The Smith Family

Smiths and Watkins Travels through Italy, Slovenia and Croatia

2009-01-07T12:25:00.004+01:00

It was absolutely AWESOME and WONDERFUL to have the Watkins come visit. They've been gone for 3 days now and my kids still tell me how much they miss them. While they were here they took a side trip down to Rome for 3 days. We took them over to Slovenia to visit some amazing caves that look like "Lord of the Rings" inside. Since we were so close to Croatia, we literally drove across the border took a picture, drove a couple of miles in and then returned. Now they can check that one off :) We went skiing in the Italian Alps. It was my kid's first time ever to ski!!! We went to a famous place for knives called Maniago, etc. We ate fabulously as well!! Above all, we just had a ball being together. Being away from family and friends is probably the hardest part of being over here SOOOO we're sooooo happy when people come and visit!!!

Christmas Day + Sam's Birthday

2009-01-05T17:14:00.003+01:00

Did I ever say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas?!? Well, if I haven't, I absolutely love Christmas!!! We had a wonderful Christmas day with the Watkins. On the afternoon of Christmas Day we drove up to a mountain town called Poffabro that displays 100's of different kinds of nativities. We walked around this town and then went home to have Sam's birthday dinner. Yes, it was my nephew's birthday on Christmas Day. We did a big Christmas turkey dinner with the works. It was a wonderful day and even snowed that night!

Christmas Eve with the Watkins

2009-01-05T16:36:00.002+01:00

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas time and especially Christmas Eve. This year, we went to Venice with my sister Christy, her hubby Marty and their two kids Sam and Jake. It was wonderful! Above are a lot of pictures from there. We also have a family tradition of eating scones on Christmas Eve (NOT English scones, though). My grandpa Cook's birthday was on Christmas Eve and scones were his favorite food so this tradition has no been passed down to his great-grandkids :) We also perform the Nativity every year on Christmas Eve. We love that there were 2 more people to add to the cast this year :)

December Birthdays - Sydney and Carrie

2009-01-05T15:59:00.002+01:00

December is big month for our family. Carrie and Sydney both have birthdays, not to mention our anniversary as well as Christmas, New Years, etc. Carrie swore she'd never have a child in December, but there are some things you can't control :) Here are some pictures of our December birthdays!

November 2008 - Grandma and Grandpa Smith's Visit

2008-12-05T17:28:00.002+01:00

Grandma and Grandpa Smith came to visit us for almost two weeks. It was soooo wonderful to have them and sad to have them go. We were able to see and do a lot of things. We visited Verona, Pisa, Salzburg, Venice, Murano, Burano, Nove, etc. These are some pictures from the trip.

Reflections of Christ...just in time for the Christmas Season

2008-11-24T10:40:00.001+01:00

Halloween 2008

2008-11-22T10:51:00.002+01:00

We had a Primary Carnival and "Trunk-or-treat" that ended up in the hallway because it was pouring down buckets of rain. It was a lot of fun despite the weather!

Cameron's Birthday

2008-11-22T10:43:00.003+01:00

Cameron's scout troop was able to go on the American Air Force base and sit in an F-16 flight simulator that the real pilots use to practice on as well as get the grand tour of an F-16. Caleb got to tag along which he thought was pretty cool! It happened to be Cameron's birthday that day, so it was quite a present for him. The Commander there let each boy "take-off", "fly" and "shoot-down some bad guys."

Matt, Trista, Zander and Maddie's visit

2008-10-17T10:20:00.005+02:00

We had a fabulous time with Matt and Trista and Zander and Maddy. They were able to come over and see Paris, Rome and Venice. Our kids were thrilled that a couple of their cousins came....because of that I keep hearing "when are we moving back to the states....we want to live right near our cousins!!!" Maybe it's not such a good idea having their cousins come - just kidding! I wouldn't change it for the world!

Akassia in Marsa Alam, Egypt

2008-09-29T22:08:00.001+02:00

Snorkeling in the Red Sea

2008-09-29T21:47:00.003+02:00

The Red Sea was absolutely magnificent! It was such a fabulous experience to be able to see the beautiful, colorful fish and coral reef. Cameron and Caleb 'caught the bug' but Sydney had a fear of going in that deep of water in the sea. To make a very long story short as well as Blake talking her through her fears, she literally overcame this fear and actually went snorkeling the last day. She fell in love with snorkeling. We're so proud of her!

King Tut...

2008-09-29T21:38:00.001+02:00

King Tut......They crack us up! The guy in the picture with Sydney seriously asked how many camels we wanted for her...every time we saw him - which was often!

Out and About in Egypt

2008-09-29T21:13:00.004+02:00

The kids had a ball playing beach volleyball. After watching the Olympics this summer, they have a new interest in the sport! We had so much fun swimming. By the end of every day, we all crashed!

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings

2008-09-21T22:27:00.001+02:00

First Day of School - 2008

2008-09-16T08:55:00.003+02:00

Cameron and Sydney started back to school on August 25. This is the first year in 4 years that the kids haven't changed schools....and NO, Cameron is not shorter than Sydney (he's just on a step below her). They are attending a Department of Defense school (DoDDs) school since we luckily live near an American Military base.

Caleb, on the other hand, started yesterday, September 15 back at his Italian Elementare in second grade. The great thing with his school is that his teachers follow them from 1st grade every year until 5th. He's also with the same kids every year. He has wonderful teachers who take him under their wing and shower him with kisses every morning - who wouldn't love that ?!?

Random last-day Photos with Tom and Nancy

2008-08-20T16:52:00.000+02:00

Well, these are just pictures of our last day with Tom and Nancy. It was wonderful having them here! ....and of course, we had to end it all with GELATO!

Venice.....AGAIN

2008-08-20T16:32:00.000+02:00

I know, I know, you're probably getting sick and tired of seeing Venice pictures. If you come and visit, you'll probably not even want to visit Venice. This is my 8th time of visiting Venice, and actually I love it! We try and do something a little different each time we go. This time we didn't even get there until the afternoon and then we stayed until about 9:00pm after the majority of all the tourists leave. It was beautiful and even romantic....well, as romantic as it can be with 3 kids.

The Hills are Alive.....AHHH Switzerland!

2008-08-20T13:41:00.004+02:00

We got to spend a long weekend in Bern and Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Our friend Cindy Adams went through the temple for her first time and we were able to go with her! We took beautiful side trips through the Alps. We drove through Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. We took a gorgeous train ride to Wengen and then a tram up to Mannlichen. We then hiked for an hour and a half through the most breathtaking scenery to Kleine Scheidegg and then took a train back to Lauterbrunnen. All I can say is WOW! The pictures don't do it justice!

Sacile....Gelato....what could be better?

2008-08-20T13:12:00.005+02:00

Blake's sister Nancy and her husband Tom just came to visit us in Italy. They arrived in the morning, so we took them to Sacile and fed them Gelato to try to keep them awake. That's the way to start any vacation - GELATO!!!

Croatia and Venice!!!

2008-08-11T14:26:00.001+02:00

Well, I'm finally posting pictures of a fun trip we had in July. Our good friends, the Jensens who live in Germany came down to visit us. We spent a couple days camping in Croatia (not my favorite thing to do...but I did survive :) We also spent a day in Venice. Above are pictures of those fun days!

Castillo di Caneva

2008-07-25T21:40:00.003+02:00

These are just a few pictures we took today of a castle above our town in Caneva. Yes, we've lived here almost a year and never once ventured up (lame? I know!) Anyway, we went up with some of our good friends, the Blacks. Here are just some fun pictures from today!

Caleb's 7th Birthday

2008-07-01T21:29:00.002+02:00

Caleb turned the big 7 on June 18. All he wanted for dinner was steak and orange rolls. He got his wish! The next day we threw a "friend party" at our house. Lucky for me, Cameron and Sydney took care of all the games - yeah!!! They loved the "power"! :)

May 2008

2008-07-01T20:41:00.002+02:00

The Island of Malta - not to be confused with Malta, ID

2008-06-25T12:04:00.003+02:00

We left after the kids' last day of school to go to the island of Malta. I didn't really know where it was, but it is located south of Sicily on the same latitude as Tunisia down towards Africa. It's a tiny windy island. There is another island even smaller called Gozo right next to it that is also part of it. It was "owned" by the British until 1979 when they finally pulled out. All the Maltese speak fluent English even though their main language is Maltese. It's a semetic language - more arabic-like than anything.

We spent most of our time swimming!!! The first night there we found a "Tex-Mex" restaurant that was fabulous. We were in absolute heaven. As we were looking out the restaurant window, we looked across the street and saw 'TGI Fridays"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, it may not sound like much to you, but if your only options for food were Italian food for the past 10 months, you would be excited too :) !!! Needless to say, we ate their a couple of times. We let the kids order desserts the last day we were there. We finally realized why "Americans are fat" as the Europeans tell us. We let the kids get a dessert. We couldn't believe the size of the TGIF desserts. We had forgotten how big US desserts are at restaurants!!!

Anyway, it was a wonderful relaxing time in Malta - not to be confused with Malta, ID where Blake grew up.

Sydney In All Her Glory

2008-06-25T11:13:00.002+02:00

Sydney has had a great end to the school year! The last two weeks of school were spent pretending to be a "one room school house" from the 1800s. She was "Elizabeth Baker" for the 2 weeks and ended up the Valedictorian of the "one room school house".
She also had the "end of the year" dance recital. The pictures are of her class. The girls are so darling in her dance class. Sydney really can't communicate very well with them or them with her, but they're all good buddies and still play together. They will ask her questions such as "What is this called" or "You look pretty" and Sydney will speak in her limited Italian. It's darling!

Croatia and Venice

2008-05-06T15:35:00.001+02:00

I have now been to Venice 5 times in the past couple of months. This last time I had some dear friends visit from Germany - Nancy and Mindy and Mindy's friend Jessica. Mindy, Nancy, Jessica and I spent a day in Venice -shopping, eating, enjoying the scenery, etc. Mindy and Jessica flew out the next day and Nancy and I headed to Rovijn, Croatia. Blake was in Germany for business, so I farmed the kids out for a couple of days. Croatia was absolutely beautiful. The drive from our home took us through some of the most beautiful countryside of Slovenia and Croatia. The northwestern part (the Istra Peninsula) is what they call the 2nd Tuscany. It had some of the most breath-taking views. The coastline of the Adriatic was also gorgeous!!! Croatia is not yet part of the European Union and is still on their own currency. Presently, their prices compared to the dollar are good - we'll see how long that lasts!!! :)

Florence and Sienna, Italy in Tuscany

2008-04-16T10:54:00.002+02:00

The last leg of our trip was spent in Florence and Sienna! These are the pictures from that!

Rome, Italy

2008-04-16T10:15:00.001+02:00

Our next stop was in Rome, Italy. All we can say is that Rome is amazing. It seems like every corner you go around there is something architectually amazing! For Mandy and I it was amazing to see all the Michaelangelo paintings in the Sistene Chapel as well as his marble statues he carved. We'd just read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" which brought it all to life. The kids did really well especially with all the walking we did. We rewarded them about 3 times a day with gelato!!!

Venice, Italy

2008-04-16T09:51:00.001+02:00

The next day we spent in Venice enjoing the sites, food, shopping, water, etc. We were sooooo tired by the end of the day and the "water buses" were packing people in like sardines, so Kurt splurged and got us a "water taxi" which the kids thought was one of the highlights....that and feeding the pigeons......

Lake Bled, Slovenia and Gmund, Austria

2008-04-16T09:23:00.001+02:00

On our way home from Austria, Kurt and Blake noticed a sign for a Porsche Museum....so we got to stop and check out the cars! The boys LOVED it!!! We also took a detour over to Slovenia and stopped in Lake Bled, Slovenia for lunch and to view the gorgeous scenery! The lake was absolutely beautiful. The boats that we took across the lake are called pletna boats which are handmade and this type has been used since the 17th century.

Hallstatt and Salzburg, Austria

2008-04-16T09:00:00.001+02:00

We just spent a wonderful vacation with our wonderful friends Kurt and Mandy Myhre and their kids Tag and Emma from Seattle, WA. It was their first time in Europe and so we went turbo seeing as many places as possible in 10 days! Our first place we visited was Salzburg (Mozart, Sound of Music, shops, etc.). We also visited Hallstatt which is one of the most gorgeous places on earth with the beautiful lake and mountains. We visited a salt mine also and had dinner in Bertchesgaden, Germany. Above are pictures of Salzburg and Hallstatt!

CARNEVALE IN VENICE

2008-02-16T18:08:00.001+01:00

Caleb and I and some friends headed down to Venice for the last day of Carnevale. Above are pictures from that day. Below is an explanation of what Carnevale is all about.....

The word Carnevale derives from the latin expression “carnem levare” which means to take the meat away and it refers to the last day of this festivity when the meat was removed from all the tables in order to start the Lenten penitence. Carnevale takes us back to the Middle Ages, when the meat (carne) was a precious food eaten only by rich people and its presence on the tables was a reason for celebration. When we talk about Carnevale, we think about the use of masks. But where do these masks come from? In the past, masks were generally used by actors on the stage. In ancient Greek and Roman theaters the mask was introduced to describe the personality of the character; this was particularly true in the Commedia Dell’Arte, a theatrical and cultural event which took place in Italy during the 1600’s. All the characters of the Commedia Dell’Arte wore masks representing qualities and defects of the human nature.

Istanbul, Turkey

2008-02-14T10:46:00.000+01:00

To comply with all the red tape of Italy in order to receive our resident permits, we had to leave the European Union in order to return and have our passports stamped in Italy. (OK, I don't get it either....) In fact we just went to "check in" yesterday at the immigration office with our newly stamped passports and it looks like it will be another year before we even get out residence permits (once again, I don't understand - the 'officials' don't either - so we're in good company). The perk of all this was going to Istanbul. We had just been there in September on our cruise, so it was great to go back and see a couple of the things we missed while there! The pictures above explain it all. It was great to eat food other than pasta! We loved the Turkish, Chinese and Japanese food!!!!

Big News!!!

2008-01-24T20:43:00.001+01:00

CALEB LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!!!! He had 2 teeth come in BEHIND his baby teeth. They came to be known as his shark teeth (because of the multiple rows of teeth, get it?) Anyway, he was so excited that the tooth fairy found him here in Italy. That brilliant tooth fairy!!!

After-Dinner Floor Show

2008-01-24T20:21:00.001+01:00

Over the Christmas holiday we had Martina (one of Blake's boss's - she's the General Manager of Terex-Comedil Cranes here in Italy) and her husband Pigi and daughter Simona for dinner. It cracked us up to see Martina sliding across the floor with the kids. She's the biggest kid of all!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2007

2008-01-24T15:54:00.001+01:00

These are just pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Christmas Season 2007

2008-01-24T13:40:00.001+01:00

The pictures here are of diffent occasions before Christmas. In Europe, the follow a tradition called Nikolaus. All the kids have to clean their shoes REALLY well on the night of December 5. If they do, St. Nikolaus comes that night and leaves kids presents and toys....thus the shoe pictures. There are also pictures of Cameron at his school Christmas performance and Blake and I at his work party.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2007-12-14T09:58:00.001+01:00

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. We've had quite an exciting 2007! After 2 fabulous years in Ramstein, Germany, Blake received a promotion within the Terex Corporation. With that promotion came a move to Italy in August to an area 45 minutes north of Venice working for Terex Comedil in the cranes division. We are still trying to get settled in but we are loving the experiences we are having. Just a rundown on what we’ve been up to this year...
Caleb (6 1/2) is attending an Italian Elementary school and progressing fast in the Italian language. He had a great year playing soccer in Germany and taking swimming lessons. He’s also excelling in piano and making his family laugh!
Sydney (9) is in 3rd grade on the U.S. Air Force Base nearby and having a great year. She starred in her class play last month. This year she also was quite the dancer in ballet and jazz and was on a German swim team. Her coach was amazed at her “beautiful” strokes! She also gets herself up at 5:55am every morning to practice piano before she leaves for school! She's a great alarm clock for the rest of us!
Cameron (10) is in 4th grade on the air base as well. He’s had quite a busy year as well with the German swim team (he’s a super fast swimmer), cub scouts and piano. He also made the all A honor roll and was elected to the student council at school! He also is doing well in piano! He just started playing on an Italian basketball team and loving it!...hmm, I wonder whose genes he has!
Carrie has had a busy year being a mom, chauffeur, travel guide, working in stake young womens, teaching piano, getting settled in a foreign country, etc. She's set a goal to run a 1/2 marathon - stay tuned...
Blake keeps busy with work, family, church and basketball. He's been doing some traveling with work this year to the states, Romania, France and will soon be traveling to Dubai. He's found another basketball group to play with on Saturday mornings here in Italy.

We are especially grateful at this time of year for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the joy that that brings into our lives. We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas season!
Love,
The Smiths, Blake ~ Carrie ~ Cameron ~ Sydney ~ Caleb

p.s. The pictures above are from our various travels this year on this side of the world.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-24T15:17:00.001+01:00

With Blake working in Europe he, of course, doesn't get the American holidays off like Thanksgiving. This year we were planning on celebrating it on Saturday. However, some friends at church called us a couple of days before and invited us over - yeah! This is just a picture of the kids before eating. I love sharing the cooking with others! I only had to make rolls, 1 pie, broccoli salad and bring drinks. Of course, Blake wasn't able to make it, but we brought him home a couple of plates of food! The kids had a ball!

Sydney the "Professional Tour Guide" Star

2007-11-24T15:08:00.000+01:00

Sydney was the star of her classroom play. She acted the part of "Tourguide Miss Hanna". She had 17 lines to be exact - and very long ones. She "taught" the "tourists" all about Sacagawea and how she came to be on the $1 coin. She did an amazing job and everyone was amazed how she could remember all her lines (especially me!)

Blake's Latest Injury

2007-11-20T23:21:00.000+01:00

As usual, Blake went and played Basketball on Saturday morning. He called me on his way home to ask if we had any superglue. Apparently, he'd been playing and bumped heads with some guy pretty hard while doing one of his cool moves. He ended up getting a pretty deep cut. There were a couple doctors playing too. One of the doctors (a pediatrician) took Blake to his office to try and sew it up, but couldn't find keys to the cabinets to get out the supplies needed...oh well....luckily we found one bottle left of superglue at home that wasn't completely dried up! Woo Hoo! That saved us another trip to the doctor! If you were wondering, he's healing fine. The wound has only broken open once, but after some butterfly bandages were attached, he's as good as new!

Horseback Riding in the Mountains!

2007-11-19T09:03:00.001+01:00

Sydney, Cameron and Caleb have found a new passion - horsback riding!!! The General Manager/President of Comedil (where Blake works) owns stables, 3 arenas, etc. She races horses - jumping over the fences (I have no idea what you call that). She lives in the mountains close to where we live. She invited the kids to come up and gave them riding lessons. They seem to be naturals and are absolutely loving it! Sydney, especially has become passionate about it!

Cameron's excitement

2007-11-19T08:55:00.000+01:00

Cameron's had a little excitement these past few weeks. On October 29, he turned the big "10"!!! I can't believe it's been 10 years since he was born. We had a family party that night and then a week later he had a birthday party at the bowling alley on base. Also, I got a note from his teacher inviting me to an awards ceremony where he received an award for all A's the first quarter. He made runner up for the "Citizenship Award". He was also elected by his class to be the Student Council representative. He's having a great year!

Caleb begins Grade 1 in the Italian School

2007-11-19T08:49:00.000+01:00

Caleb has finally started Italian school. The Italian kids go to school M, W, F from 8:10 until 4:10 and T, Th and Saturday from 8:10-12:30. Yes, I said Saturday. Apparently on M, W, F they have an hour morning break and a full 2 hours for lunch and recess. I told Blake that somebody needs to come in and teach the Italians a little about cutting out a few breaks a day. We told them we didn't want Caleb to go on Saturday and they thought we were nuts. A guy at Blake's work told us, "Hey, this is Italy, if you don't want to go to school on Saturday - don't go!" When in Italy, do as the Italians, right? We found out they do do a program M-F from 8-4 everyday. So he's in that. It's been a little rough for him. Everyone tells us that it will be a rough few months until he can speak and understand a lot of it. The teachers kept kissing him (the italian way). There was a boy that kept kissing him on the cheek too. Caleb got so mad about that. The 1st picture is of Caleb right before school with his black smock on. He has to wear that to school everyday to "protect" his clothes. On Thursdays he's required to wear a sweatsuit for gym class. The second picture is our typical routine every morning when I drop him off. This too shall pass - right?

October 2007

2007-11-17T19:59:00.000+01:00

Well, just as an update to our crazy life in Italy...We finally found a house and our movers came on October 8th and 9th....The movers (who are from Germany) showed up at around 5:00pm - yes at night ....They unloaded part of the moving van and then asked us if they could sleep at our house that night (we hadn't even slept at our house yet!) We were too in shock to even ask questions and said that they could sleep there. They unloaded their overnight bags and a big recycling bucket of empty beer bottles (which they had been drinking on the way down to Italy since they all reeked of alcohol). When we showed up the next morning (we were still staying at the hotel) they had moved our couches in to sleep on. One slept on the couch, one took cushions off the other couch and slept on those on the floor and then the other two brought their own stuff. After they were done unloading, they all showered at our house and took off - yes, I said showered at our house - we didn't even have shower curtains so there was water and dirt left all over the bathroom! Nothing like "saving the company money"! It was seriously the "college buddies/Elders Quorum" moving us. They literally just put boxes wherever they heck they wanted unless we were standing there at all times looking inside each box to check its contents because they weren't labeled. We were so glad to see them go!!! Surprisingly, there were only a couple of things broken, but nothing major! YAHOO!!! (I still wouldn't recommend them). I don't think I told you how they packed us, but that too was a nightmare. I wanted to cry and throw up all at the same time.

Life on the boat

2007-10-21T22:25:00.000+02:00

Hands down, cruises are our favorite way to travel!!! You get to see so many places without packing and unpacking over and over. We love it also because there is nothing but family time - however you want to spend it. We went on the cruise with our friends the Lousbergs and both their sets of parents as well as the Bradleys. The top picture shows Caleb at the Kids Club on pirate night. The second picture shows our family with the Bradleys at the life boat drill. Cameron and Sydney are in the picture below at one of our dinners. The bottom picture shows me singing with a man named JP. He was fun to listen to and plays by ear. We did a few duets over the course of the cruise and helped me relive my performing days :-)

Egypt (continued)

2007-10-21T21:37:00.000+02:00

Egypt was absolutely amazing - to say the least!!!! We had an amazing tour guide named Ashraf. He is an Egyptologist and holds 4 degrees....2 bachelors, 1 masters and 1 doctorate. He does lectures at the Cairo University and works on excavating in his spare time. To say that he is passionate about his work is an understatement. As you can see the top picture is at the Sphinx. The next picture down is of Cameron on the donkey.

Another quite interesting part of our trip to Cairo was that it coincided with Ramadan - the holy month. They fast from sun up to sundown - no food or water. As we travelled back to the ship that night after the tour all the mosques were lit up like it was Christmas or New Years. After sundown, they feast! As the sun went down, we mentioned to our driver that he could stop and eat the food that he'd brought from his igloo, which he did.
The next picture is of 2 men praying. They pray 5 times a day where ever they may be. The bottom picture is our guides favorite picture of the pyramids. While in Cairo, we also visitied Saqqara and the Step pyramids. We were also able to visit a store where they make papyrus. We got to watch a fascinating demonstration of how they make it.

Cairo (Alexandria), Egypt

2007-10-21T21:25:00.000+02:00

Egypt was by far our most favorite and last stop on the cruise. After traveling these past couple of years through most of Europe as well as northern Africa, we've finally found the common denominator that links the world together - McDonalds (top picture) and Coke (bottom picture). They are in EVERY country we've been in

Anyway, the middle 2 pictures are at the Giza pyramids.

Limassol, Cyprus

2007-10-21T21:20:00.000+02:00

Here we are in Cyprus....to be honest, it was our least favorite stop of the whole cruise. For us, there wasn't a lot real exciting to see. The top picture is of the kids at an olive press. The next two pictures are of the ocean and then the last is of one of many mosaics we saw while there. Cyprus is an independent country with a high standard of living. Their pound is almost worth as much as the British pound.

Rhodes, Greece

2007-10-21T21:13:00.000+02:00

Here we are in Rhodes, Greece on our 6th stop. We docked right outside of the Old Town. The first picture shows the outside walls. The next picture down shows the boys' favorite part....the street of knights. The third picture down shows us inside the palace of the knights. The last picture is overlooking the ocean. Once again we're in awe of the beauty of the ocean. It was a great day!

Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

2007-10-19T13:28:00.000+02:00

OK, I am in love with Turkey. I'd heard that Turkey had beautiful beaches, and now I'm a believer. The water was one of the most beautiful colors of blue I've ever seen....ok, now that that's done, our next stop was in Ephesus, Turkey. We took a tour that included seeing the house of Mary in which John the Beloved had taken Mary to live. The top picture is a picture of the baptismal font near Mary's home where they performed baptisms by immersion.
The next pictures are pictures of the ruins of Ephesus where Paul preached.
Our tour guide mentioned to us that a few years ago that they discovered through DNA that the American Indians are descendents of that area.....very interesting.....can we say Book of Mormon?

Sevastopol, Ukraine

2007-10-19T09:53:00.000+02:00

The 4th stop of our adventure on the Black Sea was to Sevastopol, Ukraine. The boys went on their own adventure and saw the submarines of Balaklava. Sydney and I took a tour to the Crimean Riviera. We went to the Palace in Alupka. The 3rd picture down is inside that palace. That piano is a piano that Rachmaninoff (sp?) used to play on. The most fascinating part of this tour for me was at the Livadia Palace. (The bottom picture shows the outside of it). This was the summer home of the Romanovs (sp?). It is even more famous for the Yalta Conference towards the end of WWII where Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill came to sign the peace agreement. The second picture shows the table they sat at to sign it.

I was so fascinated with the beauty of Yalta and the Crimean Riviera. The mountains and the ocean next to each other were one of the highlights of this stop in the Ukraine.

Odessa, Ukraine

2007-10-19T09:25:00.000+02:00

Our third stop was in Odessa, Ukraine which is called the Paris of the Ukraine. It was definitely a beautiful city. We can't really tell you much about the city. We didn't take a tour on this one, and the maps that the ship gave us didn't match the streets there - oh well. So, we wandered a lot. One of the things that absolutely cracked us up were the agencies marrying off Ukrainian women to Americans, etc. There were signs everywhere which more or less said, "Choose a Ukrainian woman to be your wife...cost includes honeymoon night at hotel with a translator"! (Wow! What a steal!)

The top picture is of our kids and our friend's kids Luc and Jack. The middle picture is of our kids, Jack and Luc and a Ukrainian kid that popped in for the picture. The bottom picture is a beautiful building there in Odessa.

Varna, Bulgaria

2007-10-19T09:16:00.000+02:00

The second stop on our cruise was in Varna, Bulgaria. We went up to a Medieval Orthodox Christian monestary called the Aladza Monestary that was built in caves about 17km north of Varna. The first 3 pictures show parts of that. Our guide drove us around and took us to the Golden Sands beach resort. We were in shock to learn that there are beach resorts in Bulgaria. It was a beautiful town and would be a lot of fun to go back and visit. The last place we visited is in downtown Varna. As you can see, the bottom picture shows some gypsies. Apparently, the gypsies are a huge problem in Bulgaria. While we were eating lunch in Varna, there were gypsies around that our guide warned us about who steal anything they can. There were police around trying to protect, but there's only so much that can be done!

Istanbul, Turkey

2007-10-19T09:03:00.000+02:00

The first stop of our cruise was in Istanbul, Turkey. What a fascinating city it is!!!! Call me clueless, but I had no idea that part of Turkey was in Europe and part was in Asia. Istanbul happens to be on the Europe side. The first place we visited was the Topkapi Palace. It was the home to the Sultans of Turkey. The palace is beautiful especially with the intricate tile and designs on the inside of the buildings and the huge courtyards on the outside. It even houses (supposedly) the arm of John the Baptist (which we saw) and the staff of Moses. The first picture shows the outside of the palace.

The most famous and well-known mosque in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque which is pictured behind our family in the second picture. (George Lucas liked it so much he used it in one of his Star Wars films which Cameron and Caleb thought was sooooo cool!) The Blue Mosque was so crowded from tourists that our tour guide took us to a different mosque so that we could go inside and see what it was like. The bottom picture shows us with our guide in the mosque. We had to remove our shoes to go in. Before the people are allowed to enter and pray they must all wash themselves before entering. The muslims pray 5 times a day. If they pray at the mosque then it's "better" (according to our guide). They don't have to pray at the mosques, though. There are mosques everywhere, though....like every few blocks. We were able to witness when they made the call for prayers from the minarets. All of this was so interesting in light of all that is going on in the world today.

The picture with the round blue circle is a symbol you see all over Turkey. It is something that is displayed everywhere to ward off the "evil eyes".

Athens, Greece

2007-10-19T08:28:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Athens, Greece on September 5 . We happened to be there 1 1/2 years ago, but the Acropolis was closed the one day we were there. After dropping all our baggage off at the hotel, we jumped on the subway and headed for the Acropolis. It was amazing! It was a beautiful sunny day. At the top of the hill of the Acropolis we were able to see all of Athens. One of the best parts of Greece is the food. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it mmmm..............................