jan schill photography :blog:

i was going through all of my personal 2009 images to archive them & get them off of my computer before it starts throwing things & yelling obscenities at me, & i ran across about 200 blog-worthy, personal images that i intended to share with you…hmmm…
well, instead of starting way back in october, let’s start with our super rad trip to europe:

we left for europe after packing meticulously, weighing our bags to make sure that we weren’t over weight limits, taking only what andrew & i could carry so that we could handle the kiddos, and taking enough snacks, new toys, movies, & comfort items to feed & entertain a fleet of littles…yes, all four of us went to europe…it was an adventure!  we flew durango-denver-chicago-london, got our rental car & drove 5 hours up to the lake district where we were to stay for a few days.  it was really different driving on the other side of the road, but it didn’t deter livi from her typical road-trip pee sessions.

strangely enough, of all three countries that we visited, i had the hardest time communicating in england.  our first stop at the “welcome break” we found the english version of starbucks where i ordered a mint mocha…it sounded yummy & wonderful since i was exhausted, wet, & cold…after saying “mint mocha” about five times & being asked what a “mamocha” was, i finally got my hot, delicious cup of minty-chocolate caffeine & was so happy!

thanks to the tomtom, we made it to ambleside.  the lake district was beautiful!  we stayed at a cozy bed & breakfast that had a perfect little two-room suite for our little family…every morning we woke to our own table next to a huge window with a full-english breakfast & french-pressed coffee.  we tried to enjoy england even though we were extremely jet-lagged, it was cold, & it rained constantly.  i hardly took any pictures in england, but i made up for it when i photographed my first wedding…in england…of these rad folks…

i loved doing the wedding, to see the posts of that go HERE, HERE, & HERE!  oh my…  and have you ever had a kitkat from england…they are so delicious…all kitkats are not created equal…i miss these things a lot… the day after robert & jen got hitched we packed it up & jumped back in the car…on the way to catch our flight livi completely defiled our car with projectile vomit…thank God for leather & that we were smart enough to have plenty of wipes and a change of clothes handy… somehow we got to the airport without being covered in puke & caught a flight over to germany to visit my sister & her hubby.  germany was cold & wet too…are you picking up on the weather trend for our european holiday yet?  good thing we were there to see people we love & our hotel was so wonderful!  they took pity on us & gave us a beautiful suite that worked perfectly…plenty of room so that we weren’t on top of one another…livi & harper had their own beds…the breakfast was amazing…and livi was in love with the elevator… after a few days in germany, andrew & i left the littles with my sister & her hubs for a trip to paris by ourselves.  they were sweet enough to volunteer to watch them & we jumped at the chance to go to paris sans children.  (you’ll have to wait for part 2 to see all of the pics from paris)  a few days in gorgeous paris with our sweet, french friends we wondeful!  we returned to germany after three days in france to see the sights of hamburg & our littles that we were really starting to miss!  we walked all around hamburg… this is part of the st. nikolai monument.  this church was bombed & burned in WWII… harper enjoyed the sights from the comfort of her stroller… livi loved the leaves & the bahn in hamburg… andrew took a few pictures too…which was so nice…he worked for a photographer in college & has a great eye…i really like his perspective… we loved the food in germany…not all hot dogs, sauer kraut, & beer like a lot of us think…they have lots of cool, yummy modern places to eat…harper discovered fresh apples at this yummy thai infusion place… this is a bunker from WWII…they dot the city & are used today for storage… i was fascinated by these… also left from the effects of WWII, these markers are outside of the homes of many of those that did not return after the war.  i don’t speak german, so to translate, this brass stone basically says, “Here Lived Peter Perls, born 1931, Deported 1943, Murdered in Auschwitz”…this boy was killed in auschwitz concentration camp.   to read more about them you can go HERE and read what my husband wrote about them on our friend carl’s website HERE.

for part 2, we’ll be in paris…get your wine & cheese ready…