Back in Business

I finally have a computer now. WooHoo!

My very first laptop, with which I'm very much in love.

I'm gonna try to post about once a day. I have a lot of things to catch up on but my Internet is patchy at best so when I have a good connection I'll post something.

So lets start where we left off. I believe we were in Rome. What a fantastic trip that was. It was a great way to get our feet wet in Europe. We were there for about 9 days and had a great time walking the city and seeing the sights. There was plenty to see, but I'm content knowing that
I've seen everything that I wanted to see in Rome.

Obviously we took a ton of pictures and would love to show them all, but since that's not possible on a blog, I'll run through the highlights of our trip and show you a glimpse of what we saw.

Here was our home in Rome for 9 days, The Hotel Bolivar. We couldn't have asked to be placed in a better location. This cute little place was right in the heart of downtown Rome. We were able to walk to every part of the city from our hotel. We could have taken the bus but not wanting to miss out on the day-to-day part of the Roman life, we walked everywhere.



I really wish I would have taken some pics of our room because it was unlike any American hotel I've ever seen. It was TINY! At first it was cute and made us feel SO European. By about day 5 it wasn't so cute, it was cramped, claustrophobic and uncomfortable! At any rate we did really well for living out of a closet sized room for that long. There is no way to spend time "together" like staying in close quarters like that.

And yes, we enjoyed every minute together. :)

On the first day we walked to the Colosseum. It was a big ticket item for us so was rightfully the first thing we wanted to see.

While it was truly awesome to be there and try to imagine it in action, it was exactly what it looks like in all of the photos and movies. Its definitely an engineering marvel though. Its so hard to imagine how all of these great things were built back then and have been strong enough to last through the centuries.

This is Palatine hill. It sits just above the Roman forum and next to the Colosseum. Another gathering place for political and social life, it also was the home of Cesar Augustus.

We definitely used our opportunity to enjoy our time in such a romantic setting. Its a rare occasion when we get to be alone, but like all parents we desperately need that connection. Being in a foreign country we were put in a lot of potentially very stressful situations, but we compliment each other so well that everything just seemed to work. Lord knows I would have been completely lost without his sense of direction and I could understand the people and their broken English much better than he did. So, we did amazingly well.

These are just a couple of my favorite pictures. These little golden photo ops were everywhere

This is the view from looking down at a part of the Roman Forum. I can't express how overwhelmingly big everything is.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon was originally used as a temple to worship all of the Roman gods but is now a basilica or Roman Catholic church. Its known for its dome that is used in so much artwork and engineering.

The Trevi Fountain

My favorite hot spot in Rome. Tossing a coin into the Trevi fountain is supposed to give you good luck and a return trip to Rome. By far the HOTTEST sculpture in Rome. I certainly didn't mind walking by this statue a few times.

This one of my favorite pictures of Taylor. He was so patient with me, he let me wander and look around until my little heart was content.

This was a very common car in Rome. These little smart cars were the way to go in a city where parking is next to impossible. The streets are all tiny cobblestone alleys. If you didn't have a smart car, you'd better have a scooter.

So this is the end of Rome post #1. I'll have a few more to share in the near future. If you ever get the chance to go,

GO!

Sorry

SO HERE IS MY STORY

I have no home

I have no computer

Therefor, I have no blog

I have so much to say

So many pictures to post

And no way to do it

So much has happened

Rome

Mallory is wrestling

My mom had surgery

I put an offer on a house in Reno

Had a night out with my BFF

And much more

Oh Well

Hopefully, I will have laptop soon

Keep your fingers crossed

And keep checkin in

VIVA ROMA

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Rome safely and have been having the time of our lives!

The plane ride over wasn't bad at all for an overnight 20.5hr trip. We had a stop in Germany and I'll admit that once I heard the language barrier, I was a little frightened. It really hasn't been bad here in Rome though. Most everyone speaks a little broken English and getting around has been fairly easy. I've had a really hard time establishing my sense of direction and its a good thing I have Taylor because who knows where I would have ended up by now.

The first day here we made a whirlwind trip around most of the city by foot. Hitting the Colosseum, Roman forum, Palatine hill, the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, Victor Emanuel monument and at least half a dozen churches on the way. Pretty sure we walked at least 10-12miles that day.

Day #2 was spent at a little slower pace and we strolled through the smaller streets and alleys to the far north part of the city. Soaking in the different culture, sights and sounds. I'll have plenty of pictures, stories and descriptions later.

Day #3 was a day at the Vatican. This was a fantastic day where I just tried to grasp the reality that I was standing in the Sistine Chapel under the ceiling that Michelangelo himself had painted so long ago. The was the main ticket item for me, but I really enjoyed my trip to the Vatican and St. Peters Basilica and can't wait to share more later.

Day #4 (today) A train ride to the city of Pompei. Remember the stories we read in school- Mt. Vesuvius erupted and a giant cloud of hot ash fell upon the ancient Roman city, preserving it until its discovery and excavation. Well, I had no idea just how big this city was. We walked our fare share of miles today and I know that we missed a lot of the city. Pretty amazing though that so much of it still stands.

Well, thats the quick version of our trip so far. We've been struggling a little with the time change and have been going to bed around 7pm and waking around 4am. Taylor is asleep right now and I'm trying to stay awake a little longer so maybe I can sleep past 4. We'll see.

We come home on the 27th and I'll try to have pics up as soon as possible.

Not My Gumdrop Buttons!

I know this is a little late, but I'm still doing Christmas catch up. The girls built this little jewel of a GINGERBREAD house and it actually made it through the holidays.

I ended up doing the WINDOWS but the girls did the rest on their own.

Faith ran the ICING bag and Mallory was in charge of the CANDY.
Olivia was the clean up crew, eating all of the fallout and left over shingles. :o)

San Fransisco Part 2

On the 2nd day of our trip we went to the city park and spent the day in the aquarium/planetarium.

My little Mallory was very hands on and interested in everything. I'm pretty sure that she would have stayed if we'd have let her. She was so intrigued by the star fish and urchins. It was neat to see her so involved.


Olivia was just EVERYWHERE! There was so much to see and she was hard to keep an eye on.







Faith and Dylon were kind of off on their own, taking pictures of everthing they saw and touching everything they could.








My mom's ankle appointment went well and now she is scheduled to have her ankle fused at the end of January. Its going to be a long recovery but she is really looking forward to the pain relief after she recovers.

Grandad had a great time as well. I have very fond memories of going to San Fransisco with him and I was glad that my kids now have these memories also.



Mallory really enjoyed pal'n around with Taylor

Look at these 3 cute little butts :o)

Like always, I enjoyed spending time with Taylor. He grew up in the bay area so it was neat to have him show me around a little bit and hear the stories of him growing up. From the sounds of it, that little wild child makes me seem like an angel! HAHA! Just kidding babe!

Who doesn't love the Golden Gate Bridge?

San Francisco Part 1

We had a great trip to San Francisco in the beginning of December. The primary reason was to take my mom to a Dr. appt to have an ankle replacement. But we had a lot of fun just doing some basic sight seeing while we were there. In all there were 8 of us... Mom, Grandad (my moms dad), Taylor, myself, Faith, Mallory, Olivia and Dylon (Taylors oldest)

These are some of the pics that we took when the kids and I were just wandering around Jack London Square.



We were just goofin off, so I challenged the kids to a cartwheel contest, long jump contest, and sprint. Then I had to show off a bit.
I lost all but the cartwheel contest. And let me say, Dylon can jump a long way!

Hey what can I say, we'd just finished a long drive and all of the other adults were gone.
















I really enjoyed Jack London Square.
I'd never been before and the kids and I had a blast just runnin around and burning off some excess energy.

The next day we went to the aquarium and planetarium at park in San Fran. I'll post those pics next.

What a good lookin group of kids

O Christmas Tree...

Ok, So here is where I play my LITTLE game of catch up. I've finally uploaded the pics from my camera and I'm bored at work

So let the GAMES BEGIN!

I really enjoy Christmas but mostly, I enjoy decorating for Christmas. The girls were great helpers and couldn't wait to decorate the tree this year.

If you couldn't tell,

This is SERIOUS business!

The girls wanted it just right. (hence, the intense concentration on their little faces)

Faith was the Master of Ceremonies this year and rearranged all of the ornaments after her sisters went to bed, trying to perfect the tree just so.


Nicely done girls!