Kid Letters

Dear kids,

I feel like I haven't seen that much of you, between travel and work I miss you guys. So this is what I have been trying to figure out.

there is a fine balance in life and I cant seem to find it. I want to show you the world had give you opportunities for learning and development, so I need to work, but I spend so much time at work I feel it takes away from my time with you.

I have been reading about reward circuits in the brain and the development of habits. One of the things I have been pondering is the relationship between electronic devices and our habits. WHen I was growing up we got lectures on the dangers of music, rock and roll, drugs and Television. I heard about how classical music is good for the brain and how it helps plants grow etc, I also heard how too much TV made us dumb. I remember my dad getting mad at us and yelling and unplugging the tv for 6 years. I also remember going to the Church to watch BYU play on the satellite, back then you couldn't watch college football without a satellite.

And now I feel like I am my dad, but with iPads. we didn't let eli play on ipads or computers until he went to school and had computer assignments, he came home crying that he didn't know how to use them, so we have been letting you play with them. Im frankly impressed at how easy it is for yall to figure this stuff out. Tessa especially, that kid cracks me up.

Im sure there is a fine line between too much and knowing enough for education. But what I have learned is that it can program your dopamine receptors and lead to mood instability when not on the device, This is leading to a nation wide depression/anxiety and difficulty with work flow. Some people are so crippled they cant do anything else.

I'm really proud of you kids and your ability to read and play and how smart you are, but I think yall are on there a bit too much.

Heres my question: ipads are your generation, TV was my generation, What was my dad's generation, and what about grandparents? Im assuming parents have always fussed at kids, or made them work. Maybe We should force you into work.

anyway, I love you kids, Im super proud of how smart you are.

Whitney

Netherlands and Oberwesel

We Got up to drive from Brussels to our last night/hotel in Germany, The road took us through the Netherlands so we stopped. We found a super cute bakery and Had lunch. We did not see any WindMills, we went through the very southern part, We then went to our Castle Hotel and it is awesome


   

If you do anything in Germany, you must stay here, there are a ton of castles on the Rhine valley, this was our hotel, I got treated like a king, it was awesome. This castle dates back to 900 ad or so but it was Stone structure in 1100-1200's, the castle had been destroyed and rebuilt several times and was left as a ruin for 200 years until some rich guy bought it and built it as a hotel. I hiked the hill down to the old medieval city and ruins, It was awesome, Germany is so pretty, interesting history and the people were all super friendly to us

               

Luxembourg and Brussels

We stayed in Luxembourg at an Ultra trendy and hip hotel. THe food was good, we slept great, we got up and went to the old town Luxembourg, what a pretty town, it was really neat, they had some "Casemate" which is like an underground fortification, The old city had been taken over by Spain, France, Germany, and many others, these old fortifications kept people safe. ONe of the Hapsburgs was hidden in there for like 2 years

         



We drove to Brussels and that may have been a mistake. the traffic and directions and map were nearly impossible to figure out. But the waffles were good.
     
Our Hotel was super weird, it had a morrocan theme, it was called Hotel Mozart. Weird, weird weird.

  

Black Forest

So we stayed in Frieburg, it was the old medieval capital of Black Forest, This is one of the Gates to the OLD CITY, Kinda funny McDonalds was built into one of these old walls. We explored the old city There is a really neat Gothic Cathedral that is pretty, There was a market that day and we were able to get some Christmas decorations, The church was interesting there were more female statues than male, interesting on a medieval Catholic church
               


After Frieburg we went into the Black Forrest and to the Coo Coo Clock capital of Germany, TriBurg, what a cute little town