Crazy Characters

That is Tommy and Rach, Crazy Characters.
On our way home from Domus tonight, Tommy breaks out in song, "Asleep, asleep, the Lord". (you know, Away in the Manger) It was a clear, high, beautiful tone. Jake said, "guess you know what he is thinking about!" It was well past his bedtime!

Goodnight Tommy. Sleep tight!

Normandy

We had a great time. We had sunshine, but it was still cold....
Etretat was a rocky beach with fabulous rocky cliffs. We went to church in Le Havre and ran into the Destribois family from Caen. Great fun. We rushed to Mont St. Michel to get there in time for high tide, but it was a rather wimpy high tide, however the Abby on the mound is always impressive.
Rach and Tommy were troopers. Hard to miss naps and sleep all together in one room, but they did great. I think they are glad to be back in Brussels and just hang around the house. So many hours in those darn car seats!
Rach told me she likes sand beaches more than rocky beaches. Good to know. She was looking at the pictures and said it was too cold. Her favorite part was going to TWO hotels. And she loves eating at restaurants....but not pizza. Wow. All this is good information! Tommy was just happy to hang around any tractors we could find. Oh, and I love it when he says, "hold you Grammy!"
The parents are off to Germany to have an overnight in a castle. The kids and I are going to take it easy. We are ALL delighted!

Family

It's just great to have family here with us! The picture of Isa was Tom trying to capture the fact that she is always carrying stuff. The more the better. Her hands may be full, but if she sees something she wants, then by golly, she will manage to carry that as well!
The one of Tommy. I took it because he was mellow jello. Jet lag city. Just chillin'. He has adjusted magnificently. So has Rach for that matter. They sleep till 11:00am and go to bed around 8pm. What is that? Yep, 15 hours of sleep! Love it!
And the house? Well, it belongs to the Rothchild's. Beautiful. As always, all these magnificent houses have details that we love and exclaim, "Heber!" Wow, Heber is really going to be something if we get our way. Ha! Oh, and Natalie and Isa are in the picture...can you find them?

I will admit that I miss all the photography of the Portugal's. I didn't have to worry about taking ANY pictures.
OH, and the magnolia tree in our front yard is stunning. Absolutely in full bloom. I'll try to get a picture.

First Day...FOOD

Jake and Mel arrived safe and sound. And not willing to miss a minute of their time because they only have 2 weeks. Jake says Americans only take one week of leave MAX, and here we feel that 2 weeks isn't enough...
So they went to the Del Haize and bought sandwiches and speculoos ice cream. They did take naps however, but Rach didn't so we went on an adventure and while she was chasing a butterfly she got into prickly bush....awful!
Then we went downtown for...well, food actually. Frites, pitas, Godiva hot chocolate, gauffres. Oooh, a little bit of a tummy ache. However, Jake was happy enough to eat speculoos ice cream and peaches candy when we got home.
I think today they have 1)bakery 2)Kinepolis and 3)Italian pizza on their agenda.

And I did get a phone call from Natalie at about 4am her time. She was doing jet lag duty with Isa. Oh the trials of traveling!

Macaroons in Belgium

So Nicole....they now sell Macaroons in Belgium. Oh no!!!
And Natalie and Noel...remember how we stocked up on our last day in France? Now we can just walk into Sterrebeek and buy them....
All the flavors: Chocolate, lemon, pistachio, vanilla, strawberry, and coffee.
Just one more food item to add to the list of 'gotta have' when you come home!

Buddha

This is Buddha lore, but I find it very true!

When, after thirty-nine days of meditation, the veil of illusion finally fell away and the true workings of the universe were revealed to the great master, he was reported to have opened his eyes and said immediately, "This cannot be taught." ...
Most of humanity, he said, have eyes that are so caked shut with the dust of deception they will never see the truth, no matter who tries to help them.

Oh, how true! How true! Just ask Elder Herway. I bet he would agree whole-heartedly. But he is finding "those of little dust." They are out there.

Monaco

I tried to change the header picture, but it was either too small or too large. Oh well, I'll deal with it later...


Blue, blue, blue water. Even in the port. Unbelievable. You remember that this country is tax free, so the very wealthy live there. Turns out there are 33,000 residents, but once a resident it is against the law to gamble in that country....guess they want all the tourist dollars. And 84% of those residents are ultra wealthy.
We took the wrong train home and ended up in Menton again. So we sadly had to get another gelato! Oh, it's a good thing I don't live here. I can't resist!
We all love being at the Sea every day. Bryn loves to throw in the rocks and build sand castles. And I think we have found every playground in the area.
One last day here, and it's sunny. Tom and Noel swear they are going to go in the water. Natalie and I will be sure to document it, IF they do it. The water is cold, even though the air is warm.
Is everybody happy? Are you well? I miss not hearing from all of you (not getting into my hotmail!) Where did Steve get transferred to???

French Riviera

Hi Family,
We can't get into hotmail or yahoo...so we can't stay connected that way. If you need to contact us, tell us through your blogs....I'll check them each day. Crazy, but that's the only webpages we can get. Except for lds.org so we get to watch conference, luckily.

We have only taken 14 pictures this trip. On the other hand I think the last count on the Portugal camera was in the 600's somewhere. So I am pretty much letting them do all the photography work. Their blog will be fantastic.

Just so you know. This place is still a stunning destination. We had a beautiful sunny day on Friday. Bryn thinks this place is great because we end up on the beach every day. We get to take beautiful walks. Today we were in Menton, the last city before Italy and the pizza and gelato were there in their glory. Natalie remembered this beach because Seth lost his sunglasses there. Something to really remember, don't you think??


Hey, will somebody write to Steve and tell him that he won't get his weekly letter from Dad b/c we can't get onto hotmail??? I think I wrote him before we left, so I still get a good mark! Or just paste this message to him...with the pictures. I would really, really appreciate it. Just post a comment if you did it, so somebody else doesn't have to...

Boy this is a random blog!
HAPPY EASTER!!

plunge bob...or sponge bob

A whole new look. Called the plunge bob here. Pretty funny, huh? A friend in yoga was the one who came up with..."so, not sponge-bob, but plunge-bob?" Yep.
Tom doesn't really like it. Most girls like it. I haven't even washed it yet, so I don't know if I like it or not. Depends on how much work it is. If it's wash and go, then I love it. If it's wash and style, then not so much.



Now this lovely picture of dying eggs with Bryn was really fun, BUT...I had 2 dozen eggs in the fridge. I pulled out a dozen that I boiled last night to color. We had a great time. They were beautiful. Then I needed to use one to make a sandwich, and oops, it wasn't hard boiled. Neither was the next one. Guess what? We colored the dozen eggs that were NOT hard boiled!

Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy General Conference. Enjoy wherever you may find yourself in the world and enjoy your company! Love to all!