Look alikes?

One of the joys (and pains) of having children, is seeing yourself in their eyes.  Meaning they look a little like you (and act a little like you).  This gives me the subtle reminder that I created this being!  However, we really don't see ourselves in Jackson at all (besides his personality).  He used to be blonde, blue-eyed, left-handed and vertically challenged.  However, sometimes, when he is sitting right next to Dave and they make the same face, I can finally see some resemblance and I think, "You ARE his Father!"

Hallie, on the other hand does look a bit like me (at least if you knew me as a baby).  Here's some comparisions of myself at the same age as Hallie . . . it might just be the messy hair or missing i-tooth grin, but I think she really is my kiddo.  

Mother's Day

The actual date of Mother's day, was pretty awful as far as mothering goes - to no fault of Dave's.  Dave made a great breakfast, got me thoughtful and fantastic gifts from him and the kids, and made sure I didn't change a diaper all day.  However, Sunday's are just difficult for 3 year olds and budding toddler who aren't big enough for nursery.  Church is just miserable and the whole time you think . . . "why are we here?!?  We don't hear a thing, we distract and annoy others and it is just a fight the entire time."  Luckily, Jackson goes to Primary, but then I just feel bad that his teachers have a terrible fight to fight for the next 2 hours.  Hallie on the other hand, is ready for her nap, but can't take it.  She just wants to move and is now throwing tantrums.  On days like this, I feel like a failure as a mother.  It has been nearly 4 years and I can't figure out how to help Jackson be reverent.

AFTER church Jackson was quiet and still for ONE HOUR because he had our itouch in front of his eyes. . .

In contrast to Sunday, Monday was a beautiful, happy and joyous day with my children.  It was nothing super exciting or amazing, but it was little moments that I cherished spending my life with these two beautiful kids.  We walked (the kids ran) to the park without a stroller and I got to watch my little baby and realize that she isn't a baby any more.  Her personality is emerging more and more each day.  I used to think she was similar to Jackson, but I think that was just baby temperament was similar.  I think their personalities are very different (although both are high energy).  Hallie is a pleaser and will do almost anything I ask (and I am still surprised by how much she can understand!!)  She loves getting dressed, doing her hair and playing with her doll.

Life has changed dramatically for me as a mother in the past few months.  My two little ones have started playing - - - together!   As in, they will shut the door to their playroom and play without a yelp for over 1/2 hour.  This morning they played kitchen outside in the backyard for 45 minutes -totally content to be together.  Luckily, Hallie is pretty compliant to all of Jackson's wishes.  It is so amazing to see them loving each other.  They both share very well and are soft and loving to each other.  Sometimes, Jackson gets carried away trying to make Hallie laugh or teasing her.  When we send him to timeout, Hallie immediately follows . . . even being tortured by him isn't enough to want to stay away from him.  The past couple of days Jackson has slept longer than Hallie in naps and when he finally wakes up, Hallie just climbs into bed with him and hugs him, kisses him and caresses him.  She loves her brother so much!
Seeing this relationship between them makes me sad that Jackson only had his boring ol' parents for so long!

Look how she watches him, ready to imitate his every move!

I said, "open your mouth . . ." I think she understands!  

Lately, Hallie has been more definite with what she likes and doesn't like.  She is throwing tantrums and screaming to get her way (typical behavior for her age).  However, she also has a really cute way to tell us no.  She smiles and grins and then just shakes her head no.  Kind-of melts my heart.  I let her stay in a kiddie swimming pool, as I followed her around for 45 mins because she nodded "no" every time I asked if we should get out.  

The other day we had Hallie's cousin Luke over.  He is just learning to crawl.  Hallie just loved carressing his face and head and giving him kisses.  When the little boy tried to crawl from the patio onto our lovely Arizona rock yard, she immediately tried to pick him up and move him back.  All the parents, of course, stopped her, and then she proceeded to try to push him backwards.  We stopped her again, and then with words only a mother can understand, she pointed to the rocks and then her feet and made faces.  She was trying to explain that the rocks hurt your feet and you shouldn't go on them.  What a sweetie, huh?

Hallie does her "Where is it?" sign whenever someone leaves the room or she loses something.

I am so thankful to be a stay-at-home mom to enjoy little moments with my children.  I love their personalities and I love being with them.  I am so thankful we have been so blessed with our beautiful family. 

and we're back!

We woke up on Friday morning still feeling exhausted (even after 8 hours of sleep).  We debated the flight to Paris, Rome or home.  Ultimately, we decided that the money spent to get to Paris wouldn't be worth the outcome of a one day stay in the state we were in (exhausted and saturated with sight seeing).  So we decided to head home.  Because the trip was rushed to an end we didn't get to say our final good-byes or get any more souvenirs (we saved money :) ) and we rushed to the airport for our flight.  We arrived 58 minutes before the scheduled take off time and were reprimanded several times for being so late (we were 2 minutes late).  We got 4 seats to ourselves on the flight.  We watched 3 movies in a row along and a couple of TV shows.  I really loved the movie, "The Vow" which I felt had a slightly similar theme to "Heaven is Here" which is a book I read on the trip.

It was a 9 hour flight to Philly, then 2 hours to Charlotte, then a 2 hours layover and a 4 hour flight to Salt Lake.  My parents got us at 11 pm (We had been traveling for 24 hours at this point) and we crashed for the night, eager to see our kids in the morning.

The kids were happy to see us and we really enjoyed them all day.  They both seem a lot older.
Here are the hats we got the kids from Germany.

We were fed well at my parents house and then headed to Phoenix in the evening so we could attend church on Sunday.  I am glad we came home a bit early!  Even after 3 days of being home, we are still tired and our sleep schedule is off.  I hope we get back on track soon!  Last night we went to sleep at 8:30 and would have gone to bed earlier if our kids didn't make us stay up with them :).



Here are some photos from my parents of what the kids did while we were gone.   My parents are so amazing that they are willing to watch our kids for so long without complaint.  they are so patient and kind.  They have more energy to take care of kids at their age than I feel like I do.  We are so appreciative for their willingness to serve us, the comfortable and kid-friendly home they provide and the hours they spent to help us have a successful and enjoyable vacation.

We 'talked' to the kids via Google chat video every night (or morning for them).  It was fun to at least see them, even if they were silly.  Hallie learned to lean off camera and then come back on and say 'there she is'. she is such a mimicker.  Love that girl!

 Grandma made Jackson a tool belt and he couldn't have been happier.  When he grows up he wants to be a construction worker and fix things, just like Bob the builder.

Marcie also helped out a lot!

 A joy ride with grandpa (Hallie wouldn't get near the motorcycle)

We had the most wonderful trip.  Everything worked out perfectly and we fit almost everything in that we wanted to see.  It was amazing for me.  I felt confident that the kids were happy and well taken care of, which allowed us to relax and enjoy ourselves without (ok, maybe a little) worry.  We had great success with getting on the flights we wanted and ended up spending less on the entire trip than we would have on just 2 round-trip tickets to Europe - I would say that is successful!  I hope that we get to go back again soon.


Links to the rest of the trip:  Getting there  Saturday    Sunday    Monday    Tuesday   Wednesday   Thursday     Home

Thursday - Munich

We finally hit our breaking point. . . turns out that 7 days of very little sleep and lots of energy-filled activities and the Harper's finally die.  Just kidding, we didn't die, but we definitely took it slow today.
After sleeping until 8, eating breakfast and going back to bed until 11, we headed out for Dave to reminisce about his childhood.   We looked at the house he lived in when he was 12-15 and also the school he went to.

 We then headed into the city center of Munich.  We ate at an ourdoor restaurant, looked at several churches and waited for the Glockenspiel to chime at 5 pm.

We drove to our hotel and immediately caught the train back into town to experience the spring version of Ocktoberfest.  After walking the grounds of the big party, we decided we were too exhausted to even enjoy it, and got back on the train to our hotel

  Dave is already asleep and I should be too.  There was so much we wanted to see and we didn't want to waste any of our time in Germany, so we tried to do it all.  We definitely packed a lot in!


Links to the rest of the trip:  Getting there  Saturday    Sunday    Monday    Tuesday   Wednesday   Thursday     Home

Wednesday- Southern Bavaria

 

We allowed ourselves to sleep in until the morning church bells woke us up at 7 am.  We got ready for the day in our small shower (Dave had to crouch and couldn’t wash his hair).  We had an amazing continental breakfast of a yogurt bar, rolls, cheese spreads, and cereal.  We went to the Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is such an impressive sight!  It is up in the most beautiful country land I’ve ever seen.  The Castle, the views, the rooms, All of it alone was spectacular and putting it all together in one amazing setting was breath taking.  We spent 3 hours there, including a hike down the back side of the castle foundation (where the river was cascading down). 

As we drove through the area we were so impressed with the green meadows, yellow wild flowers, jagged Alps, pristine lakes and rivers, etc.  It is like a picture perfect postcard of a mountainous area or town.  Spectacular!

We headed to King Ludwig’s palace (as opposed to his castle?!?) and decided to spend some time in the city of Oberammergau.  This city has homes with painted murals(frescos) all over them.  The southern Bavarian style of houses is really beautiful with balconies and shutters.  It felt like a friendly mountain town.   We toured the church in this town, it had a cemetery surrounding it, which is quite different from what we’ve seen so far.  It was grandious and beautiful, but seemed more ‘useable’ to the public for worship.

  It was also a fantastic place to pick up some souvenirs.  The kids will get some soft dolls (a boy and a girl) dressed in the traditional German clothing.  Also, We got a knights helmet for Jackson and a Viking cap with braids coming out of it for Hallie.  We got a few items for ourselves and our babysitter.  We sat down at an outdoor café and enjoyed some Bavarian curryworst and I had Bavarian garlic and tomato pasta.  It was so delicious.  I am really loving the food here.  

After spending longer there than we anticipated, we went to the Linderhof Palace.  This is a place where King Ludwig spent half of his time. . .  alone.  This place was incredibly extravagant . . . every square inch of the rooms were covered in intricate, gold-embossed design work, murals , porcelain vases (on platforms coming out of the wall) bohemian crystal chandelier and mirrors.   I really liked the table he had that could be lowered to the kitchen to be set and filled with food and then raised to his dining room so he could eat facing a mirror and a grandiose view of the fountain in his backyard. 

We then headed up to the grotto.  This was awesome!  If I was a king, I would totally build myself my own man-made cave (talk about a man-cave!)!  This one had a heated ‘lake’ (it got up to 100 degrees), a giant mural and mirror, a boat and places for concerts to be performed.  The lighting and waterfall was impressive as well. 

We explored the garden area, the stairs leading to the fantastic view of the palace.  The fountain in the middle of the reflecting pool came on, shooting water 30 feet high!

We were 4 hours behind schedule after the awesome tours at the castle and palace, but we didn’t want to miss the hiking in Garmish.  So we drove to yet another mountain town and literally RAN up the hill to the Partnachklamm – a gorge.  The trail was similar to the Zion’s narrows, but the rock was gray and the water was tan (filled with clay?).  The trail went right through the side of a cliff so we could see the water  rushing down the gorge.  There were points where the water was falling down the side of the cliff and it was so cold we could see our breaths.  There were parts that we had to walk through tunnels that were so dark you couldn’t see the next step you had to take.  It was like taking steps of faith until the light appeared again.  We climbed back down the gorge.

At this point we were so far behind schedule and had so far to go to our next destination we reluctantly decided to cut out Saltzburg, Austria and head straight to Munich – with no reserved hotel or way to call to reserve one.  (We did have a hotel reserved in Saltzburg, but it was too far to go tonight)


Links to the rest of the trip:  Getting there  Saturday    Sunday    Monday    Tuesday   Wednesday   Thursday     Home