Blessed

We have had an incredible trip and have asked a tremendous amount of both our girls and we could not be more proud of how great they did these past 18 days. For a 6 and 7 year old to conquer such an adventure is awesome and speaks to how blessed we are as a family. Each of us will get to have our own special memories that we will hold on to for the rest of our lives and we pray that we all recognize how God has blessed us with the opportunity to take this trip as well as how blessed we are to be living in Chelan and serving him there.

Kendall
Top Three Things as written in her journal:
My favrit things are wlaking. I like wlaking Bceuse it is helfe. I like staying in hotels bceuse it is kufrtBall. I like being in London beuse it is fun!

Reese
My Favrites
FooD: pizza
Dessert: Gelato-Vnila
City: London
Activity: makeing a fort with Kendall
New Toy: paddington
Mode of transportation: trains/subways

Kelsy
1. Venice...it's just so amazing! I would have loved one more day to explore, enjoy various cafes and of course...shop!
2. I loved getting to see and experience life in other cities around the world. Particularly the opportunity to spend time with David and Katka and to have a peek at their life in Ljubljana was extra special.
3. The Lion King-I had actually seen it before but it was such a treat to be able to take the girls. To see their wonder and joy made my heart overflow.

Rather than writing a challenge, I just want to share how struck I was time and time again by God's goodness and faithfulness. Even when we didn't plan well or whatever the circumstance was...God was very good to us. And I feel grateful for his provision and care.

Robert
Top Three Things
1. I held my little girls' hands more in the last 18 days than I have the last 7 years and I loved every minute they wanted to reach up and hold my hand. As we had hoped, we had some amazing family time during this trip.
2. The Lion King, not only for my own enjoyment but also to be able to see the looks on both girls' faces was remarkable and it filled me with joy to see their happiness.
3. To pick one city or one stop is tough, but Venice narrowly beats out a log-jam of second place finishers. The adventure that was Venice is something I will never forget.
Challenge
1. Not surprisingly a trip like this reveals some heart attitudes and tendencies that need to be given over to Jesus. As a family we are always working on being more thoughtful, respectful and helpful; this trip also revealed the need to appreciate our blessings. That our joy and happiness are not found in our belongings, but in how we love God and love others. (And we probably should have taken at least 1 family photo in London-oops.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for following us on our journey. We welcome the opportunity to host any of you if you want to travel to Chelan, we will be there for awhile!

Homeward Bound

With nearly all the adventure behind us, we filled our suitcases tighter than we thought possible and headed for the underground train to take us to Heathrow. Public transportation has been one the girls' favorite parts of the entire trip and the London subway system was no exception. While they enjoyed the frequent stops, the seemingly endless number of escalators, standing on a rapidly moving object, we were again in amazement to the complexity and vastness of this subway system that was sometimes 100’s of feet under a city as old as London! Mind the gap!
The trip from our hotel doorstep all the way through security at the airport was flawless, yet we still found ourselves abandoning our table at a restaurant for lack of time and then later running across the airport as we learned our gate was a 15 minute walk from the main terminal and boarding was closing soon—nothing like boarding a plane a little sweaty from an airport jog!
Despite below average airplane food, served at a very weird time and grumpy passengers behind us we had a great flight. The girls were again enthralled with their personal entertainment systems and worked hard to rush through any journaling or homework we asked them to do. Only Kendall took a nap on the plane and that was less than an hour. We went through customs in Vancouver; I guess it’s a good thing that we were the most scrutinized, examined and questioned at the US Border crossing but at the end of a long day it seemed like over-kill for four American citizens-two of which were under 7. Nevertheless, we made it through and rushed to the last leg of our trip. After a quick flight and a seamless transition to Uber GP’s car, we were heading for dinner. The girls didn’t make it and crashed in the car and were out for the night. It was a little earlier than we had hoped for and we paid the price when 2:30 am rolled around. So here we are in the middle of the night finishing some blogging, journaling, homework, eating dinner and playing all the while wondering what transition back to the Pacific time zone will be like.

One last subway ride.

 Happy travelers!

Tired Travelers!

No rest for the weary

*Delayed Post*

Wednesday, October 12th  

After a good night’s sleep, a little planning and a short list of goals for our last day of seeing London, we were ready for the day. We set straight out for Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards and arrived well before the show, but not before the crowd. The size of the crowd was insane. We did get to experience the ceremony of the changing of the guards. Reese and Kendall enjoyed it from our shoulders, the front row (kind strangers let them slip to the front) and from our arms. I (Robert) was able to see most of the show and tell Kelsy the highlights as the height of the crowd hindered her sight lines.
We took a walk to lunch in the Piccadilly Circus neighborhood. It was at lunch that we figured out that our theatre tickets were not actually purchased! With threats from the girls persuading my hunt for our Lion King reservation/tickets I came across a super nice restaurant host who let me use his phone and then a helpful customer service agent who found our cancelled reservation and rebooked us for similar seats. With that near tragedy out of the way, we made our way up to our surprise stop for the girls-Hamley’s Toy Store on Regent Street. Not surprisingly this was the girl’s favorite stop in London. After all it is marketed as the world’s oldest (probably true, founded in 18^th century and at this same sight since the 19^th century), world’s largest (possible-it spanned 7 floors!) and world’s finest toy store. There they found their London souvenirs…a Paddington bear for each of them and some animal figurines.
With new toys in hand we rode the Underground to the London Eye, where a daddy/daughter adventure up the enormous Ferris wheel took place. Admittedly, it was a battle to get the girls to enjoy the amazing views while they had amazing new toys in hand, but we struck a balance and had a great time on the wheel. Kelsy enjoyed a normal paced walk, coffee and having her feet on the ground during our adventure. With show time approaching we had time to walk to Westminster Abbey-which fortunately for us went past our family favorite…Big Ben-and snap a few pictures. The girls got excited when we told them that Westminster Abbey is where England has their coronation days (Frozen had taught them about coronation days).
It was then time for dinner and a show. It took about 3 seconds of the Lion King for us to feel as though we got our money’s worth. Reese’s jaw literally dropped open and her face had a look of pure joy, wonderment, excitement and curiosity during the opening “Circle of Life” song. As impressed as I was with the show, I was nearly brought to tears seeing the looks of both girls as they absorbed every moment of the magnificent show into their memories—hopefully becoming memories they will never forget.
Our final walk back to a European hotel took us down Drury Lane and closed out two adventure filled days in London.

Amateur Hour

*Delayed Post*
Tuesday, October 11th
We did pretty well at our airport hotel as we were out the door only 20 minutes after our goal of 9am. The success of the day took a 6 hour break at that point. We started the transition to our Central London hotel with an almost 1-mile walk to the train station. Lugging all our stuff and tired girls that 1-mile set the tone for the rest of the day—4 tired, hungry and worn out travelers in need of rest. Unfortunately, this was 1 of our 2 days to see as much of London as possible and we would need to find a way to rally.
Making that task tougher was the fact that it seemed we had some lessons to learn during our time in London. These lessons made our 2 days in London the most mentally challenging of the trip. When we had chosen London as our final destination, I (Kelsy) felt like we needed to have a plan, so I did some research and we purchased a 2 day city pass. It seemed like a great idea…a way to get the most out of our time in London (admission to all the top attractions with 1 pass). That was definitely a mistake on my part. Thankfully, we were able to laugh a little bit about the giant waste of money the City Pass turned out to be and move on without dwelling on the decision too much. We should have known that sight-seeing isn’t our natural tourist style. Once we let go of trying to use the pass and be tourists, we took a breath and were able to enjoy many of the amazing, exciting scenes London has to offer.  
The London Pass frustration boiled towards its peak as we wandered Trafalgar Square looking for the place to pick up our “dream” passes. Luckily this wandering did allow us to see an amazing part of London and a few street performers. We managed to finally get on our hop-on-hop off bus tour around rush hour and I think the same person walked along side our bus the entire hour we traveled towards the Tower of London. We arrived 5 minutes late to get to go inside, but the magnitude of this castle was enough of an impressive sight from the outside for Robert to declare that he has a new fascination and appreciation for large castles.
After a boat ride up the Thames River, we found a great little dive restaurant for fish and chips-and yes I (Kelsy) had the fish! We only found this place after our first choice place from our discount dining guide book was out of business-talk about adding insult to injury on the London Pass purchase. By then the troops had definitely rallied and we had managed to salvage the day and have a great time. We capped it off with a walk to Big Ben. Here I determined that my new favorite structures are clock towers and Big Ben at night may be my favorite of all of them.

 Family walk to the train station

 Surprising how many telephone booths are still in London

 Cute girls!

 Cute girls take two!

Just another train ride, no big deal.

More than an airport

The City Wave had been officially turned off for good, so for a little action on our last day in Germany we had to venture away from the airport. The girls wanted to stay in the hotel room until our 9pm flight, but the latest check out we could get was 12:30.
Sadly as tourists, we had only seen the drive in to the airport and the Munich airport itself since we arrived on Friday. Fortunately for being the business portion of our adventure, being at a hotel that wasn’t even a par 5 distance away from the City Wave was hugely beneficial and a decision we regularly praised ourselves for over the weekend. The girls truly enjoyed the balance of being at the wave and laying low in the hotel. We are thinking about taking our next big vacation to Manson and not leaving the hotel room-I don’t think the girls would complain.
Our buddy Fabian (City Wave industrial engineer and chief designer of our Wave) was assigned/recruited to be our guide for the day. He was extremely gracious and hospitable taking us on a few more business stops while sprinkling in a few Munich tourist stops. First stop was the Eisbach River where locals surf in the river and the spot that inspired the CityWave. It was an impressive sight and while the afternoon surfers weren’t going to be entering a competition anytime soon, it was still pretty impressive to see them surf-especially after Reese felt the water and let us know how cold it was.
After lunch with our host we went to the City Center, again struggled to find parking and then enjoyed a casual walk around the city as Fabian pointed out all the buildings that once serviced the King’s needs (his brewery, his bakery, his in-town castle, etc.). After getting our customary postcards and stickers, we drove out to the permanent installation project of CityWave. This indoor project is paired up with an indoor skydiving site and is scheduled to open in March of 2017. Seeing another project and the differences of a permanent install was a huge help as we look to get our project going.
Then it was back to the airport to ride out our last few hours in Munich getting work, homework, journaling and blogging done. Just to squeeze in a few more minutes in our favorite airport, our flight was delayed, crazy 8’s and two deliriously silly girls passed the time. In route to London now, we don’t anticipate getting heads on pillows until after midnight. Nevertheless, we expect our little travelers to rally for a couple fun days in London before we fly home Thursday.

 The weary travelers made it to England!

 Just another lion to pose for a picture with in Munich

 Too cute not to share

 The Hilton at the Munich Airport was a great place for us during Surf & Style

 Power nap helped them survive the long day. Heads hit the pillows at 12 in England (picked up an hour!)

 City Wave has some great people working for them

 We still love each other

 Surfing action at the Eisbach River

 This wave at the Eisbach was super awesome

 Not to be out done, Munich had some great buildings just like all the other cities we have visited.

Championship Sunday

The sport of stationary wave riding is in its infancy, but the 6th annual European Championships is still an impressive event with some incredible surfers. We had blocked out the entire day to watch, enjoy, observe, dream about the future and get ideas while taking in the final day of the Citywave and the championships. We were not disappointed. Everything seemed to get better as the day went on--the crowds, the level of surfing, the energy, the weather and the dream of what could one day exist at Slidewaters.
The girls attention was in and out on the event, but they always seemed to find something to do. We met other people that own and operate CityWaves around Europe and another that hopes to bring them to the states. It is a great community of entrepreneurs who dream of building more City Waves and growing the sport of stationary wave riding. The Slidewaters project still appears to be the first venture in the states and a big step towards growing the sport. We are very excited to play our role and can't wait to get started. Those that know about our project are equally or more excited as we have plans to build the largest City Wave possible.
After the awards ceremony, we went back to the hotel and laid low, grabbed dinner in the lobby and had a movie night in the room.

 Ready for the City Wave and the European Championships

 There is always a good place to unpack the toys and play

 Did we mention it has been cold here? Do you see the steam coming off the water? The athletes were not slowed down one bit. Maybe we will be surfing in November in Chelan!

 The girls were most excited about watching the kids and the women surf.

 The four finalist for the kids (under 16) division. 3 Germans and an American- the American won with a perfect score!

By the afternoon it was nearly a packed house for the finals. It was a very impressive event.  

Laundry Day

We now get to raise our hands if someone ever asks; "have you ever rented a car just to do laundry?" Trust us, we looked at all the options and renting a car for a few hours was the best choice to get to the Laundromat and clean our clothes. Not that we need to defend ourselves but the alternatives were; a taxi ride that could have cost twice as much as the car rental, bus trip that would have taken 50+ minutes compared to the 10 minute drive, train ride for over an hour, walking, hitch hiking or not doing laundry.
By the time we got the laundry started and walked to our lunch spot it was obvious the girls needed food. We had gotten a to-go breakfast and watched surfers on the Citywave in the morning, but the girls hadn't eaten enough to hold them over to lunch. Patience was the lesson on the laundry trip and it seems only mom passed. With a bag full of clean laundry, updated journals and some more completed homework pages we headed back to the airport for our Tom Hanks Terminal weekend.
Saturday at the City Wave was all the preliminary rounds of the European Stationary Wave Surfing Championships. We took in more surfing and observed the wave, the tournament and all the operations in action. The biggest take away is that it appears a wave at Slidewaters could be operated 8 or 9 months out of the year because theses surfers weren't blinking twice about the 45 degree air temp! We were... and the idea of getting some test surfing in has flown away.

 Kendall found a bear she liked.

 Off to watch some surfing

A little aerial picture of the entire setup for Surf & Style 2016