Happy Birthday Baby!

Can you believe that our sweet Madison Eire Carrell is a year old? I can't! I also can't imagine NOT having Madi in our family.

The little "Birthday Princess" wore her tiara to school and got SO many compliments. She loves to have people's attention.

Instead of having a party, (we are waiting for Grandma for the party) we went to the church for an activity. It was there that Madison discovered Kailey's purse and would NOT let go of it. She altered her crawling pattern so she could carry the purse around. What a funny little thing.

We love you Madi and are so thankful that you are part of our family!

Stepping out and UP in Zermatt

My sweet sister Nancy came to visit us and it was so great! Traveling to and from Dublin was a nightmare for her (Salt Lake to Chicago- missed flight to Dublin- so went to London and THEN to Ireland... her luggage didn't make it until the next day...) but we were so glad that she came! We spent less than 24 hours on the Emerald Isle before whisking her away to Switzerland. Traveling again proved to be more than exciting. Emery was feeling better (see older post) but Claire wasn't quite herself and Madison was really sick. We took an extra outfit for me and 3 extra outfits for Madi (to be used as backup on the plane and train) and I believe we used them all plus two blankets. It was a rough day for the little angel- but she wasn't very upset- just puky. (It's a miracle Nancy ever comes to visit.)
After arriving in Zermatt in the evening, a taxi took us to the apartment we had rented. He stopped the taxi and said, "Okay, just follow the stairs." We were a bit surprised to see how many steps there were. Just a few less than 200! (I think the actual number was 193.) I believe that we had 8 suitcases and several backpacks/ carryons. I overheard Jake say, "Think Rocky. Think Rocky." We hummed the song and made it up the stairs! (Danny did the majority of the heavy work. What a man.)

The upside was that the view from the apartment was truly spectacular! The Matterhorn is gorgeous! Zermatt did not disappoint us. The weather was wonderful and the sunshine was splendid.

We had a wonderful time going sledding!

Shelby and Claire in their matching snowsuits. Claire tried skiing this time and Shelby spent a lot of time on her skis. She is doing well!

Emery also tried skiing but prefered just hanging out in the snow- and she looked so cute in her sunglasses! (That sun was so bright!)

Madison didn't feel super great during our trip (it took a full 5 days for her to get over that nasty tummy bug) but she was so pleasant most of the time. What a little sweetie.

Danny, Kailey and Jake tried out snowboarding. They looked great and agreed that the boots are much more comfy... but have decided that they will stick with skiing. (Danny was thankful for Ibuprofen for a day or two afterward. Kailey sprained her wrist and wore a splint for two weeks...) I even got to ski. It has been 9 years since I had the opportunity. I truly enjoyed my time. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was quiet. I realized again how amazing this beautiful world is.

Zermatt is winter paradise. We loved our second visit! It was even better having Nancy with us!

Oh What a Night!

So Danny and I planned to go on our weekly date tonight- just a late dinner so we could be all alone! Originally we were going to see a movie with the kids in the early afternoon- but things got uber crazy. Shelby and Claire were at gymnastics and then Kailey came home later than planned from the birthday party she was attending. So we went to plan two: Danny and I would go out for an early dinner and take the kids to the movie. Emery still wasn't feeling super- but she hadn't puked all day so we felt we could leave her with Kailey. However, because of Emery's slight clinginess (and Kailey's insistence that she was NOT going to watch the baby- we took Madison with us to eat. Danny called to get a reservation at a little italian restaurant in our village but couldn't get an answer so we decided to just drive over instead of walking. It was closed- as in out of business. We did see that a Subway sandwiches shop just opened not too far away- so we drove there. They were also closed. (I'm assuming because it is a Saturday evening?- who knows!) So Danny drove by one last spot where we had heard was another Subway- and we found it! Hurray! So we took our sandwiches to go and stopped by the little Eurospar (small grocery store in Malahide) market and got the food we need for dinner tomorrow and went home to eat our sandwiches. Mine was lovely and we saved some cash.

Our movie (Marley and Me) started at 8:20. I felt like I had plenty to do here- plus Shelby and Claire were tired and didn't want to see the movie (they knew the dog died at the end and did NOT want to see this!)- plus with Emery not feeling well... Well, Danny talked me into going. So we headed to the theatre and got the necessary popcorn and other junkfood. Some of us needed to use the toilet so we got that all taken care of before heading into our movie. As we were getting ready to walk in- Emery started to cry. We were asking her what was wrong when... she threw up. (Remember the pizza that Emery didn't get to eat last night? - she ate it for dinner tonight. Evidently, her little system still isn't prepared to digest all of the cheese and greasiness.) I had the baby's blanket and caught most of it- but Emery had some on her face, shirt and skirt. She and I went into the bathroom to clean up. As I attempted to clean her little shirt- I gave up and just put my sweater on her. When we walked out of the bathroom, Danny asked if there was anything I needed. I told him that next time he needed to listen to me. Since Emery was feeling better, we decided to just go see the movie. It didn't go as planned. Madi wasn't quite tired enough so she made some noise (usually very cute sounds- but not cute in a theatre). Claire was tired but couldn't get comfortable. She was sitting in the row behind Danny, Emery, Madi and I, so she would stand up and lean over to talk to Danny. Then Emery started to whimper. She felt yucky, so Danny held her and tried to keep her quiet. I was feeding the baby- but after she fell asleep- we switched and he held Madi and I held Em. It was better for a while- until about an hour and 50 minutes into the movie when Emery started to cry and said that she needed to throw up. I got the box of popcorn in time and she was able to launch at least part of her stomach contents into the box. Danny looked at us and said, "Enough- let's get out of here!" So they all left. I quickly wiped Emery's little face and my hands with a few baby wipes- grabbed my purse, the bundle of aforementioned soiled clothing and blanket and Emery (I didn't want to really reposition her for fear of stuff going everywhere) and left the theatre. Danny was just coming back in to get us. The worst part- is that I didn't have enough hands to take out the box of popcorn. So I left it on Emery's booster seat (I did turn the plastic booster seat over so it was more of a plastic container- to hold whatever was in the popcorn box). I wish I could apologize to all of those people who were sitting near us. Danny would like to apologize to the girl in the wheelchair that he almost knocked over in his attempt to flee the theatre and the carnage there!

On the way home, I sat in the middle row in our car between Madi's carseat and Emery's booster and held Emery. Kailey and Danny left the front windows rolled partially down as to minimize the stink. Emery and I had a nice little shower when we got home and we feel and smell much better.

But really- can your Saturday night adventure compare to ours!?

March Madness at the Carrells

If you are looking for a blog on the real March Madness (ie- College Basketball) this is the wrong entry for you. I am speaking of the craziness that is the Carrell home. We have had two bouts of stomach flu in the last two weeks. Jake, Claire, Madison and Danny all enjoyed a variation. Em- had one urp but that was that. Poor Madi was the sickest and had serious issues for about 5 days. Poor little thing! The rest were a quick 24 hours of yuck. Today Emery had a rough day. I could go on and on about the different forms of vomit she has NOT enjoyed- but only other nursing/medical people would appreciate the descriptions. (Let me know if you would like more details.) Suffice it to say that Em is the only Carrell I know who throws up and immediately wants to eat. (As she finished driving the porcelain bus, she asked for food and she cried when I wouldn't let her eat pizza tonight even though she vomited only 30 minutes before dinner!) We hope she gets the 24 hour version. Otherwise, today was busy. Jake's class did a play on Greece. He did a fine job. Plus he looks good in a toga.

Yesterday- J and K had French day when they were supposed to speak only french all day (I am pretty sure this did NOT happen) and helped to prepare and eat french cuisine. They had fun. Today all of the kids enjoyed the Global Feast. This is an annual fundraiser at the school. The kids get to wear their normal clothes- as opposed to their usual uniform and each family is encouraged to bring in a dish from around the world to share. The teachers ask the families to donate money for the food- with all of the proceeds to go to the village of Chimteka in Malawi. The school community was very generous and the school earned 1120 euro from the students today. We are pleased that our children are learning more than just the basics at Sutton Park.
Madison is also learning. Yesterday morning, after I went for a walk (Danny was watching the little girls- supposedly) I came into the house to find my sweet little angel like this:

Yes, she has a full size chocolate bar (Cadbury's Dairy Milk) in her little hand. When I walked in, she immediately started to move as quickly as she could in the opposite direction- giggling! Oh she is fun. This is a little video of her laughing. What you can't see is Emery doing something to me that just made Madi laugh. (I think she was tickling me and I would make a silly sound...) I should have stopped recording about 10 seconds earlier- but it was really cute.

Other favorites of McGermany and Austria

We stopped by Oberammergau on our way to Salzburg. Oberammergau is famous for it's passion play. In the 1600's the people made a vow that if God would spare them from the plague- they would perform a passion play every 10 years. They have kept their promise and next year is the 41st performance. Oberammergau is also famous for the frescoes on their homes- some have religious themes (like the building behind Kailey) others have fairytales.

We went to the information center and asked what to see and where to eat. They sent us to a restaurant called Zauberstub'ns. It was a magic themed restaurant. The owner even came over and did magic tricks for the kids. He was great!

I love this picture because Madison looks so cute in her new hat! (Plus Jake has on his Manchester United Football hat...)

When we were in Salzburg a little over a year ago- we went to a Salt Mine. It was so much fun that we decided to go back. Well, we went to a different one from last year and they wouldn't let anyone under the age of 4 go on the tour. So- we drove 30 minutes in the other direction (back to Bavaria) and found the other salt mine. It was so much fun! (Even a second time.) They give you these great coveralls to put on

and then you get on a little train and head into the mine- inside the mountain! You get to go down these really fun slides, go on a boat on an underground lake (with a fun laser light show) and learn about salt mining. (One of the educational things that our children actually did NOT complain about.)

See our fun coveralls!?

After the salt mine, the kids were hungry so we headed to McDonalds. Now- I must tell you that we spent significant time at McDonalds! (Hence the name of this blog entry.) At the end of our trip, Jake informed us that he had eaten 10 1/2 cheeseburgers. Uggghh! Anyway, it was snowing and the snowflakes were huge. So, Danny and the kids built this cute snowman.

Ketchup makes a very good snowman mouth!

While we were in Salzburg we saw Mozart's house where he was born. (The front of it anyway.) We also explored the fort on the top of the mountain. Hohensalzburg Fortress is very amazing. It is one of the largest and best preserved forts in Europe. The tour was great- about 30 minutes- an audioguide for both children and adults- fast, fun and informative.

The Carrell Knights. We love a few good swords!

Fussen and The Swan Castles

Fussen was fabulous. (This is the kids in the village of Fussen.) Hotel Kurcafe was great. We had a lovely breakfast on Sunday and the kids were thrilled because they had a chocolate fountain. Shelby couldn't get enough chocolate covered fruit!

Claire and Shelby by Hohenschwangau.
Then we headed to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Both are castles with swan themes. Hohenschwangau was built (or improved upon) by King Maximillian II of Bavaria. It was a very fun castle and the table decorations make anything Martha Stewart creates look small and dull. This castle was the childhood home of Kind Ludwig II.

All of us at Hohenschwangau- you can see Neuschwanstein behind us.
Ludwig grew up and decided to build something a bit grander- so he had Neuschwanstein started. It is like a fairytale castle (Walt Disney thought so too...) and absolutely breathtaking. Ludwig was either very eccentric or crazy. He had a cave built in his private rooms (it is really cool however). Sadly, Neuschwanstein was never finished because King Ludwig died before it's completion. (The question remains- did he kill himself or was he killed?)

Neuscwanstein is looming behind us. (Side view.)
We took a horse drawn carriage up to the castle and then walked down. The kids had a fun time reinacting what happened when Danny came here a few years ago with his sisters. Poor Jill blew out her knee on the way down. (Just so you know, Jilly, Danny was able to sound just like you when he screamed... We are thankful that your knee is fine now.)

Ah Bavaria!

We are enjoying a wonderful trip to Deutschland! We flew into Friedrichshafen early Thursday morning (we left Dublin at 6 a.m.). Interestingly enough, the dad of one of Kailey's favorite friends is a pilot and he flew us to Germany! We saw him as we were getting on the plane (it's hard to miss us...) and chatted for a minute. He came on the loud speaker as we were enroute and said, "I just want to wish Kailey Carrell and all of the Carrell family a happy holiday..." It was great! We felt famous!

Friedrichshafen isn't a huge town- but it is on Lake Constance (or Bodensee if you're speaking German). Switzerland is just across the Lake. Anyway, it was really snowing when we arrived. Consequently- our rental car wasn't available because of a little accident that very morning. They ordered another one for us, but we needed to wait for it. So we spent the day in Friedrichshafen. We all squeezed into a lovely Volvo station wagon (a car that I have always appreciated- and it really was quite nice) and drove into town. We did all the wrong things. Even with the Sat Nav- we had a few adventures. My favorites were when we momentarily drove down a one way street- the wrong way- and when we drove down a pedestrian walkway. (I had to giggle as all of these people looked at us like we were complete idiots! They weren't too far off the mark.) I am just glad that it was Danny driving. We had a nice lunch at a little restaurant (K42) with a nice view of the lake. Sadly, it was very overcast and we couldn't see much. Then we took a little walk around the shopping area and bought all the kids boots. (They were on sale...) Then we went to the Zeppelin Museum. Friedrichshafen is famous (?) for creating the German Zeppelin and was almost completely destroyed in WWII because of this. So we saw the Museum and it was fun. The car still wasn't ready so we had a little snack at McDonald's and then went to pick up the car. And what a car it is!!! Danny rented a 9 seater. We got a Fiat Ducato. It is a 9 seater that makes other 9 seaters look like bugs. It is more like a bus. It's huge! But, it has snow tires and we didn't even have to pay extra for them.

So we headed to Munich and our hotel- the Holiday Inn. We arrived at the hotel and Danny put our 6 suitcases on a trolley to take up to the rooms and then he went to park the car. After going up on the wrong elevator and finding the correct one- we found that the elevator was too small to fit all of the luggage. So, Kailey took the girls up to our connecting rooms (hurray!) while Jake and I tried to get all of the luggage up. Jake took up two suitcases and came back to help. I rearranged the rest and got them all on the elevator. Got off the elevator and discussed with Jake that it really isn't a good idea to leave luggage right next to the elevator in the middle of the hall- unattended. Our evening was good. The rooms were nice. Kailey, Em and Madi slept in with Danny and I. The early risers/ bed jumpers/ slobs slept in the other room.

Friday the 13th. We had a lovely breakfast buffet at the hotel. Then we headed into Munchen. We took the subway instead of the big car and Jake complained about it the whole way into the city! We went to the City Center (Marienplatz) first to see the Glockenspiel- think of the coolest german cuckoo clock ever! At 11:00, 12:00, and 5 p.m. the bells play and these lifesize figurines move. There is a king and queen who are looking down over a festival (this is my interpretation anyway). You see the revelers dancing and playing and the knights even joust on horseback! I thought it was amazing!

The Rathouse- or City Hall is huge and very old. Then we headed to the Bavarian Film Works to take a tour. Of course- Carrell luck- we had to wait over an hour for the tour so we had lunch at McDonalds. (I can not believe how many McDonalds' I have seen here! Crazy...) The tour was very fun. Kailey, Jake, and Shelby were actors in a very short film that our tour group helped make (and Danny provided the voice to part of it as well) and we got to see it at the end of the tour. We have a copy if you ever want to see it. Then we went back to the Marienplatz because of the shopping possibilities. After we were done at the one store we went to (and all 5 bigger kids had what they wanted) we were ready to eat dinner. Danny had gone somewhere and I was standing in the middle of the Marienplatz with all 6 kids- probably looking like it had been a long day- and this very kind German woman (a grandmotherly type) came up to me and said something in German. I looked at her and said, "I am sorry, but I don't speak German." She said, "Well, could I be of some help to you?" I told her we were looking for a good restaurant. She told us of a lovely little Italian place (which is what the kids wanted) and gave perfect directions on how to get there. What a lovely lady! The restaurant was great. The food was good, the atmosphere was warm and cozy, we were all happy to be there!
After dinner we went to Circus Krone. The Krone Circus (as we would say it) is the largest in Europe and has been around for 90 years! It was wonderful! We saw amazing acrobats, a 14 year old juggler, 4 elephants that were really close to us (we were on the front row and I kept thinking of the tv show of when performing animals go mad... luckily they didn't... but those are really large animals!), 4 tigers (that were thankfully behind tall fences), horses, donkeys, camels and some very cute llamas who had serious teeth issues. We all loved it.


Saturday- Valentine's Day. We went to Dachau, the former Concentration Camp. Now doesn't that say love to you? I don't know what I wanted our family to learn from this. Kailey did say, "I don't know if I want to be here. I feel sad inside and I don't like it." Hopefully this experience will mean something to my children at some point. Dachau doesn't have nearly the horrors of some of the other concentration camps. It was mostly a work camp. On the entrance door are the words, "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Makes You Free." It was the first concentration camp and the model for all of the others to follow. Political prisoners were sent there in 1933 and it housed people there for 12 years until it was liberated by U.S. Soldiers in 1945. Over 200,000 people were prisoners here and more than 43,000 died. It was amazing to stand in the roll call area and feel cold with warm clothing- coat, hat, scarf, gloves, boots- and think about the prisoners who had to stand in the same area with only their prison uniforms on. Sometimes they stood there for several hours a day. We are blessed with way too much and we still complain.


After Dachau we headed to our next destination- Fussen. Fussen is a beautiful little village that is very close to the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. We are staying at this cute little hotel (there are maybe 40 rooms) called Hotel Kurcafe. There is also a bakery/ candy shop and restaurant downstairs. This blog will have to be continued later- I am just too tired to finish tonight! Auf weidersehen.

Our New Names

We just found out last week that we will be staying an additional year in Ireland. Hurray! We are excited that the adventure will continue. So, Danny decided that we each needed to adopt an Irish name. True Irish names have the gaelic spelling and phonetically it doesn’t work. (In my mind anyway. It is probably logical to many whose brains function an a higher level than mine.) Here are our new identities: (pronunciation included)
• Madison is Eire (Air uh) Her real middle name anyway. (Originally Danny wanted to call her Emer [Eemer]. However, considering she is too little to understand yet another name- I vetoed that.
• Emery is Ailis (Ay lish). She picked her own name.
• Claire is Clare. Claire refused to choose an Irish name (even when Danny recommended the lovely Derblah) so we let her keep her given name as it is the name of one of the counties in the Republic of Ireland.
• Shelby is Ciara (Keerah). She wanted to be Naoise (Neesha) but later changed her mind.
• Jake is Rory. (Which incidentally is the name of an adorable two year old african/irish boy at church who has cute little corn rows. I immediately think of him when I hear the name…)
• Kailey is Aoife (Ee fah).
• Danny is Eoin (Own). I voted for Dermott and got vetoed.
• I am Siobhan (Shiv ahn). Every body else got to choose their names except me. Danny chose for me. Oh well- (I refused Derblah too.)
• Mimi is Roshene. (This may be more English than Irish- but Danny felt that it was a name that needed to be used!) Now her entire name is Mimi Nicole Roshene Carrell.
We are happy to give you an Irish name too! Just let us know if you’re interested…

The Bahamas

Last year our good friends and neighbors, the Flory's met us in Florida for a bit of sun and fun. They suggested we do it again this year. So we did. We followed each other to LaGuardia and flew to the Bahamas. The sun was bright, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the water was as beautiful as I have ever seen! We flew into Nassau and went straight to Harborside at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. What a wonderful place!
The memories include:
* The walk to Atlantis. We would take a 10- 15 minute walk to the pools. We walked around the marina and these HUGE yachts.

* The pools. There are several beautiful pools, but our favorite was the kid's pool.

Emery at the kids pool.


Madison loved the water.

* The slides. The Leap of Faith was the coolest and only the coolest actually rode it. (Danny, Jake, Jerry and Shelby) Jake took the fear to the next level by refusing to lay back on the ride down- instead he would lean forward!

Jake takes the leap of faith!

* The sea life! They recreated the lost city of Atlantis and you can look into the "Big Dig" where the lost city is supposed to be. The fish really are amazing. They did some serious work to make this look real.

Shelby, Taylor and Jake with some wicked jellies.


Claire with fish that literally lined up for their photo op.

* The Beach- The sand was great and the water was beautiful! Danny and Jake scuba dived.

The little girls loved the sand.


The big girls snorkeled.


Atlantis is gorgeous.

* Time spent with family and friends?


PRICELESS!!!

Christmas and Beyond...

'Twas the Day Before Christmas and Mom finally got her act together! We make gingerbread houses every year but we had to make our own from scratch this year. Claire, Shelby, and Jake had their own while Kailey and Emery shared one. (I made three batches of gingerbread dough and thought that was sufficient...)


Claire with her creation

Shelby and her house

Jake and his gingerbread cottage

Emery and Kailey showcase their artistic prowesss

The Nativity was the best one yet. Kailey read Luke 2 while the rest of us acted out the story. Emery was Mary. Danny was Joseph (as always). Jake was the Shepherd. Mimi the Sheep. Claire and Shelby were both angels. I was the innkeeper (all 3 of them). Claire, Shelby and I were the Wise Women. Madison was the sweet baby Jesus.

Christmas Day was wonderful and Santa and dad were much too generous.

The view of Christmas Morning...
Our missionaries came to call their families and have dinner with us. We enjoyed them for 4 hours!

St. Stephens Day (Boxing Day in Canada and the day after Christmas for the rest of us...) was a busy day. The kids and I flew back to New York in the afternoon. Danny took us to the airport and then headed to work to enjoy his busiest week of the year- all alone. Our flight was really pretty good. There were moments when I thought, "I am never doing this alone again!" However, I probably will. The kids really were good. Madi decided that she liked the sound of her scream. (We discouraged this.) Emery accidentally spilled her soda on Kailey's socks. Claire spilled her water (but the flight attendant took a long time to come and get the dinner trays.)
Danny arranged for a car service to pick us up- so we made it home to Fishkill without any problems. We were home before 9:00p.m. NY time.

It was very nice to be back home for a week. However, I wasn't quite prepared for what else was waiting for us. We had vermin and I HATE vermin. Luckily. their tracks were only found in the basement and kitchen. Our rooms were vermin free upstairs. So, I called an exterminator and told him to get rid of the little beasts. (Don't tell my kids. They still have no idea...) The only other little problem was that the battery in our big car was shot. THANK HEAVENS for good friends and neighbors! Jerry jumped the car and drove it around and realized that we needed a new battery. Pete went and bought the battery and installed it. They really are too good to us.

Our week in New York was very nice. The kids loved time with friends (Jake loved time with the Bucko boys and Mikey. The girls couldn't get enough time with Taylor. Claire and Emery enjoyed some time with Ethan, Aidan and Sheridan too.)

Jake and the Bucko Boys

Claire and Ethan

Emery and Aidan

Thanks for the memories!