Tuscany (Siena) and Rome

Dennis and Betsy, Troy's cousins, visited us in July after going to a wedding in Sweden and we decided to go south for some warm weather and wine! What better destination than Tuscany.  Oh and I have to mention that this was a kidless trip! Our great friends here graciously offered to watch Abby and Ryan.  It was amazing!!  The trip outdid all of my expectations and I would definitely recommend Siena and the Tuscany region for anyone to visit if they ever have a chance.  It was the most beautiful scenery and towns.  I did not realize that most if not all of the Tuscany towns are built up on a hill with a medieval wall that was used for protection years and years back.  We flew into Pisa and our first stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Such a neat landmark, but there is not much more to the city than this site, so we headed to Siena pretty quickly.  Troy was driving and since it's so hilly there it was a lot of up and down thru the country roads.  Luckily no one got carsick!  We stayed in Siena at a cute bed and breakfast, which by the way did not serve breakfast, but could go down the street to the local cafe. :)  There is very limited driving in the city, so it was great to walk around.  There were lots of art shops.  The major event in Siena is a horse race in their main piazza, 2 times in the summer (which we missed by a few weeks).  There are 10 riders representing 10 of the 17 areas of the city.  It is a major event and lots of pride for each of the areas of the city.  The pictures looked amazing - tons of people and these jockeys racing bareback.

Betsy also did some research and found a local wine tour guide who was the highest rated on trip advisor.  She was an amazing tour guide to local wineries that we would have never found on our own.  Our first stop was to a cheese and winery called Il Casale.  This is a biological farm that makes goat cheese from their own goats.  They are also a farm that you can come and volunteer to work at. They provide a place for you to stay and you work on the farm for 2 weeks.  She also made fresh ricotta, which was amazing!  We sat under a terrace with amazing views and sampled their wine and cheese.  2 of my favorite cheeses was one that sits in dried wine grapes, so it has a hint of a wine flavor and a nut one.  We also were able to see their cheese factory and she showed us how they stored their cheese.

Our next stop was the San Polino winery.  This is another biological vineyard.  They are pretty new to wine making, but their first batch got a very high rating, so they are very busy with the demand.  It was a beautiful vineyard and house (600 years old).  The neatest thing about this tour was we were basically invited into their homes.  The wine made in this region is Brunello de Montalcino (more expensive) and Rosso de Montalcino.  This vineyard made both and their Brunello was amazing.  We bought a bottle to share later that night.  We also learned that many of the wineries strive to have the DOGC label on their wine (controlled designation of origin guaranteed), which guarantees the wineries have met certain standards and it's a prestigious marking on their bottle.  Additionally, the wineries cannot water their grapes unless they are around a year old, so they really rely on mother nature.  It was amazing listening to these farmers and these grapes are their babies.

The next stop was for lunch at a local man's house, who cooks from his garden.  Another find that we would probably have never found on our own.  It was amazing food of pasta and lamb.  It was quite an experience in the back of his house (only has about 5 tables).  He did not speak much English.

The next stop was a honey farm.  I didn't write the name of this place down (I think I was sleepy from the yummy food and wine), but honey is also pretty common here.  We were able to see some of their bee hives and taste some of their honey.  It was pretty delicious!

The last stop was another winery named San Carlo.  The grand-daughter is now mostly running it with her father.  I believe her grandfather started the vineyard.  Another amazing wine and beautiful location.  She was so excited when it started raining!

We also enjoyed two great nights of 2 hour + dinners in Siena.  Such a treat with 2 small children.  So relaxing sitting outside enjoying delicious Italian food!

On our 3rd day we headed to Rome.  My friend here is from Northern Italy and has never been to Rome.  I find this crazy since she lives in Italy, but she says it is too busy and there is nothing she really needs to go there for.  Well, after being in Siena, where it's so relaxing and calm, and then going to Rome I can see why people don't go to Rome.  Busy, busy, busy with tons of tourists!!  We stayed near the Piazza Navona, a beautiful fountain.  We did quite a bit of walking, but every location was very busy with tourists.  We saw the Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Vatican (including Sistine Chapel), and drove by the Colosseum. So much beautiful history here.

Our 4th day we headed home after the Vatican.  Such an amazing trip!  Wasn't quite ready to come home, but I missed miss Abby and Ryan!  They had such a good time with our friends that the first thing Ryan asked me was when dad and I were going on another trip so that he could stay there! :)

Beautiful Main Piazza in Siena

View from the top of Siena

First stop on our tour to Il Casale

2nd stop to San Polino

 Last winery stop at San Carlo

 Piazza Navona

 Vatican

The start of summer until now

I just realized how long it has been since I last blogged!  Whoops, time has just flown by the last couple of months!  Since we went back to Portland at the end of May for a busy trip, we've stayed pretty close to home in June and July.  It was so nice to be back in our house in Oregon and to see so many family and friends.  Troy worked most of the trip and I tried to see as many people as I could, so the kids and I were very busy!  Ryan had such a great time seeing some of his friends.  Troy was also in Todd and Autumn's wedding, so we had a fun weekend celebrating them!  The kids did really well going to Oregon with the time change, but coming home was brutal!  For about 5 days Ryan would wake up around 1 am and could not fall back asleep until 3 or 4.  Abby did this for a couple of nights as well, but Ryan definitely struggled with this more.  I was a bit homesick coming back to Eindhoven, but getting back into the swing of things and seeing friends here really helped.

Todd and Autumn honeymooned in Europe and stayed with us the last couple of nights of their trip in June.  They were our first visitors!  A friend watched the kids for us, so we could spend the day in Amsterdam.  We had a great day with them sight seeing!

Ryan's school is a year round schedule, so he didn't get out of school until June 29th and will start again on August 13th.  Only a 6 week break, so I thought we have to make the most of this short summer break!!  We've been playing with friends, going to museums, and parks near our house.  The problem has been the weather has not been summer weather and has been raining quite a bit until last week.  Not having summer weather has been really hard, but am hoping this week of sunshine will stay a bit longer!  Our trip for the summer with the kids is Croatia in a few days.  I can't wait! We are going with another family, who have kids similar ages to ours, so it is going to be such a fun beach trip together!  They have become great friends here.

We took Troy to one of our favorite parks here, the parrot park in Veldhoven last weekend.  Abby and Ryan love it and you can feed most of the birds here.  Ryan is very serious about feeding the birds and Abby likes to try and talk to them.  A few parrots do say hello, which make them laugh.

We also found a dinosaur museum about 15 minutes from our house and this place was a hit with Abby and Ryan as well.  They have an indoor area with fossils and some lifelike dinosaurs that moved (which scared Abby).  Then their is an outdoor area with dinosaurs and a small playground.

Hope everyone reading this is having a great summer!  Troy and I just got back from Tuscany (Siena) and Rome with Dennis and Betsy, so I will be blogging about this trip soon.  It was amazing!

Abby cracks me up in this picture.  Getting ready for take-off to Portland!

 Our fun day in Amsterdam with the newlyweds!

 Dinosaur museum

 My little hams

 Parrot Park

        

Paris 4/28-4/30

Paris, to me, always feels like a city you never want to leave.  There is just something about the city I find so magical.  The beautiful architecture, bridges, Eiffel Tower, cafes, and museums that I just fall in love with.  Each corner you turn is a beautiful monument and even the apartment building are beautiful.  We drove in on Saturday morning and what should have been a 4.5 hour drive turned into an over 6 hour drive due to the traffic getting thru the 2 tolls into Paris.  First stop was to pick up your toll ticket and the 2nd was to pay.  We were shocked to pay 16 euro in toll one way (equivalent to about $21!!).  Anything the Europeans can do to promote not driving they will do!  Our hotel was in the more business area called Montparnasse.  It was a nice hotel with lots of restaurants right outside and it was only about a 10 minute subway ride to the Eiffel tower.  An added bonus to the trip was getting to see some great friends, Kim and Dan, that I use to work with that we hadn't seen in about 5 years.  Dan has been working a little bit in London and Kim decided to come over this trip and left their 2 daughters at home with family.  It felt like we had seen each other yesterday and picked up right where we left off.  We spent Saturday afternoon and evening with them walking around the Louvre and the surrounding cafes and restaurants.  It was drizzling on Saturday, so walking around we were a bit wet.  The kids managed to find every puddle to try and walk thru.  They were soaked! 

Of course, traveling with kids definitely changes your priorities to a trip (aka no museums, quiet churches, or leisurely strolls/relaxing at a cafe), so we spent quite a bit of our weekend at the playground outside of the Louvre. :)  We'd walk somewhere and then try to make our way back to the playground at the Louvre because it was fenced and the kids could get some energy out.  On Sunday, we started at the Eiffel Tower, walked to the Champs L'Eysee, and then up it back to the Louvre.  Ryan, Abby, and Troy rode the carousel outside of the Eiffel tower.  Abby and Ryan were all smiles on it.  We did luck out and have beautiful weather the rest of the weekend.  Ryan fell in love with the Eiffel Tower and the subway trains.  The line was very long to go up the Eiffel tower, so the kids played at the park right outside of it for a bit before we walked to the Champs L'Eysee.  We ate at a great Italian restaurant off the Champs L'Eysee, which Abby slept thru.  We also found a Gap to get Ryan another pair of pants since luck would have it, the one time I didn't overpack he had an accident and also soaked the other pair running thru the rain puddles.  We ended the day at the Louvre playground and then just had a quick bite at a Lebanese restaurant by our hotel because we were all pretty tired.

On Monday, we took the subway to Notre Dame before heading home.  There was a Starbucks right outside the subway stop, so of course we had to go. :)  Notre Dame was beautiful, but we didn't go in because the line was really long and we didn't think the kids would last waiting.  Abby and Ryan ran after the birds in front of the church for awhile.  We were pretty surprised at how many tourists were at all of these attractions.  I think peak tourist season is starting!  Our drive home was easy and no traffic at the toll stops.  I think we just hit everyone trying to come into Paris for the holiday break.  On our drive out of Paris, Ryan asked us "When are we going back to Paris?"  I asked him what he really liked about Paris and he said the subways and that he wants to ride them again.

Also, Monday was a Dutch holiday, so Troy had the day off.  It's called Queens Day to celebrate one of the Queen's birthday.  It's a big celebration in the Netherlands and everyone wears orange (Dutch color) and parties out at the parks, etc.  People get quite crazily dressed with boas, big sunglasses, socks, etc.  It's also the only day of the year that you can have a garage sale, so lots of people are out trying to sell their things.  We saw lots of pictures, but we weren't super interested in going into Eindhoven after our long drive home.  Maybe next year. 

Lots of pictures in this post!

Ryan riding the carousel

 Abby and Daddy on the carousel

 This picture pretty much sums up why I can not get a picture of them together! :)

 Ryan drawing the Eiffel Tower

 This is Abby upset because she can't walk in the giant puddle.  

 Arc de Triumphe

 #1 reason not to have a Bentley in Paris!

 Our 2nd home on this trip - the playground outside the Louvre

 Abby in front of Notre Dame

 Notre Dame

 This picture sums up our trip as well.  Abby running for the puddles and Ryan and I running after her. :)

Last couple of weeks

We are all starting to feel more settled and into a routine here, which is so nice.  We haven't traveled the last couple of weeks because of the weather not being great and Ryan had a school fun fair on April 14th.  Ryan's school is such a melting pot of people from all over the world.  It is really neat to hear what Ryan is learning from the other kids about their language and culture.  The school puts together what they call a Fun Fair every year as a fundraiser.  They have a flea market with all sorts of items people donate.  So interesting they do this, but it makes sense since there are so many people coming and going.  They also have simple carnival type games, bouncy house, and our favorite was the food.  Many families made authentic food from their country and the sales of this went to the school.  There was a French, Indian, Japanese, Turkish, Taiwan, Italian, UK, and American booth.  It was amazing food!  I was a little embarrassed about the American food.  All the other tables had these beautiful spreads and the American had mostly packaged goods (potato chips, candy, cookies, etc.) and a bbq.  But, I guess when you think of American food that is it?!  It was nice to meet some new people from the school as well.  I volunteered for part of the day at one of the game booths.  There are quite a few American military families at his school.  I was surprised to hear we have bases in the Netherlands.

We also signed Ryan up on a soccer team.  It is every Saturday for 45 min and there are a couple of coaches running them thru drills and then they scrimmage.  They all wear the same uniform.  We were surprised at this since they are so little, but we are in soccer country!  The coaches are really great and Ryan is loving it.  One of his friends from school is also on the team, so they can get silly together.  I think they are the only 2 English speaking, but the coaches are really great at giving directions in English and Dutch.  I found out as well that girls don't play soccer here! There are no teams whatsoever!!  My Italian friend from school said it is not ladylike to learn how to play soccer and to kick a ball. Ha!  

Abby is changing so fast these days.  She is really starting to say more and more words and let us know when she needs something.  The girlish screech has started! :)  She is so fun and just a really happy girl.  She is very sensitive and gets really embarrassed/sad when you tell her no at something she did or is doing.  I get sad watching her lip start to quiver and bury her head in my shoulder.  I took the kids to the Parrot Park again yesterday and it was so funny to watch how they play.  Ryan was running around the playground, up and down the slide and ladders and she sat for a good 30 minutes on this rocking horse just rocking and looking around.

I think we are headed to Paris this weekend to see a couple I use to work with.  I haven't seen her in over 4 years, so I'm very excited!

Keukenhof - Amsterdam

Happy Easter!  Troy returned from Portland the Saturday before Easter.  We all were so happy to see him!  Very strange that he was at home and we were all here.  He brought lots of Easter goodies (thank you Judy and Amy!) and I had quite the list of things for him to bring back.  It felt like Christmas with everything he brought back!  A little piece of home!!

On Sunday, Ryan woke up and went racing downstairs to see what the Easter bunny brought.  I hid some Easter eggs in the other room thinking we would do this after breakfast, but he didn't see his Easter basket and went straight for the other room.  By the time we got downstairs he had found most of the eggs and thought this was what the Easter bunny brought.  He is really into the next 4+ year legos, so he spent a long time working on his new lego helicopter.  Abby is still a little too little to understand.  She just wanted to hold the chocolate eggs and walk around.  Her new word is ball, so she just kept saying ball to all of the Easter eggs.

We decided to go to Keukenhof up near Amsterdam on Easter Sunday.  We have heard many people talk of this place as a must see.  It's a park with mostly tulips and areas to walk around.  It's only open for about 2 months (April and May) when all of the tulips bloom.  It was beautiful, but VERY crowded and not really a kid type place.  There is a small jungle gym, but mostly it is walking around to the different showcases of flowers and looking at all of the beautiful flowers in the gardens.  It was neat to see.  Troy also had Monday off, so we just relaxed and hung around the house.  Troy brought back the first 2 Hunger Games books and I could not stop reading them.  I already finished the first 2!

Love their faces here

 One of the many surrounding tulip fields/farms