Check Please

Just checking in, but feeling a bit brain dead tonight. No matter how long we live here, it never ceases to amaze me how much time I spend on the laundry. Our lovely little Euro washer and dryer have been going all day long and yet I still have 4 more piles of carefully sorted clothing waiting in line. No matter how carefully I sort, something dark always manages to fade onto something not so dark. Where do you put a shirt that is brown with off white sleeves? Well, at least they used to be off white...

We had a fast and furious visit with Nana and Papa who left us early this morning. The weather, which was completely uncooperative during their entire visit, was gorgeous today. Seriously Guys, it did not rain one little drop and that yellow ball in the sky, we saw it for more than 5 minutes at a time. It was warm enough to be outside without a jacket. I even have pictures of the kids playing outside. We had a good day. They painted with their new watercolors from the Easter Bunny and played, played, played. They actually slept in this morning--the time change and staying up late playing Uno with Nana and Papa last night helped with that--and had a really great day today.

This past week we took the train to London and endured snow, cold winds and a lot of walking while there. We saw a lot of things we didn't see in our first visit. We took them downtown to see all the Brussels sites and then a quick visit to Bruges. We spent the final few days in Paris and Versailles. We walked a lot, ate a lot and saw a lot in such a short time despite the constant cold, rainy and windy weather. Nana and Papa learned how to travel Europe with lots of potty breaks, LOTS of snacks/meals and naps on the go. No easy task. The also learned that in Northern Europe everything is "rain or shine", with the exception of the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. A "wet change", so not worth waiting for in a crowd with 3 small children while it is snowing. Ah, you live and learn...

Daddy is en route to Germany tonight. He has had a most frustrating day and evening and will not reach his destination for another hour or more after beginning this morning very early. He will be home tomorrow and then is off to Hong Kong next week for the first time since he was 2 years old. So exciting!

I'm posting a couple of pictures, but don't have the energy to go through all 400+ tonight. Here is just one of Nana and Papa in London and the giant hug goodbye Papa got last night. Then some proof that we were indeed outside today. Miss Sarah decided to stand up today without any help in the middle of the kitchen rug. It was the first time Mommy got to see it, though Nathan saw her once before. She held a little surfer pose (maybe Aunt Carole can teach her to really surf one day) and then she just sat back down. She looked at me like, "What? Of course I can do that." She also walked with her little walker for the first time instead of going around to the front to push the buttons. (I caught the sweetest picture of a certain big brother picking "flowers" for his baby sister--she was so excited with the gift, which she showed by laughing and dancing around with them and then tasting them just in case they might be food.)

Hope Nana and Papa had a nice and relaxing flight. Happy Birthday Nana! Thank you for coming and we love you guys!