Holly’s Blog

We were blessed to escape on another three day weekend.  This time to check out another of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai.  Daniel found a great rate hotel on the Coconut Coast (east side of the island), and we hopped over.  (Lesson learned:  Open seating is not so much fun when you have a child, a stroller and carseat to gate check, and the airline is unorganized not telling anyone what’s going on with the flight!)

In spite of colds, sore throats and generally fussyness… we all fought back and had a great weekend.  The weather was a bit chilly (for Hawaii!) and so we didn’t spend as much time at the pool as we expected.  On Saturday, we relaxed around the hotel, drove north into Kaapa, and did let Annika play around in the pool.  And Sunday, we explored further north… all the way up to Hanalei Bay.  We stopped to visit a lighthouse, walk on the beach, explore caves, and found a great little cafe to have lunch.  Then on Monday, after checking out of the hotel, we drove to the south side of the island.  We checked out the old sugar mill town, Koloa.  Then headed on to Poipu… known for the gorgeous beaches.  And it did not disappoint.  It was hard to come back and fight the crazy airline ‘game’ again… but we have great memories to look back on.

(Note about the chickens:  We have gotten used to life on Oahu… and the chickens.  They are just wild and everywhere.  Our first night in the house, we were awoken by a rooster crowing at 3:30am right next door.  The neighbor had been feeding them, according to another neighbor… and they were trying to get them to quit feeding the chickens.  We typically see a hen followed by a bunch of chicks running across the street in our neighborhood.  But we quickly learned that on Kauai, the chicken problem is on a whole different level.  They are everywhere… seriously, everywhere.  And in huge numbers.  They have a whole new industry there… “Rooster Eradicators”!

Well, before leaving Ohio, I felt it my duty to introduce my sisters to the great store that is IKEA.  I had been to IKEA many times while living in Washington.  It is an ‘event’ to go, an ‘expereince’ to be had.  So early last Sunday morning we headed out… with a stop at Panera for breakfast first.  (Annika really enjoyed this part, as you can see by the photo!)  We got down to Cincinnati and spent over 4 hours walking around and shopping.  If you haven’t been there, that might sound like a long time… but if you have, you understand!  We found lots of goodies… and squeezed in a quick trip to The Container Store before driving back home.  We were loaded down so much that Kelly’s new garbage can and my outdoor run had to go in between Annika and Ginger in the back seat.  It was over all fun… but we all admitted that we were worn out after it all.

Memorial Day weekend:  Ginger and I made plans to head up to Bowling Green to visit our cousin, Kourtney, and her kids.  Kelly called and asked if she could come too… and we said, “Of course, but you have to sit in the back with the kids!”.  She willingly did.  But learned during the drive up and back that she wasn’t going to get her usual car nap with a munchkin on either side of her.

We all had a great time… Annika and Tyler loved playing with Jake and Joelle.  Kourtney and Jamie have a large yard which the kids wasted no time using as a track for the jeep/4-wheeler.  Annika wasn’t so sure at first when we strapped her in next to Joelle.  In fact, when Joelle pushed on the gas and they took off, Annika looked at me with an expression of “I’m not sure how I feel about this”.  She looked up to see me smiling and then broke out into a huge grin.  Tyler quickly mastered the 4-wheeler and only have to be told a few times to watch where he was driving.  We stood in the middle of the yard and talked and the kids drove circles around us.

Jake and Joelle gave up their rooms for us to sleep in, and bunked up with their mom and dad on a cot and air mattress.  Well, at least Jake slept on the cot.  We realized late in the evening that there wasn’t a pump to inflate the air mattress for Joelle.  And I have to say that I’m pretty proud of my skills in this situation… I got Joelle all excited to “sleep on top of FIVE blankets” on the un-inflated mattress.  She got a big grin on her face and said, “Can I sleep on SIX blankets?”  Why, yes… we found six blankets to lay on top of the flat air mattress and she happily slept there all night!  (Just practicing for when Annika gets older! 

We don’t get to spend much time… all of us together… so we truly treasured these two days!

So… last weekend (yes, still behind in my posts)… was very busy.  Ginger and I drove with Annika and Tyler… a lot… throughout Indiana and Ohio.    We had a race to run on Saturday, an auction to attend on Sunday, and a children’s museum to explore on Monday!

So to summarize:  We loaded up Friday evening and drove Indy.  Unpack and get the kids in bed… then get ready for a early, early go in the morning.  Kelly and Ben annually run in the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon (13.1miles).  It’s the largest in the country… sold out in December with 35,000 entrants.  Wow!  Ginger and I weren’t that ambitious, but were talked into doing the 5k race.  We had grand plans of training… and well, maybe not as much of that happened as we had hoped… but we prepared enough to make a good showing.  The alarm went off at 5am on Saturday morning… Out the door at 6am.  I have never run in a big race like this before and it was quite the experience.

I’ve done two other 5k races in my life.  The first was in college “Run at the Ridges” (those OU types will know the Ridges).  It was just a bunch of college students out for a good time.  The second one I ran was a few years ago on Whidbey Island during Prowler Week.  Didn’t have anyone to run with but made fast friends with Monica on the trail… and as we ran we made the pledge to run and race together every month at the ‘fun runs’.  Well, that was our one appearance at a 5k race.  We still laugh every time we see each other, of our grand plans and no follow through.  (She’d be so proud of my race last weekend!)  The point of all this background is that these were small races.  The one in college maybe had 100 people and the Prowler Run probably had 40 (if that!).  So imagine my shock when we got downtown Indy to see tens of thousands… runners everywhere you looked.  They had corrals for the runners to start in according to their pace… that went from A to W!  It took over 45 minutes for the Mini participants just to get across the start line.  In the 5k race, we had to wait for our start which was based on Mini runners getting out.  That was the worst part, just waiting to run.  But finally Ginger and I were off… with the other 4,000 or so 5k runners.

We ran most all of it… only taking two short walk breaks to catch our breath and drink some water.  We came across the finish line at 38:12… and we were very happy with that time (remember the lack of hard training)… I was happy to beat my ‘trial race’ time too!  We met up with Kelly and Ben and a wonderfully brave Amy who watched Annika, Tyler and her toddler boy while we all ran.  Huge THANKS to her!!!

But no rest of the weary… after the race we headed back to Kelly and Ben’s house to have lunch and pack up again.  The kids got naps and the runners…  maybe caught 20-30 minute snooze.  Not nearly long enough, but good enough to get us going again.  Back in the car and off to northern Ohio… 4.5 hour drive!   Yes, I know it was crazy.  But it always seems that everything that you want to do happens at once.  We were driving up to Clyde, Ohio, to attend the auction my Grandparents household belongings on Sunday.  They have been gone for a while now, but my mom finally got things cleaned up, sorted out, and ready to auction.  And if you had ever seen their over-full house you would realize what a huge, Huge, HUGE job that was.  The auction workers said they usually have three family’s belongings fill the fairground building… but my grandparents belongings filled it up… entirely!   I had never been to an estate auction (just fundraiser ones)… so it was fun to experience.  (Ok, and a bit emotional too.  My cousin, Kourtney, and I had a ‘moment’ as it began.  Just seeing all the stuff from their house laid out… all the memories associated with it… missing them…. we had to step outside to collect ourselves.)  There were two auctioneers working…. one with the furniture and housewares, the other with the box lots (sold a whole box of stuff together) and Poppy’s farm toys.  About 4 hours after they started the building was practically empty and it was all over.  Then off to the infamous “Pizza House” for food – a family favorite!   And… back in the car for the 4.5 hour drive back to Indy.

Ginger had work off on Monday.  So we took advantage of the opportunity to take the kids to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.  It was a long trek back on Sunday evening.. but at least Ginger and I had each other to share the driving.  Late night for the kids again… but we put pjs on at a rest stop for a quick transfer into bed once we arrived.  Monday, as we pulled into the museum parking lot Tyler said, “We’re there already, that was QUICK!”.  Only 20 minutes was short to him after the other long drives.  The museum was not crowded at all and the kids had a blast.  Annika loved the padded toddler maze and the Carousel (cried when she saw it start without her, after we had gotten off).  Tyler loved the sand table and the Indy race car (of course!).

And finally for the last time, we put them in their pj’s and loaded up the car to drive back to Dayton on Monday evening.  Annika and Tyler were great traveling kids… with all that riding, they played well, traded toys and snacks back and forth… and slept surprisingly little for all the car time… but no major meltdowns, so Ginger and I declared it a successful trip! 

So… my last week in Germany flew by.  The kids all got colds – so we went though a lot of kleenex and the ‘mommies’ didn’t sleep though the night for a while with the coughing and sleepless kids.  In spite of being housebound, we still had fun playing with the kids, scrapbooking and watching movies.  We did make it out to visit a castle and had coffee in a central square where a major film crew was working.  And we also had a Ladies Day out… with one of Nicole friends, Nadia, to Tubinger… a close by cute German town with great boutique shopping!  The kids played lots…. and turned into flower children.  Yes, this may be my shortest synopsis, but I’m tired and still working out that jet lag thing.  Speaking of jet lag… Annika did AMAZING on the long, long, long trip home.  I couldn’t have asked for more… she slept, played, snacked, nursed, and bounced on my lap…  yes, though all 20 hours of travel… on trains, planes, buses and automobiles… she was yet again, my SUPER TROOPER.  I’m sure many of you thought I was crazy (and might still think that) for taking a one year old to Europe for five weeks, but I had a wonderful time and am so glad I made the trip.  Yes, I was nervous about it at times… but it was so worth it… to spend time with two close friends and explore new places… all in all a great experience!

We arrived safely in Germany on Monday evening… and were greeted by Nicole at the train station… long hugs for old friends!  Annika behaved so well on the plane and train.  She’s becoming quite the seasoned traveler.  Tuesday brought playtime and a German Hospital visit for Annika.  She had an allergic reaction to peanut butter.  It wasn’t horribly severe but enought to make me worry and want to get her checked out.  After a super dose of medicine to calm everything down she woke up Wednesday morning without any hives.  Sigh of relief from Mommy!!!

Annika is working on a few new skills… using a spoon and coloring with Crayons.  She uses the spoon surprisingly well for someone so little.  Getting as much in her mouth as on herself… which is part of the learning process (and fun!).  As for coloring, Emilie and Tori introduced Annika to crayons in Belgium.  And her first work of art, that they helped her with, was immediatly mailed off to Daddy.  So when the Guenther kids, Aiden and Amelia, got out the crayons Annika was ready.  She pulled a crayon out of the box, turned the pointed side down and started moving it across the paper.  She also discovered that it was as fun to pull the crayons out of the box and put them back in.  She’d get it in the box, pointed side down.  And after one time of me showing her how to then use one finger to push it in… she had the hang of it. 

Kids are so fun to watch as they discover and learn…. enjoy the photos of Annika in the process… as well of some photos her with her new friends in Germany.

So, an update on my last week in Belgium… before I fly off to the second half of my European Adventure.  Tomorrow (Monday, March 23rd), Annika and I fly down to Stuttgart, Germany.  There we’ll be spending two and  half weeks with our friends Nicole and Darren Guenther.  So more posts to come… but for now, the update from here:

Happy Belated St. Patty’s Day to everyone.  Wednesday, Annika and I were sure to wear green so not to be pinched by Emilie and Tori.  I had to get a photo of the three girls in their green… and a funny one too. 

On Thursday, Ed had the day off (and Liz had to work) so he offered to be Annika and my tour guide in Brussels.  We explored the “Grand Place”, beautiful central market area, ate a ‘real’ Belgium Waffles.  They offered them with all kinds of toppings… I got ice cream and chocolate on mine… because what isn’t better with ice cream and chocolate.  Annika passed out in the stroller and neither cobblestones or bouncing up and down curbs woke her up.   But she had a big day, got to eat both a croissant and a waffle.  Treats of traveling.  After finishing in the downtown district, we headed to another part of town to see the site of a World’s Fair (in the 1950′s)… and the famous “Atomium”.  It’s really outer-space-ish looking.  Ed and I agreed that it was straight out of the 50′s space age era. 

Friday, Liz and I headed into Mons again… for the flower market.  We had a bit of trouble finding it… they moved it on Liz.  But in the mean time we found the produce market and the ‘everything else’ market.  Not sure if you’ve seen ones like this, but it seems that every foreign country that I’ve visited has something like this.  It’s where they sell clothes, food, mattresses, toys, bras and panties, small electronics, men’s briefs, blankets, purses, etc.    If you’ve been though one you know exactly what I mean.  (Nothing like buying your underthings out in the open for the rest of town to see.  Just not anything like markets in the States.)  We finally did find the flower market and I helped Liz pick out a selection of bedding plants for her front flower containers.  Then lunch…. I think I ate more mussels that I have ever consumed in my entire life, in one sitting.  You have to see the photos below.  That whole pot was full… the waitress had to empty the top of the shells halfway though because it was full and I had no place to put any more.  It was so delicious, I couldn’t stop eating them… it was insane how many they had in there.  I have never gotten worn out from eating mussels until today.  Annika again held up great – she has been such a ‘super tropper’ though all our days out and about.  The funniest thing is that she ‘waves’ at people going by, and loves to swing her feet in the stroller while bumping over the cobblestones.   

On Saturday, the nearby city of Mons held a Chocolate Festival… and as I have mentioned before on my blog, Belgium is famous for it’s chocolate.  So we went, we sampled and made some purchases.  And it was all good! 

Lastly I included some photos of Annika playing with her new friends.  She really has had fun playing with them and they with her.  (Though we have to remind them that she’s not a doll to move around and such.)  She’s still on the move crawling and ‘cruising’ holding on to things.  Not walking yet, but she’s really starting to balance on her own.  She was ‘dancing’ the other day to music… not holding on and moving up and down on her toes!!!  She loves to say “night, night” at the end of the evening.  She’s using her sign language more and more… the favorites being:  “eat”, “more” and “please”… yes, all in order!  And the word of the day (Sunday) was “socks”.  I got her up from a nap and she has pulled her socks off, and I was talking about that when she started repeating “socks” back to me.  It was so cute, and amazing.  She’s trying out new sounds and mimicking more and more.  But  her belly laugh has to be my favorite, it makes me break out in the biggest smile. 

So with no more stalling… here are the pics!

Liz and I had fun taking photos of ourselves in front of the sights on our Paris Perfect day…

Liz and I headed to Paris for the day on Monday… Oh, yes, of course Annika came along too!  (I don’t know what it is… maybe the fact that her daddy is so far away, but I’m not much into leaving Annika these days.  Where I go, she goes.)

So when I started out, I didn’t plan on writing this much… but here it is.  Read it, skim it, or just look at the photos… I had fun writing it, so either way won’t bother me. 

Paris…. what an amazing day.  I knew when we decided to do a day trip there, we wouldn’t be able to ‘do it all’.  So before even leaving, I let go of the dream to see absolutely  ’everything’.  Even the museums – the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay – that I’d love to someday to spend hours wandering… Monday wasn’t the day for that.  And I have to say, after letting go of the pressure of all that… it was such a nice relaxing day.  We wandered around… took our time eating “European style” (long and lengthy).  Wandered some more, stopped when Annika needed a break.  Found a side street cafe to have an afternoon coffee and pastry… while watching the kids walk home from school.  It couldn’t have been more perfect.  Even the weather, which can be hit and miss in March, was perfect… sunny and warm, about 55/60 degrees.  Perfect for walking around, not too hot and not too cool. 

So a summary of where we did wander.  We started after parking near the Arc de  Triomphe… we wandered past there and on to the Champs Elysees.  Lots of shopping along this famous street, but we found a cafe for lunch instead.  Sitting along the sidewalk eating perhaps the best risotto that I’ve ever had, sipping on a glass of wine, in the company of a good friend, while my daughter munches happily on a banana… it is one of those memories that is ingrained in my mind forever. 

From there we walked the rest of the length of the Champs Elysees… down across the Seine River, along it for a while… back across… through some parks.  Like I mentioned before, just wandering… the day was perfect for it.  We continued on to see the Obelisk and chuckle at tourists.  Yes, we were tourists ourselves, but it’s still fun to just take a step back and people watch sometimes.  We walked on to Liz’s favorite park and stopped for a break and a snack for Annika.  (Still breastfeeding has it’s benefits – anytime, anyplace…it’s available and makes my daughter happy.)  Then we helped some young women take photos of themselves “jumping” in front of the sights.  I guess it’s a new thing to do… get action photos of yourself mid-air in front of the sights.  Liz offered to help after we watched them try numerous times but kept missing the ‘mid-air’ part of it.  Funny enough we bumped into them again further into the park and took another photo of them jumping together in front of the Louvre.  In return they took a photo of us there too… but no jumping, though they tried to talk us into it!   

We headed on… back across the Seine.  Laughed hard when I got out the camera to take a photo of Notre Dame in the distance, and a truck stopped right smack dab in front of me.  Traffic backed up on the bridge and I actually had to move down a bit to get the photo.  Past the Orsay museum, past the government buildings.  Liz used her French to ask the guards why all the security gates were up (one benefit of taking a Canadian who speaks French to Paris with you!).  We discovered that the President of Lebanon was visiting that day.  Funny enough we actually watched him and other important people take off in helicopters from the lawn of one of the government buildings, heading back to the airport to fly home.  It made sense then, seeing flags all over town… they were the Lebanese flags to mark the occasion! 

Then it was time for a cafe break.  And we found the most perfect place to stop… on a side street away from all the other tourists.  (We passed others that were jammed packed with people outside in the sidewalk tables.)  This one was along a street where Parisians lived… just four tables outside… we were the only one out there.  An espresso and chocolate croissant for me, a berry crumble and latte for Liz, and a scone for Annika.  Ok, I’ll be honest the scone was for me too… but I did share and she loved it.  We sat and relaxed… enjoyed our treats… watched the kids walk home from school with their parents or nannies.  So perfectly European. 

From there we had one mission… to get me closer than miles away from the Eiffel Tower.  (Long story short – I’ve been to Paris once before… for an hour.  No kidding.  I had a four hour layover in Paris when I was returning from a mission trip to Africa.  A few of us in the group decided to risk it and head into the city.  It was a hour train ride in, and we popped up from the train station right in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.  So we toured that… wandered along the Seine down to the glass pyramid outside the Louve and then headed back to the train for a hour ride back…. arriving just in time to board our flight back to the States.  So I only saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance that time.  And I wanted to get closer.  That mini-trip is also why we didn’t walk down to Notre Dame too… I’ve been there before.     

The Eiffel Tower was wonderful see… closer and closer we walked and I took more and more photos.  We wanted to go up to the top, but is closed for renovations.  Bummer.  Group decision that it wasn’t worth it to stand in line for 1-2 hours during Annika’s dinner time to only go up to the ‘second’ level (not even half way up).  So instead we headed back towards the car.  Found another cafe on Champs Elysees for dinner… ham and cheese baguettes with french fries.  Perfect end to our day. 

I changed Annika into her pajamas for the drive home, and she proceeded to fall asleep before we even got out of the city.  I couldn’t believe it, because I was ready for crying the whole way home from an overtired girl.  But she just fell right to sleep.  When we finally pulled back into Liz’s driveway and the front porch light shined in on her and woke her up… she lifted her head, waving her hand at us, said “night, night”.  So cute.  

So now finally the photos… Enjoy!