Last Day in London 7/20/10

These are a few pictures of our last day in London. The kids and I went to Saint Paul's Cathedral. It was amazing. They picked a spot and actually laid down on the floor to look at the ceiling! It is amazing to think about the hhand work that went into making that church. It is also amazing to think that it was built in the 1600's before any machinery. After that we went to an outside cafe and had a small dinner I sat and had a glass of wine while the kids sat on the nearby curb and watched the street performers. I believe that they are really going to miss the street performers! After that we headed to the Lyceum Theater to see The Lion King. Awesome!! Jack sat on the edge of his seat with his mouth in a perma grin and his eyes as big as saucers. Allie kept turning to me and smiling throughout. It was a great experience. Today is for cleaning and packing. John is coming home early for some extra family time. We leave at 7:30tomorrow morning to go back home!

After Dinner Rugby 7/0/10

John and the kids playing rugby after dinner last night. It is going to be hard to leave him here when we go! We are headed to London today for our last trip before we go home. We are going to do a little more sightseeing and going to an evening production of The Lion King.

The Bikes!! Amsterdam

These are a few pictures of the many bikes around the city. There does not seem to be any organization in the way that they are parked. They are everywhere and there are even parking garages for them. This is however, a biking town. There are traffic rules and God help you if you get in their way!!

Oddities of Amsterdam 7/19 2010

Just of few of the strange things we saw while walking around. You can grow your onw pot, or buy it already grown. The shoppe had fully grown plants for sale and the flower market had the "grow kits". John almost bought Jack a pot lollipop in one of the souvenir shops! The lovely picture of John is at one of the public urinals place around the city. He was just posing for this picture but did end up using one later in the week end!

Hard Rock Amsterdam 7/17/10

This is the only "touristy" thing that we have done the whole time we have been in Europe! Jack was excited because he finally got wings! He at every one of them! They really enjoyed their first Hard Rock Cafe. It may be hard to top!

Amsterdam July 16-18, 2010

These are pictures of some of the amazing street entertainment that we encountered. The man in the jeweled thong arrived at dinner in the square the first night we were there. I thought Allie was going to faint! "that's gross and I am trying to eat here" was her comment! We really enjoyed most of the entertainment!

Just a few miscellaneous pictures today. We are getting ready to leave for Amsterdam today. This is our last European vacation before we head back to the USA. Have a great week-end!

These are more pictures of the kids at the museum. Allie in a gas mask, Jack and Allie in their rat hats, JT and Justin with thier heads in the cut out, and Jack playing smash a rat on the floor (if you look really close, you can see the game on the floor. If you stomp really hard on a rat, it splats!) He really had fun with this game!

These are pictures of the kids at the British War Museum They have a section called trench warfare that is interactive. The kids had a great time trying on the uniforms and looking at off of the things.

My Sweet Allie!

She reminds me on a regular basis to stop and smell the roses! She is my optimist and reminds me to take time out in my day to have fun. It is hard for me to stop when there are so many things to do, but she keeps me in line and help me to "stop and smell the roses" sometimes!

The Viking Tour, Dublin

Here are the pictures of our Viking Tour! We wore hats and growled at people as they passed on the streets. It was a "duck tour" which means that it went on land and into the river. We had a great time but it would have been better without the rain. Cannot count on the Irish weather!

The castle in Ireland

These are a few pictures of our stay at Dromoland Castle in Ireland. There is a picture of all 10 of us on the staircase in the lobby. Jack and Justin played chess in the lounge every night while waiting for dinner. We had our own little room for dinner each night. For some reason nobody wanted to eat in "our"room with us. The kids enjoyed feeding the ducks each morning. The waiters gave them bags of extra bread to feed them. I have no idea how those ducks do not weigh 500 pounds. The last picture is of the 4 wheel bikes that the kids enjoyed riding even in the rain!