Verdun, France

 Nate took off today.  Bob, Nate and I went to Verdun, France to see a WWI Memorial.

 The weather was awful and made this somber place even more somber.

The physical damage was still evident almost 100 years later!

 

We watched a 30 minute video from the war.  

At the end, they mentioned that bones of the unknown soldiers were kept under the memorial.  

As we left the memorial, we were able to peak in the windows to see the bones.  

 We stopped at Cora (a French grocery store) on our way home to buy mussels!

 And macaroons!

This man ate his weight in mussels!  He had about four helpings!  

How I became a Pirate

The boys Art/Music teacher told the boys about a community play about pirates.  So Friday night our family and the Grogans went to see the play.

 The little boys wore their eye patches to fit in!

 Ethan gave his best "ARGGHHH!"

At the end of the play, Ms. Craven invited the boys up to the poop deck to get pictures with Shark Tooth.  It was a super cute play.  We all had a good time!

Warsaw, Poland day 2

 We saw most of the historic old city on day one.  

We decided to take the boys to a science museum on day two!

 The boys were so excited.  

 There were tons of exhibits!  The boys loved trying each one out.  

The parents did too!  

 Jessica found a mirror that changes how to see your body.  She showed me this sign and we both were shocked at the last sentence.  Wow!  

 We spent s few hours at the museum and decided to explore a bit more of Warsaw.  

The fall colors were amazing!

We went to a huge park with a palace.  We walked around a bit and then decided we should head back to the hotel.  We were all exhausted!  My dogs were barking! 

 On our way home, Lincoln found his car!

This Culture and Science building was right across from our hotel.  

 Our hotel.  

 We officially wore these munchkins out this weekend!  We had so much fun meeting up with the Gabrielski's and crossing another capital off our list together!

Warsaw, Poland Day 1

The Leaps met the Gabrielski's in Warsaw, Poland this weekend!

It's been months since I had some Jessica time!  

(standing in front of Chopin's house)

Most of the city was destroyed in World War II.  They have tried to rebuild the city.  

They used paintings to recreate buildings.  

Thank goodness we had Jessica and her AMAZING Polish language skills!  Nate and and I were so impressed that she has learned so much Polish in only a year.  

Prime example....she could read this sign NO PROBLEM!

One word she taught me about a year ago was Drugie Sniadanie.  It means second breakfast!  I love saying it (and do on a weekly basis).  I was so happy that we actually had

 Drugie Sniadanie on our first day!

 The boys loved Drugie Sniadanie too!

Nate took the lead on this trip.  He researched Warsaw and found a walking map of the old town!  We were able to walk and see most of the sights on his map.

 We tried to stop and have boy time too!

The awesome fall leaves made it easy to have a leaf fight!

Ms. Jessica got into the fun too!

 Nate found a bell that you should walk around three times for good luck!

Parts of the old town wall were left standing.

We also walked by Madame Marie Curie's house. 

 (I dressed up and gave a report of her in the 3rd grade.)

 The Gabrielski's have to get their water from a city well.  Lincoln was very concerned that we would have to drink water from a well.  We found a city well and the boys took turns trying it out!

EVEN Lincoln!

The highlight of Nate's trip was eating pierogies!  We had them twice!

These signs were all over the city.  They marked places where Hitler's army killed Polish people.  

At this sight 430 died.  

There were lots of Ninja fights all over the city too!

We ended our first night at Warsaw HardRock Cafe!  The burgers were great!  

Small Package!

It's only Wednesday, yet Lincoln has experienced an eventful week already!  

On Monday, I received a phone call from the office because he mooned his friend on the bus!  

On Tuesday, he came home with a two, but told me that he went all the way up to a four (four is as high as it goes).  At soccer practice Tuesday evening, he hit his coach three times and followed that up with some high pitch screaming!

He's really been testing the boundaries in his new first grade class.  In fact, he's been testing the boundaries at home too!  

After a firm discussion on his "out of control" behavior, along with the threat of NO video games or movies for week, he came home with a one today!  He ate all of his dinner, and was as close to a perfect little angel as you could get!  

This little man can pack a punch!!!  

Ethan's Climbing Wall B/day Party

 Ethan celebrated his 9th B/day by having a party at the Outdoor Rec. Climbing Wall! 

 This year he invited his whole class and a few friends from his class last year.

 His best friend had his party here last year.  He is basically a monkey.  In this picture, he stopped to tie his shoe without losing his footing on the wall!  

 Lincoln was awesome!  He moved up the wall like a spider!

 I love this picture of the biggest climber (Chase) and the smallest climber (Lincoln)!

 He had a great turnout of friends!

 After their first climb.

 High Five!  You did great!

 Charlotte's first climb!

 Caroline's terrified face!

 Pat and Sara were a HUGE help!  

 Pittsburgh Cake!!!

 He was one happy boy today!  

This may be the first birthday where he was so appreciative of everything!

 These two guys slept over tonight!

 He received so many great gifts.  The kids clapped and cheered for each one!  He asked Pat and Sara for a pencil/marker kit from Globus (a German store).  All the kids cheered at this gift!

Hot wheels were hot this birthday!

I love how the girls were at one end and the boys at the other end!  Ethan had a great birthday! 

Happy B/day, big boy!