Friday I'm in Love

Glad this busy work week is over and the weekend is just about here! Unfortunately, the weather is terrible, again. High of 54 tomorrow. Seriously! Feels like fall/winter. I don't want to have to turn back on the heat, but I might have to. It is freezing! I saw my breath on the way to work in the morning. Yup. So, we've been trying to decide on a trip for the 4th of July to someplace warm. However, our van's brakes are completely kaput right now, so we can't drive it anywhere far until it gets fixed in a month. So, do we stay around here with the kids and see fireworks on post? Or try to squeeze in a flight to somewhere warm on a cheap airline. Nothing like last minute planning.

I looked back at what we did in past years for the 4th, and found trip pictures to Mallorca and Austria. Hmmm. Sure would like to visit one of these again.

 As for this weekend, plans are to go see the new Monsters Inc with Cooper! Yes, he has enough tokens from our positive reinforcement  ticket system to cash in! I'll have to provide an update on how that is going soon. It is working, but I'll have to make some tweaks. Also, hoping if it warms up enough Sunday to get outside climbing again with the kids and buy wood to make a swing-set addition onto our Tower or Power playhouse. Which leads me now to some awesome project ideas below.

- Have you ever checked out Ana White's blog?! Amazing. Free building plans for everything! There are the projects I want to do one day: Planning to do the swing-set first. Then the modern farmhouse dining room table.   And eventually this awesome fort bed.

- I'd love this rug for Cooper's room.

- I want to make a Tape Tree canvas like this.

- Might have to make some of these healthy chocolate whoppers for our movie date tomorrow.

- Loved this post Wise Beyond Their Years on things little ones say. Cooper is always amazing me with the things he says/thinks about. Just the other day Lily was jabbering away. We were praising her for all the words she is saying, and Cooper said "Dad, she doesn't even speak human". Funny boy.

Bye bye! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Just another manic Monday

Whoa! Weekends fly by so fast. And Mondays are so busy always! What a fun weekend! We went to our friend Kalle's house for a picnic all day Saturday and played a ton with the kids and cleaned up the house a wee bit. Sunday was a great climbing day. Cooper and Lily enjoyed taking huge swings from the rope, something I think he had forgotten about doing in Kentucky, and something Lily had never done. They LOVED it. Hoping one day both will love climbing as much as we do. Right now, Cooper mostly enjoys catching bugs and Lily is just content sitting in my lap. Here are some pictures from the weekend. 

Lily likes to come sit on anyone that is sitting, to include pets.

Kalle, our butcher friend has a farm and let Cooper drive his tractor. Doesn't get much better for a four year old.

This picture scares me. Frank hanging out in Kalle's butcher shop.

Poor Lily got a bee sting this weekend :(

We Tye Dyed two shirts, then Cooper wanted to paint with the dye.

Friday I'm in Love

This week flew by. Not sure why. Maybe its because we kept so busy playing outside in this hot weather! It cooled down 25 degrees last night, which means we had a HUGE storm as the cold front hit. Massive hailstorm. I was driving home in it and was terrified my windshield was going to crack. See the picture below my friend took that shows the size of the hail.

She loves cuddling with Maya

Massive Hail

This week there were so many interesting posts to check out that I have to share:

Tonight we're going to try out these fish tacos for dinner. Hope the kids like it.

This post from Delia Creates with her spin on outfits from Napoleon Dynamite gave me a really good laugh. 

We've acted out books we love before  but I really want to do this Bear Hunt! So cute and creative.

I want to hold a summer party, and this obstacle course idea for the kids would be so much fun!

As far as sewing, I plan on trying to make a pair of shorts for both Cooper and Lily from this blog.

Planning to make a fruit canvas with Cooper this weekend or make 4th of July Tye Dye Shirts!

A cousins week tradition! Now this is something I really want to do with my sisters!

And how fun to organize/be a part of an Epic Playdate like this! Could be a part of the cousins week...

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Ticket System - Motivating and Promoting Positive Behavior

I must say, parenting sure does have a lot of challenges, and we just have to do our best to get through them. Cooper is almost 4 and a half now and is testing his limits, and our limits. I am tired of being so negative with him, which only makes every situation worse. So, I have been researching the best ways to promote positive behavior and figure out how to get him to start doing what we ask when we ask him. I really liked this article on Dr. Sears website.  I've decided to try and use the "Ticket System". I have poker chips at home that I will use as the tickets. I plan on giving Cooper two free tokens in the morning each day in a jar that will be put in a high traffic area for all to see at our house. He can earn more by doing his assigned chores every day, being helpful and nice to others, getting ready for school, etc. Below is the list of positive behaviors I made and plan on going over with him today.

 I also made a list (with room for one more) of negative behaviors I don't want him using anymore. When he does these things, I will be taking tokens away. Getting up to early is a weird one to have on the list, I know, but we have a REAL problem with him getting up unacceptably early (even the birds are asleep) and freaking out when I tell him he needs to go back to sleep because it is not time to get up yet...

 

At the end of the week, Cooper can cash in his tokens for his choice of a reward depending on how many he saves up. I might have to adjust this chart, or come up with smaller rewards for quicker satisfaction during the weeknights, but we'll see. 

 

I'm excited to try this out, and so is Cooper. Tonight I will go over it all with him, hang it on the kitchen door or somewhere else very visible, get out the tokens and begin our token system. I'll report back next week to tell you how this goes. I know it will require some work from Frank and I to do this, but it will be good for us to really look for the positives and hopefully eliminate some of the negative behaviors we're seeing. If any of you all have attempted something like this, please share! Also, if you would like the word document or a PDF of the system, comment below and I can send you the files. Wish us luck!

How to have a perfect Saturday

First, head out climbing (insert favorite activity here) with friends and family outside on a sunshiny warm day and wear yourselves out completely. Play in the dirt with your kids, throw rocks at trees, catch a zillion bugs, make a few weedy flower bouquets, eat PB&honey sandwiches on a blanket and walk barefoot through the woods.

After, head to your favorite resturant for al fresco dining. Order food to cook on your own hot rock, if available. The kids will love it. Watch your four year old pretend to fish in their fish pond while your little one toddles around the patio as you wait for the food to come.

Then, to really make the day, on your way back home, play your favorite happy songs really loud with the windows rolled down, and belt out the tunes while throwing in some fancy dance moves. This is essential.

Finally, once home, take a nice long bubble bath with your favorite beverage and read a favorite kids book together cuddled up in bed. Perfection.

Tuesday Transformation - Ice

I know summer isn't for a few more days, but the temperatures have reach the 90s over here this week! Crazy hot when we're so used to the 60s and do not have air conditioning at home or work. In an effort to beat the heat, aside from swimming, I've been looking up activities to do with ice. Here are a few fun ideas I can't wait to try!

1. Ice Chalk. I have done the sidewalk chalk paint at least 15 times, so this will be a fun twist.

Source: Reading Confetti

2. Ice Breaking Game. I might hide dinosaurs since I don't have many superheros.

Source: I am Momma - Hear Me Roar

3. Ice Boats. Cooper is going to love doing this I think!

Source: Reading Confetti

4. Lemonade Raspberry Ice Cubes to flavor your drink. Yum!

Source: Whole Living

5. Freeze Fresh Herbs in Olive Oil Ice Cubes for preparing quick dinners later. Can't wait to do this with all my herbs!

Source: The Hungry Mouse

How about you all? What are you doing this summer to beat the heat? Any fun ideas? If so, please share!

Life In Germany - Breweries

On Friday, my work office took and organizational outing to two breweries. It was a great day. First we went to Kuchlbauers Bierwelt and took a tour of the brewery which also included a tour of the 34 meter-high tower shown below. The tower was conceived and designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser , who died in 2000, still in the planning phase. The building was built after the death of the architect Hundertwasser Peter Pelikan. They wanted to build the tower to be 70 meters, but in Bavaria, no tower can be taller than the town's church steeple. Pretty crazy eh?

After we left, we picked up fresh spargel (asparagus) and strawberries from a farm and headed to one of my favorite breweries to bring visitors,  Klosterschenke Weltenburg. The monastery, founded by Irish or Scottish monks in about 620, is known as the oldest monastery in Bavaria. It is located on the Danube and you can take a beautiful hike to it or a beautiful short ferry ride down the Danube. Unfortunately, the water was really high from all the crazy rains, so we couldn't take the hike Friday. 

Source

Both these breweries are located in Bavaria, not too far from Regensburg and both are well worth a trip.You can make a day of it and visit both. Have lunch at the Weltenburg Abbey. They serve  great food in a huge beer garden right in the middle of the Abbey.

There are about 1,250 breweries in Germany, almost four times as many as in all other countries of the European Union combined. This number includes brewpubs that produce beer only for their own on-premise sales, packaging breweries that service mostly their local or regional markets, as well as huge breweries that ship their beers all over the world. 

Just about every town and restaurant serves a locally made beer in Bavaria. I honestly can't believe how many awesome beers and breweries they have here. And truly, the cost of a beer is almost always less than a juice, water, or soda. Where we live, sometime a half liter is as little as 1 euro 80 cents. A case of beer (20 half liter recyclable bottles) is only 12 euros. I wish we could catch on to the recycled/refillable glass bottles in the states. It just makes so much more sense.

Which gets me dreaming again about things I want to do in the states whenever we return. Sure would be awesome and amazing to buy a farm, grow hops, and start a nice beer garden/brewery in Kentucky one day.  With great, big half liter recyclable bottles. How about you all? What dream business would you open if you could? 

Trip to Spain

We just got back from Spain Saturday and oh what a wonderful vacation we had. As always, too short. We flew to Malaga via Ryan Air in just three hours, then drove 40 minutes south to the Marriott Resort Beach Vacation Resort very close to Marbella, Spain. It was beautiful and so perfect and very hard to leave the resort! There were no less than seven pools, three restaurants, and every amenity and game/activity you could want (from water polo to zumba to movies played outside at night). The beach was perfect, great for entertaining the kids with sea shell hunting, making castles, and chasing waves. We normally stay at a self catering house when we take these types of vacations, but we found such a good deal here, and the reviews on TripAdvisor were so good, we couldn't pass it up. I'm glad we didn't. Our apartment had a fully loaded kitchen and so we were able to make most of our meals. Here are pictures from the trip...

Cooper looking out from our apartment. You could actually see Africa and Gibraltar in the distance.

The life. Eating Pain Chocolat by the pool in a cabana.

Where we spent most of our time.

 

 

 

  

 

   

Lily and Dad pointing at Africa. She is always pointing these days and wants us to say whatever she is pointing at.

Beach head.

Showing me how strong he was. They actually were quite heavy because they were filled with water.

Jacuzzi Baths + Bubbles = Amazing Bathtub fun with the kids

Papa looking south towards Gibraltar at Sunset

 Frank and I always have to check out the local climbing every trip we take. We headed to Mijas to try out a steep cliff, but the approach freaked me out too much. It was a downward climb down re-bar with a very nasty looking drop off. Climbing = Fail. Hike + Views = Win!

The Costa Del Sol

Our views on our hike

A large rock quarry we passed on our hike

I just loved this flower. Blue and pink!

We also visited the old city part of Marbella. It was beautiful. Full of winding small roads lined with pretty tiles and cobbles and huge bushes and vines drooping down from balconies. Lots of tapas bars, restaurants, and boutiques selling lots of adorable kids clothes. I was so tempted to buy Cooper and Lily an outfit, but we had NO room in our carry-on unfortunately.

Note to self, bring double stroller next time.

I think it is impossible to get a family photo with ALL of us looking at the camera. 3/4. I'll take it.

Clapping for herself.

The elephant was a beach shower! So cute.

I had to make this black and white. Reminded me of a movie star photo with that gaze.

Lily and her papa

With my garden not flourishing as much as I'd like, I'm thinking about doing this to our walls ;)

Another day, we drove way up through the Sierra Del Nieve mountains on very windy roads to the city of Ronda. The Guadalevín River runs through the city, dividing it in two and carving out the steep, 100 plus meters deep El Tajo canyon upon which the city perches. Truly breathtaking and a bit scary walking around this city. The highlight was our horse and carriage ride through the old town.

They were playing harp and classical guitar all over the city, including this gazebo you see.

Bull Statue by the Bull Fighting Arena

He couldn't stop grinning the whole ride

Our trusty steed.

I thought for sure we'd scrape the building and was mid sentence in this picture. Aren't the hanging pots so charming?

 

We had plans to visit Morocco since it was only a short drive and ferry ride  away, and I was so excited at the prospect of going to Africa! However, with so much to do at our resort, the beach and the local cities were more than enough to entertain us.  I'm happy with what we did see and needed the lazy days at the resort with the kids, playing in the pools and sand. Ronda, Marbella, and the beaches there were really fantastic and I highly recommend visiting the Costa Del Sol if you're headed to southern Spain.

Just curious, when you all travel, do you tend to stay at hotel/resort areas for all the amenities, or do you prefer the self catering style?