Slovenia - from the eyes of kids

Last Minute Getaway

We decided to take a last minute trip up to Garmisch, Germany to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. We drove up on Saturday and will drive back on Monday. I do not have any scheduled blogs to post, and I may not be available to post during our trip.

We drove on Saturday and it was a fairly smooth drive. It rained a little towards the end of the drive, but through Italy and Austria the weather was nice. The girls did very well. They didn't sleep much on the drive, but they also didn't fuss. That is always nice. When we arrived to the resort, both girls were ready to play. We brought them to the Veteran's Day children festivities. They had all kinds of different bouncy castles, a large race track for motorized cars, people making caramel apples, books for the kids, stuffed animals and other things for infants, face painting, and more. It was the perfect amount of fun for A, and even E got some play time. After we spent a couple of hours doing that, we went and had dinner. Since neither of the girls had a full nap that day, they were ready to sleep. We skipped the fireworks and swimming like we had planned and hit the bed early.

Today is a free day. We thought about taking a tour, but I think we will just lay back at the resorts and do more kid things and walk around to see the local sights.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Veteran's Day weekend. Be sure to thank a Veteran for their service, whether it is past or present.

Fun Facts about Spain

I thought since we are visiting Spain I would schedule some posts. Here is the first of a few scheduled posts. This one is going to be some fun facts about Spain.

As a teacher, these would be the things I would teach the students about Spain for a country project.

The Spanish name for Spain is España.
The Spanish language is spoken in many areas of the world due to the early influence of the Spanish Empire.
Spain is located in Europe.
It is a developed country with a high quality of life.
The largest city and capital of Spain is Madrid.
The second largest city is Barcelona, which is located in Catalonia.
The population of Spain in 2012 was around 47 million.
The currency used in Spain is the Euro.
In Spain they drive on the right-hand side of the road.
 It is believed that modern humans first arrived in Spain around 32000 years ago.
Mount Teide is the highest mountain in Spain (3718 m, 12198 ft) and an active volcano.
The Pyrenees is a mountain range that divides Spain and France.
Spain includes a number of islands including Mallorca, Tenerife, Ibiza and Gran Canaria. Many can be found in the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.
The Spanish tourism industry is one of the largest in the world, bringing in billions of Euros into the Spanish economy.
Spain produces a large amount of renewable energy, including wind power and solar power.
Spain has a variety of foods and unique dishes such as paella (a type of rice dish) and tapas (a range of small snacks or appetizers).
Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Spain.
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games were held in Barcelona.
For more information, check out maps of Spain or take a closer look at the Spainish flag.

If you could visit Spain yourself, what would you want to see? What would be your must-see thing(s)?

Time is Flying By!

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. It seemed just like yesterday I delivered the baby. It seems like a minute ago we were in Germany. Here we are now in March!! The middle of March at that. Who would have thought?! Definitely not me since I feel like time is dragging by.

Anyway, there is no point to this blog post other than that I have finalized most of Baby A's birthday party things. I just need to find someone to do the cake because the person I booked hasn't emailed me back with the confirmation even though we have been emailing back and forth for the past month. I checked her Facebook page to see if she was on vacation or anything, but I did not see anything. So now I am searching for a back up plan.

Speaking of Facebook, I really hate TimeLine. It takes forever to load, and it is hard to find things. I do not find that it lists things in order either. Maybe it's just me and my "not-so-understanding-of-Facebook" self, but it is quiet annoying. I got a noticed today saying that all pages will go to TimeLine by March 30. Boo hoo.

I am slowly organizing the Germany pictures. As I was going through them, I realized I never posted the Scotland pictures. At least I don't remember doing it. So I HAVE to go back and do that if I haven't because I really look at this blog as our journey of life, and I hope that one day I can share all this information and lovely random posts (like this one - lol) with Baby A.

Baby A is just over 11 months old, and she is doing really well. She happy and independent, and has also started weaning herself. She started at 10 months old. She only nurses for nap and bed time now. I can't say that I am bummed, but I did not think it would happen this way at all. I thought I would have to be the one to put my foot down, but she totally knows what she wants and I am happy and thankful to see that in her. She has 4 teeth now. She loves to eat. Her new favorite snack is Blueberry Bars, but they are a specialty snack in this house. She loves peanut butter... of course Mr. Man introduced that one to her. We are also still cloth diapering, and I do plan on doing an updated post of it. It is going well! Nothing more exciting, though.

I have been researching a lot about Italy. Trying to look at houses to get a feel for what we may end up living like. With Mr. Man being the rank he is, it seems we have a lot of options this go round, which I am extremely thankful for. I really only have 3 must-haves - 1. 3-4 bedrooms 2. fenced in backyard for Buttons and 3. off road parking for two vehicles - whether it is a garage, car port, or none covered parking area. I would like to be within 15-20 minutes of base, but willing to go up to 30 as long as we get a feel for the drive first. Other than that, I think I am fairly laid back with my requests! lol :)

Mr. Man tested for Tech a few weeks ago. He feels confident about it, but I don't have my hopes up. He has only been in for 6.5 years, and he is only 24. Plus, he got an early test date so only got to study hard for a month with working long hours and not getting any time off. We will find out if he made it by June (I think).

So, that's about it. We are still staying busy and active. Letting the baby be a kid and enjoy herself. And of course, enjoying ourselves and trying to get things done one at a time.

Here's to a happy and healthy life that I can not complain about. I just wish sometimes I could make time pass a bit slower... or speed it up when need be. I think everyone has those moments. I think?

Looking Back: Wales

I never really posted any pictures about our trip to Wales, so I am going to go ahead and do that.

We went to Wales back in October. We took a long weekend, and drove up to Snowdonia National Park. The purpose of our trip was for us to climb Snowdon, which I really, really wanted to do. Since I found out I was pregnant, I knew I was better off doing it pregnant then with a baby in tow. It was a nice little getaway with the family. We even took Mr. Buttons, and yes he climbed to the top with us.

While we were out there, we went and saw their biggest natural waterfall and hiked a couple of woodland trails. We did do some shopping, too! Of course, I shop!

So here are some pictures of our trip:

Florence: Day 2

The first day in Florence we familiarized ourselves with the city, did a little sightseeing, and prepared for Pisa and our last day in Florence.

The second day we went to Pisa.

Our last day in Florence, we finished seeing everything we wanted to see while there. That included many churches, old buildings, Ponte Vecchio, and a theater.

Our first stop was to the Church of San Lorenzo. Inside the church had an old library with its original books.

They also housed a large amount of famous relics.

We then went back to the main Florence Duomo, which is the Bascilica of Santa Maria del Fiore. We went to it the first day and climbed the dome, but we want to see what the inside had to offer as a church.

 We visited the Basilica of Santa Croce. This is a picture of part of the ceiling inside of it. It also was home to some very famous paintings.

This is a sculptor that was in one of the famous buildings there. It was once a set of apartments, now a museum. This sculptor was one of Mr. Man's favorite. I guess because of the masculinity it showed.

We then began walking to see the Ponte Vecchio, where we saw many of random things.

There were some random money makers on the street. The second picture is off one of them and Mr. Man. The guy was standing there with his eyes shut. When Mr. Man gave him money in his little container, he reached out for Mr. Man and asked for him to come see. Mr. Man walked up to him and he began huging, caressing, and admiring Mr. Man. It was so funny. Most of my pictures are blurry because I was laughing so hard. People around us were laughing, too. It was way funny!

We then came across Ponte Vecchio. We took a picture of it, then walked across it. The second picture is the view from it.

We had to (of course) go to Pizzale Michealangelo. We did see the original David, but we also wanted a picture of the replica since cameras were not allowed in the museum. This had to be the most spectular time of the trip. I was amazed at how big the original David was and how perfect it looked. I was completely mesmerized. Mr. Man and I just stared at it for a while, just sat on a bench in front of it and examined every piece of it. (This picture is just the replica. The replica is a whole lot smaller, too!)