Who has the most love?

My Sol man has the biggest heart❤️

It's always a competition on who loves each other most. 

His line is, "I love you 60 19 42 zillion!". I always let him know that's alotta love! He usually wins. 

Leggings

Currently I'm obsessed with funky print leggings. Here's one of my most recent pairs:

Everyone should own a pair. It's like wearing clouds. 

Farm fun!

We went to dietering orchard for the first time a few weeks back and it was so fun!

They have an apple launcher (I told papa Scott he needs one!), hay maze, corn maze and some yummy food. I'm giving myself mommy of the year award for waiting in line for an HOUR for the kids to get their faces painted while they were off having fun. 

This is my kids to a T. Lily got this huge extravagant butterfly that took up her whole face (don't get me wrong, it was super cute!) and sol got a simple sail boat. Moments like these say so much about their personalities. I'm so grateful for their uniqueness  

End of summer bike ride

I love when I plan ahead and it allows me to spend some great quality time with my kiddos. We had an afternoon full of appointments and errands, but thankfully I thought it out and packed their bikes because we would have an hour to spare  in between to have fun. 

Such s beautiful day to be outside, enjoying the fall colors. Sol has mastered no training wheels and lily is rocking the balance bike. It amazes me how far they come in such a short period of time. 

Sol turns 5!

I had this great idea for Luis and I to go shopping together for Sol's bday gift. I wanted Luis to pick it out because naturally he is a kid at heart and if it's something he would think is fun, surely our soon to be 5 year old would love it. 

He went up and down every isle at the toy store and finally settled on this army helicopter with a jeep, army men and lots of guns. 

We get it home and decide to stash it upstairs in my craft room, because no one ever goes up there. 

The next morning sol wanted to hang a poster up in his room, but we were short a few push pins. I sent him upstairs to my craft room to grab them...where his unwrapped gift was sitting, in plain sight. DUH mom! 

He comes running downstairs saying " mom there's this army thing up there, you have to come look!!" I kept trying to change the subject hoping he would forget about it but who was I kidding. The kid got his bday gift a few days early and loves it!

I can't believe he's turning 5. It's so bittersweet to me. Sol is such a kind hearted, sensitive, sweet boy. I'm so great full for him and his sweet spirit each and every day. He's so smart and inquisitive. I'm not sure how I ever lived without him.

Sol, Thank you for making me a mother. For that I will always be grateful❤️

Europe day 8- headed home

Vacation is so nice, but we're both ready to be home. I miss my babies and my husband....and my pillow.

I've been fortunate to have been waited on hand and foot the past week and a half. 3 and 5 course meals, someone making my bed. I'm coming home about 10lbs heavier I guarantee it! Back to reality of cooking for myself...darn!

We're at the airport 3 hours early and than a 10.5 hour flight to portland and 2 hour drive home. Long day ahead, however I'll get 9 hours of my life back traveling back in time:-)

See ya'll soon!

Europe day 7- Netherlands

We were able to make a stop in the Netherlands, which is flat country with no hills or mountains. The Dutch are funny and wear funny shoes. Could

You imagine wearing wooden shoes?? No thank you. 

There are families that actually live inside the windmills. I was able to tour one and it's quite tiny and very noisy inside. It costs $500 per month to live there, I'm not sure why anyone would do that. 

A lot of the land here is farm land and I just love they style of the homes!

That's it for today. 

Europe day 6- Cologne

At this point we're both pretty ready to come home. I miss my family and I need my own pillow...however this is totally the life, just soaking up the sun. We've had the most amazing weather. 

I went on a tour of old town Cologne and the main point of interest was this cathedral. It's a very gothic style building however originally it was white. The black color is due to pollution. You can tell the parts that are recently repaired because they are white again. It's made from sandstone so they can't clean it. 

My grandmas heritage is swiss/German, which is the reason she wanted to visit Switzerland while we were here. She brought with her a postcard written by a family member from 1961 which was in German. This sweet lady knew German and was able to read and translate it for her. She brought her son with her on the trip. He was the 2nd youngest aside from the crew at 32.

Europe day 5- Germany

I am now the well known IPad/IPhone/any technology device guru when the old folks can't figure out why it's not working. I told them I'm going to start charging, I could pay for another trip that way! 

I left my glasses in the table in our room and the cleaner made this super cute elephant!

While ya'll are sleeping, we're cruising down then Rhine. The area we're in today is what I've been looking forward to all along. All of the castles, vineyards, villages, etc are along the river. 

The vineyards are mostly on a hillside so the water will drain. As a result, machines can't fit in the hill so they are picked 100% by hand. 

Most of the castles have been re-built over time since they were damaged during the war.

The train tunnels were built to resemble a castle so soldiers could hide their weapons around them.

I was able to tour the Marksburg castle while grandma went on a bus tour of the local vineyards. This castle was the only one in the area that wasn't damaged during war.

The cannons

 The kitchen 

The bedroom. The story behind this is kinda funny. The bed is about 3 1/2 feet long. now people during This time were only as tall as 5 ft but the reason the beds were so small is because they believed that death would get them while they were sleeping laying down so they slept sitting up. Crazy people...

The commode 

I'm not sure if you can expand this pano picture by clicking on it but this is the view of the Rhine River overlooking the city of Koblenz, Germany from Marksburg castle. Breath taking. 

Beautiful tulips in Koblenz near our ship

Gondolas that take you from one side of the river to the other.

Me:-) I know you missed seeing my face.

This river is so busy with cruise ships, barges, etc. They have a freight train on one side and passenger train on the other but they move most product by river (oil, coal, metal, grain, trash).

I'm honestly not sure how the old

Folks do it, I'm exhausted from all the excursions and tours I could sleep a whole day and still be tired. 

Europe day 4- France

Strasbourg France is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. Just like what you picure in the movies. This town is called "Petite France" and rightfully so. There were several groups that went into town to get our tourist on, and they offered a "leisure" group which went at a much slower pace which was nice for Gma.

I'm just going to load you up with pictures and not much else today because we're off to listen to some live music in the lounge. There's a man that plays the piano and grandma really enjoys it.

The Strasburg cathedral was stunning. I've been most impressed by the ancient church history here. It's just crazy how beautiful they are and all of the intricate details.

The cathedral has an astronomical

Clock inside. Pretty amazing how it works.