European Vacation....Second Stop....Caen, France!

We left London on the morning of July 5th and had a few hours in Paris before taking the train to Caen. We had a great lunch and walked to see the Notre Dame. When we arrived...we took some pictures and were less than impressed...before long, we discovered there were multiple Notre Dame Cathedrals in Paris and this wasn't the famous one! We passed the time and were all ready to be in Caen at our hotel!

This was our first true travel day with our packs and we all had a little to get used to! The walk to our hotel seemed like FOREVER! As we got acquainted with the town it was not actually that far at all...amazing how different it was without 40 pounds on my back, another 20 on my front and pushing a stroller in the rain! Once we arrived at our hotel, we loved it and it was close to many great restaurants. We found a traditional french restaurant and enjoyed mussels with crepes for dessert!

On the second day, we split up. Bryan and I headed to explore the Beaches of Normandy and the Allen's explored town. They were hoping to get out to a famous castle but the tour left early and they all needed to catch up on some sleep! When Bryan, Zander, and I got to the World War II Memorial Museum, we found out Zander was too little to take the bus to the beaches. I convinced Bryan to go on the tour...Zander and I spent a couple hours in the fabulous museum...Kristi, Rick, Jordyn and Skylar toured the Chateau in town...and we all met up for dinner in the evening. We decided to try a Creperie for dinner since we were in France and it was different to say the least. I think it was best summed up by Skylar over dessert when she asked by this pancake thing came with everything...even the whipped cream she thought she had ordered as her dessert!

Early on July 7th we headed to Lisieux for Le Tour De France...check out the next blog for this, it was awesome and deserved it's own page! That night we made our way back to Caen and had dinner in the same restaurant we ate in the first night. After our experience with Crepes, we needed something we knew was good! I finally tried some Creme Brulee in France, delicious!

On the 8th we boarded the train to Paris!

European Vacation...Our First Stop, LONDON!

We left Denver at 3 in the afternoon on July 2nd, flew to Chicago, and on to London. We arrived in London about 11am on July 3rd and headed to find our apartment and meet the Allen's. We found Kristi, Rick, Jordyn and Skylar as we walked to our apartment but getting the key was a little tougher! Finally after a few phone calls and letting the management company know that I was feeding a baby on the curb, we got it figured out and the apartment was great! We all settled in for a two hour nap before heading out on the town.

On our first night we headed to Picadilly Circus for dinner and then walked around London, enjoying many of the sights at night! It gets dark there fairly late and this was the only time we saw it lit up! At the end of the night we found a beer garden by the London Eye and enjoyed a few last beverages before heading home and calling it a night.

Monday, July 4th would be our only full day in London and we filled it! We started with the Big Red Bus Tour and had a very entertaining guide. When the bus hit traffic and we heard we would be there for the next 25 minutes, we decided to get off and walk a bit and luckily found Hamley's! This was a 5 floor toy store our friend, Karen had told the girls about and they loved it! Next we found a great place for lunch...or so we thought...We all ordered and the kids got their food but after an hour they came to ask us what we ordered again. After an hour and 45 minutes we left with no lunch and our luck didn't get much better! We only had about an hour to catch the last boat tour we got free with our bus tour. We found it and had another entertaining guide. After the boat tour, we walked along the Thames River and found a pub. It even had Blue Moon on tap! We were ready to put our order in for dinner and the fire alarm went off...we had to evacuate...this happened twice! Although we met some nice people and we had a bottle of wine...we were still hungry so we set out for another pub with food! We found a great place on the river, ordered food and some of it came but after another hour more than half of us still didn't have food! It wasn't our day to eat! We all eventually got food and decided to call it a night as it was after 10 and we had an early train to catch in the morning. When we returned to the apartment, Kristi realized she had left her phone at the last pub and Bryan and Rick set off to try and find the waitress with the phone. They we unsuccessful but Kristi got the phone back on our return trip to London!

We headed out at 7 the next morning and after many stares from people on the bus (we had A LOT of stuff!!) we made it to the train station and caught our train to Paris!

Zander's First Food!

At his 4 month doctor appointment, the pediatrician said Zander was ready to start trying foods...she also said that she would not do this until we get back from Europe! Why add anything else to what we had to carry! We took both pieces of advice and waited until we got back to try food. I still have lots to blog about from our trip but I thought I would post a quick one on Zander's first ride in the grocery cart without his carseat and his first real food....bananas and rice cereal!

Bryan Makes the Big Screen at Coors Field!

For Father's Day, I got us tickets to the Mt Ranch Club at Coors Field. We have been wanting to try it out and it seemed like as good as time as any. You pay extra for your ticket, have a table with a waitress and have money to spend on food and drinks during the game. Some of the highlights....you have a TV at your table to watch replays AND alcohol sales are not cut off in the 7th inning. Since the game we went to went into extra innings, this was especially important! During the game, Bryan was asked to play High Low on the big screen for a chance to win a Rockies Prize Pack. He played and he won! AND the Rockies won! AND Grandma and Grandpa babysat Zander. We had a great night!

Our Day in New York, NY!

On Saturday we took the train to New York to watch the Rockies play the Yankees! We left first thing in the morning and returned to Philly at about 11 that night. We didn't have much time in New York but we went to Ground Zero, took an awesome walk in Battery Park, saw the new Yankee Stadium, visited Time Square, found a few Irish Pubs and saw the Empire State Building! Bryan was there in April so the Irish Pubs were some of his favorites and the Empire State Building was a must since it never came out of the clouds while he was there! We were exhausted but had a great time!!!

Our Trip to Philadelphia

Bryan had work in Philly and since I was off for the summer...Zander and I joined him! We had a great time, Bryan would head off to work and Zander and I would do some sight seeing. Then, Bryan would finish work and we would fill our evenings with some more sight seeing! Bryan claims we ran him into the ground but he seemed to survive it just fine!

We arrived on Monday, found a great place for dinner and just walked around town a bit. Neither of us had been to Philly so it was all new. On Tuesday, we all grabbed cofffee, Bryan headed to work and Zander and I did the bus tour. It was a great way to learn as much as possible without having to walk tons in the crazy humidity! One of Bryan's coworkers was in town and we met her for dinner. On Wednesday, Zander and I walked Bryan to his first store...one the way we had to stop and take our picture by Rocky. The Art Museum in Philadelphia are the famous stairs he ran up in the movie. On our way back to the hotel, we went into Macy's, the current home of the largest pipe organ. I knew it played daily at noon and figured since I was there...why not? I couldn't believe the crowds! This many people showed up to hear the pipe organ daily?!?!? Then, the speeches began, I was very under dressed as it seemed I was there on the 100th anniversary of the day the pipe organ first played....100 years to the day, what are the odds?

That evening, we all went on the Ben Franklin walking tour in historical Philadelphia. It was only 75 minutes long but we learned a ton! Afterwards we went to the City Tavern, a place I had heard about on the bus tour. Ben Franklin once frequented the Tavern and we had food from his time!

On Thursday, I went down to Independence Hall to get tickets for us to tour Congressional Hall later in the day. It was free but you had to have a reserved ticket. This is where we headed Thursday evening, we learned lots of history and stood in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Since we hadn't had a cheesesteak yet, we had to get one on our way home. Jim's Cheesesteak....delicious!

We started Friday with a visit to the Liberty Bell. Bryan headed to work and we all went to the Phillies game that night. They were playing the Oakland A's. Zander was a champ as usual and the woman next to us couldn't believe how many baseball games he has been to or how good he was at them. We tried another cheesesteak at the ballpark on a recommendation from our friend Brian...also delicious!

On Saturday, we were up early and took the train to New York! Overall a great warmup to our trip to Europe next week. Zander was a champ and we had a great time!

Happy Father's Day! Rockies vs. Tigers!!!!

We all headed to Coors Field for Father's Day as the Rockies took on the Tigers! The Rockies won Friday and Saturday and Bryan wanted to take his broom for the sweep...he left the broom at home and it was a good thing because with Verlander pitching, the Tigers won the last of the three game series. The Tigers only come to Denver about once every 4 years and we were excited it was Father's Day Weekend. We had a combination of Tigers and Rockies gear but we all had a great time!