Paris...Finally

So since I have to sit here and watch the Cowboys I figured it was a good time to update from our trip. It is hard to narrow down the pictures to post because we did so much. Our feet were definitely sore by the end! Well here we go...

We took the Eurostar down there and had so much fun. We were on Leisure Select class on the way down there and enjoyed our meal and unlimited drinks.

After lugging the stroller and suitcase around the underground it was nice to get out at our stop and see the Eiffel Tower!

The first night there we went on cruise along the Seine River. It was beautiful!

The desserts there were great. I love my chocolate crepe here!

The view from our hotel room.

The Arc de Triumphe.

We took a lot of steps in the couple days we were there.

We then headed to the Louvre. Neither of us are big art people so mainly hit the highlights.

Chase was asleep for the Mona Lisa. Chase will laugh when he looks back and realizes he slept through the most famous painting in the world. I wasn't waking him up though, sleep is just too precious!

Chase has been grabbing at things a lot lately. Brad always had to hold the maps away from him. They turned into good toys though once we were done with them.

In front of Notre Dame.

On top of Notre Dame (more steps!)

The Eiffel Tower sparkled every hour on the hour. We loved it!

The next day we headed to Musee D'Orsay

I got tired of taking pictures of the same pose in front of different works of art so I told Brad to do something creative.

Here we are at a cafe for lunch. Mealtime was a challange with Chase. He took catnaps during day in the Bjorn but once we sat down he was either fussy or wanting to grab everything on the table. One of us would eat quickly while the other one would hold him - then we would switch off. We ended up ordering pizza to go the last night and ate it in our room.

Palace of Versailles

Our hotel had a pool so we had to take Chase. For being "heated" it still seemed pretty chilly so we didn't last that long. Everyone had to wear that swimcap in the pool.

We went up the Eiffel tower the last night but Chase decided to have a meltdown so no good pictures from that. I just want to brag on my husband for a second. He was so helpful with Chase. He carried him all day and still gave me a foot rub at night! He always let me eat first and put him to bed everynight. One night I kinda feel asleep and realized he wasn't in bed. I looked over at the baby cot and there is Brad laying next to him with his hand underneath vibrating the cot so Chase will go to bed. I know he was just as tired at me and he was still serving me! It was nice to get away for the holidays as a family!

Christmas Day

We had a great day yesterday! It was the first time we weren't with extended family so it was interesting blending both our family traditions. Here is the kid picture in front of the tree.

Reading the Christmas Story with Dad.

The best gift we received this year! I know he is still "Brand New" but he is growing so fast!

We really didn't give Chase anything this year but family and friends were very generous!

No Wagner that is not a friend for you!

After Chase went down for his morning nap we made breakfast and watched The Nativity Story. We also Skyped several times with family back home so we could see everyone. Later in the afternoon, we headed over to friends house for dinner. There were 4 families from church/work and 5 kids age 2 and under. It was a full house but it was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas!

Got back not too long ago from a wonderful couple days with the fam in Paris. Here were are in front of Notre Dame. I will write more later but just wanted to say Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Brad!!!

Happy 30th Birthday Brad! We celebrated the last day of his 20's last night with a party at our house! Even though it was a dark, foggy night everyone still made it out - there were at least 3o people who turned up. Thanks everyone for coming!

Some neighbors from the village stopped by!

We had a busy weekend leading up to the party as well. We went to a football match in a nearby town with some friends from church. There wasn't much scoring and it was very cold but we had a lot of fun and hope to go back in the nicer weather. We had a ticket to take Chase but the weather was so terrible he stayed back with the other kids.

At the kids Christmas party on Saturday, Chase got to meet Santa.

And finally it was a very exciting weekend because my brother Steven got engaged!! We are so excited for him and Melissa! I searched through my picture cds to find a picture of them and this was the best I found. I stopped in Manhattan for a couple hours a year and half ago and played softball with their coed team. Congrats!!

5 Months

Hard to believe Chase is 5 months! We had his weight check on Tuesday and he gained 6 oz, which is something but still a little on the slow side. He is slowly warming up to eating solids - not a big fan of cereal but seems to like sweet potatoes so we will go from there.

Finally brought up the exersaucer for Chase.

Don't be fooled by that smile - he doesn't really like the cereal!

We have big birthday coming up on Monday - that's right Brad will be the big 3 -0! We are having a party on Sunday to celebrate the last day of his twenties! I am sure I will post more about that on Monday!

It's beginning...

to feel a lot like Christmas! We had Brad's squadron Christmas party last night (forgot the camera but hopefully someone will send us pictures) which was actually a lot of fun. We decorated the house today, I've been wrapping gifts and working on Christmas cards. We were going to go after church to get a real tree but the day was going super fast so we used our artificial tree from previous years. Considering we have such low ceilings and medium sized family room I think it actually looks pretty good. Even though he is only 5 months it is fun to include Chase in everything. We also booked a trip to Paris for the few days before Christmas so are looking forward to that. Here is a picture of my cute boys...
Thanks to everyone who has asked about Chase's weight. We started cereal after the last appointment and sometimes he loves it but other times he doesn't want anything to do with it. I think he is gaining weight and we have our appointment this on Tuesday this week so we will see then.

Italy

Last night Brad checked the blog and was wondering why I haven't updated it yet. How quickly he went from "I don't think we should have a blog" to "Why isn't it updated?" I knew I would win him over. We got back Sunday night but between unpacking, laundry, quick visit from Steph before she moves back to the states, dentist appointment, grocery shopping, sick baby well this is the first time I have had a chance to sit down to update it. We had a wonderful time in Italy - it was a wonderful combination of seeing sights and relaxing with friends. Chase did okay on the trips but was terrible at night. He decided he didn't want to sleep in Italy. We would take turns with him at night but neither of us really got a good night sleep. Anyways - here are some pictures of our trip....

Chase did great on the ride there.

The first thing we did in Venice was to get some yummy pizza!

Brad loved watching movies in the back seat with his buddy Morgan.


At a local market.
Are we terrible parents to let our 4 month old try gelato? Well he needs to gain weight right?!

In Verona...

Chase's first Thanksgiving meal. Hope those fingers were yummy - our meal sure was!

Thank you so much Antons for having us for a week!