...And duo makes four » Europe Trip

A few quick videos

esther — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:15:37 +0000

Here are the videos we promised- we didn’t take as many pictures and videos as we would have liked, partly because I got pretty sick the last week of our trip, but we did manage to catch some fun moments on camera. We’re hoping to post some funny movies of Hazel’s latest shenanigans this weekend if we can catch her doing her comedy acts on video this week- Stay tuned!

First up- Hazel’s first taste of chocolate…

Kinder Egg from esther benoit on Vimeo.

Followed by a quick trip downtown after a long day traveling…

Utrecht downtown from esther benoit on Vimeo.

The conference was held in a building right across from the Dom Tower (you can see the Dom in this clip)

More downtown Utrecht from esther benoit on Vimeo.

Hazel also had her first icecream cone in Hindeloopen… she loved it!

Ice Cream! from esther benoit on Vimeo.

She also loved standing on the dyke, watching the sheep and playing in the grass

Hazel standing on the dyke in Hindeloopen from esther benoit on Vimeo.

And, of course, a girl has to stay stylishly coiffed…

Hazel does her hair from esther benoit on Vimeo.

Part Zwei

esther — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:18:34 +0000

The second week of our trip was spent in Germany. From Hindeloopen we headed north just a bit more to Siegelsum in Northern Germany to visit my mom’s cousin and her family. We stayed at their home for two days before heading down to Oma’s for the rest of our trip. While we were in Siegelsum Hazel got to meet their dairy cows and enjoy their very large yard- she wore herself out every single day.

While we were in Germany we made a few day trips to places we had lived before. One day we drove to Bad Kreuznach, a town where Jered and his family lived when he was younger. We decided to take pictures in front of all of our old houses with Hazel. First up, Jered’s house in Bad Kreuznach:

My old house in Sandhausen:

And Jered’s house in NeuLussheim (Hazel was thrilled about this one!)

We took Hazel to all of our old hangouts in downtown Heidelberg (we weren’t allowed on base, so we couldn’t take her to those).

Ok, I caught Jered doing his model face there, here’s a more natural look…

We couldn’t do Heidelberg without a trip to Gino’s- the infamous gyros/kebap stand.

In case you were wondering…

This is a shot of the church where we had our baccalaureate for High School.

And this is the castle where we went to prom (twice!)

Amazingly, we got one photo of the three of us during this trip- I’ll end with that photo and a promise of some video updates later.

We’re Baaaaack!

esther — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:06:45 +0000

After two weeks away we’re back home in Virginia- we had an amazing time in The Netherlands and Germany with Hazel. This is going to be a picture-heavy post so brace yourselves for a long one! We began our trip in Utrecht and enjoyed getting to know the city. It is a University town and is full of history and things to see. After Utrecht we headed north to Hindeloopen, a small fishing village that we’ve visited a few times before.

We consumed a lot of fish. Delicious, fresh, fried fish. And pommes (french fries). Hazel loved it!

There were lots of little canals to cross in Hindeloopen.

And sheep that hung out on the dykes. Hazel really really loved the sheep. Baaaaaa.

We stayed in a great little apartment that had a fully equipped kitchen- this kitchen included a sink brush that Hazel loved to use to style her hair.

She had to do her hair a lot because we kept making her wear her sunhat.

Just in case you were wondering, Hazel is “thiiiiiiiiiis” big now.

She’s getting tall because she eats so much grass.

She got a new shoe on our trip too…

And that was just The Netherlands!
Germany is up next (for more photos visit: our flickr site)

Quick Update

esther — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:24:28 +0000

We are in the Netherlands and have adjusted to the time change. Hazel is enjoying saying Hoi Hoi to all of the locals and we are having a blast. Turns out strollers don’t work so well on cobblestone so we’ve been doing a lot of babywearing (thank goodness for the Moby!). Tomorrow we leave for Hindeloopen where our vacation really begins. I am presenting in half an hour and after that is over I’ll feel like I can really relax!

Just thought I’d send a quick update while we have access to free internet. Cute pictures coming soon (maybe in two weeks)