Shontz Circus

iPhone Photos

2012-01-10T10:11:00.000Z

I love that I can capture more of the everyday with my new phone:
Commentary, from left to right:
Matthew pushing Brooke on the swing on a Saturday park trip/bike ride (always a gentleman); all my clean ducks in a row; Brooke dolled up at church (with sock curls) writing very important messages on the chalkboard; Will's Christmas cracker crown; Andrew's daily climb on the school run; the boys; Will's best mate Jake ("Yakie") coming to play; our favorite tree from the Fall season (contained every color, passed on the school run); playing at the mall; the Fall spiderwebs on Chancellor Ave; Andrew climbing again (the trees and the fences are constants but he seems to try anything these days); funny faces; "Cheeeese"; hand and face impressions (still at the mall); one of Will's constant phrases: "Missy, wanna pay?"; my Thursday Crafternoon-ing friends (love these girls!).

Three Christmas Dates

2012-01-09T23:58:00.000Z

Bowling with Matthew, Cinema with Andrew (Arthur Christmas), and Theater with Brooke (Sleeping Beauty Panto). The best Christmas presents I've ever received: a one-on-one date with each of my kiddies. Thanks Santa!

Happy Christmas!!

2012-01-09T23:35:00.001Z

Christmas Decorations

School Nativity Plays

Making Gingerbread Houses

Visiting Father Christmas

Ward Christmas Party and Good Friends

Christmas Eve Fondue Dinner

Santa Came!!

Christmas Morning

Skyping Family

Before and After

Christmas Card

2012-01-05T14:26:00.000Z

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T21:20:00.001Z

Anthony did an amazing job barbequing our turkey this year (our first of many after tasting it!!), which left me more time for harvest decorating. We had a wonderful time hosting our dear American friends, but somehow neglected to take any photos of us all together. Thank you Haymore's and Schwartz's; it was a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yellow Piano!

2011-11-20T22:51:00.008Z

We thought we'd revive our old piano by giving it a makeover. Here are the before and after shots.

Work in progress. With four workers, the job should go four times faster, right? With these three little helpers it actually took much longer, but was certainly four times more fun.

The finished masterpiece!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:51:00.001Z

We did Halloween big this year combining it with Andrew and Brooke's 6th Birthday party.
Pumpkin and skeleton crafts, spooky photo booth, pass the parcel, pumpkin pinata, candy corn Jell-O and a Halloween dance party; it was a blast! But by far the best entertainment was Anthony in his mummy costume! Between this party, our ward trunk-or-treat, then Monday's trick-or-treating we got the most out of it possible!

Brooke and her mummy on the orange carpet

Santorini, Greece

2011-10-27T01:09:00.003+01:00

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary to us!

1st anniversary: surprise trip to Carmel, 5th anniversary: surprise trip to Sonoma. I should have been ready for something for our 10th, but Anthony managed to completely surprise me again. When a girlfriend asked me to take her to the airport on Friday morning I thought nothing of it, until we arrived and there was my Anthony standing on the curb with our bags packed for a weekend away!

We spent 3 days on Santorini: eating amazing food, relaxing by the pool and taking a private sailboat around the island (thanks to Captain Mike). The views and sunsets were amazing, and the trip was perfect.

Will, 2 years old

2011-09-26T11:11:00.023+01:00

Will's 2nd birthday somehow came and went in a flash. We did open presents and even light a candle on some fancy cupcakes, but somehow this is the only cute picture I could find to document his day.
Will seems to be happiest with his cars at the moment: "pay caars" is his daily request. He carries around Woody, Buzz and the baddie (Zurg) all day (and night) and his favorite thing to watch is Little Einsteins. He is starting to have a preference what he wears, loves to dance and is still amazing at jumping on the trampoline and kicking a soccer ball. He is such a fun kid to have around and is becoming more like everyone's buddy than our little baby boy. Happy Birthday Will-man!

Imperial War Museum, Duxford

2011-09-17T22:40:00.000+01:00

With Ashley out of town for the weekend, Anthony took the kids to the manliest museum he could find: the Imperial War Museum near Cambridge

First Day of School

2011-09-07T11:04:00.008+01:00

All three "big kids" at school all day now. I still can't believe Matthew is big enough to do this (well, by UK standards anyway). Just me and Will now, good thing another one is on the way!!

Goodbye Summer

2011-09-03T11:07:00.040+01:00

I really felt like this was our first official summer holiday since it was our first time breaking from school. It went entirely too fast, in my opinion (a mere 6 weeks here in the UK). We tried to keep it simple and relaxing with lots of pajama days, but got excited about ticking off our own "Summer Ideas Checklist."

We celebrated our last day of summer vacation at Clacton-on-the-Sea, flying kites, collecting shells and playing with friends. After dark, we had one last late night using up our firework reserve and sending off a lantern. Goodbye Summer, we already miss you!

Our Big News...

2011-08-29T23:00:00.002+01:00

We thought it about time to reveal why we haven't blogged in almost 4 months.
Baby #5 expected February 12, 2012!

See catch up posts below

Summer Holiday 2011

2011-08-28T19:52:00.079+01:00

Breaking up the long drive to Switzerland, we spent Monday and Tuesday at Disneyland Paris

Beach and boat playgrounds at the Zurichsee

Baar Pool

We hit Switzerland right during their end of summer heat wave and spent a little time almost every day (including my birthday) at our favorite pool

Knonau (next two collages as well)
Parks, playgrounds, clock tower, the stream, the soccer field and visiting old friends. We spent more than a few days reliving our old fairy tale life in this little town we loved so much

Engelberg
Back to one of our favorite mountain spots. Funny, I was pregnant with Will the last time we visited this mountain

More Knonau: Pride Rock
(Added bonuses: Matthew has perfected peeing in the bushes on this trip...that little white bum was too cute not to capture, a few times!) Also, Will has learned "thumbs up" but only puts his thumb up a quarter of the time)

Flying children

Zug & The Zugersee
(Can you tell in the top right I am a little paranoid now when we feed the ducks? See below post re: Andrew swimming with fish)

Lenzburg Castle

Last stop to break up the drive back to England: Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany

Feeding Ducks

2011-08-07T19:51:00.018+01:00

We saved our bread scraps for nearly two weeks in preparation to feed the ducks. We arrived right at dinner time and received quite a gathering (including some new babies), until Andrew decided to fall headfirst into the duck pond and scare them all away. Initial shock and tears turned into laughter and even boasting the following day. "I fell into a duck pond and talked to the fish and had to wear Daddy's shirt!" Luckily, the pond was only a few feet deep and Anthony was quick to fish out our little guy!

Reptile Day

2011-07-27T19:50:00.009+01:00

Our neighborhood park hosted lots of summer events this week, including Reptile Day. I was amazed at how brave Andrew and Brooke were, standing in line over and over again to hold each reptile! Favorites: Python and "Boa Constructor."

Slumber Party

2011-07-26T19:50:00.007+01:00

School is out! We celebrated by building an enormous den in our living room; the kids slept in it for an entire week before we took it down (pillow fights are mandatory for slumber parties)!

Sports Day

2011-07-23T19:49:00.008+01:00

For our stake sports day our family chose to be Team Swiss. Matthew proved excellent at the egg and spoon race (holding it on with both hands really helped!), and Andrew and Brooke seemed born to be three-legged race partners (being twins having anything to do with it?)!

Last Day of School

2011-07-21T19:49:00.014+01:00

Andrew and Brooke's last day of Reception (kindergarten) and Matthew's last day at Rainbow's pre-school. They seemed to have grown up so much this year!
After our very short summer holiday, Matthew will be joining the older two at Primary school.

Camping

2011-07-10T19:48:00.010+01:00

Anthony took the older 3 kids out on their first camp-out (not in our backyard). They have definitely inherited his Colorado love for camping!

Silverstone F1

2011-07-08T19:48:00.002+01:00

A work event gave Anthony a close up look at the world of Formula 1 and Michael Schumacher's car.

Berry Picking

2011-07-03T19:47:00.012+01:00

Another repeat event from last summer. This year we added cherries and plums to our usual strawberries and raspberries, and Matthew made friends with a goat he named Brownie.

Three Foot People Festival

2011-06-30T19:47:00.027+01:00

The kids loved this festival so much last year that I felt it my motherly duty to take Andrew and Brooke out of school for the last year they could attend.
Face painting (a scorpion, lion and Batman), play-dough cupcakes, enormous sand pit, coloring, crafts, petting zoo, mad-science show, puppet and musical performances.
Another successful year for our little people under 3 Ft!

Double Pacifier

2011-06-19T21:24:00.009+01:00

Completely addicted.

Little Golfers

2011-06-18T19:46:00.006+01:00

The kids love to join Anthony at the driving range. Andrew is especially showing interest and loves to wear his hat, glove and favorite "woosh" shirt. His favorite part is playing in the sand.

Hampstead Heath

2011-06-04T19:45:00.008+01:00

A fun day at an amazing park in London.

Matthew's 4th Birthday

2011-06-04T19:44:00.024+01:00

Matthew's 4th birthday party was a success with movie making, movie trivia, and popcorn goodie bags. Happy Birthday Matthew!

Colchester Zoo

2011-06-02T19:44:00.003+01:00

Madrid, Spain

2011-05-24T19:43:00.009+01:00

A short business trip for Anthony turned into a no-kids weekend getaway.

Volcano

2011-05-15T19:42:00.016+01:00

A great father/son Sunday afternoon activity. Andrew declares, "Daddy, let's do some science" and this is what Anthony comes up with. Andrew LOVED it!

Royal Wedding Weekend in Bath

2011-05-02T21:35:00.062+01:00

A four-day weekend gave us a great excuse to explore a bit of England. We headed to Bath and nearby areas and had a perfect getaway.

Friday:

Watching the wedding at Windsor Castle (the Queen's weekend home)

Avebury Stone Circle

Castle Combe

Saturday:

Roman and Medieval Baths

Bath Abbey, Royal Crescent, Old Town Bath and the Pulteney Bridge

Sunday: Longleat Safari & Adventure Park

The Safari Park:
Even though the monkeys used our car as a trampoline and ate our windshield wipers and we accidentally opened our sliding car door right in front of a lion, this was one of the highlights of the entire trip.

The Hedge Maze

The Animals

The Adventure Park

Monday:

Stonehenge

Salisbury Cathedral:
UK's tallest spire and home of one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta

Easter Break

2011-04-25T21:33:00.012+01:00

We had summer-like weather for our two-week Easter Break this year, and we (along with the rest of England) were happy to trade the clouds for the sun and go outside!!

Discovery Centre

Backyard fun
(Brooke had a hard time deciding between staying warm and playing in the water. The compromise: swimsuit over her clothes)

Marsh Farms
(The kids loved coming back this year!)

Easter eve: Dying eggs and backyard camping with Daddy

We were really spoiled this year with 3 Easter Egg Hunts: first: our friends Sarah & Simon's garden on Saturday, second: finding the Easter Bunny's basket of goodies on Sunday, and third: our Ward's Primary egg hunt on Easter Monday.

For the first year Andrew enjoyed finding all eggs (not just non-chocolate ones), then trading for the non-chocolate ones. And also, for the first year, Will enjoyed chocolate!

Easter Sunday
(Having a "blossom-fight" after church)

Scooter rides, bubbles, blowies, and one of the hundreds of rapeseed fields back for Spring

Serfaus, Austria

2011-04-04T21:46:00.015+01:00

Anthony took Andrew and Brooke to Austria for a weekend ski trip:

Colchester Zoo

2011-04-04T21:00:00.003+01:00

While Anthony skied with Andrew and Brooke, Ashley enjoyed a day out with 2 moms and 5 boys. Thanks, Katie...we loved it!

Boys Update

2011-04-03T09:42:00.000+01:00

Andrew now wears glasses (mainly for school). He picked out his cool blue frames all by himself and loves how they make "everything bigger!"

Matthew caught his pinkie finger in the door hinge on April Fools Day. He broke the tip of his finger and almost completely severed the tip at the bed of the nail. 1 ambulance ride, 7 hours in the ER, 10 hours in the Children's ward, 1 X-Ray, general anesthetics, a good finger sewing and 13 doctors later...he now wears this nice boxing glove for 6 weeks.

Will is officially 18 months. He hates nursery and won't go anywhere without his pacifier or little blanket (deet-deet). He plays the harmonica like a pro and loves to jump on the trampoline.

Will, 17 Months

2011-03-10T23:18:00.015Z

Our baby somehow turned into a toddler this winter:

And now that there is an occasional sunshiny day, there is a whole new world to explore!

World Book Day

2011-03-04T22:15:00.002Z

For World Book Day, Andrew and Brooke dressed up as their favorite book characters:
Captain Jack Sparrow (we're sure he appears in a book somewhere) and Camilla Cream (A Bad Case of the Stripes)

Ski Weekend

2011-02-25T23:01:00.001Z

Anthony got two boys' weekends in one month. What a lucky guy. Must have a wonderful wife.

This is how the group got from the chalet up to the lifts every morning

Judging from these photos, it doesn't look like there was very much actual skiing taking place

Big air and big crashes on a kicker built near the chalet

You know it has been a good ski trip if you have to dig your cars out to get home

Riding Bikes

2011-02-12T22:14:00.002Z

Boys' Weekend

2011-02-07T22:26:00.011Z

Visiting the USA, being with family, playing golf. Is there any better way to spend Super Bowl weekend?

Our Chef

2011-01-08T22:28:00.007Z

Here Brooke is learning a new craft in the kitchen

Crafty Creations

2011-01-07T22:20:00.007Z

Behold, some of our kids' recent creations. Let us know if you'd like to bid on any of the pieces in this collection.

The Artist

2011-01-07T22:18:00.002Z

Brooke will sit at the table for hours, coloring and painting

Christmas Card 2010

2011-01-07T15:37:00.000Z

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Anthony & Ashley,

Andrew & Brooke (5), Matthew (3) and Will (1)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T22:25:00.005Z

This year, for the first time ever, we spent the holidays at home!

Setting up the Christmas tree, visiting Santa...

Making gingerbread houses

A fondue dinner on Christmas Eve

Finally Christmas Day arrives!

After Christmas we enjoyed some time in the city, visiting the "fish museum", Big Ben, Buckingham Palace...

... Harrod's, and the science museum.

Snow!

2011-01-01T22:06:00.003Z

London got about 5 inches of snow this year, so everything shut down. Anthony was stranded in Zurich for 3 extra days because all the airports were closed. But once he finally made it home, it made for great fun!

Career Day

2011-01-01T22:04:00.002Z

Brooke is an aspiring artist and Andrew plans to be a rock climber. For Christmas we're getting Will a stethoscope and a gavel for Matthew (because we also need some doctors and lawyers in the family to support us when we get old).

Skeletons

2011-01-01T21:57:00.000Z

A fierce group of skeletons from the Cobra Kai dojo. Watch out or they will put you in a bodybag.

Fall is here!

2011-01-01T21:51:00.000Z

Athens Marathon 2010

2010-10-31T21:53:00.001Z

On the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, Anthony (and 12,000 other runners) retraced Pheidippides' footsteps from Marathon to Athens:

Pre-race site-seeing at the Acropolis

The marathon route with elevation profile

The starting line

Victory!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T10:55:00.009+01:00

Our ward's "Trunk-or-Treat" and other Halloween festivities with "The Sams"

Apple Day at Lathcoats Farm & Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-23T23:12:00.000+01:00

Holly (15.10.10)

2010-10-15T21:43:00.000+01:00

It seems like ages ago now, but in October my dear friend Holly came to visit.

A day trip to Cambridge

A weekend in London

Portobello Road, Boden, Harrod's...shopping, eating and lots of good conversation! It was the most perfect girl-weekend! Thank you for making the long trip Hol!

Holly and her husband, Kumen, are the most amazing people. They have long awaited the blessing of children in their home. The link below is for their adoption profile. If you know of anyone looking for wonderful adoption parents, please pass it along.

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24875021/ourMessage.jsf

Cotswalds

2010-10-10T20:58:00.053+01:00

Our hotel in Chipping Camden

Our morning walk behind our hotel

The church in Chipping Camden

More Chipping Camden and Stratford upon Avon

Day 2 - morning walk

The countryside (which reminded us of Switzerland)

The playground at Sudeley Castle (where we spent hours fighting dragons)

The Sudeley Castle chapel

Daylesford Organic Farm Shop (or was it a day spa?)

Marathon Training

2010-10-09T20:36:00.000+01:00

Anthony preparing for his weekly long run

Colchester Zoo

2010-10-02T20:34:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday Will!

2010-09-26T22:23:00.000+01:00

School

2010-09-22T20:36:00.000+01:00

Brooke & Andrew's first day at Reception (full time Kindergarten). They were really excited, but laughing they pretended to be sad.

"While the cat's away, the mice will..." go grocery shopping! So easy with just 2 kids!

Matthew's first day back at Pre-School

Ready to ride

All dolled up in uniforms

Birthday

2010-09-18T20:45:00.003+01:00

The Pool

(We rented out the kid's favorite swimming pool and had the run of it for just us, Andrew & Brooke's friends and each of their families. It was a blast! In between back flips and corkscrews Andrew said, "Thank you so much for bringing me here! This is the best party!")

The Cakes

"Pass the Parcel"
(A British party game my kids have quickly grown to love)

Opening presents

(Photos couldn't really capture the sheer craziness of these few minutes. All the girls seemed to naturally gravitate to Brooke's presents and all the boys circled around Andrew. Two kids opening at the same time, present after present, wrapping paper everywhere, kids everywhere...I'm lucky I was able to keep a list!)

Although we celebrated almost an entire month early, it was great to spoil our cute almost 5 year-olds. Happy Birthday Kiddos!

Cambridge

2010-08-30T21:12:00.000+01:00

Punting, Kings College, Trinity Street, and Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree. A very relaxing town with a highly intellectual feel. We loved Cambridge, and hope this was the first of many visits.

USA Trip 2010

2010-08-23T22:17:00.000+01:00

USA Trip: St George, N. Carolina, E. Coast

St George, UT

Playing with cousins, beating the heat by sheer nakedness, and getting tiny fingerprints all over Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Everyday included a trip to Grandma & Grandpa's pool. All fear of water subsides when it's over 100F and the water is as warm as a bath (plus having 6 flotation devices helped Brooke's confidence).

Climbing the Red Rocks, now a St. George tradition. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Marlene join us this time!

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Woodbury Family Reunion: 12 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 pre-teens, 3 "big" kids, 8 kids five years old and under, 3 babies, 30 people total. It was amazing (stats stolen from my sister-in-law's blog, many more fun pictures found there).

Cousins were without a doubt the highlight of the entire trip for Andrew, Brooke & Matthew. All of a sudden they had 15 best friends that were fun, cool and wanted to play with them all time.

More swimming everyday

Sand Dunes in Kitty Hawk

Duck Beach

Family Photos

More highlights: building forts, Baldie's Burgers, Kitty Hawk Kites, Wright Museum, BBQing, being with Grandma & Grandpa, Lucy's Baby Blessing (the youngest Woodbury grandchild) and a great beach house.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut

We spent our last week in the Tri-State Area having more cousin fun, visiting all of Mommy's old hangouts in New Canaan and even getting a dose of Uncle Aaron in the Big Apple.

24 days, 3 airplanes, 5 cars, 4 houses, 1 hotel, 4 time zones, 7 states, 2 countries and 4 very little well seasoned travelers.
It was a perfect trip. Until next time USA!

Pre-School Graduation

2010-07-19T23:33:00.000+01:00

Summer

2010-07-15T22:53:00.000+01:00

Summer days in the backyard: Slip 'N Sliding, sandbox-ing, trampoline jumping and no shirt-ing (don't ask about the gloves though, I think they may have been part of some spy costume?)

Berry picking (29.06.10)

Camping in the backyard and celebrating 4th July (03.07.10)

3' Festival (07.07.10) An enormous fair in Chelmsford for kids under 5 years old (and smaller than 3 Ft!). We were there right at opening and stayed past closing; the kids had a ball. (If you can't tell, Matthew wanted his face painted like the Avatar movie.)

A Saturday in London

2010-06-26T23:28:00.050+01:00

Ever since we moved to England, the kiddies have been asking to visit Daddy's office (something we could do weekly in Switzerland.) So we took off to London to show them where Daddy disappears to everyday. Highlights: picking out their favorite skyscrapers, playing hide and seek, raiding the pantry for cookies and apples and video conferencing each other. We spent almost 2 hours there and they had no intention of leaving until we mentioned Hyde Park and ice cream. Needless to say, they think Daddy has a great job.

I wish I had taken a picture of them on the Tube. They love the train and make friends with everyone around them, that is unless they are openly discussing how "stinky" it smells.

We spent the rest of the day at Kensington Garden's Princes Diana Memorial Playground. It was great. We were so busy enjoying the park that we didn't take many pictures. However we did document Will's first taste of sand.

Portugal

2010-06-19T21:40:00.002+01:00

Anthony and I escaped to Algarve, Portugal for 4 days to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. We did a whole lot of this: beaches, pools, napping, tennis, surfing, massages and golfing. It was amazing, just what a vacation for two should be.

Marsh Farm

2010-06-11T21:40:00.016+01:00

We took the kids to a really great petting zoo while Chelsi was with us(a great au pair with a too short visit to London). We all had a ball and enjoyed a near-empty park on an overcast day.

Three

2010-06-08T22:49:00.028+01:00

Matthew's first "friends" birthday party was a complete success: kiddie pool, trampoline, sand pit, bubble machine, "pass the parcel," cupcakes and presents. Anthony made fabulous BBQ for the parents and our friends Sam and Sam even brought their pet gerbils for added kiddie entertainment. And we couldn't have asked for better sunny weather, the famous English rain held off until at least 2 hours after the party ended!

Our "Little Bear" isn't so little anymore. And as if the natural growing up wasn't enough for a mom to cope with, he has officially told me not to call him Bear anymore, he is now "Big-kid Monkey."

Chicken Pox

2010-06-07T21:39:00.003+01:00

It was the season for Chicken Pox at our pre-school and Matthew brought it home and shared it with his best buddy. Thankfully Matthew finished it before his birthday party, and Will, although 10x worse than Matthew's, wasn't bothered at all. We are happy to be a spot-free house now!

Dressing Up

2010-06-01T21:11:00.000+01:00

a girl date

2010-05-15T21:48:00.006+01:00

"How to Train a Dragon" 3D

First Golf Lesson

2010-05-08T22:05:00.002+01:00

Jammies

2010-05-06T22:35:00.002+01:00

There is something about freshly bathed, pajama'd kids that just makes me happy. Especially when it's these four.

Easter Break - Brugge and Kinderdijk

2010-04-24T22:50:00.018+01:00

First stop: Brugge, Belgium. We can't decide what we enjoyed most:

The food...

...the architecture...

...the statues (especially climbing on statues, which became Andrew's favorite sport over the course of this trip. Don't worry, we didn't let him climb on Michelangelo's Madonna and Child)...

...or the company.

Next up, Kinderdijk, Netherlands, which has a great collection of windmills.

This was the view from our hotel room. A true photographer would have woken up at 6AM to capture the sunrise. This shot was taken at around 8AM.

We figured this would be a good setting to take some good family pictures. Unfortunately, the weather (windy and cold) and the kids (not willing to hold still, smile, or look at the camera) did not cooperate.

Anthony lingered to take pictures, while everyone else ran back to the car to get warm. This ended up being the best family picture we got: four people looking at the camera if you include Anthony's reflection.

Easter Break - Delft

2010-04-24T21:00:00.015+01:00

After Kinderdijk, we stopped for lunch in Delft, which, besides being a cute town, is famous for its pottery. We weren't a fan of the pottery so none is pictured here, but here is the cute town.

Also more statue climbing, and a new event: door climbing.

Easter Break - Zandvoort

2010-04-24T20:46:00.006+01:00

We stayed a few days in Zandvoort, just outside of Haarlem.

Hat and gloves, 4 layers of clothing: not exactly the ideal apparel for a beach holiday. Fortunately we had a nice pool where we stayed.

Easter Break - Aalsmeer

2010-04-24T19:30:00.006+01:00

The Aalsmeer Flower Auction takes place in the third largest building in the world. Trainloads of flowers move through this place on a daily basis. It was a pretty amazing sight. Anthony has toured a lot of plants and factories for due diligence trips at work. This was by far the best smelling industrial complex he's ever seen.

Easter Break - Keukenhof

2010-04-24T19:00:00.016+01:00

Although the first half of the trip was great, we questioned the wisdom in vacationing in mid April, especially in a place as windy as Holland. At the Keukenhof we remembered why we planned it for when we did, and had no regrets.

7 million flower bulbs in bloom. Simply amazing.

"Who can find the best smelling flower?" A game that could have kept us busy all day.

Looking up, it was easy to imagine where Van Gogh got his inspiration for his "Almond Blossom"

The Lilly pads were our favorite. Andrew liked doing something more dangerous than smelling flowers.

After watching our family attempt about 10 family portraits with the tripod and self-timer, onlookers must have been amused. After about 20, they just felt sorry for us and offered to make noises and push the button so our kids would look at the camera. Almost got everybody (except will) looking this time (center picture).

Aalsmeer and Keukenhof in the same day make for a lot of flowers (and a lot of photos) (if you are really interested in actually seeing these photos, you can click on them a couple times to make larger).

Easter Break - Edam

2010-04-24T18:00:00.001+01:00

A relaxing day in the charming towns of Volendam and Edam, North of Amsterdam.

Easter Break - Amsterdam

2010-04-24T06:04:00.005+01:00

Final stop on our tour: Amsterdam!

Easter Break - Home

2010-04-24T05:00:00.007+01:00

About 2 miles before reaching the ferry to go back to England, we were in a car accident. We were hit from behind while braking to avoid hitting someone in front of us that decided to do a U-turn in the middle of the road (ironically, the same cause of our last accident that totalled our Subaru in 2002). No injuries, but our car (which we have owned for about one month) was smashed up, as you can see here.

The accident caused us to miss our ferry, and due to the volcano and flight ban across Europe, the other ferries were all booked for the next 5 days. To get back home we had to drive down to France and catch a midnight ferry there. Not a great ending to our trip, but at least we got to see more of the countryside on the way back.

Although technically not part of the trip since this was the day after we got back, this shows how exhausted the kids (and parents) were after the trip. That, or they had just become accustomed to sleeping on top of each other after 8 nights in hotels.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T23:16:00.001+01:00

6 months, officially

2010-03-29T23:04:00.001+01:00

and getting cuter everyday

A Day in London

2010-03-22T22:33:00.001Z

My favorite picture from the entire day

Portobello Road Market

Scenes from the city

Left to right: on the Vespa, at the spa, bumping into old friends (adorable prego Katherine Foulger), Urban golf, great mexican food in the UK!, self pic at Big Ben, Anthony the navigator, sef pic at Westminster, us.

Thanks to our adorable babysitters, a newlywed couple who did more fun activities in one day with our kids than we do in a whole week.