Christmas Eve and Morn.

On Christmas Eve we had a fun shig dig up in Farmington with the Bachman side of the fam. We had a delicious ham dinner and ate to our heart's content. Then we opened presents and socialized as always. We always have fun watching the cousins crazily running around the house causing mischief. Some highlights were meeting Bryson's awesome girlfriend Destiny, having a heart attack the several times Peyton knocked over the heavy wood chair on the floor, convincing one kid that it was OK to share his present and the other kid that we need to let the first kid have some time to play with his present by his self for a while and oohing and aahing at the glorious calendar Kimi made for Diane once again. All in all another fun evening with the Bachman clan

So Christmas clearly isn't all about the presents, but c'mon...when you've got three little boys it pretty much is. Zekie very consistently claimed that all he wanted for Christmas was candy and Thomas toys. Luckily an awesome friend from the ward hooked me up with a great deal on all of her son's old Thomas toys he didn't play with anymore. They were a BIG hit and Zekie and the other boys played with them for hours and hours. I even asked Isaac was his favorite toy was for Christmas and he said "Zekie's trains!"

Isaac's is always looking to modify things just a little to make them better. For example dunking chicken nuggets into juice, rearranging the gymnastic toys in his class, and clearly wedging PlayFoam onto his screwdriver to create a whirling swirling foam helicopter. The possibilities are endless.

Caleb now officially owns his very own car. Plasma car that is. Really we just call it the Wiggle car and wiggle it does. The best part is I can even ride it and we have thoroughly enjoyed zooming around the kitchen together. You can't really tell from this picture but Caleb is very good at making the ride a thrilling experience was a very passionate...Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmm!

The Salt Mine

While we were in Austria we stopped by the Salt Mine. It was fun to get all dressed up in our mining jumpsuit and go down into the depths of the earth to learn about the whole salt mining process.

These clearly are pictures of pictures because I was feeling too cheap to buy them. I snapped them just in time before the lady selling them started yelling loud scary things in German at me. Stupid American tourist. They had these awesome wood slides that the miners used to quickly go down into the mine. They were easily the best part of the tour. It was funny because all the other groups slid quietly down them but we of course couldn't help ourselves from hooting and hollaring!

The fun little train ride into the mine. Good thing we we're all friends, with the coziness of it all. Another highlight of the mine excursion was floating across the boat along the top of the salt water as we saw a wicked lazer light show on the ceiling. Definitely reccomend it.

Austria ~ Eagle’s Nest

After our travels in Italy we decided to spend a few days in Austria and Germany.  The highway from Venice to Saltsburg was filled with the most picturesque, lush, rolling hills, white-washed villages, and grazing milk cows.  Not to mention several of the longest and craziest tunnels I’ve ever been through.  Our first stop in Austria was the Eagle’s Nest.  It was a present given to Hitler for his 50th birthday and is a home perched atop a mountain.  Turns out Hitler was actually afraid of heights so he only visited a few times.  We loved the amazing views and climbing along the jagged trail. We we literally up in the clouds and the hawks were lazily circling the sky.

 

 

Venice

We arrived in Venice just after sunset and of course had to take a romantic ride on a gondola.  Our gondolier was quite a character and came from 3, maybe more generations of gondiering fathers.  He told us about the history of Venice including how the “Black Water” protected the city against any and all intruders.  Also how the people did not try to stop the Black Water, but welcomed and embraced it.  The boys had a swell time impersonating our macho gondolier the rest of the trip.

Some delicious Italian pasta…notice Rob’s expression…towards the end of the day not feeling the picture vibes so much.

Crowded touristy Venice.  We went through St. Mark’s Basilica and felt like we were in a sardine can.  The funny thing was the floor was the most impressive thing in the whole church.  Millions of tiny tiles making elaborate designs.

  It really is a city on water.

Pisa

Rob and the famous leaning tower of Pisa. My regular camera had died at this point so these pics aren't that amazing. Our stop in Pisa was real short. I just remember seeing the tower, trying to help Shannon find the purse of her dreams, and the boys having a contest to see who could find Sean the cheapest "Coca Light".

Also here's a quick shot of the bathroom in remembrance of the European oddity of having to pay to go to the bathroom. I guess I can see the merit if I think about it but it makes me grateful that you never have to pay to Pisa in good ol' America.

Cinque Terre

Next stop, Cinque Terre. Getting there was no easy task in the Eurovan. Imagine if you will Rob trying to maneuver a big white fatty van, in the dark, up a steep mountain with a million switchbacks and tiny guardrails keeping you from falling off an enormous cliff to certain death. Not to mention the fact that the road was extremely narrow...Rob missed hitting cars and the side of the cliff by mere inches. Then once we started going downhill the brakes started smoking..."Is that steam? Ugh! Not with that smell!" It was all worth it once we made it to dinner. The restaurant was at the highest point on the bluff and we savor the fresh seafood until we were stuffed. Next we walked out onto the pier that you can see below and watched the ocean on the rocks. In the morning we woke to the clock tower bell and started our day with pastries and then a hike. This is the view from our hike we took that looked out over Vernazza, where we stayed. We didn't sleep so well so I was in a really random mood. I had fun being an obnoxious American and saying "Giorno! Giorno!" to all the passing hikers. Shawn also enjoyed being the annoying American tourist and kept saying "This hike ROCKS!" Rob was especially irritable and was fun to tease. Shawn thoroughly enjoyed me bugging Rob and said he would remember it whenever he needed to go to his "Happy Place."

As you can see Rob was able to blow us both off and go to his own Happy Place. And really it was hard not to be happy in a boat cruising along the picturesque Cinque Terre "Five Lands".

Me, Rob, Shawn, Chari, Linda, David, Jeff and Shannon.

This Vernazza trip saved me like a life preserver...Cheese!

Florence

Rob and I infront of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore...aka "Il Duomo". They began building it back in 1296 and today it remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. We were definitely feeling the Gothic revival vibes, snapped a few pics and ran off to climb the bell tower.

The inside of the dome in all it's glory. If you look closely at the fresco you can see a scene depicting the The Last Judgement.

We climbed all 414 steps to take in this beautiful view of Florence from Giotto's belltower.

I wanted to include this picture because it was such a typical scene...Jeff and Shannon consulting Rick Steves and maps, Shari helping out, Sean stuck working, and Rob happy to be along for the ride because most of the time he was forced to be in charge of driving and communicating. The rest of the time in Florence we helped our friends look for cameo jewelry, etc. on the Ponte Vecchio the oldest and most famous bridge in Florence. I had my own though, that Rob had bought back on his mission for his future wife :)