Switzerlalnd!

Ok, it took me a little while, but here are the pics from Switzerland.  They don't do it justice, but hopefully will give you an idea of how beautiful it was.  We stayed in the Lauterbrunen Valley, which is near Interlaken.  Supposedly it's the most beautiful part of the country (or so says my guide book).  It had waterfalls galore and on a clear day you can see three famous peaks:  Jungfrau, the Shilthorn, and I forget the other… haha!

We took a cable car up to a "car less" village… a town only accessible by cable car, train, or foot!  It was awesome because we didn't have to worry about our kids walking down the middle of the street. And it was very quiet. We found a fab restaurant with a great view of the valley below.

He just ate a graham cracker

The kids got tuckered out as we hiked along the ridge, so they took the train back down but Katie and I continued back to Lauterbrunnen by foot because we're hardcore like that.  It was a grand adventure.  I love this shot of Katie.

Jack was totally falling asleep when we took this picture.  It was hilarious. 

We took another cable car up to this great little playground with spectacular views… it rained on us but it was still fun.

Then we switched off taking turns and rode the "Trotti" bikes down the mountain… a hybrid of a bike a scooter.  It was crazy fun. 

There's Ben with his trotti

The other fun thing we did was a "rodelbahn" or Alpine Slide.  Unfortunately, I don't have any awesome photos of it.  Katie and Shea??

A cool cemetery we stumbled upon

Ben got a kick out of this depiction.  Maybe because he relates all too well

More cowbell!

This little creek was right outside the apartment we stayed in

Katie taught me how to French braid.  Yay!  She's got mad skills

Hanging at Lake Brienz, which had stunning turquoise water

Ben about gave me a heart attack trying to get the "perfect" photo of James airborn. 

Took this picture on the way home… you wouldn't think it, but we had to leapfrog across a busy road and fight our way through a bunch of Asian tourists on multiple tour buses, but we got the shot!

Shaha/Enniss Grand Adventures

The memories are so sweet… we had such a great time with the Enniss family:

Shea chugging an Alkoholfrei beer.  Hey, when in Germany...

Heidelberg:  a hot day.  And an unfortunate day.  Stroller tire went flat, Katie rolled her ankle, Jack threw the mother of all tantrums, and I scratched the van in the underground parking garage.  But other than that… AWESOME.

Shea is so stoked to be hanging with Shahas for two weeks, can't you tell?

Traumland on Natalie's 6th b-day.  A very fun day:

We went on this roller coaster about 6 billion times.  No lines and the kids couldn't get enough of it. 

American Cemetery in Belgium:

Belgian countryside, beautiful!

 Dutch American cemetery:

Meanwhile, back at the "cottage" the kids played for hours in the backyard.  What I would give for a backyard!!!

And a stop at Burg Eltz on the way home:

Stay tuned, I will eventually post Switzerland.  Although Shea has the best pic of the kids on the bench in the caves.  Puh-lease post that picture!

Screenland Armour

I'm getting ready to move away from the Kansas City area.  While I am looking forward to moving out west, there are some things about this area that I will miss.  One of them is the excellent barbecue, and another is a great little place in North Kansas City.  There's a small fairly isolated movie theater out there called the Screenland Armour that quickly became my favorite after I first heard about it.

The Armour not only shows first-run movies, but also has a lot of special screenings of older films.  Some of the special screenings I've seen include Jaws, The Big Lebowski, The Silence of the Lambs, The Princess Bride, The Matrix, a December 23rd screening of It's A Wonderful Life, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DOUBLE FEATURE (which also included a Pizza party and a showing of an episode of the old cartoon between movies).

The Armour had an event in conjunction with the premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past that I saw as an opportunity for a last hurrah there and a chance to share how great the Armour is with all of you.

The view of the marquee that welcomes the faithful moviegoers at night.

The interior is decorated with some cool artwork donated by fans of the theater.  All the Shaha faithful will recognize the image below.

And check out these gems.

One of my favorite things about the theater are these babies.  Four awesome classic arcade games at only a quarter per play.  They have Smash TV, Rampage, Mortal Kombat 2, and THE ORIGINAL TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.  When I went to see The Princess Bride I played TMNT until I beat it...it was an awesome experience and quite the achievement.

As part of the special event, a local Comic Shop set up a display and sale area.  Great events like this make me wish that things had worked out to where I could have settled down for life out here.

Here is the great movie screen.  I think the curtains and the cool border around it give the room a lot of personality and a unique charm.

I hope you can see this.  It's a closeup of the decoration at the top of the screen.  It reminds me of that cool Lion's head in Cinema Paradiso.

And to the right you can see Screenland Armour's most well-known employee.  This unnamed sentinel gives arguably the most important service in the world of entertainment.

Here's a more detailed shot of him, and check out the video below to see him at work.

As part of the event, the theater showed the Days of Future Past episodes of the old X-Men cartoon.

I hope that you enjoyed this look at my favorite place in the Kansas City area.  It will be very missed by yours truly.