Thu 4 May 2006
We are back and we had a pretty amazing experience over there! I have all kinds of pictures and stuff that will have to be posted later. The video of Connor and I on the Camel is sweet.
Nice responses to my soccer post! I was laughing.
D
Tue 2 May 2006
Connor finished his second day of soccer camp and had a great time. I took some video and some fun pictures of the workout. There were two other kids in the session and given the fact that we are the only Americans at the whole resort, the kids were British. Connor is getting use to phrases like “Have a go at it, mate,” “brilliant,” and “unlucky.” They say unlucky anytime the ball doesn´t go where it is supposed to. The first 20 minutes was basically Connor kicking the ball and running after it, but then he settled down and started controlling the ball a little more. His coaches are all ex-pros and I kind of act like I know who there are to make them feel good. During the breaks, the coaches were asking the kids about who was going to win the World Cup and stuff. I was amazed at how much the kids knew about the teams and even the managers!
They were doing this one exercise where one kid would run from one corner to guard the goal and the other kid would run from the other corner and try to score. Connor kept short-cutting the cone he was supposed to run around trying to kick the ball before the other kid was in the goal. When the coach asked him why he wasn´t running around the cone Connor said “because I want to kick it before he gets in the goal.” The English boy (age 6) responded “that is because he is American.” It was kind of funny.
But don´t think that Connor was the only one mixing it up on the soccer pitch. I played in a game for the dad´s and pretty much got worked over. One of the pros made me look silly every time I tried to get the ball from him. I finally just layed down in front of him, but then he jumped over me so that didn´t work either. I did score the first goal though because of excellent positioning. A guy shot the ball and it deflected off the goalie and was bouncing right toward me in front of the goal. Some regular soccer players might have done some cool move to put the ball in the open net, but I just kind of body blocked it into the goal. Wasn´t pretty, but it worked.
Connor is loving the kids club and has made a couple little friends. I am loving speaking Spanish and am picking up the nuances of Spain Spanish. Glad to hear that the Towners and the Heids met up in So. Cal. Have a great birthday Mark!
Tomorrow we are off to Morocco for the day so we should have some good pictures of the snake charmer!
Sun 30 Apr 2006
Hi guys,
We got up and went to church today. We were in a beautiful little chapel
where we went to the Spanish Ward sacrament and then the international ward
sacrement. The hotel had the Church down as …of alter day saints. Kind of
funny. We got that corrected and also fixed the times that they had listed.
I had to go to church in my flip flops, but singing hymns in Spanish and then
in English was nice! The missionaries in the ward were really cute and they
are so excited to meet us wherever we go. We seem to always run into
missionaries from Sandy, so they like talking to us.
We then had lunch out on the beach and it was a beautiful day. The little town
is called Fuegirola and is close to Malaga. I am pretty much ready to come
live in Spain—the people are really nice that we have met.
Connor is going to do soccer camp this week and the other day he was playing
wiffle ball with a couple English kids. They were pretty much retarded with
the bat and Connor stepped up and started launching! He was showing up the 10
year olds and then threw a ball back to the counselor and literally hit him in
the chest. I was a proud dad.
Love you guys!
D
Sat 29 Apr 2006
We finally made it out of the Czech Republic and our last couple of days there
were really nice. It was great not to have the stress of school and just enjoy
the place for a while. The weather turned into Spring and was wonderful! We
left a lot of our belongings over there trying to lighten our luggage. Connor
has been key in getting through the airports because he have taught him to go
up to the check in people and say hello in whatever language.
It warms up the workers and they have been waiving our extra luggage fees! So
far he has used Dobre Den, Bonjour, Buenos Dias, and ´ello.
We went from Prague into Paris and then took the Disney bus out to Disneyland.
Andrea had worked her magic so it was free to head out there for the day and
we booked a super cheap hotel that included breakfast! It has been fun trying
to get around Europe as cheap as possible, using Andrea´s business cards and
an assortment of credit cards. Disneyland Paris was ok, but a little lacking.
It was nice to have some Americana though! We were laughing because we went in
to Frontierland and went straight in for some American food!
Then we went to a hotel in Paris that we found an great deal at. We saw the
Eiffle Tower, walked all the way from the Louve to the Arc de Triump, ducked
the lines at the Musee de Orsay and saw some art, saw Notre Dame, ate some
serious crepes, and Andrea took us around looking at DeVince Code stuff. It
was fast and furious, but the weather was great and we had fun.
We then flew to London and caught a flight down to the South of Spain with
this discount British tour group. Spain is fantastic and it is so nice to be
in a country where I can understand what is going on. Connor is practicing his
Spanish and having fun playing with some British kids in the kids clubs. We
will be here for a week until we fly home on May 5th into LA. We are trying
to decide if we are going to take this tour that goes to Morroco for the day.
I think Andrea just wants to have “Africa” on her passport! She said it is
worth not eating this week to do it, so we might loose some serious weight as
well. 
Possibly the best part of this time is that the rest of the T Birds on campus
are still in school. I guess the stress of the compacted semester in Prague
is worth it now and we are enjoying spending this time together as a family.
Love you,
Danny, Andrea, Connor
Thu 27 Apr 2006
So Mickey does not have a French accent, just in case you were wondering. Disneyland Paris however felt like home sweet home. After arriving we made a B line for frontier land and found us some good old fashion American food. It was delicious, we could not stop smiling!! The park had its own unique flair, but overall we decided nothing could top our favorite, Disney World. We stayed at a great hotel that was more like a castle and Connor had a bunk bed with curtains that he loved. We could have stayed in the room and he probably would have been happy just jumping off the bunk bed all day instead of going to the park. Great day. Tomorrow we are off to the real Paris!!
Sun 23 Apr 2006
Danny and I have both remarked about how this past four months have been some of the best times of our lives. We have had more quality time together here as a family than perhaps any other time I can remember in the past few years – excluding of course the last three weeks for finals where I was not sure if I still had a husband. Danny has had to study a lot, but living so close to the classrooms, (down the hall and one flight of stairs) has been great for our family. He has been able to come home for breakfast, lunch and is usually home by four or five. He took fewer credits this semester so we could spend more time exploring and traveling and it has been well worth it.
We have met fabulous people and have had great experiences. Here are some of our friends we are saying goodbye to…
Above is Peter, Denek, and Merek. We leave with sad hearts knowing we will miss the friends we have made, but we are looking forward to the next adventure life will bring. Speaking of that adventure we are saying goodbye and packing like mad, getting ready for our first destination: Disneyland Paris! We figured we (being a Disney family) can’t be all the way around the world and not check out another Disney castle. Here is our itinerary:
April 24th Fly Prague to Paris
April 24th Disneyland Paris – Stay at the Vienna International Dream Castle
April 25th Check in Paris Hotel -Explore Paris
April 26th Explore Paris
April 27th Fly to London check in Hilton at Airport
April 28th Fly London to Maliga Spain
May 3rd Bus and Boat ride to Morocco
May 5th Fly Maliga Spain to London
May 5th Spend day touring London
May 6th London to LAX and home to USA!
Here we go…….
Mon 20 Mar 2006
Hello all! This is Danny posting for Andrea, so it might not be as cute and creative!
This weekend we rented a car with two friends and drove over to Frankfurt, Germany. I don’t think I have ever been as impressed with a country! The drive was about four hours long and we stayed in a hotel on the North side of the ciy. Our hotel was actually connected to a neat mall and I have to say that is was nice to be in a Toys-R-Us again. Pretty much everybody that we came in contact with was very friendly and spoke English. Connor and I went to a very large, three-story grocery store Saturday morning and almost didn’t leave the pastry bar.
Andrea, Connor and I drove out to Heidelberg that afternoon and it might be my new favorite city. We fell in love with the town and wished we could have spent more time there. The castle was incredible and we had a nice walk in the pedestrian area in the middle of the town. (This was one of Devin’s old areas and it was cool to be where he was.)
Driving on the “autobon” was sweet—-I have never been going so fast and had other cars blur by! On Sunday Connor and I drove around Frankfurt and then we all went to Church at the Frankfurt International Ward. This was another place Devin had served, so I took lots of pictures there as well. After Church we visited the Frankfurt Temple.
As far as the food goes, Devin gave us a good recommendation on the Doner Kababs. It is meat carved into a flat bread and is wonderful. I had one (ok, two) each day we were there along with some tasty bratworst. We made it back safe and sound, but now it is time to hit the books!
To view the pictures of the trip, go to snapfish.com and log in with the name family@heidtech.com and password family.
Tschuss!