Katie and Shea Visit

So back in MAY... (don't mind that it's August now)…  

my adorable sister-in-law and fam came all the way from West Jordan, Utah to visit us.  

So, here's my darling sister-in-law, Katie, singing "The Hills are Alive!"

And my debonair brother-in-law, Shea. 

(Don't fret, that's an alkohol-frei beer). 

And here are their amazing children, Natalie and Jack:

They stayed for a couple weeks.

Now, I'll be honest, this wasn't the smoothest visit I've hosted.  

And it was by no means their fault… mostly it was poor planning on my part. I kind of felt bad I may have made their visit a bit harder on them than it needed to be. 

 

So, here are a few tips when hosting another family:

1.  Don't let your husband go on a business trip.  Yeah, Ben was gone the entire first week.  That was dumb.

2.  Don't over plan your outings.  We wanted to go to Switzerland.  Ben really wanted to go to Belgium/Holland for Memorial Day.  So, I thought, "Let's do both!"  Well, they're both a good four hour drive away and they're both in opposite directions. That was kinda crazy.  Instead, plan one major trip or if you want to hit multiple destinations, make sure they are at least along the same route.   

3.  Have reinforcements.  We had five children age six and under… that was kinda crazy.  I found myself saying several times, "We need help!  We need Grandma and Grandpa here!"  Actually, if we had followed number one and two, number three probably wouldn't have been an issue.  

But, when the dust settled and all was said and done, everyone had a great time.

We went to Heidelberg:

Shea is so stoked to be hanging with Shahas for two weeks, can't you tell?

It was a hot day.  And an unfortunate day.  Stroller tire went flat, Katie rolled her ankle, Jack threw the mother of all tantrums, and I scratched the van in the underground parking garage.  But other than that… AWESOME.

Ice cream is always hits the spot on a hot day.

The view of Heidelberg from the castle

We hit Traumland on Natalie's 6th b-day.  This was a very fun day. 

We went on this roller coaster about 6 billion times.  No lines and the kids couldn't get enough of it. 

Rapunzel's Tower

We went to Holland and Belgium to visit two different American cemeteries.  

We met people who "adopt" the grave sites since family members cannot  visit often from overseas.  These adopters visit at least four times a year and put flowers on the graves.  It was very touching to see how much they appreciate these service members and to feel the positive spirit between their countries and ours.   

American Cemetery in Belgium:

Belgian countryside, beautiful!

 Dutch American cemetery:

Meanwhile, back at the "cottage" the kids played for hours in the backyard.  What I would give for a backyard!!!

And a stop at Burg Eltz on the way home:

Then after being home for just a couple days, we repacked our bags and headed to Switzerland.  I've already posted quite a few pics of Switzerland with my sister… so I'll just add a few...

He just ate a graham cracker

Jack was totally falling asleep when we took this picture.  It was hilarious. 

We took a cable car up to this great little playground with spectacular views… it rained on us but it was still fun.

There's Ben with his trotti bike.

Ben got a kick out of this depiction.  Maybe because he relates all too well

This little creek was right outside the apartment we stayed in

Katie taught me how to French braid.  Yay!  She's got mad skills

Ben about gave me a heart attack trying to get the "perfect" photo of James airborn. 

Took this picture on the way home… you wouldn't think it, but we had to leapfrog across a busy road and fight our way through a bunch of Asian tourists on multiple tour buses, but we got it!