Rome

Carlye and I got to escape to Rome for a weekend in the fall. Our neighbors and friends were nice enough to watch Alex for the weekend. We left early Friday morning from Rotterdam and came home Monday afternoon.

On Friday we visited the Vatican City -



It was actually still quite warm so the mist from the fountain felt good and we figured since every blog usually centers around Alex needed one picture with at least his name in it.

We had signed up for a guided tour but the guide did not show up on time and then we called and we ended up getting a tour just by ourselves. Here is some of the artwork in the Vatican museum. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel but were not allowed to take pictures. It is not because of the flash but evidently as part of the restoration - Kodak sponsored quite a bit of it and they own the rights to any pictures.

After our tour we made our way inside St. Peter's Basicalica -an ancient law is still in effect in Rome in that the Basilica is the tallest building in Rome and nothing is to be built any taller.

Each of the previous popes have a shrine inside the basilica dedicated to them. Of course Carlye found the one with the big kitties.

The inside of the church is amazing - we were told that the Statue of Liberty would fit inside the dome.

We also went on a walking tour on Saturday evening and saw quite a few other items in Rome including quite a few fountains.

There are also a few Roman Arches left standing which commerate their leaders and the wars that they were able to win to expand the Roman Empire. The one on the left is in the Roman Forum while the one on the right is outside the Coliseum.

We also did an audio tour through the Roman Forum which houses alot of the old buildings - it is right across the street from the Coliseum.

The Coliseum is massive and quite impressive considering how long ago it was built.

You can walk around the inside and see down into the floor where the gladitors and their opponents were released to fight each other.

Anyway we had a great weekend and we were glad we got to visit Rome while we were over here.

Dolphinerium

Back in the fall we spent a day with Marco, Adrianna and Noah at the Dolphinerium (the Dutch Sea World). Alex and Noah had a really good time looking at all the animals and in general running around the park.

Alex and Noah got a good view of the seals -



especially the big one



In the park there were plenty of boats, slides, and playgrounds to play on. Noah and Alex seemed to like the boat type playgrounds as you can see them taking turns looking out for pirates and hiding in the corner of the ship -

Alex and Noah took their turns petting the rays -

Alex got a kick out of that -

We also saw a pretty incredible dolphin show (unfortunately the pictures did not come out too well in there as it was dark) but they did have some pretty cool underground areas where you could see the dolphins swimming -

Marco, Noah, Alex and Ryan made their way across the stones in the water without much of an incident -

Of course it helped having Ryan corral them so they did not try it on their own

At the end of the day Alex got to enjoy a couple of his favorites things - eating a popsicle (he calls it ice) and watching a show with some pirates -

Quick Update

Hi all - sorry its been a while since we posted. During the month of November we all managed to get sick with the flu. I was actually in Switzerland during the week Carlye was the worst and they told her that she had the "swine" flu - the doctor did not actually test her for it but that was his guess. She has fully recovered and thanks to some really nice neighbors got some help with Alex while I was gone that week.

We made it back to Houston on December 6th and will be here for a month. I am working for a few weeks and then will enjoy the holidays between here and San Antonio. Alex turned 3 on Tuesday (8th) so we took him to Chuckie Cheese and had mexican food for dinner (he loves chips and hot sauce). We will probably not post too much while we are home as Carlye's computer (the one with all the pictures) is back in the Netherlands but we will work on getting it updated when we get back.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

France Trip #2 (Stop 3 of 3 - Normandy)

Our last stop in France was the Normandy region. We saw quite a bit of the WW II historical sites as well some other interesting things while we were there.

The first stop was at Mont St. Michel which is on the northern coast of France. It is an abbey which is still used today. The site of driving up to it was quite impressive as it sits up on a rock formation that can be surrounded by the sea depending on the tide.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the abby - include one of the cathedral -

Alex and I looking down on the sea over the side of the wall of the abbey

We thought we were smart and decided to only get one audio tour so Carlye could listen but Alex still wanted it from time to time so that he could learn about the history of the abbey

Here are some pictures of Alex and I standing in one of the large chimneys as well as him up on my shoulders which he enjoys as you can tell -

Alex playing peek-a-boo behind the pillars.

After we left Mont St. Michel we made about a 5-10 minute trip down the road to a place called Turtle Bay, which houses turtles, lizards and crocodiles.

There you could get in the habitat with the turtles and "pet" them. Alex was very excited to get in there and get close to the turtles -

Evidently Alex was in a kissy mood on this specific day as he kissed the turtle and tried to kiss the komoda dragon through the glass -

The last exhibit was the "crockers" as Alex calls them -

Alex found a tunnel that he and mom got to crawl through I think he was looking to get close enough to kiss the "crocker"



But this was about as close as he got down there -

We stayed in a hotel near the beaches in Normandy. We first visited Omaha beach and some of the museums in there area.

Here is a picture of the monument on Omaha beach for the National Guard-

Omaha beach -

Bunker where the Germans were trying to protect Omaha beach -

Outside one of the museums at Omaha beach - Alex liked what he called the "big trucks" -

Inside Alex found one of the big bombs that were used in the area - finally he passed out in the stroller after running around quite a bit in the museum -

We then visited probably one of my favorite stops of the trip "Pointe du Hoc". It was an area that the Germany's defended that was up on a 100 foot cliff that overlooked both Omaha beach and Utah beach (the two beaches where the Americans landed on D-Day). The area was captured by the Army Rangers who had to scale the 100 foot cliff in order to get up to the Germans.

This is the area where the German had the large caliber gun that could reach both beaches at Pointe du Hoc -

The area is well preserved and you can still see the effects of the war (holes in the ground that are 20 feet deep and a lot of concreate and rebar). On the picture on the right is one of the bunkers that was still in tact which is where the German soldiers slept.

One of the bunkers as Alex and I explore -

Alex is very trusting he likes to jump into my arms especially from a higher place - here he is inside one of the bunkers and also at the top of the bunker from the previous picture.

Alex and I in the look out hole

Alex and mommy hanging out on one of the look out decks - it was quite windy on the day we visited as you can tell -

Alex and mommy hanging out and down inside one of the bunkers -

Alex walking through some of the ditches that were made in the ground where the soldiers would take cover.

Last but definitely not least we stopped at the American Cemetary where there are 9,386 American soldiers buried from WW II. The cemetary overlooks Omaha beach and you can walk down to the beach from the cemetary.

I think that will take care of our trips to France while we are over here. Hope everyone is doing well.