Where has the summer gone!?!

Well, the Roosien family has been a bit busy since visiting London and I haven't been very diligent in updating my blog with those events - yet!
So here's the start!
Prague
In early August we visited Prague, Czech Republic, for a long weekend with a stop in Rothenburg, Germany on the way back. Prague is a BEAUTIFUL city and we enjoyed seeing the city on foot with a tour guide this time. The weather cooperated for the most part and the kids did too : ).
We started the trip with a 8 hour car drive to get to Prague. The kids were troopers and made use of all the gadgets and time-consuming activities we could think of in the car. We arrived at our hotel in Old Town despite construction and crazy one-way streets - thank you, GPS! Unfortunately they had lost our reservation. The woman at the desk explained what had happened, but really felt terrible and did everything possible to help us out. That included getting us another hotel room and helping trek the kids and suitcases down through town to get there! We were able to stay at the original hotel the second night. Both were nice, but we were very happy with the one we had worked with most, even after the unfortunate incident. Ok, enough on that.

Old Town Square


Atomic Clock

The first night was just about finding food and a bed after the long day. The next day we met our tour guide and set out to see the Old Town Square, cathedrals, Charles Bridge, the Castle, and the list goes on.

Tower on Charles Bridge

Thankfully our tour guide was understanding enough to break up the morning and locate a Starbucks for us so we could get some caffeine in our system to carry on. After walking for several hours, we relaxed in the room and played at a park near the bridge before heading out for dinner. We found a nice little cafe and sat out on a quiet sidewalk.



We discovered that people are much friendlier if you ask how to say "thank you" and other phrases in their native language. It's really amazing - makes everyone happier : ).The next morning we went back to a few places and went up the clock tower to get a view of the "City of Spires" from up there. We also went to a market to find some souveniers. We really enjoyed the city and the architecture was a amazing.


Clock tower view of Old Town


My Precious Girl - photo taken on the "Castle hill" overlooking the city.

After saying farewell to Praha, we spent some time twisting around through construction and detours to finally get to Rothenburg, Germany.


Rothenburg

There we had an interesting time finding parking at our hotel, but the hotel and restaurant there were great. The woman running them was an absolute gem. After enjoying an awesome meal and creme brulee for dessert, we walked around the quiet town scoping out the buildings and shops for the next morning. Then after a short night in a very warm room, we ventured out on the town. We went up and down the streets taking turns going through some of the little shops. It was great for getting a German-fix in one little cutesy town and would be more enjoyed after a few nights of better sleep, I'm sure. However, after a long morning we were all ready to be on our way again. I think my favorite part was the beautiful castle grounds we found just before leaving!


Castle Grounds

We've seen London, We've seen France....

This past weekend we visited the United Kingdom, specifically, staying in Guilford and touring London. We drove to a port in France, took a ferry across the canal, then drove to Guilford.

The town was very nice with lots of shopping and a couple wonderful Starbucks just a few doors down! (Needless to say, I got my "fix" over the weekend!)

Thursday was mostly travelling.

Planning the trip.

Friday we spent the morning in town - me shopping and Chris at work. (The kids had a sitter, WAY out of my comfort zone, but it worked out really well.)

Friday afternoon we went in to London by train and spent the rest of the day there. We walked quite a bit to see many of the sights, including Big Ben, The London Eye, The Houses of Parliment, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and much more.

Mikayla by Big Ben on Westminster Bridge

Buckingham Palace

Watching the "real guards protect the princess"

We ended the day Friday having dinner at the Original Hard Rock Cafe`.

Saturday was more sight-seeing, including a double-decker tour with a great guide.

Enjoying the Bus Ride

Sunday we relaxed in the morning and spent the day walking around Guilford more and enjoyed a little "jewel" of a garden surrounding the remains of a castle just down the street from where we parked!

We had a wonderful time having a whirlwind tour, but I've started my list of things to go back and see NEXT time!

First things First - Cayden's 1st Birthday!

First of all, my baby boy is 1 year old! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by this past year and just what a blessing Cayden has been in our lives. We celebrated his First Birthday with a bunch of family firsts : ). We had our 1st high-speed train ride to take us on our 1st visit to Paris! We had a great time there with the kids 1st taxi and double-decker bus rides. We saw many beautiful buildings and really enjoyed ourselves there. What a great city! We had a whirlwind tour that included many of the major sites, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Ste. Chapelle, and much more. The kids were troopers despite the long hours and miles of walking. Cayden was making friends every where we went. Next time we'll schedule more time to spend enjoying the city at a more leisurely pace and maybe some time for chasing pigeons, but there is definitely a hope for a "next time"!
The comment of the day though was from Keegan as we went through a short tunnel in the taxi - "Whoa! I can't see a thing!" (Out of the tunnel 10 seconds later.) "Oh, there we go, now I can see 'a thing'!" : )

Last Day of Preschool

Well, today was Mikayla's last day of preschool at ISB. She had a great time there and made lots of friends. The teachers were wonderful and amazing with the kids. Mikayla will miss her friends over the summer. Some of her closest friends will be moving away and that will be very sad for her. We'll be trying to get together with them before they go. Others will be staying and we'll be trying to plan playdates with them to stay in touch. I will miss the mom's from the class this year as we've all gotten closer.
Here are some pictures of Mikayla. One with her graduation "certificate" (after some face painting) The other is with her best friend, Henrietta. They're definitely two peas in a pod and we will miss her greatly come July.

Pentecost

Well, we've had some busy weeks including one with my parents here! We really enjoyed their visit and had some great day trips from here. So, I'll probably try to post some of those pictures eventually : ).
For today though, I wanted to share something quite amazing that took place today. As most of you know, we've been attending the International Protestant Church (IPC) here. Basically, it's an English-speaking church encompassing various protestant denominations. We've really enjoyed getting to know the wonderful people in the church and the pastor is very nice. Today though, we celebrated Pentecost by having the story of Pentecost read initially in English and then had about 10 people stand up and read the rest of the verses in their native language. Thus depicting what it must have sounded like that first Pentecost! Imagine all these different languages reading at once and just being able to listen. (As opposed to being in the supermarket hoping to over-hear someone speaking English to ask a translation question!)
It really was moving hearing that all at once in that setting. Just thought I'd share : ).
Happy Pentecost everyone!

Three's a crowd?

Ariel has officially made a come back this Spring! We discovered that we did, in fact, bring an inflatable pool for the kids to play in here. So we blew up the purple ring of fun and filled it up with water warm enough for all three kids! It was a bit "snug", but they were all having fun splashing. Cayden doesn't have a whole lot of sit in him, but I'm hoping he get's a bit more content in there as we use it more.
For those of you interested in house details here, the pool has been set up on the patio / porch running the length of most of the house - or the living room area on the main floor. There's a door leading in to the kitchen at the end where the pool is and I took the picture from there towards the road. There's also steps going down to the garden (yard) from that end, as well. It's worked out pretty well, so far, because I can set Cayden in his highchair in the kitchen with me while I get supper ready so we can keep an eye on the older two through the doorway.
Hope you're all enjoying the nice weather this week too!

Yay Visitors!

Yes, we had our first visitors from the States and the kids were thrilled! Of course, they're always happy to see their grandparents, but seeing them after so long... it was just something very special. We all had a wonderful time during Grandma and Poppa Roosien's visit. We tried to pace ourselves with some busy days and some more relaxed days around the house so they could "endure" our everyday craziness and also enjoy some of the sights of Europe while here. Amongst those were a day trip to the Netherlands where we visited some of the "homelands" of family. We also went downtown to the Grand Platz to see the architecture and have a gooey waffle : ). Then we had a great vacation down to Southern Germany and Austria to see some castles there. The kids did fairly well for the most part, but they were definately ready to come home.
We're now getting back into the swing of things as Mikayla's spring break has come to an end. You're reminded of another "difference" with that too when people talk about their holidays to Southern France, Florence for a week, or a cruise in Spain rather than going to Florida or Alabama!