I added a couple of links about Mitochondrial Dysfunction (MtD) and it's relation to autism to my list of Vaccine Information (on the left side of the page under archives), hope some of you find this helpful.....

More Autism/Vaccine Info

For my friends who are always asking my thoughts on the Autism-Vaccine debate, I have some new information. I saw on the news that certain children who have Mitochondrial Dysfunction (a genetic disposition) are more likely to develop Autism from Vaccinations. Basicly the news report said that you could have your child genetically tested to see if they have Mitochondrial Dysfunction and if they do they could develop Autism from being vaccinated. It didn't pinpoint any certain vaccine (like the MMR) but I'm going to do more research on it and post it for all you Mama's who are interested!

National Lampoon's European Vacation (Burger Family Edition)

We started our adventures in Frankfurt, Germany rented a VW van and drove to Asleben. Here is Charlie in his rental car seat, I think he thought his car seat was much cozier than the German model.

We got to Asleben, and everyone was so nice, they fed us constantly and kept us very entertained. Charlie met Antonia, although they had some difficulty communicating, they still loved to play together.

They played chase...

and gave each other flowers...

and loved smelling them. This the church that is 100s of years old in Asleben. Charlie got to ring the church bells. and go up in the balcony Charlie and Antonia, still not talking. The Germans have some awesome playgrounds, this is a zip line that Charlie couldn't get enough of. We took a trip to a castle, and this is the view from the walk to get to it. We finally get to the castle, I'm not sure whose castle it was, but it was pretty awesome. This is how knights guard the castle.

The entrance of the castle, it was kind of scary to stand under that spikey gate! Charlie and Mama, I loved all the flowers. The courtyard View from the top of the castle Family photo

Charlie kept knocking, but no one was letting him in. Getting ready to race with Uncle Bobby... and they are off! All the German Women and all the German Men. Wherever we went and whatever we did, the whole gang would be there, there was 22 of us traveling all over the place, everytime we ate we needed to sit 22 people, it was interesting.

The German kids, Lea, Tim and Antonia sitting on the cannon. The Burger Boys sitting on the other cannon. Antonia, Tim and Charlie hanging out on the cannon balls.We also went to a traditional German festival, there was a ton of beer, music, and Bratwurst. Lucky for Charlie, there were a bunch of baby farm animals too. Charlie and Antonia in the pig pen, Antonia kept saying "Charlie (pig in German)" and he kept saying "No Toni, a pig!" It was pretty funny.

Of course we couldn't go anywhere without squeezing a little digging work in. After we left Asleben we drove up the Rhine river to make our way to Amsterdam. We knew the plan was to break up the drive to stop over in a hotel for a night and continue on to Amsterdam, little did we know that Will's mom surprised us with this awesome night in a castle! It was really cool, we thought we were just stopping off to check it out. A view of the Rhine river from the castle. Entering the hotel with Katie.

Will and Bobby up somewhere above our room. The terrace where we had coffee and cake. The Europeans have their desserts in the afternoon at around 3 or 4 pm so I was all over it. And the desserts are awesome!! That could make any mom a little nervous, right? Mr. Fancy Pants gets to drink Apple Juice out of a fancy glass with a fancy straw in a fancy chair while at the castle, how fancy he is! Being silly...

This is our room, it was the honeymoon suite and we all stayed in there together. Grandma and Katie stayed on the first floor, Bobby on the second, and Will, Charlie and I on the next. It was also very fancy inside. More views...

Charlie in the tower Charlie and Katie being silly in the tower. This is someones room, and someone was actually sitting on that balcony eatting, I thought it looked a little scary. Charlie and Katie pretending to have a Tea party in the gazebo. Daddy and Charlie after dinner

Time for a bubble bath, Charlie thought he was going swimming when he saw it. Nest stop Amsterdam! Amsterdam was crazy, everyone is on bikes and it seemed a little stressful for me, bikes have to act like cars, and ride in th`e street with the cars. This picture is of a Bicycle parking garage type thing, there must have been thousands of bikes in there. more bikes...

One of the streets in the busier part of town The Dam square We got our bikes and decided to join the crowd. Charlie loved being on the bike, me not so much, he got upset whenever he had to get off. One day, we broke away from the family and did some adventuring on our own. We took Charlie to the NEMO (nothing to do with the movie fish) Science Center. I think Dad had more fun than Charlie.

There was a lot about engineering, building things, why things work and basicly how to get a town to work. It may have been a little much for Charlie but he still had fun with all the gadgets. The Dutch policeman One of the canals at night. That was our trip, it was a working vacation. Sometimes you hear people say they need a vacation from their vacation, well I truly know what that means, and after being 6 1/2 months pregnant with a 2 year old doing all of this, we are happy to be relaxing at home and not doing a darn thing!!!