Evian, France

***this is the last post from our Europe trip, scroll down to see all the fun we had*******



Wednesday, we officially had been on all modes of transportation by jumping on the boat that crossed Lake Geneva into Evian, France.....that is where the bottled water comes from :-) It was a nice 35 minute ride that let us finally see the French alps since we broke through the clouds!


see how cloudy it was???

We finally broke through the clouds and it was gorgeous!!!

Once we got there, we realized the town must take an afternoon siesta from 12-2, because the only things open were restaurants! We got there at 12 and our boat back left at 2:45, so we were able to get some window shopping in and then quickly buy what we wanted in the 45 minutes we had left. The town of Evian, is very small and quaint! It was 10 degrees warmer so we were able to shed our coats for the first time and enjoy the sunshine. It was very quiet and not very busy so we were able to enjoy the tranquility of the french town!

Sarah and I eating our crepes in France

Brinley loved all the tulips, I wish we could grow them in Houston...too hot :-(

That evening when we got back to Lausanne, we had a first birthday party for Liam. He (along with Brinley, Clayton, and Wyatt) really enjoyed their chocolate cupcakes.

We finally got all four cousins still long enough to get a picture!!!

After we put the kids to bed, we feasted on the traditional Swiss fondue and lots of wine! It was very yummy and we stayed up way too late considering we had to catch the train to the airport at 4:30am!!!

The plane rides back were pretty relaxed until the last three hours. Clayton was done! He was sooo tired, but he was tired of napping on me, so he just cried off and on. It is a good thing he spent the first 7 hours flirting and charming everyone around us, because they weren't annoyed by his crying. We finally had to take turns walking up and down the aisle while holding him.

Clayton coloring on the plane

We sat right behind the bulkhead, which Brinley loved because she could lay on the floor. She spent most of the flight home playing her new Leapster!

Once we got into our car, Clayton started shrieking and didn't stop until we got home. I think he was excited to see something he recognized. We went to bed at 7pm that night and didn't wake up until 7am! It had taken us over a week to get back on Texas time (with a few nights of the kids waking up at 3am ready to go!) We had soooo much fun, but we are glad to be back in our beds and on our routines again.

Sight seeing in Lausanne, Switzerland

We were pretty worn out from our Milan trip, so we spent Tuesday sight seeing in Lausanne. It is a very beautiful town located on Lake Geneva with lots of old buildings and great sights. Bill took Brinley and Wyatt for the day and took them to the park, so we could tour and buy souvenirs without them bugging us! By souvenirs I mean chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate!!!! We seriously came home with a suitcase filled with wonderfully delicious Swiss chocolate!!!

The building across the street from Bill and Vickie....I love it!

Lausanne building right after it rained for about 5 minutes

Jason and me in front the Cathedral de Lausanne

Lausanne's famous shopping street

the cobblestone streets put him to sleep every time!!!

more shopping!

Brinley and Clayton playing down by the lake

Brinley loved these swings and asked everyday to play on them!

Two tired kids after Uncle Bill took them the park

Clayton and Liam getting some play time outside their strollers!

Milan- Day 2

We woke up Monday morning and had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel. I found myself wondering how everyone in Europe is so thin with all the breads and pastries they eat at every single meal....must be all the walking!!!

We headed to a local castle in Milan. Unfortunately, the inside was closed, but we were able to tour the grounds and let the kids run wild. Brinley was a little upset when she did not get to find the princess that lived in the castle, so we told her that she moved on to a bigger and better castle :-) We were also found a great souvenir shop right outside where we picked up all our usual trinkets (magnets, shirts, postcards).

After the castle, we rode the metro (aka- subway) to the Milan Square where the Cathedral and shopping plaza was. Brinley really enjoyed riding the metro, she kept asking if each stop was ours, so Jason taught her how to look at the map and count how many stops until ours.

After grabbing a delicious pizza for lunch, we headed to see the inside of the Duomo Cathedral. On a side note, Clayton fell asleep mid-chew during lunch he was soooo exhausted! I had to pry his mouth open and fish out what food he had in there! The inside of the Duomo was just a gorgeous as the outside. The stained glass windows were breathe taking. Brinley asked to get married in this church.....we may have to work on that one sweetie!

We then walked across the square to the main shopping plaza for Milan. It was very upscale stores like Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and about double the price that we pay for them here! We didn't do any shopping but it was nice to walk around and look at the gorgeous building.

As we headed back to the train station, we saw a Cannoli vendor and had to try them. They were pretty good and filled our task of trying all the authentic Italian food we could!

The train ride that evening was very quiet, as everyone was worn out! We got home just in time to put the kids to bed and eat some surprisingly good Chinese take out from across the street of Bill and Vickie's building. It was either really good or we were starving and dirt would have tasted good :-)

Milan, Italy- Day 1

We hopped on a train at 6am on Sunday to head to Milan, Italy for 2 days. It was a gorgeous ride with amazing scenery. Brinley and Clayton loved the train ride. We don't know how they didn't get motion sickness from staring out the window so much!

Once we got to Milan, the boys headed off to a soccer match (which I think was Jason's favorite part of the trip), while the girls and kids shopped at a little flea market outside the train station. I found some really cute Italian made shoes for a great price :-) It started to rain on us, so we grabbed McDonald's (the only type of fast food in Europe) and took it back to hotel. The kids took a much needed nap until the rain stopped!

Jason at the AC Milan soccer stadium

Milan train station (the yellow tents is where we shopped)

We met the boys in the Milan square that evening. We ate an Italian restaurant. It was delicious!!! Brinley and Clayton chowed down on their spaghetti. After eating we walked over to the Cathedral del Duomo. This church was absolutely AMAZING! I cannot believe the detail that was put into this church. Every little nook and cranny had some sculpture or design. It was hard to believe they were capable of this kind of architecture such a long time ago! The inside of the church was closed, but we were able to ride the elevator to the top of the church (300+ feet tall) and see the whole city.

Brinley and Wyatt at a park in Milan

Us in front of the Cathedral del Duomo

Wyatt and Clayton running outside the restaurant

the group on top of the Duomo

Jason has such a great eye for taking pictures!

The Milan Square at night

We finished our long day with Gelato......when in Italy, eat as the Italians...LOL!

Day 2

****scroll down for the first post of our trip******


On the next day, everyone was still pretty tired, so Vickie and I took the kids to the park. It was a gorgeous park with plenty of space to run around!



Brinley and Wyatt- scooters are the way for the kids to get around


Some beautiful flowers in the park

Loved the roots of this tree!

After lunch and naps, we headed down by Lake Geneva to eat pizza for dinner and see the sights. It was too cloudy to see the mountains, but the views were still pretty amazing!

Clayton and Liam chilling in their strollers

Down by Lake Geneva- I loved these knobby trees!

Lake Geneva with French Alps in background

Brinley and Jason by the lake

Switzerland

Now that things have settled down and we are FINALLY back on Texas time, I can write about and upload pictures from our Europe trip! Since we took over 600 pictures, I will do this in several posts over the next few days....hopefully :-)

We left Thursday afternoon. Our first flight was 10 hours into Amsterdam. The kids did really well (much to my surprise!) Clayton slept the first 2 hours since he missed his nap and Brinley was occupied by looking out the window of the plane. After a delicious dinner (plane food has really come a long way!), the kids were entertained by the portable DVD player and new toys I had packed their backpacks with. Around 10pm our time and four hours into the flight, we finally got them to go to sleep for about 5 hours. Of course Clayton slept on me the entire time which made it very hard for me to comfortable and I did not get any sleep :-(

We woke the kids up in time to get off the plane. We had about an hour before our flight to Geneva, Switzerland left, so we grabbed some breakfast and boarded for the the 1.5 hour flight. It was pretty uneventful. Jason and Clayton slept while Brinley and I played her new Leapster video game. We arrived at the airport at Noon and took the 1 hour train ride to Lausanne where Bill and Vickie live. By this time I had not slept in over 24 hours, I was EXHAUSTED!!

View from Bill and Vickie's balcony....normally you can see the mountains but it was too cloudy the whole time we were there :-(

After a quick nap, we took the kids to the park to burn off some energy.

We all went to bed early that night and caught up on some much needed sleep!