PARIS!!

We are starting the year off to a great start- visiting Paris for the week.

We left on Friday- Moms birthday- and we spent the first part of the day traveling.

The kids- excited to leave.

I didnt like the first picture I took so I tried again.... not much better...

We finally arrived in Paris after a short 2 hour flight to look for a taxi willing to take us to our apartment.

A few pictures on the way to the apartment:

After an hour ride we got out, found the key to the apartment in a safe at one location and read on the contract that our actual rental was not there; it was in a different building a few blocks down (it would have been very helpful to have a map of where the new place was).  We finally found it after walking up and down the street with the kids, luggage and puzzled looks on our faces- look out Paris... here comes more tourists!  

Our apartment turned out to be fantastic!  It was in a great location, 5 minute walk from the Louvre, next door to a bakery, grocery store, restaurants, stores, and anything else we could have needed or wanted.  It was large enough for our family, had enough rooms for us all to have beds, two and a half bathrooms, and everything anyone would want in a home away from home (except wifi).

Our view from the living room

We put all of our things down and went back out to the restaurant next door for dinner.
  

After dinner- we walked a few stores down to the bakery for pastires (this years birthday cake for mom).  While we were in the bakery, Steve went to buy wine to go with their dessert.  

Mom had to get a picture... of the wine.

Happy Birthday!! 

Saturday we woke up early and headed out to the Eiffel Tower.  It was COLD COLD COLD!!!  We (the resident Ver was fine) were not expecting it to be THAT cold.  We waited in line for about 10 minutes before they let us get on the elevator to the 2nd floor.  The view was truly amazing!  We stayed outside looking around for a bit before we headed inside to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and more pastries.

Waiting in line.... FREEZING!!!

We then walked around, took a few more pictures before we headed inside for breakfast (and to thaw out).  

Statue of Liberty

His donut was filled with chocolate... it looked great.

At breakfast:

The hot chocolate- you get to decide how chocolatey you wanted it...

After breakfast, we made a quick stop at the Gap to buy Aydin and Liam warmer jackets before walking towards the Arc de Triomphe.

 

We then started walking back towards the water by all of the stores.
For a small fee... you can rent this car... at 89 euros for 20 minutes.

 They named a store after her... (the store across the street)

The crepe stand... they were delicious.

 Before walking the grounds of the Louvre, we made a stop on the bridge of locks... and added our lock to the fence.

Our lock came with three keys... so our kids each threw them into the river.

After the locks, we walked the gardens of the Lourve and made our way back to the apartment.

We had to stop and get roasted chestnuts

Right outside the walls of the Louvre, we saw a man drawing/coloring Salvador Dali with chalk- truly amazing.

For dinner, we went to Taverne Karlsbrau for a fantastic seafood dinner.

 Escargot- Morgan, Liam and I all tried it for the first time!

That was on moms plate.... it kept him busy for a while.

Welcome to SPAIN!!

Mom is here!!  After 22 hours of traveling, she is finally here!!!  We are going to have so much fun while she is here.... starting with a trip to Paris in 2 days.  

Ecko was so happy to see her!  He sat at/on her feet the whole night.
 

ONE DECADE old!!

Can you believe our little baby boy is 10 years old today!!  Little is no longer a word I can or should use for Aydin anymore...  he is 5 feet 1 inch tall,  95 pounds, wears a size 14 in clothes and a size 8.5 shoe (in adult men).  

It fees like yesterday that he was just a little baby.  At ten years old, Aydin has accomplished so much already.  He has traveled to 7 countries including Canada, Bahamas, Spain, Gibraltar, United Kingdom, Portugal and France.  He is learning a second language, is on a great soccer team where he is playing fantastic and getting noticed by other parents and coaches at the field.

Aydin is a wonderful kid.  He brings so much happiness into our home.  He is is smart, funny, goofy, friendly, caring, sweet, thoughtful, and loves his siblings.  He is one of Morgan's best friends, is always trying to make Liam happy and loves to help wherever he can around the house.  

We are so blessed to have Aydin in our family-   Aydin we love you so much and are so proud of the little man you are becoming.   Happy Birthday!!

Morgan bought him an iTunes gift card with her own money... she was so happy to do it too!

For his birthday- he set his alarm for 6AM so he can open his presents before Steve left for work.... yes my child will wake up early before he has to wait!!

We then made breakfast- fried dough (funnel cake) for breakfast... per his request.  

At school- I brought in cupcakes (Spaniards LOVE American cake... they do not have box cake here and were over the moon excited when I bought some in). 

 In Aydins class- the kids all sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and English.  He then passed out the cupcakes to the classmates and played around a bit.  It was so fun to see Aydin interact with the kids at school, speak Spanish with them and really enjoy himself.

The whole class

Keke

Aydin and Javi

After school- it was raining so soccer got canceled... Aydin was both happy and sad about that.  He really wanted to play but he also wanted to stay home and play his games.  

We then made dinner of his choice- orange chicken, fried shrimp, fried rice and egg rolls.

And finished the night with red velvet cake...

New year, new beginings

As a we begin a new year, we have the opportunity to reflect on the past year and make appropriate changes in our lives to become better individuals, stronger families, and better friends. 

2012 was a great year.  Although the first 7 months of the year Steve was not home due to his commitment to serve the country and being stationed in Afghanistan, we were able to grow closer together and appreciate one another more than we could have ever done had we not been apart for so long. 

The month of January was fantastic.  My mom cam out for the whole month to help me with the kids while I worked at a counseling office for my internship which allowed me to finish my Bachelors degree. After many years of putting my education on hold, I decided to go back to school and was able to finish my degree in a few short years. 

In April Steve took his long awaited R&R.  A whole two weeks home (well... if you can call it that).  We had so many activities packed into those two weeks, I am sure it did not feel like a vacation to him.  The first 5 days, we took the kids on a cruise to the Bahamas.  What a great experience that was. 

We then had that weekend to hang out with great friends before his sister, brother in law and niece came out for the week to play 'parents' while Steve and I went on a trip to the Dominican Republic.  I have to say, that week was amazing!  A much needed break on a beautiful tropical island with no care in the world (other than the fact that Steve was leaving in a few short days for the last 3 months of his deployment).  Upon returning home from a lovely vacation, we had a fantastic farewell dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Steve was so surprised to see that all of our friends came out to see him off once again. To top of a perfect evening, his mom flew in for the night and he could not have been more shocked. 

Once Steve left, we were at it again, busy as ever.  In mid-May, we packed up our house and shipped all of our belongings to Spain.  We were living the gypsy life for a few months and loved it.  We first stayed a few weeks at our friends in Florida (just long enough to let the kids finish school) and then headed to my brother and sister-in-laws in California.  We then headed to my parents house for a month and then back down south for the first ever Hansen Family reunion.  My parents we able to plan a week vacation around the time Steve was going to arrive home and it worked out perfectly.  The kids and I were able to spend the first part of the week at the beach house with my whole family before heading the San Diego to pick up Steve.  We stayed in San Diego for a few weeks; the perfect amount of time to meet up with Steve's uncle Joe and aunt Debbie and with old friends, the Jenkins and Lehmann families.  At the end of July, we packed up once again and boarded the long flight to Jerez, Spain. 

We arrived to Spain July 25th and quickly began the hunt for a place to live.  Within one week, we were moving into the dream Spanish home and settling into our new routine of Spanish life.  We were so blessed to find this house and have the landlords we have.  They are the most wonderful people full of love and happiness.  They have gone out of their way to make us feel comfortable in a new country, help us buy a car, enroll the kids into a fantastic school in town, sign Aydin up for soccer on the local team, and answer any and all questions we had about the area and way of doing things around here as well as try to help us learn the language.

The past 5 months have come and gone (way to quick) and here we are celebrating a new year with new horizons. 

We have all talked about our personal goals and what we would like to accomplish as a family and my list is longer than usual. 

 As a family, we would like to be fluent in Spanish by the end of this year- all of us (I think they will all have me beat). 

The kids would like to be nicer to one another and not fight (we will see how long this will last), Aydin would like to eat better and try to stay away from processed foods and learn how to play the drums, Morgan would like to learn piano (both kids cannot get instruments until their Spanish is better- one rule I made once we got to Spain) and begin riding the horse outside of the arena. 

For me personally, I feel there is so much I would like to improve this year about myself.  I would like to improve personally, educationally, and spiritually.  It would be easier for me to simply say I want to improve in all areas of my life. 

We have been so blessed throughout the past year are so grateful for the life we are able to live.  We are very excited to see what 2013 has to bring (that list is long as well)! Hope you all have a wonderful new year!  Happy 2013.

Family Pictures

This was our first time ever getting professional family pictures and we are very happy with the photos.
My friend Millie has a wonderful talent and we are grateful for her putting up with us (Steve) wanting to bring Ecko along to be in our family photos.

Here are a few of the shots: