Portugal! Our first "family" vacation.....

May 18-24, 2009

With a couple holidays on Thursday and Friday, we decided to put together our first family vacation. We decided to spend most of the week in the South of Portugal in a popular beach town called Albufeira. With something like 300+ days of sunshine, we figured we couldn't go wrong.

Pretty excited for our first day of vacation.

The first thing Noah saw was the big palm tree in the yard. He could sit and watch it move and make noise in the wind forever (really like 5 mins., but it felt like forever). Normally, I wouldn't brag about learning something from our 5 month old, but in this case we quickly recognized how cool it was to have the opportunity to lay under a palm tree.

Wanting to EAT the beloved palm tree!

My kind of baby watching. An activity gym, a Portuguese beer, a few palm trees, and the Kindle.

Geared up for our first trip to the pool

He didn't know what to make of it at first. But soon learned it was more fun than the the bath.





In old town Albufeira

Nothing can beat grilled meats and a pitcher of Sangria. I think Noah agrees, at least about the meat.



Albufeira Beach




It was a good thing we didn't come for the ocean swimming, since my feet were numb by the time this picture was taken

So, someone had the great idea to put Noah in, instead. He thought it was pretty funny at first, but then started lifting his legs up to avoid the water.

He enjoyed sleeping under the umbrella much more

On Saturday, we headed to Lisbon. It was kind of fun because we did no research on the city before arriving. Just figured it out while we walked around (and after arriving home, thanks to Wikipedia). We got there just in time to see a Portuguese singing and dancing competition.

The main drag in the historical district. Notice the intricate brick road. All of the roads of this area were similar.

The Rua Augusta Arch. It is located on Rua Augusta, so that makes sense, but could not figure out what for. It seems it separates the commercial part of town from the old port. Recalling our 8th grade history, we remembered that Vasco Da Gama left from Lisbon on his journey around the tip of S. Africa to find the Indies. So, we found this a fitting spot to stop and give thanks to Mr. Da Gama for finding silk, spices, and other nice stuff.

We enjoyed a parade with much dancing and singing. We asked a street vendor what was the occasion and he replied, "Oh that, they do it all the time". We pretended it was the Annual African Heritage parade (sounds like Boulderdash?) and made it much more fun.

Every European city seems to have an area with bizarre seating arrangements. For example, St. Gallen with the rubberized benches growing out of the pavement or the 2000 year old pillars that fell down and nobody bothered to pick up in Rome. These lounges were on wheels and they all had trees growing out the back.


Noah had to see what all the fuss was about!

This was a first. A dog begging for change. It is hard to see, but it is holding his change cup in its mouth.

It worked, how can you resist

A local model posing in front of the river and next to a colorful tree

Oh oh, castle walls. You can't pass up a chance to explore a castle!

Up we climbed. Here we are waiting for Mom to catch up

Kurt's requirements for a cool castle: 1) Arrow slits, lots and lots of arrow slits 2) A moat, even if it is now dried up 3) Ramparts, you know to walk around on 4) A drawbridge 5) Towers, the more the better! So, 4 out of 5 isn't bad.


Now, those are arrow slits. The Castle of Sao Jorge sits on ground that fortified the first settlements in the 6th century B.C. It has seen many wars. Most notably, it was taken from the Muslim Moors in 1147 A.D. during the 2nd crusade.


Noah agrees, arrow slits are fun


He even found some his own size. (Couldn't quite figure out why?)


A family picture from atop the castle walls


A view of Lisbon from the castle. The Cristo Rei is on a hill in the background next to a bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge (actually made by the same company).

A view of the Cristo Rei. It is quite dramatic looking down across the river onto Lisbon. The Cristo Rei was constructed soon after the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

Castle exploring tuckered Noah out. Doing the Sleepy Noah Box Step at the entrance

Although successful in putting him to sleep, getting around in Lisbon didn't help him stay that way

We had a great traditional Portuguese meal. The overtired Noah was all we needed for the evenings entertainment.

We have only seen him this way a couple of times. He laughed for 15 mins. straight. If you dared look at him he would crack up. And if you wouldn't look at him, he would get the attention of our fellow patrons and have them laughing. As you can imagine, he slept like a log

What's a blog without a silly video?

Mother's Day

May 10, 2009

Muttertag!!

Posing in his skivvies for the Grandmas' Card

Giving Mommy her gift for her first Mother's Day. Noah and Daddy found Oreo cookies, Mom's favorite, from an international candy store in Zurich and made a double layered Oreo ice cream cake. I think Noah enjoyed giving it just as much as making it. Upon seeing Mommy's excitement, he couldn't help himself and started laughing and screaming along with Mommy.

Noah diving into his slice


For the day, we decided to take Mommy to "Europe's largest" waterfalls on the Rhine River on the border of Switzerland and Germany.




No, I swear this is the largest waterfall in Europe. We thought at first that it was just a rapid or something before the main event. Nope, that was it. All 70 ft! Although it was a bit disappointing in size, it was still really beautiful.

Noah enjoyed the people watching. We kept telling him it was rude to laugh as people walked by, but he didn't listen. After the waterfall, we walked around the historic town of Shaffhausen and had a couple Heinnies at an outdoor cafe.

So, this week also had a couple more firsts. Here, Noah is eating his first solid food. We expected him to make funny faces and spit it back up, but instead he went to town!! You couldn't give it to him fast enough.

He loved it so much, he even sucked it up straight off his tray



He also started on the "Exersaucer".

The first time in it, he didn't know what to do. He just kept spinning around, laughing, a bit overwhelmed by all the great toys

A silly video of Noah's enthusiasm for his new food!