Maren's 40th Birthday!

Hey - I turned 40 on the 4th!

It seemed a little anti-climatic after all the traveling we had done. Plus, I was knee-deep in Jubilee Christmas stuff for our ward. (That's a big community project we help with through LUM.) But we've started this little tradition of doing something as a family for my birthday, so I told Lance he had to tell the Bishop he couldn't be there for all of tithing settlement at Saturday (he wanted him there ALL day. What the what?!) and made some plans.

I decided what I really wanted to do - that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg - was go down to Indy to see the Festival of Trees at the Indiana Historical Society. My kids were... willing. But probably only because I promised them dinner out that evening. Also, snacks.

We got to the museum and discovered that admission was free that day. SCORE!

Of course we had to take a picture at the Christmas Story display, although, sadly, no one in the family wanted to dress in the pink bunny pajama costumes they had for people to use!

There was a GIANT, walk through tree in the main gallery that was pretty impressive.

And there were 80+ trees to look at! I had been a couple of years ago and the trees then were a bit more impressive - several of them this time used paper ornaments, which kinda looked cheap and a little tacky. (See the cookies? Lame.)

This doughnut tree had the right idea, though! I need to find a doughnut ornament I like.

This tree was covered in full-sized instruments.

We all giggled at this tree.

It's a pretty impressive building, with lots of levels and light.

After a while Tess had had enough!

Josh was bound and determined to find the Elf of the Shelf so he could win a prize. We thought this was the guy, but apparently it was not.

So then we had to go hunt the real elf down. We found him and the kids got prizes like those cheap little stamps and tiny Koosh balls. Josh was a bit disappointed, although I'm not quite sure what he was expecting.

After some snacks we had a nice walk along the canal and downtown. It was such a nice day, we didn't even need jackets!

We eventually made it down to the Soldiers and Sailors monument. Josh and Cole REALLY wanted to climb it. I wasn't that interested because the last time we did that I had to carry Tess up half the way. But then I got the tower climbing itch - I must've picked it up in Italy. So up we went! And this time no one had to carry Tess.

She was pretty pleased with herself!

Too bad it wasn't a bit darker so we could see the lights.

We eventually made our way to Red Robin for dinner. I picked it because 1) we don't have one in Lafayette, so it's something different, 2) I knew the kids would eat the food, 3) I wasn't willing to try anything new or fancy because I didn't want to listen to whiny kids, and 4) I could get a free burger for my birthday. But I was the one who wanted to whine in the end because the service was SO SLOW. Red Robin must really not treat their employees well, because every time we go (and that's only maybe 1-2 times a year) they are understaffed (that's what they tell us, anyway), take forever, and often get orders wrong. So while I love the steak fries, I think we'll be going somewhere else from now on.

We decided to hit the light display in Rossville on the way home. It wasn't as magical as last year, maybe because we were tired and because it was still 50 degrees outside and didn't feel very Christmassy.

Monday was my actual birthday, and Lance surprised me by taking the day off. He got up to get the kids off to school and everything. (Although I woke up to him taping plastic by our bedroom door and filling the space with balloons. I'm not sure why he didn't think that wouldn't wake me up...)

We went to see "Wonder" that morning, which was a really good movie. And then we went to DT Kirby's for lunch, where I got this monstrosity. Yes, that's a burger with grilled cheese buns. As in the buns are grilled cheese sandwiches. It was amazing. (The atmosphere - not quite as amazing. It's definitely a bar and not fancy, but something must be going on with their plumbing because they had PORTA POTIES in the restaurant!! As in next to the tables in the back. It was weird.)

I decided I didn't want a cake for my birthday, so we had Dark Chocolate Orange cookies instead. They were heavenly.

The kids helped me open my presents, which included a lot of random things like mints with 40 in the container and 40 cleaning wipes.

But also some stuff I wanted, like new cookie sheets and some bowls.

I wanted one good self-timed family picture. We got one - kinda. And then the kids went crazy.

So, how does it feel to be 40? A lot like 39, actually.

Thanksgiving 2017

This year we did something we haven't done in a few years - we stayed home for Thanksgiving! What with all the traveling I did this fall and the big Europe trip, we decided staying home was probably for the best. (Especially for our bank account!)

We had our good friends the Souths over, and it was just like no time at all had passed since we had seen them last. Our kids played well together and there was never a lag in the conversation. (Especially because Misty and Paul had gone to Italy last spring!)

This year I decided to try the Pioneer Woman's Turkey brine. It did not disappoint - in fact, the whole house smelled heavenly for a few hours after I had brought it to a boil. That recipe is definitely a keeper!

I also made my most favorite stuffing in the world. It's not cooked here, so it looks a little pale, but trust me - it's heavenly. Heavenly enough for me to buy about a 1/4 of $28.99/pound pine nuts! Yikes. (But so worth it.)

I even made a couple of pies. In fact, I made 6 pies, but 4 were for the LUM Thanksgiving dinner. I hate making pies, so you know that was a sacrifice! I made 2 pumpkin and 2 peach for LUM, then pumpkin chiffon and Georgia Peach for us. It was delish, if I say so myself.

We ate downstairs because that's the room that fits us all!

The only hitch to the evening? The very sitcom-worthy fact that the turkey didn't cook in time! What the what?!!? I had been baking the turkey and pulled out and the thermometer said it was done. But about an hour later when I went to carve it? Pinkness.

#$^$%&#%^#%$!!!!

Fortunately, we also made a ham, so we didn't have a vegetarian Thanksgiving. The turkey was only 12 pounds, but it took close to 4 hours to fully cook! I have no idea what happened; this was not my first time making one and I followed the directions. Oh well. It finished about the time the Souths were leaving, go figure.

I will say this, though - that turkey was GOOD. I'm not even that big of a turkey fan, but it was tasty. We enjoyed it all week! *nom*nom*nom*

We had a great time and were glad we could be at home with our friends, but all us agreed that we liked skipping Thanksgiving even more. I like all the one-on-one fun time with my kids and not having to cook. My kids like the water slides and swimming and sleeping at a hotel. I think Lance is pretty much happy anywhere. So next year I suspect we will be celebrating in our bathing suits!

Europe 2017 - Going Home

I had originally thought we'd just take the train to the airport, but after doing a little research and realizing how much time and expense it would be to do that, we took the offer the lady who owned the apartment offered us: a town car to the airport for 50 Euros. (It would have cost over 60 for the train!)

So this Italian guy shows up and puts our luggage into the trunk. He speaks hardly any English at all. And then... the race began. Well, I'm assuming it was a race - he drove like he was trying to win Nascar! Seriously, it was exciting and scary all at once! Honking and breaking and abrupt lane changes and stare-downs with other drivers. Google said it would take 45 minutes to drive there; we got there in just under 35. We certainly got our money's worth!

So then the fun of checking into a foreign airport began. You'd think it would be easy; we've never really had issues before. But there was something about that airport that just didn't make sense. Actually, it wasn't just one thing, it was a ton of little things. Anyways, our tickets said we were flying British Air. So we waited in line for 30 minutes only to be told, sorry, we were actually flying Aer Lingus, under the British Air name. What?

So we got in line for Aer Lingus. And we waited and waited and waited. And I swear our line didn't move at all, while all the other lines for the airline did. Lance thought I was crazy and scoffed at my idea of changing lines. But when I saw someone who got in a different line after us get all checked in and leave, I told Lance he could stay in that line but I was moving.

We were done in 5 minutes.

Then we had to go through the rigamarole of Italian TSA and customs, which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but still was not fun. Right after we passed through the customs gate I smelled something. And then I saw something. There was a trail of poop on the floor, leading into the terminal! It went on and on and on. Seriously, SO MUCH POOP. There's no way this was a kid who had had an accident. This was an adult amount of poop. A large adult.

It was gross and amazing all at once. Italian janitors scurried around, trying to clean it up. We tried to wander through the customs shops to get away from it - it was in the shops, too! WHAT?!? The trail finally ended, and I had to agree with Lance who said "Our day may not be going great, but it's better than that guys'." Amen!

We eventually flew from Rome to Dublin, and apparently Aer Lingus is like the Frontier of Europe, because EVERYTHING on that flight cost extra: drinks, food, entertainment, etc. And the prices were crazy. So we opted to wait until we got to Dublin to eat.

Once there we found out that Dublin has American customs there, so that you don't have to do it when you get back to the states. But that meant we had to go through all of that before we could eat. (I was getting hungry - the granola bar I had packed didn't cut it!) It took quite a while to get through customs and show 4-5 different people my passport and prove I am who I say I am.

But we finally got through and then found a place to eat overpriced airport sandwiches and Coke Zeros. Then we spent our last few Euros on vending machine candy bars because it didn't make sense to exchange less than 5 Euros when we got home.

We finally boarded and flew back to Chicago. The flight was long, but at least they didn't charge for food and drinks. (Sheesh!) Only one side of my headphones worked, which was annoying, but I survived and watched several movies. I didn't want to sleep too much so I could get over my jet lag easier.

We landed, got our luggage with little trouble, picked up the car, and were on our way home! US freeways just weren't as fun as the Autobahn. And it was sad to be ending our adventure. But a quick pit stop at Burger King helped us feel welcomed back to the States, and sleeping in our own bed that night never felt so good

People keep asking if this was the trip of a lifetime. And while it's probably the best I've ever taken, I don't want to call it the trip of a lifetime, because I still have a lot more traveling to do!

Europe 2017 - The Baths, The Appian Way, and The Catacombs

Geez Louise, I'm FINALLY on the last day of our trip! Perhaps I've put it off because writing this really means that the trip is over. Or perhaps life and the holidays the responsibilities of being a wife and mother have kicked back in. One of the two.

(**Side Note: It has now been THREE days since I started writing this post! Good heavens!)

Our last day in Rome didn't have any set in stone plans, which is pretty unusual for a trip planned by me. But that's because we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see and lots of things are closed on Sundays. We looked into going to church, but the closest building was an hour bus ride away. No thanks. We decided to check out a bunch of Catholic churches and such and call it good.

The Baths of Diocletian were the first thing on the agenda that lazy morning. To get there we passed by the Piazza Republica, which is so quintessentially Roman that a movie was being filmed there! There were all sorts of 1960/70s cars for the set and we could see all sorts of workers and characters.

It took us a minute to realize what was going on, but then we saw this old smoking grandma and her grandson in the back of a truck, and figured it had to be some sort of film!

We got to the garden at the baths, which were pretty. We decided not to pay to go into the museum because it wasn't very highly rated by Rick and we were pretty done with museums and ruins by then!

As you can see, it was a beautiful morning - no jackets needed!

I declared this to be the worst fountain of our trip. ;) (My dad should be happy to know that sprinkler problems are also universal.)

We also didn't go into the museum because you could go into the Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, a basilica that was built in part of the original Roman Baths. (Those Romans - they sure loved GIANT BATHS.) It was designed by Michelangelo, and it showed - pretty spectacular!

So we wandered the church for a bit and were about to leave when I decided to go check out the organ.

It was pretty impressive. And then this guy started moving stuff around by the organ. See him in the lower right corner of my picture?

And then he sat down at the organ and started messing with it. And we decided it'd probably be a good idea to sit down.

And it was. This man started playing and playing and playing. Song after song, all from memory.

The best was Bach's Toccata in D minor - it was AMAZING. We sat and listened and it was probably one of the coolest things on our trip, really and truly, because it was beautiful and unexpected and free. I'll never forget it! Eventually some man started telling everyone in the church that we had to leave. Maybe they were going to do mass or something.

So we went back out to the piazza and the movie was still being filmed. In fact, we were herded over behind a bus so we wouldn't be in the shot. It was really interesting. For starters, it was fun to watch the scene being filmed. All these old cars and the grandma in the truck would drive around the circle. Then this gaggle of priests, some in black and others in bright purple cassocks, would cross the street. When they got to the circle they encountered a couple of ladies of the evening, and one priest would stop to talk to them. This scene was shot several times and then we were allowed to leave, so I don't know what happened next. So if you ever see an Italian film with that scene in it, Lance and I were stuck behind an orange and white bus on the east side of the piazza!

Next we decided to make a pit stop at home. Partly because we didn't have firm plans for what to do next, but mostly because I really needed a bathroom and Europe does not believe in free public toilets. Here's a pretty door I must have seen on the way.

And here's the door to our apartment. (Climbing three flights of stairs got to be pretty old pretty quick.)

We eventually decided to venture to the outskirts of Rome to see the Appian Way and some catacombs. We took the Metro to the very far south of the city and then took a bus from a semi-sketchy bus stop. When we got to our destination it started to rain. A lot. Fortunately, there was a cafe near by and we got some lunch. (And it didn't cost an arm and a leg!) We ate outside under a canopy, and the hot food tasted all the better because it was chilly!

The rain never let up so we decided to just hoof it down the ancient road. It was really pretty, even in the rain and gloom.

You wouldn't think of cacti in Rome, but these were all over the place, plus palm trees and such.

We walked about a mile down the road to the Catacombs of San Callisto. There were all sorts of ruins to look at on way, as well as old churches, homes, and other soggy tourists. (Although there weren't too many of those!) We stopped by this cute little grotto.

And we walked down this one path lined with olive trees that actually had olives on them!

We got to the catacombs in time to buy the tickets, check out the gift shop, and hit the toilets before the tour. I only have a picture of the toilet because it perfectly represented the majority of Italian toilets on this trip - no seat! The first time it happened I thought I had just picked a bad stall, but nope. Most of the women's restrooms appear to have had seats at some point, but not anymore. It was odd and you had to balance a little more, but I've used worse. (Like holes in the ground in Israel!)

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the catacombs themselves, which was kind of a bummer. Our group was a bit too big and it was sometimes hard to hear the guide, but that's okay. We got the gist of it. There are still lots of little chapels down in the catacombs that still get used - the guide said they average about 1,000 people a day! Probably because there are some popes and saints buried down in there. And in those catacombs alone there are over 500,000 people buried! That's a lot of dead Christians. (This made it seem appropriate for a Sunday!)

We had hoped the rain would let up for the walk back. It did not. Here's our feet on the actual Ancient Appian Way, which is pretty cool and crazy to think about!

Here's where we waited for the bus. Even though it's technically still part of Rome, it felt like the middle of nowhere!

We got back to our apartment and rested and listened to the rain, rain, and more rain. Lance decided he really wanted to eat lasagna while in Italy, which would normally have been fine, but most of the best restaurants in Rome are closed on Sundays. But he found a little place nearby. It was... okay. But there were lots of tourists there.

But after dinner we did have one last gelato, and it was delish. Pistachio and chocolate will always remind me of Italy.

Walking back home was a little depressing, even after running into this weird fountain. The last night of vacation is always hard, because as nice as it will be to sleep in your own bed, it's super hard and not at all fun to get back to reality and all the responsibilities and stresses that brings.

Especially after having an AMAZING trip like ours.