This week we enjoyed the glamorous Airbnb life of laundry, bookstores, indoor play villages, and mostly improved bedtimes before packing Lightning McQueen for Stonehenge and Lyme Regis. Then Yaya and Maddi arrived just in time for fossils, ocean swimming, and a full-scale seagull defense operation.
Our first full week in England brought rainy campground days, repeated s’mores, one very bumpy bike path, and a proper moated castle. We finished it with fish and chips, a 50 km/h hill, and late-night ice cream in Windsor.
We wrapped up our time in Switzerland with mountain trains, suspension bridges, fondue, an Alpine nanny, and one very memorable hot dog masquerading as chicken sausage. Then Lightning McQueen carried us into France, where the kids surprised everyone by crushing a Lebanese feast.
We biked through medieval towns and the Black Forest, chased down help for Coons’ ear, crossed into Switzerland, and learned that even a giant waterfall is no match for two tired kids. There was also gelato. There is always gelato.
We biked through Roman history and Moselle wine country, launched Teacher Mommy’s classroom, and held a child’s bike seat together with bungee cords. The kids added gladiator gear, brave seafood tasting, new friends, and plenty of playgrounds.
We biked to World War II bunkers, explored a castle and fort, lost and recovered one extremely important polar bear, and crossed into Germany—where Nolan and Nina immediately joined the local fire brigade.
We pedaled through the Netherlands, bought the family two e-bikes, cruised Amsterdam’s canals, and discovered that horses make terrible upstairs neighbors. The kids made friends everywhere, ate plenty of ice cream, and somehow stayed up later than we did.
We climbed a Belgian castle, walked our legs off among pandas and polar bears, learned far more than expected about French fries, and crossed into the Netherlands. The kids mostly cared about stuffies, candy, swimming pools, and whether the next campground had a playground.
This week brought us from a lakeside campsite into Luxembourg and on to Belgium, with roughly seventeen playgrounds along the way. Nolan and Nina made friends in multiple languages, conquered towers and caves, and continued rating Europe primarily by its slides.
We spent our last week in Paris sailing boats, hiding from the rain, hunting down the correct cooking gas, and swimming through a 107-degree day. Then we finally packed up Lightning McQueen and headed east for our first night of European camping!