Brugge - August 2010

Brugge is a charming village in the North of Belgium, and we really enjoyed our visit there. We climbed up to the top of the clock tower to see the view, although difficult to see through the wire mesh at the top.

The steep, steep steps!

Belgium chocolate lipstick anyone?

We made it to the top - little kids and all!

Kayla and I next to the canal

We went on a nice little canal boat ride in Brugge. Brugge would like to think that it is the Venice of the north, but since it's not on an impressively sinking island where cars aren't even a possibility, I don't really know how they could think it compares.

Brayden with a chocolate bear - of course we had to buy Belgium chocolate! (I was pretty great.)

The buildings along the canal.

I love the unique stepped roofs.

I believe this is Michaelangelo's "La Pieta" that is in a church in Brugge.

The town square

Allen and I

Hand made lace

Although we've taken our kids a lot of places they did not want to go, we always have a great time together as a family.

Our kids voted to go on a bus tour instead of the buggy ride, and then of course wanted to go for a buggy ride too. Kayla had to settle for a picture with a horse.

This was the view from the window of our hostel - I did like the view, but not the hostel. Our sheets were at least clean since we put them on ourselves, but our bathroom was another story.

Kayla, Brayden and I outside a musuem and town meeting hall.

Kites, Table and Kids - August 2010

Spencer got a kite for his birthday in June(even though Brayden is flying it), and we finally got it out to fly 2 months later.

The kite was one that had to be inflated, and Spencer jumped on it after one of one of it's crash landings, so it lasted about 30 minutes.

We love the carving on this rosewood table and bench. We also have an extra chair to set the table with 6 chairs and no bench.

We really enjoyed trading babysitting with the Roach family. Here's 5 of the 6 kids on one love seat.

Bales of Hay and Burg Ramstein - August 2010

We loved driving around the beautiful German countryside. The sight of these bales of hay were an everyday thing during the summer.

We liked that they were rolled instead of the rectangles of hay we usually see in the U.S. We were really only stopping to take a picture, but Brayden had other ideas.

We were driving around and saw a sign to Burg Ramstein, a little abandoned castle that has the same name as the town and air force base an hour south.

We also realized that we had seen this castle on a train trip from Speicher to Trier when we first moved to the base 3 years earlier.

Luxembourg Butterfly Gardens - August 2010

This picture should have come later in the sequence, but I realized after I added the pictures that there weren't any pictures of me in here.

We dressed everyone in bright colors and went to the hot and humid butterfly garden in Luxembourg.

A cool iguana in the tree above Allen.

It was a cute little tropical room with birds and beautiful plants, bees in a hive, moths and butterflies.

The butterflies loved Brayden

a lot!

There's a butterfly on the bottom of Allen's shirt

Spencer didn't want anything to do with touching butterflies, but Kayla and Brayden loved that they landed on them.

Family - July 2010

When we went to the U.S. last summer, it had been 3 years since we had been back, so we spent about 3 weeks visiting all of our family. We rented a car from Travis AFB and drove to Merced, CA to Salt Lake City, Utah to St. George, UT and then back to California to fly out of Travis AFB again. My dad made this map for me and wrote in all the distances between cities and the total miles we traveled. We drove more than 1700 miles and really enjoyed our trip home and our adventure with free space available military travel.

Sally made a Kayla burrito

Good morning Grandma Margaret. It was great to visit.

Kayla, Sally, Spencer and Brayden with Grandpa Bob

Spencer's fort

Kayla and Grandma Diane

All of us outside my mom's house. It's great to come home!

The flight that we hoped to take from Travis was postponed a day, but luckily my cousin Kristy lives 5 minutes away. We were able to stay with her family, and Kayla will never forget painting a chickens toenails with Kaylee.

I love my cousin Kristy! She is one of the nicest people I know.

We flew home on two different C-17s, so the kids were able to take a tour of the cockpit.

The jumpstyle seating with the pallet loader the plane was transporting. We really loved flying on the military planes. Not only was it free, but if you are tired, you just find a spot on the floor, lay down and go to sleep. (Although that did create a problem when we left Charleston in the middle of the night and woke up to land in Germany at 6pm and weren't tired at all).

Angels Landing - July 2010

I started to post these pictures of our Angels Landing hike last year, but my internet connection was so slow that I just gave up. It was taking me an hour to upload 5 photos, and then 5 wouldn't work anymore and I could only upload 4 at a time. I really enjoyed this hike, as I do most hikes, because it was beautiful and because of the slight risk of danger due to the height and the somewhat narrow, slick sandstone.

Oh what a beautiful morning . . .

So here's the slightly dangerous part. It looks worse than it actually is from this vantage point, but it scared John enough that only tears from Sally allowed her to complete the hike. It even made Allen a little nervous, and he said he would be fine going down, but I didn't want to go down. I loved it!

We made it to the top!

Sally, John and Rich

(I just have to add that Rich bought his hat at the gas station that morning just before we left St. George.)

Super Rob!

Switchbacks!

I don't know if we were looking for shade or exploring.

I love this picture. I think Sally looks like she's glowing like an angel (on the Angel's Landing hike. HaHa!)

This was really a hole that Sally found, but I snuck in there too.

Sally and John

My amazing smiling husband.