HEY GUYS SURPRISE!

It's me again.  I know it's not what you were expecting or anything.
It's been a long time again, so I figured I'd just paste the "christmas break post" from my blog onto here and then add on.  I mean, we're all basically the same person and we did basically all the same things, so it's basically the same thing.

"RULE NUMBER TWO: NO JUDGING

"Christmas break is over.
That is to say, Christmas break will be over in one hour and 38 minutes.  That is when piano starts.  And then I go to dance, and then I go to seminary.  And then real life happens.  And frankly, I have never been LESS excited for anything in my entire life.
There is something so unoverwhelming about Christmas break that just.makes.life.so.good.  It's not quite long enough to get properly antsy or anxious, but it's long enough that you don't have to cram your un-real-life-related activities.

"'So what un-real-life-related activities do you enjoy this break, Corinne?' no one asks. Well,  I went to Les Miserables, The Impossible, and The Hobbit (twice--but not by choice).  I sat through three million hours of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time (because my older siblings were hooked enough to buy the special extended editions, but not conscientious enough to buy a normal theatrical version for their less enthralled siblings).  Apparently, Lord of the Rings is something I'm quite fond of because I also played quite a bit of the Lego Lord of the Rings video game with Michael.  Incidentally, I impress myself quite often with those games, what with all the arrows showing you were to locate the mithril boxes and the glowing quest items and the regenerative hearts.  FUN FACT: I have a hero crush on Legolas, or rather an Orlando Bloom that is able to shoot down 17 orcs in three minutes.

"I also dressed up in my new clothes for absolutely no one, and I spent every penny I received from Barnes & Nobles giftcards (Thank you family, friends, and Santa).  I read several books, bought music on itunes, and added music to my ever growing wishlist.

"And I ate.  If I were smart, or encouraged the instagraming of meals, delicacies, or desserts, I would have several pictures to post of all the fudge, caramel, molasses cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, ice cream, mints, and Cadbury Chocolate Ornaments I enjoyed thanks to Mom, her excellent recipes and weakness for chocolate. However, I can officially be considered to world's worst memory capturer, and I have no pictures whatsoever except for about three which will probably sit on my phone until a)someone plugs my phone into my computer for me or b)I get a new phone and they disappear. (I am not just referring to the sweets anymore.)

"Probably the most productive thing I did these past two weeks was find this video (does it really matter that it was on someone else's blog?)

"And my dear comrades, I have no shame."

Since then, basically nothing exciting has happened.  I had two dance things; only one of them was really successful.  Chandler's dominating in Geometry and the social side of life.  Dad is all but a professional golfer.  Mom is nanny-ing and we're about to start house renovations.  Michael is just Michael.

Oooonnnnn the upside, I just had a serious "you're-seriously-on-my-black-list" chat with the rest of my family, and we're are ALL going to get serious about taking pictures and reviving this blog.....  Seriously.

playing catchup

Now, I know you all have been checking this blog daily, chewing anxiously on your lip, and waiting desperately for an update.  The good news is that I've come to put you out of your misery--dictionary at the ready, and fingers completely warmed up.  The bad news is that an awful lot can happen in 10 months.  And....well, let's face it.  This blog post ain't gonna cover it all.  If you're wanting a more well-rounded experience of the Lohner family happenings, Chandler, Ashlie, and I all have blogs that we sporadically post on.  Maybe between the four blogs, you can piece a little something together. 

You know what?  I'm just gonna go for it.  LIST STYLE.

ONE: We went on some really cool trips and some really cool people visited us. This includes Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, a visit from McKay and Jodi, Lauren Rollins, and Ashlie, David, and baby amongst many others.  I could go into detail about it all, but that would require some research and several more blog posts.  Just use your imagination--we were living in Europe.  If you think it could possibly happen for us, it probably did.

TWO:  Graduation time.  Chandler and I performed as dancers for some lady at Pineapple Studios, I graduated from seminary, and we both managed to graduate from school for the year (it's a miracle). 

THREE:  Three is a big deal.  Three is the Olympics.  We attended a couple of events including football, diving, and the opening ceremonies and remained glued to the BBC channels for the duration of the time.

FOUR: Diet time.  The Olympics must have inspired us or something, because all of us (in London) went on a diet.  Like, a real diet.  Except for Dad, who basically just stopped eating several bags of Cadbury Chocolate a day and downing ice cream.  (Can I add that he lost twice as much weight as the rest of us, twice as fast?)  We got personal trainers which was cool, and I started running which was lame.

FIVE:  Chandler and I went to EFY.  Never fear, there was only one stalker and no boyfriends.

SIDENOTE:  There are a million things that happened between January and number six, but I'm lazy.

SIX:  WE BECAME TEXAN AGAIN! I mean, honestly, we'll never really be full Texan again, but we relocated to Southlake, Texas in our exact same house and everything.  We quickly reacquainted ourselves with a couple of things, including Tex-Mex, the movie theater, Barnes & Nobles, inexpensive clothing, and heat.  Also, Blue Bell ice cream.  Definitely Blue Bell ice cream.

SEVEN:  WE GOT MICHAEL BACK!  And a few weeks ago, we also got Ashlie, David, and Pearson which is a little weird, but entirely awesome. 

EIGHT:  Eight concerns our transfer into real life.  (When I say real, I mean normal...but unreal and un-normal are basically the same thing where London is concerned.)  Dad is having a tough time with all this free time on his hands, but is definitely enjoying his golfing time.  He also is the fittest he's been in ages. 

Mom is doing normal stuff like book club, lunch with friends, organizing everything, spoiling Pearson, and enjoying me having a license way more than I am enjoying me having a license. 

Michael is working, dominating in Mario, and excelling in piano.

I am still doing independent study, practicing the piano a LOT (so much that I'm actually fooling myself into thinking I like it), and dancing on a company at Dance Industry Plano. 

Chandler is taking a few sparse dance classes at DI, attending real school (as opposed to my fake one), and being generally social.  She's popular and cool--unique in our family.  And also, she has grown up so much this past year people continue to ask if she's older than me. 

Ashlie and David are in the next town over, unpacking, working, and getting ready for school, and Pearson is just being adorable. 

We all have friends, which is weird and we don't spend a lot of time together, which is also weird.  Every single one of use is dieting, losing weight, and Mom, Dad, and I all work out with a personal trainer.  (I don't know why I feel like you care more about our dieting than our trips to Poland, but it just feels important to point out...)  We're like health freaks except we all hate it.

In future news, dance competition starts next week, Michael and I are planning on beating Mario during Thanksgiving week, and Chandler wants to die her hair red.

That's all.  And frankly, I'm so proud of myself.

The new year brought us to sunny California and a visit to our brand new tiny dancer aka Pearson David. He was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long.  And extremely adorable!  An entire week with David, Ashlie and baby Pearson?  BRILLIANT.  Enough said.

Well, a lot of time has passed...and tons of excitement in the Lohner family.  We really don't like to get bored!  Only boring people get bored, right girls?  Just so ya know, each one of our trips starts with a 4:15 wake-up call, thanks to Mike.  For some reason, he really wants to get there early and enjoy an ENTIRE DAY,  and seems to forget that people with sleep deprivation have a hard time enjoying sights.  Anywhere.  But we like to keep him happy so it just keeps happening.  (p.s. post by mamacita)

A trip to Heidelberg, Germany:

Wiesbaden
Schloss Heidelberg
Mannheim
Bad Winfen
Schwabisch Hall
Frankfurt Temple

Heidelberg Schloss

Medieval awesomeness!

Heidelberg Schloss

ensuring "viel gluck" on our trip

We LOVED the Weinacht markets in every village and felt right at home.   Must be the Swiss heritage kicking in!  Corinne admitted Germany is her favorite yet.




Sydney, John and the entire Lunt family were able to spend two nights and an entire day in London traipsing around with us.  Glorious!

London Eye
Parliament buildings
Westminster Abby
V &A museum
and a bunch of other London stuff (and lots of fun being with cousins)

Mike even took the kids out for a midnight hunt for the disturbingly fascinating urban foxes.  Unfortunately, they didn't see a single hint of one.

Covent Garden 

Big Ben

Parliament buildings

Grandma and Grandpa Lohner came to London!!!

St. Paul's Cathedral
more London Eye
Parliament buildings
Westminster Abby

shhhhh....don't tell them.  Besides, two whole days had passed since we'd been there :)

A trip to the Cotswold's and an invite to have lunch at Prince "Someone important's" retreat in the country.

And then the ultimate Christmas vacation in the south of France!  Michael McKay in tow...

Geneva airport--in Switzerland AND France
Skiing on the slopes of St. Martin
puzzles, games and fine dining (thanks to yours truly)
tons and tons of snow
Annecy--gorgeous

Santa visits the slopes

Christmas eve entertainment

Our St. Martin's chalet

snow bunnies

Michael at m&m world--home away from home!

Tower of London

i'm only writing this post because we have a 1000 page views now.

and all of us feel a little something like this:

except with a whole lot of dancing.

don't worry-update coming soon.

for ze muzzer

well, dear goodness.

eet haz been tuu long since i haz posteed on ere and mi muzzer *throat nosie* haz noteeced.

(I think that was a rather successful mix of accents, mostly french).
 Technically, I have all sorts to blog about...Germany, Michael being here, Christmas-time, going to France tomorrow,  grandparents being here.... But I just can't find it in me to make a post that sounds like a family post.  So, sometime after we get back from France (or during), I will make a wonderfully informative post that doesn't put you to sleep and includes lots of pictures.

In the meantime, if you're just absolutely dyyyyinnngg to know what's going on, visit these three blogs.  They're side blogs for the three sisters in the lohnerlicious familia and many times, are unrelated to things that are actually happening in real life.  But at least you'll get a sense of what's going on in our heads.

my(corinne's)blog

leetleseester'sblog(chandler)

ashlie's

a trip home

I cannot even tell you how stinking excited I am that Mom decided to post about France and Italy because now,  I can post about Texas.  Not that I was more excited to be in Texas than France and Italy.  That's certainly not what I'm trying to say....

Moving forward.  We got there late on Wednesday night two weeks ago.  Immediately, we took a side trip to Kingcaids (BEST HAMBURGER PLACE IN TEXAS).  Not a single person in this family has had a nice, greasy, half-fast-food hamburger or delicious french fries or a soda with free refills in three and a half months.  It was SO GOOD!  We can pretend like we're adapting to the London ways and all...but really? Let's face it, I'm American.
Then, we went inside to our house.  I swear, that place has either expanded or I've shrunk because it feels HUGE compared to our house in London.  I could even go upstairs and not hear people talking downstairs.  It felt so nice.
The next order of business was, of course, to go to Target.  We got loads of American crap food (i.e. goldfish, chips, salsa, fruit by the foots, lucky charms), and we also managed to do some clothes shopping.  By then, we've been awake for over 24 hours and Mom said that she was "going to fall over dead."  So we headed back to aforementioned mansion.  BUT WAIT!  Mom saw something of mass importance and we made an emergency stop despite our extreme fatigue. It looked a little something like this....a little.

In the next couple of days, The Pregnant Lady arrived (refer to David if confused as to who this is) as well as BOTH big brahs.  And a happy reunion ensued!

tiny dancer? I THINK SO.

 

Note: This photo may or may not be allowed on this site by subject.  He only said no facebook so let's all band together and NOT TELL HIM IT'S HERE.

We did lots and lots and lots of shopping and eating.  Then, our fake Thanksgiving (Sunday) rolled around in which we saw Matt, Liz, Caleb, Will, Jameson, Brooks, and unnamed male fetus.  It was so so so so happy.  We got to prance around with this little fellow--all of us in our underwear.  Or maybe just him.

 more dancing pregnant photos.

And when REAL Thanksgiving rolled around, we took pictures with crocheted mustaches! (courtesy of Ashlie).

Meanwhile, Chandler and I had a friends reunion spectacular. 

And it's true, we're back in London.  Tiny roads, organic food, and rain.  Not sure how
I feel about that.

love,
a texan.

Grandma and grandpa Pearson spent a few glorious days with us in London.  It was really good therapy for us!  We really needed to give them hugs and see their faces.  We had a great time showing them a bit of our lives here:  Covent Garden, Pineapple, Richmond Park and Santa's reindeer.

Corinne giving grandpa kisses...a rare occasion!

Richmond Park

We also went to Blenheim Palace, which is the birth place of Winston Churchill and right up grandpa's alley.  He spent some serious time pouring over Churchill's history.  The girls, grandma and I loved the palace (gorgeous), the gardens (immaculate) and Winston Churchill's velour siren suit and matching slippers!  Nice!  We also drove through a bit of the Cotswolds and Oxford.

Paris is one of the most unbelievable places!  It is so elegant and gorgeous!  Wish we could've stayed indefinitely.

Places we visited:

The Eiffel Tower--all the way to the top
Notre Dame--saw part of a Sunday service and Quasimodo's bell :)
Saint-Chappelle--went to Vivaldi's Four Seasons concert here, absolutely fabulous!
The Louvre'-- FIVE glorious hours of awesomeness
Musee d'Orsay--one of the most incredible collections of impressionistic art ever!
Monmart
Pantheon
Hotel Des Invalides
The Pompidou
Arc de Triomphe
Champs Elysees
Jardin des Tuileries
and the list goes on....

We left Paris with only a small token from Notre Dame in our pockets, but we saw as much as we could possibly see in four days!  Brilliant!

Italy and beyond!

Five days in Italy for my birthday?  Amazing!  Mike definitely wins "best husband" award for taking us to the Amalfi coast for the weekend!  We stayed in Sorrento, which was a perfect place with wonderful little streets full of shops selling leather, inlaid wood (all of the furniture in our hotel room was inlaid wood), and anything lemon--candy, candles, soaps and they are famous for their lemoncello, a lemon flavored liquor.  In the center of the city there is a lemon orchard.  And there are tons of lemon orchards in the surrounding countryside.  We saw lemons as big as canteloupes!

We also visited Capri, Ravello, Amalfi, and Positano.  Capri island--a small island about a 20 minute boat ride away.  Gorgeous, clean, and full of designer shops.  Ravello is a charming city high up on the mountainside known for being a city of music and ceramiche'-handmade ceramics.  We ordered hot chocolate in the square (because we were freezing to death), which was like drinking liquid chocolate.   Divine!   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.

My personal favorite was Positano, a gorgeous little city with colorfully painted homes and cathedrals that literally climb up the mountainside.  There was a wedding at the main cathedral in the center of the city as well.

paradise!

Positano is a gorgeous little city that has colorfully painted homes and buildings that literally climb up the mountainside.  It's unbelievable how people were able to build these cities and streets into an extremely steep slope.  There was a pretty good beach there where we watched a group of tanned men (and two adorable little boys) set up a dock by pushing pieces of the dock across two wooden boards, which had to be moved over and over again to get everything down to the ocean.  It was mind boggling how long it took, how many men, and how "old school".  They could've done it in a few minutes with the proper machinery!  There were people setting up for an Italian wedding at the local cathedral.  As we admired the paintings and tombs, a little man was putting together flower arrangements around the church.  Positano was in the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", and for good reason.  It is paradise!  And one of my favorites.

parmigiano reggiano...divine

Amalfi was the last little city we visited.  The city consists of one square and one main street, with a zillion little alleyways that twist up and around in mazes, hidden behind the stores and restaurants of the main street.  The cathedral is really pretty--there was a wedding here too.  There are steep steps that lead to the main doors of the cathedral---and  flower petals were sprinkled all the way up the steps.   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.  Even though it is tiny, Amalfi is my other favorite of the area.  We found the best gelato here!  And the gentelmen serving up the cones were super generous, which made it taste even better!  

We had our fill of gelato and pizza over the weekend--just to make sure we didn't have any regrets!!  After weeks of practicing his driving on the crazy and very crowded streets of London, Mike was amazing on the tiny little jagged streets that literally followed the coast line. We felt like our tires were hanging off the edge of the road as we wove up and down the little streets of the Amalfi coast.  The entire weekend was brilliant!  We had a blast! 

rows and rows of pasta

the hotel key...huge and awesome