Moran Family Fun

Once we were finished window shopping Seiffen we headed south for Prague.  Because Seiffen is in the country we were on secondary roads for quite a while before we made our way to a highway.  We just went where the GPS told us to so we were driving in a German village and then after a left turn we were in the Czech Republic. Only a small blue sign marked the border but if we'd missed the sign the difference between the roads, houses, and cars was drastic enough that we would have known we weren't in Kansas anymore.  More than once Jared said that the people out and about in the small towns we were driving through looked like they wanted to kill us.  I didn't get that vibe, but the Czech Republic definitely has a different feel than Germany. We found our hotel in downtown Prague and we lucky enough that there was underground parking available at the hotel. There wasn't much on street parking and the closest parking garage wasn't really that close!  I would def...

Jared used to make fun of people we know here in Germany who would fill up their last months in Europe traveling and trying to fit in one last trip.  You're here to live real life not have an extended European vacation.  Well, last week Jared and I took a quick overnight trip to Prague with a stop in Seiffen on the way there because we knew our time in Germany is coming to a close and we might never have the chance again...sigh. I guess now we understand a little bit why all those people were traveling constantly for their last six months! Now that Madison is sixteen she is allowed to watch her siblings overnight so we didn't have to figure out much for the kids besides making sure they had instructions, food, and emergency numbers. We did have Abigail stay with some friends just to make things a little easier on Maddy and Abby had a great time swimming and watching Studio C . We had never been to the Czech Republic or Prague but it's always been on our list when we...

Our kids don't usually do a lot of extra curricular activities besides soccer in the fall and piano lessons at home with me. Since we live on base now and most of the sports and other activities are on base, we decided to try something new and let Natalie and Samantha take dance lessons.  Well, I decided to sign them up, Jared still wishes they had just played spring soccer like their older sisters did this year.  Now that the dance season (is it called a season or something else?) is over, I think I might agree with him.  Dance required more of a commitment of time, money, and patience than soccer ever has.  Plus I have no idea how to do recital hair and makeup.  We are without any cars at this point so we do a lot of walking.  The recital was at the Stadthalle in Landstuhl so all had had to do was walk down Cardiac Hill and cross a couple of streets to get there. Natalie wanted to go in her recital costume so we had one little swan walking with us....

I have loved writing birthday posts this year because it's given me a chance to look back and see how our kids have changed and grown.  When you see them every day it's easy to miss the little things that make them special and unique at that point in time and how they aren't quite the same person they were even one year before.  Since our things are currently inside a crate that's on a boat somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean I can't find pictures of Abigail from the last twelve (eek!) years.  I have photos going back as far as about 2007, but nothing earlier than that and since Abigail was a pretty cute little toddler and infant I'll just skip the trip back in time for this one birthday.  Abigail was lucky enough, or unlucky enough depending how you look at things, to have her birthday fall on our busiest weekend in recent history.  On the actual big day we had both a ballet recital dress rehearsal and a Young Women camp fundraiser (at the same time, no less!)...

Our first day in London was a fun day, but it was also a long day so it was nice to have somewhere to relax and rest our tired, tired feet. Each floor of our hostel had a different theme based on a fictional British character - Dr. Who, James Bond, Mary Poppins, etc.  Madison was a bit disappointed that we weren't on the Dr. Who floor, but James Bond is pretty cool too.  Our room was pretty bare bones with just two bunk beds and a sink.  The toilet and showers were down the hall, but the beds were comfortable and it was surprisingly quiet, despite that fact that I'm pretty sure I was the only person over thirty in the entire place. Our breakfast of breads, sliced meat and cheeses, and some some sort of porridge was  interesting and filling, but not super yummy. We stayed at the  Generator Hostel  which was so hipster it was almost painful. The piano was terribly out of tune, but it was beautifully painted Plaid carpet, walls, and ceiling ...

Our lovely train delivered us to Liverpool Station, in the heart of London, and we set out for adventure.  The plan was to visit Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey first and then make our way to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guard.  We found our way to a ticket counter for the Tube and bought our day passes and picked up a tube map as well.  Unfortunately, the friendly guy at the ticket counter didn't tell us that London was in the middle of a tube strike that day!   Luckily there were transit workers wearing bright pink vests at each station and they were more than happy to answer all our questions and help us figure out the best way to make our way around despite many of the lines having reduced service or just being closed completely.  We were told that it was an easy walk to Parliament from Liverpool Station and were given directions that seemed clear until we got outside and started walking.  It was really difficult t...