Ben: Piemonte

Today I went to a restaurant and ate noodles and they were so good. I also ran to a near town and back with my dad. I was so high up I could see so far. Then I saw a big lake.

Ethan: Piemonte Puppies

                  Dear Sandy and auntie





Their are two dogs next door.
They lick.

They bite each other too!

But i try to stop them.

Ethan: Winter Pictures

I like these pictures. They are so cool. They where at our house.

Natale (Christmas)

Christmas began in Orland Park! We were able to have a shortened Christmas visit with Dave's family. His dad picked us up (very late- thanks) from Union Station in Chicago on Friday. On Saturday, we woke up to do some gift-giving. The boys both love their new stuffed animals from Auntie that go with their beloved sheep and puppies.




We arrived in Riefensberg, Austria, late on the 23rd. Our good friends, Lynne and Tyler, their kids, Tyler's mom, sisters and their families, and several friends had already checked in to the hostel and gotten started making things comfortable. After spending some time getting settled, the boys and I went to bed. Dave was so excited to see everyone that he stayed up to do some singing, though he didn't have the energy to participate in the dancing.

                                                    

Our home for Christmas. Our group had the entire second floor to ourselves.

Thanks to jet lag, I woke up at an embarrassing time on Christmas Eve. It was great to have the chance to catch up on some sleep, but as soon as I woke up I pulled a muscle near my shoulder blade. I couldn't brush my hair, much less shower or do dishes, which there were plenty of with 23 people in our group. About all I could manage was a short walk up the road. It had snowed a bit overnight, so everyone got out for some fun in the snow. Sadly, the nearby ski lifts were not open due to the recent warm temperatures and lack of snow, but the boys all enjoyed sledding and snowball fights.

  

The group of kids included eight boys and one girl. It was so much fun to see them establish fast friendships. Tyler's mom, Laurie, really enjoyed putting together activities for her grandchildren (and our two add-ons). The decorations they made for the Christmas tree were gorgeous.






We were told that there would be a Christmas Eve torch walk, possibly with singing. Even though the boys did NOT want to go and my back still hurt, I really didn't want to miss out on what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Everyone gathered in front of the hostel to light their torches. The two nine-year-old boys were quite disappointed that nobody would give them a torch to hold.

While this was really cool, the details of the outing really were lost in translation. Ethan and Ben were really poorly prepared. Ethan had no shoes, so he rode on Dave's shoulders. Ben, with no coat on, ran up toward the front of the group. Nobody was singing, and we just kept walking... and walking... After about ten minutes, Dave's back hurt from carrying Ethan, and mine was ready to head back up the hill. Ben, who was well ahead of us at this point, continued on with the group. It turned out that they traveled to the small chapel in town for a Christmas Eve service. The parents returned with the children after seeing the chapel and hearing that the service was taking place in German.


We ate really. well. in Austria. Laurie's friend, Connie, had organized a menu and did the bulk of food preparations (Thank you, Connie!). For Christmas Eve, she and her husband prepared raclette, heating cheese on a special cooker they brought and scraping it onto our plates. The cheese was then eaten with potato, onions, and pickles. Yum!

Laurie read to the kids before bed. Ben was thrilled to be included.

Ethan was the scribe for the Christmas Eve note to Santa.

  

Two Christmas morning views

Ethan woke up vomiting at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. He made it through opening presents, but went back to bed shortly after. The boys had tons of goodies in their stockings, thanks to Santa's combined efforts. Ben received soccer warmups and Ethan got a game under the tree, and they magically found phones back on their beds. (The phones do not have magical cell phone plans, but will allow them to listen to music and take pictures for the duration of our travels.)

Christmas Day continued with more time out in the snow for Ben and Dave, and sleeping for Ethan and I. When Ethan woke up at 1:00 p.m., he was as energetic as ever. (I am glad that I haven't heard reports of anyone else in the group being sick afterwards.) We took another walk up the road to enjoy the snow and the views. Dinner was another feast that included turkey, salad, and spätzle with crème brûlée for dessert. I finally felt well enough to help with dishes, too. 

Ben: Italy trip

Dear class,

Today is December 28 and I am writing to say that I got to Italy. We have a house that is near the border a little and has two flors. In a week we are going to Padova. We are with our friends and we are going to stay with them for a week. They go back to the U.S. in a week so we have some time.  Guess what Italy has two toilets in each bathroom. One is a butt washer and a regular toilet!

This is a butt washer.

 

Ethan: To Italy

                                             
                                                                          dear Miss.Stones class






We are on one train right now.
We just saw three huge mountains!
I was so excited i wonted to clime it!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We started our adventure on December 21 from the Amtrak station in Ann Arbor. Our friends Robin, Bob, and Winston were kind enough to take us to the station and (try to) see us off. I have wanted to take the train to Chicago for a long time, but driving was always cheaper and more practical.

As I knew from my friends Jenny and Marty's experiences with the train to Chicago, it often runs late. Somehow, despite the fact that our train was in Ypsilanti when we got to the station at 6:30, the train was an hour and a half late. Not the most auspicious start to our travels.

At least we got some sleep on the train.

After some rest and some holiday-ing at Dave's parents' house (holiday posts come later), they took us to O'Hare for our 4:30 p.m. flight on the 22nd. The boys were really excited to fly, even more so when they saw that our plane had two stories!

 We watched the first half of the Michigan-Air Force game thanks to YouTube TV while we waited for our flight. Hopefully we will catch the rest before they play on the 30th, but Wifi has been spotty since leaving the airports.



KLM was a great airline to fly. They pulled us out of the gate area for both flights to tell us to pre-board with the boys. We didn't think that would be anything we did now that Ethan is six, but it was nice to get bumped up. Dave sprung for the Economy Coach class, which gave us a little more room. Everyone had their own screen, though the boys used their tablets until we made them get some sleep. A few hours (plus those we skipped during the trans-Atlantic flight) we landed in Amsterdam!

The boys were really impressed with the airport and the train station in Amsterdam. The decorations and lights for Christmas were festive, and in general the size, hustle, and bustle made an impression. We figured out which train to take to the city center.


Amsterdam at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning (December 23) was absolutely dead. The sun was barely up by the time we arrived downtown at 8:30- Dave said that Amsterdam is at about the 52nd parallel, which is pretty far north. The boys got to run around like banshees, and really enjoyed chasing the pigeons. (I tried to find a picture of Ben chasing pigeons during our 2011 trip to Italy, but I couldn't.) We found a few markets to walk around and got Dutch pancakes- yum!

 They were looking a little wiped out at this point.

We had hoped to explore Amsterdam more, but it started raining. Nobody was in any kind of shape to sightsee in the rain at that point, so we headed back to the airport in the early afternoon. The flight to Munich was about two hours. We got our luggage and walked right out of the airport- customs was basically nonexistent. At least every day I'm thankful that the boys are such capable travelers. They have done a great job of walking on their own as well as carting their own luggage.

Somehow our rental car was upgraded to an Audi. After Dave figured out how to get it started and how to turn off the heated steering wheel, we headed off on our drive to Riefensburg to meet Lynne, Tyler, and their families for the holiday. I stayed awake to navigate for Dave for 2.5 hours while the boys zonked out in the back.