12th night

Who knew so much work was required for one little production???

Opening week is upon us - first dress rehearsal was last night and Thursday is opening night of Taylor's latest play. She will be playing the part of Viola and is pretty excited about this. It's a new venue, new stage (they are doing this one 'in the round'), and and older cast so we are eager to see how this one turns out.

Once again, Tay is going all out - she dyed her hair a bit to match her twin in the play and will be wearing her contacts again to help with the lighting glare.

Should be another crazy weekend for us, and I will post pictures once we have some from the event. After this, we may all take a month off...

cooliosity

Who knew I could invent awesome words? Actually, it turns out I'm not all that original...a bunch of people are already using that word. Go figure.

So I was trading e-mails with my buddy Abram and just flat out told him he was jealous of my cooliosity. He then decided to define that word in clear terms. I was laughing so hard I had to wipe away tears. See his definition below - and believe me when I say this is now a permanent word in my vocab.
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cooliosity: A measure of awesomeness in defining how much more amazing Kevin is than anyone else.

ie: "Yeah man, I had such a great day, one day I might be like Kevin." "Yeah, his cooliosity is off the charts."

see also: better than you; why are you staring?; nah, keep trying; one day, one day.
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On a funnier side note, he tried to add this to the Urban Dictionary, but stopped after reading the warning below:

"Don't name your friends. We'll reject inside jokes and definitions naming non-celebrities."

So close...

cold huh?

Who knew work could effectively eliminate your ability to blog for 6 months?

I guess I can't blame it all on work, but I'll give the majority of the blame there. I'm going to try be better about getting back into updating my blog - as well as reading other peoples (something else I haven't done in about 6 months).

Got this picture from Jeff in Minnesota - thought it was pretty awesome...I do miss Minnesota very much...but maybe not this part of it.

august? seriously?

Who knew getting back from vacation could make time fly?

So, yeah, it's August...and I haven't posted in weeks...wow.

Crazy how life comes at you right? Last week was totally nuts - I don't think we had one night all week without something going on - then the weekend kept up the trend. We were able to have a little fun along the way and there is proof below. We attended a wedding of some great friends on Saturday (and danced the night away). On Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit my sister and family (pictures of that to follow - don't have them with me).

Tomorrow, we are running to...wait for it...CEDAR POINT!!! WAHOO!!! We are dragging Nadia to Cedar Point tomorrow and are going to ride till we hurl...or at least until we are too tired to continue. I was thinking, "Gee, I really don't want to be at work. What can I do to get a day off?" Leave it up to the wonder twins (Jaimie and Nadia) to come up with this awesome excursion. I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pumped. I'd say there will be pictures of that as well, but I'm not sure taking the camera is a good idea...I'd probably drop it out of my pocket while I was upside down or something.

Anyway, few pictures of the wedding below. Can't wait for the weekend.

Me and my date...oh wait, that's the next pic...this is me and my buddy Abe...awww

Check out the ladies that let me accompany them to the wedding...how lucky was I???

home (bitter)sweet home

Who knew it would be that obvious that we are home since it's been almost 2 weeks since I've posted anything at all?

We arrived home last week and have been adjusting well (except for the dog, she was sick for about 4 days but is doing a little better now). The trip home was uneventful and we were happy to get home.

It was a little tougher leaving than I thought it would be, we really did have a great time over there and would have loved to stay for a few more weeks...or months. I had almost a week off before returning to work, so that helped us adjust to being back, get some stuff done around the house and catch up on sleep before stepping back into the real world.

Taylor has been in 2 art classes all week (9AM - 4PM daily) and has been loving it. Today is her last day and I can't wait to see some of the art projects she completed. She had a class working with mixed media in the mornings and then did a pottery class in the afternoon. We won't get any of the pottery pieces for a few weeks (they have to bake them), but I can't wait. She is really into her art and has been doing a lot of drawing as well. We are so proud.

She goes to another fine arts camp next week so she is a busy girl. Summer is going to go fast if she stays this busy. She is excited about it though, it's another chance to be creative.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, time to go home and get it started...

louvre

Who knew you couldn't see the entire Louvre in one day?

It's our second day here in Paris and it has been absolutely amazing. We decided to go to the Louvre today and it was the thing we have been looking forward to the entire trip. We walked a few blocks and then picked up the metro to get there (trying to save as much energy as possible to walk around the museum). When we hit the main street by our hotel, we saw the outdoor market - and it was huge, selling everything from fresh produce to purses, to fish and meat. We loved it! It was wonderful and as we walked through we picked up some fresh strawberries and pastries for breakfast.

The Louvre was breathtaking - from the moment we first walked in and saw the inverted pyramid to the time we walked out - words cannot describe that place. I've been in some museums in my life - and really enjoy them a lot - but I wasn't ready for this one...holy smokes. Makes me want to check out the Smithsonian and see how they compare...

We knew it was going to be huge, but ummmm...let's just say the DaVinci Code movie doesn't do a great job of showing how enormous that place really is. Here is a quick movie to show why we didn't get the chance to see everything today - this entire building is the Louvre Museum.

We took so many pictures it was ridiculous, and there is no way I could possibly post them all. We spent roughly 7+ hours there today and really just took our time and tried to let it wash over us.

Based on a recommendation from a friend, we made reservations for dinner at the Chez Paul restaurant not far from the hotel. The food was amazing and it was definitely the French experience of dinner - sitting outside, watching people go by, enjoying an appetizer recommended by the waitress - good times. We took our time at dinner and enjoyed every bit of it. We were still able to get back to the hotel by 9:45PM or so and then got ready for bed and are crashing...in fact, I'm the chump not sleeping yet. Trying to rap this up quickly.

After 2 days here, it's clear I should have extended the trip to be here longer. We have really enjoyed being here and are feeling more comfortable now that we have been around a little - oh well, guess that's something I'll know for next time. For now, we leave Paris at 1PM tomorrow on the high speed train to Brussels. We stay there tomorrow night and then fly home Tuesday. I told J and Tay it was like the end of summer camp - I'm excited to be going home, but sad to leave at the same time. It will be nice to be home - and I'm sure all of the people watching the house are looking forward to us relieving them. The one thing we have missed the most is our dog - and believe me, we will be picking her up as early as we can.

Ok, it's midnight and we have plans for the morning...time to get some rest.

paris

Who knew Paris would be even more breathtaking in person than I ever thought it could be?

Yesterday we were in 4 countries in one day - started in Germany, drove through the Netherlands, and dropped the car off in Belgium. We then hopped the metro from one end of Brussels to the other to catch the high speed train to Paris. Once in Paris, we then hopped their version of the metro to the hotel (and used a map to find the hotel from the metro stop). It was an interesting challenge for sure, but we made it...and then crashed. We spent the first few hours in Paris camped in our room taking naps and just relaxing.

After a short period of recovery and getting some food, we ventured out into the Paris night. Our goal was to walk to one of the red bus tour stops so we could 'see all of Paris' in a few hours. Our though on this one was that since we only have a few days, we needed to see all of the tourist places as fast as we can so we could spend the rest of the time enjoying the city.

The tour was great and we were able to see so many amazing things. Here are a few quick pictures of some of the main attractions everyone would recognize. I'll post some of my other favorites later.

We are tired for sure, but are up and headed out to find some breakfast, and then go to the Louvre. This is the part of the trip we have been looking forward to the most. I think our tanks are running close to empty right now, but we will get to sleep in when we get home I guess.

J and I in front of the Arc

The tower...yeah, it's pretty big

Notre Dame - guess it's not just a school in Indiana after all

friday already?!?!?!

Who knew leaving some place you've only 'lived in' for 10 days could be so hard?

Well, today is our last day in Cologne and leaving will be bittersweet. In some ways, we are excited to go to Paris (who wouldn't right?) - and in other ways, we are a little bummed out to be leaving Cologne. We feel settled - we know where things are, we have a routine - and leaving means we start the adventure into the unknown all over again. The good thing is that we definitely knew it would come to an end, so we have been doing our best to enjoy every minute of the trip. We also know there is no way we could have seen everything here in 10 days so we are ok with having seen so much already...and just hope we can come back some day to see more!

Since we will be in a new hotel - and I won't be at work next week - I'm not sure if I will be able to update the blog until we get home. We will do our best, but I can't promise anything.

Things have been going well - we did the tower climb at the Dom yesterday - holy smokes, we were not ready for that. It is a spiral staircase up the to top of one of the tower - I took a ton of pictures and will have to post them at a later time (since I don't have the camera with me at work). It was totally worth it for sure and the view from up there was simply breathtaking. Again, can't emphasize how tough the climb was and how small the stairs were...phew...good times. We also spent quite a bit of time walking around the inside of the Dom as well, and just marvelling at how absolutely wonderful it is. Again, lots of pictures but they will have to wait.

We were able to have dinner with some friends last night which was a nice treat. There is another Ford family over here so Taylor even had a friend to hang out with. We had a great time for sure and really enjoyed ourselves.

Going forward - Paris this weekend, Brussels on Monday, and fly home Tuesday...

I'm sure we will have a lot of stories when we get back...can't believe it's been 2 weeks already.

Tay and I at the zoo.

Tay and a street performer...they were pretty cool...

Cool animal at the zoo...

zoo pics...

Love this sign...

3 countries in one day

Who knew time could go faster the longer you are in a location?

Turns out we have less than one week left - next week at this time we will (should?) be at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC waiting for our connecting flight to Detroit. Crazy how fast time goes - I remember looking at the calendar and thinking, "Wow, we still have 10 days left."

Things are going well, although today I did a day trip to Belgium - which means I started in Germany, drove through a little section of the Netherlands, and arrived in Belgium. It was only about 2 hours each way - so not too bad. It had been almost a week since I drove the car (since the train is my preferred way of getting to work) and it was nice to be behind the wheel. Our GPS system (Tom Tom is it's name) helped me navigate the roads here and get to my destination without any trouble at all (which was a total relief).

Here is a picture of my special Father's Day gift Tay picked out for me. For those that know me, I can be a bit of a pen snob and so this chocolate pen and pencil set was perfect!

Here is a picture of the train station I walk to daily to catch my ride to and from work...it's a bit busy in the afternoon, but not too bad in the morning...guess not many people want to be up as early as I am in the morning no matter what country I'm in...

There is a famous bridge here in Cologne as well (it's on every reference to the city along with the Dom Cathedral) so we decided to take a walk to see it tonight after dinner. On the Hohenzollern bridge there are pad locks couples have been placing there to symbolize their love. It was fun to read many of the names and inscribed dates. Apparently, this trend started in Rome and has spread all over the world. The idea is to get a pad lock and put names on it - then you lock them to the bridge and throw the key into the river to symbolize ever lasting love (or something sappy like that). It is very romantic. Since pictures are worth 1000 words, maybe these will help explain what I'm talking about.

View from the bridge

On the bridge looking back towards the Dom...you can see the locks lined up on the fence to the right.

Closer look at some of the locks.

Here are some pictures of the places we have had dinner. These are along the Rhine river - as you can see, there are many, many restaurants to choose from - one right after the other. They are more than happy to help you find a seat or answer any questions you may have. It has been fun walking past all of them and reading the menu to determine where we would like to eat each night - and yes, the menu is in German so we have to do a little bit of guess work. Once we choose a location and sit down, they usually have a menu in English for our final selections.

Here are some other pictures we took tonight during our walk - it's nice here because the sun is up early and doesn't go down until very late. The weather has been great the last two days so we have enjoyed eating outside. Still definitely having a blast over here.

I finally completed our last hotel reservation for next week last night - which means other than a few connecting trains here and there, we have all of our arrangements complete...now all we have to do is stick to the schedule...sigh.

Good night, it's 11:30PM and even though the day is still young back home, it has come to a close here.

never get tired of this view

Who knew the zoo could be fun no matter what country you are in?

Today we decided to do something 'fun.' J and I were loving all of the historical stuff, but I think at some point it becomes white noise to an 11 year old. Don't get me wrong, Tay is being fantastic and still says "oooooh" and "ahhhhh" when we see stuff. We decided we needed to do something else - so we found this cool aquarium she wanted to go to...problem is we figured out it was 4 hours away...bummer. So, we opted for the zoo instead - and it was fantastic.

We took the train to get there - a fun experience in itself - and when we arrived, we noticed it had an aquarium. Perfect! It was great and the aquarium exceeded our expectations as did the zoo. It was a blast.

Yesterday was the Roman-German Museum - and talk about impressive. To be able to see some aritifacts from long ago, were actually from time periods we knew, and from people we had heard about - truly something we will never forget.

I'm sure looking forward to going to work tomorrow...all this hanging out and having fun is getting a little old. There are still a lot of things we would like to see while we are here, but after a few days here in Cologne (or Koln as us residents call it), we are starting to feel at home. We have 5 more days here and then off to Paris...can't wait. One thing we are trying to be conscious of is to enjoy every moment, and take in every second since it will all be over way to quick. I can't believe it's already been a week.

Funny how time can change things. I remember what it was like getting off the plane and trying to find the rental car...and then the hotel...way different than now. We still have many things to learn, and mess things up from time to time, but we sure feel much better about getting around at this point (which is quite a relief).

Here are some pictures from the weekend...let's start with food...

Snacks - Cookies were great - chocolate bananas were interesting (but good), crackers were ok and fruit bits were wonderful

Snacks round 2 - this was all sweets (but I threw an apple in there so you knew it wasn't all sugar). The Lion bar was similar to 1000 grand...

When we go out for dinner and order water, we always get a fancy bottle to share - this was the latest version...and yes, they are all a bit costly...not like drinking tap water in the states. It is quite fun though...

Taylor's tortellini - she was a little bummed because it wasn't quite what she was hoping for...she still ate a bit of it though. This restaurant was fun...they didn't speak much english and the menu was not in english either...maybe that's why the tortellini was a little off (lost in translation). The tortellini, as well as J's lasagna and my pizza (I ordered the 'inferno' - it was good) are all from Pinocchio's...

Hotel Room Pictures:

Yes, the towel rack does heat the towels...what? Doesn't everyone have one of those?

Ok, so here are some pictures of one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. This is the view I could never get tired of I referenced in the title. These pictures are of a cathedral here in Cologne (and it's about a block and a half away from us) called the Dom. These don't even begin to do it justice and most likely I will devote another blog entry to it because it is so amazing. These are some of the outside pictures - you can start to get an idea of how absolutely incredible this is by looking at the tiny people near it in the pictures. This alone would have made the trip worth it.

I have many more pictures - zoo, Roman-German museum, etc...but as it is after midnight once again and I'm calling it quits.

Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers out there! Sorry we missed seeing or talking to some of you today. Just know we are still thinking about each of you even though we may not be in the same time zone.