After we passed through Munich, Germany we started seeing more snow. We didn't have any snow in Lux or the drive until now. Then soon after we started to see the Alps and snow on those.
By the time we arrived at the hotel it was about 5:30 and everything was dark. It seemed to be a very small cute town and they had a little Christmas market in town with bonfires around it. The chalet looking houses had christmas lights on them and the town looked cute.
We checked in no problem and found a spot in their small parking lot. We were happy us and the car carrier made it! We chose this hotel b/c friends had stayed here in Feb. for the winter break last year and liked it. So we unpacked our load and moved in for the week. It is a small hotel with 132 rooms. We got 2 adjoining rooms on a small wing of the hotel.
Everything was very convenient from the hotel. We did half board so every morning is a big buffet breakfast, more American style then European, and then a big dinner every night and snack time in the afternoon. We were able to buy our lift tickets at the front desk and on Sat. they have someone from the ski school at a desk in the lobby so we bought ski school for the kids all week.
When dinner opened at 6:30 we went and they have a table all set aside for us and this table we stay at all week and eat breakfast and dinner here so that is neat you never have to worry about trying to find a table for all of us. Tonight it was buffet. They had 2 soups, big salad bar, some meat dishes, fish, potatoes, a lot of cold cuts/appetizers for all those Europeans, loaves of break, ice cream station and desserts. We will be eating well this week!
After dinner we walked down to the center of town where we saw the market but it was already closing down. It was mostly just people selling drinks now. So we just walked around it and then back up to the hotel.
Sunday we got up early and got the good breakfast at 7:30. They had 4 types of eggs, french toast, a nice fruit buffet, crepe like pancakes, sausages, a bunch of breads, rolls and the rest of a European breakfast. We went back to our room and got ourselves in all our snow gear!
I had borrowed a friend's snow suit and I loved it! I was toasty but I did look a little bit like a flying Elvis!
Once all bundled up we went down to the basement to the hotel's ski shop and the guy down there got us fitted for skis, boots, poles and Jason didn't have a helmet so he rented that too.
This hotel is great! This is so much better the the places we have been in the states where it is high school kid behind the ski counter just handing you stuff and you see if it fits and mess around with it. Here they took all our measurements and tried on boots and then he helped us get the boots on and fit them to the skis. We were the only ones in his shop so this was great. We then just store our shoes in the ski store room and there is a staircase that goes out to their parking lot and then you walk across the street to the gondola. Here are 2 gondolas that go up, one halfway and the other all the way to the top. So the boys all got on the one that goes to the top, about a 15 min. beautiful ride! Up at the top of the hill is a big flat area and by the big snowman is where the boys meet their ski school every day.
Today it started at 9:30, but every other day was 10am. Today there were 7 kids in their group and the instructor spoke English for my boys. After today the group went down and was around 4 kids, pretty good! So they ski for 3 hours in the morning today and then take the gondola back down and eat with other classes and the instructors at the restaurant by Amber's ski school. Then they go back up and ski for 1 1/2- 2 hours then Jason picked them up at the top of the mountain and they took the gondola back down.
Today Amber got to ski for the very first time! Her skis were so little! So for her classes we walked past the gondolas and then a block over to her ski hill. There were 6 kids in her group all about the same age. For her class they ski for 2 hours, then do lunch at the same place as the boys. It is kind of like a lodge. Then after lunch she skis for 2 more hours, so it is really perfect for her. Then I pick her up at 3pm. She looked so cute and she had fun, but was very tired when I picked her up just today.
After I got Amber settled in school I took the gondola up and met Jason. It was so beautiful up there that I think I spent most of my day taking pictures.
We skied for a bit and then had lunch at one of the couple chalet restaurants on the mountain and skied a bit more and then I left back down on the gondola to pick up Amber and he stayed up there until the boys finished. Their classes have 30 min. different ending times. So we had a good day of skiing but it is definitely harder to ski here then our normal places in MI we are used to. We both fell a few times. The first time I fell I just went too far off the groomed ski hill and into a pile of fresh snow. I stopped and then just completely fell over. Jason skied over next to me and then fell on top of me, thanks for the help honey!
Once I got back down and got Amber we were walking back to the hotel and she started crying and Jason said after he picked the boys up they each started crying about different things as well- oh my!
Here the lifts close at 4pm b/c it gets dark and the mountains aren't lit. So when everyone comes back down the mountain and walks back to the hotel we put our ski stuff in the storage room, it is a good size room to store things and it has heated hooks that you put your boots on, great idea!
From 3-5 the hotel offers snacks as part of your half board package. So Amber and I did that today. Not too much here, kind of random left overs from the night before. So from here we got ready for the pool and headed over there and then the boys met up with us later. It is a good size pool and then a little baby pool.
So from the pool you could see an outdoor hot tub but we couldn't figure out how to get there. So I walked out of the pool area and up to the spa area. Before I opened the door there is a sign there that says "Naked Area must be 18 or over" I open the door, omg, there is an older man standing right in front of the door drying himself off, nothing on to cover any part of himself up. I was like ahh, and closed the door. It just shocked me! So then this woman comes down and I thought I will watch her and then see what she does, and she did the same thing as me, ha! We look at each other and she said something in German, but she opened the door again and we went in. Once we bypassed the naked greeter there are just small rooms around. One has beach loungers on it with kind of like a sun lamp shining on them, and some people were in robes but others were laying there buck naked. Then there were saunas, and maybe showers but you could clearly see in them. There were people just walking around naked and then some sort of tub in the middle of the room and I didn't even want to see what that looked like. I quickly glanced toward the outside wall and think I saw the door to the hot tub but I was so uncomfortable I couldn't stay in there any longer and walked back to the pool area where people were properly covered! Yikes!
After the pool we got cleaned up and dinner started at 6:30. We had to preorder at breakfast which of the 3 main meals we wanted tonight. They still had the salad buffet and breads and raw meats, but otherwise you got your dinner served to you.
After dinner we came back to the room and watched the Charlie Brown Christmas movie that I had downloaded on the Ipad before we left. I love those movies!
Monday was Christmas Eve. We slept in a little later today since we had the routine down now. We got all our layers of clothes on and went to breakfast, a big, good buffet. Then we walked down and got the kid's skis and walked over to where the ski school office is and bought lunch passes for the kids. Then Jason got the boys on the gondola since they meet the ski instructor just across from the gondola at the top of the hill by the big snowman.
Here are pictures of the big snowman.
This tree was light up on Sat. night when we came into town for the Christmas market they had right here and it was so pretty. So these are just sheets of the silky colored paper made into balls and when they shine the light on it they all look like they are lighting up.
Then on our way back we picked at Amber going up this little motorized tow rope and down a little hill.
Then we came back and got our ski gear on and picked up our skis and walked over to the gondola station. It is a big building and we had lunch inside there- this family vacation is great! We drop of the kids in the morning and don't pick them up until the afternoon!
Here is the gondola station.
After we finish eating we walked over to where Amber eats lunch and peaked at her. She was at a table with other kids and the ski instructor and was fine. So we got on the gondola and went skiing for a bit. Here are some pictures from the gondola.
Since they haven't gotten much new snow some of the slopes are getting pretty icy and I feel like I am
just sliding down the hill instead of skiing. We found a few easy slopes to move across the mountain on but the problem was trying to get back to the boys and the gondola in that there are no easy slopes going that way. They are intermediate ones, but these are like what a black diamond would be at home. You have to go to the edge of the mountain to see the hill it is so steep. So we made it back ok with no falls today.
Today it was very warm on top of this one mountain in the sun, 65 degrees Fahrenheit! People were taking layers of clothing off. Then we saw the boys. I left then to go down on the gondola and pick up Amber and Jason went and hung out in one of the chalet restaurants on the hill for awhile until the boys were done.
So when I got Amber she had had a good time and we went back to the hotel and got snacks and then back to the room to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner.
Jason had picked up Jacob a bit early from ski school to let him go down a different mountain with him. Jacob goes 1st and when Jason gets down a bit he sees someones one ski, oh great he is thinking this is probably Jacob's. Sure enough there is a trail of Jacob's skis and poles down part of this mountain!
So it takes Jacob awhile to get himself back together and they get on the chair lift but now they were late picking up Sean. They all took the gondola back down and started getting ready for dinner.
Tonight they had a little program for Christmas Eve. Here in Europe it seems that Christmas Eve is the bigger event. This is when the families get together and have their big dinner and then later in the evening sometimes Santa actually comes to your door delivering presents and then the kids open their presents in the evening. Some German people's tradition is that you don't even put your tree up until Christmas Eve! I couldn't imagine that, especially since mine is up around Thanksgiving time (: and I love it! So at 5pm they had mimosas for us and juice for the kids in this room with tables and glass windows and a nice tree.
So they had a program tonight in one of the conference rooms. They had a 4 person band playing Christmas songs. Then we believe it was the owner of the hotel got up and gave a 15 min. presentation, all in Austrian of course so no idea what he was saying. Their language is similar to German, but we don't know that either! This is a small hotel but big for here and is a family run place.
Then an angel came in and past out a gift to every child in the room. They were big stuffed dogs. That was very kind of them. Amber was excited.
After it ended we had a little time before dinner opened up so we went to the game room for the kids to play for a bit.
Then on to dinner. There was a buffet for the kids and a 5 course meal for the adults! The first thing was a craw fish salad with puree salmon and other things in a mold- it was ok. Then a good soup. Then a pheasant meat over a big type of ravioli with a brown sauce- very good. 4th thing was a piece of grilled veal with a big shrimp on top, vegetables, mashed potatoes and a potato pancake, all good, but didn't care for the veal. Then they had international cheeses and some dessert. I think it was an apricot thing- we passed. No chocolate cake here!
After dinner the kids went back in the game room. We let Amber go in with the boys about 5 min. before we went in. When we got there she was skipping around the room holding some girl's hand who was probably around 6 and I don't think she spoke any English- too funny! She always wants a friend! The boys were playing fuse ball with 2 other boys and having fun.
Then we all went back to the room and watched another one of my favorite Christmas movies- the Grinch cartoon one. Then I forgot to bring my Night Before Christmas Book, so I tried reciting it but I kept forgetting parts. The kids were wound up and the boys weren't asleep until around 10:30. So then I got out my Christmas tree ornament and hung it on the closet handle and then Santa came and brought everyone a gift and I had brought a few little things for the kids to go along with that. HO HO HO!
Merry Christmas today! Amber woke up 1st around 8am and found the presents right away. About 8:20 we had to wake up Sean. So we celebrated our little Christmas here and everyone was happy with it. Santa had left a note that he had left every one's presents in Lux.
Today we decided to take the day off of skiing. So we bundled up after breakfast and went to a tubing hill. We had to drive to a different mountain and they had one run for tubing here. It was fun! Amber took turns doing it with either Jason or me. We went pretty fast down the hill. So we spent the morning here.
Then we drove back to the hotel. This place was half way up a mountain so it was a pretty, narrow, windy road.
Then we took the gondola half way up the mountain so Amber could see it and had lunch here at one of the chalet houses on the hill.
I thought that would be neat for her b/c I wasn't sure if her ski school would go to the top of the mountain since they ski on the bottom of the mountain.
We took some pictures up here and enjoyed lunch and took the gondola back down.
The drinking water here is delicious. Only one restaurant actually had bottled water the rest of the places just use fresh mountain tap!
Once everyone got cleaned up the boys went to the game room and played there for a couple of hours. Dinner tonight was an Italian Buffet. Christmas Eve dinner is bigger here. After dinner I had brought the Christmas Bingo so we busted that out and played for a bit. Right before bed Jacob lost his 3rd tooth of the school year! Maybe he was hopping that Santa would come back and bring him another gift!
Wednesday it started out raining but then turned snow as you went up the mountain. The kids did ski school and lunch for today. Jason and I got in the car and drove to another town about 15 min. away but still the same ski area, just a different part of the alps. There is a huge amount of slops spread all across this alp region through different towns. Our ski lift passes work at all lifts in this region. We chose this mountain today b/c it has a lot of easy slopes, just what we need! So we parked and walked to the chairlift. The first one went 1/2 way up the mountain. Then you get off and ski a little to your right and get on the second chair lift and that takes you to the top of the mountain. This mountain needs a gondola! But the chairlifts are normally pretty nice, with heated seats, a rack to rest your skis on and a little plastic shield that comes down over you so you don't get wet when it is snowing or raining. So we skied this mountain today.
Alot of fresh snow up here and easy and fun runs for us. We stopped at a chalet on the mountain for lunch and to figure out how to get back to the bottom since we had now gone down the other side of the mountain. Lunch was good, but we really need to figure out some German words b/c we can't read the menus. Every breakfast on our table is a little pamphlet with the weather, dinner choices and any activity the hotel has going on. But it is always in either German or Austrian and we always have to keep asking for the English.
There are many runs at the top of this hill and with all the snow you couldn't see very far in front of you so easy to get lost. There still were not a lot of people around. More seem to be arriving today now that it is after Christmas.
After lunch we found the chair lift that went back to the very top to get us down to the the other side of the mountain. We get halfway down the right hill on the easy slopes but the second half was down intermediate slopes but not as bad as the other mountains intermediate slopes so we made it to the bottom. It was a pleasant day! It took us about an hour to get back down from the time we left the restaurant, kind of cool!
We found the car and loaded up the skis but Jason's buckle on his boot was stuck and he couldn't get it off so I drove us back to the hotel and dropped Jason off in front of the ski door where we store our stuff and the ski guy was there and just popped Jason's boot off and all was fine.
We had about 1/2 hour to relax before we had to go and get the kids. All our stuff was soaked today from the rain and heavy snowing.
When I went over to get Amber I saw her going up the tow rope and then down the little hill around the cones. She did great and looked so cute!
She said she had fun. We walked back to the hotel and had snacks and hot chocolate for snack time and then headed to the pool. Jason took the gondola up and picked up the boys from ski school. They skied 1/2 way down the mountain and then took the gondola down the rest of the way as it gets pretty steep. They met up with us at the pool.
After the pool the boys played in the game room with some other boys for awhile. They are having so much fun in there. The game room isn't that big but it has a ping pong table, pool, video games, computers, and a fuse ball table.
Dinner was great as usual. Everyone is pretty tired by the end of the day. Even I go to bed about 9:30!
Thursday this area and hotel seemed to be getting more crowded. I am glad that we were here for awhile before all the other people came. Today Jason had to be back in the room right after lunch for a phone call so we didn't go skiing today. We got the kids all set in ski school and we drove to another town about 15 min. away. It was a neat little 2 lane road with not much out there between the towns. This was a big town and had a good size school here so I wonder if they bus kids from all around the area here. So we just walked around and went shopping. They don't have many bakeries here like they do in France, Germany and Luxembourg. No chocolate stores like in Belgium. But we did find one bakery and we saw the biggest cinnamon rolls. We got a chocolate one and a cinnamon for all of us to share later. I think they might have been as big as Amber's head.
We don't have this in Lux! From here we drove back to our resort since we were taking Amber out to lunch. So we picked her up when her morning session ended and walked into town to a restaurant. We had a nice lunch just the 3 of us! Here in town most restaurants are bars/restaurants so the bar part you can smoke in but the restaurant part you can't but in general it still smells in the restaurant part. After lunch Jason walked back to the hotel to work and I got Amber back to ski school for the afternoon session. Then I walked over the the restaurant where the boys eat with their ski school. They take the gondola down and eat at the restaurant next to Amber's ski school. So I sat and chatted with them for a bit and then walked back to the hotel. As I was leaving they were getting their dessert. It was a big crepe with chocolate on the inside and whipped cream on the side! I went back to the hotel for a bit and then back over to watch Amber's race. They took turns going up the tow rope and then down the hill, around the markers and the instructors timed them. She looked so cute!
Then her class ended so we came back to the hotel and got some hot chocolate after unloading her skis in the drop off room at the hotel. About an hour later we had to go back over to the ski restaurant where the kids eat lunch with the ski school and there was a medal ceremony for all the ski school kids. The boys had had their race too. Jason had gone up the mountain and gotten the boys when they were done with their school and they skied 1/2 way down the mountain and then they took the gondola the rest of the way down. They met us at the awards ceremony.
Amber loved her instructors.
Here is a picture of her with the girl who was in charge of the kids program in her area.
So at the ceremony they called each ski group up and they got a certificate with their time on it and their place and a medal. Amber got 1st in her class,
Sean got 2nd and Jacob 3rd, he fell! I love how people say Jacob here, Yacob- he hates it! The instructors here are mostly girls and they are tall, stocky girls.
Then the teachers did a dance for the kids to follow and then a conga line.
Then each of the kids had gotten a ticket and Amber and the girl in charged picked out #'s and some kids won things.
By the time this all ended the kids didn't have enough time to go to the pool so we got ready for dinner.
Another 5 course meal! Yum
Friday was our last day of skiing- happy and sad! Happy I won't have to put those skies on for awhile again so my body can rest and sad to have to leave this beautiful area.
Today was Amber's big day- ski school at the top of the mountain. She got to go down the hill today where the boys started. I got her all ready and got her up the mountain on the gondola. Today was cold and really snowing. She was excited. We found her teachers and then I went back down the gondola and Jason and the boys picked me up and we drove back to the town Jason and I skied at the other day. We took the boys out of their ski school today to take them on these better runs. They were getting bored going on the same few easy runs at this hill. At the other town we took the 1st chair lift that goes 1/2 way up the mountain and then got on the next chair left to take us to the top. The boys had fun skiing with us down all these different runs. Jacob is a speed demon and wants to go over all the bumps. Sean just glides carefully down the hill and Jason and I are just trying to make it safely down the hill!
Jason liked this sign it said something about an avalanche.
We stopped and had lunch on the mountain then skied for a bit more and then we had to start making our way all the way back down to the bottom of the mountain and back to the car b/c we had to drive back to the hotel and then I had to take the gondola up to get Amber from her lesson.
We had a very nice, fun day skiing with the boys. At the hotel we turned all our ski gear back in, then I went back up the gondola to get Amber. She looked so cute taking the big chair lift up and then they just snake down the mountain following the ski instructor.
After class we took the gondola back down and she said she didn't want to turn in her skies b/c she wanted to go skiing again! After Amber and I got back to our room all the boys were already at the pool so I got her ready and dropped her off there and went back to the room to start packing up all our stuff.
Everyone enjoyed their last swim here and we got ready for dinner. This morning they had given us the menu with 3 choices to pick from. Jason chose the pig and I chose the fish. Every night the kids had a buffet. The dinner was good as usual! By the end of the week we noticed the kids were eating dinner much faster and not lingering around the buffet for seconds. It was because they were having so much fun in the game room they wanted to get back to it!
Sat. morning we enjoyed our last big breakfast at the hotel and then we filled the car and car carrier to the max with all our stuff. Then we just drove an hour to Salzburg where we were going to spend the night and check it out. So we dropped off the car at the hotel. We were about 15 min. from all the sights so we walked over there and grabbed a quick lunch and walked around. Salzburg has a river going through it.
One one side of me was the river and this was on the other side. It is houses built into the rock behind them.
Then it was some streets with all sorts of shops/designer stores and everything else too. Here is where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. They had many things in the town for sale with Mozart's picture on them.
These red boxes have chocolates in them.
These are rubber ducks suppose to be Mozart.
So we went and toured his house. I love hearing/seeing things that happened in history and be able to be at the same spot where it happened, etc. D-Day Normandy Beach, we were there, the Colosseum and everything in Rome, Anne Frank house with the Jewish and WWII. There is so much history here in Europe. So amongst the shop lined pedestrian streets was Mozart's birthplace.
So his parents rented the 3rd floor apt. for 26 years. His mother gave birth to 7 children here, this was the 1700's. But only 2 of them lived past 1 year, can you imagine! How sad. Mozart's father was a famous piano player and then both Mozart and his sister became piano players as well. Their apt. we toured and when you walked up the stairs to the 3 rd floor. It was a large hallway with a bunch of doors that were different rooms to the apt, but I think there was another floor above them which would have meant people were walking through the hall in their apt. to get to the stairs. So there was one door which was a kitchen.
Then another door to a study, another door to a big bedroom and then the family room and another room could also be reached by the hallway doors or the adjoining doors in those rooms.
Mozart got married and had 6 children, but the same thing, only 2 lived past childhood. His sister got married to a man who had been widowed twice and had 5 kids ages 5 and under and then they had 3 more children, so she had a very big family.
Mozart died at a very young age- 35 after being sick for awhile, but it was written that his death was caused by fever, so they think he may have had something else too. So it was very interseting. Then they had the apt. tour and floors below all set up as a museum. All righ on the hub of the busy shopping street.
From here we walked over to the fortress. It is on top of this cliff overlooking the town.
We took a little tram up to the top of the cliff. Inside the fortress walls they had a puppet museum. Puppets are very popular here and there are some puppet shows.
Once inside the walls we had to wait about 15 min. in line to go inside the fortress. Then you walk up the stairs and into rooms where they had things on display. Weapons, war things, house furishings, etc.
On the way out was the Europe's largest Amber store!
So that was neat and then we took the tram back down and just walked back towards the hotel. There was a market like booths in one place with some drinks and food set up. One food tent looked like it had elephant ears so we ordered 1. While we are waiting I got a faint smell of garlic but don't think much of it besides it must be coming from another booth. I take the elephant ear and then break off a piece and smell it and omg, it is covered in garlic, yuck! Thank goodness I didn't take a bit of it! Amber and I didn't eat it, but the boys did and they stunk afterwards, seriously why would someone make that.
We walked back to the hotel and let the boys air out. We checked in and our room was ready and then we made our dinner reservations at the restaurant right next store to the hotel. We were able to get a family room here. So it was set up as 2 regular hotel rooms but with a common entrance with a big door. So once we closed and locked the big door we could just leave our 2 doors open and go between the rooms. They must not have had any interconnecting rooms. We only had to wait about an hour and then the restaurant opened at 5:30 and it got busy soon after that. Sean was in a bad mood so he didn't seem to like anything on the menu so he didn't order anything and then just ate off all our meals. For dessert we came back up to the room and shared the 2 pretzels we had gotten from the other non garlic booth. One was chocolate and one was cinnamon- yummy! One thing Salzburg is known for is the Sound of Music. So they had a bunch of tours for that where they take you out into the country.
Sunday morning we woke up and grabbed some cereal I brought and started the drive home. It was suppose to be only 6 hours but ended up taking 7 hours. It isn't that long, but feels like forever. We were so sandwiched in the car, b/c you know things never seem to go back in as smoothly as they did when you were going there. And then we did pick up a few things along the way (:
We got home around 4:30 pm or so and Jason dropped me off and I started getting everything under the tree so we could celebrate Christmas. He took the kids to the gas station to do some grocery shopping. When I finally got everything ready the kids finally got to celebrate their Christmas! Almost a week later!
They loved their Christmas and enjoyed all their gifts and the house was a complete disaster between all the luggage, snow gear and Christmas stuff.
Amber learned how to snap her fingers this past week so she loves doing it and showing it to everyone she knows!
Monday was New Year's Eve and we started the clean up process and I started on the huge, overwhelming pile of laundry. I made mint chocolate cookies for tonight to bring to our get together. We went ice skating in the afternoon with 3 other families and then over to one of their houses and all had tacos and celebrated New Years!
We came home at 10 and then Jacob fell asleep, but the other 2 stayed up and we watched a display of fireworks across towns from Amber's balcony. It was neat and we rang in the New Year!
Happy New Year! We welcomed 2013 by enjoying a day at home and doing more laundry!
Wednesday Jason went back to work. I took the kids to Ikea in the morning to pick up another bookshelf and some things. One thing I wanted was their gingerbread cookie dough but they were all sold out. I told my friend I think she bought the last of it. She said she still had some and she was nice enough to drop it off when she was out today. So we will get to making that later. I worked on the laundry some more!
The boys have been coughing for a bit now, so I made an appt. with my Dr. b/c the kids Dr. never wants to give them anything unless it is almost pneumonia. So we had that appt. this afternoon. We had to wait for an hour before we got in and Sean has bronchitis and Jacob the start of an ear infection and pharyngitis as well. So they both got put on some medicine. So then we had to go to the pharmacy where I had to wait in line as well. They were out of 2 of the things the boys needed so I have to go back tomorrow and get them.
Jason had left work at a decent time and was able to go to the butcher out there and get some meats. So he came home and grilled something and got dinner ready so by the time we got back from the pharmacy dinner was all ready so that worked out well!
Jacob lost another tooth tonight! 4th one since school has started!
Thursday we ran over to my friend's house to return the car carrier and some stuff we had borrowed from them and then over to the pharmacy to pick up the rest of the boys medicine that wasn't in stock yesterday. On the way home from the pharmacy we see the cops parked and clocking people, yep they got Jason. I bet now he wishes he had gone into work today! Here you get points taken off your license and in 3 years if you don't get any more points taken off you get them back. So he got 2 points taken off and a bill of 145 Euros! Yikes! Then Jacob says "Thats ok dad we won't be here in 3 more years anyway!" Too funny!
I spent a lot of time downloading pictures and doing laundry. The kids enjoyed their free time and played. And Jacob and I went back out to Ikea and got him a coffee table that he can put all his legos on and not have to clean them up. There is a small sitting room in our bedroom we don't use so we put it up there and the kids can do their legos there and not have to worry about putting them away then. I think he likes the table just as much as his gifts!
Friday Jason went into the office and with no tickets on the way! Sean went to a friend's house to play pretty much all day and Amber had 2 friends come over. One of the friend's mom came back for lunch and we caught up and had lunch here. So that was nice. All the kids liked Sean's new lego train he had gotten. Jacob was helping them out with it. It was cute!
For dinner we walked down the street to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and back home for a cookie buffet dessert!
Sat we went to Metz, France. It is about 45 minutes away and we hadn't been there yet. We walked around town, had McDonald's for lunch. They still had some of their Christmas market up so Amber went on a Christmas tree ride and we then we on the ferris wheel ride.
We also bought a pretzel here that was as big as Amber's head!
We saw their big Cathedral of St. Stephen. It is very pretty and has huge high ceilings. Beautiful stained glass windows.
The had a huge really neat nativity scene set up here off to the side.
We saw a main city square that has medieval storefronts on this street. It isn't a very pretty area but neat to see how old the houses were. One of the houses had a plaque that said it was from the 1400's. You can tell they had to add pipes up the walls for plumbing.
We walked into the open and covered market areas where they sell food and everything else. We pasted by the arch on the end of the town that used to mark the south limit of the city. So it was a nice visit.
This was how we spent our Christmas holiday break!
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