Thursday, December 10, 2009
Venice
Rome
The next day we got up and went to the Vatican. We wanted to see the Sistine Chapel (which we did, after walking through A LOT of the Vatican) The guard there kept saying, "SHHHH! NO PHOTOS" in a really nasally voice. He was actually louder than all the people that were in there. After that we took the subway to see some Baths--we didn't get to see them because they were under construction. So, then we went to the Spanish Steps. After that we called it a night, and headed home. We took the two hour route from the subway, instead of the ten minute one...and stopped at the Gelataria.
On our final day in Rome we went to the Coloseum. First though, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I like going to the Hard Rock in Europe because the bathrooms are always clean and the toliets have seats. After being in Europe for a few years, those are really important to me. After lunch we went to the Colloseum, then saw the Palantine Hill (ruins). After that we walked through the Jewish Ghetto (that is not a ghetto anymore, but it used to be a flooded area that they forced the Jews to live in) all the way to the Pantheon. And then we walked the ten minutes home....that changed to ten more minutes every ten minutes. Confused yet?
Italy!
Our first stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We went and pretended to hold it up, and walked around Pisa some. We also had pizza in Pisa for lunch. After lunch we headed over to the medieval walled city of Lucca. We did some walking (on top of the wall) and just checking out the town.
The second day we went to Cinque de Terre, or The Five Villages. We hiked the paths between some of the villages, and rode the train the rest of them. There were gorgeous views of the ocean, and yummy Italian gelato!
The third day we went to Florence. The sole purpose of that trip was to see Michealangelo's David. We accomplished that, but unfortunately photos are not allowed in the museum. We also had lunch there and walked through the outdoor markets.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Party Party!
We celebrated A.J.'s birthday last weekend. He FINALLY had a birthday party that was more than just us. We invited a lot of friends over. We had around 30 people over. A.J. had a BLAST! He loved his Transformer cake, and opening presents. In fact, the next day he asked if we could have another birthday party next week. I said no, we only have birthday parties once a year. He said it doesn't have to be a birthday party-just a PRESENT party. I still said no-so let's not let him in on the idea of an unbirthday party.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Happy Birthday A.J.!!!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Labor Day Weekend
On Monday we went to Kinderdijk on our way home. It's a cute little village of windmills. There are 19 windmills, and they have one that is working. When you go inside of it they show how the Dutch lived in their windmills. The rooms were so tiny-maybe my apartment isn't so bad after all...the kids had a blast climbing all the way to the top of the windmill, on the narrow steep steps. I wouldn't have wanted to go down them in the dark!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Luxembourg and Bastogne
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Summer is almost over...
Jamie had surgery last week to repair the damage to the nerves in his arm. He is on leave until next week. We go back on Tuesday for a follow up.
We probably won't have any exciting trips or pictures for the rest of the summer. Our excitement now consists of going to the Macaroni Grill (just opened last month!) and Chili's, and I know that's just not too exciting for those of you that live near yummy restaurants. But for us....ahhhh it is a treat to go there!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Graduation Day
Friday, May 29, 2009
Opening Night!
Monday, May 18, 2009
So, I've been slacking...
Anyway, two weeks ago we had beautiful weather, and no extra activities so we did a little sightseeing over the weekend. On Saturday we headed over to Cologne. We went to the cathedral there, and the chocolate factory.
Then on Sunday we headed over to Ronnenburg Castle for a Medieval Festival. The kids were able to bake bread over an open fire, and watch some knights sword fighting, and even saw a peacock!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Dreamland Everlasting: "Be careful what you wish for"
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Trier
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Easter Market
Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Wedding
Monday, March 9, 2009
We might not...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Fasching!
Fasching is celebrated in Germany, starting Nov. 11. The celebration is suspended during the Christmas season, but it begins again after the New Year. The major part of "carnival" begins the week before Lent. It is a time of celebrating, before the fasting for Lent begins. Most towns and villages have parades and parties. Today we went to the parade in Mainz Kastel-it is one of the milder parades (we were told it would be rated PG compared to many of the other parades) The participants of the parade call out "Helau!" and the children call it back to have candy and toys thrown at them. The Army also has a float in this parade-you will see it in the pictures. Enjoy the pictures!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Happy Birthday Jamie!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Just The Two of Us
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Happy New Year!
On New Year's Eve when the year changed over to 2009 the Eiffel Tower lit up like it was sparkling, and there were some fireworks. It was really cool.
The pictures are Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and the Louvre. I don't have pictures of New Year's Eve, or up in the Eiffel Tower because my camera battery died on New Year's Eve Day. I had taken a transformer for my hair dryer, curling iron, and camera battery, but the transformer blew on the first day...(you read that right, I really had no way of fixing my hair the whole time! Lucky Jamie, he has such a low maintenance wife, lol) We found a place that had a disposable camera, but I still have to get the film developed...going back to the good old days:) Hopefully, they turned out nice, and I will post them later.