Summer Camp

Quinn and her friend Camryn went to summer camp together in August. They went 3 hours north to the little town of Evart, MI. Here they are in their tent, more like a canvas hut, on the day we dropped them off. Quinn had never been to summer camp before and she was so excited to go! She ended up loving it. It was 'High Adventure' camp, so for Quinn, what's not to love?!
Here is the presentation that the campers put on for the parents on pick up day. It was sweltering hot! Very cute way to wrap up the week though.

Picking up our girlie! We missed her so much!

Quinn and her counselor Theresa. Quinn's favorite things during the week were the zip line over the lake, the high ropes course, and climbing the rock walls.

25th class reunion!

John McColley, Kelly Mathias & Al Miller on stage doin' their thing. They were really awesome!

Rolf & Jenna 'gettin jiggy wit it'

Can you tell we're cousins?

Carolyn, Lori and me :) We had a great time seeing everyone from our class who attended. We both agreed, it was the nicest venue we've had for a reunion. Nice job Kelly & George of putting this together! And it didn't hurt that we won a great door prize and the 50/50 drawing! Can you believe we didn't get a picture of Rolf and me together?! Ugggh!

Quinn channeling Fergie

Pics from the top of the Eiffel Tower

I thought this picture of the shadow of the Eiffel Tower was pretty cool. I happened to look down at the right time and noticed it.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip. Everyone was so happy!

Quinn sticking her head out of the protective wires that you weren't supposed to stick your head through. She's such a rebel!

The kids on the first level of the tower. We waited 1 1/2 hours to get the elevator to this point. Then had to wait another 30 minutes to get the other elevator to the top! It was so worth the wait though!

Our final day in Paris

The kids wanted to go back to the Eiffel Tower on our final day. It was a beautiful day! We went up in the tower this time and went all the way to the top. What a view! And Travis didn't have his Saline Football shirt on, so that's a bonus! haha
Quinn's favorite food while we were in Paris were the baguettes. She had at least one every day. Nothing beats a lunch of bread, cheese, and cold Coca-Cola underneath the Eiffel Tower!

Here's one of two little bakeries that we frequented on our walks to/from our hotel. The breads, pastries, and pies were amazing!! Quinn liked that little doggie right outside. He looked like he wanted a baguette too :)

Here's what our children do for entertainment in a hotel room! It did keep them busy for quite awhile and there was a lot of giggling involved!

The Louvre

Rolf and I were really impressed with how much the kids seemed to soak in at the Louvre. It is such a huge museum, we were there most of the day and still didn't see everything. They loved hearing stories from Rolf about the historical religious paintings. Many of the stories they already knew! They loved making the connection.
Here is a picture of the crowd around the Mona Lisa. It was crazy!

The kids with Mona Lisa in the background. There was no way we were gonna make it up front to get a picture. It was every man, woman, and child for himself!

This is one of my favorite pictures I took in the Louvre. Sculpture is my favorite art medium. Too bad I didn't get this artist's name. I'll have to look it up in the gigantic book Rolf bought!

Our handsome boy relaxing outside the Louvre. He's a keeper!

Quinn loved taking funny pictures with the pyramid, which is the entrance to the Louvre.

We spent a large part of one day in the Louvre. It is the most amazing museum. We didn't see all of the wings but we got around to many of the items we wanted to see. We were exhausted!

Versailles

Here are the kids in the most famous room in Versailles, The Hall of Mirrors. It was used as a ballroom in the time of Louis XVI and is just stunning. Gold leaf covers the walls & ceiling, and most of the light fixtures and decorations in the room. The floors and mirrors are all original, as are most of the fixtures.
Look at that gorgeous girl! Welcome to Versailles!

The kids in front of the main gate. It was a 2 hour wait to get tickets. Rolf was in line, so we had plenty of time to take pictures! The day was gorgeous!

Our men making sure we don't get lost. The Paris subway is not quite as easy to navigate as the London tube system. But they did a great job, we always made it to our destination!

We're in Paris!!

Well, of course, sweets! On our way back from seeing the Eiffel Tower we stopped in a pastry shop. Oh my, were the treats melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I've already told Rolf I need a chocolate croissant for breakfast tomorrow! We are going to Versailles tomorrow. Taking the subway there. We took the subway to the Eiffel Tower tonight to practice!
20 years since we've seen the Eiffel Tower and she still is awe-inspiring! Quinn took this picture of us. I still can't believe we're here again. 20 years sure has flown by, guess time really does fly when you're having fun :)

The kids' first view of the Eiffel Tower. Quinn's first comment: "Whoa!"

Our first lunch in Paris. We ate at a little restaurant down the street from our hotel. It was absolutely delicious. We told the waiter that we would probably be seeing him again this week!

Our last night on the ship

The Butler and Alexis families on our last night of our cruise. We made reservations in a fancy restaurant to celebrate our time together. 12 days sure did fly by!
Rolf got just a bit of sun on our trip!

Look at those beautiful kids!

Quinnie and Rolf in the hot tub. Quinn and Anna's goal at the beginning of the trip was to swim every day. We didn't think it would be warm enough, but they were able to achieve their goal! 12 days of record temps made it possible and even downright enjoyable!

Stockholm, Sweden

Oh, did we have a wonderful lunch in Stockholm! It was also one of our favorite cities on the tour. This restaurant opened in 1775, before the US was even a country! We had sandwiches, but most importantly, we had pastries!! They were even better than they look, and they look pretty awesome :)
The kids in the city center. It is a gorgeous city built on 24 (I think that's the number!) islands. We took a boat tour while we were there, plus its the easiest was to get around to all the islands. It was a one hour bus ride from the dock to Stockholm so we all had naps on the way to and from the city!

The ship, Vasa, sunk in 1628 in Stockholm's harbor on her maiden voyage. Not found until 1956! The ship and museum are just awesome. This is the back of the ship, it reminded us of the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean. If you want more info, ask Rolf when we get home, you know he had to buy a book on it!

Stockholm is just a gorgeous city! We all loved it and wished we could have spent another day or two . . . or three or four! Someday maybe we'll go back.

Helsinki, Finland

Quinn and Anna found a park to play in; it was our first stop of the day. This was a teeter-totter. It was really fun, it went up and down and also spun in circles. The city is full of parks and dogs!
Lunch break. We ate in a little stall that served sandwiches, pizza and sweets. We paid $4.50 for a doughnut, but it was worth it!

Here's one of the rows of stalls in the pavilion where we ate lunch. There was anything and everything at these booths, including elk jerky and fish heads! We weren't that adventurous with our lunch menu!

Now who doesn't want to sing a little karaoke when you stop for a potty break?!

Second day in St. Petersburg

The kids with our guide, Svetlana. She was so wonderful and knowledgeable. She really made our 2 days in St. Petersburg memorable.
At Peterhof Gardens. Peterhof was the summer palace of Peter the Great. There are about 40 fountains on the property and they are all stunning. There were many that you could walk or run though, which was nice considering it was so hot!

Our appetizer for lunch at the summer palace, borscht. Don't know if I'm spelling it right, but it is a typical Russian meal. Beets, cabbage, rosemary, and sometimes meat if its available. It was delicious even though it looked a little suspicious!

Ellie, Anna, Quinn and Travis taking a break from all the walking!

More St. Petersburg

Inside Catherine the Great's Palace. Yes, amazing and yes, absolutely packed! Summer is the high season and everyone comes to visit Russia during the warm months. During our 2nd day of touring with our guide, she told us that she couldn't remember 2 sunny days in a row in the past 15 years! On average, there are only 40 sunny days in St. Petersburg a year, let alone 2 days of 90 degrees! On the second day the air conditioning on the bus couldn't take it anymore and it quit running. Luckily, it was the end of the day and we were only 30 minutes from the ship!
The alter at the Church of Spilled Blood. It took 40 years to build. During World War II when the Germans bombed St. Petersburg, the church was almost completely demolished. It took another 40 years to re-build it!

This is a mosaic of Jesus as a 10 year old boy. It is one of only two representations of Jesus as a boy in the churches of Europe. It was at the top of a spiral tower, lots of zoom on this one!