Van Essen Adventures

Bumps and Bruises

Sorry I don't have a picture - but getting a close up shot of ones forehead just doesn't always turn out. But Silas does have a nice bruise/bump on his forehead. He was sitting nicely on the rug - with a pillow behind him just in case he would decide to topple over. He's gotten really good at sitting lately - so not always do I have a pillow around him anymore. But there was one behind him today...however he was reaching nicely for a toy in front of him - lost his balance and bang - forehead to the tile. Not a pretty sound - thud. (So much for the pillow behind him) And then the cries - oh how he cried - I felt SOOOO bad for him. I'm not a fan of these hard tile floors here...nor is he obviously. So he has a little purple egg on his forehead. He is a boy - and I know he is bound to get more bumps and bruises as he grows up, learns to crawl, climb, walk and eventually play/wrestle with his siblings (and/or dad). Oh the joys of boys...or little girls like Shaylee too - as she seems to find her share as well.

Sleep Sweet Sleep

I believe we have finally found sleep! Everyone seems to be back on track - it took a bit....but no more 1am icecream socials here!

Odd hours

Just another jetlag update. We are finding sleep - just at odd times. Shaylee fell asleep at the supper table tonight. I finally let her off her chair before she fell off. She immediately fell asleep on the couch. I tried waking her up a bit later - but she was out. So I put her up to bed. Hoping she would sleep through - but she didn't. She was awake at 1 am - asking for breakfast! Jer was up too - so he got her something to eat - since he was again eating cake and icecream....what else is there to do at 1am! Syd put herself to bed early - but fortunately she slept through. We can't really do anything about the jetlag but get through it.

Update on the Jetlag

Well our sleep free day on Sunday DID NOT help the jetlag! It did however make for a very crabby family. Here is the scoop...Shane did sleep through - and he had to attend school this morning - so I guess that was good. Shaylee woke up around 1am - and had a time getting back to sleep. She basically wandered around the house for a few hours. Syd also woke up - but went back to bed without too many issues. Jeremy was awake from 12:20 to 5:11...just in time to finally fall asleep before he needed to wake up and go to work! Needless to say he wasn't very happy! We have made it through today without naps again (except Silas...but his sleeping situation is another whole story in itself!!!)....so hopefully tonight we may find our long lost sleep! NEWS FLASH - I mentioned just seconds ago we made it through without naps today - and Shane comes downstairs and tells me both the girls are sleeping and are out cold - snoring! So off to wake them up!!!!! And we will keep you posted...

Speyer

Today (Sunday, Jan 6, 2008) we headed to Speyer in the afternoon. Mostly just to get out of the house since we were suffering from jetlag (see previous post). Upon entering Speyer we were amazed by the amount of people there - and were wondering what special event was going on. We found a parking spot and then walked toward the cathedral.

Kimber and kids with the Kaiserdom Cathedral in the background.

Swimming through the SEA of people!

Apparently people were just out enjoying the nice weather - and the final day of the Speyer Christmas Market. All the shops along Maximilian Strasse were open as well and with reduced prices - so most people were shopping...which is usually unheard of on a Sunday (most everything is usually closed on Sunday).

The first time we visited Speyer it was this fall and at night - so we enjoyed being there during daylight this time. We took in a few more churches as well. It is so neat to see the differences in the architecture of each church - depending on when it was built etc....(I'm sure the kids think so too!!!!)

This one is a Gothic style Protestant church. A statue of Martin Luther is in the entry. Several of the stained glass windows also portray Luther.

JETLAG

We have returned to Germany - and are now suffering from JETLAG! Friday we crashed in the afternoon - all taking naps. We went to bed a bit later thinking we'd all be okay - however that wasn't the case. At 2 am Silas finally decided to go to sleep and I declared myself off duty - so Jer was awake with Shaylee and Sydney for a few early hours. Then Saturday we slept in and then tried to stay awak all day. But Shaylee crashed in the chair about 5pm and Silas too was caught napping out of schedule on the living room floor.

Shaylee was then awake from 10pm until 3am....I was up with her for awhile (along with Silas) - but once again declared myself off duty and Jer was awake anyway - so he went downstairs with Shaylee, and Syd and Shane joined him....I found out this morning (8am) that the 4 of them enjoyed cake and icecream at 3 in the morning!! I wasn't too upset - as I at last had found some sleep. So today (Sunday) we got up and headed to church. Then we declared it a sleep free day - as we all wanted to stay awake so we'd be tired enough to all sleep all night (we have yet to see if this will work). After church and dinner we went for a family bike ride in the cool fresh air. Silas fell asleep in the carrier - and Shaylee was just about to - but we woke her up. We then decided to head to Speyer (just to once again be outside and walking and doing things instead of indoors wanting to be napping). On the way Shaylee again tried to fall asleep - but we kept waking her up....(mean parents aren't we). We didn't even let her ride in the stroller because we wanted her to walk and stay awake. At one point I did put her in the stroller - but immediately she was dozing off - so out she came again - no sleep for you girl! On the way home from Speyer we were playing the radio VERY LOUD, and kept the interior lights on and kept yelling at the kids to WAKE UP - no one was going to fall asleep! Once home we ate some supper and it seemed like the kids had gotten their second wind. We played a game (Create-It) with Legos. Now we are counting down until we all can crawl into our beds and hopefully SLEEP. I will let you know Monday morning if our sleep free Sunday really worked!

Fun in the SNOW!

Sydney and Shaylee in the snow!

Shane attempting to make a snow angel - or just roll around.

Going down the sledding hill on a garbage bag -

The cabin in the winter -

Sydney sledding

Snowmobiling on the lake!

Daddy with Syd and Silas (cabin in the background)

Silas and Shane in the snow.

Cousins!

The kids enjoyed being back in the States for Christmas. They had a great time with their cousins.

Sawyer, Shane, Syd, and Shaylee (Silas was sleeping so missed the picture).

Sydney, Jaclyn, Shaylee, and Samantha showing off their light-up necklaces.

Silas and cousin Noah hanging out (kids at this age don't really play together).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From the VAN ESSENS!

Cologne

On Saturday we headed to Koln (Cologne). It was a 2 hour drive - but we left early to insure we didn't run into traffic problems. When we arrived we found a parking garage and walked to the Cathedral. When we arrived there were just a few other people wandering about.

We went into the cathedral - WOW! The ceilings are SOOOO tall - it was amazing - (sorry I don't have a picture of the inside - you just couldn't capture it). I'm not sure how they built these cathedrals and churches and castles. This cathedral was started in 1248...however the cathedral went unfinished for centuries. Finally in 1842 building work resumed. After 632 years the cathedral was finally completed. Some of the stained glass windows in the cathedral date back to the 1300's. The cathedral amazingly survived WWII with only minor damage.

When we came out of the cathedral (about an hour later) there were people EVERYWHERE! It was like a sea of people. The Christmas Markets were about to open, and the main train station is also right next to the cathedral - so just people, people, people.

Here we are on a bridge over the Rhine River. The Cologne Cathedral and church Gross St. Martin are in the background.

In front of the Cologne Gothic Cathedral. It is so tall, Jer couldn't get us as well as the entire cathedral on the picture.

Christmas market with the cathedral in the background.

Gross St. Martin church. This church was almost completely distroyed during WWII. Inside they showed before, during, and after pictures. Its pretty amazing how they restored the old buildings back to their former glory after the war.

Family Pictures

We headed into Heidelberg on Saturday to try and get a family picture for our Christmas card. We took the tripod and took some photos with the automatic timer - I'd say they turned out quite well....

The castle in the background is the famous Heidelberg Schloss.

We then walked to the Christmas Markets were are held in the old city right under the castle. We got a bite to eat, did some shopping and just walked around. It was a bit crowded, but that is how it is this time of year with the Christmas Markets... Earlier this week we went at night - the kids watched people ice skating - and really wanted to go- so we plan to go back again sometime this coming week to let them try out skating.

Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW!

On our way home from France - we took a scenic drive through part of the Black Forest. It just happened to have snowed the night before - and it was absolutely GORGEOUS - with the snow hanging on all the trees. It was definately a highlight for Jer! We stopped along the road and took some quick photos - here is one of the 2 of us. Unfortunately the kids didn't get to play in the snow - because they were all SLEEPING.

A beautiful drive...

Let's go to FRANCE!

We wanted to do something a bit different one Saturday - so we decided to head to Strasbourg, France. This town is right on the boarder with Germany.

These two pictures are of the Cathedral. They do not do it justice - as this cathedral use to be the tallest building in the world back in the 1890's.

It was a very neat place - It was fun to walk the streets and look around. We've decided that with 4 kids - we do a lot of walking and looking - because going INTO a museum or the like - is just a bit overwhelming - Luckily in Europe there is plenty to see from the outside!