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!

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!