Summer Vacation - Tyler and Marisa's Wedding

This summer marked a Farrell family milestone - all 5 Farrell siblings are married.  

On June 1st, my youngest brother, Tyler, married his high school sweetheart, Marisa, 

and joined the ranks of marriage-hood - lucky him (and her)!  

They were married in a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple.

Family and friends gathered to show their love and support for Tyler and Marisa and celebrate their special day.  There were lots of hugs and smiles and laughs and even a few tears of joy.  Plus, lots and lots and lots of picture taking. 

At the reception later that day, there were more pictures with family and the stylish wedding party consisting of 7 bridesmaids in pretty turquoise dresses and white sweaters and 7 groomsmen in turquoise shirts, white pants and bow ties, and even matching socks (unfortunately my camera died so I didn't get any pics of the good looking group but the professional photographer got some great ones!). There was delicious food, outdoor games for the kids, a photo booth (that the my kids loved, especially Abby who had 20+ different poses), visiting, and dancing.  

It was a perfect day for Tyler and Marisa to start the rest of their lives together!

Before Tyler's big day arrived, we 5 siblings did our traditional "sibling date" at a trampoline arena.  The building was filled with linked trampolines for jumping, bouncing off walls, playing dodgeball, reaching and jumping off platforms, falling into foam pits, and more.  During our 2 hour long jumping adventure we learned a few things about each other:

1. Krista's Ungraceful (with a capital U)! Especially when trying to soften her jump from a 6 ft platform onto a trampoline so she doesn't fly very far into the foam pit (ungracefulness = tramp burns and a pitiful crawl to the foam pit)
2. Stacy's lengthy procrastination to jump off the highest platform led the employee on duty to let us break a rule and push her in (the best part was watching her plug her nose just as she reached the foam pit).
3. Becky's claustrophobia can be overcome with competitiveness.  She jumped into the foam pit despite her intense fears just so she wouldn't be known as a weaker or less adventurous sibling.
4. Bobby sunk the deepest into the foam pit.  Climbing out was a tougher workout than he'd done in years (those bulging chest and arm muscles didn't help much).
5. And although Tyler jumped so effortlessly he still could never quite touch the top, orange pads.  It's good to know we all have some limitations.  

After our fun playtime, we went to dinner and shared our thoughts and experiences about marriage and life.  We hoped to pass on some helpful advice to Tyler but I think we all learned from each other.  I definitely got some good tips and ideas.  I have the coolest, most amazing brothers and sisters - I LOVE THEM!

With all 5 kids married, Mom and Dad are empty nesters (or at least they will be as soon as we return back to Macau), a new stage of life I'm sure will be filled with numerous adjustments.  For one, the house will be eerily quiet, at least until grandkids visit (which tends to be in big groups and can be deafening).  But, thank goodness for modern technology which allows them to keep in contact with us easier even though we're in different parts of the world, including Arizona, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Macau, and Utah.  We can still talk and even see each other.  I'm still hoping Mom and Dad will rack up frequent flyer miles visiting my other siblings (the most visited sibling doesn't mean they're The Favorite - I claim that title ;)) so they can come visit us again in Macau.

Summer Vacation - Part 2

We typically take at least 2 trips to Washington state every year to visit the Kisebach side of the family. But being out of the country for almost a year, we had to make up for some precious lost time.  We spent 2 full weeks in this beautiful state visiting grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a few of Kyle's school buddies.

Spokane and Lacey, Washington

With lots of amazing parks and great weather, we spent much of our time in Spokane playing outdoors.  Riverfront Park, located along the Spokane River 

and created for the World Fair in 1974, is a favorite of ours.  Aunt Kelly joined us as we explored the huge park.  First on our list, feed the garbage eating goat.

We discovered the park is bigger than we realized and has many more fun things, like the giant red wagon playground.  The kids climbed the stairs at the rear of the wagon, 

slid down the white handle slide and

swung from the monkey bars underneath the wagon.

Another day at Comstock Park, we found the tallest swing sets we've ever seen.

On these swings, it was easy to go super high and even a bit scary.  

Notice that Grandma Gloria was easily her height and more above the ground (and she wasn't even half as high as she could swing.

For a date, Kyle and I took a nice morning walk along the Spokane River not far from Gonzaga University (see the 2 steeples on the far left).

And trip to Spokane always includes a trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to visit the Bjorkman clan (some of whom escaped before we took the big family picture).

 Lake Coeur d'Alene was pretty cold but Cade still got his feet wet while the other kids enjoyed playing on the beach.

A week on the west side of Washington included a beautiful afternoon at a park on the southern tip of Lake Washington catching up with one of Kyle's high school friends, who he hadn't seen in almost 20 years (boy does that makes us sound old! - and we were so busy talking we forgot to take a picture of the two buddies).

It also meant lots of time with Uncle Gavin, Aunt Nicole, and cousins Alahna and Maria, who are just about a month older than Abby and Leah.

Maria and Leah were inseparable and absolutely adorable together.

As you can see, Alahna and Abby had lots of fun too.
During our visit, we went to a glass museum

and watched professional glass making artists (even the kids were mesmerized by the process).

Most of the amazing artworks were showcased in the ceiling of a bridge connected to the building and what better way to capture the artwork

 than with the camera on the ground.  Fun pictures!

We also went to the Farmer's Market where got these super cute balloon creations.

But, our favorite place was Tolmie State Park along the Puget Sound.  We hiked, found hundreds of caterpillars, skipped rocks, searched for crabs, visited, and enjoyed a nice BBQ picnic.

Nicole showed Cade and Abby how to roast bread sticks (which were a big hit) while the other kids played and did the "cousin dog pile".

We had a fantastic visit!  Here's the whole gang (minus Grandma, who took the picture)

but we got her with all the grandkids - what a happy Grandma! (But, this is the last time she will be the tallest among them - they're catching up to her FAST).

Grandpa wasn't able to make the trip west with us (so Grandma got some special time with the grandkids undistracted by silly Paca) but we returned to Spokane and had a nice Father's Day with him.

Another big highlight of our Washington trip was Abby cutting her hair and donating it to the Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children suffering from hair loss diseases.

Abby was a little nervous but loved being able to help someone in need.  Plus, she loved her new haircut!

Summer Vacation - Part 1

Our 2 month summer vacation began with a wonderful surprise - a group of our dear friends meet us at the ferry terminal to say goodbye, give us hugs and kisses and a bag full of goodies to take on the ferry and airplane rides.  What a bunch of sweethearts!  We embarked on our long trip overwhelmed by the love and kindness of good friends.  We'll miss them all!    

While waiting to board our plane at the Hong Kong airport, Ian pulled out his tooth.  

He was a little concerned the Tooth Fairy wouldn't find him and wondered what kind of money she'd leave for him - would it be MOP, HKD, EURO, or USD?  Who knew the tooth fairy had to have such a wide range of world currency.

Our first stop - Paris and Amiens, France

Our 3-day visit to France was amazing!  There is way too much to see and do and taste and experience in a few days but we packed our time full of sightseeing, history, food, and shopping.

On a rainy day, we visited the Eiffel Tower but

returned in better weather so we could go to the top.

 

A big hug to Abby for overcoming some fears so we could be together on the Eiffel Tower to fulfill Ian's and Mommy's wishes.  Thanks Abs!

We circled the Arc de Triomphe, an impressive and inspiring monument, a number of times as we maneuvered through the massive roundabout surrounding it. 

We visited The Louvre,

housed in an incredible fortress,

and saw countless works of art

including the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.  

Jet lag, closing time, and the sheer size of this museum made it impossible to see everything but it was still a fantastic visit, especially for our young art lover, Cade.

We walked along the Seine River and

ate a delicious hot chocolate and croissant breakfast outside a cafe overlooking the river.

We met up with Kyle's friend/boss who gave us a personal tour of Notre Dame and shared some interesting facts about this 850 year old cathedral that took almost 200 years to build and the destruction it suffered during the French Revolution.

We learned about flying buttresses and the real purpose of gargoyles and why they're so ugly.  A spout inside a gargoyle spews rainwater from the roof away from the building to avoid running down the masonry walls and eroding the mortar.  The grotesqueness of gargoyles is believed to help scare away evil spirits.

We also learned that the green statues around the steeple represent the 12 Apostles.  The statues are in groups of 3 on the 4 sides of the steeple and face away from the steeple overlooking the city except for one.  The statue turned towards the steeple with his arm shielding his face (the far right in the picture above) represents "Doubting Thomas".

Plus, we found Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

 The interior architecture and stained glass windows are absolutely beautiful.

To add to the inspiring spirit in the cathedral, an all-men's choir sang sacred hymns and chants as we walked around.

In Paris, we stayed at a quaint hotel (located on the right side of the street)

with the most DELICIOUS bakery we've ever been to across the street.

After 2 days in Paris, we drove through the vibrantly colored French country side,

with the bright yellow colza fields (made into cooking oil)

and often tree-lined roads to visit Amiens.

On the way, we noticed the road signs really do look like the card game, Mille Bornes.

Amiens is located on the Somme River and

  
is home to the tallest Gothic cathedral in France.

Walking the streets of Amiens on Sunday morning, we were greeted by many friendly people carrying baguettes and saying "bonjour".  It was so funny, we felt like we were in the movie "Beauty and the Beast".

There are a large number of war memorials from the 1st and 2nd World Wars in the surrounding area.  We visited one of the largest, the Thiepval Memorial, dedicated to over 72,000 British forces who died in the Battles of the Somme during WWI.  

The adjoining cemetery contains graves for 300 British and 300 French soldiers from a 1916 battle.  The rectangular headstones on the left are British and the crosses on the right are French.  

Many of the headstones are for unknown soldiers and read "A Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God".

This was a very sacred place.  Our eyes were wet and our hearts full of love and gratitude for the ultimate sacrifices made and memorialized here.  Abby expressed our thoughts beautifully in the guest registry, "may there never be again wars like this and let peace run throughout the land."

Our visit to France was short but we got a taste and a flavor of this beautiful, historical place and would love to return to see and experience more someday.  Au revoir!