NYC, NY

This past weekend I was able to go stateside for a few days.  It was awesome to see all my siblings and my parents.  At the same time it made me even more homesick.  It's kind of weird, being over here, I felt like I said goodbye last summer.  So I had momentum, things were going great, we are staying busy, and I try not to think of home too much.  Then, there I am, surrounded by my family.  My baby brothers, and my sister...and WAM, homesickness hits with a force.  It has taken me a bit to get over it, if you ever can get over it completely, however I will never regret the blissful few days I was able to spend with them.  We had a lot of laughs, tears, and special moments.  Memories that will have to see me through until I see them again.

My parents have never been to Manhattan, neither have I for that matter, so we decided to take a train from New Jersey into the city.  It was a pretty fun afternoon.  We just walked around and had lunch with my most awesome cousin in the world and my pretty fabulous uncle.

 My sista rockin her new hat!

 Needless to say, it was pretty cloudy the day we went.  We couldn't even see the top of the Empire State Building.  So we opted not to go to the top to look at clouds.  It was still pretty cool to see.

We didn't make it over to the Statue of Liberty.  We only had a few hours to spend walking around.  So this was the next best thing...he he.

My sister and her boyfriend, Oz, in front of the New York Public Library.  That was a pretty cool building.  I felt like I was back in Europe for a split second, while I was walking around.

 We met my Cuz and Uncle for lunch.  She lives in Manhattan.  She took us to the Shake Shack.  It was pretty crowded, but that was just fine, because we got to plop down in the center of Time Square for a misty picnic.  Way cooler then eating in a crowded hamburger joint!

 Me and my favoritist cousin in the world.  Seriously, we were best cuz's or bud's, all growing up.  We lived for when we would see each other next, and in between we wrote silly girl letters and shared giggly phone calls.  I love this girl.  She is amazing and almost done with her degree from COLUMBIA!!!

You rock Cuz!

My sister and I

It was so much fun to hang with her again, and to drag our poor parents all around NYC.  We all had fun, and stayed mostly dry, and only got lost once!

Normandy, France

Since we were in Paris, we had a wild hair and decided to drive to Normandy that Sunday.  Matt's grandfather fought in WWll, so seeing the American Memorial and Cemetery was always something he wanted to do.  It turned out to be a little bit longer of a drive then we figured, but it was worth going.  There is such a quiet reverence through out the American memorial and the beaches themselves.  It instantly brings goosbumps to your flesh and tears to your eyes.  It reminds me of the sacred feeling that Gettysburg has.  You remember what you have learned about what these brave men went through.  They knew they would most likely not see the night after braving the beaches, yet they were still willing to push on.  

All in the name of Freedom.

Sacred.

 You can still see some WWll wreckage on Omaha beach

 A preserved German bunker.

 Mont St. Michel

at sunrise

This had to be our wildest hair ever.  We needed to be out of France by a certain time, so we woke the kids up before sunrise and drove to this Abbey just so I could see it.  I figured we would probably never be out this way again, and so this was my chance to see the Abbey that inspired the Disney Tangled castle.  (If you haven't already guessed, I am slightly a fan of all things Disney)

None of the shops were open, because it was so early.  However because it was so early, we pretty much had the place to ourselves for the short time we could look around.  it was low tide, so she isn't surrounded by water like she is in high tide.  But I still think she was magnificently beautiful.

Definitely worth the drive to go see!

Paris

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go to Paris for the weekend.  We had some other business that took us to that part of the world, and thought we would take advantage of location, location, location.

It was a whirlwind trip, but fun none the less.

 a misty day at the palace Versailles 

 Third picture taken, and we kinda got a smile out of Hannah...success!

 The boys wouldn't look at the camera, they kept staring at the tower behind them!

 Hannah thinks this picture is gross, and that I shouldn't post it...

 Jack on top of the Arc de triumph (I can't spell it properly, and am too lazy to look it up!)

 Hunter.

It was fun to see the city from the top, and the huge round about around it.  We watched at least 8 near car accidents from the top of this tower...I recorded three of them.  It is an insane driving circle, and Matt made me promise to never make him drive it.

 Can you see the Mona Lisa behind this big crowd.  She is there, you can see the top half of her way back there.  Matt had all the good pictures of her on his phone, and I always forget to download the pictures off his phone!

 This is how the boys spent an educational afternoon in the Louvre...

 Venus, or Aphrodite, either way a neat experience to see her in person.

 All Anya wanted to see was the egypt exhibit.  Here she is next to Ramses ll

 outside the Louvre

 Enjoying a delicious crepe by the river, oh how I love crepes.

Hannah thinks I destroyed this one, though, because I put banana's on it.  

 I love how whenever we are close to water, we always have a picture of Hannah trying to fall in.

It is quickly becoming a tradition...

Say what???

I think I know who Hannah gets her dislike for having her picture taken from...

We had a fun couple of days in Paris.  We kept things low key, decided not to go to top of the Eiffel tower because the very top was closed for renovation.  Anya says " I don't want to go up if I can't go up to the top...what's the point?"  So we didn't.  Then we just saw what we could in a day and didn't stress ourselves out.  It was a fun city, fun to visit, but so glad I don't live there.

Happy Valentines Day

I love this day, no cliche intended...alright it was intended.  I have always loved this day, even when I was single.  My friends and I would do goofy things like heart someone's front lawn, or leave kisses all over someone's car.  Anyway, I think it can be a pretty fun day.  Matt and I do celebrate this day, usually by flowers and chocolate, maybe dinner out.  This year, I got spoiled.  Not only did I get some lovely roses, a box of my favorite "American" chocolate (dove truffle hearts), dinner out at our favorite Italian resturaunt here...but Matt also fed my Vera Bradley obssession.  He got me a new bag!  I was so excited.  Don't worry, he got spoiled too.  I gave him some chocolate covered macadamia's, and then we also shared some White chocolate Raseberry truffle cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  No, we are not in the states, but our Commissary sales them and I thought it would be perfect for Valentines day!

YUM!

GO GIRLS!!!

Anya received Honor roll recognition for all A's for the first semester of Middle school!

Go Anya!

Hannah received Honor roll recognition for quarters 1 and 2 in her elementary school!

Go Hannah!

Cora is doing fantastic in her first grade class and is in accelerated classes for reading and math!

Go Cora!

We are proud of our girls and all the accomplish!

Plugging along

So, we haven't had much going on lately, after my huge blog dump.  It has been bitter cold, so we have been staying close to home.  However, it is never just relaxing in our house.  We are constantly busy with the boys.  They make every moment entertaining!

finding treasures in Big Sissy's room

Uh-oh

They still love a good cuddle sleep with big sissy!

Rock band anyone?

Dinner time, most of dinner usually ends up on the floor.

Kicking back, watching TV with all the favorites toys

Hunter is not the pack rat his brother is.

Shoe baskets are good for holding cute boys too!

I still can't figure out what is on Jack's head.  It is a basket or bowl of some kind, but it does not look familiar to me in this "low light" photo.  So funny!

I am unable to upload pictures of the boys new favorite past time, STREAKING,  it would just be inappropriate!  However, these boys love to run around in the nude!  They can undo any article of clothing, doesn't matter if it is button, snap or zipper, they can take it off.  And they do!  Along with their diaper!  Some of my favorite places I have found them hanging out in the nude are:  Kicking back on their beds both reading books, In the kitchen "cooking",  hiding by the front door (they think they are so sneaky).  So, our latest measure to curb this is onsies.  They are a little more difficult to figure out, but they are fast approaching that skill as well.

Crazy boys!

We have some fun trips coming up, so stay tuned to the J Crew's travels!