Ringing in 2013 in Style!

When we started planning our final big trip here in Belgium I knew there was really only one option...Paris! It was our first trip so it might as well be our last :o) And what better time to be in Paris than New Year's Eve! Of course there were no fireworks (luckily I learned this ahead of time or I would have been really bummed!) or grand parties...it honestly ended up being Jacob & I celebrating in our hotel room over a bottle of champagne and a sleeping toddler, but it was still a blast! And I'm glad we made Paris our final big adventure on this amazing journey!

We drove down Saturday and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower of course. There was a Christmas market going on with an ice skating rink and everything!  It was perfect!

The next morning we woke up to crystal clear blue skies and were excited to explore some of Paris that we hadn't visited yet, after another quick stop at the eiffel tower (sorry, I just can't get enough...and I really wanted a blue sky picture of it).  After that we headed to Notre Dame and the Musee D'Orsay.   Both had long lines, but we were determined to wait since this was our last chance (atleast for awhile).  Something awesome happened though, about 10 minutes in to our 2 hour or so wait for the D'Orsay, a man came up and said since we had Autumn we could use this other entrance with no line.  We were leery at first as we tend to follow the "if it seems to good to be true" rule, but we gave it a shot...and sure enough we walked right in!!  It rocked!  And since I'm totally in love with Monet it was so much fun to see so many of his works in real life.  I just wanted to reach out and touch them...or at the very least take a picture!  But for once in my life I actually abided to the "no pictures" rule...who knew I could be a rule follower...ha!  Here are some pictures from the day...

My future photographer...

Autumn taking some pictures with her Christmas present!

Looks like a good one!

Autumn's shot of Mommy & Daddy...if only my eyes were open!

 One of only a few pictures I took in the museum

It was a fun filled day!  And then on Monday...New Years Eve...we headed over to Champs Elysees for some shopping!  There was a Christmas market still going on here too so that meant extended shopping...sorry Jacob! :o)  We strolled along the entire Avenue until we reached the Arc de Triomphe and then headed back down the other side. Today was a lot more gray than the previous day, but at least it wasn't too terribly cold. After we were all shopped out we headed back to our hotel to prepare to ring in the new year :o)

This was the line to get in to Abercrombie...crazy right?!?

Ice skating...it looked like so much fun!

Around 11 PM I decided I needed to visit the roof top terrace of our hotel because it has a view of the Eiffel Tower...I needed to say my proper good-byes obviously :o) Unfortunately the terrace was closed for security reasons :o(  I was so bummed, but decided to head up anyway just to see what that meant.  There is an indoor section up there that other people were already enjoying the view from so I stood and admired my favorite lovely tower as it put on it's magical light show one last time.  It was a great way to bid adieu to the Eiffel Tower...until next time.  And just as it ended hotel security arrived and kindly asked that we head back down stairs as the area is off limits...what a horrible night to have the hotels main attraction closed.

It's been an amazing whirlwind trip since we've been here with one unbelievable place after another, but Paris will always hold a special place in my heart...and what better way to honor it, than with our first and last trips!

Now back to real life and preparing for the move...just 28 short days from now!!  Oh my...

To Scandinavia we go...

We spent a long weekend last weekend MOSTLY driving to-and-from Denmark & Sweden...and a little time in each of these countries :o)  We had been wanting to make a trip north for awhile now and decided a Christmas market in Copenhagen sounded like the perfect excuse (that and the fact that we are seriously running out of time!)  So we split the drive there and back and headed out last Thursday evening.  The total trip was supposed to take approximately 10 hours, but due to heavy traffic on the way out of Brussels and a serious snow storm in Denmark on our way home, it was extended by several hours on each end...ugh!  And poor Jacob had to drive the whole way! He said he's tracking all these miles and is going to have me pay him back when we're back in the states and have a car I can drive...guess we should start planning some road trips :o)

In Copenhagen we stayed in an awesome little hotel just around the corner from Tivoli Gardens.  It was called Ascot Apartments and we loved it mostly because it had a separate sitting room and bedroom...which meant we didn't have to go to bed at 8 PM with Autumn for a change.  We got there just before dark (4 PM) on Friday and walked around the area exploring what we could in the dark.  There was an awesome shopping street just around the corner from us that had street musicians, a Christmas market, street vendors, and lots and lots of shops!  It was awesome! And went on forever...

There were lots of Lego shops...since Legos were created in Denmark

It was fun window shopping, but the whole getting dark at 4 PM thing was really throwing me off. It felt like it should be dinner time/bed time way earlier than it was...and between that and the chilly temperatures we didn't venture too terribly far from our hotel.

The next morning we were on a mission!  Sweden was only about a 30 minute drive away so we figured we might as well venture over so we could add another country to our checklist...I think we are up to 20 now.  So we found a landmark in Southern Sweden, The Malmohus Slott Castle in Malmo, Sweden...said to be the oldest standing Renaissance castle in all of Scandinavia...and headed out.  The castle itself was honestly kind of a let down...it doesn't even look that old...

And since we had paid a ridiculously high sum of money to cross the bridge to get over here (over $100 roundtrip in tolls...ya, wish we had known that ahead of time) we decided to continue on to the town of Lund.  We walked around, checked out the cathedral at the center of town, watched a performance of baton twirlers as a band played Christmas carols, and had some lunch.  It was a cute little town and had a lot more charm than we found in Malmo...so the extra bit of time in the car was definitely worth it!

After lunch we headed back to Copenhagen to visit the famous Tivoli Gardens before it got too dark.  Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world and is a great place for a family visit.  We didn't ride any of the rides because it was freezing...and also because you had to purchase separate tickets for the rides in addition to your admission to the park...um, no thank you!  We walked around, took it all in and then headed back to our hotel to try and warm up! Autumn's favorite part was definitely the playground...mine was definitely the Christmas market :o)  I wish we had more time there, but we didn't want to pay to be able to come back later, so it was short and sweet.

The next morning it was time to head home, but not without a quick visit to The Little Mermaid...a famous tourist attraction in Copenhagen.  It was freezing so I literally jumped out of the car, snapped a few shots of it and jumped back in.

As I mentioned before, our drive home was extended by a snow storm which made for an extra long trip!!  I know we were all super excited to be pulling in to the garage Christmas Eve afternoon...just in time to get ready for Santa to visit.

One Big Nativity!!

Last week for our weekly outing we went back to the Basilica as they had what they called "The Biggest Crib in the World."  I'm not sure if that is just what they call it, or if it is just the biggest registered Nativity in the world, because I'm pretty sure the live Nativity in little ole St. Charles, Missouri is actually bigger than this one was, but oh well, it was still cool.  Especially because it had llamas...

 and the cutest little horses I have EVER seen!

The live animal part was really cool...

Those two little specks are Autumn & Brooklyn

We weren't really sure what the point of these lovely ladies was, but they sure were fancy!

But the absolute best part were all the "Baby Jesuses"!!  They had tons of small Nativity's from all over the world on display.  It was fun having Autumn try and find baby Jesus in all of them.

It was another fun outing in Brussels!  And one of the last couple we get to do before our big move next month!