Katelyn lost her first tooth!

Katelyn was so excited and nervous when she realized her tooth was loose. She didn't want anyone to touch it and it got really, really loose. While she was eating her dinner she realized something was missing, she had swallowed her tooth. She was thrilled!! We wrote a note to the tooth fairy and luckily she didn't hold it against Katelyn. She carried her dollar around with her for days and put it in her backpack so she could take it to school. Austin was a little jealous and is anxiously waiting for his first loose tooth.

Preschool Boy!

Kyle's first day of preschool went so good! I was a little nervous, but his teacher, Miss Jen, said he did great. He liked PE the best, but that didn't surprise me. He did great for the first two weeks, then the school had a fire alarm and it scared him. He goes to preschool at the elementary school with his brother and sisters and it was a little chaotic and he got scared. They called me to pick him up and it hasn't gone well since. We have some ideas to help in the next few weeks and we'll see if it gets better. He loved it the first two weeks and I want him to be comfortable to go back and have fun again.

Kindergarten Here We Come!

The twins didn't think it was fair that they started school a week later than everybody and were so ready to start today! They loved kindergarten!! There teacher is Mrs. Richey and they thought she was great. Both of them said that recess was there favorite part, at no surprise to me. I am so glad they are in the same class and get to tackle this new adventure together.

First Day of School!

It started earlier than normal, and nobody was very excited for school to start. Kelsie was just bummed cause she couldn't sleep in anymore. Rachel and Brinlee were both nervous to move to a new school. We started them in the school close to our new house, it is about a 15 minute drive. But all turned out well, they met lots of new friends and both liked their teachers. Kelsie had about as much excitement that you can expect from a 13 year old talking about school. Katelyn, Austin & Kyle were the only ones disappointed today, the twins don't start kindergarten for another week and Kyle doesn't start pre-school until the next Wednesday.

Look what we came home too?

We have windows and the roof was framed in. Now we are just waiting for the timbers for the front and back porch. It is coming along, we are still expecting to move in the end of November. I don't think it will come fast enough.

The French Riveria

This was our last stop on the cruise, the view as we came into port was amazing. The huge mansions, large hotels and beautiful mountains (or hills) were beautiful. We got off the boat in Villefranche, which is in between Nice, France and Monaco. We decided to take the train to Monaco with two other couples that we had met from Oregon. We almost didn't get off at the right stop, the signage wasn't the greatest. We walked down one of the most famous shopping streets in Monaco to get to the docks and were amazed at the large yahts in the marina. Jason almost drove a Lamborghini, but we decided we needed to get back so we wouldn't miss the train so he passed it up.

The view from our port, Villefranche



In Monaco





When we got back to Villefranche we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for lunch, I had a yummy lobster salad. This is the two couples we did a lot of stuff with, they are from Oregon. Chris, middle on the right, is our regional sales rep and we have been friends for over 10 years.



This is our cruise ship, it was huge!!!!

Florence and Pisa

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to drive to Florence, but it was so worth it. There was such a variety of buildings in Florence. My favorite were the beautiful churches, the facade of several churches were done in marble. They had such intricate artwork and carvings, it was truly amazing.

The architecture was amazing, I loved this flower border on the eaves of one of the buildings we stopped to look at. It was a house when it was built, now it is a museum.



This is called the Ponte Vecchio, which means old bridge. They built buildings down each side of the bridge, with stilts to hold them up. This is the only bridge in Florence that survived World War II, it is now used as a market.



This is the church, Santa Croce, that we went inside on our tour, another church with a beautiful marble facade. It is the burial place for several famous Italians. Galileo and Michelangelo as well as many others.



This is Michelangelo's tomb.



This is Miracle Square in Pisa. Most known for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it also has a cathedral and dome. I can't believe how much it leans, it has recently undergone renovation and now considered stable. Even so we didn't have time to wait in the line to go to the top.

Rome

The best news is that our luggage finally caught up with us!!! When we got to the boat last night it was waiting for us. It is so nice to have more than two things to choose between to wear.

Rome was my favorite city. The most important thing for Jason to see was the Colosseum, so we picked a tour that took us inside. First we went to a church near the Colosseum that had three levels. We learned interesting things about how they built Rome, when they were done with something, they just filled it in with dirt and built something new on top of it. This church has been excavated underneath it and shows three levels of churches. It was really interesting to go underneath and see the remains of the the two churches, each new church was more elaborate than the one it was replacing.



Next was the Colosseum, it was cool. They were able to seat so many people (60,000) and the way they numbered the portals and seats is something that we could relate to. The floor has been removed so you could see the maze of holding rooms and elevators that were used to hold and move the animals used in the arena. I tried not to think of all the killing that took place in this awesome building. It is hard to believe that a nation that was so forward thinking in its architecture was so gruesome in its leisure activities.







Next was lunch were we met a family from Chicago that had a twelve year old daughter. The daughter had caught my eye earlier in the day because her hair was similar to Kelsie's and she was wearing a tank top that Kelsie has from Hollister. After talking to her for awhile we found that they both loved dance, texting and had lots of things in common. Her only wish was that we would have brought Kelsie with us, it was fun to talk to her. It made me miss the kids even more, though.

Our last stop of the day was at the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. All I can say is WOW!!! It was really interesting to see the largest church in the world. They artwork is beautiful. Everything is huge, even the letters on a ribbon at the top of the building are over 12 feet high.







We had about 10 minutes to shop and that isn't near long enough. But we managed to find a pretty nativity set that was hand carved out of wood from the Vatican and Jason found a marble statue of a chariot rider. So we managed to delay the bus for 15 minutes while we waited for them to package it all.

Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii

Wow what an incredible day. Still no luggage (but it is supposed to be here when we get back from our excursion.) We started out by taking a boat to the island of Capri, this is a gorgeous island. The views are amazing. We walked up the hill to see the views, and visit Ceasers Garden. He had a palace on the top of the island, some things do not change because this island is full of 5 star resorts and villas used by the celebrities.







In Caesars Garden



Next we took the boat to Sorrento, Italy. This village was built on the cliffs over looking the Mediterranean Sea. We had lunch and then learned one of the trades that this part of Italy is famous for. They do beautiful wood inlay artwork they use it for paintings, furniture and music boxes. We got a beautiful table for the entry way in the new house.



From Sorrento we drove to Naples and visited Pompeii. This was Jason's favorite part of the day. He loves seeing the ruins and learning about the people that lived there. I was impressed with this city that was buried by a volcano ash. They had no warning and thousands of people were killed. The city that they had built was amazing. The way they did the plumbing (yup they had toilets), the water fountains, the merchant areas, the tile work, and the amazing paintings.







It was really hot!!! So that is why my hair is plastered to my face.

Day at Sea and Malta

The first full day on the cruise ship was spent at sea. So we didn't stop anywhere. Jason and I relaxed and explored the ship. We both got massages at the spa and then took a nap!! We had a yummy dinner at the Italian resteraunt well Jason had two, he asked the waiter which was better of the two things he wanted to try and the waiter brought him both. He liked both though and couldn't pick a favorite.

These pictures give you a little perspective of how big the ship was. All I know is we got our excercise going anywhere on the ship.





This is our state room. We were lucky enough to have a room with a balcony, it was cool to sit out and watch the ocean and see what we were passing. I was worried about motion sickness, but we only one night (the last night) that it got a little rocky (20 ft waves can do that) the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. (The towel monkey was left from the guy taking care of our room, he left us a new animal each night)





Our first port was Malta (It is an island below Sicily). It is known for it's ancient ruins, the oldest in the entire world. The tour guide we had this day was very boring and monotone, but he was knowledgable. We learned a lot, just not very exciting. He did take us to a little seaside village that was cool, they had an outside shopping area and we got some cool tablecloths for our new house and gifts for the kids.

Barcelona - Day 2

We spent our second day in Barcelona (with no luggage, still) walking the area surrounding the Cathedral. It was a great walk. Even though the cathedral is being renovated, it was still a beautiful building. We ate at an outside cafe on the, and were able to watch several street performers. They dress up in lots of costumes and pretend to be statues until you get close to them and then they perform for you. They let people take pictures, for a dollar or two anyway.





I loved the Christopher Columbus Monument. A little (did I say little I meant tiny, 4 people is all it fit) elevator took you to the top. There you had a perfect view of the city and the water.



From the monument we took a taxi that delivered us right to the front ramp of our boat. It's huge!!!!! We take off in a few hours.

Barcelona is a great city, even though we only spend a day and a half here we felt we got a good sense of the city. Now I want to come back.

Barcelona - Day 1

We spent the first afternoon of our trip (well after spending 3 hours at the airport to report the lost luggage) on a walk through one of the historic parts of Barcelona. It was fairly quiet and clean, I was surprised. We visited the Sagrada Familia, a gothic temple that the artist Goudi started. He was killed in the 1920's and his vision is still being completed today. They do not expect the temple to be completed for another 20 - 30 years. The craftsmanship was amazing. The only portion of the temple that was complete while Goudi was alive is the nativity facade, it was amazing, so detailed and ornate. A different artist completed the Crucifixion side, it was very geometric and contemporary. It was interesting to see the different interpretations.

They had some amazing stained glass windows and pillars on the inside of the temple. A lot of it was under construction and the biggest part of the temple the dome and largest spire that will be a tribute to Jesus Christ, is yet to be finished, causing a good portion of the temple to be under scaffolding. Even with the scaffolding it was a gorgeous building.







During our walk, we also saw an apartment building (Casa Mila) that Goudi designed, the rails at each balcony were so interesting. The overall building looked like a marshmallow, definitely stood out from everything around it.