6th Flags America!

We had some free tickets to 6 Flags that we decided to use!

It was a fun and traumatic day.

Unfortunately it ended with a hurt boy, and a police report, BUT leading up to that we had a great time! Here's some pictures of the fun!

Completely soaked from the log ride!

Undecided if it's worth going back again next year....

July 4th!

We started out our Independence Day celebrations with our annual Ward Parade/Breakfast!

The kids love decorating their bikes and riding around the parking lot!

This guy, who we started calling "Tiny Tim"....

Morgan didn't join us at the Breakfast, because she was at her last day of YW Camp! She got home that afternoon....

And promptly fell right asleep!

We hosted a small BBQ at our house, and then planned to go watch the fireworks...

BUT, we were all having such a wonderful relaxing time, and the kids were having so much fun playing out back in the warm summer night air, that we ditched the fireworks plan, and did sparklers out back instead!

A perfect 4th of July celebration!

IRELAND TRIP - Day 8....Going Home

Today is the day we fly home.

Hayden doesn't want to leave.

"Couldn't we just stay longer?"

"Don't you miss the family, aren't you ready to sleep in your own bed?"

"Nope."

It is hard to leave such a fun trip.

We really had such a fun time together, I love hanging out with this teenager!

We did a 'driving tour' of Zurich on our way to the airport.

It really is such a beautiful city.

I came here as a child, when my family lived in Germany, but have no real memories of Zurich itself from that time, only of a boat ride on the lake (and the loss of a certain favorite doll).

An overview of our travels in the past 8 days.

Once in the airport, we got Hayden a wheelchair, and checked out the Duty-Free shopping.

He found this Nutella jar that was as big as his head.

We thought of Ronan, and how much he would of LOVED to own that!

We flew home on Swiss Air, and they let us pre-board and get all settled in for the long flight back to NYC!

While I loved our trip, and had so much fun, and loved all the places we got to visit....it sure does feel good to land back in the USA!

There's something to be said for familiarity.

The Brooklyn Bridge, NYC

We still had a 3 hour drive to get home to Maryland, and we were greeted by 6 people who were very excited to see us!

Ireland Trip - Day 7..... Switzerland!!

When I first booked our trip, I knew we had a lay-over in Zurich, Switzerland, BUT I didn't realize that it was a 23 hour lay-over! Luckily I noticed well before we left, with plenty of time to make hotel reservations. We thought this would be a fun little 'add-on' to our trip!

The original plan was to have a nice walking tour of Zurich, maybe go for a boat ride on Lake Zurich, and visit the Lindt Chocolate Factory.

But, again the fractured ankle altered plans a bit.

We just rolled with it, I mean, we were in Switzerland, right? 

Life was still good!

New plan...rent a car, and drive an hour and a half south to Bern to see the LDS Temple there.

I kept going back and forth with this plan. We had such little time in Switzerland, did I really want to spend 3 hours of it in a car?? 

But, as Hayden pointed out, when would we get the chance to get the Swiss Temple on our temple wall again?? It's not like we find ourselves in Switzerland every day.

Our 'Temple Wall' is a wall in our kitchen that we hang a photo of every temple we have been to.

This is what it started as in 2011... 

And now in 2014...

We decided to drive down to the temple!

We met a nice couple in front of the temple who took our photo together!

We had to stop and get a bratwurst and schnitzel while in Switzerland!

On the drive back to Zurich, we took our time and drove through some villages.

Hayden had the camera, and just snapped photos as we went along.

I loved this part of the trip.

Driving through small towns in Europe is so fun!

We made it back to Zurich in the evening.

And enjoyed a quick drive around while going to our hotel.

Ready for a good nights rest....our last night away.

IRELAND DAY 6....SCOTLAND!

Our wonderful hostess in Dublin prepared an easy breakfast for us to take with us to the airport the next morning, as we had a 6:30am flight to Edinburgh!

This guys was super excited to spend the day in Scotland!

Plans had to be slightly modified do to the ankle injury, but we still had a great time exploring Edinburgh! 

The castle was first on our list of places to see.

We took a taxi from the airport to the castle, only to find out that we were too early...they weren't open yet. So, the taxi driver dropped us off just down the street so we could find a hot chocolate while we waited for the castle to open.

We ended up finding a shop selling haggis for breakfast, and Hayden decided to try it.

Haggis is not on my list of breakfast foods, so I did not join him.

We then hobbled up the street with Hayden and his crutches to tour the castle.

On our way through the castle gates, someone noticed Hayden on his crutches, and asked if we would like assistance, including a ride up to the top of the castle. We graciously accepted. Furthermore, when I went to buy the tickets, they didn't charge me for my ticket, as I was his 'Care giver'. They also gave us free headsets to listen to the self-guided tour with.

We were driven to up the castle (something I didn't know was even possible before), and given special access at every turn. Everyone there was really so very helpful.

Some views of Edinburgh from the castle.

Hayden in front of Mons Meg.

We have a photo of him sitting inside the barrel of the gun as a one year old.

He was very excited to get back there and see this huge gun (although he didn't want to attempt climbing back in it).

After maneuvering the cobblestones, and narrow passageways in the castle on crutches, Hayden was pretty tuckered out. His hands mainly, were screaming with soreness from the crutches. 

So, we found our friendly driver, who took us back down to the castle entrance.

And then another driver was kind enough to drive us down the Royal Mile a bit.

We decided to hop on a tourist bus to see the city, since walking on foot no longer fit into our plan.

Here's a few of the sites we saw along the way...

A man in a kilt, playing the bagpipes is a must in Scotland, right?

The backside of Edinburgh Castle.

We were blessed again on this trip, when we decided it was time to head back to the airport.

As luck would have it, our sight-seeing bus stopped directly across from the commuter train that went to the airport! But, as we tried to purchase tickets from the machines (no actual person selling them), it would not accept my card! AND you could NOT purchase with cash (which I actually had).  Thankfully, a man came up behind us to purchase his ticket, and when he noticed that we couldn't get a ticket, he offered to buy our tickets with his card, and we just paid him our cash. I was so grateful for this act after a long day of sight-seeing, and worrying if we would make it back to the airport in time for our flight.  

We made it with plenty of time actually, and flew back to Dublin with no problems.

And crashed into our beds that night.