Robert, Lois, Kenya, Jasmin and Remi Draper

Better late than later! Remi's birth story

2015-11-01T22:26:00.001-07:00

Remi is a third child and so she has not been forgotten, but maybe things are taking longer to get written down. (So sorry) As a seventh child I always am a little sad that there are not more pictures of me or "things" from my childhood. So I am still attempting to not leave any of my children lacking. So here go the story. It is was quite simple and non eventful.
As soon as Robert and I new the approximate due date of our third child (Nov 4, 2013) I had a feeling she was going to be an October baby. Sure enough she is!
Mom and Amy got to our house on the night of October 28th. I teased that with the other 2 girls they came the very next day after mom arrived and so Remi would be here the next day. I was feeling like it was about time for the baby to come anyway. Sure enough she did come that next day after my mom got there.
I was awoken as usual having to pee sometime before 4:00 and 4:30 AM. I got up and peed and had some dischage and then went back to the bed. As I lay there in bed trying to get comfortable and such I began to have lite pains. Because of my labor and delivers with Kenya and Jasmin I did not really know what a contraction felt like. As I laid there for a while I began to think maybe that is what was happening. As I lay there trying to drift off to sleep again I would be awoken from falling asleep by these pains. So I then began to time them. The pains were coming about every 20 minutes but not lasting very long. They were uncomfortable but nothing what I thought labor pains would be like. I tried to let Robert sleep. After this had been happening a while I woke him up and we lay there for a little while talking about what if I was starting labor or not. He eventually got up and head of to his seminary teaching class. The contractions had slowed and so we knew it was not happening right then. I called Dr Hopkin in the morning and told him. He suggested just waiting to see what happens and then coming in if I felt like I needed to. So when everyone else was up (my mom, Amy, Kenya and Jasmin) we headed to the grocery store. I wanted to have everything in the house for when the baby came. I also thought that walking around might send me in to labor. We went to Fred Meyer and Kenya and Jasmin got to play in the their little play land as we walked around and got what we needed. No more contraction, but I started spotting and have a lot of discharge by the late afternoon. I decided to get my bags and head to get checked at the doctor. This was about 3:30 PM. He told me something has happening and I might just end up heading home just to come back in a few hours. I decided to just check into the hospital and get put on something to speed it up. We left and called Robert who left work and went to get Kenya and Jasmin to come down to Rexburg too. I was checked into the hospital by 5:00 and getting ready to have this baby that night. I had progressed in dilation from the last check until at the doctors and then again another cm by the time Dr Hopkin got there less than an hour later. @ 5:44 my water was broken and then they began to increase the medicine to speed up the contracts. Not much else happened for awhile. Everyone else got to eat dinner and hang out for while. Having Kenya and Jasmin in the room is fun, but boy they (mostly Kenya) sure asked at lot of questions and wanted to talk and be with me. I loved that! But it sure did make it hard to rest at ALL. Then I got an epidural and only Robert was allowed to be in the room. This nurse was strict and abrasive. She did a fine job but was ALL busy and didn't want anyone to talk or be in the room. Strange! When everyone got back in the room we tried to put those girls to sleep on the coach as I rested and waited for the baby to come. Just after 11PM I was dilated to a 10 and they called Dr Hopkin in. Because my epidural had been so recent I could not feel a thing and they had to tell me when to push. Then I could not tell if I was pushing or not and wasn't pushing as hard as I should have been. The doctor asked if he could just help her out and he grabbed (I think it was the vacuum) and helped her out. At 11:31PM out came baby "Pumpkin Face!!!"
She was such an amazing baby. Hardly cried or fused and was so healthy! Just Robert stayed the night. The next morning everyone was up to visit again. Mom and Amy left mid-day and the girls stayed behind with us. Remi had high bilirubin and the dr thought about keeping her another night, but then let us go home and I had to check her the next day at in Idaho Falls. Again we had a hard time naming her. We decided on Remi but didn't knw about a middle name. After a while (shorter than it took us for Jasmin or Kenya) we decided on Remi Alexandria. PERFECT! After we got our dinner and the name finalized that night we headed home as a family of five. I was again release early because of a great labor and delivery and a wonderful doctor! We were home before bedtime for the girls that nigh. (Just barley over 24 hrs in the hospital from check-in to check-out with an extra person, not bad if you ask me!)
Truly an easy uneventful (in the best way) labor and delivery! Quick easy and amazing results!
Remi had no other visitors in the hospital other than what was already mentioned, but more than 20 in her few weeks of life. Friends, Neighbors and MANY that we did not know from the ward we had just moved into 3 months before.
Her bilirubin continued to get higher/ not lower in the first 2-3 days and so she was put on a bili light. She had to sleep on that light and it to a LONG time! I was thinking maybe a day or two, but it was longer than a week. (I don't remember exactly how long.) Poor thing!

Fall 2015

2015-11-01T21:24:00.001-07:00

Here we are again, a year later! Life is sure going fast!
Here are some updates!
Kenya completed kindergarten last year doing "home school." I was a struggle, for both of us! We are doing the same thing for 1st grade as we did last year. It was hard the first month, but the last 2 weeks it has become the easiest it ever has been. Still we have challenges, but we get it done. Kenya is learning so quick and when she focuses and want to learns fast and is so smart! Last year we did 1st math and 1/2 of first grade reading. This year we started her at half way through both first grade math and reading. It seems to be at the right level for her. We did complete 1st grade math last year, but I wanted her to half the second half over again just to make sure she gets a solid foundation. She is breezing through it this year! We have such a smart girl on our hands! Some other update for Kenya is just lost her second front top tooth. We tease her with singing "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and she pretends she hates it and tells us to stop. All together she has lost 5 teeth. Her other front tooth came out about a month ago when her and Jasmin were playing and she had some of Jasmin's skirt in her mouth and Jasmin jumped down (or something I was not in the room when it happened) and it yanked her top tooth loose and 1 of her bottom teeth that was already loose all the way out and then Kenya just went and pulled the top tooth out too. Kenya still loves gymnastics and is doing amazing in them. She has just got her back walk-over and back bend. In May in her recital competition she took 2nd in the all round for her level. She was very proud and we were we. She loves it! She is reading very well and enjoys anything that has to do with playing with others and being social. We love this girl and all the excitement and energy she has! She has such a love for people and EVERYTHING around her. She will bless many people here on earth!
Jasmin is now 4 and is very excited to turn 5 (in July, I know I tell her it is a long time to go)! She loves to dance and preform gymnastics! She also took 2nd in the all round in her level in May at their recital. (Kenya and Jasmin competed in different groups for the first time. Starting in Sept they also started in their own classes for the first time. Both are doing well!) Jasmin picked up riding her bike at the beginning of summer but was scared. One day later in the summer she decided she was ready and off she went. She can ride standing up, with 1 hand and with both legs on one side as tricks. This girl when she puts her mind to it and DECIDES SHE WANTS to do, she will get it done! I have not done anything formal with her for preschool or reading, but just being around Kenya and school here in the home she has taught herself to write her name and has beginning reading skills. Another brilliant one on our hands! She has had a great growth spurt in the last few months and is very tall. She is still her adorable self and is truly a grateful person. Most nights at dinner she tells me, "Thank you mom, this is the best meal ever. Can you fix it every night for the rest of my life?' She sure knows how to make me feel good.   When we do something fun she always remembers to thank us and gives the best hugs and loves to show that she is grateful.
Kenya and Jasmin had a great time in their primary program this year and Kenya was given a solo. (She has had a solo in the program every year that she has been old enough to be in the program. 1st year was "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" over the phone in China, last year she part of the 2nd verse of "The Family Is Of God" and this year part of the first verse of "I Know My Savior Loves Me." Everytime she rocked it and sounded so great! Both of the girls loved having the chance to sing and participate so much that they keep asking if they can do it again. (This is just 1 week ago. )
Remi.... Well she is Remi! She is full of attitude and so amazingly cute we cannot understand just how we have not exploded with cuteness in this house! She has a temper on her, and that can be an understand at time. She came to us this way and I have had to try many new things parenting things on her. When she gets make she just loses it and want to hit/through the nearest thing. When this started there was NO control in her. But as she has grown she does control it much better! I have a "hitter" and that is hard for me to accept. (OK it doesn't really hurt my feelings, but it does make me cringe a little.) She just turned 2 years old 3 days ago and is always trying to do everything just the exact same as her sisters. She thinks she is as big as them and so she should do everything like them! She is not in a gymnastics class but she sure loves it! She has an outfit that she wears when we go to drop the girls off at class and anytime they practice at home. She really thinks she can do it just like them. She makes me spot her in back bends and tries back hand springs but her little arms barely reach above her head to keep her hands off of the floor. She practices the splits and is almost there and does an amazing forward roll. She has been able to do these for quiet some time now too! SO cute to watch! Her speech is amazing just like her sister and her vocabulary is out of this world. My girls have all been blessed with early speech, like 1 year or more ahead of the average. (Which I am grateful for because I can understand what they want.) Remi also like to play babies or with stuffed animals and put them to sleep. She is so fun to watch and listen too. She just recently started to hum and sing parts of the songs to put them to sleep. I love hearing her little voice as she tries to tenderly put them down. She love horses and dog and as I mentioned before ANY her sisters like and are doing. I am blown away with how well she plays and interacts pretend with them at such a young age.
Robert has had a rough year. He quit he job last year and went 6 month without full time stead work. He was working most of that time odd jobs from people we knew and last Dec her started as an early morning package handler at UPS. EARLY when they are in peak season. Then in April or May her started working construction for someone and that dwindled out after only a few months.   So then in Aug he started a different construction job that seems to be going well. So now he is tried from 2 physical job all day. His work usually starts before 5:30 in the morning and does not end until 5;30 or so at night. He started working Saturdays driving in Aug and so he has 6 day work weeks. With all of this physical work he has lost a lot of weight and is very happen about that. His plan as of right now is to try to become a full time driver with UPS and have a career there. He i still the an amazing father to these girls and I know he misses not spending time with them! It hurts him to be gone so much!
Me, well, I have had a busy year as well. I had a horrible time with a miscarriage last year and that was harder on me than I thought it would be and harder than I want to admit. Then in March I started sell Jamberry Nail. (Mostly online Facebook parties where I post information about them and people buy from the website and I earn commissions.) That had proved really well for me and truly blessed our lives and helped us through some of those hard financial times. It is something I do 90% of the time when the kids are asleep in bed and I like that because I am not taking about from being there mom. If life wasn't busy enough with that in Aug I began the same type of thine with Usborne Books & More. It has really burnt me out and so at the new year I am thinking if we are doing well enough still I will give that up. At least for a while so I can rest. I have kept busy with my normal motherly and wifely duties. I truly feel like I don't have time or cannot find a balance in life to get everything done on daily basis. I am learning and just keep trucking along. Don't know if I ever will find that balance, but I will continue to try and just get done what needs to be done in the mean time.
Halloween this year was fun. We went to a party, then trick or treating and hanging out with more friends. Robert dressed as a Bruce Leroy and both Kenya and Jasmin were witches. Remi was a panda and I was the witches black cat. We had fun!
We have been able to visit Montana quite a few times this year. Once we were able to stay in a lake house that was like a mansion. So nice and wonderful. We stayed with my mom, Kira, Chris and his family (Christine and Mikhail). It was a ton of fun! In the spring we met Pascal Su and his family in Montana and went to Glacier National Park.   Robert and I were able to go on horse back through part of the park and that was amazing! We went up a few other times to visit for various reason and it was nice to be up there so often. When we went often times we would stay in Missoula at a hotel with a couple water-slides to break up the trip and have fun. We also got to stay a week in a hotel in Boise when Robert as doing driver training for UPS. AGAIN! We loved it and had a blast!
Today we did our tradition of watching "Polar Express" and having hot chocolate and popcorn to break in the holidays. We all cherish these moments and traditions so much! I am excited to get the Spirit of Christmas going in this house. We are going to have a great time this year!

We will just start from here.

2014-10-23T21:40:00.001-06:00

So I am not going to try to play catch up with a lot of details.
Poor Remi... She is truly a third child. I have not written much about her on the blog and/or kept a good journal on her. I AM going to do better. Remi is full blown walking! It was at about 10 1/2 months that she really started walking everywhere and by 11 months she was a pro. She kind of has 4 teeth, meaning her 2 bottom front teeth came in awhile ago and her 2 top front teeth are peeking out. She had an adorable 3 toothed grim for a little while. She talks a little too. Dada, daddy, all done, kitty, Kenya and Jasmin (or her version of them), mama, stop and she says different words all the time but then doesn't use them again. She is hopping right along on her speech. Remi is definitely my most impatient baby. She tells me that she wants it NOW the first time she tells me something. It has been that way since birth. She loves to play and especially with her sisters. Truly all of these girls love each other so much it is just fun to be around them.
Jasmin is growing up and loves to play! Her and Kenya love to play "Mom, Kid" and "Baby" and really anything pretend. Jasmin does a great job playing by herself if everyone else is busy or whatever. She makes us laugh all the time.
Kenya is 5 years old and is kindergarten this year. We opted to do "home-school" with her because that is what the Lord told us to do. It really is an online school so she is registered in a public school and they send me the curriculum and then I teach it to her. We are trying to figure this out together. It think it would have been so much easier on me and her if we would have just put her in a tradition public school, but then again knowing what that the Lord told me not too, maybe it would not be easier. Kenya was reading well before the school year started and is excelling in all of her subjects (1st grade math, second semester kindergarten reading, handwriting, science and social studies . She sure is smart. It is hard for her focus at home when Jasmin gets to play as she does school and a million other things going on at home. Some days are way better than others, but we make it work.
We are still in Idaho Falls and finally kind of feel this is where we may be for an extended period of time. We like it here a lot.
We did a lot of playing this summer that included trips to Utah, Oregon, and camping a few times. We bought a "family size" car this summer. A suburban and we love it. We sure can pack a lot of stuff in that thing.
Kenya and Jasmin are both still in gymnastics and love it! They have been impressed their teacher and she has mentioned they work hard and really seem to shine. Last spring at their recitals they each got a 1st place medal. Kenya on balance beam and Jamsin on the bars. It is so fun to watch them grow and learn new things. Speaking of new things this Sept they also started a ballet class. They both love it too! Watching the joy on their faces when they are having fun beats just about anything else in the world.
Kenya has been asked to sing a solo in her primary program this Sunday. She says she is nervous for it, but I think she is also very excited about chance to do it.
Life here is good! You will hear from me again soon. Remi will be 1 in just a couple of days and I cannot not post about it.

It's been a long time, but we're still here!

2014-10-23T20:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry we haven't updated the blog in such a long time. My laptop is the older of the two and it often takes a really long time to post or do anything and Lois has been keeping people posted on things via Facebook and so the blog went to the back burner. It also doesn't help that, to us, our lives have seemed normal and that there's nothing really to post. However, that is not quite true! There have been tons of things, changes taking place in with the Draper family in Idaho.

Here it is, now fall time and we're finally posting something. Halloween is approaching and we are all so excited! Today we'll begin watching General Conference!! We are so happy that our girls get giddy and excited when we tell them a week in advance that General Conference will be next weekend and we need to prepare! This time they literally dance and giggled and ran around with joy that General Conference was on it's way! I hope this is something that will stick with them forever. It is so important and Lois and I have done and are still doing whatever we can to help them understand that.

Some updates: Remi is walking and has been since she turned 10 months old! She holds conversations with us, oft times in baby jibberish, but the tones, voice fluctuations and mimic patterns are legit!

Remi is Nearly 5 months old.

2014-03-24T21:14:00.001-06:00

On the 29th of this month, in just a few days, Remi will be 5 months old. WOW!
Remi is by far our happiest baby. She loves to laugh and smile at just about anything. It doesn't take much and she breaks out into a huge grin that lights up the room and anyone who can see it. She loves her sister which is kind of a amazing because Jasmin smothers her any chance she gets. Kenya is a great help but often things she can do whatever I do with the baby including carrying her around and bring her downstairs to me because she started crying. That was scary! And yes, of course she has her daddy (and mommy) wrapped around her little finger.
At her 4 month check up she was in the 25% (13lbs) for her weight and 75% (25.5in) for height. Looks like we have "skinny mini" babies.
She already gives 5, kisses and is working hard on sitting up. She loves to chew and play with toys now too. We are pretty sure she response to when you say hi to her by saying "hi" back.
She spits up what seems like just about everything the eats after every feeding. She has done this since she was a just a couple of weeks old. She is healthy and growing so we are not worried. We just smell like baby most of the time.
She is fought over at church in our ward at who gets to hold her during the meetings. She is a wonderful baby! We love our Remi and cannot imagine life without her. We thank your father in heaven daily for our wonderful little girls!

The rest of us are enjoying the weather changing to warmer weather by riding bikes and play outside. Kenya has been riding her "big" bike since last fall and is doing great at it. She is also doing amazing at reading. She is not to fond of reading by herself yet, but I think that will come. She still LOVES me to read her books but when I try to get her to read any book other than her "reading book" she does not want to.
Jasmin's favorite saying since Remi came along is "I am big enough." She thinks that because Remi is the baby now she is big enough for everything. She will not let me call her baby anymore at all.
Kenya and Jasmin have been in a gymnastics class since Sept and both are learning so much. They are both excelling in it as well. I have really enjoyed watching them learn and grow. I feel like they are also learning valuable skills like listening to a teacher and are having a fun time with other kids. I will have to post about Kenya's 5th birthday party at a later time. We had a blast!

Almost 3 months

2014-01-25T22:01:00.001-07:00

Remi is almost 3 months old and that means a lot has happened that needs updating.
She has a gorgeous smile that she is not afraid to show off. She loves to giggle and has for quite some time.
She has never really been a baby to like to be held laying down. She likes to sit and stand so that she can see what is going on. She is now rolling for her tummy to her back and very recently from her back to her tummy. (Life only gets harder from here with baby # 3 on the move I am assuming.)
She is super strong. She pulls away from you when she is sitting in her arms. She goes from sitting to standing while you hold under her arms all by herself.
Remi likes to play peek-a-boo. She still sleeps a lot and that makes my life easier.
Really she is a great baby.

Her sister are still obsessed with her and love her more than they can express in hugging, swishing and mauling her.
Maybe some more updates like on Christmas and the fun excitement we had this year after I kick this strep thing. Man, it is kicking my trash!!

A Well Deserved Update.

2013-12-19T22:40:00.002-07:00

Last Tuesday (Dec 10) Remi had her 6 week checkup. Here are the stats. 8lbs 11oz and 21 and 3/4 inches. She is growing well and gaining weight. Here is a super short recap of the first 6 weeks of her life.

Just before we left the hospital.


Daddy and his girls! They are all so happy!

In the hospital Remi had a low temperature. It was just low enough that the nurses were concerned and watched her a little more carefully. A couple of time the had me hold her with skin to skin contact to try and warm her and it worked well. Dr Hopkin came to the hospital the next day and discharged us to go home before the 24 hour observation was over. While the nurses were doing their baby check out the observed that Remi had become quite jaundice because her bilirubin number had spiked from where it was before. They almost made her stay another night just to watch it but the Dr said I could go home as long as got her checked the next day. So that is what we did. I went in to get her checked for the next 2 days and it continued to climb. So then on day 3 Dr Hopkin ordered a biliblanket for her. And we continued to check her number for the next 2 days. After that we did not have to check anymore, but she stayed on it. She was on her biliblanket for 6 days. I thought that was quite a while for a baby. At one point as Amy put it Remi was "neon yellow." She was very yellow and quite lethargic for most of those days. She has fully recovered although it took a long time fore the yellow in her eyes to clear up. Within the first week the Dr office called and told us that Remi tested positive for a sickle cell trait. This will not really affect her until she ready to have kids and then only affects her children if her husband had the trait or the disease himself. Nothing to worry about there, but in talking with the nurse it could be a factor in her jaundice sticking around for so long.

Remi with her second umbilical cord. That is what I called it because she could not go anywhere without it.

Just a cute picture of her the first week of her life.

After her jaundice cleared up we got some newborn pictures done and few for Christmas cards. They turned out great! Pictures at the end of the post.

Jasmina was a lion and Kenya was a spooky black cat. Thanks Aunt Amy for making their costumes and doing their makeup.

For Halloween we dressed her up in a pumpkin costume because the girls (Kenya and Jasmin) had nicknamed her "Pumpkin Face" before she was born. She stayed at home and handed out treats with Grandma and Aunt Amy while the rest of us went out trick-or-treating. We had a nice Halloween and it wasn't too cold. It was cold, but not too cold this year.

The cutest lion you have ever seen.

Spooky!

Pumpkin Face

(Jasmin still tells people when they look at Remi, "Her name is Pumpkin face and her name is Remi". It is the cutest thing in the world!

I was a Dr/nurse and Robert was MJ

Robert's boss at work as the "white" MJ.

Thanksgiving this year was small in number for us. Just our family of 5 here. It turned out great and we enjoyed each others company.

One day when she was about 2 weeks old Robert and I went to the temple. When we were finished we took the girls back to visit the visitors center. They love going there to feel the spirit of the temple.

Kenya loves to hold Remi and does a great job. She often hold her long enough for me to get a few things done.

This was Veteran's Day. Robert and Kenya played outside almost the whole day in the leaves and Jasmin joined them quite a few times too. It was a beautiful day and we all had so much fun!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to a thing here where they have Santa come and visit and fireworks to kick off the Christmas season. It was COLD, but a lot of fun.

Our Christmas tree before any of the other decorations were up. Yes, we have a fireplace this year!

Kenya loves to play in the snow!! She will stay out as long as she is allowed to. Jasmin likes it, but does not handle the cold as well as Kenya. I don't blame her. We went through 2 weeks where the temp might not even reach zero some days. It was cold!

Here are the girls at a ceremony to honor the Veterans that we went to last Saturday, Dec 14. They didn't really care too much for it, but we explained what we were doing and that it was important.

Robert got lights up on our house. He finished them and we were able to turn them on Sunday Dec 15. My first house with lights outside on the house and we all love it!

Here is the tree with the rest of the Christmas decorations up.

Remi has been quite a good baby and sleeps plenty. She has slept almost through the night since birth. While on her biliblanket I would wake her almost ever 2-3 hours because they told me the blanket could dehydrate them. Once she was off of the blanket I let her sleep. She now only wakes up maybe once a night to nurse and the again at about 6 AM. What a wonderful blessing! She is smiling now and has been for about 2 weeks. I always love it when they start to smile at you. It makes taking care of them a little more rewarding. Those pictures to come and hopefully sooner rather than later. She has even began to laugh in just the last couple of days. We are truly blessed to have Remi as our 3rd child. She is the prefect addition to our family.

Quick update on Kenya. She is learning to read and doing very well at it! She is smart! We put both girls in a gymnastics class in Sept. It is once a week and within a month Kenya had learned how to do a cartwheel and has continued to excel in her learning. I am moving her up to a more advanced class starting in Jan. She love both of her little sister and does a great job taking care of them Kenya and Jasmin are best of friends.
And to Jasmin. She is doing well in gymnastics too! She is amazing at forward rolls and is excelling too. Ever since Remi was born she has told us "I'm big enough." No matter what we are talking about she is always big enough now. She is truly growing up too. Just in the last couple of weeks I have been seeing the transformation form toddler to preschooler and I am not sure I like it. I want her to stay little. She wants to hold Remi all the time, but she is still a little too small. (Don't tell her I said that because she will be sure to tell me she is "big enough.")
We are so happy with our little/bigger family. Robert and I find joy in our family everyday.

I am sure there are things that I meant to had to want to post, but we are just trying to catch up with the bare minimums and then stay caught up. So hopefully more to come and more often again.

Welcome Remi Alexandria Draper to the World!

2013-10-30T22:10:00.000-06:00

Here are the stats: Remi Draper was born October 29, 2013 @ 11:31pm, weighing in at 7lbs 4oz, measuring 20 1/2 in long, with a head of 13 1/4 in circumference and a chest width of 12 3/4 in wide. She, like her sisters before her has a full head of black hair, dark brown eyes, and according to Kenya "She's vanilla not carmel" as far as skin color goes!

Kenya really took to her new baby sister even though she was convinced before Lois was even pregnant that the next baby would be a boy.

I posted these pics post haste but there's still some more stuff to come!

It's the great Pumpkin Face!

2013-10-30T14:30:00.000-06:00

So for about a month now Kenya has been determined that we name the baby "Pumpkin Face". We tell her that it's ok to have as a nickname, but we need a real name for the baby. Apparently, she's been getting tips for naming children from soulless celebrity parents such as Ted Nugent and one of his children named Moon Unit or Kanye West's child North West. That ain't gonna fly here! The name has yet to be determined, but it could be record timing for us considering there's only one that seems to come to our minds and that's Remi. A solid decision is on it's way.

Welcome to mortality little one!

The labor and delivery in Kenya's own, sleep deprived words.

LABOR HAS BEGUN!

2013-10-29T23:20:00.000-06:00

My apologies to those expecting a live, play-by-play update of Lois's labor. It has proven quite difficult to make any progress in posting due not being able to connect to the Internet, frequent interruptions and 2 adorable little girls that are trying to prevent Mommy from getting rest! (It is so cute how excited they are.) Jasmin was so excited while Lois got her epidural that she pooped her pants! Ok, I wish that was the real reason why she pooped her pants, but she was just so tired she couldn't hold it and she was out on a walk with Kenya and Granny while Lois got the epidural.

The Run Down
So Lois says her contractions began yesterday morning sometime, but didn't really start to pick up until late afternoon. Then this morning at about 5am went to the bathroom and came back and asked me the time. We proceeded to try to go back to sleep and then she asked the time again almost 20 minutes later (felt like 3). I couldn't figure out why she would ask me so soon after I already told her. She then told me that she was timing her contractions and that there was a little bloody discharge when she went to the bathroom, we basically didn't go back to sleep. Lois took a shower and I just laid in bed til my alarm to get up for class went off, trying to see whether or not we'd be carpooling to the hospital or if I would just go to class.

After we decided that I'd just go to class as usual and she would call the doctor when the office opened after 9am. She later called me around 10am, right after class, to let me know the doctor's office said she could come in if she wanted to be checked.

Fearing a wasted trip Lois decided to sleep on it and see how she felt after a nap. By this time I was at work anxiously waiting to know if anything had changed. She eventually called to let me know she would be going with her sister Amy to the doctor's office and would update me after she found out what the dealio!

She went to Dr. Hopkin's and found out she had progressed in dilation from a 2 1/2-3 to 3 1/2 - 4. From there she instructed me to go home and get the girls and Granny and head to the hospital. I left work at about 4:40pm and followed orders.

By the time we got to the hospital Lois had progressed to a 5 1/2. The rest of us went and got dinner and of course after we left the doctor came and broke her water @ 5:44pm. We got our food from the amazing hospital cafeteria and went back to Lois's room and ate and waited.

I recorded a video saying that I was not going to make a recording on an empty stomach and that I wouldn't until I finished my famous, traditional, delicious Dan's Heart Attack burger... if I survived it! The video wouldn't upload.

Anyway, I finished and survived Dan's Heart Attack and not much happened. Our awesome nurse Lyndsey has done well to speed up the process as quickly and safely as possible!

Just a heads up, the posts this time around will be a little different in delivery. I started recording with our digital camera, but decided it may take too long to use so I'm gonna try to cut out the middle man and use a laptop. This was Lois's idea, but I decided to make things a little more interesting this way. (wink, wink. nudge, nudge)

Pregnancy Update Continued.

2013-09-19T21:14:00.001-06:00

When we got back to the US I did not want to start with a Dr in Montana where we were staying with my mom and then have to switch to a Dr in Idaho. The last time I saw a Dr in China was at 16 weeks. When we got to Idaho Falls and got settled a bit I tried looking around for a Dr here in Idaho Falls and it was just not working out with them. So needless to say I am going to the same Dr in Rexburg that I had with both Kenya and Jasmin. We like him a lot anyway! So the my first appointment with him was I think at week 25. We had an ultrasound and everything seems great. At the ultrasound we had still not decided if we wanted to know the gender of the baby. I really did not care and so I made Robert make the decision. At the end of the ultrasound he told the Dr to go ahead and look. This is the answer we got, "Well, it looks like it is a girl, but if you have a baby shower or buy anything keep the receipt." So we took that as he really could not tell and mostly that he just did not see anything that looked like a boy. Maybe he knew that we were unsure about finding out and so he really didn't care to take a better look. So we are just saying we really don't know what it is going to be. I was getting nervous because I was not feeling the baby as frequent or as consistent as I did with the other girls. So that ultrasound really put me at lease. And of course you would know it that within a week after that the baby would not stop moving for anything. I have had regular check ups now with Dr Hopkin in Rexburg and a good smooth pregnancy. Today I am 33weeks and 4 days and at my appointment everything is going good.
Here are my other all thought about this pregnancy so far.
Each pregnancy I have had has gotten a little bit more like a real pregnancy. With Kenya nothing in my life changed! Really not even my clothes size. It was wonderful and I am so greatful! With Jasmin, I was a lot more tired in the first and last trimester than with Kenya. Still I really did not feel pregnant, or what others talked about what being pregnant was like. I had to wear maternity clothes but still no complications and an easy life. Again, I am greatful for that! With this baby I have felt "pregnant." I was tired at first of course and still am. I am having real pregnancy troubles. Meaning that I have a hard time bending over sometime, I have strange aches and pains, if I lift something heavy I can feel it in my belly, I definitely had to start wearing maternity clothes, and there have been a few days where I over did it and then I paid for it for the next couple of days. I am not complaining, just keep a record of my own pregnancy for the future. I still consider myself extremely blessed with how easy things are for me!! I contribute the increase of symptoms to my age. Not that I am old, but as my body gets older it feels the strain or pregnancy more. But I truly thank my Heavenly Father almost daily for the blessing of health and strength through pregnancy and always. And here is to praying for just as easy as delivery and labor as the first 2.

Our all American weekend.

2013-09-13T23:06:00.000-06:00

Last weekend (Sept 6-7) we went and camped around Island Park and had a blast. Our church hosted it and Friday night we had a chili cook off and a cookie bake off. Dinner was yummy and we all had a great time. While we were there there was a cow and calf moose hanging around the campground. The girls and I got to see them quite well. They walked right out into a clearing and we just stood and watched. I was of course aware that the momma could be very dangerous because of her calf, but she seemed very comfortable so we just keep our distance and observed. Kenya just loved been able to see something like that. Both of the girls are animal lovers, but then again so are Robert and I.

Kenya eating her S'more.

Jasmin playing half asleep because it was way past her bedtime!

We slept uncomfortably on the ground in our tent. The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and then Robert and the girls got wet in the cold Buffalo Creek at the campground.

It was beautiful to be in the trees and wilderness!

It was cold!

Robert just coming out of the water.

Then home we went. For a late lunch we went out to a pizza buffet. Then Saturday evening we went to a minor league baseball game in Idaho Falls. I had won 2 tickets on facebook and so we just had to pay $5 for Kenya to get in. While we were there the girls loved watching the Chukars mascot dance and have fun. At one point the mascot went and hid and the first person to find him won a prize. Robert and the girls found him and won a $10 gas card. So really we made $5 going to the game. It was fun spending time as a family with truly American activities to end our summer!

Catch up.

2013-09-13T22:00:00.001-06:00

So, here is the story of this pregnancy so far with.
I found out I was pregnant in March because of the usual symptoms; I was tired and my cycle was late. I took the test myself one day and then I wanted a fun way to tell my family. So for Family Home Evening that night I put together these poems.

Robert's
-->

Things have always been a little uneven

They soon will become more unbalanced

There will be a chance to bring some balance

Or maybe that chance for balance will tip the scale

Kenya's

-->

A brother or sister what will it be

In mommy’s belly you will see

Jasmin's

-->

B-A-B-Y we will play

So of course I told Robert's his and then gave him some time to think about it. I think he figured it out or the right answer at least had crossed his mind. Then I read Kenya hers and the Jasmin hers. It was fun and everyone got really excited about the new baby coming.

A few weeks later I started to "spot" and I was not too worried because I know this can happen. It lasted for longer than 2 weeks though. I had heard of an American doctor in Wuhan who worked out of a Chinese hospital and I wanted to make an appointment because of the "spotting" was going on for long. I was starting to get worried. We went into the first appointment and whole cow it took forever! I first met with the doctor (normal) then she wanted a urine and blood tests (normal) and an ultrasound. So I went and did the test. The way the system works there is the Dr orders things then you go and pay for what was order and then you go all over the hospital to different areas getting our orders filled. You have to wait for your results and then delivery them back to the Dr yourself. So off we went with no English speaking person. I got the urine and blood samples done just fine. Then went to the ultrasound. Apparently I needed to have a full bladder to have the ultrasound and so they made me drink a bunch of water. Then into the ultrasound I went. They tole me that I none of the family could come into the ultrasound, but Kenya was a little upset at this and so the nurses just let her go in. As they were preforming the ultrasound all they said in English and Chinese was "No." What did this mean? So I did not know if they were telling me that their was no baby that there was no, what.... So we walked the ultrasound paper back to the Dr and so said that they could not see anything because my bladder was not full enough. A little relief came. So they order a different way to ultrasound and I had to go back and pay for the difference of the ultrasound and then back to wait in line again for my turn in the ultrasound room. Then I took the results back to the Dr. Confirmed live baby 8 weeks old. There was about 1 hour of just waiting to see what the ultrasound was going to bring. She then calculated the conception date and the due date of the baby. (This baby was made in Germany! We have 3 babies all made on different continent of the world. When Robert and I were looking into adoption we thought it would be fun to have all of children from different parts of the world. Well, it seems this may be the case anyway.) Due date Novemeber 3, 2013. After our 3 hours in the hospital and 30 minute taxi ride to this specific hospital we treated ourselves to a Hawaiian/American restaurant that was not far from there. It was so yummy and we made our way back there a few more time before we left Wuhan. Then we had our long taxi ride home. As long and drawn out as this may sound we were not surprised in the least bit about how long it took and such, that is just the way things are in China. They take forever!!

So I went back to this Dr a couple of more times before returning to the States. Our visits were much of the same, longer than they should have been and just a lot of waiting. Everything with the baby seemed fine and we were good to go.

More to be update at a later time.

Photo Book

2013-08-28T17:18:00.001-06:00

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A Visit From The Draper Side of the Family.

2013-08-24T21:15:00.000-06:00

Sometime at the beginning of last week Robert's mom called us and asked if they could come visit. We said of course! It was nice to have a house big enough to have space to have guests whenever they want to come. So then on Saturday last week Grandpa and Grandma Draper and Great-Grandma Williams and Muffin, GG Williams dog came to visit for a few days.
It was great having them here. We did not really do anything exciting, but we had family time so the girls could play with their grandparents.
They came in late Saturday night and Sunday was a usual Sunday, church, naps, and then family time. On Monday evening we went to the Idaho Falls Temple Visit Center to view the new art exhibit that portrayed so much of our beliefs. It was beautiful and I think all enjoyed it. I know that our girls liked the painting and asked questions about it. After viewing the inside of the visitors center we let them go outside on the temple grounds and walk around. The girls LOVE to go to the temple. We try to take them to the temple grounds often to let them feel of the spirit there so they can recognize that this is one of the most sacred and special places to be. At such a young age they both already know it makes them feel wonderful and they long to be there. I hear several times a week form them that they want to go to the temple. Kenya often asks about going inside and can't wait to be 12 so that she can go inside the temple. Children truly can recognize truth and feel the love of our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ!
On Tuesday we went to the zoo. We got to look at the animals and enjoyed the cooler morning. It was fun to see the girls get so excited about all the animals because they love animals. Their attention span was not quite the same as the adults on the trip so we saw many of the animals several time while Grandma and Grandpa Draper were able to take their time looking at the animals.
The girls enjoyed dancing and putting on a show for them one day and enjoyed playing with them the other days. One of the main attractions the girls enjoyed was Muffin. Those girls love dogs and Great-Grandma was wonderful and let them pull Muffin around on a leash and man-handle her even if Muffin didn't like it.
Wednesday morning they packed up and left first thing in the morning. Thank you so much for coming!

Baby # 3 on the way.

2013-08-03T21:25:00.000-06:00

I guess I have never officially announced on our blog that we are expecting our 3rd baby on November 3, 2013 (or sometime around there). So right now I am almost 27 weeks along and doing fine. It looks like it is about time that I reopen the poll for voting because we again do not know the sex of the baby. Kenya has said since before I got pregnant that she wants a brother and this is her brother in my belly.
I went to an American Dr. at a Chinese hospital 3 times while in Wuhan and well to say the least all of my experience there were Chinese. That is to say that to get a prenatal check-up it was at least 3 hours each time. I had an ultra sound at 8 weeks that confirmed pregnancy and that was a fiasco. I will have to sit down and right out the story up until now for my pregnancy at a different time. I am exhausted this evening about cleaning and still putting things away at our new house.
I did announce it on facebook on April Fool's Day, but never on the blog. So, there you go. My baby is now officially in the blog world.

PS We found an amazing and huge house on the west side of Idaho Falls and so far we are loving it!

Back in Southeast Idaho agian.

2013-07-10T09:00:00.001-06:00

So we drove all day on Sunday back to Idaho Falls. Robert started work on Monday. I have been house/apt hunting for over a month now and still have not found what is right. We have found plenty of places, but nothing that seems to fit right and nothing that the Lord has told us to get yet. I know he will provide the right place for us, I just wish I knew when and where! It is really hard to get things done without an address like, get a drivers license, car insurance, registered a car, etc.
Hopefully soon, I will have pictures of a new place that we will be living in.
We are so greatful to be a family with a job and no home rather than the other way around, that is having a home (place to live) and not job!

Just to get things going again!

2013-06-26T21:36:00.000-06:00

Tonight Kenya and Jasmin rode the neighbors horse bare back holding onto nothing but the mane. Kenya loved it! Jasmin was a little scared but tried it twice for a short ride. I place Jasmin right in front of Kenya. It was such a cute site. I was I had a camera with me then to take a picture.
Kenya also fell off of the horse. That makes it the second time in her life falling off a horse. Neither fall seemed to bother her much after just a few minutes.

Right now we are in Libby, MT at my mom's house taking a little vacation after returning from China on June 11th. Robert will start work at the same job he had before in Idaho Falls on the 8th of July. We are excited for next week when more of my family will be coming to visit for the 4th of July. Then off to Idaho we go. Finding a place to live is challenging this time. We have looked into buying a house instead of renting because it could be cheaper, but it just must not be the right time for us to buy. So, here is praying that we find a place to live soon! Let me know if you have an suggestions for places around the Idaho Falls area.

Thank you, Lois!

2013-02-23T21:24:00.003-07:00

I want everyone to know that Lois is phenomenal! We counted our European vacation as our 14-year dating anniversary. Granted it was her turn, per tradition, to plan what we’d do to celebrate she planned and searched and researched the whole trip by her self! Yes, she asked me for my opinion on things from time to time, but ultimately she got all the tickets and everything taken care of, making this anniversary one to remember forever. I don’t know how I’m ever going to top this. I would totally hire her as a travel agent too! We paid the lowest prices we could for traveling with children and in the most comfortable way too. Even better, she followed promptings from the Holy Ghost to purchase tickets, hotel rooms, restaurants and so on! Obviously, that’s not all that makes her the greatestest, (extra e-s-t was intentional) woman ever, but I wanted to give Lois the credit she deserves!

This is what forever families are all about!! We went to Europe with the main focus of our trip being to serve in the temple. Heavenly Father blessed us so much that we were able to go to the temple 3 times and one time we got to go together because there was someone willing and someone we could trust to watch our kids! The girls may be a little young to remember any of this in the future, but I tried to take lots of pics and vids to capture as much as I could so that they realized that because we first sought the kingdom of God that we were blessed with an amazing trip and we did it all as a family.

I love you for time and all eternity, Lois! Thanks for some of the best memories I’ll ever have and for making this a very special anniversary.

Venice, Italy

2013-02-20T00:19:00.002-07:00

At the last minute we decided to go to Venice for the day before our flight. Really it didn't work out to well, but was well worth it. We wanted to leave in the morning first thing but our girls were way too tired and Marzia had a Dr apt mid morning and would not be able to get us to the train station. So then we were headed for a 12:50 trastain but did not make it in time. So we ended up on a 1:50 train and got here about 3:30. We then looked around for the B&B that we had looked into that morning and walked about at least 45 minutes. Then were were blessed and saw a travel agency and went in to book a hotel. We got all the info we needed to get around from the travel agent. We changed location and found a hotel close to the airport because our flight leaves tomorrow morning. So we finally got to our hotel dropped stuff off and then headed by bus to Venice at about 5pm. So much for a day in Venice. But it was well worth it. We simply went and walked around. We marveled again at the building and art. We ate an expensive ok tasting Italian dinner and walked some more. Venice was by far our favorite PLACE in Italy even if were were only there for 3 hours. However of course being with our friends was the most fun.

One of our first views of Venice.

Of course there were many shops selling Venetian masks.

Yeah, here, no cars. Water is the way of transportation.

Kenya neat the water. Both of the girls loved that the city was in the water!

We actually only saw one private gondola on the water and there were 3 Asian men inside it.

Kenya really wanted to take pictures here.

On our first water bus. Yes, they have boats that work as buses in Venice. NICE!

Jasmin and I enjoying the boat ride and looking with awe at this city!

These masks were more fancy and of course more expensive. They were pretty awesome!

At dinner in Venice, Italy. I cannot believe we were actually there.

We walked around and took the water buses around. Most of our pictures of are before the sun went down. We did make it to San Marco square.

We got back to our wonderful hotel about 9:30 and our girls are fast asleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We fly home to Wuhan, China via Paris. I hope all goes well. I am sure it will. These girls have been such troopers. All we ask is one more day.

Bologna, Italy

2013-02-19T23:58:00.003-07:00

On Monday we went int Bologna with Cristiano, our friend whom we were staying with. He was headed there for work and so we got free ride there. We spend all day there and returned to his home in the evening with him. Again we were just amazed at being in the presents of so many beautiful things and old things!! We walked day Independence Ave which is a lot of shopping and then to the big square and tourist building and such. We went into 3 churches and saw a lot of wonderful building and art. We were there on Monday and all of the museums are closed on Mondays, bummer, but would the girls really enjoy those.

This was a bridge that we crossed over to start our journey in Bologna.

This is what was below the bridge. Unfortunately there was not information about. We assumed it was the really old bridge.

More art. Jasmin is really into horses right now for of course we got a picture by it.

This was attached to the bridge we crossed. I sure wish I knew what it was. I would have loved to know the history.

This was an entrance to some offices with a beautiful courtyard in the middle.

This picture is of where the first university was in Bologna. I learned information about what this place was by listening into an English tour group going through.

Many of the churches we saw through out of trip were Catholic churches of course because of the Roman Empire and influence. The art work was wonderful!

St. Dominic Church

Apparently somewhere in the church there as a Michelangelo statue. Nothing was labeled or at least not in English.

One of the many offering alters.

Yummy! This is where we bought a snack.

Doesn't this scream Italian!!

The last tourist site we saw was the "Former Jewish Ghetto." This was my one piece of WWII history that I got glimpse of. It is still very much a ghetto. I think this was the only museum in all of Bologna that was open. We got to go in. The museum was more of an overall Jewish history museum, but it did include a small amount of the WWII history. Interesting. As we were walking the streets I was able to ponder that this very spot is where the Nazi's (and others I learned) confined the Jews. If I had more time and was not trying to appease 2 small children I could have gotten overwhelmed by the feels I felt as I thought about it. What horror there must of have been on those very streets. What horrible crimes against humanity must have been committed. I know that the Italian did not follow all of the orders from the Nazi Party about Jews during the war so I am sure much worse happened else where, but I cannot imagine what went on in those streets and the feeling the Jews at that time must have felt.

This is a picture of the tribute to the Jew from this area that died in the Holocaust.

Afterward we did a little shopping and had the BEST Italian meal. It was the Italian food that people rave about. (Really until this point we were wondering what all the rave was about!)

That night we went back to our friends house and I then cooked hamburgers and fried chicken for their oldest son's birthday party. There was also so very yummy homemade Italian food. We partied hard late into the night (like 11:00pm, but that is late for children who are use to going to bed at about 8:00pm).

Reno Centese, Italy

2013-02-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have friends in Italy to stay with. We actually met these friends randomly in Wuhan, China. They lived in the same giant apartment complex as we do. We met them actually after we had only been in Wuhan for a couple of weeks. We then began close friends. It is wonderful and our children play together. They have 3 children and are expecting their 4th with a month. Really we love them!! We really just wanted to hang out with them and see a little of Italy. And that is just what we did. For the first few days we ate at some restaurants and ran errands with them. It was nice for the girls to have children to play with and just relax. The first week we just went site seeing and really the girls didn't have a lot of time to just play. They fed us good Italian food and we enjoyed excellent company.
Italy is not the most friendly place we have been. Really. There is not explanations of their building or site seeing places and I don't mean in English. The Italian are clueless as to the history and details of things because they are just not posted anywhere. That was frustrating for me. I wanted to know how old things were what they were used for and so on. Germany was wonderful for that!!
On Saturday we went into Ferrara and say an Italian castle. It had a mote and everything! We were able to walk around and experience the culture. We only spent a few hours there at sunset so the picture are scares and not very good.

This is one of the churches in Ferrara.

We had to get a picture of a pizza place. This is very common to see.

Beautiful Italian streets of Ferrara

A Church in Ferrar

All the kids and me.

Wonderful art on every building!

Approaching the castle as dusk.

The Estes Castle.


This castle even still has a moat around it. COOL!

A cool looking torch as we entered in the square of the castle grounds.

This castle is famous for the Estes Cannon and we think these must be some of the cannon balls. They were all over the grounds.

Here we are again posing on the cannon balls.

Jasmin conquered the stack.

We think this is a replica of one of the cannons.

So then on Sunday Marzia's very traditional Italian momma made tortellini. From scratch. She made the pasta, rolled it out, cut it and then stuffed it with an amazing filling of cheese and meat which she made from scratch. She TRIED to teach us. It is hard!

Next to me is Marzia's mom and in the background our friends Marzia and Cristiano.

This is some beef that we treated ourselves too. Yummy tender beef. We do not see much of it in China.

We had a wonderful time with our friends! We ate at a few local restaurants with them and the children PLAYED a lot! Every night we were there we were up past 10:00pm having fun. One thing that we learned about Italian is that they eat late. It took our girls a couple days to adjust. I mean they don't eat dinner until sometime after 8:00pm. We usually eat around 5:30 and are going to bed at 8. We had to do a lot of snacking.

Valentines Day.

2013-02-19T18:33:00.001-07:00

Auf wiedersehen, Deutschland-Buon Giorno, Italia-

So you wouldn't think that my Valentines Day was great. We had to leave Fussen and the magical views of castles and the Alps. We traveled for over 12 hours on 1 bus and 6 trains with 2 children. Whew!
But.....
Really it was an amazing Valentines Day! We traveled through the Alps of Germany and Austria, and saw many vineyards in Italy. The Alps were snow covered and awe striking!! The vineyards were endless, of course they were just brown because of the winter, but there were a lot of them!! I got to spend the entire day observing the wonder and beauty which God created! Really there is nothing I can say to do justice to what we saw! So I will saw the best I can. Here are some of the 100's of pictures we took that day.

We not only got to enjoy this travel but we were on our way to see our friends that live in Reno Centese, Italy. That is in northern Italy between Ferrara and Bologna if you are curious. If you still don't have a clue it is near Venice and Florence too; within 2 hours by train. We left the hotel at 9:20 in the morning and arrived at our friends house at 10:30 at night. (and yes they are in the same time zone.)

This was the beginning of Italy. We had to get a picture of this and wonder...is this what they drive in a high speed chase? No one will ever take Italian police seriously if that is their standard issue squad car. Why not drive a VW Bus or something. Yeah, not a good indicator for us to know we had crossed into Italy!

Then at one of the stops in Verona we realized they travel in packs!

Who knew that Italy had castles too? These aren't the only ones we'd see either.

Castle 3: Neuschwanstein (say what?)

2013-02-17T20:10:00.001-07:00

BE WARNED: IT'S KIND OF A LONG POST...we had to use the access to the blog as much as possible before returning to China :)

So it's the big day! The day Kenya has been looking forward to. Prior to coming to Europe she had been watching a Disney cartoon called Sofia the First. It's about a little girl who started out as poor, village girl and then became a princess through her mom's marriage or something along those lines. Anyway, we showed Kenya pictures of the Neuschwanstein Castle and she thought it looked similar to the one in the cartoon. So she had been wanting to go visit Sofia's castle. Our tour time was at noon so we wanted to eat breakfast get the girls a nap and ride in a horse-drawn carriage up to the castle. The estimated time for the ride was 1 hour. The girls had seen and heard the horses since Monday morning and wanted to ride in the carriages all the time.

Also it began snowing on Tuesday morning and didn't stop! It was so amazing though. It totally added to the magical feeling of this place. They also did a decent job keeping the snow at a level where people could comfortably walk in it.

So once we had our breakfast we were able put Jasmin down for a nap, but unfortunately not Kenya. She was still acting pretty good and she was very excited so we thought maybe she'll do alright. And this time we put more layers on her so she wouldn't get cold and such.
We set out for the carriages. We got there before the crowd and asked the driver how much it cost and he said it was 6 Euros per person on the way up--they are cheaper coming down. He tried to charge us for Kenya even though she was young enough to be free. Most people think she's 5 or 6 years old. We told the guy to forget it and we chose to walk instead. So began our ascent to the Castle.


Here's an idea of how steep the climb was. It wasn't all that bad except for the snow, which was kinda like sand I took a short break to stretch and take some pictures and Lois and the girls pressed on because we were told that it would take 55 minutes walking and we were on a tight schedule for our tour. I carried Jasmin on my shoulders most of the way and Kenya walked a good portion, but her mood and enthusiasm deteriorated as we got closer and closer. We made some good time because it took us only 20-25 minutes to get to the following view point! These are pics from a suspended platform for viewing and photos. There was a water fall down there. Here's a view of the valley going toward Fussen. A little foggy that day, but simply amazing. I mentioned before that it was snowing and we took some pictures of the snowflakes because they weren’t melting very fast at all. The girls storming the castle! The following were just inside the main gate of the castle in the waiting area for the tour. These are the last few pics I could while in the castle because of course, once inside, photos and videos weren’t allowed. The castle was absolutely amazing. We only toured a third of the castle and there was so much to see and learn about! The castle wasn’t even completed on the count of the King that was having it built died/was possibly murdered before the completion. King Ludwig II was the one who was having his castle built and he sure knew what he wanted. He had a hallway built to resemble the inside of a cave—stalactites and stalagmites and all!! I later found out the he had an even bigger space resembling a cave under ground that needed a boat to access it and he would only allow special guests there! These pics were after the tour, on our way back down stairs. Photos were allowed then. The castle was absolutely amazing. We only toured a third of the castle and there was so much to see and learn about! The castle wasn’t even completed on the count of the King that was having it built died/was possibly murdered before the completion. King Ludwig II was the one who was having his castle built and he sure knew what he wanted. He had a hallway built to resemble the inside of a cave—stalactites and stalagmites and all!! I later found out the he had an even bigger space resembling a cave under ground that needed a boat to access it and he would only allow special guests there! The following are pics after the tour We ended up riding in a carriage on the way down, but not without one driver saying he would charge us 30 Euros for us all to sit up front. Thankfully another man let Kenya, whom we really wanted to ride up front, sit next to him...free of charge. (I can't say I was jealous of her view!) After the castle we had a light lunch tasting schnitzel for the first time. It was pretty good and not what I expected. We also had a few sausages. We went and took naps and went to the Museum of Bavarian Kings for an hour before dinner. It was very informative and interesting we didn't get many photos because we had to try to listen to the audio tour thing and keep an eye on the girls who were tired and getting hungry again. I did take a pic of Alpsee Lake from the museum window. The book behind Jasmin is huge! She could lay on it and only have her hair and feet hanging over! Once back at the hotel we had our final 3-course dinner! Lois noticed the napkins were folded like little crowns Jasmin giving Daddy the stink eye! Yeah, it's salmon and potatoes and it was delicious! A "special" dessert from the chef for each of the girls. The ice cream was the best part Dessert was what was served for Lois and I, but it wasn't the best. They are balls of cheese that just weren't dessert worthy. However, the plums underneath were out of this world delicious! We asked for some of the yummy ice cream to go with the plums and as we thought...OUTSTANDING! We went to bed stuffed and tired! The next morning we had our normal breakfast and we waited outside for the taxi and took a few pics of what we thought would be the last time we'd see the Alps. Here's one. I took one more pic of Neuschwanstein as a good-bye and thus ended the German portion of our European trip.

Castle 2?: Into Fuessen

2013-02-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

A "mistical" fog settled in over night and early the following morning I took this pic of the castle we would see on Wednesday.

On Tuesday we didn't have anything scheduled as far as castle or museum tours so we decided we wanted to see more of the actual town/city of Fuessen. We had to catch a bus that would take us to the train station where we came in to town. On the way to the hotel on our arrival night we saw a tourist map that had some potential for visiting if we had the time. However, our main goal that day was to get some lunch and groceries for lunch for the remainder of our stay because lunch wasn't included in the package deal we got and it was pretty spendy. A lady at the front desk told us that there was a McDonald's in town and it had a play palace. We still aren't fond of McDonald's but the play palace sounded fun for the girls. So we chose to go there for lunch and then see what we could of the town and try to get back to our hotel in time for our next 3 course dinner and have a family movie night.

We went to the bus stop in our little village and hang out for over 30 minutes. So I took some more pics of the mysterious castle in the fog, but I will just show one of them.

During our 10 minute bus ride we saw the following:

A castle/monastery in the town

We eventually saw a sign that said there was a historical square in town. So of course we are going to want to check that out!
So we get off the bus and follow signs that made us think McDonald's was nearby and walk for over half a mile in the snow, while it's snowing with 4 four hungry people and two toddlers that don't want to walk anymore and one of which is cold and cranky because she was in need of a nap again (Kenya) We finally get there and the bloody play palace is an out door one and was most likely closed for the season! What a let down! To top it of we ate there and would have gotten some delicious new flavors of Mcflurries and got the shaft because their machine was broken. They couldn't serve any ice cream at all. We had to settle for hot chocolate, which was pretty good but not what we wanted since it was probably close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit inside! Also, Kenya loves ketchup so I asked for another packet for her and it cost 30 euro cents which is 40 cents U.S. With all of this I am once again reminded that there's opposition in all things! Our trip was amazing so far so we needed a little something thrown in to make us appreciate it even more...or something like that....uh...yeah.

After lunch we walked our expensive meal off and cruised through the historic portion of the town. We didn't find the castle/monastery, but we found a ton of unopened shops and cool looking buildings. We think that, like in China, there must have been some kind of 2 hour break in the day for lunch and stuff because almost everything was closed.

Sorry couldn't flip the pics

Jasmin and Daddy conquered the hill!

Lois saw this old man and had to take a pic because he seemed like the vintage German guy you expect to see everywhere in Germany.

Since were in town we thought it convenient to got get our train tickets for Italy so we ended our brief walk about and hit up the train station. However, we were again met with disappointment because that too was closed without any explanation. We were going to have to wait a long time for our bust to come but was blessed to share a taxi with an Australian woman headed to the same place. It was kinda cute to see her reaction to seeing the castles from the taxi like the night we arrived because it was almost just like a child's reaction. She was giddy and kept saying it was like a fairy land and a fairy tale! She was a flight attendant and she was the only one from her crew who chose to go see the castles. (We eventually saw her in the tour next day and she was still like a kid in a candy store!)

We went back to the hotel and had another 3 course dinner and went to the room, watched a family movie and crashed in preparation for the other castle tour and a trip to the Museum of Bavarian Kings.