Gettin Older One Birthday at a Time

Hey Everyone,

There were a couple of birthdays and events in June worth sharing. It seems like each summer goes really fast and has a lot of events. The first one this time around is Dad's birthday. Mommy made him a golf themed cake. Check it out.
This is the entire spread. Blue glass water hazards, white chocolate golf balls, rice crispy sand traps, etc. . .

There were even real grass center pieces.

The cake bites were a hit as always. Dad likes to eat these in one bite :)

The flag sticks were tasty too. Chocolate and pretzels, magnificent!

I don't know who Arnold Palmer is, but this drink looked good.

Daddy seemed a little put off when he saw this sign, but I can't read just yet, so I just thought it looked cool.

After a couple hours in the sun, the cake started to melt. I wonder if Dad looks like this on the 18th hole?

And then, 2 weeks after Dad's party, the real fun began. We had my 4th birthday party!!

It was Toy Story themed, and there were a bunch of people from my pre-school class.

Mommy made me a special cake for the party. The characters are purchased from the toy store, but she made the rest herself with a little help from Aunt Liz. I think she keeps getting better at cake making.

And there were Ham, Evil Dr Porkchop, and Mr Potato Head cake pops. It was awesome.

Some of the neighbor kids were over, and Marcus made it back from Indiana too! He came back to see his family, but I was lucky enough to see him while he was in town.

I got some cool gifts. I like the army guys, so now they have a new ride to get around.

And I got a sward and armor set. I can take on Dad with confidence now.

I also got a new Thomas the Train Sodor Steam Works set. It looks really nice in my train setup.

Dad and Mom got me a slot car racing set. I love to race. Grampa went down in this round :)

Then, the next day, we went and played golf. I love golf!!

I went with Aunt Liz, Grampa, and Dad.

And to top it off, we went to a Mariners game for Father's Day (same day as golfing). Grampa is a baseball pro, so he had lots to share.

We all had a good time, and I got great food to eat. I think Finley tried cotton candy, and I made sure to get french fries.

Jenny and Ian were messing around with Finley. Thanks for taking the heat off of me sister.

Apparently Mom and Dad have gone Hollywood with the sun glasses, but I like the look. I can't wait until I turn 5 !!

European Summer Vacation

Hello Everyone,

It has been a LONG TIME since the last blog post and life just keeps coming. There is no good place to pick it up again, but we had a great family trip last month and, well, why not start there?

I started the trip with a bang!! Well, napping of course, in the Frankfurt airport. Finley and I minimized our nap time on the flight leg from Seattle to Frankfurt, so I caught a little nap in the stroller.

And, before I could blink, we were at Aunt Rooof's (Aunt Ruth) place. Finley went for a bath to clean the trip away.

I managed the same end goal, but with a little athletic swim sport.

During our time in Austria, we went to a kids place that Dad went to as a kid.

It was called the Grottenbahn, and it was like a village of plastic dwarfs. . . think of an Austrian version of "Its a Small World After All".

Finley made good friends with one of the locals.

We all rode the ride through the tunnel on a train, looking at all the dwarf displays.

And there was a mini-replica of Linz as it looked a couple decades ago. All the buildings were kid sized :)

That's right people, the Grottenbahn. Make it part of your Austrian vacation!

Then, on the way home, we went to the petting zoo. We found out that Finley is addicted to animals.

Hey ram, come here. Finley will feed you.

Hey Oma, what's in this pen? Ah, I see it, a kangaroo in the distance, with a joey in her pouch.

When we fed the donkeys, they got a little unruly. Try a tooth brush guys. . .

Back at Aunt Roooooofs, we had no trouble settling in and relaxing.

Honestly, I don't remember where this was. But, I had to take another nap on the go.

And then, before we knew it, we were on the boat. And, I was napping again, this time on the way in to see the town of Bari.

Once I woke up, I had an apple in front of the town's fortress.

Inside the fortress, we managed to find some fellow tourists to take our photo.

And, well, who can resist making friends with a stone carving along the way.Back on the boat, Tanya and Finley had a "strict face making" contest.

And then, I fell asleep again on the deck. This time, I was eating french fries.

When we visited Olympia, Daddy and I made sure to eat a couple olives off the trees to carbo-load.

We saw the temple of Zeus and climbed around the ruins for a while.

Then, we raced on the original Olympic track. I won.

Finley got a ride the baby carrier.

Christian, Jurgen, and Daddy were starting to buddy up by this point. Dangerous.

Back again on the boat, Finley made sure to fashion a new hat with Aunt Rooofs help.

We had two nights on the boat that were formal dinner nights. Finley and Mommy were smashing on the first night. Finley had an off the shoulder dress that was edgy.

Our day in Santorini was incredible. We had great weather.

On the highest point of the island, we stopped for a little bit to take a Scharpenberg family photo.

And then, back on the boat again. This time we made sure Hippo got a picture of his own.

In Athens, we had to go see the Acropolis.

We had a good time running around the ruins.

Mommy and Daddy even showed a little affection on top of Mars Hill.

And that night, back on the boat of course, Oma and Aunt Roooooooooof showed a little sisterly love.

I sat next to Jurgen a bunch of nights and he kept me well fed with french fries and helped me with my video games.

On the second formal night, we got another picture, this time of Mommy, Daddy, and Finley. What do you think, was Finley getting tired of pictures?

On our day in Corfu, after carrying Finley around for a little while, Daddy took me up to the top of the fortress to see the view.

I'm on the top of the world!!!!!

And on the way back down, Opa got in the picture with the cannons they had on display.

And then we were on to Debruvnik. Daddy was playing around with Oma and Aunt Roooooof.

While we were walking the old town walls, Finley made sure to take some of the trip under her own power.

For a little while there, we even locked Finley up to keep her under control.Once we had made it half-way around the city, we stopped for a treat. I had ice cream. Does it show on my face?

And, on the way back to the boat, we stopped to see a guy that had a whole bunch of birds. I made sure that Christian and I got a chance to visit the birds up close :)

And then, I fell asleep. Again . . .

Our last port on the trip was Venice. I love that place. They had great pizza.

And, after lunch, we made it over the Realto Bridge.

And, once we made it St Marc's Square. . . I was sleeping again :) What can I say, it was a long trip.

And, even though we had a long trip home, it felt a little bit like it ended there. At least, I'd say the Scharpenbergs left a little bit of our hearts in Venice.