Monday, January 19, 2015

November

Wow, I am so close to being done with the year!

November will be a shorter blog post because half of November was spent in Europe.

When we got back from Europe we discovered that Lucy was limping a lot.  We weren't sure from what, but we figured that because there was an ice storm that she probably slipped on the stairs and sprained her foot.  After it was not better in a few days and it was looking swollen Christopher took her to the vet.

At the vet we weighed the boys.



Lucy's foot was looking better, but after we stopped the antibiotics it got worse.  We got a refill.  After a couple of days it was bleeding and not doing well, so back to the vet we went.  He said that her nail is infected and put her on a heavy dose of antibiotics and told us to soak her foot in epsom salt three times a day.  Both things seemed to help and her foot finally healed!  Once her nail grew out we saw where it was damaged.

We had to wrap her foot up when it was bleeding, so that she would stop licking it

We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) for the first time and while there we bought a membership.  The boys seemed to have a lot of fun.



We finally registered our cars with DMV.  The process was so easy and fast!  Much much better than Los Angeles!  Soon after registering our cars Christopher was on his way home and got in a minor car accident.  Some old lady didn't realize that there were a bunch of cars stopped at a light and rear ended one car that hit another car, which then hit Christopher's car.  He was okay and there was minor damage to the car.

This year we stayed at our house for Thanksgiving.  We watched Home Alone with the boys, which they loved!  Then we had a nice dinner.  Also, Nathan grew a mustache!



Christopher started working on setting up his taps in our kitchen and I started the "no poo" method, which is not using shampoo and conditioner on my hair and using baking soda, water, and vinegar instead.


Monday, January 5, 2015

Europe 2014 Trip

At the end of October we went to Europe for a business trip for Christopher and to see our good friends Crystal, Sam, and their kids.

The first day was a lot of traveling and waiting in airports.  They had some Legos to play with which kept them a little occupied.


On plane two of the day.  They got new earphones and stayed awake for almost the whole plane ride from Seattle to London because they got to watch movies and cartoons!


We landed in London at Heathrow and had a 12 or 13 hour layover there :(.  Since our flight wasn't a connecting flight we couldn't check in until two hours before our scheduled departure time.  We were thinking of taking the metro into London and doing a bus tour, but with all of our luggage and being super jet lagged we decided against that.  We thought that we'd hang out in the airport the whole time.  The only bad part was that since we couldn't check in yet we had to stay on the perimeter of the airport.  Luckily, they had a place to sit and some good restaurant options.



We finally left for Prague and stayed at a hotel near the airport.  The next day the Stone family came and picked us up to head to Krumlov.  We mostly just hung out at the Stone's house.  We didn't want to stress ourselves out with a lot of traveling, which worked out perfect.  Plus, it was nice to just hang out with friends.


At a manmade lake in CZ

Exploring the woods by the house


Making hot dogs for lunch

Enjoying a movie with the kiddos

At the mirror maze in town

Climbing at the playground in town.

It was Halloween!  In the Czech Republic they don't celebrate Halloween, but there are some American and Canadian expats living here, so a small group of us got together and went trick or treating (one of the moms handed out candy to stores to give to the kids) in the town.  Many people were very intrigued by the kids!  One of the stops the parents even got a shot of alcohol!





After trick or treating we went to a restaurant in town and had an Italian dinner!


The weather was great and we had a bbq.  Z and Nathan were very into building.



This is my buddy Tiger
Christopher left to Paris for the week for work and we hung out at the Stone's house.

We went to the Tea House and he slept the whole time

Enjoying some tea at the tea hosue

Playing at M & Z's school

Sheep!

Little Red Riding Hood

Z trying to get Tiger
Christopher was having some fun too!




I then took a bus, the metro, and a plane all by myself to meet Christopher in Paris!  I was very proud of myself (and I wasn't too stressed out!).  The boys stayed with Crystal and Sam and it was our first time both being away from them for more than a day.




This view was a block from where we stayed

We went on a bike tour of Paris & stopped here to take some pictures

Julia Child used to shop at this kitchen shop
We had a fun time in Paris and the boys were super well behaved for Crystal and Sam.  We only had a few days left at their house :(.  Three weeks went by really fast!

Celebrating Martinmas at the kids' school

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Heading by to Prague

We had an overnight layover in London, so we decided that this time we would check out the city.  We were staying in a hotel that was close to the airport.  There was a free bus to and from the airport where we got on the metro into the city.  Once there we got on one of those hop on and off buses to get a tour.  It was a little bit rainy, in the evening, and the boys were whiny so we just stayed on the bus.  Our tour guide was really unenthusiastic and then Christopher started asking him questions and the guy opened up about there being a death in his family.  Well, just having someone to talk to was all this poor guy needed & wanted.  He perked up, started giving a really good tour (probably better than he does even when not sad).  At the end it was like him and Christopher were good pals!  Some people that were on our tour commented how it was the best tour they've had of London.  After the tour we went to a restaurant the tour guide recommended.  It was good food, but it was more like a bar and there were so many people and loud music so we had to scream at each other to talk.



We left London and had a layover in Chicago.  Christopher's brother Mike met us there and we went out to lunch.  Then we got on a five hour flight home!  Luckily for me, the ice storm that was in Portland the day before we landed left and the weather was just cold, which made for an easy flight and landing!