St. Louis on a whim

While the older two were away at AFY, John had an idea that the three of us should run off to St. Louis and meet up with him for a couple of days. 

It was a fun trip.  In fact, from the moment we boarded the plane it was a memorable experience for the boys.  Right away, as they were passing the pilot to go find our seats, he asked the kids if they wanted to sit in the pilot's seat.   Christopher has been saying for awhile now that he wants to be a Delta pilot when he grows up.

We even took a picture of the planes at one of the terminals because he was so fascinated with them. 

 We only had a day or two in St. Louis, so we didn't do much.
 

But of course the arch is a must see, so that was our first stop.

Then we went to a museum I heard about.

Which was the most mind boggling "museum" any of us have ever been to.

Some artist took an old shoe factory and "recycled" all sorts of materials into a giant play structure.  Apparently it took him years and years.  And you totally believe it.

It was total chaos.  But oh-so cool and fun.  There were slides every where.  And not just for kids.  You could tell the serious visitors because they had on slippery shorts and knee pads.

There was a fire truck and a school bus somewhere on top of the building,

and even a ferris wheel as well.

And then there was this ridiculous seven or ten story (no joke) slide that went from the very top of the building to the bottom.  Since it was an old shoe factory, they had some sort of shoot to quickly send the shoes down the ground floor.

It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.  I think I scraped a knee or something.  (kneepads would have been helpful)

It was a fun little get away.  I'm sure my boys with their ridiculous memories will not forget this trip any time soon.

Adventures for Youth

For the last three years, I've sent Nick to EFY (Especially for Youth) at either BYU or NAU, but this year for Maddie's first year, and Nick's last, we sent the kids to AFY in Idaho.

It's like EFY, but with more dirt.  Instead of college dorm rooms they sleep in cabins.  Instead of classes other "activities" they ride horses and go river rafting and zip lining and all that fun stuff.

Needless to say, they loved it.  And I would totally recommend it as an alternative to anyone thinking about it.

I put them on a plane to grandma's house, and from there my parents drove them up to BYU Idaho and dropped them off. 

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures.  They were so busy having fun they forgot to take many.

But I got an earful.  That girl of mine can talk a mile a minute when she gets excited.  And boy was she excited to tell me everything and about all her new friends and all their nicknames, and the cute boy she was crushing on, and her counselors and everything.

And then when it was all over grandma and grandpa drove all the way back to Idaho to pick them up and then they spent the weekend in Salt Lake before heading home to Phoenix.

The End

That pretty much sums up our trip.  Or at least what I can remember by looking at pictures anyway.

It was fun.  It was the trip of a lifetime.  I don't see us repeating that any time soon, but I am so glad I got the opportunity to take my kids.

I'm glad they got the opportunity to see new things, and try new foods and have all these amazing adventures and meet new people.   And be exposed to other cultures and religions and faiths, but at the same time, seeing examples of their own in new settings.

Things weren't always perfect, there were delays and boredom, and we got lost once or twice, and some people were rude, and we didn't always love (or even like) the food, and you had to watch out for thieves and those who would take advantage of you. 

But I hoped that I showed them that they can be brave.  So many people have said things to me like they would "never dare", or things like that. 

And I loved watching the kids grow closer together.  They had their cranky moments, but for the most part they got along famously.  And they were kind, and courteous, and helpful, and had good attitudes.  And I am so grateful for that.

One last funny story.  During our layover on the way home in NYC, we met a family from Ireland.  They were coming to Arizona (in July!!) to visit their grandpa.   The little boy was so excited to come out and go swimming and see real cacti and eat real tacos.  (And he'd describe them to us using his hands- "You know those plants that are like this, with pokey needles" or "You know those things you eat that are like this, with the meat inside..")

Anyway, I think it hit home a little bit that to some people Arizona is a "foreign country" with strange and exciting things, even though to us it's just home. 

And we were so happy to be here.  Except for the heat.  We did not miss the heat.  (We told the little Irish boy to wear lots of sunscreen.)

Prague day 2

We were fortunate enough to have some friends who have relatives living in Prague, and we got a bit of a guided tour from the Evie, the cute cousin of the girl Nick likes.
 

Her dad is the LDS mission president there in Prague, and they were pretty busy that day with missionary stuff, but we were fortunate enough to have Evie take a little bit of time out of her day and  show us around. 

(Nick was a little nervous to meet her because she is the favorite cousin/best friend of the girl he likes, so her opinion of him was super important.)

She took us to the castle and showed us around for a bit.

We wandered around the castle grounds,

checked out the beautiful cathedral,

and got to see the changing of the guard.

After that we headed over to the "mini Eiffel tower".  It was quite the hike through the park.

And although the park was lovely, I probably would spend my time doing something else should I ever make it back.

We didn't even go up to the top.  There was a long line, and you had to pay, and those stairs did not look fun, and it pales in comparison to the real one in Paris.... (it's okay to say it... I'm a snob)

We did however walk through a pretty lame maze of mirrors. Which I thought would be cool, but it was kinda lame. 

Other cool discoveries we did make were this building.  It's Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers :)

And we found a candy shop where we watched them make these hard candies.  The process was so cool.  The kids were mesmerized.

And upon first glance, this freaked us out until we realized it's art or something.

And finally, because it is Prague, we went to a Vivaldi concert.  It was in this beautiful hall which is actually famous for it's duelling organs.  We didn't get to witness the duelling organs, but it was still cool. 

And yes, we had to bribe Christopher with a lot of ice-cream to sit through that.  Before AND after.  A double scoop after if he was good.  (Which he was)

Prague day 1

One of the biggest things to consider when planning a vacation like this is the order of the destinations.  It may not seem like a big deal, but it kinda is.  Sometimes you are locked into certain dates and places, like when we we went to Venice to see John's sister.   But one of things to consider is geography.  You don't want to be crisscrossing the continent.  Less travel time means more sight seeing time.  Another consideration is culture shock.  There's something to be said for easing your way into it.  Like starting with England, where they pretty much speak the same language and working your way out of your comfort zone from there.

Prague pretty much fit both of those requirements.  It made sense geographically, and culturally.  However, what we didn't take into consideration was exhaustion.  At one point John was venting his frustration that we were not as properly excited about Prague as he had hoped.  But this was the last destination in our very long trip, and although it seemed to fly by, we were starting to feel it.

But it is a beautiful city. 

Apparently back during World War II, even Hitler fell in love with the city, and so it pretty much survived without much damage. 

There was some pretty cool stuff around every corner. 

And absolutely should not be missed if the opportunity ever arises.

Our hotel was pretty cool.  It was the former Russian embassy.  Seriously, this was the ceiling in our room.

We mostly just wandered around the city.

Checked out the cool clock tower

And a church- (I believe it was St. Nicholas...)

Shortly after we arrived Nick's glasses literally broke in half and fell off his face.

There were plenty of street musicians to watch,

and other street performers.

The older kids and I checked out a Tim Burton museum.  He's not Czech or anything, but the museum was pretty cool.  (And kinda pretty disturbing...)

We went on a little horse drawn carriage ride around the old town,

And crossed the famous Charles bridge.

We found a nice little park in the center of town with all these peacocks running around, (side note-  Nick was so adorable with Christopher.  Christopher has shown favoritism with Zach and Maddie before, but on this trip he became Nick's little buddy.  Even choosing Nick over me at times, which is a big deal, because I've always been his favorite, and Nick has never been.  I swear it was like he was sensing his time is growing short with Nick at home.)

and this adorable girl just sitting there feeding them.

I don't remember if she spoke much English, but she was nice enough to let Maddie try.

And in addition to at least a couple of ice-cream cones, we sampled some of their cuisine.  These are called trdelniks (or something like that...) They are their equivalent of donuts, but cooked over hot coals.