Sintra

While we were in Portugal we rented a car and a GPS...The car was tiny! We are use to our nice mini van and they Audi Wagon was very scrunched with 2 adults, 3 three kids, 4 suitcases, a baby backpack, and a stroller! Lets just say we filled every INCH of the car!! But we survived! This is a picture of our car! Oh yeah everyone we met thought we had a Large car!! It was very hard to manuver this car in the parking garages in Lisbon! (sorry it is side ways??)

We took our car and our GPS and spent a day in SINTRA! We used our GPS to guide us to the Palace De Pena. Instead we ended up at some old, run down, practically abandoned church with no one around but a scary man carrying a big bag of something into the church! Well Kevin parked on the other side of the church and then decided to go see if he could get some help to find out how to get to the Palace De Penna. So we waited in the car, and waited and no Kevin!! I started to panic!! So I drove the car around to the front of the church! NO Kevin! Then I really PANICKED!! I thought the scary man probably got him!! I had my kids scared too! I thought what I am going to do in this foreign country to get help! We stated praying and praying! Just as we were finishing Kevin came out of the church! Alive!! We were so relived!! He had been inside talking to the caretakers of the church! A "hippie couple" that lived in this old church, on a hill, with no one around!! Well the woman was giving him directions and drawing him a map! The adventure was just beginning!!

They told us we could leave our car there and take a walk (short cut) to the Palace! Luckily I could decipher the woman's map! Kev was taking pictures along the way so we could find our way back! It was and adventurous walk through a beautiful forest, as you can see above! We only made a wrong turn twice!! When we arrived at the Palace De Penna there was a major traffic jam! Cars had parked on the narrow road and the buses couldn't fit to get by! So in the end our little jaunt through the forest paid off! This is the fairy tale Palace we were searching for...

and the amazing view from inside! It was gorgeous. We could see the ocean and an amazing view of the valley of Sintra. Then we headed to the Castle of the Moors, walls built in the 8th century! We hiked and hiked all over the walls. Enjoying the view and the beauty of these walls built thousands of years ago. The only thing that remains inside the fortress is the Keep (remains of the chapel) It was very romantic and a bit exhilarating as we walked these thin, steep walls!




This is a view of the castle walls from Sintra!



It was a beautiful, adventure we feel blessed to have had!

Dallon Turns 12!!

Today my "little" Dallon turned 12!! Dallon is such a GREAT Kid!! He is very smart in school, athletic, funny, hard working and very, very helpful to his mother!! Happy Birthday Dallon.

Dallon is good big brother to his two little sisters! They adore him and look up to him so much!

Dallon is always so positive about everything and is such a good friend to everyone!!

Dallon enjoyed the food on our trip. He loved trying new things. Here he is eating a "fish canoe". It was so yummy made from the fresh fish in Portugal.

Dallon enjoyed our trip so much. He was a great help!! We all love you!

12 is such a special birthday because you receive the Priesthood! You will be a great Deacon!

Happy Birthday Dallon!!!

Lisbon, Portugal

What an amazing city! I have always wanted to visit because I have listened to Kevin's stories! It was beautiful--just like he described it! I am so thankful we were able to go there! They have large Plazas or squares with huge statues all over the city. But there are also very narrow, cobble stone streets. Some are so narrow you can only walk down them.

We rode the trolley in this picture up the very steep hill. Because of the way the trolley is made you stay level the whole time. From the top you can look down on the beautiful view of the city.This is a view of the city with St. Georges Castle on the mountain above.

We have very few pictures of all of us together! Here were are in front of the Triumphal Arch!!

The Cristo Rei Statue that looks over the entire city of Lisbon, on the south side of the Tagus River.

The view of the beautiful bridge with the weird name--The April 25 Bridge! It looks a lot like the the Golden Gate Bridge! Kevin with the Monument of the Discoveries and the bridge in the back ground. Kev loved being back in Portugal. He was so excited to show us everything and share his love for the city and the people. He remembered his Portuguese so GOOD, even though he hasn't been back since he finished his mission 17 years ago!! Everywhere we went people complimented him on how good his Portuguese was!! I felt so safe because he knew the language!
This is the Tower of Belem (English Translation--The Bethlehem Tower) It was in a very beautiful, upscale area of Portugal. The mission home is in this area and we were able to visit it.


Lisbon, Portugal is so beautiful, romantic, historic, friendly and full of life! I can't wait to go back!! Travel has expanded my mind so much!! I have 2 more posts that I want to share from our trip!

More of London

Day two: We fought the crowds and the heat to see the "Changing of the Guard" The Queen was in residence on this day as well but of course we didn't get to see her! We missed getting to go into the Palace by a few days...It is only open to the public in August and September!




Dallon, JaNae, Mylee and Ally---red faced and all. We did not see any rain the whole time we were in England!!


Then we were off to Westminster Abbey. Very amazing!!

Next we rode one of the famous tour buses to Kensingtion Palace! There was a gorgeous display of dresses wore by Princess Diana!

Then we walked and walked and walked (and did I mention walking) through Hyde Park back into the main part of town. It is a huge, beautiful park with millions of people just enjoying the sun!!

At the end of the Day we headed to Trafalgar Square and ate dinner at Piccadilly Circus!!Our last day we took JaNae to the Kings Cross Train Station so she could catch a train to return to Northern England to spend another day with Grandma and Grandpa. We were able to see a few Harry Potter sights and....

Do a little shopping at the worlds largest toy store Hamleys! My kids were in heaven of course!

Then we headed to the busiest airport in the World to board a plane for our week in Portugal!!

I am really trying to just hit the major points, we took over a 1,000 pictures!! I must say our trip to Europe was more amazing and fun then I could have even dreamed. Because we were traveling with 3 kids, everyone was very kind to us. I kind of felt like royalty or maybe Brad and Angelina!! But seriously every where we went they let us go to the front of the line and at the airports they took us to the front of all the lines and through a special security section for children!! Most of the sights we visited had family rates for entrance fees!! After our trip I think America needs to become more FAMILY friendly!!!! Well soon I will be telling you all about Portugal!!

More from England...

Sorry I hope you didn't

in my posting!!

Well after we visited Grandma and Grandpa we headed to London!!

Windsor Castle was our first stop!! We went there on the recommendation of some friends in our ward. We are so glad we did. It was beautiful! The Queen was in residence!! We wish we could have seen her, or her son, or even grandsons!!!

We did see the changing of the guards and many more great things there!

Then we were off to the heart of the city! Dallon and Ally were a little nervous about their first ride on the Underground!!

But soon got the hang of it and realized how fast we could get around the busy city!!We spent the first full day in London sight seeing... Tower Bridge....

Tower of London, where we saw the Crown Jewels, King Henry the VII's be heading tool, and the spot where two of them happened, some Knights armor and we even received our own be heading!!

Kind of funny Huh??
This is St Paul's Cathedral...We had no idea what we were in for when we went inside!! It was a beautiful cathedral with amazing acoustics inside. It was where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married. They don't let you take pictures inside a lot of the buildings and churches. They asked us if we wanted to make the ascent to the Whispering Gallery. It was a breathtaking view of the church below. Then a lady said you better go hurry to the Stone Gallery it is going to close soon. We thought we were going to be inside! This is what we saw at the topan amazing view of London....

The plaza below andAbout 500 people crammed into the smallest space! The rails around wouldn't have held Mylee in! I was freaking out because all Mylee wanted to do was get down and go find her bottle! Crazy me I left it in the stroller 259 steps below us!! There was no order to the masses of people, I just had to push my way around to the door and leave with a screaming baby. Luckily Kevin got some good view pictures!!We took a boat ride on the River Thames from the London Bridge to the Houses of Parliament and Big BenNext we hopped on the London Eye to get the best view of the City. It was amazing and we thought the kids would really enjoy it. Well, Dallon and Mylee thought it was fun by Ally our worry wart just knew we were going to die or the ride was going to break and our little pod would roll off into the river!!A lot of the "Pods" were full of people but when we got in ours only about 5 other people got in! We could walk all around and see the great views of the city below!!

The view from the London Eye with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in the back ground.

And that was only our first day in London!!

15 years!!!

Happy Anniversary Babe!! I love you! Thanks for making marriage so fun and exciting! We always said we wanted go to Portugal for our 15th and we made it!!!! -- but who knew we would take our three kids with us!! Here is a picture our kids took of us in Portugal!

I want to go back BEFORE our 20th and maybe leave the kids home this time!!

Thanks for 15 wonderful years!

(The pictures from the rest of our trip are coming soon -- I promise)