Emily's 15th Birthday Interview, Birthday Dinner and Birthday Party

What is your favorite T.V. series?
Sherlock and Doctor Who.

What is your favorite book?
Ink Heart by Cornelia Funk

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A writer.

What kind of books do you want to write?
anything and everything

Describe what would be a perfect day to you.
A day spent with my friends doing something fun.

What is your favorite food?
Asian food

What is your favorite dessert?
any kind of pie

Where would you like to go on a vacation?
Australia

What is your favorite memory from last year?
Visiting my friend Sarita in Mexico.

What is your goal for this next year?
write more books

What is your favorite sport?
Soccer

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Blue

What is your favorite thing about living in Frankfurt?
being in Europe

What is your favorite story from the Book of Mormon?
the Sons of Mosiah

(Thanks to my friend Melissa for being so creative and sharing the idea of birthday interviews with me :o)

A tradition in our family is to let the birthday person choose what they would like for dinner.  This year Emily chose Yakisoba, broccoli with green beans and peas, and fruit salad.

Yakisoba is a dish Jay learned to make on his mission in Japan.  It has soba noodles, cabbage, and fried pork with nice Asian sauces and seasonings (yum:o).

And now....for the birthday party!!!! (and cake)  Yeah!!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Emily's request)

The Three Amigos

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!!!

Emily turned 15 today!!!

Thank you for the nice gifts you sent her :o)

  

Camping Aftermath

Today as I was walking around the house I realized it looked like a disaster zone.  We just returned from camping a couple days ago.  Normally Jay would set-up the tent outside to clean it and then leave it to dry in the sun but, he couldn't set anything outside because it was raining!  I guess we brought the rain with us from Normandy.

Needless to say, we had to lay stuff out around the house.  Have a look....

Brussels, Belgium

This is a continuation of our great Spring Break adventure.  We packed up our tent and belongings (yes it was raining) from the Boy Scout Jamboree then headed to Brussels for yet more fun and adventure.  It took us about 3 hours to drive there from Normandy.

The hotel we stayed at was right behind the king's palace!  (My apologies in advance for not taking pictures of the beautiful palace.)

We spent Sunday evening and Monday morning exploring what we could see and find in Brussels.  

Here are some photos of what we saw in Brussels.  (By the way, Jay's dad served a mission in Belgium so we spent some time pondering about whether we were seeing things he had seen when he was a missionary there :o)

On our way to explore Brussels.

Brussels has beautiful gardens in the city.  They even have carpets of flowers....so beautiful!  (Of course the carpets are outside ;o)

Statue of Queen Elizabeth.

Authentic Belgium waffels!

Most authentic of all...strawberries and cream - yum!

Waffels with cream and caramel...ooh, yum!

Standing in the middle of the Grand Plaza.

Happy to be in Brussels Grand Plaza.

The Grand Plaza 

more Grand Plaza...

Ivan touching the spire.

planking in Brussels :o)

Grand Plaza

Exploring the streets in Brussels.

Sherlock has a pub in Brussels...who knew?

Neuhaus...the best chocolate around.  The only thing missing from this picture is the lovely smell of the fresh chocolate. 

Look closely behind Jay and Ivan and you will see the famous Mannekin Pis fountain.  This little statue is to Brussels what Michael Angelo's statue of David is to Italy.  There is a standing tradition that all dignitaries do for this statue when they visit Brussels.  If you'd like to know what that is, Google it :o)

Ahh...we are eating Belguim fries!  If it isn't a Belgium waffle, it has got to be a Belgium fry.  This is good eating and they have about 20 dipping sauces to choose from.  Wow!

An amazing cathedral on the way back to our car.

They have more cathedrals and churches in Brussels than you can shake a stick at!  This is taken from the car on our way to the Atomium.  What's that you say?  You'll see it soon enough.

The amazing Atomium!  Yes, it is a sculpture of a unit cell iron crystal.  This very sculpture was created for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels.

I can't resist a beautiful garden.  This is opposite the Atomium.

Jay, Emily and Ivan went inside the Atomium.  I waited and rested in the car - I know, I'm a party pooper.

views looking out from inside the Atomium...

traveling inside the Atomium...

This wraps up our 5 day spring break adventure.  We arrived safe and sound back to our little apartment in Frankfurt at about 11:00 pm.  So glad to be back home (I'm such a home body!).