It's A Clark's Life

Kieft Visit

We love this family!!!  The Kiefts have been our good friends since our days on Aurora Street.  They were our awesome neighbors.  We call that time period of living on the same street as "Utopia"  We were thrilled when we heard they were coming for a visit in Germany. Their little guy Eli is nine months older than Bryce and they were two peas in a pod.  Bryce adored Eli and the two of them got along famously.  Dylan wasn't let out of all the fun, Brian stepped in as his play mate.  Berly was 5 months pregnant with their second son and I thought she would want to take it easy and just visit, but was I wrong!  I should have known with the Kiefts, if there is an adventure to be had, they were going for it!  Preggers and all!

If you come to visit, we will surely take you to the Rittergutl.  It's our town's local biergarten that boasts stunning views of the alps (on a clear day, LOL).  This is us walking to our favorite restaurant! 

Angelic Boys.
The Mai baum pole being painted for the Maibaum celebration.
Andechs Monstary and Brewery - has preztels the size of the boys' heads! They loved every bit! Brian in Marienplatz.
Outside the Ratskeller restaurant. There were 7 of us who started out on the venture of climbing the clocktower.  Two  - 3 year olds, a 6 year old, a pregnant mamma, Brian, Greg and Katharine.  6 people made it to the top, one coward out 3/4ths of the way up, who would you guess didn't make it?  One of the 3 year olds???  Nope!  It was Katharine. High tailed it down the stairs for sure footing.   Happiness.
Neuschwanstien Castle.  
Tubbies!

Spring Break - Portugal

A much needed break from the duldrums of the sickness in our house brought us to Albufeira, Portugal.  We stayed at the gorgeous Pine Cliffs Resorts.   http://www.pinecliffs.com/  We celebrated Easter there and the resourceful Easter bunny discovered where the Clark boys were vacationing and left beach surprises for them.  All the boys, Greg, Dylan and Bryce fell in love with the game of golf.  They hit numerous buckets of golf balls and Greg played several rounds of golf.  The scerery was stunning - unseasonably cool, unfortuante for us but we were just happy to see the sunshine and dip our toes in the ocean.  The boys played at the pirate playground nearly every day.  Bryce couldn't get enough of the beach and digging in the sand.  Dylan met a little boy named, Archie from Dublin, Ireland.  They got along famously and taught each other how to play "American" football and rugby.  The best part of the vacation was "unplugging".  Greg and I decided that we wouldn't pay the internet fee and locked up all electronic devices for the week.  Divine!  The boys were great at all meals, no ipad needed.  It was a fabulous holiday and we are already booking for next spring break!  Our apartment was a perfect set up.  Two bedrooms, two full baths, full kitchen, washer/ dryer.  
A highlight of the resort for Bryce was the mini golf course! The Easter Bunny came!!!
Archie and Dylan. Nina the Cat.  She was the driving range mascot.  Super sweet and loving kitty whom Bryce adored.  I think she even gave him some putting tips. Lunch at the beach! Dylan found the Easter Bunny on the way to the Easter Egg hunt.  Bryce wasn't about to get near that character, even though he just loaded him up on sweets. Get Ready, Get Set, GO!!!  A lot of hype went into this Easter Egg Hunt and it looked fabulous but when they decided to put all the ages of kids together in one big hunt, that left the little ones without any eggs to find.  One big boy gave Dylan and Bryce an egg of his, so sweet.


  

The boys became pretty popular at the driving range and even got a ride from the John Deere ball collector.   Love this picture!
and this one! and this one!