Sophia & Constance at play

Sophia & Constance get the giggles...
And making all of us laugh.
Goodnight kisses.

Our friends Kate & Marc brought their daughter Constance over to play with Sophia last night before we put the girls to bed & had an adult dinner together.

Sophia had a great time picking out special toys for Constance to play with (the barn and castle were the first to come out), and putting away all of her "big girl" toys, and then was insisting that we put the portable crib up in her room so that she & Constance could go to bed together (we didn't). It was fun to see her play the big girl, and try to play with Constance. Of course it was also fun to watch Constance do what ever she wanted...

Running into the Camera

On a beautiful day at Pk St Cloud, Sophia did her best to make us laugh...

Running into the Camera
Video sent by moyamz

Tea at the Residence of the US Ambassador

The residence from the Garden.

Self-portrait in one of the reception rooms.

On behalf on the St Anne's Guild at the American Cathedral, the US Ambassador to France & his wife hosted a tea at their residence. It was an amazing afternoon for a garden party, warm & sunny, and we were able to wander thru the main floor of the residence and the garden, which buts up against the Place de la Concorde.
All I could think of is how much fun the kids would have running on the lawn! Green grass like this is a novelty here!

Walking to the Park with strollers

Strollers with Nana & Papa
Uploaded by moyamz

Last of Salzburg

More & More Salzburg

More Salzburg

SWINGS!!! I LOVE SALZBURG!!!

The big tower & the tube slide (Troy & Sophia are somewhere in the tower).
Troy & Sophia exiting the tube slide after the great climb.

Biking on the way out to Hellbrun. The mountains were magnificent!

In front of the Sound of Music Gazebo at Hellbrun.

Salzburg

We drove to Salzburg on Friday morning to itroduce Sophia to the town where she is going to do her study abroad program when she is in college. The weather got better & better as we drove down the autobahn, and was gorgeous by the time we hit the Alps and the valleys in between them. The drive itself was spectacular, especially as the highway skirts by Chimsee and all of the sailboats were out on the water. It really reminded us of the Northwest, and we all smiled thinking of the lake!

We walked thru Mirabell gardens on the way over to the old town where we could rent bikes to head out to Hellbrun Palace, and the Sound of Music Gazebo, however we got a little distracted re-creating parts of the movie (running thru the arch-way, tapping on the heads of the little statues, etc) and then we found a play park next to the gardens. It's a new park (new in the last 15 years) and had amazing play areas, including swings, musical note tiles to jump on, slides, and the biggest climbing structure I have ever seen in a childrens area. It must have been 50 ft high, with a tube slide down. In order to climb up to the top, the kids have to negotiate ladders and platforms, in an increasingly narrow space until your only option is to slide, or climb down. Sophia asked us for help going up, and we told her she could go up, that Daddy would be there to make sure she didn't fall - but she couldn't be carried, she had to do it on her own. So she did. Much to both of our surprise, she really did it. And then she & Troy rode down the slide together.

She got ice cream after that...

Munich

Giverny in Spring...

On Tuesday morning we drove out to Giverny, after seeing the Monet's at l'Orangerie on Monday afternoon, and wandered thru the Monet foundation. It was weird weather, raining in Paris, pouring on the road, but once we reached the town we had great periods of bright sunshine, and then pouring showers. The great part was it left the garden fairly empty for a spring day, with most of the tourists staying away. Sophia loved throwing leaves into the spring & watching them float away, and it was a thrill for us to see how much mom & dad loved being there.