Europe

The computer issues have been resolved (at least long enough for me to upload some photos... however my mouse still doesn't work and the other USB port isn't even recognizing things plugged into it, but anyways...)
We started our trip to Europe with a very long plane trip, that Lucas was very well behaved for!

Lucas got to ride in style in his own little bassinet attached to the bulkhead. He got some good sleep there.

Jared and Lucas loved all of the tiny cars in Paris.

The first stop on our trip in Paris was Notre Dame. It was Sunday, so we got to see a little bit of the sermon too. It was very big inside and beautiful on the outside.

These pictures are of a different Cathedral, Ste Chapelle, that was all beautiful windows on the inside. The windows tell the stories of the Bible in order. It is pretty impressive.

Lucas had to have his diaper changed in creative places sometimes. We did this several times, where all of his aunts and uncle would make a table, and we'd just got for it. You can't see me, but I am bravely located at the business end.

This is the Conciergerie. It was used as barracks and a prison. It was where Marie Antoinette and some other famous prisoners spent their last days.

This is the Louvre. It used to be a palace and now it's a museum. It was enormous. We didn't have a lot of time there before it closed, but most of us had time to see the Mona Lisa.I had heard that it's smaller than you would imagine, and it is. It was fun to see, but you have to look at it through a crowd and from far away. It was still pretty.

Jared and Lucas with the Eiffel Tower in the background right after we walked around the Tuilleries.I don't have any pictures of Disney Paris, but we went there on Monday after the Louvre and before these pics of the Catacombes. Lucas thought that we were trying to put him to sleep in the Catacombes since it was dark, so he had a lot of "snacks" while we were down there and that seemed to make him feel better.
So, this sign says that this is an exit from the Catacombes, but it has this big lock on it.... It's ok, we got out.
There were really cool carvings of old cities and buildings down in the Catacombes.
Dad and Jared posing in front of a lot of bones. It was a little disturbing how many bones were down there, but it looks like they tried to do a nice job arranging it out of respect for the people.
We all know what this is!
Here we are at the top, Lucas and all. Rick (our family friend), Kevin, Lauren, Madelyn, Jared, Lucas, and I all went up to the top. Mom went halfway up to the middle observatory and Dad and Erin waited at the bottom in the cold rain and hoped we wouldn't die, since Erin always worries when we go up on high stuff.
Lucas shamelessly sleeping in a fluffy king size bed all by himself! (he didn't get it to himself at night though, he had a crib)
Jared, Lucas, and I in front of the Champs Elysees and l'Arch de Triomphe (in the distance).

Lucas holding his own umbrella while we waited to go into La Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lilies paintings.Erin with one of the paintings. They were displayed in two oval rooms. It was pretty impressive.

Lucas waiting outside of Versailles Palace. He has that on his head because we got separated from the people with the sunscreen.Erin in the famous Hall of Mirrors of Versailles.
Lucas needed his diaper changed halfway through the tour and there was no where else to change it, so we just went for it.Erin, Jared, and Lucas in front of the beginning of the grounds at Versailles.
At the far corner of the grounds was the private property of Marie Antoinette. This is one of the rooms in her littler palace out there.Marie Antoinette also had an architect build a little village out there that she thought was the way that peasants lived and she hired people to live there so that she could pretend to be a commoner. Weird.

Then we drove to Amsterdam. The whole city was full of canals and it was really pretty.The people in Amsterdam were really nice. I also don't have any pictures of our visit to Anne Frank's house. That was amazing. Actually seeing it and remembering the story was very moving. We also went to the VanGogh Museum, which was very interesting.
We went to a cheese market the next day. That was really fun. We got to taste test cheeses and then mom bought us some Gouda that we all really enjoyed.

A field of tulips in Holland
We had to get a picture of a windmill!We went out to a little village on an island that had little homes set up that you could look at with furniture and fishing stuff. It was really cool.
Milking a "goat" England! This is The Westminster Abbey. It was closed when we went, but it was beautiful on the outside.

A shot of Big Ben, the Parliament building, and you can see the London Eye in the background.Dad has his own personal yard.
Uncle Kevin held Lucas so much (well, everyone did, but I think Kevin won for holding him the most) and Lucas loved it!

The Parliament building.St Paul's Cathedral
It's hard to read this small, but this is the London Bridge, which did not fall down while we were under it.Lucas has a habit of leaking out of his diapers really fast, but one time it was quicker than usual. When we opened up his pants, we discovered his diaper was on backwards courtesy of Uncle Kevin. Kev had had to change his diaper in a very small space and Lucas was squirming so this was the result!Buckingham Palace at the Changing of the GuardLucas eating his second popsicle. He had already tried one earlier and he was a very big fan. He's very serious about food. No smiles, but you can tell he likes it.
Inside of the Tower of London.Maddy made sure that Lucas had enough maps to eat while we were in the Tower of London.
The Tower of London from the outside. The grass used to be a moat.We rode the tour busses around London. It was really fun, we got to see everything in town and just jump off when there was something we wanted to explore.

We had some flight trouble on the way back, mainly that we missed our connection because our plane was late and we got stuck in New York overnight. This is about 1am and we're waiting for the van to take us to our hotel.I think this was Lucas' way of telling us the trip should be over. He was such a good boy though!
Basically, we had an AWESOME time and it was great to hang out with the family! Thanks for a great time guys! We love you!