Catchin' Up

So for reals yo, I am like, totally going to get this blog thing up to date! I'm totes serious! (Umm, is there a correct way to spell "totes"? Short for totally? I tried "tots" but isn't that short for toddler. Baffling.)
Anyway, here-we-go!
January 2013
The Rowe's go to Richmond, Virginia, to visit some civil war sites, eats some good ole southern food and enjoy a warm winter's day in the mid-Atlantic!

It's a well known fact that unless you dress up on trips to historical sites, your brain can't take in any of the historical information. It's basically a necessity.

Oh! And Trum made an excellent rocket for the Cub Scout Space Derby.

February 2013
Blue and Gold Banquet and Truman's Birthday: a few facts. The scout leaders seriously went all out, the decorations were great, food was great and the kids had fun. They also had a talent show, and we wanted Trum to share a talent that will really come in handy in the future so...

For The Big 9, we took Trum and his two friends, who also turned 9 in January and February, to the Spy Museum and McDonald's. It was a little crazy and I think I need to go again by myself. But they were so cute and so delighted to get to eat at McDonald's, you would think they were deprived or something.

March 2013

In March Jack and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary! What the heck?! 14! I really felt old when I realized one of my MiaMaids was born on the day we got married. Madness, I tell you!

Sadly, I took no photos of our fun date in the city, but here's a picture of us shockingly taking a nap together when we were engaged.(Don't be too shocked we were right in the middle of Jack's family's living room, while everyone else watched T.V.)

April 2013
In April, we went camping with the Young Women from our ward. Jack thrilled them all with his knife safety expertise and his guitar playing. Later that month I thrilled them with my Chicken Dance skills.

May 2013

In May, we were visited by a hoard of Idaohan Women! Jack's mom & our beloved Sherry came to visit with some "youngsters"(20-30's) from McCammon. One day while they were in town we went up to Philly for the day and had a grand time.

Jack shows us his AMAZING strength!

I am in love with this picture because we both look so annoyed. I think Truman was taking our picture.

Okay, that's enough for now. I will have to do a summer post next. But not tonight! So just quite begging okay!

Livin' Large

Holy cow it has been, literally, ages since I posted on here. And it is not like awesome stuff hasn't been happening! Because, FOR SURE, our lives are filled with awesomeness.
Let's see,
 Awesomeness #1 Truman turned 9, got his wolf badge, took a fencing class, became obsessed with MineCraft and actually tricked me with the aide of his friend Peter (it involved Pete hiding in our car after school and then popping out when we were on our way home. It was pretty funny and they were pretty proud of themselves.)
Awesomeness #2 Jack did not turn 9, got his wolf badge at some point in the 80's, became obsessed with Indiana Jones on the Xbox, and he surprised me with a fancy day in the city with Tapas and an art exhibit. So he's a little bit tricky as well.
Awesomeness #3 I ate 9 carrots the other day while driving, got my mother's wolf pin and I wear it all the time, became obsessed with Pinterest and I tricked myself into working by getting a job.
Also, I am typing this on the wrong computer, so I don't have any pictures that are new, so I will just share some other nonsense.

Moldy Cheese from Truman's Mold Farm Science experiment.

Look at this tiny little man. He's still pretty cute!

Fun times in Krakow!

 

Travels in Europe Rowe Style

You might have noticed that we like to travel. We love it! And it doesn't even really matter where we go. Each new place is an adventure. In fact just the other day, Jack surprised us with a fun day-trip to Richmond, VA. It was great! But, of course, we do especially love to go to Europe.
I mean, who wouldn't?

Some have accused us of being "fancy" with our trips. But we pride ourselves on trying to be cheap. How do we do it you may wonder. Well...

#1. Airline Miles: We save these up like they are gold. It also helps if you have a husband who travels to far off lands (like Mongolia) for work and earns lots of miles that way.

&

#2. Per Diem: When the husband is on these trips to far off lands (like Mongolia) for work, his work provides him with a daily stipend called Per Diem, as in per day. With which he buys his food and pays for transportation and such. Then when he gets back if he hasn't used it all he gets to keep the excess!! Are you kidding me? Awesome! The husband at our house is super cheap and always has lots of extra "Per Diem" which we then use to fund our travels.

But along with funding the trips, we also try to do things on the cheap while we are there. Would you like those hints as well?
I hope so, because here they come.

#1. We stay in reasonable hotels that provide breakfast.

 

#2. We have found that now that we are taking Trum with us, renting a car is more affordable and more convenient. But you need to book from home, it's cheaper this way. Jack doesn't count the cost of gas as a trip expense since we would be buying gas if we were home anyway. Plus you will probably be driving a tiny, fuel effecient car!

#3. Picnic lunches! We try to eat out only once a day. We usually make a picnic out of bread, cheese, sausage and of course Fanta. But when traveling with an American child in Europe, you have to throw in a hamburger a few times as well.

#4. Travel in the off season. This trip we went in November. Admittedly, it was a bit chilly once in a while and a few sites were closed, but for the most part it was beautiful and free of crowds.

#5. Take it easy with souvenirs. You can easily get carried away. I try to stop and consider how this would fit into my home and if it will be a pain to pack or carry on the plane. For example, I love these things, but they would be hard to get home so I just took a picture instead.

 #6. Never skimp on experiences! We have found this out the hard way. When we got home and wished we had just gone ahead and paid the ridiculous and probably exorbitant price to try something new or unique. But I will never regret paying to ride a camel in Jerusalem or paying for Truman to try archery in Budapest!

I am sure we have other things we do but that's all I can think of right now. Here are some more pictures from our trip.

Prague

Prague Castle

Wenceslas Square

Charles Bridge

Vltava River

Love Locks

John Lennon Wall

I LOVE Mucha!

Krakow

Wawal Castle Dragon

Main Market Square

Renaissance Cloth Hall 

Basilica of the Virgin Mary

Hi! Below Wawal Castle

Wieliczka Salt Mines

Underground chapel, carved from salt

 

Birkenau Concentration Camp

We only went for an hour, we weren't sure if Trum could understand it or handle it. And just in that hour we could still feel the horror of that place.

 Spiš Castle, Slovakia

 

 Eger, Hungary

Budapest

Andrássy Avenue

Heroes' Square

Budapest has the most beautiful metro stops.

When we got off the metro we ran into our friend Lana!

Anonymous. We had to wait for like 20 minutes to get this picture. Two woman took like 40 different pictures of themselves here. I'm not sure why.

This Market Hall was my favorite. We had the best food there and it was not full of tourists. Look at that apple pie!

Chain Bridge

 

Parliament

Trum with his Bag O' Milk

 Bratislova!

We only stopped for the day & I was kind of annoyed at Jack for making us. But it was so beautiful. I should really have more faith in my husband...maybe.

 Melk Abby, Austria

Excuse the blurriness. This was our second attempt to see Melk Abby and this time we were victorious! It was gorgeous!

 Cesky Krumlov, Slovakia

Extremely narrow and steep road to our room.

Our morning view

Plague tower

Medieval Streets!

Fun With Statues!