Family Vacation 2014 - EUROPE

We had such fun touring France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.  Here is a quick photo highlight tour.

Paris -

 

Hike on our own to see Sacre Coeur

 

Walking tour during a music festival in Paris

 

Seine River Boat Tour

 

Ste. Chapelle

Beaune, France

 

Wine tasting in the cellar

 

Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland

 

Tremmelbach falls - neat video of it here (ignore the music)

 Munich, Germany

Hofbrauhaus!

 

Lots of really good beer!

Venice, Italy

 

Piazza San Marco

 

 

Grand Canal - Gondola ride

Outside of Florence, Italy (Tuscany)

 

Our whole tour group

 

Cooking lessons

Florence, Italy

 

Amazing views of the city from the top of the dome

 

Front of Duomo

Rome, Italy

Colosseum 

 

The Forum 

 

Vatican

It was a wonderful trip!

Then we came back to a sewer filled basement, but more on that next time. :-)

WEFEST 2011

We traveled up to Detroit Lakes - an 8 hour trip - to WeFest last week. It was an amazing line-up of Country musicians from the Charlie Daniels Band to Sugarland I enjoyed all of them. Now if only the concert was a little closer to home I'd be game to go again next year when Alabama headlines.

July Catch-Up

I'm not sure how it happened, but it's the end of July already.

This month I have:

• fought to get my driver's license
• fought to get my license plates
• met Hannah's new baby girl Wren
• saw my friend Diane and her family
• laughed hysterically with Hannah and Jill
• had dinner with Mom and Dad - repeatedly
• traveled to Somerset, WI to go camping/tubing with friends
• met lots of wonderful Kirkwood employees
• learned some cooking techniques
• searched for apartments/houses - failure so far
• spent time with my new someone getting to know him better
• started some tomato plants - results to be posted later
• saw Harry Potter 7 - Part 2 - bawled my eyes out

So far I've been far busier than I had planned and a little down time wouldn't hurt, so of course I'm heading to Anamosa this weekend and going up to Detriot Lakes, MN to Wefest next Tues-Sun. Wish me luck....I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it.

I am pretty desperately missing my friends back in CA. I very much appreciate the text messages, phone calls, wall posts, heytells, etc. Thank you!

I've included a picture of Hannah's oldest son Owen holding his new baby sister Wren.

Chicago - June 26th

Instead of doing a summer party for the bank the employees took a bus into Chicago. Some went in for the Taste of Chicago, others did the Shed Aquarium, museums, or shopping. Mom, Dad and I went to the Taste and then decided to take an Archictectural Cruise of Chicago. It was a wonderful day of amazing sites and great food.