Iceland is coooool (part 1)

Last week we went to Iceland- which is one of Rob's favorite places in the world. I was so excited to finally go to this amazing place with him! I'm going to attempt to be brief and just share a few of my favorite photos and give you a general idea of what our trip was like....

Our first stop was to Reykjavik. We spent our first night in the City Hostel... which was not the best hostel I've ever been in, but we had a family room with private bath, and it worked out just fine. There is this cool Viking ship sculpture near the bay. We also saw the cathedral and went up in the tower to look all around.

This is the cabin that we stayed at in southern Iceland. It was very nice down by the river, and we even saw the Northern Lights the last night that we were there.

Don't try this at home. You are not supposed to stick your hands in the geothermal pools near the geysir. It's hot. (Just ask Rob.)

They have a lot of rocks in Iceland. Rocks and water. And volcanoes. And glaciers.

And waterfalls. We love waterfalls.

This waterfall is called Gulfoss and is awesome.

Rainbow over Gulfoss. Notice that there are no "safety precautions" to keep you from falling down the waterfall. We were very, very careful with the kiddos here.

Playing tag in the continental rift. This valley is the division between the North American and European continental plates. It's also a significant place for Icelanders because their first Parliament was organized there around 900 or so.

If you look closely at the rock in the foreground, you'll see a red door painted on it. This is for Trolls. Charlotte loved looking for these Troll houses out her window as we drove all over the countryside.


Seljalandsfoss.
This is a cool waterfall because you can hike behind it.

Charlotte and Rob hiked behind it. And then I went by myself, it was a bit slippery and too dangerous for Toby we thought.

Well kiddos.... more to come soon. ;)

Vier Jahre alt

Charlotte turned four yesterday around 9:30 pm. :)

At four years old, she is as energetic, wild, and fun-loving as ever!

She can write all of the upper-case letters of the alphabet and knows them by their sounds. She is also able to count to 20 in English and German. Going to Kindergarten has been a really positive experience for Charlotte. She has made some new friends, has learned how to cope with people not understanding her (a new thing for our loquacious little one,) loves the social interaction every morning, and just generally is more cooperative when she is at home.

Right now her favorites (per our chit-chat) are...

Color: white (the color of polar bears and vanilla ice cream)

Food: cheese tortellini

Vegetable: green beans

Treat: ice cream

Movie: Gummi Bears (the old school cartoon we watch on Youtube)

School activity: lunchtime with her friends

Best friend: Cousin Leah

Some of OUR favorite things about Charlotte are her incredible imagination and dramatic personality, her excitement about travel and meeting new people, when she is kind and loving with Toby (this doesn't happen all the time but usually,) and how she wants to be "just like Daddy" (she may look like me, but they are two peas in a pod!)

Happy birthday Bubba!

Let's Party!

Over the weekend we celebrated Charlotte's FOURTH birthday with some of our friends at Halli Galli Kinderwelt.

Charlotte got to pick out a cake at the Commissary, (which she has been wanting to do for 2 years,) and I put some My Little Ponies on it.

Dinner time! Pizza, chicken nuggets, and french fries, oh my!!

Do you think Charlotte's having a good time being the center of attention or what?

The kiddos also spent a lot of time playing.

Toby, of course, located the Legos.

Here comes Cameron!

A little sensory overload for the adorable Miss Kate,

but she found some fun stuff to do too.

Girls in the ball pit- Sarah Jane, Ella, and Aubrey.

Oh man, this was a serious party!

Charlotte was so completely overjoyed the entire time. Even after tucking her in bed at night, I heard her singing Happy Birthday to herself. She cracks me up. ;)

Charlotte says...

Me: So, what do you think you might like Santa to bring you this year?
C: Um... maybe a new trash can.
M: A new trash can.
C: Yeah, for my room.
M: Okay. What else?
C: Nothin.
M: You don't want any toys or anything?
C: Nope. I have lots of toys already.

family photos

Our dear friend Felicity took some pictures of our family on Saturday in the park... and I am in love with them. :)

Check them out here:

http://felicitymaria.blogspot.com

5 years

To my sweet Rob,

Tomorrow is our 5 year anniversary.

At this time, 5 years ago, we didn't yet know about Hurricane Tammy and how she would crash our wedding. We didn't know how it would rain through our entire honeymoon, or how our first fight would be over a tied game of Scrabble.

We didn't know that in our first 5 years together we would have to bury a parent, give birth to 2 beautiful children, live in 3 different homes, have 5 different cars, and visit 8 different countries (soon to be 9.)

We didn't know all of each other's struggles and challenges, but our relationship has grown, our trust has deepened, and our love has been strengthened by sharing their weight and supporting one another. You know I like to plan, and I struggle with the unexpected, but I cannot deny that God has a bigger plan for us than we have for ourselves.

I am thankful for every day that I get to spend with my best friend. I don't know what the future holds for us, but I do know that we will walk through it together.

I love you with all of my heart. :)

8 Oct 2005

2010

Autumn reverie

I LOVE this time of year! My poor family is being stuffed with pumpkin cookies, apple crisps, and pear breads. I just want to soak in all of the flavors, and scents, and sights of Fall every second of the day...

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

(The paper chain is our countdown to our next adventure, the pumpkins were made by my dear friend Sarah Jo, and the framed quote from my thoughtful MIL.)

"The gilding of the Indian summer mellowed the pastures far and wide.

The russet woods stood ripe to be stripped, but were yet full of leaf.

The purple of heath-bloom, faded but not withered, tinged the hills...

Fieldhead gardens bore the seal of gentle decay; ... its time of

flowers and even of fruit was over."

- Charlotte Bronte

(The view out our guest room window. Oooooh, I just love Charlotte Bronte.)

"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause

between the opposing miseries of summer and winter."

- Carol Bishop Hipps

(Making leaf rubbings in our jammies on a rainy day.)

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!”

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

(Snuggled in to watch Blue's Clues with his buddies. This is Toby's "thinking face.")

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth

seeking the successive autumns."

- George Eliot

(I cut out pumpkins and a variety of black shapes and let the kids go nuts with glue sticks... I was really impressed with the cool faces they made! There is no shortage of imagination in this house.)

HAPPY AUTUMN!!! :)

how old are you anyway?

Okay so we celebrated Toby's birthday forever ago, but he only just turned two a few days ago. So now I am doing Toby's 2 year old update. :)

At 2, Toby is 36 inches tall (85th %) and weighs 31 lbs (80th %.)

In the past few weeks he has REALLY started putting some words together and communicating with us. I hear a lot of "no unt to," and "Toe do it," and "air Guy go?" throughout my day. ('Guy' is his favorite stuffed frog's name.)

Toby and I love having our mornings together, while Charlotte is at school, to go for walks, clean, play, and do puzzles together. He is obsessed with puzzles right now and is shockingly good at them. I mean, we're doing 60 piece puzzles now. I keep at the puzzles with him, because when I don't, he finds other things to take apart and put together again-- like my vacuum and the TV remote. Someone told me this means he'll be an engineer. I think I told them that's only if he survives long enough to do so!

His temperament is still amazingly mellow and easygoing. I love that about him! I also love that Charlotte told me he is one of her best friends, and that he holds my face in his two hands, looks me in the eyes, and says "wub ooo mom" before bed at night. Seriously, someday there is going to be a lucky, lucky girl in my little man's life. I already kinda don't like her. (Just kidding!)

So, happy birthday to my sweet boy. Toby, you are one in a bazillion and we love you. xoxo

Bonus Charlotte story...

Tonight while Charlotte was in the tub I asked her about her day at Kindergarten.

Me: So what happened at school today?

C: I saw a kitten by the fence on the playground and my teacher picked it up and put it on the other side so it could be with its mommy.

M: Wow, that was good that you helped the kitten.

C: I didn't help it, my teacher did. (rolls eyes.) I was holding hands with that boy with the soft hair.

M: You were holding hands with the boy with the soft hair?

C: Yeah.

M: Do you know his name?

C: Nope. He's not my friend.

M: He's not your friend.... but you were holding hands?

C: Yeah, he's nice.

M: (Thinking at least I learned something at the parents' night that was all in German when I met a mom who told me that Oliver liebt 'Charlotta'... Oliver is 6.) Is his name Oliver?

C: Oh yeah. His name's Oliver. Can I paint my nails?

M: Sure, we can paint your nails after your bath. (I realize she changed the subject, but I'm kinda glad about it.)

C: No, I want to paint my nails.

M: Fine. You paint your nails... your highness. ;)

She didn't do half bad.

Our first slumber party

I checked on the kids before I went to bed last night and found this--

Cuddled up together, fast asleep in the corner of the nursery.

(I love that Toby did not forget to tuck in his beloved Lisa too.)

Legoland

This week I took the kids to Legoland, or Diegoland, as Charlotte is calling it. We went 2 days and spent the night in a hotel nearby. It was quite the adventure! The kids both loved it, and I liked that we could go on most of the rides together and have crepes and ice cream. So everybody was happy. ;)

Here are a few highlights...

At Legoland, they have a lot of stuff made out of Legos...

like the entire downtown of Berlin.

And Allianz Arena.

There are over 1 million Legos in this one. Each one of those people is a little Lego guy or gal. So crazy. Somewhere there's a guy who says, "I build enormous stuff out of Legos for a living."

Of course they have a lot of amusement park rides. This was one of the few that I wasn't also on, so it was a lot easier to take a picture. (Yup, you guessed it, those pterodactyls are made of Legos.) They have a few small roller coasters and a log flume, but nothing really extreme.

We watched a magic show and performers from the Chinese National Circus. (I anticipate Charlotte attempting a lot of crazy stretches and balancing acts in the coming days.)

They also have an area called the Duplo village, which is a giant playground for toddlers. We spent a bunch of time there.

Charlotte and Toby hard at work in the "Lego Test Lab."

Now, if you are a Star Wars fan, you may be excited to hear that Legoland has an annual Star Wars event. I did not know this. And my kids have never seen Star Wars. So of course we were there for the event! There were characters all over the park, and the guy who played something Grievous doing a meet and greet. There were lightsaber fighting demos. And I will have the Empirial March in my head for days.

Despite all of this, THESE are the characters my daughter wanted a picture with.

Oh, heaven help us in 10 years.

If you can't fight 'em, join 'em.

I forced my terrified children into one photo with a couple of the 100 or so stormtroopers marching around.

So, Legoland was a huge hit. :) And we all survived, despite the menacing looks from Darth Vader... or now that I think of it, maybe he was just wondering where I got that crepe. ;)

Let's go to the movies

I'm trying to do something really fun for the kids each week right now. This past week we went to see Toy Story 3 at the movie theater on base. It was Toby's first movie experience... and he was really as good as I could have hoped. Except of course that every time Big Baby came on screen he'd yell "baby! baby!" and when he left the screen Toby would yell "baby go?" If you've seen the movie you'll realize this happened about every 3 minutes for the entire film. But, like I said, it was pretty good. ;)

If you've never gone to a movie on a military base, you might not know that they do things a little bit differently. This particular theater is huge- but it is only one screen, so on any given weekend they show 3 movies at most. An adult ticket costs me $4.50 and the kids are free. Also, before the film, they play the national anthem along with clips of the military doing their thing and everyone stands and/or salutes.

As a non-military person, I find it an interesting contrast to everyday life in the States, where it seems the national anthem is traditionally associated with baseball and little else these days. My opinions on nationalism, the military, and Americana in general are really mixed. I am thankful I was born in the United States. I think we don't appreciate the HUGE blessing that is until we spend some time away from the luxuries and freedoms of home. But I also know other people who are extremely proud of their nationalities, and I don't think we, as a country, need to force ourselves, and our ways of doing things, upon the rest of the world.

Charlotte asked me after the anthem, "What is Army?" Hmmm. I explained that these people she sees on base are soldiers, and as a group they are "the Army." That satisfied her... but it's bigger than that, as I well know. Anyway, sorry to wax philosophical, it's not usually my thing on this blog, but it's really a strange life we are living here sometimes and I felt like sharing my thoughts today.

Toby turns 2!

On Saturday we celebrated Toby's second birthday. We had some friends over for Indian food and birthday cake. (And peach pie... what can I say, I was feeling ambitious in the kitchen.)

Toby loves puppies right now, and especially Blue's Clues. So I made this cake and we played a quick game of Blue's Clues before singing Happy Birthday.

Toby blew out his candles like a pro.

Yum.

"Party people in the house."

Toby just adores Kate and Ella.

Jack attacks the cake...

... and then Toby attacks the cake! ;)

2 year Germiversary

This past weekend we celebrated 2 years in Germany (by going out for Greek food, actually.) As we are looking to the future and questioning where we will be at this time next year, (answer: we have no idea,) a lot of thoughts have come to mind....

"There are canned goods in our cupboard that don't expire until well AFTER we will leave here."

"We are really going to miss the chocolate, and the cheese, and fresh baked bread. Really."

"We are really not going to miss Schnitzel, or chasing down the only waitress in a restaurant to beg for a packet of ketchup."

"Living in a village with a walkable pool, grocery, pharmacy, school, forest, zoo, and playground is amazing, and not a possibility most places in the US-- that are not cities."

"Not to sound like a broken record, but I miss Target, and Panera, and Chik-Fil-A... and this week-- Pizza Pipeline, is that still a place?"

"These past two years we've had a really unique opportunity to travel and experience life as a tight-knit family, without the distractions of outside activities, and social commitments."

"We miss our extended families and dear friends terribly."

"We've made some great new friendships based on these shared experiences."

"It would be soooo nice to not have to drive 45 minutes for a trip to the library."

"We need to figure out where we are going to live all over again."

In short, we are thankful that we have had this opportunity to live in Germany at this point in our lives... but we are getting ready for it to be done. :)

Charlotte and Toby are each other's best friends.

(And the silliest kids I have ever met.)

Family bowling-- Charlotte's celebratory dance.

Toby is a bowling fool-- throwing his hands in the air and saying "YES!" (They totally beat Rob & I-- but they did have bumpers and ramps.)

First day of Kindergarten

Charlotte was a bit nervous this morning on our way out! lol

Charlotte started German Kindergarten today! We walked around the corner to her school and she said she was excited, but she definitely looked nervous. I was also very excited, and a little concerned about how the day would go.

We got to the school and met her teacher, Moni. She took us upstairs and let Charlotte pick out a cubby and put her picture above it. Then she gave Charlotte a necklace with her name on it. She checked our backpack and was impressed that we had everything that had been on the list- mudpants, rainboots, haus-schuhe, photos, etc, etc. Finally, we did something right on the first try! And then it was time for "Mama, sagen auf wiedersehen." And we were ready. Toby and I went home and Charlotte went off to school! :)

About 11:45 am I asked Toby if he was ready to go get Charlotte and he said "YES!" and ran to put his shoes on. (I guess mom is kinda boring, with the laundry and the potty training and all.) We walked over and rang the bell. The door opened and Moni spotted me and brought Charlotte over. And then...

Charlotte burst into tears! Oh. No. My heart just sank. Please don't let this be how this is going to go! When she took a break from sobbing, I asked what was wrong. "Mommy, I don't want to go home! I want to go play outside with my friends!" Hallelujah!!! "Okay Charlotte, we'll stay for 10 more minutes so you can play outside with your friends."

It turns out she had a FANTASTIC first day. She told me her favorite part was when her teacher read them books. Moni told me that she thinks Charlotte is wonderful. Apparently she talked all morning long. (No surprise. Really.) She even learned how to say her colors in German already! She can't wait to go back tomorrow. And neither can I! Kindergarten rocks!!! ;)

I love this place

Check out this video from some BYU film students, parodying the Old Spice ads.

I LOVE the Harold B. Lee Library. I think I spent more time there in college than anywhere else. I majored in family history, and they have a HUGE records collection, where I could do most of my assignments (for some I had to take the hour long bus ride to Salt Lake and the Family History Library.) I also interned in Special Collections. I also worked as a research assistant for Kip Sperry-- which meant more time with my beloved green Filby's Passenger Lists. I also frequently slept on the couches there between classes. And don't even get me started on the Law Library. ;)

Libraries are magical places-- full of information, entertainment options, and usually sponsoring great art and cultural events. And public libraries are open to EVERYONE and rock for entertaining your kids with storytimes, activities, and books on tape (or CD, or even MP3 now.)

If you haven't done so in a while, go check out your local library, I bet you'll be surprised. :)

churchy stuff

Charlotte gave her first talk in Primary today!

Here's a little background for those not familiar with our church meetings... Sunday services run about 3 hours. The first hour everyone is together in the chapel for the Sacrament meeting. Then the kids go to Primary, and then their Sunday School classes by age (12-18 year olds go to Young Men's/Young Women's.) The adults also go to a class called Gospel Doctrine, and then to either Priesthood (Men) or Relief Society (Women.) Toby goes to a Nursery for the last 2 hour block and has snacks, music and playtime, plus a mini-lesson.

This morning before church.

So, Charlotte was asked to prepare a talk for Primary. Obviously, I helped (a lot,) but the idea was hers. Here's what we said (You can probably figure out some of the Charlotte bits):

This is Polar Bear. He is Charlotte's favorite friend. We take him with us when we travel. He helps her feel safe and comfy. His favorite food is vanilla soup. We can be baptized just like Jesus was. And then we can have the Holy Ghost with us, no matter where we travel. He can also help us to feel safe and comforted. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I appreciate that kids are asked, even from 3 years old, to help teach one another gospel principles. I am really impressed when Charlotte shows me she has her own understanding of questions that I sometimes struggle with as an adult. We have also been reading Scripture Stories together for about a month now as a family and we have put Charlotte in charge of reminding us to do that each day. She has really surprised me with her enthusiasm for this responsibility. (I know the ice cream reward that comes once a week when we do it doesn't hurt!) Anyway, I am just happy to see her asking good questions and really trying to understand the answers we give. It's great to have these conversations with her already!

Bonus Toby shot.

We took the front off the crib, so Toby is now able to get in and out without climbing over the top. One night we found he had climbed out of bed and "read" the General Conference issue of the Ensign (that is a semi-annual worldwide church meeting with talks from our Prophet and General Authorities) in this chair in the Nursery and had fallen asleep in the process. (It happens to the best of us!)

not quite what I meant

screaming, upset Toby

Me: "Toby, use your words."

Toby: "Words."