Madrid

Madrid rocks! The capital of Spain is quite the town. Although I missed most of the celebrations following Spains victory in the Euro Championships, I still had a great time. The following are some of the highlights from my two days spent in this beautiful city.

The Palacio Real. It is the best preserved Palace in all of Europe or so says the Spanish. I am still kind of partial to Versailles.

Another look at the Palacio. The Madrid Opera is to my back.

The courtyard to the Palacio Real. I spent a lot of time here as there was plenty to see and learn about.

El Oso. This is the emblem of Madrid. This part of town was kind of crazy. It is called Sol and it had everything. Spent a lot of time here just kind of walking around.

Parque Juan Carlos I. This one is for JC. It was near my hotel.

Monument of Alfonso XII. This is at Parque del Retiro. The missionaries from the Madrid MTC had this place on lockdown. They even put on a concert. Good times.

The Puerta de Alcala, just outside the Parque del Retiro.

Not really sure why this was going on. I learned that there are some things us fat, hairy, naked guys should just not do. It was pretty funny though.

The Diosa Cibles statue that's in front of the Palacio de Communicaciones. It is one of the more famous landmarks in Madrid.

Nucky

London

I've finally gotten around to downloading pictures from some of my latest adventures to my computer, so hopefully in the coming days I will be posting more. Since neither Daisie or I have mentioned anything about London, I thought that would be as good a starting point as any. It was awesome! Some of the highlights were Daisie and I going to see The Sound of Music at a West End Theatre and also being able to see some of the preparations for the Queen's birthday. The girls as always were troopers! Here are the pics.

Daisie and I in front of Tower Bridge.

The eye of London.

Me in front of Westminster Abbey.

Buckingham Palace.

Daisie at the Tower of London. The building on the left is where the Queen's jewels are held. The building on the right is where the prisoners were kept, including Sir Thomas More.

So stay tuned as I hope to begin posting more frequently. I'm sure Daisie will also start up again now that things are slowing down for her (she does have lots of cool pictures from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.)

Nuck

The End Of An Era

So today has been the day I've been dreading for some time now... Daisie and the chicks are on their way back to Utah. Being in London over the weekend distracted me enough to make it a somewhat bearable goodbye scene at the airport. Nevertheless these next couple months can't go by fast enough!

Anyways, I thought I'd put something together with a few of the highlights that the past three months have provided us. Video disclaimer... I hope you enjoy seeing this, but by no means do I claim to the second coming of Steven Speilberg. Roger Ebert maybe... I'm more into judging than creating.

p.s. Love you tons Daisie, Samantha, and Sadie!!! Thanks for making this whole experience worthwhile for me! I miss you tons!!!

p.s.s. If anyone is in need of a pink or green stroller that have absolutely zero tread remaining give Daisie a shout out.

Nuck (aka Daddy)

Jardin d'Acclimatation

A couple Saturday's ago Daisie, the chicks, and I were able to go to the Jardin d'Acclimatation. The Jardin d'Acclimatation is a children's park inside the Bois de Boulogne. It has a zoo (which the girls weren't big fans of), rides, playgrounds, and puppet shows. It was a good time that was topped off with some wonderful Lebanese food later that evening. Here are some of the pics from our time there.

p.s. it's mother's day in France today, so Happy Mothers Day to Daisie, Mom, and Cas! Love ya tons!

Me and the chicks taking it easy.

Sadie was a bigger fan of the slide than she was of this horse.

Daisie and the girls at the entrance.

Sadie and Samantha trying to get in on the fun with the big kids.

Black swans?

Daisie thought the train was going to leave me while I was taking the picture. Silly girl.

The Latest Adventures

Daisie and the chicks took off this morning to Germany, so with my new found free time and being extremely bored I thought I would post some pictures from our latest sightseeing adventures.

The chicks hanging out waiting for the lights to come on at the Eiffel Tower.

Moulin Rouge. Not quite as exciting as the movie makes it out to be.

Sam really enjoys throwing the ball around with her old man.

This picture pretty much sums up our time in Paris. Mmmm gelato.

Taking a break on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Sadie and Sam love to run after the pigeons.

Daisie and I at the Arc de Triomphe.

The fountains at Versailles.

The Chateau of Versailles.

Belated Normandy Pics

So since I skipped from Mont Saint Michel to Barcelona, I figure now is as good a time as any to go back and post some pictures of our road trip to Normandy. I've become somewhat of a World War II junkie since watching Saving Private Ryan. Living in France and being able to go to the War Museum at Les Invalides and also the D-Day Beaches in Normandy has been a wonderful experience. Hope you like the pics.

The view of the ocean as we got to the beach.

This is Arromanches Beach, Omaha and Utah Beaches are in the distance.
Sam stopping for a late snack.
Sadie going for a stroll on the beach.

Word

Nuck

Barcelona

So since Daisie has already beat me to the punch with the Normandy pictures, I thought I'd post a couple from our trip to Barcelona.
The flight even though it was only an hour and a half, it pretty much sucked. Samantha was not on her best behavior and if the flight had been a WWF cage match, I think I would've tapped out. Nevertheless we made it there and everything from that point forward was awesome. If you ever get the chance to go to Barcelona I highly recommend it.

Montjuic. Luckily they've got escalators, my back still hurts from the week before.

Sagrada Familia. It is crazy big and quite possibly the most ornate church of all time. Instead of gargoyles on the sides it has snakes, lizards, and aligators. Sweet!

My lovely ladies sunbathing on the beach. Don't look too hard past Daisie or you might catch a glimpse of some hairy european dude in a speedo.

Looks like I'm not the only one in the family that isn't too down with this swimming thing.

Word up!

Nuck