Over the next eleven days, Nate and I will be touring the beautiful country of Italy. I'm sure there will be LOTS to blog about when we come back. This is our first big trip, so please keep us in your prayers, so we stay safe! We fly out tomorrow and can't wait!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
From Naples to Nice
Over the next eleven days, Nate and I will be touring the beautiful country of Italy. I'm sure there will be LOTS to blog about when we come back. This is our first big trip, so please keep us in your prayers, so we stay safe! We fly out tomorrow and can't wait!!!
Lately...
This past week, Nate's good friend, Tony, came all the way from North Carolina with some friends to visit a co-worker in Zurich and sight see different parts of Europe. So Nate and I decided to go to Zurich to see Tony and hang out with the rest of the group. Tony is partially the one who helped Nate and I become an "item." He was always there when Nate and I first started hanging out and somehow he was even there when it was just supposed to me and Nate watching fireworks on 4th of July. I think he encouraged Nate to start dating me and here we are today!
This was Tony's first time in Europe, so it was a lot to take in for him... especially the jet lag. We met up with him the day he flew in and he missed one of his flights, so needless to say, he was exhausted! But he was a trooper and we were glad he was able to stay awake to see us!
Another exciting event last week was our first Basel futbol game! One of Nate's co-workers invited him to the game, so we thought it would be great to go with someone who was actually from Basel. His sister came along too, which I was thankful for, because I had someone to talk to when I wasn't paying attention to the game.
The fans were rowdy. You can see the die hard ones across the way from us. Everyone sang a lot, ate pretzels, and drank a lot of beer. Nate and I had a pretzel and it was one of the best soft pretzels I've ever had!
The game seemed to go by fast... about half the amount of American football time. Unfortunately, it ended in a tie, but it was still a great experience... I'm sure we'll go back!
Other things that have happened as of late... Nate was able to work from home some this week, so we had some nice mornings together. We even went running together (a rare occasion!) along the river... we are so thankful to live in such a beautiful place.
JOB News: I got hired to be the tennis high school coach for the ISB this Spring! It's a little earlier than I anticipated... as it is already in full swing. We had our first home match this past Saturday and I had a blast. I forgot how much fun it is to coach kids at this age. And the good news is my team is really good... they won the whole tournament against 3 other schools! I will be traveling with them to their next tournament, the National Championship for International Schools, so wish us luck!
This was Tony's first time in Europe, so it was a lot to take in for him... especially the jet lag. We met up with him the day he flew in and he missed one of his flights, so needless to say, he was exhausted! But he was a trooper and we were glad he was able to stay awake to see us!
Another exciting event last week was our first Basel futbol game! One of Nate's co-workers invited him to the game, so we thought it would be great to go with someone who was actually from Basel. His sister came along too, which I was thankful for, because I had someone to talk to when I wasn't paying attention to the game.
The fans were rowdy. You can see the die hard ones across the way from us. Everyone sang a lot, ate pretzels, and drank a lot of beer. Nate and I had a pretzel and it was one of the best soft pretzels I've ever had!
The game seemed to go by fast... about half the amount of American football time. Unfortunately, it ended in a tie, but it was still a great experience... I'm sure we'll go back!
Other things that have happened as of late... Nate was able to work from home some this week, so we had some nice mornings together. We even went running together (a rare occasion!) along the river... we are so thankful to live in such a beautiful place.
JOB News: I got hired to be the tennis high school coach for the ISB this Spring! It's a little earlier than I anticipated... as it is already in full swing. We had our first home match this past Saturday and I had a blast. I forgot how much fun it is to coach kids at this age. And the good news is my team is really good... they won the whole tournament against 3 other schools! I will be traveling with them to their next tournament, the National Championship for International Schools, so wish us luck!
Italian Switzerland... all the Swiss efficiencies mixed with all of Italy's charm
Nate and I were able to spend a four day weekend in this gorgeous part of Switzerland and it turned out to be the most relaxing trip yet. This was quite unexpected for me because we hiked & camped and I didn't think it would be possible to relax... but we did.
The four hour train ride (the longest one we've taken in Switzerland) flew by as we were nestled in the Alps for about 3 hours... we went through parts of the country that we had never seen before. When we passed by the lake in this picture, we both looked at each other and said, "We have to come back here!"
This next picture of Jake probably has you slightly puzzled, but let me explain. The first 5 months of being in Europe, Jake traveled just about everywhere with us (yes, we know he's spoiled). Well, every time he traveled with us, we had to buy a train ticket for him too, but one day someone told me that we wouldn't have to pay for him if we put him in a 'bag'. Nate and I were not too sure that Jake would sit still in a bag, but we tried it and... it worked! The guy came by to check our tickets and didn't say a word about us paying for Jake. He just looked at him and gave him a big smile. Also, Jake was calmer than usual because we put a soft towel inside the bag, so he was comfy and even fell asleep... a win, win situation. Thanks to Cotton Inc. for the perfect-sized Jake tote bag! :)
When we arrived in Lugano, we strolled it's hilly streets and grabbed some lunch. We needed our energy to do some climbing a little later.
But we thought we would let the cable car do most of the climbing for us. :)
I was pretty nervous about this cable car ride because it was really steep. It made a clicking sound that reminded me of going up a roller coaster ride and for some reason that made me more nervous... as if I was anticipating a big drop. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
When we got to the top, we had to hike a little ways for the views. The sky was a bit cloudy and hazy, so that was a little disappointing, but it was still awesome to be up that high.
Can you find me in this picture?
I think this is just the sweetest picture of Nate & Jake...
This was a scary spot. There's a huge drop off under my feet and it was so windy, I felt like I was going to fall over!
Once we reached the very top of an old church, there was a 360 degree view of Lake Lugano. It was breathtaking. A sign says that on a clear day, you can see the city of Milan from this view point!
After our little hike, we ventured to our campsite. It was in a tiny town off of the lake called Caslano. We kind of took a risk with going there, but it turned out to be a little gem.
It's a good thing I took a picture of this, otherwise, you might not have believed me... Nate finally got me to go camping with him! Ever since we were first married (almost 3 years ago), Nate has been trying to take me camping, but somehow it never worked out. I always had some excuse for not going, mainly because I worked on the weekends. I mean, your job comes first in those situations, right? So, before moving to Switzerland, Nate made sure that he bought all the gear to backpack and camp throughout this outdoorsy country... and now I have no excuse!
This was our spot every night as we ate dinner. We had to wait awhile for our food because we think they made the pasta fresh, after we ordered. We had some of the best ravioli we ever tasted. We didn't take pictures of our food because we were too hungry and forgot!
This picture didn't turn out that great because it was pretty dark out, but it was really peaceful to watch the swans swim by...
We started off our second day with some coffee and pastries (energy for a much bigger hike) as we waited for our boat to arrive.
Nothing fancy... but it was fun to ride!
We weren't quite sure what Jake thought of his first boat ride... he was either having fun or plotting a way to jump off... ha!
When we got to our destination, we had to take another mode of transportation, a funicular. It looks like it took us a long way, but I think it only helped us with a fourth of the way of our uphill hike. Nate wanted to forgo the funicular, but I thought he was crazy, so we ended up taking it, and that was definitely the smartest decision we made that day.
This hike was the toughest, steepest, and most tiring of all other hikes I've ever done. I had been sick for the whole week before our trip, so maybe that had something to do with it, but there were times when my legs could barely take another step! It was even much harder than going up the steep parts of the Grand Canyon. Nate agreed with me, so I know I wasn't imagining it. When we finally reached the top, the views were quite rewarding.
I was so happy to finally be sitting down! The mountain behind us to the left was the mountain that we went to the top of the previous day.
We went a different round going back down and it was a lot easier. But then again, going down is always easier. This path led us through cute little Swiss-Italian towns...
And pretty country sides with vineyards. After 5 hours of hiking, Jake was still going strong!
After our hike and another delicious dinner, we slept really well... even in a little tent. Our last day we decided to take a boat cruise around the lake to the different towns. It was so relaxing. It took us by the cutest towns and eventually back to Lugano, where we need to go...
This picture cracks me up... Jake is making the funniest face...
Before heading back home, we took one last look of the city of Lugano, but we hope to go back someday!
The four hour train ride (the longest one we've taken in Switzerland) flew by as we were nestled in the Alps for about 3 hours... we went through parts of the country that we had never seen before. When we passed by the lake in this picture, we both looked at each other and said, "We have to come back here!"
This next picture of Jake probably has you slightly puzzled, but let me explain. The first 5 months of being in Europe, Jake traveled just about everywhere with us (yes, we know he's spoiled). Well, every time he traveled with us, we had to buy a train ticket for him too, but one day someone told me that we wouldn't have to pay for him if we put him in a 'bag'. Nate and I were not too sure that Jake would sit still in a bag, but we tried it and... it worked! The guy came by to check our tickets and didn't say a word about us paying for Jake. He just looked at him and gave him a big smile. Also, Jake was calmer than usual because we put a soft towel inside the bag, so he was comfy and even fell asleep... a win, win situation. Thanks to Cotton Inc. for the perfect-sized Jake tote bag! :)
When we arrived in Lugano, we strolled it's hilly streets and grabbed some lunch. We needed our energy to do some climbing a little later.
But we thought we would let the cable car do most of the climbing for us. :)
I was pretty nervous about this cable car ride because it was really steep. It made a clicking sound that reminded me of going up a roller coaster ride and for some reason that made me more nervous... as if I was anticipating a big drop. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
When we got to the top, we had to hike a little ways for the views. The sky was a bit cloudy and hazy, so that was a little disappointing, but it was still awesome to be up that high. 
Can you find me in this picture?
I think this is just the sweetest picture of Nate & Jake...
This was a scary spot. There's a huge drop off under my feet and it was so windy, I felt like I was going to fall over!
Once we reached the very top of an old church, there was a 360 degree view of Lake Lugano. It was breathtaking. A sign says that on a clear day, you can see the city of Milan from this view point!
After our little hike, we ventured to our campsite. It was in a tiny town off of the lake called Caslano. We kind of took a risk with going there, but it turned out to be a little gem. 
It's a good thing I took a picture of this, otherwise, you might not have believed me... Nate finally got me to go camping with him! Ever since we were first married (almost 3 years ago), Nate has been trying to take me camping, but somehow it never worked out. I always had some excuse for not going, mainly because I worked on the weekends. I mean, your job comes first in those situations, right? So, before moving to Switzerland, Nate made sure that he bought all the gear to backpack and camp throughout this outdoorsy country... and now I have no excuse!
This was our spot every night as we ate dinner. We had to wait awhile for our food because we think they made the pasta fresh, after we ordered. We had some of the best ravioli we ever tasted. We didn't take pictures of our food because we were too hungry and forgot!
This picture didn't turn out that great because it was pretty dark out, but it was really peaceful to watch the swans swim by...
We started off our second day with some coffee and pastries (energy for a much bigger hike) as we waited for our boat to arrive.
Nothing fancy... but it was fun to ride!
We weren't quite sure what Jake thought of his first boat ride... he was either having fun or plotting a way to jump off... ha!
When we got to our destination, we had to take another mode of transportation, a funicular. It looks like it took us a long way, but I think it only helped us with a fourth of the way of our uphill hike. Nate wanted to forgo the funicular, but I thought he was crazy, so we ended up taking it, and that was definitely the smartest decision we made that day.
This hike was the toughest, steepest, and most tiring of all other hikes I've ever done. I had been sick for the whole week before our trip, so maybe that had something to do with it, but there were times when my legs could barely take another step! It was even much harder than going up the steep parts of the Grand Canyon. Nate agreed with me, so I know I wasn't imagining it. When we finally reached the top, the views were quite rewarding.
I was so happy to finally be sitting down! The mountain behind us to the left was the mountain that we went to the top of the previous day.
We went a different round going back down and it was a lot easier. But then again, going down is always easier. This path led us through cute little Swiss-Italian towns...
And pretty country sides with vineyards. After 5 hours of hiking, Jake was still going strong!
After our hike and another delicious dinner, we slept really well... even in a little tent. Our last day we decided to take a boat cruise around the lake to the different towns. It was so relaxing. It took us by the cutest towns and eventually back to Lugano, where we need to go...
This picture cracks me up... Jake is making the funniest face...
Before heading back home, we took one last look of the city of Lugano, but we hope to go back someday!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Everybody Makes Mistakes....
Since moving to Europe, Nate and I have had our fair share of mistakes. We did so many things wrong in the beginning of our stay that it's hard to remember them all, but here are a few...
When I went grocery shopping for the first time, it was overwhelmingly different from the States... they had a ton of weird cheeses (that smelled bad), the milk and eggs were not refrigerated, I couldn't find any pre-packaged meals, and everything was written in German! So I decided to buy what I could find to make sandwiches... bread, fresh mozzarella, salami, lettuce, and tomatoes. When checking out, the woman got to the tomatoes and asked me a question. Of course, I had no idea what she said, but I nodded yes... big mistake. All of sudden, she jumped out of her chair and disappeared for a minute, but it felt like an eternity. There was a huge, long line and everyone was getting mad at me, or so I thought. I think my face was turning as bright red as the tomatoes. The woman came back and showed me the tomato bag with a sticker on it and mumbled something in that weird language, Swiss German. It turns out, I was supposed to weigh it and then put a sticker on it myself! I guess we are spoiled in the States because the cashier weighs it for us...
After that embarrassing moment, I was slowly feeling more comfortable in the grocery store, until one day I brought Nate to the store with me... another big mistake. :) It was a Saturday and the store was super busy. There are no stores open on Sundays, so everybody in town goes on Saturday. Nate and I had a bunch of groceries and went to check out. When it was time to pay, Nate used his fairly new debit card. I didn't bother to bring my wallet because I knew Nate brought his. So, he put in his pin number (a random SIX digit number here in Switz.) and it didn't work. I was thinking.. okay, no problem, just do it again (as the line continues to get longer). Nate entered it the second time and... rejected, again. He looked at me and we had this telepathic moment of fear that we would have to put all these groceries back. Meanwhile, the cashier lady was saying try it one more time... at least I think that's what she said. She could have been saying... 'you Americans are idiots' for all I know! I looked over at Nate and he was thinking so hard, I could practically hear him thinking... and I was praying so hard, he could probably hear me too. As everyone is staring at us in line, Nate entered in his 3rd and final attempt and.... he got it right! Whew! That was a close one and I was very happy that we didn't have to put all those groceries back!
Those episodes happened awhile back, but recently we have made some new mistakes. A couple weeks ago, I was really sick and all I wanted was juice, so my sweet Nate ventured out to the store to buy some. After being gone awhile, he came back with something that looked like juice... it had a picture of all sorts of berries on the front and looked delicioius, but when I took a sip, I immediately wanted to spit it out. It was SYRUP! I think the syrup is supposed to be mixed with soda water and I don't think it contained any real fruit juice. I give him credit for trying, but it did say "sirop" on the front, so I had to give him a hard time about that. :) But I am definitely not perfect.
The other night I made pizza and I usually make the dough from scratch, but this time I was in a hurry, so I grabbed a pre-made dough of which I thought was pizza dough. When I rolled the dough out, it still looked like pizza dough... I proceeded to put on the toppings and popped it in the oven. It looked delicious, but when we took a bite, we both knew something was terribly wrong... it was PIE crust! NOT pizza crust. We ended up scraping off the toppings and tried to make the best of it. Fortunately we made a big salad to go with it!
Sorry we don't have any pictures, but you aren't exactly whipping out the camera at your worst moments. I'm sure we will have other mistakes in the future, so stay tuned... we will be sure to humbly let you know about them. :)
When I went grocery shopping for the first time, it was overwhelmingly different from the States... they had a ton of weird cheeses (that smelled bad), the milk and eggs were not refrigerated, I couldn't find any pre-packaged meals, and everything was written in German! So I decided to buy what I could find to make sandwiches... bread, fresh mozzarella, salami, lettuce, and tomatoes. When checking out, the woman got to the tomatoes and asked me a question. Of course, I had no idea what she said, but I nodded yes... big mistake. All of sudden, she jumped out of her chair and disappeared for a minute, but it felt like an eternity. There was a huge, long line and everyone was getting mad at me, or so I thought. I think my face was turning as bright red as the tomatoes. The woman came back and showed me the tomato bag with a sticker on it and mumbled something in that weird language, Swiss German. It turns out, I was supposed to weigh it and then put a sticker on it myself! I guess we are spoiled in the States because the cashier weighs it for us...
After that embarrassing moment, I was slowly feeling more comfortable in the grocery store, until one day I brought Nate to the store with me... another big mistake. :) It was a Saturday and the store was super busy. There are no stores open on Sundays, so everybody in town goes on Saturday. Nate and I had a bunch of groceries and went to check out. When it was time to pay, Nate used his fairly new debit card. I didn't bother to bring my wallet because I knew Nate brought his. So, he put in his pin number (a random SIX digit number here in Switz.) and it didn't work. I was thinking.. okay, no problem, just do it again (as the line continues to get longer). Nate entered it the second time and... rejected, again. He looked at me and we had this telepathic moment of fear that we would have to put all these groceries back. Meanwhile, the cashier lady was saying try it one more time... at least I think that's what she said. She could have been saying... 'you Americans are idiots' for all I know! I looked over at Nate and he was thinking so hard, I could practically hear him thinking... and I was praying so hard, he could probably hear me too. As everyone is staring at us in line, Nate entered in his 3rd and final attempt and.... he got it right! Whew! That was a close one and I was very happy that we didn't have to put all those groceries back!
Those episodes happened awhile back, but recently we have made some new mistakes. A couple weeks ago, I was really sick and all I wanted was juice, so my sweet Nate ventured out to the store to buy some. After being gone awhile, he came back with something that looked like juice... it had a picture of all sorts of berries on the front and looked delicioius, but when I took a sip, I immediately wanted to spit it out. It was SYRUP! I think the syrup is supposed to be mixed with soda water and I don't think it contained any real fruit juice. I give him credit for trying, but it did say "sirop" on the front, so I had to give him a hard time about that. :) But I am definitely not perfect.
The other night I made pizza and I usually make the dough from scratch, but this time I was in a hurry, so I grabbed a pre-made dough of which I thought was pizza dough. When I rolled the dough out, it still looked like pizza dough... I proceeded to put on the toppings and popped it in the oven. It looked delicious, but when we took a bite, we both knew something was terribly wrong... it was PIE crust! NOT pizza crust. We ended up scraping off the toppings and tried to make the best of it. Fortunately we made a big salad to go with it!
Sorry we don't have any pictures, but you aren't exactly whipping out the camera at your worst moments. I'm sure we will have other mistakes in the future, so stay tuned... we will be sure to humbly let you know about them. :)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
MONACO
Monaco... one of my favorite places in the world. Growing up, our European family vacations always included a stop here to see family and enjoy the beautiful Mediterranean. My parents lived in Monaco for the first year of their marriage, so they liked to go back to reminisce about that time in their lives... probably like Nate and I will want to take our kids to Switzerland and show them where we lived!
When most people think of Monaco, they think of the Casino... which is a sight to see...
But, as I said in my previous blog, I went to see FAMILY and lots of it! All the kids you'll see in the (many) pictures ahead are my cousins' children (I don't know the correct term for them... maybe 2nd cousins?) I just call them all cousins to make it easier! In this picture is Dylan (who is paying attention to his food and not the camera), then Sali, Sali's kids (who you can't see), Sean, Victoria (Vickie), and me...
I had never before seen Sali's kids (except for on Facebook... thanks goodness for that!), so I was so happy to meet them and spend time with them. Here's Josef (Pepa) with a big smile on his face and Rowan, who is not smiling at all because she is not sure what to think of this crazy girl she just met. :)
I fell in love with all the little ones... they have such cute personalities!
Rowan finally warmed up to me and gave me a big smile! :)
The first morning, I woke up to this... I am showing you two things: 1. It is a Beautiful view from Andrea's room... you can even see the castle to the right. And 2. It is so cloudy that the mountains are even above the clouds. Needless to say, I was a little sad that the sun wasn't out.
Here is another beautiful view (off the living room... taken a different day). I apologize for the indecency, but Sean wanted to be in the picture!
Every morning, we went to a little cafe to have coffee and pastries, which were either filled with cream or chocolate (yum!)
My cousin, Renata, little Vickie, and my aunt Renata... Renata is the one who lives in Monaco and her mom lives near Vienna, Austria (another beautiful city)
Vickie likes coffee!
I mean, Vickie REALLY likes coffee...
Me and Sali. Sali lives in Fort Worth, Texas (where I grew up) and she, her mom, and 2 kids (plus one on the way!) were visiting Renata for a few weeks. It was so good to see you Sal... next year, you have to plan to visit me!
With the rainy, dreary weather, we had to find alternative ways to keep the kids entertained. I think it's safe to say that this ride made Rowan happy. :)
When it wasn't raining, we went on walks around the city, or should I say, walks around the country (haha). A little fact for you: Monaco is only 0.7 square miles! It's only second in the world to Vatican City, which is 0.2 miles. The new face in this picture is my Aunt Bo (my dad's twin sister).
Monaco's Port... look at all those nice boats! And the castle is in the distance...
As you can see from this picture, Monaco is very hilly...
We had to walk under the mountains through tunnels. They actually made this tunnel pretty...
The next day, the weather cleared up nicely, so we took the kids to the park...
Dylan is being crazy as usual... this is currently his profile picture on Facebook (ha!)
Dylan is being crazy again... every time he went in the air, it made me really nervous!
Andrea, Renata's oldest daughter, posing like a model for Limited Too. You have to click to enlarge this picture... there's a little "Where's Waldo" scenario, except is "Where's Sean?" Trust me, it's funny...
It turned out to be a beautiful evening. A perfect evening for running. At this point, I was kicking myself for not bringing my running shoes!
Every morning, I was able to walk the kids to school, which was really neat. It was just a 5 minute walk through a beautiful park. After we dropped Andrea off, Sean and I had a photo-op while we waited for his school to open.
Renata's husband, Chris, insisted that I take a scooter ride with him to go see his office. Well, I have a fear of being on motorcycles and scooters (don't ask me why, because I don't know), but I decided to fight my fear and it was actually really fun! Chris was so nice and went really slow because I was scared, but then I was the one telling him to speed up!
Nate cracked up when he saw this picture. I guess it is pretty funny... I think my helmet is on crooked.
This is Chris... one of the 29 lawyers in Monaco. He has to wear this robe when he's in court.
Then he had me put it on. I think it's a little big. But what do you think... could you see me as a lawyer?? In fact, when I was a little girl, this is what I aspired to be. I think it's because I liked the show Matlock.
Fortunately, my last day was the most beautiful day!
The gorgeous view behind the water.
The beach is made up of little pebbles, not sand. It feels weird to your feet at first, but then you get used to it. I prefer the way sand feels on my feet, but I also prefer not having sand in everything when I get home!
The water is crystal clear and a pretty "sea green" color... I guess that would make sense, because it is the Sea!
My last meal in Monaco was very fitting (and delicious) on the beach... my favorite spot!
Thank you, Renata & Chris, for having me... I am truly blessed to have such great family as you. I look forward to the next trip, when Nate can come too!
When most people think of Monaco, they think of the Casino... which is a sight to see...
But, as I said in my previous blog, I went to see FAMILY and lots of it! All the kids you'll see in the (many) pictures ahead are my cousins' children (I don't know the correct term for them... maybe 2nd cousins?) I just call them all cousins to make it easier! In this picture is Dylan (who is paying attention to his food and not the camera), then Sali, Sali's kids (who you can't see), Sean, Victoria (Vickie), and me...
I had never before seen Sali's kids (except for on Facebook... thanks goodness for that!), so I was so happy to meet them and spend time with them. Here's Josef (Pepa) with a big smile on his face and Rowan, who is not smiling at all because she is not sure what to think of this crazy girl she just met. :)
I fell in love with all the little ones... they have such cute personalities!
Rowan finally warmed up to me and gave me a big smile! :)
The first morning, I woke up to this... I am showing you two things: 1. It is a Beautiful view from Andrea's room... you can even see the castle to the right. And 2. It is so cloudy that the mountains are even above the clouds. Needless to say, I was a little sad that the sun wasn't out.
Here is another beautiful view (off the living room... taken a different day). I apologize for the indecency, but Sean wanted to be in the picture!
Every morning, we went to a little cafe to have coffee and pastries, which were either filled with cream or chocolate (yum!)
My cousin, Renata, little Vickie, and my aunt Renata... Renata is the one who lives in Monaco and her mom lives near Vienna, Austria (another beautiful city)
Vickie likes coffee!
I mean, Vickie REALLY likes coffee...
Me and Sali. Sali lives in Fort Worth, Texas (where I grew up) and she, her mom, and 2 kids (plus one on the way!) were visiting Renata for a few weeks. It was so good to see you Sal... next year, you have to plan to visit me!
With the rainy, dreary weather, we had to find alternative ways to keep the kids entertained. I think it's safe to say that this ride made Rowan happy. :)
When it wasn't raining, we went on walks around the city, or should I say, walks around the country (haha). A little fact for you: Monaco is only 0.7 square miles! It's only second in the world to Vatican City, which is 0.2 miles. The new face in this picture is my Aunt Bo (my dad's twin sister).
Monaco's Port... look at all those nice boats! And the castle is in the distance...
As you can see from this picture, Monaco is very hilly...
We had to walk under the mountains through tunnels. They actually made this tunnel pretty...
The next day, the weather cleared up nicely, so we took the kids to the park...
Dylan is being crazy as usual... this is currently his profile picture on Facebook (ha!)
Dylan is being crazy again... every time he went in the air, it made me really nervous!
Andrea, Renata's oldest daughter, posing like a model for Limited Too. You have to click to enlarge this picture... there's a little "Where's Waldo" scenario, except is "Where's Sean?" Trust me, it's funny...
It turned out to be a beautiful evening. A perfect evening for running. At this point, I was kicking myself for not bringing my running shoes!
Every morning, I was able to walk the kids to school, which was really neat. It was just a 5 minute walk through a beautiful park. After we dropped Andrea off, Sean and I had a photo-op while we waited for his school to open.
Renata's husband, Chris, insisted that I take a scooter ride with him to go see his office. Well, I have a fear of being on motorcycles and scooters (don't ask me why, because I don't know), but I decided to fight my fear and it was actually really fun! Chris was so nice and went really slow because I was scared, but then I was the one telling him to speed up!Nate cracked up when he saw this picture. I guess it is pretty funny... I think my helmet is on crooked.
This is Chris... one of the 29 lawyers in Monaco. He has to wear this robe when he's in court.
Then he had me put it on. I think it's a little big. But what do you think... could you see me as a lawyer?? In fact, when I was a little girl, this is what I aspired to be. I think it's because I liked the show Matlock.
Fortunately, my last day was the most beautiful day!
It was warm enough to go down to the beach, but not warm enough to swim. I think the sun was a little too bright for Sean in this picture...
The gorgeous view behind the water.
The beach is made up of little pebbles, not sand. It feels weird to your feet at first, but then you get used to it. I prefer the way sand feels on my feet, but I also prefer not having sand in everything when I get home!
The water is crystal clear and a pretty "sea green" color... I guess that would make sense, because it is the Sea!
My last meal in Monaco was very fitting (and delicious) on the beach... my favorite spot!
Thank you, Renata & Chris, for having me... I am truly blessed to have such great family as you. I look forward to the next trip, when Nate can come too!
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