4th of July!

Yes- I'm a little bit behind..it's all good eh?!  Anyways...this year for the 4th of July, we had a fabulous time!  The day was pretty low-key, but we had a great night!  We were able to go to the Colorado Rapids soccer game and we had so much fun. The kids were really really hungry, so we stopped out by the soccer field at Popeyes chicken (I think?) and picked up some chicken for a little picnic in the car.  The kids thought it was so cool to have a picnic in the car.  Lincoln was a little bit sad because he was the only one that opted out of a nap for the day, but all the kids- for the most part- were absolutely wonderful all night!  We tried to get there a little bit earlier than we actually did to do some fun stuff that they had there, but we were able to make it just in time.  Instead of going in to the game though, we opted to go over and have some fun at the activities.  The kids thought it was so much fun.  We went to the bouncy houses, played on the stilts, and tried to maybe stand in line for some of the other ones, but got there a bit too late.  So, we headed into the park and watched the game!  It was fun to be there with the kids- the boys were having so much fun actually knowing a little bit of what was going on on the field.  They are lovin' soccer right now.  We even got to have some snacks there at the game!  Such a nice Dad for getting them some.  But for sure, the best part of the whole night were the spectacular fireworks!  One of the reasons that we decided to go to the soccer game was because they were one of the ONLY places in the state that was still doing fireworks because of all the horrific fires that have been going on here in Colorado this year!  So, it was great to be able to see some fireworks and BOY did they deliver!  They were like 30 minutes long!  Every song that finished I was thinking that it was going to end, but it never did!  They did play a couple of songs that I didn't even know!  Apparently, I'm out of touch. :)  It was so amazing though, and I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful country!  YEAH FOR AMERICA!!!

So fun to picnic in the car!

Wont' eat anything...any help anyone could give me would be GREAT!

Cole giving it a shot- it's hard!  I was very impressed that he could stand up on his own!

i could not.  I needed the boys help for sure!  Stockton looks terrified.

Morgan thought the bouncy house was the bomb

Fam shot!

Love the barf comin out of my little baldies mouth.  He is totally like Mr. Clean- so bald!

Little bit of a meltdown

Not this one- this time. 

So Wave your Flag!

It was a LONG wait to get out of the parking lot- so this is what we do.  Take silly pictures!

June 20th-Munich/Neuschwanstein Castle

June 20th-Munich/Neuschwanstein Castle

We woke up this morning early enough again so that we could head out
to the Neuschwanstein castle!  WOW!  So amazing!  There were lots of
people there, but we have been really lucky this trip!  Everywhere
we've been there hasn't been that many people compared to other times
of the year apparently!  We have been really lucky!  So we got there
just in time- after about an hour and a half drive- and we took a bus
up to the top and went through a short tour of the castle.  The castle
isnt' that old- it was built in the late 1800's, but it is still way
cool!  It's a castle for heavens sake!  The boys would have loved it!
It was really neat to see all of the different rooms and things that
they built for the castle.  It was interesting though, because it took
them a really long time to build this castle, and Ludwig II, who the
castle was built for, actually died when they were building it, so
they never actually finished it!  But what they did finish was so
neat.  So we were able to see that, and take some great photos of the
scenery around there.  On our way home, it started to rain SO HARD!  I
really don't think that I have ever seen it rain so hard in my life!
We were on the freeway and couldn't hardly see out of the windshield
it was coming down so hard.  It was a nice respite from the heat
though.  Instead of going straight home, we stopped at the REAL
(that's the name of it!) grocery store so that we could all stock up
on some German chocolate and candy before we went home!  Oh man- we
have so much, and I am SO happy about it! :)  The candy and chocolate
here are amazing, of course.
    We came home from Neuschwanstein needing to pack, so pack we did!  I
can't believe that it's time to go home already.  I'm so sad to leave
my parents, but really actually pretty excited to see my cute kids.  I
miss them lots and lots. Actually, as I type this, everyone is out to
dinner- but I decided to stay here, because the tiny brother was NOT
up for it!  Poor little tyke is SO tired, and really needs to be in a
great mood for the airplane ride tomorrow!  No grouchy boy for me!  He
is so sick of being in his car seat.  He really has been the best baby
ever here.  Seriously!  He gets kind of sad here at the end of the
trip when we put him in his car seat, and if he has been there for too
long- but otherwise, he is absolutely amazing!  What an angel.  I sure
love him.  It has really made it easier for me not to miss my other
kids too bad, because I have had him to worry about, and take care of.
Cute little tink tink!  What an amazing trip this has been!

Oh the donut balls....they were worth the trip.  I gotta figure out how to make these!

June 19th- Munich- Dachau

June 19th-  Munich- Dachau

We were able to sleep in a little bit this morning- because we stayed
in Munich all day!  Well, close enough I guess.  At around 9, the
Mini-Miles, Smiths and Rocky hopped into the car and headed to Dachau-
the concentration camp that is about 30 minutes away from downtown
Munich.  I tell you what.  What a humbling experience.  It was
absolutely amazing to read and hear about all of the things that went
on there.  I will never forget it.  The whole time I just had this pit
in my stomach listening to everything that went down in that time of
the WWII.  It makes me so sad and sick to hear about it all.  It was
absolutely fascinating to learn about for me though.  WWII is most
definitely one of the things that I love to learn about.  Someday I'd
like to visit Auschwitz- but that is in Eastern Europe in Poland.  So
someday...someday.  We were there for about 3 hours, and I probably
could have spent 3 more there!  There is SO much to read, and learn
about.  But we needed to be back here so that we could go and tour
downtown Munich with everyone!
    When we got back, we hung around for another little while and had
some lunch here at the mission home and then headed out to tour
downtown Munchen.  So cool!  Seriously!  It is so much fun to see
where my parents are living!  It's kind of like a different world
though- much like the rest of this trip has been!  It's just unreal
that we are here experiencing all of this!  So fun!  We were able to
see the Rathaus (the government building) with the huge Glokenspeil
on top, a real beer garden (my dad was excited to show us that one!)
and just everything.  It was really fun.  We went to the Hofbrauhouse
which is a really yummy place for dinner!  TOTALLY a German place!
There was an Oompa Band playing with the accordian player, tuba
players, a couple of trumpets and a drummer.  SO cool!  They were all
dressed in their Liederhosen and everything!  It was awesome.
Everyone in there was drinking these HUGE mugs of beer!  The mugs are
totally 1 pint each!  Lots of drinkin goin' on- that's for sure!  When
our waitress came to take our order, she was VERY confused when we
were not drinking any alcohol!  Teehee!  The dinner was DELICIOUS!  I
had a bratwurst with some sauerkraut and it was delicious.  Exactly
what I wanted to have.  Cole had a really yummy pork steak with
potatoes, and liked it too!  But the best for sure was that Tyler had
a PORK KNUCKLE!  GROSS!  It was actually really tasty, but it just
looked so gross!  But man- they were serving those things like hot
cakes!  It was seriously every other dish they were throwin out!  Big
pork knuckle on your plate!  Gross.  It was SO hot in there though, so
as soon as we finished our meal, we headed out of there.  It was
raining outside- which felt SO good- and we still headed to a Gelato
place for some yummy ice cream!  I had some raspberry sorbet that was
delicious!  We're really going to miss the food when we leave here-
that's for sure.  My stomach will be grateful to not eat so much
though.  After dinner, we headed back to the car and came back here to
watch a soccer game!  Another really fun day!

The entrance sign...."Work Will Set You Free"

The museum was SO interesting.  This was the room where they would hang the prisoners up backwards from their arms if they committed any sort of offense.  Absolutely horrific.

One of the watchtowers

One of the 3 high bunks in one of the bunkhouses

The Locker Room

Sinks

Toilets- Obviously :)

This is the larger crematorium that they built to keep up with all of the bodies. 

Another one

Here is one of the fences that were always charged with electricity so the prisoners couldn't escape

The courtyard where Roll Call was made every morning.  The museum is what stands in the background.

Downtown Munchen- I believe this is the OLD city/town hall type building.

Totally awesome Oompah Band

PROST!

Pork Knuckle- Sick

Cool thing that I can't remember the name of...anyone???  The people go around in a circle while it plays music- like a Cuckoo clock? 

This is the current city/town hall thingy :)  I'm so eloquent- aren't I?!

Being a good Grandma- takin one for the team.

June 18th- Cortina/Dolomites/Italy

June 18th- Cortina/Dolomites/Italy

We woke up this morning and it was a LOVELY morning!  The sun was
shining, and it was really warm!  Hot actually!  It has been kind of
crazy- the weather that we have been experiencing here on this trip!
The hotel that we stayed in here in Cortina is the CUTEST ever!
Seriously.  It is so cute!  The breakfast was so fun, but the lady
that served us and is working at the hotel is so cute.  Little Italian
lady that speaks German with an Italian accent, so I can't understand
her even MORE!  Yikes.  Anyways...we decided to shop around a little
bit for the kids while we were here, and the streets were so cool,
that we all kind of split up a bit and did our thing for a couple of
hours.  My Mom and my hayfever has been SOOOO bad up here!  and we
have been out of medicine, so we found a little Apoteke (sp?) and
found some medicine.  Saved our lives I tell ya!  Anyways...after we
shopped for a bit on the cool streets of Cortina, we hopped into the
Bread Loaf and headed into the Dolomite Mountains.  WOAH! They are
just so incredible!  The views here are amazing.  It was a REALLY long
ride, and we were all incredibly tired- at least Cole and I were- so
we snoozed a bit- that's for sure!  We did stop at the top of the
Dolomites and took a little ride up a ski lift to the top of the
mountain where there are some old ruins of some bunkers and things
that were around and built during the Civil War here in Europe.  So
cool!  Just on the top of the Dolomite Mountains- NBD.  We hiked
around up there for a bit and saw the COOLEST little place that my
parents had found before!  It was so neat.  It was just a short hike,
so then we headed down and hopped into the car for the rest of the
long drive.
    We finally made it to another cool city in Italy where we had the
MOST amazing dinner ever!  Well, what was really cool was the place
where it was!  This restaurant was so cool!  There were so many
different wings to this place, and it was right below a cool castle!
There were some tables that were in these GIGANTIC barrels that were
way cool, and we were able to eat outside in this little courtyard.
We had some VERY delicious pizza!  Woah!  Everyone said that it was
the best that they had ever had!  I can believe it!  I wasn't able to
eat too much, but I had a REALLY yummy soup!  So that was very fun.
We really took our time at all of these stops, so when we finally got
back into the car, the drive back to the mission home in Munich was a
long one. Thank heavens for my awesome Dad that drives EVERYWHERE and
stays awake!  Because we all certainly don't!  We finally made it back
around 11 or so, and were all so tired- and went straight to bed!

Riding the Chairlift!

I thought this was a really neat sign for the ski hill!

There were SO many cool flowers!  We have about 200 pictures of just flowers. :)

My cute brother. :)  We may or may not look like twins...

Same with us...

Inside the bunker on the top of the mountain

SO many beautiful scenes.  Sorry if you don't like them...I do.

The cool restaurant where they had the Best.Pizza.Ever.  How can you get better than Italian pizza?!