Trip to Venice and Rome, Italy!

Friday October 28th-
We ended up deciding to pull the kids out of school all day today.  Jason thought he had a dental cleaning this morning early and when he came home 20 min. later I knew something didn't go right.  So here the 1st time you visit the dentist he does your checkup and you need to make a separate appt. to get a cleaning (?)  Ok good to know!
Then we had to return to downtown with the kids as well for another round of Luxembourg paperwork.  Today we all needed our pictures and fingerprints taken.  They couldn't seem to get a reading off any of my fingers on my left hand.  So I guess if I am going to do something bad I should use my left hand- ha!
Then we finally left for our big trip to Italy!!  This weekend starts the kids fall break from school where they have a week off but since we are driving we wanted to leave today.
We drove a little over 6 hours today and that got us to the top of Italy.

 I had packed our lunches so we ate in the car and only had to make one stop.  The kids did very well in the car.  We drove through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.  I booked us a hotel here in Italy for the night as a stop over point.  The drive was pretty easy, not that I was driving, but not a lot of switching highways where we always miss the right exit.  The drive through Switzerland was beautiful with the Alps covered in some snow.  Switzerland was a hard country to try and read in the car- anyone guess why?
It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive through it and can you guess how many tunnels we drove through?
44!  Crazy, but much faster than driving around all the mountains.  5 of the tunnels were long ones.  One about 6 miles long and then the second longest tunnel in the world- 11 miles long!  (The longest tunnel in the world goes to Norway) There was a stop light before the long tunnel to limit the amt. of cars going in and it narrows down to just one lane each way.  One tunnel even had some windows.

Pictures of the alps

We saw a white church on the top of a smaller mountain and it had a cable car to take you up to it- cool.  We saw lots of big lakes around the mountains too.  Once we drove into Italy we went through 5 more tunnels and then we got off the road for our hotel.  The hotel room was great!   The boys had their own room, we had an actual American King bed behind a wall separating it from the family room where Amber's bed was.  It had a foyer and a walk in closet.  So the beds were far away from the door which is nice then you don't hear the hall noise.  For dinner we drove about 5 min. away to a cute pizzeria the front desk had recommended.  It was difficult to get too.  We drove by it 3 times trying to figure out how to get over to it.  It didn't help that it was dark.  One of the drive bys Jason took a corner too tight and scratched one bottom side of the car on a cement corner- ouch for the car.  But once we got over to it, it was a good, quaint place.  We decided we like the Italian language better then French.  A lot of words are similiar to Portuguese and we could understand some of it and the accent is easier then French. 

Sat.-
Jason's Ipad started beeping at 6am for some reason- so much for sleeping in.  But of course the kids I had to drag out of bed around 7:30.  After breakfast at the hotel we started driving to Venice.  We only drove through 2 tunnels today.  It was suppose to be a 3 hour drive, but with traffic and a stop for lunch it was about 4 hours.  Now there is no driving in Venice so your choices to park are the mainland, an island, or 1 of 2 parking garages in Venice (most expensive).  We figured it would be easier with all of us and our luggage to just park in Venice since we were only going to be there for a few days anyway.  We had no problems driving onto the island of Venice, but once we turned the corner to go to the garage there was just a long line of cars not moving.  I had made a reservation here- you are suppose too- and went and asked the guy there at the garage.  He says everyone does and the wait could be 1 1 /2 hours long.  Oh my this is not good.
About 30 min. later around 1:30 all of a sudden all the cars go into the garage.  It suddenly dawned on me that I bet all the garage guys were at their lunch and they weren't letting anyone into the garage.  This would have been nice to know in advance, but at least Amber got a nice nap in!  The garage has cars parked 2 deep so you leave your keys in the car- yikes.  We park, and unloaded our stuff.  I had packed all our stuff in rolling suitcases instead of bags for ease of traveling with since there is no pulling up to your hotel here.  I even packed a suitcase of food- have you seen how much my children eat!  So we exit the garage and then have to cross this piazza (square) and go buy our boat tickets.  It is crowded around but not too bad.  We then have to find our boat number and go wait in line to get on the water taxi.  Here there are no buses to get you around town you use the water taxi.  Venice was built on a series of mud banks, and it joined Italy in 1866.
So these water taxis hold about 50 or so people and they come speeding up to the floating dock we are on and kind of bang into it.  We are hurded on the boat and the driver is starting to pull away when the last person's foot leaves the dock- not wasting any time.  We go 4 stops down and get off.  Here we meet our greeter for the apartment we rented here.  We walk down this cobble walkway that gets narrower as we keep walking.  We walk to a point where it looks like it is a dead end and she turns left down a super tiny 2 person width walkway and it curves around to our apt. which is on a corner of a bridge and a canal.

 It is an old building with 1 apt. downstairs and 2 upstairs.

 We are on one of the second floor apt. and have a great view of a canal. 

The apt. was nice.  It had 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and lots of hallways, and a piano in bad need of tuning but the kids enjoyed it.
Here is a picture of the entrance hall after you walk in that main door from the outside. 

Only problem with renting an apt. instead of a hotel was here there was no soap, shampoo, etc. so good thing I had taken all of these from our hotel last night! (:  The other side of the apt. has a view of a cobblestong courtyard with clothes ropes hanging outside of everyone's apt.  No dryers here.
Here are some pictures of our apt. from the outside.  It is on the second floor of the building right in front of the gondolier and it starts at the 3rd window over.

Here is a picture if you can see down the street people's clothes hanging out to dry.

We get situated and went for a walk and found the grocery store.  And then we went into a tiny store and bought a map so we can find our way back to the apt.  Came back and unloaded our groceries and then went back out to explore. 
Venice has 150 canals and 120 churches- a lot of bells a ringing! 

We walked over to the Rialto Bridge.

Here they are standing on the Rialto Bridge.

 This is their big famous bridge they are known for.  It was built in 1588- 1591.  It used to be a wooden bridge and before that a pontoon bridge and that was the only link between the 2 banks over the big main canal- Grand Canal through Venice.  This canal weaves through Venice almost dividing it in half.    The bridge is very wide. On the steps in the middle section are rows of tourists shops.  And people are always packed around the bridge and this area in general.   Also lots of shops and restaurants that line the canal in this area too.
Here is a picture of the Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge.

Here is another one and you can see the water taxi is the white boat on the left side and the gondola is on the right side.

 Here as well are gondola rides.  They are very expensive rides in canoe like boats, but it is one of those things you have to do while you are in Venice.  Gondolas have been a part of Venice since the 11th Century.  Canals are 15 ft. deep, but some are shallower.  The Gondoliers are all dressed the same.  They have black and white or red and white striped tops on with black pants and shoes.  If it is cold they have black coats and scarfs on.  Our Gondolier spoke English well.  All the boats are black and decorated very nicely.
Here is a picture of the gondola that we took.

Here is our Gondolier

 We took a 30 min. tour as the sun was getting ready to set.  We went past an apt. that Marco Polo used to live in on the 2nd floor.

Here are other pictures from our Gondola tour.

Here is a picture of San Giacomo di Rialto.  This could be the oldest church in Venice.  It is across from the Rialto fish and food market that started there in 1097!

 After that we walked back to the area our apt. was in and ate at a pizzeria- these types of restaurants are very popular and are all over the place.  We had some pizza and a calzone.  It was good.  Italy is suppose to be famous for their gelato (ice cream) so we stopped at an ice cream place on the way back.  Getting back to the apt. in the dark is a little bit trickier!  Jason was using his GPS on his blackberry to help us.  Then the kids watched Karate Kid- Sean's new favorite movie.

Sunday-
Was daylight savings time so everyone slept in to around 8:30, but it was really only 7:30.  Jason walked to a square where we were told a bakery was open today since it was Sunday.  But even at 9am it wasn't open yet.  So we ate breakfast and got ready to go out.  We walked back to the bakery when we left the apt. and it was open and we bought a few doughnuts and split them.  No real breakfast pastries here like in Luxembourg.  So then we walked back to the boat pier where we got dropped off yesterday.
Here is a picture of a museum right at the end of our street by the pier.

We waited about 5 min. and a water taxi picked us up.
These boats are extremely crowded.  Some older Italian men were not very happy and saying things in Italian.  We probably rode it for about 10 min. down the canal, and we were standing in the middle of the boat moving side to side depending which side of the boat people were exiting from. 
Some pictures from our ride down the canal.

We finally arrived at our stop- San Marco (St. Mark's Square).  This is a famous Venetian square.  At 9am they feed the pigeons and I guess it is crazy with them all over.  We arrived around 10am and there were still many pigeons around.  We brought bread to let the kids feed them and they had a great time.

 This square is packed with people.  This is where St. Mark's Basilica- church is and Doge's Palace is.  This square was built around the 10th century.  During Venice's heyday this square is where people would be tortured and then hung- ugh!  St. Mark's Basilica is the Church of Gold.  One of the world's greatest and most richly embellished churches.  It had very long lines to get in so we just walked around it and peeked in at the exit.  We saw beautiful painted golden ceilings. 

This square has a tendency to flood being right along the big opening to the Grand Canal and sea and there was a big puddle outside and inside the church.  So a very famous square with other buildings but just not sure what they were.  They had a bunch of shops lining the sides of the square and some restaurants with a bunch of outside seating.  I went and looked at the menu and it was $12 for a pop or juice!  They were white table cloth places with waitors in black tie bows and had live music, neat atmoshpere.    We walked back behind the square and saw Girogi Armani and a few other big names stores.  We found Hard Rock Cafe on a cute big canal corner with a bunch of gondoliers there.  So we decided to eat lunch there, of course.  We know what were are going to get and it is good food.
Here is a picture of the chandelier in the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Views from Hard Rock Cafe out onto the Canal.

  As we are leaving the restaurant to walk back to the apt. the kids were messing around against the railing that is near the canal. 

We tell them to move away from it, well in the process Sean's shoe falls off.  He tries to put it back on and it somehow falls into the canal- are you kidding me!!  How many people drop things in the canal?  The canals are not clean looking at all.  They are a mucky green color and in the summer they say they smell.  So I quickly drop everything I am holding, go through the railing and now the shoe is out of my reach.  Jason grabs on to me and I put my foot in the canal and push it back to me.  Oh boy was Sean in trouble!  Eveyonen else got ice cream on the way home except for the boy with the wet foot!  Of course I only brought one pair of shoes per person on the trip.  So I made him take his sock off and wear his shoe home.  On the way back I found a street vender selling fake expensive brand name purses so I bought one of those!  Once we got back to the apt. everyone had to wash their hands and Sean had to wash his foot.  I put his shoe on the edge of the window sill outside to dry it out- yuck! 

So we hung out here for a bit, then we walked over to San Rocco and saw the San Rocco church.

 It was founded at the begining of the 15th century and rebuilt in the 18th century.  It was very big with a lot of beautiful paintings.  It was founded in honor of San Rocco (St. Roch) a saint who dedicated his life to helping the sick.  We walked around the area and found another Church and then the Leo di Vince Museum.  It was very interesting.  It had all the inventions he had made and things he had made better.  It was amazing.  There were a lot of interactive exhibits which the kids could touch.  It said that he was one of the most diverse talented people in the world- famous mathametician, writer, musician, scientist, painter (known for the Mona Lisa), and sculpter.  Then we walked around and found a restaurant opened at 5:30 for dinner - not very common.  So we ate there.  It was a small crowded place.  Jacob had seafood pasta, and I had these great big grilled full shrimp.  Those ones that have the eyes on them still.  Jason had lasagna and the other two split a pizza.  It was all very good.  Came back to the apt. and had dessert we had picked up from a bakery earlier and Jason and I enjoyed a bottle of champagne!

Monday-Happy Halloween!
We had some festive Halloween shirts for today to wear!  Today at 6:45 this annoying seagull was squaking and woke us up and Sean and then at 7am one of the church bell towers started ringing.  But Jacob and Amber slept in until around 7:30.  This morning Jacob woke up with mosquito bites on his face, poor thing.  Jason heard one flying around his head too last night.  The dishes here in this apt. crack me up.  They go from Ikea to fine china just all stacked together.  After breakfast I washed a few of our clothes and hung them out to dry on the clothes lines outside our bedroom window.  Below the clothes line is a locked courtyard area so I was hoping that I didn't drop anything.

Today we walked back down to the boat dock and waited for our water taxi.  When it came this time we went and sat down at the back of the boat since we were going to have a longer ride.

 It was pleasent just sitting and crusing down the canal.  So this time I think we went down about 12 stops to the far east side of Venice in the Castello Neigborhood.  I think it took about 1/2 hour.  We went there to see the Naval History Musuem.

 It only costs us a total of $4.50 for all of us to get in!  Jacob loved this- 5 floors of boat and cannon history.  I liked the gondola room.  They also had this cool room of shells that Sean enjoyed.  The area that the museum was in was founded in the 12th century and by the 16th century had become the greatest navel shipyard in the world!   We spend the morning here and then walked down the boardwalk area and over a bridge.  This city is not very stroller friendly.  We brought it but once we got to the apt. it  stayed park there.  The bridges here are all steps and you are constantly crossing the bridges to get across the canals. 
We ate lunch right on the corner of a nice open street and a bridge/canal and a view straight out to the sea.

 It was a very pleasant lunch.  After lunch we stopped for some ice cream and walked down this large street and weaved our way to a boat station. 

We always start out consulting the map, but in the end we end up using Jason's GPS.  There are just so many little passage ways and alleys and canals!

 It is crazy we are always able to find our way back to the apt.   We rented this apt. in the Santa Croce area which is a little quiter and off the beaten path of all the tourists so we have enjoyed it.
We saw the ambulances today.  As you can guess they are boats as well.  There were orange and you call 118 for it. 
Once back on the boat we didn't realize it was going out to Venice's other islands, so I think we rode this water taxi for 1 hour.  But the kids enjoyed it and less walking for them.  So the boat took us to the first island which is a cementary and then on to one of Venice's most popular islands- Murano.  We drove around half the island and down it major canal.  The island buildings look newer then Venice's.  They still have their color on them. 

Murano is know for its glassmaking since 1291.  So most of the shops are all different glass places- hence not a great place for 3 curious sets of hands.  We didn't get off the boat.  So the boat went back to Venice and headed north and we got off in the Cannaregio neigborhood and then walked through the area.  There were a lot of tourist and clothing shops and then we headed back to the apt.  We have had great weather here.  It is in the 60's, so a little chilly in the morning, but once the sun comes out it is very pleasent.  It would be tough to be here in the summer with the heat and no air conditioning in the apts.
Yesterday evening I had made dinner reservations at another restaurant in the square by us.  The place last night and this one only have about 6-8 tables inside and then some outdoor seating as well.  But at night it gets a little chilly so we sat inside.  The restaurant was good, but service was poor.  We ordered 3 dishes and 1 appetizer to share.  When they brought the main dishes the waiter said by the way there is no more chicken- finished, which is what I had ordered.  We had ordered a chicken dish, spaghetti, and a meat platter.  So I look at the meat platter and say but that is chicken there, right?  Yes he says," but now no more-finished."  Don't ya think that would have been helpful to know before everyone's dishes came out?  So he brought the menu over but by now we weren't going to wait another 20 min. for another dish so we just split what we had.
Tonight there were a few kids running around the town in sort of dressed up costumes and going into restaurants and shops trying to get candy.  Some places would give them a little piece of candy.  After dinner we just walked around the square a bit.

Tuesday-
Today we packed up and got back on the water taxi with all our luggage, drug it across the big square and found the car in the garage and off we drove to Rome!  We went through 36 tunnels today.  They are not as nice as the Swiss tunnels and our toll for the day was $50.   It was a beautiful drive down through the Tuscany region with the rolling green hills and the grapes growing.

 It was about a 6 hour drive and we stopped once and grabbed a bite to eat with some not so good sandwiches at the Autogrill which is the only restaurant at the stops along the road.  It has been difficult telling a 3 yr. old to potty when a potty becomes available b/c who knows when we will find one again.  So normally it comes down to bribery- nice.
Sleeping Amber and bunny!

Driving to Rome was remarkable easy besides the exit we couldn't get right twice, so by the third time we had gotten so turned around we ended up on the right road.  Of course not before we paid the same toll twice!  There was no traffic going into Rome or around the area.  Today is a holiday in Europe- All Saints Day.  We found the address of the apt we were renting here and called the lady to come down.  We unpacked the car and Jason stayed with the car to keep moving around since it was a narrow street with cars parked on both sides.  We brought all the luggage up to the penthouse apt. in this tiny little, narrow elevator.  You have to close 2 sets of doors on the elevator and then we went up to the 6th floor.  So that was a couple of trips in that elevator!    The owner took Jason and they luckily found a spot on the street not too far from the apt.  We just had to keep putting money in the parking machine and get a parking ticket per day.
 The apt. is very spacious and nice.  It does feel like they just moved their clothes out and left everything else like how it was when they lived here.  But it is a nice older couple who rent out this place and they live 2 blocks away.  So the 1st floor of this apt. has a kitchen, dining area, family room, a remodeled bathroom with a window that doesn't have a covering in the shower. 

Then it also has a big bedroom with a double bed, single bed and then a double bed up on a wood loft.

The boys loved this and took turns sleeping here.  So it was nice all the kids could sleep in this room, not that they did everynight but the thought was good.  Then out by the dining area, there is a rod iron sprial staircase that leads to a 2nd floor.

Then the second floor has a bathroom, bedroom area, table and a daybed and then a door that leads to the big patio area.

 This patio faces the Colosseum and is about 2 blocks East of it- amazing views!

When Jason and the owner came back from parking the car she gets out all the maps and went over things with me for probably about 30 min. of sites, restaurants, grocery stores, train, etc.  She was so nice, and very chatty.  When she leaves we head out to one of the restaurants she had recommended.  It is like a cafeteria.  They have some food out on plates and you tell her which plate you want and she puts it in the microwave- ok.  This was one of the only places open at 5:30 for dinner.  Most places here are 7 or 8pm.  So we go to sit down and we see the owners of the apt. we are renting who we were just talking with.  Funny.  Anyway the food was good, and right next store was one of the ice cream places she had recommended called Casa de Gelato, House of Ice Cream.   The ice cream was wonderful!  In Italy the ice cream is much richer and creamier.

 Jacob was trying to convince me that we have been and will be doing a lot of walking so we will burn it all off- wishful!
Then on our walk back to the apt. we stopped at 2 little different 1 room mini stores- all seemed to be run by maybe Pakistani people. We got cereal, milk and fruit for breakfast.  Then across from our apt. was a bakery so we picked up some crossaints as well.  We brought our food back and Jason and I enjoyed some wine on the patio and enjoyed the great view of the Colosseum all lit up at night and Rome.  Pretty neat!!

Wednesday-
So it is said the Romulus was the one who founded Rome in the 8th Century BC.   Today we walked around and covered a lot of the major sights in the ancient part of Rome.  We left the house at 8am and returned around 2:30 and spent most of that time walking and seeing the sights.  Here the side streets are lined with parked cars, some double parked, and some of these streets have no sidewalks so then you are fighting the one lane of cars that can get through the street and trying not to get hit.  We started out by walking over to Palatine Hill and getting the combo ticket for Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and the Colosseum.  The ticket office opened around 8:30 so we had a to wait about 5 min.  We walked around the Palatine Hill first.  This area is now all brick ruins, so the kids could run around here without our worry about them ruining something.  This area is where the 1st settlers built their homes, under direction of Romulus.  In later years the hill became a patrician residential area that attracted famous and infamous people.   Neat to imagine.

In this area was also the Palatine Museum and this has a good collection of the Roman sculptures- peoples heads/bodies and normally missing a lot of pieces!

I brought my Italy books I have been reading up on to know what to do so I brought these with me and at each site I would read in the book to the kids what the sight was about. 
After this area you walk through the Roman Forum.  This area was built in the marshy land between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills and flourished as the center of Roman life in the days of the Republic.  This area still had some standing columns.

The columns look like they could collapse any time now!

When we exited I bought this great book called The Past and Present of Rome.  It has a page for how a structure used to look and then you take the overlay page off and you see how the structure looks now.  Pretty neat book.
Boys fighting off the Romans.

Next we walked over to the Vittorio Emanvelle II (1st King of unified Italy) Museum and Glass Elevator.  It is a huge white building and a ton of stairs.

 Jason was lugging the stroller up and down stairs all day.  So after you go through the museum and walk up to the top floor of the building there is a glass elevator you can take to the roof of the building.  This had wondeful views of the city since this is a very centrally located building we could see a lot.

Construction on this building started in 1885 and was completed in 1911.  Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870.
In the back this building is connected to another museum and we walked that way and down the museum's stairs.  This set of stairs was built over another set of ruins and the stairs were completed in 1348 to commemorate the end of the plague.

From here we walked over to the Pantheon which means "All the Gods".  This is the only ancient Rome building that remains intact.  It was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa and was reconstructed in the early 2nd centruy AD.  This is a remarkable building b/c it is a perfect sphere resting in a cylinder and is among the architectural wonders of the world b/c of its dome and its concept of space.  A circular opening in the dome at the top lets in the only light.   And about 125 years ago Raphael's tomb was discovered here.

Outside of this there is a pretty fountain.

I had packed lunch for us- the apt. had peanut butter!  So we enjoyed lunch on the steps of the fountain.  Then off again!   We walked over to Trevi Fountain.  It was completed in 1762 and never became famous until it was used in a movie.  The design centers on the triumphant figure of Neptunus Rex standing on a shell chariot drawn by winged steeds and led by a pair of tritons.  It is the largest fountain in Rome.  We stopped for some ice cream and sat on the steps with tons of people and watched the beautiful fountain.

Next we walked to the Spanish Steps.

There is a much smaller, but pretty fountain in front of these as well.

They are called the Spanish Steps b/c the Spanish Embassy used to be headquartered here.  They were built from 1723-1725.  There are 138 steps here.  We only walked up some- long day of walking already.
From here we headed down the expensive shopping district.  Here it was neat to window shop.  Here are some of the stores we saw, Prada, Louis Vitton, Gucci and other big names I don't even know.  From here we walked over to Augustus's Mausoleum.   It was once the most prestigious burial place in Rome.  It now has crumbled about half way down but it was built in a circular pattern that has been there for 2000 years.  Many of the 1st century Emperors had their ashes deposited in golden urns inside.  This structure stayed intact until the 5th century when invading barbarians smashed things and stole the urns.
From here we got a cab since we were now at the other end of town and went to the Colosseum.  It is an amazing structure- huge.

 The height of the arcs and columns is amazing. 

Vespasian had it built as a Amphitheatrum Flavium in 72 AD.  It was inaugurated by Titus in 80 AD with a bloody combat lasting many weeks between the gladiators and wild beasts.  About 9000 wild animals were killed.  The Colosseum could seat 50,000 people in all bleacher like seating.  In here you can see the basement where they housed the animals they would then put them up on the stage floor.

 Then you can walk on 2 of the levels.

The sets of stairs they have to walk up are so steep.  Later it was struck by an earthquake, then later it was used as a quarry.  It now sits in the middle of Rome's largest traffic circle.  We saw some cats around and in the Colosseum.

Here they are considered Roman citizens  b/c they chase away the rats.  So people love cats and they have a santuary here for them.  
From the Colosseum you can see the Arch of Constantine.

This was put up by the Senate in 315 AD. to honor Constantine's defeat of the pagan Maxentius (306 AD)  From here we walked back to the apt.  We were exhausted.
At 4pm we had to go back out and pay for a new parking ticket for the car since we were on the street.  So after we got the ticket we walked over to a church about 1 block away.  San Clemente Basilica.  This church has a history of layers beneath it.  In the 4th Century a church was build over a secular house from the 1st century.  The Normans destroyed the church and a new one was built in the 12 century.  So it has 3 layers of buildings within it! It is a beautiful ornante church on top of everything.  Then you pay and open these doors to the underworld and go down a level. 

In 1857 the Irish Father at the time of the church started excavations.  So the original Rome is really buried beneath the streets now.  Things crumbled and people just built on top of them.  So it was really cool walking in these cold dark brick passages.   
After this we didn't feel like waiting a couple more hours for dinner, so we walked to the butcher shop, and the one room veg/fruit/store, and the bakery for dessert and got our dinner to make.  We came home and made dinner in our tiny kitchen, brought everything up on the patio and ate dinner at the picnic table overlooking the Colosseum.  It was a very nice time! 

This is a picture of the Colosseum and the Vittorio Emanvelle Museum light up at night from our patio.

Thursday-
So as I mentioned earlier there are a lot of cats in the city and both nights we kept getting woken up to them meowing.  Kind of funny, except not really at 4am!  So this morning we walked over close to the Colesseum and went to the cab stand and took a cab to Vatican City.  This is on the other side of town.  Both times we took a cab it was only $12!  We started walking around St. Peter's Square which is just a big circular area with some fountains.

The Vatican City became the world's 2nd smallest sovereign indepentant state in 1929 due to the Lateran Treaty between the Pope and Italian government.  It only has a few hundred citizens and is protected by it own militia- Swiss guards.  Since the swiss guards were known as brave soliders and were hired out for foreign armies.  I wish I would have taken a picture, so here is one from Phillip Holts online.  These men have to be Catholic and between the ages of 19-30, single and Swiss citizens. 

 
Quite colorful. 
Straight in front of St. Peter's square is St. Peter's Church.  This church is where St. Peter is said to have been crucified.   Then he was buried here in 64 AD, and in 324 Constantine had a church built over the tomb.  This structure stood for over 1000 years then it was about to collapse so it was remodeled in the 1500's and inaugurated in 1626.  Inside the church is beautiful and overwhelming to take it all in.

The Papal Altar stands over the crypt where St. Peter is suppose to be buried.

Some of the greatest Italian artists completed the work inside the church.  The paintings, marble and mosaics are just breath taking. 
From here we walked to the Vatican Museums which were about a 10 min. walk.  Getting into the museum there was a little line.  So the Vatican Museum has one of the world's greatest art collections.  You can spend up to 4 hours touring here.  We chose the shorter route which was an hour- still long for the kids.  The museums occupy a part of the papal palaces built from the 1200's on.  The museums were created over a period of time to display the treasures of art acquired by the Vatican.  We all liked the Egyptian museum room with the mummies and things.  In general we saw beautiful urns, statues, and tapestries.  In here and our apt. there were a lot of naked pictures or statues and Sean said he wished they had more clothes on.  Too funny coming from someone who doesn't mind running around with no clothes on when he is changing!

The tour ends in the Sistine Chapel.  Michelangelo painted the ceiling over 4 years, 1508-1512.  They say it was so much for him that it permanently damaged his eyesight.  And I guess the pope was always telling him to hurry up and finish!  The walls in here were painted by other artists and then Michelangelo also painted behind the altar from 1534-1541.  This chapel is used by cardinals when selecting a new Pope.  You can't take pictures in here and you have to be quite as well.  It is beautiful and amazing!  Here are some pictures from the internet. 




The stairs going down to exit the museum.

The exit of the Vatican.

After this we had seen a Burger King to take the kids, since we don't have this in Luxembourg, but when we got there it said they weren't opening until later today.  But across the street we saw a subway so even better!  We split some subs and got some American cookies- yummy! 
From here we walked to Castel Sant' Angelo.  As most things it was built for one thing and used later for many other things. 

Bridge in front of Castel with statues.

It was built in the 2nd century as a tomb for Emperor Hadiran.  There is a wall that is built from here to the Vatican with a passage way that later the Pope would use to escape from unwanted vistors.

So then it was used as a fortress to defend the Vatican.  Its legend rests on its link with another Pope, Alexander I, who mistress bore him 2 children.  This fortress was later used as a miltary area and prison. We walked along the outside up on the upper levels and again had a great view of this part of the city.
Here is a picture of piles on cannon balls.

From here we walked to a flea market and then took a cab back to the apt. 
Of course we stopped to ride the merry go round!

*Just a note that all my historical data isn't from me, but from my 2 books I had brought of Italy.
DK Eyewitness Travel Italy and Frommer's Italy 2006.  As other expats were moving home they gave us their travel books!  And they were very helpful.

This afternoon Jason had some work to do so we so we were at the apt. for a few hours.  Here is Amber looking for her snack!

Then at 6:30 we walked about 2 blocks to a Irish Pub hoping that it would be open.  It was and we all had good meals.  Jason's dinner translated as sheep on stick!
I really wanted cornbeef, but the guy had no idea what that was.  I guess not a very Irish Restaurant.  So I had a good chicken/veg. wrap.
Jacob's Roman drawing at dinner.

 After dinner we walked back and the kids found one last Gelato place to stop in.  While we were walking home I pointed out the church that had the 3 layers of history and Amber said "I don't want to go in anymore churches!"  Too funny.  I told her I was just pointing it out and that we were all done.  Once back at the apt. we took in the views one last time with Rome all lit up!

Friday-
The kids were up super early today.  So we were packed up and got out by 8am.  Rome has a lot of construction going on and to get out of the city the GPS was zig zagging us all around.  The drivers here aren't as polite as the ones in Luxembourg and they were all over the road.  The people on motorcycles weave in and out of the lanes or just go in between the lanes, just like in Brazil. 
When I asked the kids what they enjoyed about Rome, Sean said the Colosseum.  He also asked at one point if Grandpa saw the fights they had there.  I am not sure how old he thinks Grandpa is, but Grandpa didn't like that one! 
Jacob said he liked the Pantheon and Amber said the Museum.  And Jason said the view from the apt.  For me it wasn't necessarily one strutuce as they were all amazing, but just the fact that these structures were over 2,000 years old and we could wander around them and wonder what life must have been like. 
So we drove 8 hours today back up north.  We stopped only once.  I had made lunch so we had that in the car again.
It was very foggy in the Swiss Alps.

I had made reservations for a hotel in Switzerland, so after 8 hours of driving we arrived there.  It was in a cute town called Altdorf in the middle of the mountains.

We walked around the town, Jason made a haircut appt. for Sat., and we went to the grocery store to get some more food for the remaining trip home.  The store was the same chain as Venice- Coop.  The store had a more American products then Luxembourg stores do- peanut butter for one.  We tried to go up the cable car, but it was closed due to the wind.  We tried to find a fondue restaurant, but couldn't.  We asked back at our hotel and she wasn't really sure what that was.  Here they speak German, and not many people speak English here.  Switzerland also has its own currency, Franks, so at the grocery store we were able to pay in Euros but got Franks in change.  Not a lot of places even took credit cards.
Outside our hotel was a mountain and about 1/3 of the way up was a house that said Restaurant on it.

So we thought we would try that for dinner.  The lady at the hotel said you can't drive up there you just walk up the trail that was across the street.  Sounds good, right.  So we start hiking around 5:25pm.  It was now starting to get dark.  It was a steep hike up and in the middle were some signs about which way to go,  thank goodness it wasn't too dark to see these yet.  We still can't even see the restaurant and now the trail is getting narrower and is single file against the side of the mountain- this is not looking very safe.  By the time we reach the restaurant it is dark.  There is a little wood gate and we walk up to the restaurant.  There are some tables outside and 4 big picnic like tables inside and an old wood burning fireplace.   The owner and his wife that ran the place I think they just live above the restaurant in the chalet looking house.  The view from up here was so neat. 

There were only 2 other groups of people there.  By the time we sat down it had been about 40 min.  We couldn't understand the menu very well since it was all in German.  The owner tried to help us with his little bit of English.  The food was good, but a lot of it fried.  Jason's had a good bratwaurst, and mine was a fried pork.  So now the trick was how in the world are we going to get back down this mountain in the dark.  The owner said to go down the the mountain on the other side of the restaurant which was a steep gravel road going down.  It was lit a little bit by the lights from the city below.  So much easy then a little trail.  I was carrying Amber half the way and the boys were holding on to Jason.  Note to self- next time we go hiking up a mountain in the evening, bring a flashlight!

Saturday-
Jason got up and got his hair cut.  He wasn't going to have time to get it done before his next trip so just easier to have it done here, but no one spoke English so he ended up with a very short haircut.  The hotel had the basic European breakfast, yogurt, cheese, meat, bread, fruit.  Although here they had very good banana bread.  They also did have good hot chocolate that all the boys enjoyed- we will be stopping later because of this!
It was a beautiful area.  We tried to do the cable car again, but they said it was still too windy.  Today the weird thing about the wind was that it had a warm breeze to it.  Overnight it definately snowed in the mountains since they had more snow on them today. 

From here it is about 4 1/2 hours home.  There was still beautiful fall colors on all the trees and it is Nov. 5th. 
Jason had heard that there was a KFC outside of Luxembourg in France and we would be driving that way.   So we found it on GPS and took the kids there.  The parking lot was packed and this was at 1:30.  We had to wait for someone to leave to get a spot.  They had a small kids play area inside here.  The chicken tasted the same but I was disappointed b/c they had no sides or biscuits.  It just comes with fries.  So we missed the coleslaw, mashed potatoes and biscuits.
We finally made it back home here and Jason and the boys had a bunch of yard work to do, since we can't mow on Sundays.  I had loads of laundry to start.

We had a wonderful week seeing Italy and now I look forward to hearing where some of my friends that went on vacation went  to- Hong Kong, Portugual, Ireland, California, and Normandy.

Arrivederci   

Week of October 23rd

Sunday I took the kids to church.  We know a couple of families that go there as well now through school and other events.
Sean had a 3 hour costume b'day party to go to in the afternoon so he was excited and then I took the other 2 to the park for a bit.  It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's here.  They say when winter comes here it will be gray and rainy/little snowy the entire season so trying to take advantage of this sunny weather!

Monday I tried to find Jacob a speedo at the store and then a few stores in the mall, but couldn't.  He will start swimming class next month for gym, and they need a speedo and swim cap!  He is not happy about having to wear a speedo, but I will try and find him one of the longer ones they now make. 
The kids' play keyboard wasn't working so we went to change the batteries only to find that one of the them had leaked and made a mess inside and outside the keyboard.  Later I found that it must have been sitting on the leather couch because the battery acid had dried on the couch.  I wiped it off only to see that it had bleached the leather in a couple of spots- nice.  Sean went to the library today at school and checked out a book for himself and a Dora book for Amber.  He has done this before where he checks out books he thinks Jacob or Amber might like.  It is amazing how thoughtful they can be at times (:

Tuesday- Starting last week I would say it is now still dark when I am taking the kids to school - yuck!
After drop off I met some other moms from Sean's class at the mall they have this great Cafe called Oberweis- which is so funny because this is the name of the milk company at home we get milk from.  Here this place is all about their famous chocolates and their cafe.  Then I went to the other side of town and they have this toy store I would say it is the closest thing to Toys R Us, but about 1/4 of the size and started some Christmas shopping.  They were having some sales going on, but I didn't really find what I was looking for with the boys.  After lunch Amber had her Little Gym makeup class since she won't be there next week and this week is a Halloween theme.  The whole place was decorated for Halloween and they played songs from the Ghostbusters movie, and The Adams Family, and at one point they turned out the lights in the gym and did some tumbling in just the light of 2 lamps.  She had a great time!
After we picked the boys up I took them to get their hair cut and I thought I would take them out to dinner, but as usual the 2 little pizza places around the corner from the lady's house don't open until late.  So we came home and had sloppy joes instead.

Wednesday was Amber's day to dress up for her country.  So she is in all the red, white and blue I could find.

Then after school I picked her up and her best bud, took them back to our house and got them dressed for his Halloween party they were having and went over to the party.  They all had a lovely time.  About 5 kids were there plus some babies and we all had lunch and then they all played.

After the party we ran back to school to get the boys from RE and Amber fell asleep in the car.  Jacob had his guitar in the evening and when we got back from that Jason had finally returned after a week and a half back in the states.  So he brought us all our goodies, 2 almost 50 lbs suitcases of stuff.  I don't even think he brought back many of his clothes!  We got lots of American goodies, so we should be set for a bit!  One friend sent the kids a goody bag and here is some of the things in it:

Thursday I met a few friends at the mall in the good cafe they have there after school dropoff.  My French teacher wasn't feeling good and canceled my class today (: 
Amber was excited to go back to her gymnastics class and see all the Halloween stuff again.  Then after school Jacob went to a friend's house.  When we went to pick him up Amber fell asleep as soon as she got in the car and it was 45 min. later by the time we got back home- ugh she will not go to sleep well tonight!
The kids are looking forward to their fall break!

Week of Oct. 16th

Sunday we went to a flea market that only comes the third Sunday of every month.  They have some fruits, vegetables, meats and cheese, a bouncy house to keep the kids happy, but mostly clothes, and some antiques.  A lot of winter wear with winter approaching, so that was interesting to see.
This afternoon the kids drew faces on their pumpkins and enjoyed that.

  A lot of playing outside today and a trip to the park even though it is getting colder it was a bright and sunny day!

Monday Jason got up very early and took the 6:20 am flight out of here and flew back to the states.  I tried falling back asleep after he left but a mostiquo was flying around my head.  I couldn't believe that they are still out in the middle of October!  Jacob really wanted to go with Jason but obviously couldn't and was very sad.  But we will be heading back around the holidays so that is coming up soon.  I sent him with a big list of things to buy at Target!  I can't wait to get my stuff!  It is mostly food stuff they don't have here and then socks and shoes for some of the kids.  When I talked to Jason after he had landed he said some boy had thrown up behind him on the plane, so it was a little smelly. 
Today I had a lot of errands to do. One thing I did get to was mailing the boys postcards to some friends back home.  They have these little P&T shops in the mall and so I went in there and I had to buy stamps for the post cards, lick them on there- yuck, and put them in a bright yellow mailbox.  They said it takes about a week or so.  And it cost about $1.25 to mail each post card.  I went to my weekly cleaners and I still can't understand a word in her question she asks me everytime, but I know she is asking if I want the clothes on hangers or folded so I point to the moving rack of hanging clothes and that is that!  
The worst is when I buy something that I am paying cash for and I don't understand the numbers they say so I am leaning over the counter to see the register with the numbers on it so I can pay them.  Oh well!
The boys are busy getting ready for United Nations day on Wednesday this week.  They have to learn about the UN and make posters of their countries and tell about their flag.

On Tuesday I noticed some men put markings on the street and surving the land across the street.  Right now across the street for about a block there is just trees (pears) and big overgrown bushes some of them good blackberry bushes.  I imagined at some point while we were here they would finish building in the lots around us. I guess I had hoped it would be awhile longer!  Although seeing how slow everything moves here it may still be awhile!
Tuesday after school Amber had a friend over and was so excited.  We brought her home after school and then her mom and the baby came later.  She told me that they were going to be moving back to their country before Christmas.  We will be very sad to see them go.  You tend to make friends here fast since everyone  is at some point new and all in the same boat.  The normal length of stay for foreigners is 3-5 years.  So people are not here too long.  But the girls had a fun time playing and got into the playdoh, then the boys got into the playdoh, then there was playdoh being tracked throughtout the entire house! 
Today Sean forgot his homework at school.  Every week he forgets something!
The school uses some British ways of spelling some words.  So this week color is on Sean's spelling list and the way it is to be spelled is colour.  This will be diffecult when the boys go back and have to spell their words correctly the other way.  Some other words they use here are garage for mechanic or car servicing place.  So they would say, I am taking my car to the "garage" to have the winter tires put on. (Here everyone has 2 sets of tires).  So the word for parking garage is "car park" here.  The express way is called the "motoway"  Queueing means a line, normally of people.  So people would say "Skip the queue and buy your tickets ahead of time"

Wednesday was the big United Nations Luncheon at school.  Preschool didn't participate and they actually took a bus and went to the theatre.   They had a fun time! 
For the American dish I brought in Corn Bread for Jacob and Sean's classes.  They don't have corn meal here and I had ordered it through a website that we buy mountain dew (for Jason) and other American products.  Other Americans brought in Chocolate chip cookies, rice krispie treats and turkey and cheese roll ups.  I volunteered in the 4th grade area and the spread was huge.  A lot of sushi from the Japanese.   I would say more people brought sweets then main courses.  The problem with the people who brought main dishes were they dropped them off at 8am or so with their children and the food had no refridgeration or warming area and the kids didn't eat until 12.   Neither of my boys tried the sushi, but otherwise they enjoyed trying some of the other foods.  They also had to wear some costume or something from their country so my boys wore their BlackHawk jerseys.  And then American Flag tatoos on their faces!

Today I found a cute little all English book store a bit down the street from me.  I got a few kids books for presents and an English magazine for me!
After school the boys had RE and then in the evening Jacob had guitar.  As I am starting to think about the holidays and even having friends over here I wish I would have brought more of my stuff from home.  I didn't bring any of my holiday stuff over since they don't celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.  The big displays of toys came out a few weeks ago here and I was surprised since it seemed early, but someone told me that here the children get their presents on St. Nicholas Day in the beginning of December.  So it will be interesting to see how things go here.
Sean is sounding really good when he is saying his French words.  He definately sounds the best out of all of us!

Thursday- today during Amber's little gym class she decided to wait until the last minute to go potty and all of a sudden comes running out of the room screaming "potty, potty"  She probably freaked people out who had no idea what she was saying.  So we run to the potty but by then a lot has already come out.  I didn't have a change of clothes for her in the car so we had to leave and come home and get changed and then just waited a bit and went and picked up the boys at school.  Today Jacob lost his jacket at school.  What is it with these children and their things!  Seriously they have 4 things to remember- lunch box, book bag, possibly a snack container if they took it, homework and coat!  This afternoon the electrician came over and replaced Sean's light fixture.  The glass was all burnted that was covering the light bulb.  He said who ever changed the light bulb last put in a 300 watt light bulb and this light is a 200 watt max.  We bought all the lights from the previous tentants so we hadn't changed any light bulbs.  Scary.  I have the same light fixture in our closet so I had him look at that and he said it was also a 300 watt bulb, so he took it out and now I have no light in my closet until we buy the right bulb. 
The boys started their Christmas wish lists with this Lego catalog we got.  Sean was circling all those big expensive lego sets and I was saying this is getting to be too much Sean you can't get all of these.  And his reply "Well Santa makes everything so it isn't expensive"  So then I was trying to explain to him that Santa has to buy all his materials to make the toys so Santa still has a budget!  We will see how long this flies!

Friday I was in line waiting for my tea with the preschool moms when I see what looks like Jacob's jacket he lost yesterday on the water cart.  I went over and sure enough it was his coat.  Yesterday he tried to tell me it wasn't his fault that he lost it.  I asked him to please explain how it isn't your fault that YOU lost it!  Today Jacob went on his first field trip.  The 4th grade classes took a bus over to Belgium and went to a cave.  It was a one hour trip away and they were gone the whole school day.   I told him he better not lose anything there!  He loved walking through them.  It was a nice day maybe high 50's, but sunny. They even got to bring money and go shopping in the gift shop.  He bought a big blue diamond.  Here on the field trips the children need to bring their backbacks and carry their lunches as well.
Jacob noticed that in the school parking lot there are no spots specially labeled for Handicapped people, which we both thought was a little strange.  There are however 2 spots up front for pregnant woman.  He then says "Well I guess when you are pregnant you are sort of handicapped too!" 
Friday for lunch we had over Amber's best bud and his mom.  We had a nice little luncheon. 

Sat. I took the kids to this new indoor playplace.  It was very cool and decorated in a jungle theme.  It is a 4 story climby thing with tunnels and slides and a 3-4 story big open slide.  The boys were flying down this.  This area was perfect for the boys, but a little much for Amber so she played in the smaller kids area.

 They even had these little bumper cars to drive.  Crazy driver below!

Very cool area.  I went and sat at the restaurant and watched them through the glass and then we stayed for lunch so we were there a long time today.
We then came home and rested.  Amber even reminded me I needed to put her down for a nap and I had to wake her up after 2 1/2 hours to eat something and get ready for trick or treating!  Tonight was the night the American Woman's club sponsered the Trick or treating here.

Sean went as a Star Wars person, Amber as Tigger and Jacob as Indiana Jones.
They don't really sell costumes here, just a few pumpkins, witches, ghosts, the basics.  So Sean is wearing one from Jacob, Jacob's we ordered and had it shipped to Jason's secretary in MI and then she shipped it over with mail and other items and little Tigger has been worn by all three of them over the years.  Sean wore it when he was 2!

It was a lot of fun.  We met up with a group of friends at the tennis club one of them belongs to not too far from the subdivision where the trick or treating was going to be but about 20 min. away from our house.  The event started at 6pm and you could only go to the houses that had orange balloons on them and ended at 8pm.  It took us only an hour to go through all the houses.  I think there were only about 35 houses that participated.  So it wasn't like at home where you go to every door, and we had to walk around a bit to get to all the participating houses.  But it was a fun time.  We went with 4 other families, and then of course saw other friends from school there too!

Afterward we went back to the tennis club and had pizza and the kids ran around downstairs on the indoor tennis courts which we could see since our table backed up to the window above.  It was a good time and the kids were worn out at the end of the day!

Week of October 9th

Sunday we went and visited the Casemates in the Grund area.  Luxembourg city has 2 of these, but the other ones are only open in the summer.  Alot of things here and in Europe are very seasonal being open only in the spring/summer/fall months.  So I am wondering what we are going to be doing all winter!
But the word Casemates means a bomb proof vaulted room with one or more areas intended to accommodate troops and equipment.  So this was basically a bunch on tunnels in the fortress walls underground.  This was really cool.  The kids loved it.  We spent about an hour in here walking along the cold corridors and peeking out the holes where they used to have cannons.  There were a few cannons left on display too.

These were built in 1745.  There used to be a fortress on top of these but they dismantled part of that in 1867.  These casemates could hold up to 50 cannons and 1200 soldiers.  Here is a picture of it from the outside.

And then they go a way down the river.  Here is a picture of the small, twisty stairs that took us up and down.  Back in the days they must have had some for only going up and some for only going down b/c they are not very big at all.

View from the top of the casemates before we went down.

This is the neigborhood of Clausen. After we exited we walked down a cobblestone road with a narrow passage to get down there.  Cars drive through this- hope no one is on the other side!

 Once we walked down the steep road we stopped in a pub for some hot chocolate and then a light lunch.  It was around 11:30 on a Sunday morning and there were already 2 older men at the bar having a beer- they must have been from WI- ha ha!

It was a lot of fun. Later in the day we made Halloween cupcakes and enjoyed some candy corn I had bought at the American Women's Club!


Mondays I would say are the worst.  It is hard to get up in the morning after the weekend, I really have to drag the kids out of bed as well, I normally have a ton of laundry b/c I never got to it on the weekend, and the house is a mess with everyone home for 2 days.  It doesn't help that Amber decides to change her clothes normally at least once throught out the day and usually into summer wear.  All of a sudden I will turn around and she will have a different outfit on.  Hopefully this is not a forecast of what is to come.  And then Sean doesn't seem to agree that fall is here and still comes down dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.  So I tell him that it is too cold to wear these clothes and he needs to go back upstairs and change.  So then he stomps back up the stairs and always seems to throw the summer clothes he had on for 5 minutes in the dirty clothes basket?  Which in turn means more laundry that I need to try and shove in that tiny washing machine- ugh!  I am going to need to pack away their summer clothes so they can't get to them. 
It is now gotten cold enough that we turned on our heat here.  There is no air conditioning and no central heating.  The heat is through individual radiators in each room.  It is a new concept to me so we will see how this works.  So far the rooms are warm.
Last night when I went to bed I went in to check on Amber and she and her pillow were gone.  So there were 2 possibilites as to where she could be, either in my bed, or sleeping with Sean.  She wasn't in my bed so I went and looked in Sean's room and there the 2 of them are separted by a pile of animals.  Sean has a full bed on the bottom of his bunk bed and I think she must have gone in there last night while Sean was looking at his books in bed and either asked to sleep with him or just climbed in.  They have done this before a few times.  Of course they have this pile of animals in the middle of them and last time Amber fell out of his bed.  So we put the bean bag next to her on the floor.  They both slept through the night and I had to drag them both out of bed this morning.  I was just thinking last week how Amber hasn't been waking up much in the middle of the night.  She has always been a horrible sleeper, and then both nights we had the sitter she woke up and I think it really must be to check that we came home.
This morning after drop off I gave the room parent presentation for the parents of the preschoolers.  Here the room moms have to have a Get to Know you Coffee for the parents.  It went well and we had a big turnout so that was good.  The preschool has a couple of events that need volunteers for- 2 of them are different from home.  One is United Nations week since the school is so diverse they want parents to come in and tell or show the children a little bit something about their country.  And the preschool teachers also are looking for parents to come in throught out the year and talk about a certain festival or celebration that their country celebrates.  So those events should be neat for the children.
Amber and I practiced our counting in French today while watching Go Diego Go in French!
Today Jason got to meet the Prince of Luxembourg.  Jason's company was celebrating an event and the Prince came as well.  I told Jason let me know if he has any son's for Amber, we can arrange something in 22 years!   But Jason said he wasn't married, so it didn't look good for Amber.
When I came back to pick up the boys after their ball skills class as usual Sean had forgotten something.  Today it was the school sweatshirt/track suit top that I had just bought on Sat.  He had gym today and just grabbed it this morning and so of course I forgot to write his name in it.  He went back and looked around and couldn't find it.  Of course these are all over the school so we probably won't be seeing that again and of course it wasn't cheap.

On Tuesday to try and keep focused during French I decided I would excerise right before class.  So that worked but then I was sweating the first half of class. 
Today I heard 2 pieces of bad news, one that a man that lived down the street a bit from us at home in our subdivision was killed by a drunk driver- horrible.  And then another family who moved out of our subdivision this summer and had a boy Sean's age, the mom has been having some hemorrhaging in the brain and is not doing well.  Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to these 2 families. 
After I picked up Amber at school we met Jason at his office and went out to lunch down the street from his office.  It is a nice little Italian place and we got some thin crust pizzas.  The boys were glad we brought home leftovers so they got it for dinner (:  Sean found his sweatshirt/track suit top today at school and his teacher was nice enough to write his name in it before he lost it again!  Sean had a new friend over after school and enjoyed playing.  The days here seem to go by pretty fast. 

Wednesday was Amber's first class field trip.  We walked to a park which was about 15 min. from the school- long for the kids.  They had to wear these little yellow bright crossingguard vests.  They looked so cute and bright with that many kids in a group wearing them!
We, the room parents, bought snacks and brought them with us to serve at snack time.  But the weather today was drizzeling all morning so not a nice day to be at the park.  They were looking for signs of Autumn so they each had little bags to collect their things in.  The kids seem to have a good time, but about 2/3 into the walk back Amber started to melt down.  She was just too tired of walking, but since it was 1 adult for every 2 children I also had another little girl with me who was as quite as a mouse.  So Amber was not happy about walking.  After the field trip, I got her home, feed her and put her to bed for a nap.  She was exhausted. 
This morning also was the whole 4th grade get to know you coffee at a cafe in the mall.  I was disappointed I could not make that this morning, as I don't know many parents of 4th graders.  But I had already volunteered for Amber's field trip.
Tonight about 5 minutes after I put Sean to bed I heard him moaning something.  I opened his door and the goofy light that it is on his ceiling was on fire.  There was a flame coming out of it.  He was standing next to his book shelf and I think he was just in shock.  I turned his light off right away and then the flame went out but his room smelled of something burnt.  Scary.  This light is right above his bed and if he had fallen asleep the ashes/flames could have fallen on his bed and caught the bedding on fire!  He is always leaving his light on too.  Of course after this he was so scared so he went to sleep in my bed. 


Last night was a late one.  Sean was scared to sleep so he was up late and finally feel asleep in my bed with about 8 of his animals.  Jason went and slept in Sean's bed and since Amber had a nap she was up past my bed time and finally ended up bringing in her lady bug sleeping bag and sleeping next to my bed.
In French class today I understood most of the conversations my teacher was having with me so I guess I am making progress.  I can't respond well, but hopefully that will improve. 
I went and got gas today for the first time.  Last month I made Jason come with me so I made sure I knew which gas to put in.  They sell unleaded gas here but mostly diesel.  Jason is now calling my car "The Tank".  It does kind of look like a box on wheels.  It has a bigger engine and being the diesel it is noisey.  When he first looked under the hood he couldn't believe how much padding they had in there to try and absorb some of the noise.
When I opened the fridge to make lunch for Amber and I, I saw one of the boys sandwiches had fallen to the back of the shelf, oh crap I thought.  One of the boys didn't get a sandwich with his lunch today.  Later I found out it was Sean- sorry!
I got blocked in again today at Amber's gymnastics class, but this time the person shouldn't have parked there.  It was not suppose to be a spot.  So I went in and asked the girl at the desk if she could ask the parents to see whos car it was.  The lady went and moved her car so we could get to school to pick up the boys.  She shouldn't have park their anyway so I didn't feel bad about asking her to move.  I hate this parking lot!   
Both the boys ended up going over to same person's house after school so they were excited to go and play!  Amber and I ended up hanging around the school talking with the few friends for about an hour. 

So everyone had a nice afternoon.

Friday the kids had no school today due to parent teacher conferences.  I got them all scheduled online last week so our first one was at 9:30.  Amber and Sean were able to go into the babysitting area down by Amber's preschool and Jacob just brought his book and sat outside the classrooms and read.  After the conferences the boys had chiropractic appts.  and then I told them they could all pick where they wanted to go for lunch today.  They decided on McDonalds.  It was a nice day so after lunch they were able to play on the outside climby thing at McDonalds.

 We stopped at the store for a few items I forgot yesterday and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at home.  The boys did get homework this weekend so we started on that as well. 
Tonight I went ahead and made reservations- since they look at you funny if you don't have them, at a little Italian place about a 10 min. walk away.  I had seen this and a bakery as well on some of my walks so I thought we would try it out and also a friend had recommended it.  We walked there as well.  They had good spaghetti and big, thin crust pizzas so we spilt all that.  By the time we left around 7:30 the place was packed and alot of families from school there, and there was a line waiting for tables.  So it will be nice to go back in the summer and sit at their outside tables and just walk!

Sat. we had to go and buy Sean a new light for his room.  Then we went to the factory outlet of Villeroy and Boch.   This is a famous china maker who started out as just Boch in 1748 in Germany.  Over time he added added a partner and after their success in Europe their products started shipping to North and South America as well.  It is still family owned in the 8th generation.  They make everything from kitchen dishes to bathtubs.  The pattern I bought is called Vieux Luxembourg. I bought a tea kettle!

In the afternoon Amber and I went to a b'day party at a friend's house.  We had a very nice time.  In the evening Jason and I rented a movie on the Ipad, Horrible Bosses- funny.

Week of October 2nd

Sunday we got up and drove back from Cologne, Germany.  We had a great weekend there. 
This afternoon Amber had one of her good friend's birthday parties to attend so her and I went to that.  Amber had a great time running around with her preschool friends and eating way too many cookies!  I enjoyed chatting with the parents more then our minutes at drop off.  Jason and the boys ran to a park halfway between here and the school and spent some time there before running back.  Again just enjoying this beautiful weather!  Here is a picture of Amber's favorite house here.  We drive by it everyday on the way home from school.  (On the way to school we go a different way) Can you guess why it is her favorite?  She keeps asking me either when can we get our house painted like this or when can we move into this one?

Sorry the sun was shining right into the camera, but the house in the middle is pink and purple.

Monday I ended up being at the school 4 times again!  Dropped the kids off, ran home to sign up for conferences.  You sign up online and trying to get 3 of them aligined was easier to do on the computer then my phone.  After I got that I went back to school for the PTO meeting.  I volunteered I thought to help out with the wine tasting event and I guess I am now the chair for it, go figure!  So that meeting was 2 hours at school.  When that finished I picked up Amber early and took Jacob out of French class just a bit before lunch to get him into the Chiropracter.  The Chiropractor only has 2 days with after school hours and they are always booked.  So this worked out ok.  Since Jacob had that nasty fall at the park I figured he needs to be straightened back out.  The chiropractor said he definately needed some work, even his shoulders were different heights.   We seem to like the chiropractor here a little better then at home.  At home you are in getting adjusted for maybe 3 minutes and then stretched, here he works on you with some different techniques for about 20 min.  So then we took Jacob back to school.  He has classes all over the school campus here, so different from home.  I picked him up from his French class, no intercom to call him down.  I get a pass from the office and walk over to Sean's building where Jacob's French class is and then when we returned we got him a pass at the office and he went upstairs and put his stuff back in his locker and then walked over to the high school side for his music class.  The kids are expected to know when and where their classes are and walk to them by themselves.  Since there are different levels of French within 4th grade the kids all go to different French teachers.  As you can guess Jacob is in the beginners level. 
The boys had ball skills after school today and played volleyball.  When I came to pick them up Sean was missing his sweatshirt, which is like a weekly occurance.  So he goes back to look in the gym and it isn't there and he thinks it must be on the coat hooks outside his classroom.  So I tell Amber and Jacob to come on we need to go to walk over to Sean's school.  Well Amber is being stubborn and won't get off of the rock she is playing on, so Jacob says he will stay with her and watch her while I run over with Sean.  So I think great Jacob is being responsible and I agree to it since it will take like 2-3 minutes.  I come back and Amber is still on the rock, and Jacob is down from her quite a bit talking to a friend with his back to Amber.  I ask him how is that watching her?  He said, "Well I didn't leave!"  It will be awhile before we leave Jacob in charge!
Jacob was excited that he has no homework this week since here they are having their ISA testing for 4th grade this week.  I think it is like those standarized tests they take at home. 
Here is a picture of Amber playing with her dolls in her housy outside.  Later, I found Jacob in there with a chair and playing too! Not with the dolls but making food out of leaves!

Today Jacob was describing something to me and said "it was about 20 meters away."  Too funny hearing him use the metric system to describe something.  Of course I really have no idea how far that was but just listened and agreed.  After dinner we had to drive out and pick up Jason at work since we finally returned the 3rd car we have had for a month.  And on the way home we stopped at the cleaners and grocery store to grab a few things since I was out of food and they can't bring peanut butter and jelly to school.  Just in the last 2 weeks Amber has decided she doesn't like peanut butter anymore.  Crazy.  She was eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all the time and now she doesn't want anything to do with it.  So we will see how long this lasts.
Today we either missed the glass recycling people or they didn't like something in my bin b/c they never picked it up.  I normally put out the blue plastic bag across the street with certain recyclable stuff, and then the blue and green bins on Sunday night, but I forgot last night.  So I did it all this morning before we left for school, but maybe that was already too late.

Tuesday after I dropped the kids off I drove to the mall and I had an appt. to get my eyebrows waxed- long overdue.  But it went well.  Only one guy there spoke English and he wasn't doing my eyebrows, so a lot of hand motions can get you by quite well.   She just had me sit in a chair that tilted back kind of on the side but sectioned off of the salon.   I think she must have spilled it on my eyelid b/c it is a little red and sore.  She waxed them and then put creams and powders on and she gave me a mini face massage.  It was more expensive then at home but not by too much it was $21.  There aren't many places here that do waxings.  Alot of places do permenant hair removal.  Most salons are small and don't do waxings or nails.
This afternoon Amber and I made Apple Cobbler with some of the apples from the apple pickings.  It was delicious!  I wasn't sure how it would turn out since they don't have the same brown sugar like we do, and the oats are not exactley the same either.  But it turned out so good.  I think it is half gone already!
After school Sean went to a friend's house and Jacob had 2 friends over.  And Amber was upset because she didn't have anyone over.  It is harder for her since most of her friends stay at school all day until 3:30. 
The handyman came over this afternoon.  He is from the UK and speaks English but he talks so fast, has an accent and uses some different words so I had a hard time understanding what he was saying.  But I just needed a few things done.  One problem we have here is that since the houses are made out of cynder blocks Jason's drill doesn't work on the walls, so the handyman was able to hang a few other things for me.  So I had people and kids coming and going this afternoon.

Wednesday we went in to school a little bit earlier and all had breakfast there.  The boys have been asking when we could eat in the cafeteria since it is open for breakfast .  So today it was a good day for Jason to do this with us.  Today in Amber's cooking class they made vegetable soup.  
Tonight after dinner Jacob had his guitar lesson and he really enjoyed it.  It was back at school.  The guy doesn't use a guitar book he just makes up his own lessons.  It is more then double the cost of the lessons at home so we will have to see how this goes.  Other than that pretty slow day (:

Thursday I had my second French class for the week.  I think I am going to need to start eating some M&M's during class because this is putting me to sleep, and I am the only one in class!  Not good.
Today at pickup for the boys it was messy because it was raining.  Since we have to walk aways and in and out of buildings it makes things complicated.  In the evening I had a sitter come over and I joined Jason for a work related dinner.  It was a going away dinner for one of his colleagues and his wife.   It was nice to meet some people Jason works with.  One guy said this about the rain "This is what it looks like here until spring.  You can tell when it is winter here when the rain gets colder."  This is not going to be good ):

Friday I had my preschool coffee with other preschool moms.  Then grocery shopping at the big store like Target since I wanted to get some trick or treating bags for the kids.  They are going to do the trick or treating event put on by the American Women's club, because otherwise they don't celebrate it here.  I am starting to miss the radio stations from home.  Here I can't understand what they are talking about for the news and I have found the stations that play some American music, but they tend to play the same songs.  So not much variety. 
Friday night was pizza and movie night.  We watched Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. Sean does not like the part where the larger boy gets stuck in the chocolate sucker up machine after falling in the chocolate river, and so Sean was hiding behind a little fort he built.

Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market downtown, although it was a cold and rainy day so we didn't stay long.  Then we went to the sports store that carries the boys uniforms.  It is a ways out of town.  I picked up another uniform for them and then the warm up suits too.  Sean has gym 2-3 times a week and he has to wear his PE uniform to school on those days and I can't keep up with the washing of the one uniform.  Then we drove out to Belgium!  It was a whole 20 minute drive.  Jason dropped me off at IKEA.  I think we are closer here to IKEA in Belgium then we are at home to one.  I browsed there for a few things and Jason took the kids over to Arlon, Belgium and got or made my christmas present.  I must say he is ahead of the game this year.  Normally he doesn't know what to buy me and I end up just buying some things for myself.  So I am interested to see what it is.  They met me back at IKEA and Amber tried to tell me a couple of times what they had done, but I kept telling her it was a secret for mommy's christmas present so don't tell me.  We will see if between her and Sean they don't spill the beans before Christmas.  Then we ate lunch there and it was nice.  The kids liked their meatballs.  Then this evening we got a sitter and tried a nice seafood restaurant downtown.  It was nice, but a long over 2 hour dinner.   We tried out a new sitter tonight since the one we normally use already had plans.  I have a list of sitters from the school of girls that go to the school and are interested in babysiitting.  So I try and use the ones that are close by since their parents don't want to pick them up afterward and they say they have to take the bus home and I don't like that idea of them being out there at night waiting for the bus and I am not sure where the bus stop is from our house. So I always offer for Jason to take them home.  And since he has to drive them I try and find someone close.  So earlier this week I called this girl and I thought she lived on the street real close to us and so I get it all set up for tonight and then she tells me she lives 2 towns over.  Crap I am thinking.  I guess our neighbor hood and hers there is a street with the same name.  Now I have already booked her I don't want to cancel her so I keep it.  Then tonight when she is suppose to be here she wasn't and I waited about 5 minutes and then called her and I think she just plain forgot.  She was waiting for the bus at the mall with some groceries and had a foreign exchange student with her.  Ugh.  So Jason agrees to go pick them both up at the mall and she puts her groceries away here in the fridge, but the poor French girl doesn't speak much English and is now stuck at my house with the sitter.  The babysitter did speak 5 languages though. They were both very nice, but teenagers -yikes!