Hello Italy, goodbye Euro Travels

For our grand finale Europe trip, we picked Italy because who can resist massive plates of pasta? We learned a few things:

1) Italians are the friendliest people when it comes to babies, especially screaming toddlers on an overcrowded bus ride.

2) Capri is jaw dropping - gotta see the pics

3) Rome is packed with ancient ruins and history ... and yummm food

4) Our days of adventure travel are nearing an end ... the only activity for Tate to do was climb stairs ... which she did a lot of.

And with that I say, here's some pics.

And a short video below too:

Farewell to fun travel blog, you're going Stateside now!

Prague with Oma

The Jacobson ladies hit Prague for a couple days while mom was in town. I would write more but my post was deleted so check out the pics instead -- those are more exciting anyway. Great times were had in the 70 and sunny weather!

Tate's #1 Birthday Bash

It was a party! We had a bday bash for Tate in Amsterdam -- she loved it, although maybe it was because her 8 year old friend Ella entertained her the whole time. Geno and I had a blast thanks to the free babysitting. Super fun with all her best buddies showing up to say hi. Check out video below for complete song coverage:

Polish #1 Birthday!

Tate the Great turned 1 ... in Poland! Don't ask us why, but we randomly chose to celebrate her birthday in Krakow .... so she could eat a famous bagel instead of cake?! Beautiful city, full of sad history from WWII, including the one ray of hope found in Schindler's Factory. Click here for pics

Check out fun 3 minute video:

Ich bin ein Berliner!

Berlin now tops of list of cities we could live in someday....I know, shocking - it shocked us too. But it's an incredible city. We stayed in the heart of East Berlin in the Mitte District, which is a very hipster area with lots of restaurants, bars, shops, parks and young families. We took the big upper deck tourist bus one afternoon because the city is so big that's about the only way to cover it in a short amount of time. We also were fortunate enough to have a friend babysit Miss Tate so we could head out and enjoy some yummy dinners.

Check out all the pics to see all the key tourist stuff and more. We also have short video below - sorry, meant to edit out about 45 more seconds but ran out of time, so more Berlin for you!

Oranje #2!

World Cup is over, we're actually kind of sad because it was a month of fun watching as the Dutch made it into the Finals for the first time in 30 years....the city went insane, and so did we.

Meanwhile, in other unrelated news, Tate turned completely Dutch and actually fell asleep on the bike while coming home from music class....pure comedy.

Southern France Heaven

Apparently the typical Dutch summer holiday involves a trip to Southern France. So we decided to give it a shot and went to a little village called St. Laurent des Arbes about 15 minutes from Avignon. Gene found a perfect little Chateau where we were able to enjoy outstanding dinners cooked by the owner while Tate slept peacefully inside (thanks baby monitor). We loved hanging out in the sun in the backyard area and did some mini adventures to neighboring towns. Click here for few pics. Also did a short video below:

JoBurg, South Africa: Vuvuzela capitol of the world

Well, it felt like it was taking forever for the World Cup to actually start, as work had been intense since January working on the Nike campaign (hopefully you saw the spot!) But it was finally time for kick-off, which meant a trip down to Johannesburg to see through some of the logistics related to another part of the campaign. Over the course of the week I was lucky enough to see three games, the best of which was the USA game against Slovenia. The vuvuzelas are still ringing in my ears.

Paris with the Ladies

Tia Angie came for a visit, making her the official"most frequented guest" winner. We're still working out the prize. After some fun Amsterdam days in the sun, where we FINALLY got her on a bike for the first time, we headed to Paris to stuff our faces with yum French delights. We also got to meet up with Amy and Annette and were relieved when the rain let up for a day and we could tour without Tate covered in the plastic bubble stroller.

Spring in the good 'ol USA

Tate and I ventured to The States for few weeks this Spring, where we were spoiled immensely by grandparents. Pretty sure they were trying to convince us that the USA is the good life and we need to return ASAP....or at least just allow Tate to return.

We were in Auburn, CA for several weeks and had a super fun visit from Chels and Maddie and I even got a night away in SF w/my 2 best girlfriends. We then headed to Atlanta and met up with Gene and got to hang out w/the Willis crew. Tate had extra bonding when we left her and went to Clark Tate's wedding in Florida. She clearly had a blast with the Willis grandparents as she didn't seem phased when we got home.

Click here for the pics and below is short video. Sorry, it's pretty much all Tate - guess we're still proud parents.

Amen to Spring!

Tate and friends enjoying the sun at the park - always entertaining getting 4 babies to look at the camera. Top pic is Tate and her boy friend named Tate (yes crazy odds of that one) ... they are best pals, it's too cute.

Geno and Tate during a morning reading session in her "room" ... under the stairs.

Meanwhile, Tate turned 8 months today... it's been a big week... 2 teeth + perfecting the art of crawl/scooting which looks like the kick worm. We also got a super fun visit from cousin Reagan and Manolo from Sevilla.

Luxembourg...where is that again?

We'd like to blame the fact that it took us 7 hours to make a 4 hour drive to Luxembourg on the fact that it's the smallest country in Europe. But turns out we can only blame it on our GPS navigation system ... we were both secretly worried when it said "Recalculating" while we were still in Amsterdam. Needless to say our low point was when we saw the border crossing signs for "France". Anyway, my point is - we had a lovely scenic view of many small villages in Belgium and we did all arrive in one piece. Tate was a trooper and was snoring (for real) by the time we got there. We also forgot our camera, so instead of pictures, you get to watch a thrilling 5 minute feature production of our time in Luxembourg (which we loved!) .... enjoy!

Still Snowing

Usually we get 1 or 2 days of snow ... this year, it's been snowing from mid-December until mid-February. It's a magical city in the snow, and turns out to be a good break from the rain. Amsterdammers are pretty hard core, nothing takes them off their bikes - this lady is biking through the park (the box in front where kids usually sit).

Walk like a Pale Egyptian

To escape the snowiest January in history, we flew to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt (sort of like the Cabo of Mexico). With the exception of one visit to the town to get diapers, we stayed resortside ... eating, relaxing in the sun, and swimming in the Red Sea. Tate loved the sun after an initial squinting of the eyes and faint cries upon seeing it for the first time. Can't blame the girl, she'd been trapped in 20 degree Amsterdam weather. Click here for pics and check out video below of Tate in pool for first time -good stuff.

Christmas 2009 - Air miles galore

Finally, USA for the holidays! We started off our tour in Atlanta introducing Tate to the Willis crew. When we weren't stuffing our faces with Chick-fil-A, we were hanging out with family, Gene's friends, and loving watching Tate play with her cousins. We then flew to LA to be with my sister and family for a few days and then we all drove to San Diego to celebrate mom's big 60th birthday at the beach. Most comedic part was by far when we had Tate & her cousin Maddy do a Babies-R-Us photo shoot...we do have video if you need a laugh.

Tate was a rockstar on all the flights - it's the coming back home and dealing with baby jetlag that has been brutal. But hey, much rather have a screaming child in the comforts of home than trapped on a plane with angry passengers! Click here for the pics.

Delhi Belly?

Geno did a quick trip to India for work right before the holdiays. The big success was that he came home without Delhi belly. He said the economic disparity is pretty sad, and the traffic was more like a parking lot with the occasional cow walking though (Hindus feel they are sacred), so something tells me this isn't a place we'll have high on our 'future travel list', unless it's to the coast. He did say the food was simply the best Indian food he had ever had...and that boy loves curries. Check out short video below:

'Tis the Season

We kicked off the holidays with our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Feast at the home of Leslie and Ryan, who somehow manage to make the food better each year. Don't even ask how many helpings Geno had. The following weekend we headed to Cologne, Germany for our annual Christmas Market visit - we usually hit smaller towns but decided to try out the big city - it was a success. Click here for pics

We are now gearing up for our big trip to the states this week to see family in ATL, LA and San Diego. And we apologize in advance for any screaming you might hear if you happen to be on any of these flights. Adventure! Stay tune...

Stormin' Normandy

We decided to test out Tate's traveling abilities to make sure she really is our child....turns out, she is. We hit the road on our 7 hour journey to Normandy, France with Tate passed out in the car, and managed to make it with only 2 pitstops...thanks to Tate's love for Vitamin D drops (dutch recommend 10 a day). We called the charming town of Honfleur home for 3 nights. A special treat was dad meeting up with us from his 4-day blitz tour of the UK. We toured Omaha Beach (one of several D-day beach landing spots) and American Cemetery - all too powerful for words. Here are a few facts to remind you of the intense planning and sacrifice that went into D-Day (June 6, 1944):

• British, Canadian, American and Commonwealth troops.
  
• 4,000 ships in the fleet
  
• 5,800 bomber planes
  
• 4,900 fighter planes
  
• 153,000 troops


• 20,000 vehicles
  
• 11,000 casualities
  
• 2,500 dead
  
  Now that's intense ... and they did it with no email or cell phones. Blows my mind how they pulled it off. On the way back home, we wanted to make sure Pop got a taste of Belgium, so we stopped over in Ghent to stuff our faces with the best waffle in the world. Click here for some pics.

Hello Tate!

We did it ... had ourselves a baby. Tate Sierra Willis joined us at the crack of dawn on August 13 (no, it wasn't a Friday). She weighed in at 6.7 pounds, and about 19 inches tall. After a longer than expected stay in the hospital due to blood infection, we were overjoyed to bring her home to our sun filled apartment 4 days later. She's now happy and healthy and rapidly gaining weight in attempt to catch up in size to the larger dutch babies.

Thanks to the help of a dutch provided nurse the first week and Gene taking advantage of dutch parental leave benefits with a month off, we're adjusting well to the day in life of babyville (or as Gene calls it, Diaperland). We're loving watching her grow, make weird faces at us and sleep through every loud noise that happens outside our apartment. She's actually a huge fan of being outside, even conquered the tram (public transport) perfectly.

Here's some link to many pics - we're trying our best to keep them limited to the best ones to keep you coming back for more:

Click here for Week #1

Click here for Week #2

Click here for 1 Month

Lovin' Summer

Ireland - Gene took a quick weekend trip to Dublin to visit good friend Brian (aka Ireland) and his fabulous wife Kate. 24 hours to catch up over some fine Irish brews and tour the city.

Ijburg - Who knew that in Amsterdam there was a little beach front property ... we're a bit slow and finally discovered this little North Sea cove, complete with a funky Bohemian restaurant for dinner. Only 15 minutes by car (big day for us, rental)

'Lil Willis - Most of the summer has been spent enjoying the sun in Amsterdam (yes, that's right people, we have sun - even got ourselves tan!) and hanging out with friends and visitors. The little Willis is expected very soon ...Aug 21 is the big day. Pic is at 37 weeks - lots of baby going on there!