You've got the right place

Hi, there!! You have the right blog. Things look different but it is still us - Ed, Shelly and Madison. Blogger has upgraded and they are slowly assimilating those of us with older accounts. After I completed our Belgium post I decided to go ahead with the upgrade; which meant I needed to go through the template selection again. I had customized our previous template and I didn't feel like going through and making all the changes again so I picked out a new style. It was time for a change anyway, and I kind of like the new look. I hope you like it too.

--Ed

Belgium

Continuing to get caught up... Way back in October for the long Columbus Day weekend we made a road-trip over to Belgium. We were still a bit hesitant to fly with Madison so we opted for an excursion in the car, and we hadn't been to Belgium yet so what the heck. Our first day we drove into Brussels - the capital of Belgium and administrative center for the EU. We found Brussels to be a nice city, clean with a very pretty square and an ample supply of pubs and good restaurants. All in all, nice but not really remarkable - except for the chocolate and beer.

The next day we packed up again and headed to Brugge; which I knew nothing about but that Shelly had heard was a neat city.

Indeed, we found Brugge to be a pretty neat place. The city has a small series of canals that are reminiscent of Amsterdam, while also maintaining a quiet old Europe feel. Come to find out, Brugge is known for their chocolate and beer, and we found them much to our liking.

In this picture Shelly is standing in the main square; just off the square we found a cafe where we could duck out of the cold to rest and feed Madison, and continue sampling the local brew.

We also found a small chocolate shop that had the best truffles ever, and I mean ever. The chocolate at this shop was the most expensive ever too; I thought we were buying gold when I saw the price per pound. We had planned to stay the night in Brugge but we couldn't find reasonably priced rooms so we called my sister who welcomed us to stop over at their place on the way home. So, of course, we had to buy my sister a few of the golden truffles. There was nothing in it for us of course. Riiight.






Here is a shot of the main canal in the city. This is the same picture you might see when Brugge is referenced; not surprising since there were a fair amount of people lined up taking this same shot.






Finally, what you have all been wanting - a picture of me. No?!? Well then, Madison perhaps?

We are back in the main city square now and getting towards the end of the day. From here we searched around a bit for a grocery and loaded up on beer - some for Chris, some for Marcus (the guy that runs the kennel where the dogs stay) and some for us. After loading up we made our way back to the car, where I somehow found space among all our (Madison's) stuff for the two cases of beer, and headed to my sisters place in The Netherlands.

Steph and Wade's European Adventure

Everyone can relax, we're still alive. As evidence I am posting (finally) pictures from Steph and Wade's European Adventure. S&W came over at the end of September. We spent a couple days in Hanau and then headed out on a road trip to Munich and northern Italy.
















Here are Shelly and Steph at the Heidelberg castle. Our weather during the first couple of days wasn't very good - light rain and foggy.

















Again, Steph and Shelly as they enjoy a Radler after we ducked into the Beer Bretzel to get out of the increasing rain. After the first two days the weather got MUCH better; I don't think we had a cloud the rest of the trip. Notice the Stephie-sized beer :) It was early in the trip; later Stephie would super size. Shelly has obviously been in Germany for a while.






Here's Stephanie standing by the brass monkey at the old bridge in Heidelberg. Rubbing the mirror brings luck or money or both; you would think I would remember since we've been there a dozen times. Oh well, all you really need to know is that Steph and Wade rubbed the mirror so if you need some cash give them a call.

We took other day-trips to Rudesheim, where we all discovered New Wine - a first press wine, sort of like a bubbly wine with mild alcohol content, and Rothenberg ADT before we left for Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest 2006

Our first stop on the trip was in Munich for Oktoberfest. We pretty much skipped the sites - well, the sites in Munich anyway - and went straight to the beer tents.


This is one of many beer wagons we saw; I think we need at least a dozen of these along University Avenue on Florida football gamedays. This was actually pretty cool, no metal kegs, the beer is brought in real wooden kegs on horse-drawn wagons. Every tent/beer vendor had wagons coming and going (at an increasing rate as the day turned to night). It was neat to see for sure.



We tried to get reservations - as a side note we actually did, but the notice came to our physical address and we only open the mailbox at our house maybe once a month and since we never "received" the reservation, we didn't call to confirm.


Anyway, since we were there early in the day (we're parents now and even though we exposed Madison to Oktoberfest we did go early; we're not complete lowlifes) we didn't have any trouble finding tables. The only issue really is that most of the tables are reserved in the evening so it is likely that if you're at a table during the day you're going to have to move along around 5 PM when the reservations kick in.
We checked out a few tents, the Hippodrom (this is where we had the unconfirmed reservations), Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner and Lowenbrau. All the tents are cool, and they all redifine 'tent', but we spent the majority of our time at Lowenbrau where most of their tables are not reserved during the day.

You can see here that Madison and Shelly are ready for a beer as we check out the scene around the Lowenbrau tent.





Here's the inside of the Lowenbrau tent. All the tents are essentially the same - lots of tables, a band and stuff hanging from the roof. The only difference is the brand of beer served, the location of the band and the colors inside. As I said before we were there early, and left around 5 PM so we didn't see Oktoberfest at its full strength, but I guess they get pretty rowdy later in the evening. While we were there, the scene was fairly tame; the coolest part was when after a certain song, sung about every 20 minutes, a member of the band chugged his liter of beer. In this shot you can see the crowd toasting the soon to be chugging memeber of the band standing on the edge of the podium.



Speaking of chugging, check out Stephie getting ready to pound a liter of beer; I'm sure Wade is only helping to lift the beer not drink it. The other two at the table are Kristen and Kasey, friends of Steph and Wade that just happened to be in Germany during O'fest. Imagine that.

This crew stayed around for a few hours after Shelly, Madison and I headed back to the hotel. Word has it that the place got pretty lively (lots of prosting, standing on tables and singing) as day turned to night. You'll have to check out Steph and Wade's blog for any evidence, that is if they ever update it. Maybe next year Shelly and I can make a second trip before we make the big move home. Anyone up for baby sitting in late September of 2007?

Venice

We packed up the car (a challenge with all of our stuff - it was like a game of Tetris where every piece has to go in just the right spot for everything to fit) on a Friday morning and left Munich on our drive through Austria and northern Italy for Venice, stopping along the way in Fussen so Steph and Wade could check out King Ludwig's castles. We knew we wouldn't make it all the way to Venice, about a 6-8 hour drive from Munich, so our plan was to go as far as we could until Madison's night time timer went off and we needed to stop. We had our eye on a small village in the Dolomite mountains in Italy and as it turns out we ran across a nice guest house about 20 km short of our goal. Not bad. The place we stayed was newly renovated and one of the nicer and larger rooms we've stayed in Europe. I had a card from the hotel, but I can't find it. I do know that it is in Saint Sigmond, located right off the main east-west road that connects the towns with the autobahn; there's a large well lit 'Hotel' sign and a pizzeria next door up the hill. Just in case you're ever driving through the Dolomites on your way to Venice you'll know where to go. Beware, there's no eating in the rooms. So don't pull a Wade and try to sneak pizza and wine up or you'll feel the wrath of the owner.

We made it! Woo-hoo!!! And look, more great weather. The travel season in Europe runs from June through August, this is when the prices are the highest and the crowds the largest.
However, we've been to Italy twice in October, note - well past "travel season", and it seems the whole country is overrun with tourists year round. Granted we hit Rome last year with Regan and Cheri, and Venice, Florence and Pisa this year and those are all major attractions, but the flood of people really does get annoying. Tourists!!!!

So here we are doing our tourist thing; this was taken on the wooden bridge that spans the Grand Canal and connects Dorsoduro with San Marco. Personally I liked the areas we saw in Dorsoduro and San Polo better than San Marco just because San Marco was wall-to-wall people. The crowding was made even worse by the fact that we were toting Madison's stuff around too.

Another view of the Grand Canal, this time from Ponte de Rialto on our way to a pizza joint in San Polo. The area from Ponte de Rialto to Piazza San Marco was really crowded and difficult to enjoy. Once we crossed over a couple of blocks into San Polo the crowds pretty much dispersed.

After lunch at Ae Oche we made our way back towards Piazza San Marco and perused the art vendors along the way. The best looking paintings to my eye, admittedly not a very discerning eye, were being hawked by a guy on the walkway near where the gondolas launch in this picture. By the time we made our way through the rest of the "artists" in San Marco it was late and we didn't have time to work across the island to the guy we liked. Oh well.






It appears Madison and I have the same interest level in shopping for paintings - all originals of course, despite the fact they all look so similar.

Madison really was a trooper throughout the entire trip. I had visions of hauling a screaming baby all over Italy, but she just hung out and took it all in. Out only issue was the same one we have every day - when anywhere between 6 and 7 PM Madison turns into a pumpkin and we need to get her night time routine going. We did our best to reward Madison's good behavior during the day by getting her back to the hotel, get her a bath, fed and put to bed.









After a full day of sightseeing, shopping for "art" and Jamaican Prada handbags everyone needed a break; especially Wade and I.

One note - none of our group took part in a gondola ride. I can imagine that during the off season a gondola ride would be pretty romantic, I'd imagine that since off season is during the winter it would be pretty cold too. However, while we were in Venice the gondolas were making their way through the canals stacked back to front like rush hour traffic. It looked very NOT romantic.


Never fear, Stephanie and Wade got their share of tourist moments in too. This is on the same bridge as the photo of Shelly and I, but facing the opposite direction back towards the mouth of the Grand Canal.

S&W hadn't had enough so when Shelly and I took Madison back to the hotel they stayed back for a little Venice at night. Ohh la la.

Shelly and I actually had a decent dinner back at the hotel. The rooms were average, but the bar and restaurant were pretty good. I actually had one of the best pours from a bar tender ever at the bar in the lobby. Generally in Europe a liquor drink (in this instance Scotch) you get a one-finger pour and pay 10 Euro. But this was one of those times when the guy went past the normal (U.S. normal, not European splash normal) cut off and kept going and going, I almost started cheering. Shelly had a nice house red and we had few moments of relaxation - that is during the 3 or 4 minutes between sprints up to the room to make sure Madison was still sound asleep.

Florence

Where was I? Oh yeah, we just finished up with Venice. From Venice we headed across Italy to Pisa, stopping along the way in Bologna so that Wade could check out the Ducati factory - I guess he wanted to either drop off a resume or steal a few industrial secrets. Once we arrived on the coast we stayed at Camp Darby - a U.S. Army facility that accommodates U.S. service members on leave in the area. The rooms at Camp Darby were very U.S. Government issue; which means they weren't bad, but they weren't exactly the Ritz, or even a decent Holiday Inn. What they were was cheap, and decently located for trips into Florence and Pisa.

A word of advice if you're ever traveling to Florence, or pretty much anywhere in Italy - don't drive, it puts the whole experience into a negative light from the start. Driving in Florence was like being caught in a game of highway chicken with 1,000 scooters, and finding parking was difficult and expensive.

I think Shelly and I have seen too many European cities. Another square, and another cathedral. The usual glut of people pushing and shoving. And more overpriced average food sold to visitors as "authentic." The problem is that I think we fall into a trap of thinking that the next place we go is going to be different, somehow prettier, and less crowded with helpful locals that are glad you visited their fine city. This leads to heightened expectations that generally come crashing down to reality. Our experience in Florence was no different. I do feel like I should cut Florence a break since we had heard so many good things about the city, and read countless blurbs about how it is the most beautiful city in Italy. As a result our expectations were higher than they should have been. Generally Florence is a great city, there are many squares with fabulous statues and grand cathedrals, as well as abundant shopping. I'm sure if the Italians bothered to clean the squares, cathedrals and statues - not to mention the streets - Florence would have impressed more than it did. The picture here of Shelly, Steph and Wade is taken in Piazza del Doumo with Il Duomo, one of the worlds largest churches, in the background. After viewing the inside and outside (the green and pinkish colored exterior was pretty cool) of Il Duomo, we headed off to Piazza della Signoria. We walked around Piazza della Signoria for a while, taking in the statues and other monuments in what is considered one of Italy's prettiest squares.


Personally, the coolest thing about the plaza is the disk in the ground that marks the spot where a zealot monk was executed in 1498. The friar preached about the fate of sinners and railed against the pope (Alexander IV); for a time the monk struck a chord with the masses but in time his views fell from favor and he was hanged. These are the sorts of things you just don't see in the States.


Sorry, no pictures of the square but here's a shot of Madison relaxing at an Irish pub just off Piazza Signoria. After a couple beverages we ambled over to Galleria dell'Accademia to see the statue of David. One word: L-I-N-E. We were confronted with a line rivaling the lines at the Vatican, and this line wasn't moving.

So we rolled...

Pisa

...to Pisa. We didn't spend much time in Pisa, just enough to check out the Leaning Tower. I had thought the tower was just another tower in the city, or perhaps I hadn't paid attention. The tower is part of a pretty plaza, Piazza del Duomo, which consists of the Duomo (church), the Bapistry and the campanile - the famous Leaning Tower.



Here you can see the tower and the Duomo on the left. Construction of the campanile was begun in 1174 as a bell tower for the Duomo and began to lean after the completion of the 3rd story; it was at this time that builders discovered the ground under the site was clay. The tower leans 14 feet from perpendicular and is kept "stable" with lead counterweights placed at the bottom.

Il Duomo was designed in 1063 and completed in 1310, but was heavily damaged by fire in 1595. Many of Galileo's tools used during his experiments are housed here in the museum.

We had to stand here for 15 minutes holding up the tower before some other idiot tourists came along to take our place.

Cinqua Terra

We spent our final day of exploration on the Cinqua Terra (five lands); a string of five villages overlooking the Gulf of Genoa. The villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) can only be accessed on foot or rail, and of course by boat. The hike between the towns takes about a day and is difficult in some areas. This was, by far, our favorite day of the trip.


Here we are just getting under way in Monterosso, the northernmost village and the only town of the five that can be accessed by car. From Monterosso you can set out on foot, hop a train or take a boat to explore the rest of the Cinqua Terra. We set out on foot (of course) and planned to enjoy the view from the sea on a boat ride back to Monterosso.


The trail ranges from well maintained pavement like you see above, to smooth dirt single-track, to unmaintained rocky hiking paths. Walking the entire trail is a day's worth of work, especially if you're carrying 10 pounds of baby.

The walk was fun, and Madison did great - just bobbing along in the Bjorn taking in the sights. When Madison got tired she would just pass out in the Bjorn. We would try to time our arrival to a village with Madison's feeding time and had fairly good success. The other hikers on the trail thought it was great that we had Madison along; of course they weren't carrying her either.


This is the view of Vernazza from the trail as you approach the village. The Cinqua Terra has views like this around every turn.














Here is our group setting out from Vernazza on the way to Corniglia.














The view across the cove approaching Manarola

















Sunset in Manarola




We grabbed a bite to eat in Manarola and by the time we were done Madison was turning into a pumpkin so we passed on Riomaggiore and the boat ride and hopped a train back up to Monterosso. We tried to spend the night in Monterosso but there were no rooms to be had so we drove out to the highway and up the coast a bit and were able to find accommodations for the night. The following day was all driving, not so bad considering we were all pretty worn out from the hike. We made it out of Italy, through Switzerland and into the Black Forest where we found a great Gasthaus. We spent the night and had one of the better meals we've had in Europe then made our way back to Hanau the following day.

3 months old

Madison hit her 3 month birthday on September 7th. Here's a time laps from birth to this past Thursday.














Madison in the hospital at just a couple days old. It is odd, I think she looks very much the same now. She went through 3 months of change to end up looking the same. At least that's my opionion. You can judge for yourself...






















1 month old now. She was going through a bout of infant acne during this period. This was when the weather was in the 90's every day and her sweat glands were trying to kick into gear.
















Here she is at 2 months old. Madison was just starting to become more aware and react to us when we talked to her. You can see that a bit here since she's not just staring off into space anymore.












12 weeks and Madison is much more interactive now. We've been working on tummy time and at this point she enjoys it much more than she used to.
















September 7th and all dressed up for her 3 month birthday. Her next baby checkup isn't for another month so I'm not sure how long she is now, but she is up to 10 lbs, 2 oz so she's becoming a big girl now.

Madison meets more family

Wow, it has been a while since I posted. Madison is doing well and Shelly and I are settling into our new routine now that Shelly is back at work full-time.

Madison is growing and doing all the things babies are supposed to do; and she's met more of the family over the last month or so.





Shelly's mom and grandmother were here in July so we had four generations of the Tyler/Donegan/McAvoy women on hand. The trip over was primarily to meet Madison so we didn't do much traveling. We did play a lot of Ma's favorite card game - Sets. I swear you have to be over 65 to be any good at Sets.


My sister and the kids arrived in Europe in early August to join Chris in The Netherlands. As it worked out Shelly had a 3-day weekend the week after the Ballard clan arrived so we packed up the Escape, dogs included (think Sanford and Son), and made the 3 hour drive up to their place for the weekend.





Here's Maryn and Will with Madison. I thought we had a picture with Sean in it too that would have all 4 of the Ballard/McAvoy grandkids but I guess my sister has that one. Sean was probably off reading a book or instant messaging his not-girlfriend. Looking at this picture now it is amazing how much Madison has changed in the few weeks since this was taken.
























We snapped this group shot before we rolled out for the return trip home; somehow managing to get everyone standing still.

The Ballards have a really neat place - the house portion of a farmhouse on a working farm with a lot of space both inside and out. The dogs all got along and took advantage of the running room to keep themselves occupied and out of our hair.

It was good to see Tracy and the kids and Tracy was eager to meet Madison and give her lot of lovin'.

Updates on Madison

Madison is almost 2 months old; this coming Wednesday will be 8 weeks, August 7th will be '2 months.' Shelly bought a scale (she's obsessed with Madison's weight gain) and as of last night Madison was at 8 pounds, 3.5 oz; her length a couple weeks ago was somewhere around 21 inches.

We have this cool picture frame from Pottery Barn Kids that has a space for a large photo in the middle, and 12 smaller photos around the edge for each month of the first year. So on every month anniversary we take lots of photos trying to get a really good one for the picture frame.

Madison has been officially diagnosed with Acid Reflux so we have her on Zantac twice a day. Since she's been on the medication Madison's fussiness has greatly decreased and she's usually down for the night by 10:30 and will sleep until 5AM. Lately we're in a pretty solid routine of feeding every 2 - 3 hours, burping, some wake time and then nap. Madison sleeps so well during the day that we often have to wake her up at the 3 hour feeding mark.
















After a bath at 8 days old. Bath time was not a fun time early but that has changed.

















Taking a nap with dad at 11 days old. She's changed so much and just the couple of pounds she's gained have her looking much more formidable.


















Someone isn't happy about being woken up from her nap. We've had weather in the 90's for the last several weeks, with no air conditioning, and it's made Madison pretty sleepy.






















Here we are at just over 7 weeks, and we're a much more happy baby. She really started smiling around the 6 week mark. Now Madison does all the new baby things, staring, smiling and cooing. She's much more fun lately since we've got control of the fussiness caused by the reflux and she's getting some good sleep. If only she'd sit still and smile at the same time.






















Madison really likes her bouncy seat. We noticed about a week ago that Madison was starting to reach for the toys hanging from the bouncy. This is also her favorite place to poop; actually she's in the bouncy next to me right now and I think she has been inspired.

Gotta go

-- Ed

Lucerne Switzerland

Over the 4th of July holiday we headed down to Switzerland - our first real road trip with Madison. The scenery is everything you expect it to be. Unfortunately, a camera doesn't do justice to the great views.









The first stop on the trip was in Lucerne. Many consider Lucerne the embodiment of a Swiss town - panoramic Alpine views, narrow cobblestone streets, covered bridges and a marvelous pristine lake. I can't say I disagree. Our hotel was on Lake Lucerne in Kastanienbaum (Chestnut Tree) just outside the city. This picture was taken from the hotel dock on our way to check out the city just after our arrival. A note on the hotel (Hotel Kastanienbaum), it is likely the nicest hotel we've stayed in since we've been here. We also had one of our better dinners in Europe at the hotel - Madison was having a Mad Mac moment so we passed on dinner by the lake and had it brought to our room.















Many of the lake-side towns in Switzerland, especially in the areas near the Italian boarder, have a distinct Mediterranean flair. Shelly and I found ourselves asking "are we in central Europe." Lucerne has a hip, young vibe - and there was a festival going on when we arrived so the town was really hopping. You can see the outdoor cafes in this picture taken along the river bank. If you didn't know better you'd think you were on the Riviera.












Here's Shelly and Madison with Lucerne's signature covered bridge in the background. The bridge was built in 1333 as a defensive structure. The tower has been used as a prison, torture chamber (I think it's a law that every city in Europe has to have an old torture chamber) and archive. Madison is passed out in the Baby Bjorn. We've found that she travels best in the Bjorn, and it is also easier to get around with in Europe than with a stroller.












We spent one afternoon on a boat excursion on Lake Lucerne up to the small resort town of Brunnen. Lake Lucerne and Lake Uri meet here at the foot of the Alps in one of the more visually stunning places we've been. The area around Brunnen is William Tell country; where the Tell family was among a group that founded the early settlements in this area of Switzerland. There is historical evidence of the Tell family, but whether William Tell ever existed, or shot an apple off the top of his son's head, is unconfirmed.

We left Lucerne for Interlaken a bit further south in central Switzerland in the Bernese Oberland.

Interlaken Switzerland

The drive to Lucerne wasn't anything special; you're just getting into the Alps when you arrive so there really isn't much to see. This was not the case on the drive from Lucerne to Interlaken where you're driving in the center of the country, on winding roads, through 15KM tunnels, with lush valleys, crystal blue lakes and alpine peaks all around you. We could have stopped several times to gawk at the great views, but we wanted to make it into Interlaken. We did stop this one time for a quick look around and the requisite photo op. The small village, lake and mountains were typical of the scenery along the drive. This is pretty much what you think about when you think of Switzerland.











We stopped again to hike through the Aare Gorge. The Aare river (the longest river to begin and end entirely within Switzerland) is formed from the glaciers of the surrounding mountains and carved the 4,500 foot gorge on its way through Switzerland to meet with the Rhine near the German boarder. There is also a large waterfall close to the gorge, but we had been told that the falls are so loud that it isn't good for small children so we took a pass and continued on to Interlaken.









Interlaken is situated between (hence the name) lake Thun and Brienz at the foot of the Jungfrau mountains, and is a major destination for summer and winter sports enthusiasts. There are three peaks that dominate the Interlaken skyline - Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. The north wall of the Eiger is one of the 6 great north faces of the Alps; for movie buffs and Clint Eastwood fans, this is the deadly mountain where Clint carried out his last "sanction" in The Eiger Sanction. The city of Interlaken itself is fairly quaint and not as vibrant as Lucerne, but people don't come here for the city life; they are here for the outdoors. We took a gondola to the small village of Muerren which is basically located on the side of a mountain above the valley formed by the Jungfrau Mountains. I took the picture of Shelly and Madison while we stopped for lunch; on the other side of the railing is the bottom of the valley





































As I said before, a camera doesn't do the scenery justice. I took pictures anyway, though. The top picture is of the Lauterbrunnen Valley below the Jungfrau Mountains. The bottom picture is of the Eiger (left) and Monch.


All in all we had a successful maiden voyage with Madison in tow and learned a few things that will hopefully help us on future trips. For Madison there's no place like home, but she's a trooper and does pretty well for a wee little thing. We are planning a 4 or 5 day trip later in July before Shelly's mom and grandmother arrive and she returns to work. After that, I think we're homebodies until Labor Day - destination TBD.

--Ed

We've had visitors

My sisters' family is moving to The Netherlands; my brother-in-law got a NATO position and they are in the process of moving the clan over to Europe. Chris arrived in late May and the rest of the crew come over in August. Chris came down for a long weekend over Memorial Day shortly after his arrival, and again a week or so after Madison was born. It was nice to have an experienced helping hand around for a couple of days to take Madison for a few minutes, help walk the dogs and provide insight into the whole child care thing.


















Mo and Julie stopped over for a day and a half on their way to Barcelona for a cruise. As always, it was nice to see some friends from the States.













M&J's arrival at Frankfurt International; always a graceful shot after more than 9 hours of flying.












Mo and Julie were real troopers, ready to hit the road right after unloading their stuff at the house. We didn't have a whole lot of time but we managed to get some sightseeing in - here's a picture just outside the walls of Rothenburg O.D.T.



















Madison was also a trooper. She took all the action in stride and caught her naps whenever the opportunity presented itself.


















Julie helped out by taking Madison during her evening fussy time. Julie worked out a walk/dance/bounce move that worked well in calming Madison. Now, when we need to pull out all the stops to quiet Madison we go for the ace in the hole - The Julie.