whew! ok...lets see..where should i begin...first a quick woohoo to the RED SOX!!!!!!....and the pats too...well, we did england..it went by fast! but it was wicked (good). we went to the park and pushed little E in her pushchair (carriage) got to wash our pants (underwear) had a proper pint in a pub, saw a bunch of wankers (jerks i guess is a good way to explain it, we didnt really, i just wanted to put that word in my blog..hehe...), paid to use the loo (bathroom), heard about wags (wives of professional football players?), and saw big ben, westminster abbey, tower of london, london bridge all within 15 minutes! on the coach (bus). we also got to eat some fish n chips, which is all i wanted, and the boys had steak pie with a guinness gravy..yum! thanks so much again to linda for letting us invade her world for a few days! we can take over small areas very quickly....she has some pictures of us on her blog http://chroniclesofsquidgyboo.co.uk/

now we are in belgium. we did brussels. now we are in brugge, which is better, i think. we are probably only here for a day and then i think we are heading to paris. it is much colder here and it rained all day yesterday. so what do backpackers do on a cold rainy day in brussels?!........bowling!! thats right...we bowled..only 1 game..but it was fun. and of course i did horribly and to make matters worse when the guy typed in my name to the screen he typed Manu.....so while i lobbed balls in the gutter the boys found it hilarious to yell..."MANU MANU!!!" it was really funny...i laughed the whole time...thats why i lost....dan won..of course, but rayan (haha thats how his was spelled, but not nearly as funny as manu) was close behind. so after bowling we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a restaurant...we have to do it once in a while! i had mussels (apparently belgium has good mussels...its in the books...weird...) and they were good, and the boys had dinner specials-ryan fried mussels with fish and dan fried mussels with chicken. it was nice to sit by a fire and eat a warm meal with veggies. we had a belgian beer too...belgians are known for exceptional beer...the restaurant had 45 different types! i had one of the beers from a monastary brewery..it was good. dan and ryan got the same kind as each other, but i forgot what it was, it was a lot sweeter. oh! we had belgian waffles too!! in the morning ...how could i forget!! yum!

change in plans....so we have talked about a change in plans...if it goes smoothly it will be very cool...we are going to do paris in 2 days, switzerland in probably 1 (its expensive there!!) and then vienna austria for 1 or 2 days....then budapest!! we have heard so many amazing things about budapest and it is only a 3 hour ride from vienna...so we'll see! our rail pass covers hungary so i think we can pull it off. we will be in milan on nov. 8th to see my parents!! wooo!!! so maybe somewhere down the line i can post some pictures...i know i keep promising...its hard when you have to pay for internet and like here at this hotel, its free, but there is only 1 computer...so my time is limited.

it just started to POUR!!! crap......it was so very nice out!! hopefully it will pass........

well im off...im sure now that the red sox are over my blog will be everyones first priority now. ha! and if i dont get the opportunity...........HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

quick note to say we are in belgium...tomorrow i think there is free internet....so more tomorrow!! cant believe red sox won!!! crazy!!!!

we made it!!!....after starting off the day sleepless and missing our first bus and getting on the wrong train in the wrong direction....we made it! it was a looooooooong day and unfortunately we didnt get to our destination until around 8:30 pm..but its SO nice to be here and relax and we got to have some homemade chicken soup! yum! little E is so big (is that an oxymoron?) and has been so fun to watch and see how she understands things. We plan on just hanging out today and possibly some laundry?! woo! poor linda has met us when we are probably our smelliest.... especially ryans feet......ha! so me and the boys have babysitting duty tonight...should be fun. i'll try and post some pictures...and maybe investigate rescuing the others...hopefully. hope all is well in red sox nation!

WOOOOOOOOO RED SOX!! well its the 6th inning...we pulled an all-nighter....and now we are off on our very long journey......wish us well!!!

so my blog is getting boring! sorry! we are still in the same place...awaiting tomorrows adventure of bus, train, bus, airplane, train, bus, bus. we decided to stay one more night in utrecht at the free food hostel, its cheap and well, the food is free. plus, there are no hostels or cheap hotels in eindhoven (where the airport is) so we are waking up at 5am (HA!) and beginning our journey. ryan has been invited to stay here at the hostel as a volunteer...haha...sorry denise! free food, tv, foreign girls...sounds like the life...we managed to get our behinds in gear yesterday and search for a camera store where i could buy something that would help get the pictures back...but it was unsuccessful...hopefully i will have time in england...happy national pharmacy technician day to the girls at the pharmacy! haha!! i think it was yesterday...so thats all for now..next blog...cheery ol' england!! woo!!! hopefully things will run smoothly tomorrow! GO RED SOX!

so we are bouncing around from hostel to hostel and stumbled upon this one in utrecht with all the FREE food you want...how crazy....so naturally us poor backpackers have eaten ourselves stupid. we are trying to figure out if we can make it to arnhem where there is a national park with free bikes, but i cant seem to find any accommodation..so we'll see. we havent been doing much at all because we are really trying to save money..in a way i kind of feel like we miss out on some things but in the long run just being here is a great experience...but the euro is killing us! so this translates into good quality bonding time between the 3 of us...we played lots of cards, dutch scrabble with 18 letter E's...(is that normal? we couldnt remember)...dan played ryan in checkers a few times and beat him bad every time but ryan is such a good sport he agrees to play again and again....while i sit and try to plan tomorrow...GO RED SOX! the boys were bummed they are missing unbelievable pats games and important red sox games...hopefully we can catch some games somewhere! kira is going to meet us somewhere!!!!!! i havent seen her in 6 years maybe? and im super excited that she is planning on meeting us somewhere...she is such a beautiful person inside and out...so for now we are going to go walk around the city before the sun goes down and work off some of this food hopefully..and then we will probably come back and eat again.

prepare yourselves...........i accidently deleted ALL of our pictures.........i cant believe this happened.....and the ironic part..we just spent so long laughing over dinner looking back at all our great pictures..........i have one hope left of recovering them...please send us positive thoughts and keep your fingers crossed that i can!!!! otherwise......we've been busy bouncing around holland...its beautiful here. we spent 2 nights in the hague and i got us into a trivia night at a pub pulling the whole "we are poor backpackers and 5 euros to play isnt in our budget"...haha..woo! my sob story worked and we got to play and didnt do too bad actually...it was a lot of fun. then we went to ned kellys the bar that matt worked at while he was over here and we were welcomed with opened arms and lots of laughs! thanks matt for buying us some drinks!! then we headed to rotterdam for a day, not too impressed, and now we are in utrecht which is beautiful. im itching to visit england..which we leave for on the 25th. thats all for now i suppose....the hostel we are staying in here in utrecht is wonderful, clean, nice people, it reminds me of a bed in breakfast in vermont or something. however, in our room we have an italian couple, very nice, and a russian girl who is absolutely insane....during the night she must have yelled about 4 or 5 times accusing someone of touching her bag....its very strange, shes about 19 or so and shes alone and very paranoid about her bag which is very small........but other than that, its lovely! besides the whole camera fiasco too.......so yes positive thoughts please!!

funny face photo...dan would kill me...we laughed so hard about this picture cause of his face...but this is us outside the hardrock..it was so warm and we had a table right outside on the canal...it was wonderful...but we just couldnt get a decent picture of the 3 of us....

big chess game...it was intense.

just a pretty picture..i havent posted too many scenic pictures because most of them need to be rotated first and i cant figure out how to do that......sorry......does that even make sense??

the lovely vondel park....it was a perfect day for us to walk around....and we WALKED!

i let dan have the camera cause dad said there arent too many pictures of me...so here i am in this really neat tree.....the park is filled with the most amazing trees.

the food pictures are for honey (my grandmother) so she can actually see that we are eating well....mmmmm mexican night.....we made homemade guac and everything...

this was soooo good too....fresh fish with dill and lemon, zucchini with onions, eggplant stuff that i made, and spanish rice.....yummmm!!

so what did we do in amsterdam? by the looks of things we ate a lot of good food and walked a lot. we are headed to the hague tomorrow, another city in holland, and im excited but its going to be weird strapping on that backpack after a week of being spoiled....we had a good day, the 3 of us...and we are trying to plan the rest of our time in holland. there is a national park with free bikes that i would love to explore on the other coast so hopefully we can get there at some point. our flight doesnt leave here until the 25th so i think we will manage to see quite a bit of the smaller towns. i cant wait to get homecooked food again in 9 days!! haha..thats right linda, you are cooking for us! whether you like it or not...that chicken soup will do just fine...although i am looking forward to some english fish n chips....mmm...all i can talk about is food! this is awful....our colds have finally subsided...but we passed them on somehow...oops. we went out for a walk last night because we felt if we didnt after a big dinner and ice cream, well....we'd be fat loads...so we walked and stumbled upon a pile of rubbish and it was amazing. apparently they are cleaning out some apartments down the road and throwing out perfectly good things...so eva walked away (extremely happy) with some great curtain drapes, awesomely huge chinese lanterns, a globe that lights up, some weird animal things...and other stuff...who wouldve thought searching through piles of rubbish in amsterdam could be so fun...besides the creepy guy that was doing it too...he said it happens every monday....and he pulled out a pair of jeans for eva cause he thought they would fit her.....haha...weird.......so thats about it....everyone has gone out tonight but the 3 amigos are staying put and packing....and planning....so off till who knows when. i probably wont be able to put pics up again until england...sorry!

really great sunset the other night....

make your own sushi night!! yum!!!!

a canal with some houseboats

ryans...um....new haircut........it was dans mastermind

view from the boat we took through the canals

flowers! at the market we went to

haha...eating the traditional sandwich of holland...cold raw herring with a pickle and onions...it wasnt that bad....if you didnt look at it.

a fish stand in the market...we are making some for dinner tonight!

so just some random photos....not sure what our plans are...we kind of wore out or welcome here for some reason...the RA doesnt really like us too much even though we do dishes and clean all the time....but anyway....we've had a great time and eva was wonderful. we did the van gogh museum today...kinda cool, but definitely NOT worth 10 euros! yikes....we did a canal tour yesterday...it was nice and perfect weather yet again. so we are here one more night then its back to backpacking....we still want to do the hard rock and vondel park, we'll probably do that tomorrow. well im off to help make dinner..and then we have to figure out our plans. will let you know where we are headed. we actually got to catch some of the pats game...so that was awesome. and i guess thats all for now. take care!

so here we are in wondeful amsterdam..we've lucked out the past couple days weatherwise..its been sunny! woo! eva made the most amazing meal last night...i shouldve taken a picture...she made pad thai and an asian salad....it was better than any restaurant...if she keeps this up, we might not leave...it was really good to eat some fresh vegetables..dan and i are spoiled back home with fresh veggies...i think i will go check out the market today actually and buy more. its tough to get these boys in motion now that we have a place to stay and no check out time...but i have to admit it has been nice to relax and sleep in and not pack up all our gear. between here and visiting linda right after, we are going to be some spoiled backpackers! i took the boys to dam square yesterday and there is a fair set up with some rides so it kind of took away from the grandness of the square...then of course we passed through the red light district as do all tourists...it is something to see. it was the day time shift of girls...so i dont think the boys were to impressed! hahaha!! we went to the cheese shop and bought some amazing cheeses..dan was in heaven...maybe we should go there everyday, first thing, so he will be in a good mood for the rest of the day...haha....but yes we bought some pesto gouda, and some fresh brie, and some really different pepper cheese...yum! i have to boast for a second...im really proud of myself for having taken all this on...ive surprised myself in figuring out the trams in prague, not asking anyone, doing berlin and munich without maps! and also figuring their underground system and everything...i dont mean to brag but it did occur to me last night that i have been doing a pretty good job so far and without any help. we might rent bikes for a couple of days here in amsterdam to see the sights that are further away...it will be nice. i loved riding the bike that matt had in holland. it was a great way to get around. id love to take some day trips...that would require getting up early...i hope i can get them out of bed. we are planning on finding a bar or something that is playing the red sox game friday night....so go sox! i'll try and post some holland pictures soon. yesterday we stopped in a place and had some hard cider, it was very tasty..but inside we were the only ones except for like 20 twelve year olds...all drinking beer and smoking....it was crazy. very bizarre to see. i guess thats all for now...

PHOTOS!!!

very rough video inside one of the beer tents at oktoberfest! everyone was singing a traditional song...it gave me goosebumps!

wooo!!!! despite the problems with dans camera...this one didnt come out too bad....this is before it went really haywire....

this is how the pictures come out in dans camera....all fluorescent and icky.......too bad......

the most accurate clock in the world, the astronomical clock in prague

me and ryan looking oh so interested in pragues oldest pub

very cool inside...dont worry we arent going out and getting beers all the time! these were just to say we had a beer in pragues oldest pub, and the ones in the picnic are because thats what europeans do!

pragues parliament building

the famous charles bridge in prague

our picnic in prague square

part of prague square

our puke on toast...it may look ok...but trust me, it wasnt.

dans ham and whipped cream delight

and last but not least....dans happiest moment.....miss portugal!

GERMANY! crazy...i think we are the only people to do west and east germany in 3 days. We caught a train to berlin, stayed a night, went to a crazy club that had a crazy band that was like the german beasty boys (really strange)...everyone at the club stood there still and ryan danced like a madman....very funny. then we decided, we're here...we'd be crazy not to at least go check out oktoberfest....so we ran our butts to the station and thankfully the train was delayed 5 minutes and we made it!! so we got to see oktoberfest...and i dont have words to describe it. it was amazing. im so happy we made that train!! then we got the only room left in a 300 bed hostel and it smelled like puke everywhere...go figure. but ryan and i werent feeling so great so we caught the last 2 innings (apparently the best innings) of the red sox game and called it a night. it was the last night of oktoberfest so it ended early, but that was fine with us....we were beat. so then we spent the day wandering around munich...pretty nice, but snooty...and we went to the Englisch Garten where there happened to be some nude sunbathers in october...these germans are crazy. then we found our way the the largest beer garden in europe...it can hold 9,000 people...its like a huge park with deer and lots of seats...there werent that many people there...just some locals so we had ourselves a beer and a HUGE pretzel!! good news!! ryans camera is miraculously working again!! woo!! we have a camera now! apologize to the moms who are expecting lots of pictures....we were bummed about no camera believe me...we went to the berlin wall and had no camera....we wrote our names on it! woo! so anyway, the boys played hackey sack and i lounged on the grass and it was a wonderful afternoon in the beer garden. then we made our way back downtown and found a really great small authentic german restaurant and had ourselves some sauerkraut, sausages, pork, dumplings, VERY tasty!! or what i could taste anyway, through this awful cold!! its getting better.....so then we took an 11 hour overnight train to amsterdam (NOT fun with a cold) and here we are with ryans stepsister eva and we are SOO happy and SOO relieved we dont have to wake up early, pack up our gear and be on the run again for a little while....whew....sorry so long!! and eva is great!! we are pretty tired from all this running around so we are planning on relaxing here and calling it an early night...let the fun begin tomorrow! there is apparently a concert on thursday with lou reed at some art gallery with andy warhol stuff....that would be awesome....speaking of awesome...dan and i just gave ryan the best haircut of his life...sorry denise!!! we did take pictures of that....i will try and post pictures...if i can...too bad dans camera is broken....hope everyone is doing well!! miss you all!!!

by far the best night so far...red hot blues cafe....best music, great food, then the 3 of us came back to our hostel (which is also awesome) and played cuss card charades (dont ask.) we have 2 cool australian girls as dorm mates...thats all for now...its so early in the morning and im still not completely sure what the plan is for today....every single person we have run into has gone to budapest hungary and said it is completely unbelievably awesome....but most likely we are heading to berlin, also said to be awesome. we are scratching oktoberfest....which is fine....it would be way too crazy with huge bags and no definite place to stay. hope everyone is great!! go sox!!

so much to say and so little time!! ok so unbelievably random and crazy....we are walking around downtown and lost as usual, i say i think we should head this way (wrong way) and i lift up my head to see a familiar face....dr. horowitz (girls at pharmacy, do you believe this?!?!?!?!?) from the truesdale clinic......im still completely dumbfounded...his daughter goes to school here and he and his wife are here for 2 weeks.....absolutely crazy......so we've laughed a lot...praha (prague) is interesting...we did SO much walking yesterday...saw everything mainly in one day. we had a really interesting lunch one day, which is still the soul factor of us laughing so hard so far....ryan and i ordered toast with ham and cheese (menu was in english) and got toast with basically throw up on it....it was the most disgusting thing ever...and the best was dans ham with "horseradish".... he got ham rolled with nice tasty whipped cream....im serious....we laughed so hard...i think they were going to kick us out. we are convinced they were screwing with us .....dan took a picture of it....unfortunately dan dropped his camera and now is not working.....hmm....dont know what to do about that.....but anyway overall, beautiful city, mean people, and worst hard rock cafe ever. but we have had a lot of fun and we are having dinner in a jazz/blues club tonight, which is what prague is known for. so im excited about that. we are heading to germany tomorrow...but still undecided which part....talk to you soon!! oh, miss europe was here in prague...dan got a picture with miss portugal who was BY FAR the prettiest one... dans highlight of the entire trip, im sure. ok bye for now!!

its midnight...officially leaving today!! crazy!!!! nervous, excited, a bit overwhelmed.....my backpack is super light...so thats good. dans is super big and he let me put my dress shoes in it!! maybe we wont kill each other after all.....maybe i'll post something tomorrow before we leave...if not, see you all in prague!!!