Frankfurt, Brussels, and Paris

It has been a whirlwind of a holiday vacation but it is well worth it. Eating schnitzel in Germany, Belgian waffles in Belgium and crepes in France. The boys met up with me in Frankfurt, Germany where we spent a few days just touring the city. Then it was off to Brussels, Belgium to spend Christmas with Trevor's cousin. There Derek and Austin played with their cousin Kaya who Derek hasn't seen since before he turned one. Now they are 4 and had a wonderful time playing and sharing and of course not sharing. They liked to argue a bit but in the end they really enjoyed each other. When we left Derek even told us how fun it was at Kaya's house and that he wanted to go back. Maybe some day we can get back for a visit.

All of us in Paris. It was a cold but yet wonderful day.


Derek showing off his muscles in front of Notre Dame.

To coincide with our visit to Belgium, we all took a day trip to Paris, France. Oh what a beautiful city. We started out a bit rough, after all the kids had just been couped up on a 3 hour bus trip and were ready to eat and run off their pent up energy. Once we got started we did a boat ride down the Seine River, saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and major shopping district. The kids were excellent. They even used their inside voices while we were inside Notre Dame. The trip was well worth it. As we finished up in the city, we couldn't help try to make new plans to spend more than a day in Paris so that we can see and do more. After all the city is huge!

Here we are showing off our Belgian Waffles.

Austin hitch-hiking in the Romer Platz in Frankfurt. (actually he was pointing out the Christmas tree)

So all in all it was a great first European Vacation for our little boys. There were so many great photos and we could only add a few. Our myspace pages will have the rest loaded soon. There will be plenty more trips in the future as mommy loves spending her time in Europe and as the boys grow older they will be able to appreciate the places they have been and the cultures they have experienced. Derek was even a photographer on this trip and is very proud of the photos he took. Some of them even turned out pretty good. So as we head home to celebrate the New Year coming in, we will reflect on our trip and make plans for a new one in the future.

Us in front of Mannequin Pis.