Welcome to Eastern Europe!

How Exciting!

Slovak Flag

Juliette just joined us last week here in Bratislava.
Bratislava is the capital of the country called Slovakia.  We have to write "Slovak Republic" on our mail so that it does not get confused and sent to other countries - like Slovenia.  This country is located next to Austria and was behind the "Iron Curtain" not too long ago.

Europe

Here is a map of Europe and one of Slovakia so you can see where Juliette is.  We are the Sapp Family and are from Denver, but we are living here for 2 years.  Owen (9) and Hayden (7) go to an American School here with many international students from around the world.  Some of their classmates are from Korea, China, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Russia, the USA and many others.  Owen and Hayden are getting to learn new languages, learn about new cultures, and see many wonderful and historical cities.

Slovakia has several castles.  This picture is of part of the town of Bratislava with the castle on top of the hill.  Kings and Queens used to be crowned there.

There are many castles still in the hills all over Europe.  Most are just ruins now.  Here is one that we hiked up a very giant hill to see.  After climbing to the top, you realize why the castles were built up so high - it would have been very hard for enemies to get to.  Now, the walls are crumbling and trees are growing in the middle of the castle.  It is great to be able to be in the middle of such old history.

UFO Bridge

There are several interesting bridges in Bratislava.  This one is called the UFO bridge.  At the top, in the circular UFO part, there is a restaurant.  We will try to eat there before we move.  You can see the whole city and it is supposed to be beautiful at night.

To get around in Bratislava, we ride Trams.  Because the city is so old, there are not very many big parking lots, so taking the tram is much easier than parking and it is fun!

In Europe, we use money called the Euro.  The 1 euro and 2 euro are coins.  Paper euros start at 5.  They are all different sizes - not like US Paper money!

Our last adventure with Juliette while she was visiting was to a Chocolate Factory across the border in Austria.  Hayden's class got to go, so Juliette tagged along!  In Austria, which is only 15 minutes away, they speak German language.  Imagine if each state in the US spoke its own language!

Here is Juliette at the beginning of the tour.  This sign says "Entrance" and "Factory Tour" in 3 languages - German, Hungarian, and Slovak!

This is Juliette with the class watching a lady wrap small chocolate bunnies in foil.

These are some of the items that the company makes.  They make chocolate Santas, Bunnies, and many other goodies.  These treats are shipped all over the world!

Thank you very much Flat Juliette for visiting us!

We know you will enjoy your adventures through more of Europe and all over the world!

Safe Travels!

Greetings from WDW!

I believe the author must have been coining a new idea for his spectacular stories when he said that Flat Juliette was with him for Thanksgiving because, Flat Juliette, was indeed with the Fritzler family in Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving week!  Unless she was taking the red-eye back and forth?  Who knows!  Flat Juliette is a world traveler!  We're late in sharing our pictures but certain you'll enjoy this!  There's the Cinderella Castle!!!!!  It's beautiful!

Most of you know Shawna and Morgan from school and how much we love everything Disney!  Flat Juliette came along and experienced the magic with our family and we were absolutely delighted to experience our first trip to WDW with her!  The castle was beautiful, especially at night with the snow and ice (of course, that was created with Disney magic in Florida - we sure didn't need our coats!)  Morgan and Flat Juliette had a great time dancing to the music at night, especially in Hollywood Studios!

Flat Juliette especially enjoyed the dinner we had at Tony's at Magic Kingdom - it was beautiful and reminded us of Lady & the Tramp!  Such a wonderful movie!!!  We even had this wonderful pumpkin cheesecake with a cinnamon decoration of Lady & the Tramp!  Can all Girl Scouts make such lovely decorations out of something so simple?  We should try it! 

Morgan loves dogs so they talked about them a lot (in between talk of rollercoasters and the amazing Splash Mountain, which Flat Juliette also adored!  She was walking in line in the picture above!)  Flat Juliette kept talking about Justin's dog, Tootsie...Batman - not sure what the name was?  We were so caught up in Disney magic that we got confused but ended up talking about all the amazing dogs that Disney has brought into our homes.

On our trip, we also visited Epcot and Morgan was doing research for her class geography project.  Then we all ran into Donald Duck in Mexico!  He was so silly!  One boy walked up to him with an autograph book and the little boy had Mickey Mouse's picture in it; Donald actually crossed out Mickey's picture!!!  Morgan decided to keep Flat Juliette away from him, concerned that he might get jealous and cross her out...

We took the ferry boat back to another park and while we were waiting for our ride, we got to watch a skywriter!  You just HAVE to see these pictures!  Flat Juliette loved it and we did too- usually you only see these kinds of thing on a postcard somewhere, but she lived it with us!

That's really what it's all about, right?  Fun, friends, love, and God. 

So when we went to the airport, we met another lovely family with a little girl named Carissa.  She was Morgan's age and they had a great time talking and playing games together while we waited for our flights.  Flat Juliette decided to go along with Carissa for another adventure and we agreed, knowing that she was in good hands.

 
We had a great time with you Flat Juliette; thanks for coming along!  We can't wait to read about your next adventure!

Girl Scouts - we hope this finds you all enjoying many friends, new experiences, and creating things you didn't think were possible.

Trip to Delmar, NY and Williamstown Massachusetts

Flat Juliette arrived in Delmar, NY just in the nick of time to celebrate Christmas with the Metcalf family.  Juliette has had a relaxing week. Today, 12/29/11, Juliette went on a drive to the Clark Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This particular museum, nestled in the beautiful Berkshires, featured art work from Rembrandt and Degas. What a great day!

Flat Juliette visits Pennsylvania and New York City

Oh the adventures we have had with Miss Flat Juliette… She arrived at our home on Friday December 18, just in time to welcome Becca home from college for the Christmas break. On Saturday she made the trip to Baltimore to pick Kate up at the airport.

Kate was arriving home from college in Colorado. Flat Juliette was a bit confused because she thought she was going to get to take a trip but she was thrilled to meet Kate.

The next few days we kept her busy helping the girls decorate their Christmas Trees and wrapping presents.

She thought this was great fun! Flat Juliette also helped us make our special Molasses Sugar Cookies. She really enjoyed this activity because she learned a few of the secrets that make these cookies so yummy… (Singing Christmas songs, dancing around, silly jokes, lots of laughter and lots of love!)

On Tuesday Flat Juliette got to join the family on a two day adventure to New York City. The day started with a train ride from our home in Pennsylvania into the city. 

When we arrived we checked into our hotel in Times Square and then set out to explore the sites. Some of the highlights… the Christmas windows at Macy’s Department store, shopping with Becca & Kate (she likes doing girly things), seeing the Empire State Building, the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylor, riding the subway, seeing Times Square and all the lights, the Christmas Tree and skating rink at Rockefeller Center, yummy food and best of all The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  Whew! Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed sharing our Christmas adventure with Flat Juliette.

The next few days we were busy visiting with friends and getting ready for our family Christmas celebration. Flat Juliette enjoyed helping us cook, decorate, and celebrate. We think her favorite was eating all the goodies and yummy stuff but know she also loved helping decorate the table with all the pretty flowers.

Flat Juliette is now ready to continue her adventures… Where will she land next?  

Alaska!

Ms. Juliette arrived up in the Great North in the midst of one of our greatest storms this winter. She stood through the 100+ mile per hour winds for over 12 hours - then her adventures of shoveling her way out to explore the Chugach National Forest started!

She went out on a snowshoe adventure up and down the South Fork of the Eagle River. Traversing the solid ice over the river, back and forth she went for miles until dusk (3:30 pm):

The following day another great windstorm kept Ms. Juliette indoors ... so what did she do? Ms. Juliette helped around the house - baking and decorating gingerbread, chocolate shortbread, and orange-vanilla sugar Christmas cookies:

On Sunday we had a lull in the wind gusts and snow, so she went outside, helped hang Christmas lights on the house and shoveled the driveway so that she could depart the next day! Off on her way to visit the warm islands of Hawai'i.

We enjoyed Ms. Juliette's stay with us up here in Alaska!

Oklahoma!

On Thursday, Dec. 8th , I arrived in Durant, Oklahoma. It was 50-60 degrees, warm compared to Wyoming. On the first day that I arrived, I went to see Southeastern Oklahoma State University - the campus of one thousand magnolias. I had never seen a magnolia tree before! Afterwards, I got to see the world's biggest peanut. It was an exciting and fun-filled day. The next day, I went to help serve dinner for Families Feeding Families. It was nice to help families who needed a warm meal (and I loved the biscuits and gravy). Next, I'm off to Alaska. Don't worry, I packed my warm clothes!

Flat Juliette has Thanksgiving in the mountains of Colorado!

Flat Juliette (or F. J.) seemed really bored when she first arrived at our house.  Our home is a house of boys and there isn't a ton of things for a girl to do here.  I was busy writing a book and visiting schools to tell students stories and work with them on their writing.  She sat on my desk wanting some adventure.  She did like playing with my iPhone and listening to the music coming from my computer, particularly when I listened to Pandora radio tuned into Christmas music (she danced every time a Santa themed song came on).  Several times I found her taking photographs on my phone (see below for her collage of images).

Soon it was time to give work a break and be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday.  A trip out the airport to pick up one of my sons, coming in from Laguna Beach and we were ready to enjoy family time.  The next morning F. J. strapped into her car seat with Tootsie AKA Batman, our Italian Greyhound, and headed over the river and through the woods to our mountain cabin for a hectic Thanksgiving with my extended family which consisted of many, many people bunking on every surface of the place.  She complained a little about Tootsie's breath and chose not to spend much more time with her on her little jaunt to the mountains (she did enjoy riding on the other dogs who came for the holiday). She seemed to enjoy playing the guitar and even tried her hand at the keyboard with my nephew, it was amazing to see how fast she picked up Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. 

There were many meals enjoyed over four days of festivity and fun. She seems particularly drawn to pickles, pastry and oyster stuffing.  As a matter of fact for several days after Thanksgiving she wasn't exactly "flat Juliette", but has now returned to her girlish figure after attending some rigorous trips to the gym with me.  She is pretty good on the Stairmaster, but couldn't bench very much weight.  I hope the next people she visits will work on her muscle strength.

She particularly enjoyed playing Frisbee Golf on our mountain course, consisting of many great views of valleys, peaks and examined the scat of numerous wild animals like a scientist.  She didn't particularly like it when we found the skeleton of a deer that some mountain cats had left, but overall seems to be an outdoor sort.  She liked reading her book in our treehouse and even tried her hand on our shooting course.  My nephews commented that she was kind of a girly-girl and only rolled her eyes at their video games.  

One early morning, while I was pecking away at my keyboard, trying to find the magical ending for my newest picture book, which I am gearing more toward my female audience, she offered some advice.  Also, while thinking about a few character names, she offered up several... hmmm... as I thought over her choices, rolling the names around in my head...  Chocie, Katie, Claire, Morgan, Cora, Becca S., Alyssa, Jocelyn, Emily Ann, Patty... I wondered if any of those names might show up in my new creation...
 
She did enjoy going searching for our annual Christmas trees and helped strap them on top of the old SUV.  
 
F. J. REALLY likes to play hide-n-seek!  When it was time for dinner, we couldn't find her, but soon learned she likes to go where Santa is.  She was hiding in our bathroom on the counter next to the Santa night light and just as we started to "trim the tree" she climbed up the boughs and found her place next to one of the many Santa ornaments in our collection.  

At one point F. J. climbed up the bookshelves in my office and found some of the books I have written.  After some reviews, advice and editorial commentary, she of course told me her favorite was Oliver Kringle, which I wrote about Santa's brother.   She really likes Santa A LOT!

She went to church with us and got to hear about the REAL reasons for the season and it seems she likes Jesus as much or actually even more than Santa.  

I finally had to take my iPhone away from F. J. because she was snapping shots of everything!  Here are a few of her pictures.  She liked my No Shave November look had to snap a picture of me at my desk along with sunrise, sunset and frosty pics.

Well, we are sorry to see F. J. go. I'm posting this blog on my Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Works-of-Justin-Matott/213624096290?ref=ts
to see who would like to take her on her next adventure. 

If there are no takers, I will send her on her way to see some of our very best friends in Texas, where she will be in the house of two teenage girls... Oh Lordy, talk about drama! 

Come join my blog and keep up with the further adventures of an imagination in progress  http://justinmatott-snickers.blogspot.com/

I hope F. J. has many great adventures and look forward to seeing where she will go.  
Thanks for reading, 
Justin Matott