May 30 - Back on the Y

Early this morning Annee and I set out to conquer the Y. It is good to
be back and man is that climb a good workout. By the end of the
summer, I've set a goal to go up and down multiple times in a row. We
saw one lady doing that and now I'm committed to doing so myself.

May 29 - Earnests have arrived!!

They made it!! It only took a week of traveling (via Japan and Hawaii) but Annee + 4 children
arrived yesterday from Korea!! Saying I'm so excited to have them here is an understatement.

I'm also pretty excited Ken's netflix account is unfrozen again for
the summer. We realized disc three of season two of Friday Night
Lights was missing this afternoon. Less than three minutes later he
had the whole season loaded and ready to watch right on the TV through
the TiVo-netflix streaming feature. Sweet!

A Laker game tonight means I am spending some quality family time over at Sarah's!

My sisters and I MAY have just completed a self-timer photo shoot... I figured out how to make it take several pictures in quick succession on the self-timer. Where was that feature during Base Tan Weekend? Anyway, pictures to come. Although I'm pretty sure there will be a photo re-shoot Sunday when we're all showered and dressed so maybe we'll wait til then.

May 28 - Where's my phone?

There are kids everywhere!! Which is tons of fun. It's remarkable to
see how well these very young children can navigate an iPhone! At the
end of the day I find many interesting photos.

I delayed posting a photo today because the chosen photo was not approved by my committee (and because I fell asleep before clicking publish...). You see, today I took CZ to get her wisdom teeth out. I dropped her off, headed up the canyon for a run, got halfway out when they called me to come pick her up because she was done. I ran the fastest two miles I've run in a long time back to my car. I took before and after photos of her face but she really wouldn't let me post them. And reasonably so... who wants their wisdom teeth cheeks published to the world? But it was one of the few photos I took that day and the "One a Day" show must go on right? :-)

May 27 - Baseball

This photo of me, Sarah, Oliver and Brenden was taken at the park by Brenden's field.

So far this summer I've been able to catch a couple of the boy's baseball games. Both Brenden and Oliver's skills are improving. I'm very impressed! It's a fun way to enjoy the sunshine. Plus I finally found that mysterious park I've run past on the Provo River Trail (the one past the trailer park before Geneva Road - you know what I'm talking about right?).

Turns out my old Paris study abroad director has a kid on Sarah's team so we've been able to catch up a bit. Good times! I can't believe it's been 4.5 years since that semester. I'm very grateful I've been back a few times since and am anxious to accompany KHill back as well.

May 26 - Provo evening walks

This morning Court and I headed back to the airport to return to real life. Ana and Jack were so nice to take us. Z&A have been SO nice and accommodating all weekend, I highly recommend their San Deigo Bed & Breakfast ;-)

Back in Provo, Ken wanted to bounce right back into our exercise routine which was much welcomed by me after taking 5 days off. We also walked everywhere we needed to go (dinner, ups store, etc), the weather was perfect for doing so. It was great and I wish someone could've snapped a pic of us but I don't have one afterall. This one will have to do...

May 25 - La Jolla Caves

Today we took a tour of the La Jolla coast and sea caves. The kayak rental place also had waterproof digital camera rentals so we got a few pics in the water. The water on the lens make it look like a very dark, gloomy, rainy day but it was actually quite pleasant! Yay!

May 24 - Relief Society Substitute.

Today we visited a single's ward in Encinitas. For some reason, they only had 2 hours of church scheduled (seriously, we're still not clear why...). We had to fill the third hour somehow so... taquitos and frozen yogurt it was!

May 23 - Gaslamp district tour.

Matching t-shirts. City Segway tour. Life is good.

May 22 - San Diego!!

Well I have arrived in sunny San Diego! I flew out really early this morning and met up with Courtney at the airport in SD. Zack and Ana are so nice to be hosting us this weekend!

Our first stop was an antique store near the parking garage where Zack left the car for us. Always fun to browse. We then located an In n Out and really got the trip started. Off to the mall where we window shopped and saw Ghost of Girlfriends Past (pretty cute - pretty predictable - could have been worse - filled it's mindless purpose well). Later after finding Zack's house we went to dinner with Zack, Ana and Jack where we talked about all the upcoming moves and changes (relocation to DC and Boston).

Somehow, I didn't snap a single picture of any of the aforementioned activities... The only picture I have is of a display in anthropologie where they stretched lace over embroidery hoops and hung them from the ceiling. Very cool idea!

KHill joins us tonight and tomorrow we'll begin our high adventure vacation. So excited!!

May 21 - Not much to show for today.

Wow at the end of this day the only photo I have is this weird picture
snapped inside of The Sweet Tooth Fairy, a very cute cupcake shop in
south Provo. I was really going to avoid posting another thing
involving food, but what did I do today? Three hours at the gym, a bit
of time with Mariokart, some quality Drew talk time, time thinking
about Annee's impending arrival in America, a shower, laundry, and
several hours NOT packing for tomorrow's trip. Ahh. How would one take
a photo of any of the above activities? Cameras at the gym are really
frowned on...

May 20 - Delicious

Today I ran for an hour so I could eat BTS cake. Best decision I've
made for days. (And although I probably could have eaten all that
cake, ken and I shared it with severin and lissa after playing some
sweet mariokart.)

We saw Angels and Demons this afternoon. I also ran for popcorn.

And for those two reasons I skipped dinner...

Im still dropping dead asleep at 1030 pm so I've gotta go!

May 19 - Back to life.

This morning I woke up bright and early at 630am which is one of the greatest benefits of going to Europe: morning exercise becomes a practical reality. Ken and I ran stairs and then made a big breakfast, per his special plans.

In the afternoon while Ken went golfing I met with my TA boss (the mission president-ish one) for a debriefing meeting and coordinated some work I'll be doing for him through the rest of the summer.

Check out this cool bag he found at DI for only $3!

I stopped by the UPS Store to pick up my mail from the last several weeks. Imagine my surprise when I had a package in my box from the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. What?! I immediately started racking my brain to figure out which friend was playing a joke on me...

Turns out my other boss (the woman I TAed for) sent me a HUGE ostrich egg as a thank you for working for her this semester. The 4 pound egg is equivalent to 25 chicken eggs. Which leads me to ask, do you have a recipe which requires 25 eggs? Because turns out I need one... Sarah says I should bring it to beach week and make breakfast casserole for everyone.

In the evening I went to Oliver's tee-ball game and played with June who was proud to announce he latest step into Big Girl-hood (I'll let Sarah provide you with more details...). I will shortly drop dead asleep. Goodnight!

**It's much harder to find a photo of the day when I am no longer in camera ready vacation mode. But I'll do my best to finish out the month! I've come this far right? And I guess I'll be on vacation again starting Friday so I'll manage...**

May 18 - return

I love airport HSBC ads. They're so clever. It's one of my very favorite parts of international travel days. They have so many and they line the walls of the LONG LONG walkways in these enormous airports. I'm constantly impressed by the items the compare. Here are just a couple examples:
This is their older ad campaign (I've seen it over the last 2-3 years) and they just started a new ad campaign which is similar but better, unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures to share. Oh well! Next time...


CZ and I were lucky enough to score sweet seats for our return flight (thank you Delta Medallion upgrade perks! and for including CZ!). We were able to watch as much Friday Night Lights as we wanted thanks to the plugs which helped the computer last through the 8 hour flight. Overall the travel was as pleasant as it could be and it feels so great to be back.

Do you see the tiny personal salt/pepper shaker?
So cute I almost wanted to take it with me!

What I didn't get a picture of (because they didn't last long enough...) was the warm chocolate chip cookies they brought around every couple hours. Oh man were they delicious. And such a pleasant way to wake up.

May 17 - Cross country trekking

Today we made our way from Nice back to Frankfurt. The travel included a walk, a local train, a walk, an airport bus, a flight, another local train, a missed train, a new ticket, an international train, and finally a taxi cab to arrive at 49 Walter Hesselbach. What a day!

Bidding farewell to our lovely little place in Juan Les Pins...
And bidding farewell to our good friend Rashid who kept us company at night as we tried to work our computers in the lobby.

We passed the time on the train by watching Friday Night Lights which was tons of fun although I'm months behind on the TiVo as it is so there isn't really room for anything new...

May 16 - Antibes

The Internet access is still giving us trouble so I'll just have to do
a simple post from my phone. We spent a (thankfully) sunny day at the
beach today and it was great.

In the morning Haley and I hit up the brocante antique markets and I can't wait to show you what I got when it is placed in my room. I hope easyJet will look the other way again when my bag comes in overweight... They are sometimes strict about that whole 20 kilo guideline..

It looks like a slow night here in Juan les Pins so CZ and I may pop
back to Cannes or Nice for a movie theatre. Tomorrow we travel back to
Brussels and then Frankfurt.

May 15 - Cannes

Today we took the train a couple stops to the Cannes Film Festival. There were people EVERYWHERE. I loved it.




Apparently girls dress up, stand outside and beg for an "invitation" inside. Strange method. We didn't see anyone get in but a couple seemed close.

May 14 - Monaco & Monte Carlo

Today we spent the day in Monaco which is busily preparing for the Grand Prix that begins next week. We stopped into the aquarium per mom's recommendation. Obviously (from our jumping pics) we had a good time.

After the aquarium we wandered around in the Monte Carlo casino area searching for dinner which was nearly impossible to find. We MAY have settled on Haagen Daz... no judging. :-)

May 13 - A great dinner find.

Travelling can get hard at times as there are MANY decisions to make each day. Decisions must be made with incomplete and imperfect information, which is so hard for me.

Every now and then things line up perfectly and you happen upon a fantastic restaurant. In the right budget, food choices for all to enjoy, great ambiance, great people watching, attentive service, tap water (with ice!) etc etc. Today we happened upon such a place and oh it was great. Gnocchi, risotto, grilled vegetables, bread (free! and refilled), french onion soup, salad, apple tartine, the list goes on and on.

Thank you Chez Juliette!

May 12 - Sunshine!

Today was great. Bright and sunny and relaxed. Here are some highlights:

Beautiful, colored, coastal buildings.
Fruit, vegetable, flower market.
Boat tour.

Crazy Lisa Frank-ish dress in Galleries Lafayettes.
Remember the science fair project? This street seller is collecting similar data...
Wedding dresses.

Do you need an antique piece like this?

I think it's time for this woman to go inside...

May 11 - Brussels Antiques

Today we spent the morning finishing up our time in Bruges, everyone had a couple last stores to scope out. I bought some chocolate and cool kitchen stuff.

Then we headed on down the road to Brussels for some quick antique shopping before our flight to Nice, France. It was the perfect situation because mom was driving back to Frankfurt and could transport our treasures safely to her house. There were some seriously awesome chandeliers. I may have secured 4 of them... Such good deals, and such beautiful pieces. (The pictures are all on my phone which is internet-less for the moment so I'll have to post them later. But they're awesome!)

I also completely fell in love with a couch. Mom and I are scheming about the best way to get it to Frankfurt so it can be moved home with all their stuff later this summer. I could cry because the thought makes me so happy. If you saw the couch you'd cry for me too.

We parted ways with mom and boarded a quick flight down to the Cote d'Azur. When we walked into the hotel lobby MELISSA was standing right there!! She bravely made her way down from Paris on the train today, being all alone on her very first trip to Europe. We're very glad to have her join us.

I don't know why this picture is so red and crazy looking. Oh well!

May 10 - Bruges 15K

Today we headed out early for a 5 mile bike tour of Bruges. Our guide was hilarious and extremely informative.

While riding around I saw the makings of a race in the city... I hopped on a patch of wifi and found out there was a Bruges 15K starting at 3pm. Perfect!! (Oh how I wished you could join me... because I knew you would!)

I took this pic over my shoulder without looking. Not too bad huh!

I rushed right to the hotel, changed, made it to the train station, secured a race-T (technical!!) and headed off with the pack. Because I was a bit delayed in getting started, I was at the BACK of the pack along with 1 other lady who must have been stuck in the bathroom during the start or something. The round up car followed directly behind us during the entire race. And while we ran along canals too small for a car to follow, a police motorcycle was right on our tail. Definitely not the most pleasant way to run, I'm already fully aware of the fact that I'm slow, nothing like an idling car to make it painfully obvious.

Nonetheless, I'm thrilled I was able to participate. Running a race is my favorite way to explore a city. Between the bike tour and the run I feel like I have a complete picture of Bruges (and a great excuse for an indulgent Belgian dessert).