stacie was proudly displaying. Immediately we ran off to McDonalds to get a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel yet again. The reason for bringing up McDonalds was that this was one of 4 meals at this establishment that the Q'z got to while on the trip. Sometimes going months without eating at the golden arches, we found ourselves stumbling upon this as our only option far too much (arrival to the hotel, mid day snack before the nap on the 2nd day, post run & dinner at the airport on the way out). Luckily, McDonalds in Portugal have the option of the local lager to accompany your meal deal.

Our last dinner in Portugal was at an old convent that had been converted into a beer hall (Cervejaria de Trindade). We had a great dinner and got a chance to take the train into a new part of town. Since the hills are so high, we ended up taking escalators up and out of the subway for at least 10 minutes.

Our last morning took us into the down town area of Baixa. The most memorable part of the downtown was the mosaic layout of the streets. Very pretty and at times somewhat psychedelic.

In general, the town reminded us of San Francisco. Lisbon has a very hilly layout, it is sitting right on the ocean with two bridges, one of which looks just like the Golden Gate. With all of the beautiful sites, good prices and welcoming locals, Lisbon and Portugal would definitely warrant a longer trip sometime in the future.

Ending the summer just right

The end started with our first visit from Gigi & Rooster shortly followed by our first family cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean. The only bummer of this trip was that Tony had to fly out to the US the very next morning after getting back from the cruise.

With just a couple of weeks left in the summer Gigi & Rooster arrived looking for some Dutch sunshine, but I don't think they found much. The day after they flew in, we decided to go visit Alkmaar. Famous for their Friday morning cheese market, we thought it would be a great town to go visit as none of us had seen it yet. We were right about the town, the market itself was a bit disappointing, but the town itself was quaint and very pleasant to walk around. The cheese market on the other hand was a bit of a let down, their were too many people, so you can't really see anything and even when on our tippy toes, we realized we weren't missing much. Lucky for us there was a poffertje stand right where we were trying to get a look so we all shared a plate of mini Dutch pancakes with powdered sugar.

After Alkmaar, we spent the weekend absorbing Amsterdam with Gigi & Rooster in a very local fashion. On Saturday morning, Gigi & Rooster headed up to the bike rental shop to pick up a couple of bikes (we tried to convince them to get the tandum, but Rooster wouldn't go for it). After getting the bikes, we all headed up to the Noordermarkt (farmers market in the Jordaan open on Saturday's). Getting their was an adventure in itself as Gigi & Rooster had to figure out how to maneuver throughout the center of Amsterdam on the bikes (a notably brave excursion for some bike rookies). After the bike ride, we went home to let the boys take a nap then it was off to Sebastians house (another bike ride up into the Jordaan).

Sebastian, Tony's friend from work, lives on a houseboat up in the Center of Amsterdam. We really can't thank him enough as he invited the whole family over to his house from where we got on his little boat ("Wuzi Wuzi") to get a local guided tour of Amsterdam. We really lucked out on the weather that day. The combination of the sun shining the whole 4 hours we were on the canal, some champagne, snacks, family, friends (Sebastian, his fiance Fabiola & Bryan) and Amsterdam from a very unique viewpoint, it all made for a perfect afternoon. After touring nearly every canal route in Amsterdam, yes, Red Light District included, Carter got the opportunity to drive Sebastian's boat for the last 20 minutes. Yeah, he was pretty proud of himself. After a long day, Sunday required a bit of relaxing & bar-b-que to get rid of the sore muscles from all of that bike riding the day before.

The next week Tony had to head back to work after which on Thursday, Gigi drove us down to Rotterdam so we could hop on a plane to Rome. While we headed off on our cruise, Gigi & Rooster drove down to Metz to visit Sandra and her family for some authentic French relaxation.

Upon arriving at our hotel in Rome, we headed over to the nearest grocery store to stock our room up with the bare essentials. From there we took the hotel shuttle down to the area near the Spanish steps. After absorbing some people watching and the sights of the area, we boarded the subway to take a gander at the Roman Coliseum & the Forum. Simply amazing when you consider how old all of this is, imagine what went on in these areas some 2000+ years ago (wars, the creation of democracy, gladiators, etc.) then you throw on top of that the sheer size of these structures, no disappointments here.

Our second day brought us on a tour to Vatican City. We usually don't sign up for tours and probably never will again. We were told that it was a good idea to avoid the lines, but its just not as fun going at someone else pace. We made it to the Vatican museum & Sistine Chapel but unfortunately we weren't allowed into St Peters Cathedral. They claimed Stacie's dress was too short, after we intentionally got dressed up the pull this off, what?? The most horrendous part was that as we were waiting for the group to come back we observed various crowds of mid-westerners sporting some fancy cut-off jean shorts with matching wife beaters coming out of the cathedral, what a joke!

Rome is not to be missed, with expectations somewhere at a midpoint due to it being potentially over hyped, we left our short stay with a collective nod that this has to be one of the greatest towns of all. We had our greatest Italian eating experiences to date; from our local eatery full of sausages & great pastas to a hot stroll around supplemented by some of the finest gelato the world has to offer. We were pleasantly surprised by how Rome lived up to its huge expectations from all angles.

Just 3 days after arriving in Rome, we had to say good bye and head off to our boat. If anyone ever encourages you to arrange transportation from Rome to the port of Civitavecchia... DON'T! It's really quite simple, an 90 minute train into the port town, ~10 minute walk, 5 minute shuttle from the port entrance and you make it there for ~10 Euros per person. The arranged travel would have been at least $300.

As soon as we dropped our luggage, we headed up to the room, put on the trunks & g-strings, the headed to the pool-side bar for some Pina Colada's & Apple Juices. Our bartender told us he was bummed because this cruise was typically full of Italians. Inquiring as to why, he said they don't like to have fun and are all rude. Initially surprised, we came to find him spot on. We had countless experiences that pushed me to the brink of changing our last name. In the end, it made for some good entertainment, for an example, see the below:

1. The table behind us at dinner complained about all of their dishes to the waitstaff each night which created tension in a room that should have been overly enjoyable. The worst part was on one of the last nights, it got to the point where the mother at the table had the head waiter standing over her pealing a plate full of shrimps.
2. The great thing about the lack of fun was that it made for a short line at the bar. From sun up til sun down, the sun decks were lined with Italians soaking up the 100 degree rays all looking like the grandma from "There something about Mary" by the end of the cruise. I swear, it looked like a cancer production line.
3. Common courtesy, oh hell no. Maybe we are a bit off mark, but usually, in all places around the world, you allow people to get off of elevators & buses before trying to enter. The Italians have a different perspective. To highlight how bad it was, on our last night, we were waiting to go down to our room when the elevator opened up and we saw that the same girl in the wheel chair was still in the same elevator that we had just seen pass us. We had to ask why and she noted that they wouldn't let her off, how horrible is that??

Once all of the ice in the apple juices was gone, we took a quick tour of the boat and found the kids club. This could be one of the best concepts ever. Once in there the next day, Carter never wanted to leave. We went on 3 excursions and he stayed on the boat the whole time. Beyond the kids club, we got familiar with the spa, the fitness center, climbing wall, mini-golf course, arcade and the other 1000 things to do, this was going to be fun.

We were out on the boat for a complete day and didn't dock until our second morning at sea. Our first port was Messina and we actually ended up just dropping the kids off at the club, going for a nice workout, then enjoying some Pina Coladas off of our balcony. We had a nice view of Sicily, so even though we didn't physically step foot on Tony's homeland, we enjoyed it all just fine.

A day after Messina, the boat arrived in Athens, Greece. Athens is really great for a day trip, but we wouldn't recommend more than that. We took a 12 euro taxi from the port to the bottom of the Parthenon. Though posted at 12 euro's, our driver tried to charge us 40 from which Tony quickly negotiated back to 12. After that, the driver offered a full day of guided tours in his taxi for only 200 euros. We denied that and were glad when we found out that it was only a 10 minute walk to the shopping area of Placa, which he quoted as at least an hour. After soaking up the Acropolis, we walked down to the Placa, did a bit of window shopping then enjoyed a slow Greek lunch with Avery (yes, Carter was back on the boat the whole time). On our way back, we walked to the right of the port instead of the left, that little mistake costed us an extra hour of hiking in the hot sun that caused us to nearly miss the boat. The good part, we burned an extra 1000 calories which allowed us to enjoy the evening meals and drinks.

From Athens, our cruise took us over to Ephesus, Turkey, our hands down favorite stop. We ended up getting a private tour here with our own tour guide & seperate driver. They were recommended by a friend of ours and turned out really good. We went to see the house of the Virgin Mary followed by the town of Ephesus (one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world). Ephesus is essentially a town of ruins from an old Roman settlement which has slowly been uncovered by archeologist (including Indy) over the past 50 or so years. Unlike Rome (where all of the notables are surrounded by buildings built in the last 100 years), Ephesus stands alone stuck in time. As you walk through it, you can really imagine what it was like to live 2000 years ago. At the conclusion of the town walk, we headed over to a museum then finished off the day with another slow lunch (yes, without Carter, he again was back on the boat) in an old train yard. On the way back to the boat, we stopped by a Turkish rug merchant and picked up an original (If you come by, please don't spill wine on it).

Our last port before heading back to Civitavecchia was in Crete, Greece. You know, the Greek islands were the original inspiration for this trip. We had been planning to get a villa with some friends but the timing couldn't be coordinated so we opted for the next best thing, a Mediterranean cruise! Unfortunately, Crete was a big disappointment. It was far from a quaint island village and more of a bustling, smoggy big city. We were only here for a few hours, so, though not the highlight of our trip, we now know which island not to spend a week on if we go to get a villa some other time.

With only one day at sea and a couple of nights left, we ended the cruise in style, enjoying all it had to offer. Our last day was spent lounging around the pool, getting one last burger at Johnny Rockets then heading over to watch the Ice show with some friends we met (Hananah, Ahmed & their boy) from Dubai (originally from Washington DC) that we spent some time with on the boat. We took the kids to dinner that night and handed out the tips to our wait staff after which we brought the kids back to the room to hang out with the babysitter. Stacie and I went to go catch a variety show after which we made our rounds to the many themes bars before finishing the night off on the boats promenade. We had a great time chatting it up with some of the crew as they were trying to push some goods, we took advantage by leveraging the free Sangria they had at their table.

On our last day, we woke up, got breakfast, checked out then made our way back to Rome. We got a chance to spend a full day in Rome as our flight didn't leave until 8:30 pm. After finally getting to bed around midnight, it was up and out the door first thing the next Monday. Unfortunately the plane connecting from Amsterdam took off late so Gigi & Tony got stuck in Frankfurt for a night, not the best way end a vacation!

What a Freak!!

Say it aint so.... So we are at dinner in Maastricht on Saturday evening (August the 3rd that is) pondering the kids portion of the menu. As I look to the waiter to confirm the obvious, I'm clearly noted that my assumption is wrong. More on that later...

In an attempt to check off yet another fantastic city that we haven't yet visited on our 2 year Euro tour, we decided to head down to Maastricht for a weekend trip. To our luck, we were able to not only visit Maastricht, but also Vaals and Valkenburg in and out of town.

Arriving to just about the most south eastern part of Holland around 11 am on a sunny Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised that the BMW navigation system was leading us through the hills of Holland. Yes, hills! A key enabler of all of the bikes in Holland is the lack of any inclines, anywhere! To be driving through some hills and all of a sudden get slapped in the face with a view was quite a nice treat. The reason we were driving up here was to visit Vaals which is a town in Holland that borders Germany & Belgium and has a point that you can physically walk around all three borders.

After enjoying a light lunch and some playground time in Vaals, we headed into Maastricht to check into our hotel and visit the city that so many had told us we would enjoy. We dropped our bags and loaded the double stroller up for a cruise around the most posh town in Holland. The architecture was great and the stores were all nice, but the most pleasant surprise of all....they had a burrito joint. Though we didn't get a chance to dive into a local carne asada super burrito this time due to lack of seating, we left it as a great excuse to come back.

Knowing that a burrito would kill any chance of dinner, we headed back to the hotel to snack on some apple slices and sip some wine. When everyone was done relaxing, it was time to go find a restaurant. The only difficult decision was which of the many outdoor cafes to eat at, though we fought through it and settled on one in the town square. A few minutes into the menu research, we decided to ask the waiter a few questions.

A slight inquiry to confirm that the menu item "Frikhandel" was the Dutch version of a hot dog was unfortunately not confirmed. This raisin skinned, hot dog shaped, piece of mince meat that we had fed to our children several times in the past, turned out to be slightly different than a good ole American dog. The waiter said that the "Frikhandel" was actually deep fried minced horse meat, ewe! Needless to say, we ordered the chicken for the boys and have since steered clear of the ground up Mr. Ed.

One of the nicest parts of the trip had to be the leisurely stroll back to the hotel from the center of town. The streets were quiet and lit up nicely and the moon was shining brightly off of the river running through town.

The next morning, we got up and enjoyed a lazy walk around Maastricht before checking out. On our way home, we stopped in the town of Valkenburg in the hills not too far outside of Maastricht. There are caves here in the hills that you can hike, bike, ATV or train through. We opted for the train tour from which we got to view some very cool wall paintings and carvings dating back many hundreds of years.

It's not all about Vacation

The summer, though a bit rainy at times, has been pretty nice out this way. Though we had initially planned to make a family voyage back to the States, we ran into a bit of a snag with Avery's tonsils & adenoids.

Worried that the terrible two's would run far into Avery's teen years, Stacie started poking around the internet after we noticed Avery's funky sleeping patterns (chest nearly touching his spine on each inhale, snoring louder than his Papa & Uncle Daren, random bed positioning, not breathing for seconds at a time, etc.), she diagnosed what the doctors would eventually confirm, sleep apnea. The only way to get around this is to have his tonsils removed as well as his adenoids, which aren't supposed to be visible, but are hanging down visibly into his throat. Though a bit apprehensive to venture on a minor surgery in a foreign country, we have had great luck with the specialists that we have met with and are very comfortable with the hospital facilities that we visited over the past few weeks. The little Ace is scheduled to go in on Monday, August the 4th, and all signs point to him being a new kid after it's all said and done. We will only have to bear through a few days of a sore throat that we plan to smooth with loads of ice cream and popsicles.

Onto the other little rascal... At first, we thought the only thing he was going to get out of this place was a damn British accent. It has come to be that Carter has learned more in the past year than we could have expected and has made some great friends along the way. The approach that the British School of Amsterdam takes in teaching is different than the "American Way" or "KC's way". Carter had been learning a lot from KC at his old day care, so our expectations were quite high. At first, we were a bit skeptical, but looking in the rears, we couldn't be happier. Not only is he picking up a lot, but he can't get enough of it. Only in school for 4 hours a day, he was constantly asking us if we would sign him up for a full day like the rest of his friends. He is totally excited about moving onto Reception (US pre-K equivilent) next year as Avery will also be starting back in the same Nursery class that Carter was in this past year. Oh, and, whew, that accent of his.......it's gone!

As we finally got some great weather this past week, we took advantage of it by heading over to the Sower's house for a good ole fashion Bar-B-Que, and boy, was it tasty. As Stacie was enjoying their wine, and they were sipping on our "dog shit" blend (a funny-had-to-be-there story), the girls got the idea to head down to Paris for the weekend. So off they went early Saturday morning to spend a couple of nights along with all of the other Tour-De-France fans.

With Stacie gone, it was just the boys to hold the house down. This was my first weekend alone with them since we had moved out here, and we couldn't have had more fun. After some pancakes on Saturday morning, we picked up Ron and headed out for a day at the beach in Bloemendaal (yes, it is topless). With some beach chairs, sand toys, sandwiches, Capri-suns, Heinekens & beautiful weather, we couldn't had hoped for a better day.

Thinking ahead to Sunday, I gave the boys a heads up that I wanted to take them to see Kung Fu Panda (their first theater experience). Oh, how this has resulted in some funny out-takes leading into the trip and more so after the theater. Over breakfast on Sunday morning Carter offered to Avery the following: "I'm a better ninja than you, and mommy and daddy and you are last on the ninja list".

After filling the morning up with some grocery shopping on the Power Wagon and a trip to Praxis (Dutch Home Depot), we ate some lunch and headed out for an afternoon matinée. The kids were excited about the Kung Fu Panda popcorn and "Gatorade Water" that they got to snack on during the flick and Dad was even more excited that you could buy a big bottle of Grolsch. Boy, were they good (both the boys and the beer)! The only sound out of the boys was the following:

(During the pre-movie commercials): "Daddy, I need to go poop", said Avery.
(Throughout the movie): Whispers from both of the boys asking for more popcorn.

After getting off the tram when the movie was out, we had about a block to walk back to our house. The short walk was filled with Kung Fu practice moves by both boys and some accompanying commentary....

Carter: "I learned more kung fu moves than you, so I'm a better ninja"
Avery: "I'm the blue tiger and you are the green tiger"
Carter: "No, I'm the blue tiger and you are the green tiger"
Avery: "Hi-yah" (Kung Fu sound bite from Avery)

Though I have to say, the funniest of them all came when I went to pick them up at creche (Dutch day care inside of the gym) after my workout. After silently observing both of the boys applying their new martial arts techniques on each other, I asked if they ate their snack. To this Carter replied, "No, we ate Kung-Food". (The lady whom worked there said Carter came up with this new term on his own).

So, for next weekend, I think we will have to head out to some noodle soup for lunch to keep my little ninjas sharp.