But by the time we put the kids to bed and did our dishes on Christmas, I was feeling a bit down. And exhausted. And we spent a long time talking to our families on Skype, which was wonderful, but I missed them and wished we could be with them. And I laid on Brad’s shoulder in bed and cried for a little while, then felt ashamed that I was crying on Christmas when I had so much to be thankful for.

The next morning we got up and the girls were in a terrible mood. Lucy was crying and screaming so hard I even tried to put her back to bed. Against our better judgement, we decided to go ahead with our plans to drive two hours to go to one more (after)Christmas Market in Strasbourg, France. I am so glad we did.

We put a movie on for the girls in the back seat of the van, and as Brad and I sat in the front and talked while he drove we noticed how quiet it was. When our girls are awake our house is loud and crazy – really loud. Once they go to bed, we always have something to do – dishes, application essays, work, editing, projects, laundry, etc… We were so happy to be just sitting together and talking while our kids were quiet we joked that maybe we should just drive around all day. Our drive there was one of the best dates we’ve had in a while.

Even though the day started out rough, our girls were exceptionally well behaved once we were there. It was early in the afternoon, the market wasn’t too crowded, and the weather was nice. There was a giant Christmas tree, hundreds of food stands with pretzels, candies, cookies, and crepes, hot spiced apple cider, a beautiful city, and a carousel ride for the girls. We didn’t buy anything besides food, but just being together in the city was perfect.

As a bonus, we stumbled on a ice skating rink. For 2 Euro we rented Annika some ice skates and spent an hour on a children’s rink with her. Our little Annika, who is generally afraid of everything is apparently growing up. She was excited to try ice skating and jumped right on the ice without needing any persuasion on coercing. Even when she fell she got right back up, licked the ice off her sleeve, and kept going. I was a proud mom that day.

We ate galettes (savory crepes) for dinner and danced around the giant Christmas tree before heading back home. I had been feeling so sad that I wasn’t with family this Christmas. Doing something I loved that I can only do in Europe was just what I needed. Having a whole day with Brad and seeing my girls smile all day was icing on the cake. It was a day I think I’ll remember for a long time.

1. Nani is really great at reading stories. She is endlessly patient and will even read the same three page alphabet books to the littlest ones over and over again.

2. Nani will play tea party, and will even put on a fancy necklace. She brings beautiful ballerina dresses as gifts. Sometimes she admits to being Fancy Nancy which wins her big points with Annika.

3. Nani is a great sport; she’s up for going anywhere you want to travel, and she’s happy to stay home and play too. We stayed home most of the time, but we also made it out to Bernkastel-Kues for a festival, we went to the zoo on a surprisingly cold day, we went shopping in Idar-Oberstien and in Trier, and visited the Hinzert Concentration camp together. Traveling with my girls is no walk in the park, but having Nani along made it much more fun.

4. When you have a Nani you can go on walks and you don’t have to carry or push everyone. She’s also a great help in pumping a teeter-totter.

5. Nani taught us all how to sew. She is an exceptional teacher and very, very patient. You need to be with a student like me. Annika proved to be more adept and certainly more creative.

6. Feeding the ducks at the lake is much more fun when Nani is there to help. Also, I feel much less worried about one of my girls falling in.

7. Nani will go with you to get ice cream. Everyone likes ice cream! French fries on a fork were a particular hit with the girls. You can eat junk like that when you Nani comes to visit. (Or anyone else for that matter — does anyone want to come visit so I have an excuse to buy more french fries?)

8. Nani will go with you to do things that only a child would find entertaining. Like Sesame Street Live. When watching people dance in big Sesame Street costumes proves to be scarier than it is entertaining, she’ll be happy to move to the back of the auditorium with you to watch the show from far, far away.

9. Having Nani visit gives you an excuse to celebrate her birthday. We love birthday parties in our house! (So much, in fact, that Annika’s most often requested bedtime story involves inventing birthday parties for princesses.)

10. Nani has wonderful ideas for fun activities. Annika and Nani spent hours painting and drawing together, and her idea to let the kids go to town measuring and pouring and stirring cups and bowls of rice and cornmeal was the hit of the day.

11. Having a Nani means having one more person around to love your children, and seeing your children so happy is one of life’s greatest joys.

Thank you, Nani, for a wonderful visit. I hope you had as much fun as we did.

The last six years have been an adventure, and full of joy. It is sometimes hard for me to believe that I found a man as wonderful as Brad, and that he is apparently fond of me too. He handles the stress of a demanding calling, a demanding job, and even more demanding family with grace and without complaint. More importantly, he makes me laugh everyday and life is just more enjoyable when he is around. Each year has been better than the last.

I intended on just posting one picture for each of the last six years, but then I started looking through all these old pictures and got a bit carried away. I enjoyed myself. I hope it’s fun for you too.

So, first we dated.

{January 2005 } I'm not sure what Brad is laughing at. Maybe it has to do with the hats we borrowed from my Grandma.

Then we got married.

{August 2005} Awwww.... aren't we cute?

Then we played a lot. We studied and worked some too, but I don’t have pictures of that.

{June 2006}

{August 2006}

Then we graduated. And Brad commissioned. And we moved to Georgia, and then to Germany. And I got pregnant with Annika. 2007 was a big year for us.

{April 2007}

{December 2007}

And after waddling around Europe while 7 and  8 months pregnant, Annika joined our family. And we were happier than we thought we could be.

Brad also deployed this year – which in the end made our relationship better, but 2008 was rough at times.

{February 2008} Being seven months pregnant explains the puffy cheeks, but I have no excuse for my hair. I wish I could tell my past self to get a haircut before going on vacation.

{April 2008}

It was a long year, but Brad came home in 2009. It was wonderful. We liked having one baby so much we decided to have another. But one more ended up being two more, and we realized our lives really would never be the same.

I have two little babies inside me in this picture, but I still thought I was just eating too many brownies.

Then Lucy and Elise joined our family in 2009, and life started to get a little bit crazy. As it turns out, we like it that way. We still play, but now we have three kids in tow and they make our life all the more enjoyable.

{March 2010}

{June 2010} A family picture plus some guys in speedos. It doesn't get better than that.

Now instead of having two babies and a toddler we have two toddlers and a preschooler. Having three little girls running around means our house is a lot more messy, but we laugh a lot harder. Sometimes Brad and I still find time to go on dates, and we found out that we still like each other.

{May 2011}

Here’s to six great years, and many more to come!

{June 2011} I know, I know I just posted this picture, but the babies are giggling in their crib in the other room so I don't have time to edit another. The point is, we love each other.

We anticipated Annika’s excitement, but we weren’t quite as prepared for how many things in Disneyland would scare her. The Disney princesses and Toy Story characters were a dream come true, until we got too close. She was quick to inform Brad (while clinging tightly to his neck) that she liked looking at them and waving from over there. She liked the Dumbo ride (good thing, after a 45 minute wait) but she absolutely did not like it when it went high. The Peter Pan ride and the Snow White ride felt more like haunted houses with Annika. She cried at every new corner and kept saying “I want to go home now! I think I just want to go home and sleep in my bed!” The highlight of the trip for Brad and I may have been viewing our photo after the Pirates of Caribbean ride. Wendy and Justin did a pretty good job of talking Annika through the ride, and reminding her that the pirates were just pretend, although Wendy could feel her heart pounding under her shirt. However, the big drop at the end surprised all of us. I’ve never seen a more terrified face than in that photo, and I kind of wish we had just paid the 15 euro to keep it.

That said, Annika really did love Disneyland, and even a month later she still asks me to tell stories about it before she goes to bed. She had some definite favorites, but I’ll let her tell her side of the story.

I liked the teacups. I liked the Buzz ride too. On the Buzz ride you had to shoot the bad guys – the Evil Emperor Zurg. But where’s Jessie? I should have brought my toy Buzz to show the real Buzz.  I liked the carousel. I liked Disneyland because I saw lots of people. Like Jessie – she was with the Incredibles. I saw the princesses too, but just in the parade. Why didn’t they come and see me? 

I didn’t like the Snow White ride because it was scary. I was afraid on the Peter Pan ride too where we floated up in the air in that thing. That was scary just floating. It was scary I was going to float out of the ride. 

This first day was a whirlwind of sights. Annika is a devoted fan of Madeline, and as we walked through Paris we pointed out places that were featured in her books. It kept her interested for at least half of the day.

The rest of the day we used a combination of cookies, shoulder rides, crepes, and the promise of the Eiffel tower to keep them happy.

The second day we took the train to Versailles. Lucy and Elise enjoyed the ride and Brad liked the break from driving. Then it started to rain and we pushed our way into the palace with about a million other people. I am usually not claustrophobic, but there were a few places inside where it bottlenecked and I started to panic thinking about what would happen if someone yelled “fire!” After we made our way out of the palace, we toured the gardens. The last time Brad and I were there was in February, and I was excited to see the grounds when they weren’t dead. I was not disappointed, but after walking through what felt like miles of gardens and summer palaces and more gardens I was truly exhausted. After making our way back to Paris we picnicked on the Champ de Mars next to the Eiffel tower again. The highlight of the day, and maybe the trip, was watching Annika’s face light up when the sun finally set and the Eiffel tower sparkled. It glitters for five full minutes and I don’t think she took her eyes off it the whole time. Such an appropriate end to our two days in the city of lights.

Just as a little background, after spending a day and a half at the D-Day sights, we kept driving north, to a harbor town called Honfleur. It was once a bustling port, but when Le Havre across the river replaced it as a trade and shipping center, Honfleur got to sit back and relax as a quiet little center for art and tourism. It was a favorite city for impressionist painters – Boudin called Honfleur home, and Monet painted here frequently. It was our home base for two days, and I think we enjoyed it even more than we expected to.

I remember getting ice cream at this place. I got strawberry. In my hotel there was Dora and Boots. This was my favorite hotel because it had Dora and Boots and it had lots of rooms, and Wendy and Justin’s room was like mine and it had books on the shelves and so I liked it.

On Sunday we went to church in Le Havre. The French members there were welcoming and kind, and attending church was uplifting even though we didn’t understand anything anyone was saying. One of my favorite things about traveling is finding that no matter where we go in the world there are people who love the Lord and are doing their best to serve him and make the world a better place. And no matter what our linguistic and cultural differences, we have that in common, and that is the only bond we need.

After church we drove out to Etretat, where there are these famous white cliffs. We had kind of expected it to be more isolated, and were a bit surprised when there was a town and trails and parking lots and even a golf course up on the hill. It was beautiful and a fun walk, despite the crowds.

Mom, did the mean guys climb up these cliffs a long time ago? What happened there? I don’t remember that place.

Annika was referring to the cliffs at Ponte du Hoc. She was extremely interested in the history of everywhere we went (although she obviously doesn’t remember all the details…)  We would tell her stories of what happened at each place. She kept saying “Mom, tell me more stories!” We explained that they weren’t just stories, that these things really happened. After that she would ask “tell me the rest of the truth!” We thought that was a pretty good request for life in general.

After leaving our vacation home in Brittany, we drove north to Normandy. Our first stop was Mont St. Michel – an Abby located on a tidal island a kilometer off the coast of Normandy. (It is an island at high tide, and is connected by a land bridge at low tide). It is apparently the second most popular tourist destination in France (next to the Eiffel Tower) and historically an important pilgrimage in Europe. We are poor pilgrims – we hiked up through the town, but when we saw the 9 euro entrance fee to the abby, we decided we were more excited about the view from below, and walked back.

We then made a stop at Ponte du Hoc. This is the place where the 2nd Ranger Batallion scaled the cliffs to take out some strategically placed artillery on the morning of June 6, 1944. From Pont du Hoc you can see (and fire at) both Utah and Omaha beaches. The area was heavily bombed in the weeks before D-Day, leaving huge craters. Almost 70 years later it still resembles the face of the moon. Before visiting the D-Day sights Brad and I watched the Ken Burns documentary The War and read quite a bit of Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day. The stories I read made the sights seem real and relevant. Using their bayonets for handholds and a few ropes with grappling hooks, the Rangers climbed up the 130 foot cliffs under heavy machine gun fire. Despite heavy casualties, they regrouped quickly and started taking out their objectives in the fortified bunkers and the maze of trenches. Their courage saved countless lives on Utah and Omaha beaches. Both days we spent at the D-Day sights it rained and rained and the wind blew, pelting us with raindrops. We were cold, and the babies cried but we figured it helped us better appreciate that stormy D-Day morning when the soldiers were so seasick from the rocking boats they wished they could die and the ropes attached to grappling hooks were so wet that only a few made it to the top.

After a long day we were ever so happy to meet charming Madeline (and her many barn cats), who run a bed and breakfast in a working stone farmhouse (in traditional Norman style). We had dinner in the only restaurant in town and were not disappointed. I had my fill of all the regional specialties – pate, fresh mussels, fish, Norman cheeses, and a decadent cake.

The next morning you can bet that I gave Madeline an enthusiastic “merci beaucoup!” when she served us hot chocolate made with fresh milk from her cows in those cereal bowl sized mugs. Oh, heaven.

On the night of June 5th and in the early morning of June 6th, 1944, the 101st and 86th Airborne units dropped into France, the first soldiers to crack the “Atlantic Wall.” The pilots were not trained to fly at night, and the landing zones were obscured by storm clouds. When they came out of the clouds the huge armada of paratrooper planes were separated, under heavy anti-aircraft and small-arms fire, and nowhere near their landing zones. At 1:45am one company had the bad luck to jump right over the town of Ste.-Mere-Eglise. A barn on the town square was on fire, meaning that the German garrison was already awake and organized, and the helpless paratroopers were illuminated as they came down into the town. Some of the men landed on telephone poles or in trees and were shot before they could cut themselves loose. Pvt. John Steele’s parachute caught on the steeple of the church. Ken Russell’s lines also caught on the church. As they both hung there, they watched Sgt. John Ray land in the church square. A German soldier came around the corner. Russell related “He was red-haired, and as he came around he shot Sergeant Ray in the stomach.” Then he turned his gun on Steele and Russell. “And Sergeant Ray, while he was dying in agony, he got his .45 out and he shot the German soldier in the back of the head and killed him.” Russell cut himself loose and escaped into the woods. Steele was taken prisoner by a german watchman in the church steeple, but escaped a few days later. (From Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day). We stopped in Ste.-Mere-Eglise on our way to some of the other D-day sights. It is hard to imagine that such tragic events once occurred in these quiet, quaint towns.

The United States WWII Memorial and Cemetery sits high on the bluff overlooking Omaha beach. The sheer magnitude of graves is humbling, and to know that the soldiers buried there are only a fraction of those who died in D-Day and the ensuing operations is overwhelming. After the war, families of soldiers who were buried in temporary military cemeteries were given the choice to have their soldier brought back home, or buried in one of the twelve permanent military cemeteries. Sixty-one percent opted for repatriation. Officers are disproportionately represented at the Normandy American cemetery, as their families felt that they would want to be buried next to their men. In this cemetery lay 9,387 soldiers and another 1,557 Americans who were never located or identified are memorialized with their names on a wall. As we walked through the marble crosses it was hard to not feel a sense of gratitude for the sacrifices made by this generation. As I read the names and hometowns on the graves, I thought about the families that each of these young men left behind. For each headstone there was, somewhere, a mother, a sister, a father, a wife, or children that mourned the loss of someone they loved. To them, that person was not just a name and his passing would have left a hole that I’m sure they mourned for the rest of their lives. Thank you to each soldier and family that sacrificed so much for a country and people so far away. In Normandy, American are still welcomed and treated with gratitude. I add my thanks to theirs.

Before we moved on, I wanted to make at least a quick stop at Omaha beach. I had read about so many soldiers who had lost their lives there – I wanted to see it for myself. On the morning of D-Day, 34,250 American soldiers landed on Omaha beach. There were 3,600 casualties, disproportionately in the first waves. Entire companies were wiped out just trying to get from their boats to the beach. Soldiers who survived the landing huddled against the shale and the seawall on the edge of the beach, sometimes for an hour or more, waiting for someone to lead the way. In many companies all of the officers and senior NCOs had been killed or wounded. By the time the later waves arrived, the tide had come in, covering the mines and obstacles on the beach. Pvt. Albert Mominee’s craft hit an obstacle coming in and exploded in flames. He jumped into the water, which was well over his head. He dropped his rifle and equipment and inflated his life vest and began to paddle towards shore. All around him machine-gun bullets were hitting the water, and his comrades. He relates “about fifty yards from shore the water was shallow enough for me to wade. Thirty yards, then twenty, I was exhausted and in shock. I heard a voice shouting “come on, little on, come on. You can make it.” It was Lt. Anderson, the exec, urging me on. It was like someone had awakened me from a dream. I lunged toward him, and as I reached him he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the water, then practically dragged me to the cover of the seawall. Only six of the thirty in my craft escaped unharmed.”

When we visited Omaha the tide was high, and the beach was beautiful and peaceful. It was really, really difficult for me to recreate in my mind what had happened there. But then, maybe that’s the way it should be. Those soldiers gave their lives to bring peace back to this part of the world. I think they would like to see the beach this way.

Stay tuned! Up next is a quaint little impressionist port town, the white cliffs of Etretat, and some really good food!

Clearly we are not cut out for sunny, hot climates. But I digress from the title. We rented a house for the first week in Plancoet. We still don’t know how to actually say the name of the town. On our first day there we went to the tourist office and tried to remember how the extremely helpful man there said the name of the town, but we promptly forgot the correct pronunciaton as soon as we stepped back outside. Is it Plan-co-et, Planco-at, Plaincoat, Plan-set, Plan-coe, or Plan-kwah? (Because as far as we can tell you don’t pronounce the last syllable or letter of every French word and make a lot of w sounds). We pronounced it differently each time we said it but thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The house was in a great location, 10-15 minutes from 20 beaches, 20 minutes from breathtaking coastal trails, and 25 minutes from Dinan, a wonderful medieval city.

The weather suited me perfectly. The picture below is from the warmest day there. Notice the coats.

It rained everyday but we didn’t let that stop us. Annika repeatedly said that she loves the rain (she refused to wear a jacket or get under the gazebo while playing at the park in the afternoon downpour). We would wake up in the morning and groan when we saw the rain coming down (again). Annika would run upstairs and say “Let’s go to the beach! I never mind the rain! We can go anyway!” Everyone should keep an optimist like that around. We found our two favorite beaches in a little town called St. Cast le Guildo. Annika called them the “kite beach” and the “bathtub beach.” We’ll show you why.

And at the end of one of the lovely hikes, we found this beach. We had it all to ourselves so Annika made herself at home. In fact, she called the rock cove her house and the puddle her bathtub. She treated it like one too…

Annika getting into her "bath"

This was a rewarding hike because of the beach at the end of it but we probably enjoyed one of our many hikes in the rain a little bit more. Here are some pictures of one of our our hikes on Cap Frehel.

One of the selling points of the Brittany vacation, lest you’ve forgotten because of the length of this post, was that we could go the medieval city of Dinan and Erica could take pictures. I’ve decided that I’ve visited too many medieval cities; I am no longer impressed with narrow cobblestone streets, buildings that haven’t changed for hundreds of years, and shops selling authentic souveniers. I now feel the same way about medieval cities as I have about cathedrals – they’re old and nice to see but they’re pretty much all the same. Despite my feelings, the visit to Dinan was worthwhile for the food. Brittany and Normandy are famous for their crepes and galettes (not the dessert, but a savory buckwheat crepe). The crepes and galettes are not pictured but we did find some of the best macaron’s we’ve ever had.

We originally planned our vacation so that Wendy and Justin would be with us for our entire time at the beach but the house we rented wasn’t available that week by the time our check made it to the owner. Luckily, we were flexible enough to be able to still stay at the house in Plancoet. We picked Wendy and Justin up from the train station in St. Malo, one of the must see cities of Brittany according to all of the guidebooks. We weren’t very impressed with the city nor the beaches there but enjoyed the day we spent there waiting for Wendy and Justin. The anticipation of seeing Wendy and Justin again may have been one of Annika’s highlights for the trip but the highlight of St. Malo for the rest of us was probably the aquarium; it was a nice reprieve for the kids to be able to run around and see things that they were interested in. Lucy and Elise pointed at every tank and every fish and said, “Ohhh, look at that!” or “What’s that?”.

With Justin and Wendy with us, it became much easier to handle the daily rain, the screaming kids, and we were even able to enjoy some time to ourselves. Lucy and especially Elise fell in love with Justin. They wouldn’t get close to the water with us but had no problems if Justin (or Wendy) carried them into the water. Compare the pictures of Erica with Lucy and Elise with the picture of them with Justin and Wendy.

I also enjoyed having Wendy and Justin there because I was no longer required to carry everyone. We took another short hike to the other side of Cap Frehel to see Fort La Lotte with them and I only had to carry one child. We were too cheap to go inside, but thoroughly enjoyed the view’s from both sides of the Cap.

As you can see we’ve got a lot of pictures to share from the first week. Erica started to notice the sand accumulating on her camera so on a few days we left the camera at home and just brought along the iPhone. The pictures have captions to tell more of the story. Enjoy!

Stay tuned – we left Brittany and headed to Normandy, stopped by Mont St. Michel, visited the D-Day beaches, relaxed in picturesque Honfluer, stayed in Paris for two days and then visited the happiest place on earth. It may be hard to believe, but even more pictures will be coming in the near future…

See, I could totally live in that little house down there.

1. In Traveling 101 we mentioned that you will not regret bringing friends with you. If you can convince multiple friends, especially those with older children, to vacation with you it will be even better. Invite yourself along on another family’s vacation if you have to (we did!). You will appreciate having other adults to feed your kids when you run out of snacks, to hold your babies when your arms are about to give out, and to keep you company and laugh with you when your children are making things oh-so-difficult. You will really appreciate the other kids who convince your preschooler to keep walking by playing “Dora” and “Buzz Lightyear” for hours. (Thank you Elijah!) We hardly saw Annika the entire vacation and despite all the beautiful things we saw, what she remembers is that she spent a whole weekend playing with her friends.

The whole gang - minus a couple photographers

2. Take a pack mule. An actual mule might be nice, but if you can’t find one, a really strong husband (who doesn’t mind a compressed spine) will work. You might be foolish enough to think that your older child will want to walk most of the time. When she is begging to be carried ten minutes into the day-long hike you’ll try to bribe her with fruit snacks walk just a little bit farther. When you run out of fruit snacks you will find that you do have to carry her. This is where the pack mule comes in. Even though Brad was already carrying a baby on his back and all of the excess gear I felt we needed to bring (just in case!) he hefted Annika up on his shoulders and just kept on hiking. I tried carrying Annika and a baby just once on the hike and I only lasted a few minutes. Brad kept it up all day. I’m so glad because that all day hike through the Alps was the highlight of the trip for me.

3. We included this in the last course, but it needs a refresher. You should pay to go and do things that you want to do. Just remember that your children are going to enjoy the free things the most – splashing in the ditch, eating picnics on the grass, playing in the park, and going hiking. We paid to visit the Ballenberg Open Air museum. It was a very cool collection of authentic houses and barns and animals from Swiss history. We saw people making cheese and working on a loom, we saw cows and chickens and pigs, and we toured the inside of many beautiful old half-timbered houses. However, all of the kids were the happiest when we bought them popsicles and let them have a water fight with the mini-squirtguns that came with their treat. Eventually we just left the kids at the park and took turns visiting some of the houses nearby.

Why pay for museums when you have drainage ditches for free?

4. Bring a lot of food. Especially junk foods and sweet cereals that you wouldn’t ordinarily feed your kids. When they get tired and cranky a bag of chips or a packet of fruit snacks will be the perfect distraction. Nothing brightens up a preschooler’s morning like a bowl of lucky charms. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t bring good foods, but you are only on vacation for a few days, so a couple of bags of chips and some swiss candy bars are not going to kill your children and just might save your sanity. If you forgot to do this and only packed oatmeal and apples, refer to item number one, and borrow some food from your friends who came more prepared.

Lucy wanted to be in charge of her own snacks

5. Allow time for bathroom breaks and diaper changes. Lots of bathroom breaks and diaper changes. Remember that you have a potty-trained preschooler now and that when you are driving on the autobahn and she yells “I have to go potty!” you have about five minutes to find somewhere to pull over. Keeping a little red potty in the back of you car will help with these emergency stops. If you try to stretch this time so that you can combine your potty stop with a stop for gas you might end up with a wet little girl and a peed-in carseat. It’s probably not worth it. When you are hiking these potty breaks are easier, but you might want to perfect the “mommy potty” because you’ll be holding your girl over the bushes a lot.

A diaper change with a view

6. When you vacation with your family, you learn a lot about each other. The stresses and excitements of traveling bring out the best and the worst in you and your kids. For example, we learned that Annika and Elise are afraid of almost everything. At the end of our hike we had to walk down a steep trail in a thick forest. Brad put Annika in the backpack and kept Lucy in the front pack. It probably took us half an hour to forty-five minutes to get through this section of trail, and Annika screamed the whole way. The forest terrified her and she thought she was going to fall. Despite all our reassurances that she was safe,  she kept yelling “No! No! Stop! Daddy, stop!” while clutching at Brad’s hair and face. Frustrated, he finally asked “Annika, what do you want me to do?”  She didn’t even pause, “hike back up, please!” Elise whimpered and cried in my backpack, but Lucy smiled and giggled as she bounced down the hill. Annika cried on the gondola ride down from Gimmelwald and she refused to look at the waterfalls when we visited Trummelbach Falls, even when we were holding her. We knew that she could be timid, but we didn’t know that so many things really scared her. On the other hand, we learned that our children are resilient and flexible and we were reminded of how much fun they are. We did carry Annika quite a bit, but we were impressed with her strength and how far she was willing to walk. For only being three, those little legs carried her a long way. And she eventually overcame some of her fears in the falls and enjoyed climbing stairs in the “tunnels.” Lucy and Elise were remarkably happy and content to just be outdoors and were continually pointing to new things that excited them.

Annika and Gracie on the cable car. Don't be fooled by the smile; seconds later she was screaming as the car headed over the cliff edge.

Hopefully this trip taught our children some things about us as well. The way you decide to spend your time and your money when time is short and things are expensive teaches your children about what is most important to you. We visited the Bern, Switzerland temple on our way down and we made sure we attended church on Sunday. Even though we spent most of church in the foyer with three grouchy children, I hope our kids saw that even when we are on vacation our spiritual welfare is important.

7. When it seems like everything is going wrong, just try to remember that someday it will make a really funny story. Or maybe a good sacrament meeting talk. Perhaps both. It started to storm when we were leaving the temple, but let up when we got to the campground. Right about the time we were getting our tents set up the sky opened and it began to pour! About that time the Johnsons realized that they had a tent but no tent poles. Heather was busy trying to get dinner ready in the rain, but our dinner plan was to grill hamburgers and hotdogs. So Isaac and Gracie stood over the grills with umbrellas while we cooked the burgers. I rushed to get the rain coats out, but by the time I got everyone bundled we were already soaked. The Johnsons eventually got a cabin and we decided to move dinner over there, where at least some of us could be dry. One of my favorite memories of this trip is the image of Spencer and Alex wheeling the grill down the road across the campground with the hamburgers still cooking away and Isaac trying to keep the umbrella over it. Everything about us setting up and cooking in the rain, with no picnic table and shoddily assembled rain flies was so ridiculous I laughed so hard I cried – not that you could tell with the rain running down my face.

I guess what we’re learning is that traveling with children is not only feasible, but a lot of fun as long as you are prepared for everything and you expect nothing. You can lay the very best of plans, but nothing will go quite the way you envisioned it and everything will take longer. Traveling with children is unwieldy and inconvenient. Oftentimes it is frustrating. But it is also extremely rewarding. These times we have spent together away from work and cell phones and internet have not only been memorable but have brought us closer as a family. I think that’s worth all the effort.

See, you just have to learn to relax, wherever you are

Whew! That was a long post with a lot of pictures! You should get some kind of award if you made it through. Now stay tuned, because we go on vacation again next week, this time for 14 days. We’ll see if we can heed our own advice.

Our neighbors and friends Paige and Andy Archer joined us on our first trip. It took us a little while to leave the house and find the climbing area, but once we got going we were all so happy to be there. I grew up camping and playing outside and always imagined I would do the same with my children. Living in Europe has made that difficult. I felt so happy watching my girls walk (and crawl around) in the dirt, playing make-believe with sticks and rocks, and exploring the logs and boulders around them. Lucy ate a ton of dirt, but she was so happy. Annika surprised us all by how well she did climbing, but she didn’t really like the harness or Brad putting any tension on the rope. Elise is really mastering walking, and perfected the art while navigating sticks and rocks. It was a perfect day.

Two weeks later we went again. This time we invited the Taylor family to come with us and the Archers. We had three ropes set up, so we could do plenty of climbing, and we had lots of hands to play with babies. Annika wasn’t so keen on using a belay, but she loved climbing the boulders and playing with Connor. The sun was shining and it was so warm; I would have been happy if I had just sat there in the warm woods the whole day. Lucy and Elise mostly just ate all our food, but they seemed fine with that. Thanks again to all of our friends who joined us and made it possible for us to go. I hope this is just the first of many climbing trips this summer. If anyone wants to join us, let me know!

Paige took this picture of us with her point and shoot, and I'm so glad she did.