2012 review-February

So February was devoted to unpacking...and more unpacking.  We only had  a few inches of snow all winter, which I was overjoyed about!  The kids were a little sad (but this past winter more than made up for it!) but took advantage of the few inches we got!

 Olivia was excited to FINALLY start ballet class.  She had been begging for a year, but was too young and then we were moving.   Such a cute little ballerina.



Germany is covered with Castles, so we made a trip to Marksburg castle for a day trip.


I love the interior of the castles.  I couldn't imagine how they lived back then!




The highlight of February was going to Italy.  Our first big family adventure.

 This was the villa we stayed in outside of Milano.

 The kids were troopers, it was quite a ride to get there.  But is was worth it...

 The USA/Italy soccer match in Genova, was awesome.

We also got to explore the Genova aquarium.

Hiking to the top of the Milano duomo was a highlight for the kids.   Seeing the "Last Supper"  was a personal highlight of mine!  So amazing.

It was an unforgettable trip!  We love Italy, and it was a great February!

The Keukenhof (Holland spring break part 2)

 If you are over the age of 70, you will love this post.  If you are younger, you may get bored. I'm warning you now, there are a lot of pictures of flowers.  So many, in fact, that it deserved an entire post.

The Keukenhof Flower Gardens are seriously unbelievable.  I can totally understand why people plan their entire vacation around it. 

 It.Is.Gorgeous.

 So many flowers, and so many fun things for the kids to do.  They fed swans, we went on a boat ride through the tulip fields,  there are playgrounds throughout, windmills, garden mazes...

 and flowers.

We spent about 7 hours there!  We were one of the first ones to arrive (before the crowds), so I was able to get some pictures without a thousand tourist in them!

 These are just a few of my favorite flowers, there are so many different colors and types.  By the end of the day, we would walk by a field full of gorgeous flowers, but if they were "just" normal single colored and regular style, we caught ourselves saying"these are just yellow, or these are just red." We got spoiled by all the exotic ones they have!

 These were Micah's favorite (above).  They were pretty awesome.  He really enjoyed the Keukenhof and I let him practice his photography skills while we were there.  Dudi took the younger kids to the playground for a while so that Micah and I could take pics.  After a few pointers and tips, Micah was doing great!

 Most of the gardens are outdoors. 

But some of the rare types are kept inside a huge greenhouse.

 This was a fun bridge!  Some German speaking older women walked by and started saying how dangerous it was!  I guess I'm just a bad mom, but I figure, if it was THAT dangerous, they wouldn't have it up! Asher looks like he's enjoying it!

 I thought these flowers were so cool.  The bloom grows upside down (below).

Of course the day was filled with pit stops.  These waffles are the best!

The pictures don't do it justice.  It was fabulous and soooo glad I had a chance to go!

Boo at the zoo

This year we took the kids to "boo at the zoo" which is were the kids get to trick or treat at the zoo.

 A lot of the animals that usually aren't out during the day, were out at night.

They had a lot of reptiles and insect displays where you could and touch the animals.

 "Petting" one of the snakes.

 Harry trick-or-treating

 The zoo had fun displays set up throughout.

 Our animal masks.

Olivia has been pretending to be a cat since we got the animal masks.

We had a GREAT night and can't wait to do it again next year. 

I think this will become a yearly event for us.

Tybee Island

 A couple weeks ago we headed to the beach for one last summer hurrah.  It was perfect weather.

 We had a great time with my mom, aunt, and grandma.

 This was the view from the top of the house.  It had an open roof you could go and sit on, the kids loved it.

 Loaded up and ready to hit the beach.

Love this shot.

 Those blobs are Dudi's castle.  Can you tell he didn't spend his summer vacations at the beach growing up?

Our little mermaid.

Tybee island was great and we can't wait to go back.