Portugal Part 2- Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira

Saturday, June 5th found us in a little town called Santa Maria da Feira. We came to explore the castle which is popular here and it was only a 30 minute drive from mom and dad's house!

Mom, Callie, Tessa and Dad in front of the Castelo!

Callie and Kelly were the Queens of this castle:) Callie loved running all over the grounds and the walls of this real life princess castle!

Throughout the castle grounds there were actors in period garb who were acting out or describing (in very beautiful Portuguese) the history of the castle and it's people. Callie was entranced with the puppet shows and enthusiastic speakers. Here she is with Kelly, sitting on the castle walls and listening to a speaker as he gives his monologue to his audience below.

Sir Charles and Lady Callie survey their kingdom from a window in their castle tower.

Jon, Knight in Shining Armor, and Kelly. Reminiscing about one of their favorite "Bill and Ted" quotes.

Callie, Mom and Tessa walking along the castle walls. Callie ran from one place to another and could not get enough of this cool place!

Tessa and Kelly with the main keep of the castle behind them.

Tessa and Matt enjoying the view.

Callire with a "real" knight! He even let her hold his sword! She was so excited to see him sword fight in the castle courtyard too.

The classic jumping shot with a castle from the 11th century as the backdrop. Picture perfect:)

Matt and myself in the town of Santa Maria da Feira. We loved the small streets and great view of the castle above.

At the end of the day, Callie just wanted to play at the castle-themed park by the parking lot and eat ice cream with Mom while Tessa played in the fountain and I took a photo of Jon, Kelly, Dad and Matt before we said goodbye to this cool little town and a beautiful castle.

Portugal (Part 1)

We were all blessed to be able to travel to Portugal for the second time in a year. Matt and I traveled with Kelly, Callie and Tess and after a very long flight to Germany followed by a long layover in Frankfurt and then another flight to Porto, Portugal; we met Mom, Dad and Jon in the airport! The long trip was well worth it to be with our family. After struggling to stay awake until a somewhat normal bedtime hour we began the next day with a tour of the river front in Porto.

Grandma and Callie walking the cobbled streets of Porto.

Enjoying the view of the Douro.

The whole group on a river cruise on the Douro river.

Mom, Dad, Callie, Danielle, Matt, Jon, Kelly and Tess.

Tess exploring the old streets of Porto.

Tess enjoying her pint sized wine glass at dinner that night.

The girls enjoyed the pool in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard after walking around the city.

Day two brought the beach!

An adorable family enjoying the Portuguese sun!

Grandpa and Tess. This is one picture that we all love because dad is truly smiling!

Day three was a relaxing one as we mostly stayed close to home and enjoyed being together. We made a trip down to the mission office to see mom and dad and meet the office elders and the office missionary couple.

Callie getting comfortable in dad's office chair at the mission office.

Jon, Mom, Callie, Dad, Kelly, Danielle, Tessa and Matt at the mission office in Porto!

Children's Discovery Museum

Kelly and her girls came into town a few days before we left for Portugal (photos of that trip to come) and so we had a few days just with the girls in sunny California. We took Callie and Tessa to the Children's Discovery Museum in Downtown San Jose and spent the afternoon exploring all of the neat things there! So much fun to explore the exhibits all over again with our two cute little nieces!

Bubbles!

Tess is such a silly little girl! She had so much fun making faces in the car windows. Gross but hilarious and she got a kick out of it laughing every time!