Nancy, France

The kids and I headed to Nancy, France this past weekend. We left late, hit a lot of traffic, and I had to pull over to take a nap. We were all more than ready to be there, but about 45 minutes away we started seeing dozens of black dots in the sky. As we got closer, I realized they were hot air balloons, so we made a detour and started driving that direction.

When we got as close as I thought we would, I found a parking lot and we all jumped out of the car.

William was so excited, he sees them on Curious George all of the time, so he just about leaped out of his skin with excitement.

We finally made it to our hotel and we all crashed, ready for a fun day.

It was a cold and cloudy morning, but we were ready to see some sites. 

The main square had gorgeous gates filled with beautiful statues

I have to be honest, for our first trip to France, I was a little disappointed.

We didn't get to see everything I had planned, but we did see some very beautiful things.

Kaelyn got bored on the long trip back, and built herself a fort.

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

The sister missionaries coming over is a very regular thing in our house.

We love it, but it also makes it hard when transfers come around and we have to say goodbye.

This is Sister Petersen from Utah, she had spent over 5 months in our ward, and she became like part of our family.

It was really hard to say goodbye, the kids miss her so much and still ask about her.

Even Nick misses her, the one person he could talk history with!

Volks Park

Not too far from us is a free sprinkle park, perfect for hot summer days.

They have a slide, fountains, a rock snake to climb all over, and so many other fun things.

Through the rivers that go all over there are sections that you can turn into a dam, William had fun learning about this, then teaching it to other kids as well.

Barefoot Park

A hot sunny day we headed back to the barefoot park

The second thing you do is walk through a mud pit, that neither kid liked, but especially Kaelyn.

We learned a valuable lesson about the layout though, and what is and is not worth it.

After we headed across the river, William was mad that his shorts were wet so when in Germany, walk around in your underwhear!

Gymnastics

Both of the kids have started gymnastics again and they are really loving it. They are both so strong, Kaelyn can just about do a pull up all on her own.

For Christmas we've decided to turn a portion of our living room into a gymnastics corner so that they can practice at home as well. Pictures to come!

Openheim

A little city down the road has some underground tunnels that use to be used not only for storage, but to hide in during the war.

It was so crazy to see how far they went, all of the work that went into them, all by hand. They have another tour that we plan on going through without the kids one day, it is like climbing through slot canyons.

At the church in town the is a room with the bones of 2,000 people. The graveyard got full so they started just throwing them into a room. Eventually they decided to to stack them up neatly, and this is what you get.

Apparently they filmed part of a movie in there, so a few of the bones were painted gold.

After that we headed to the beach for our first time ever.

The kids took a little convincing, especially Kaelyn but eventually we all had a blast.

We've been back a couple of times now, and they like it more and more each time.

By the end Kaelyn was really mad to go. The best part about this picture though is we didn't put her in a swim diaper, so this is what we decided Kim Kardashian does to get her big butt.