Fun at the Pool

My co-worker Kathy graciously hosted a party at her house this weekend and it featured hotdogs, hamburgers, sunshine and the pool! It was the perfect day to kick back and relax and that's exactly what we did. The 2 babies were oh so good and everyone had a great time. Thanks Kathy and Mike!
It's nice to spend time with folks away from the office. No telephones, no blackberries, no computers!

Birthday Bike!

I know how fortunate I am to live near the oceanfront. One of the best things about it is the boardwalk and one of my favorite things to do is bikeride out there and enjoy the breeze in the evening as the heat of the day fades. We have a bikepath for bikes only which makes it possible to ride up and down the boardwalk. One of my favorite things to do is look at all the interesting dogs - you see every kind. I think one day I'll just take pictures of every dog I see. Well for the first half of the summer I was riding Hollywood's bike. About 2 years or so ago we got her a beachcruiser for her birthday. She had ridden it some before she got her driver's license - she would ride it to school from Uncle Jeff's house from time to time. But once she got her driving permit, the bike was forgotten, left out in the elements at Uncle Jeff's. I finally went over there to retrieve it and the handle bars and bike chain were rusted. I took it to the bike shop last winter and they totally refurbished it. So after spending $35 on it, I told Hollywood she was out of luck. It was my bike now. It's a great bike, perfect for the boardwalk in almost every way. I say almost every way because all of the local bikeriders all have 2 things on their bikes that my beachcruiser did not - a basket and a bell. I had been feeling a little inadequate without the basket in particular - the bell I could probably get by without. I forgot to mention that the kickstand doesn't work but this has not been a major impediment. You don't really get off your bike and leave it ever so the kickstand is not mandatory. This bike is an Electra bike - a really nice blue color.

My darling husband got really tired of hearing me complain about the basket and the bell. So on my birthday, he took me for a ride and we turned in the parking lot of the bike shop. I was excited because I figured he was taking me to pick out a basket and a bell, but here is what was waiting for me. A fabulous NEW bike with what else but a basket and a bell. This bike is so sweet - it is an ice green color and it rides much smoother than the aforementioned blue Electra beachcruiser. You might not be able to tell from the photo but the seat is leather and the handlebars have leather covers with green stitching. Not only that, I also have a cell phone holder!

There aren't too many other things I'd like to do in the evenings during the summer than to ride this bike.

Typical Summer Weekend

It's Sunday night and I am wondering where the weekend went. Almost time for Army Wives. I thought I'd post a few pics from the weekend. But...I don't remember what I did Friday night! I do remember Saturday - my highlight was a 3 mile run in the park with Hollywood. That was memorable because it liked to have killed me. 3 miles doesn't usually do me in but the circumstances are that I have only run once since we went to Europe and the day after that I got sick. Since I am still (4 weeks later) dealing with this hacking cough, I've had an excuse to not exercise. I decided on Saturday that I could not in good conscience still claim to be "not feeling good" and I had better try and get back to it. Well let's just say Hollywood has been using her time much more wisely while at her summer program - she has been running every other day. That was quite obvious when we ran because we had not gone 1/8 of a mile and she was pulling away. Wasn't long before she was not in my sight. She finished quite a bit before I did but she double backed and pulled me through. I actually thought I might gack but I kept it together. Took me all day to recover!

Saturday night was very nice. Hollywood and I caught up with my friend Babs and her husband and we had dinner at our "cabana." This is a structure above the deck of an entertainment pavilion of sorts at the hotel where Big Dad works. It is nice because you have birds eye view of the entertainment and you have a perfect view of the Atlantic Ocean. We also had the company of some visitors, Ms. H. and her nephew.

We have been trying to decorate the cabana for the last couple of years. We actually have a changing room inside and we are stocked with dishes and more importantly, wine goblets. The weather was so nice on Saturday night and we were able to enjoy beach music from a very talented band. We enjoyed the fellowship until well after sundown.

Sunday was church in the morning, then laundry in the afternoon. Hollywood and I went down to the beach to ride our bikes on the boardwalk but no sooner had we pulled in and got out of the car, it started to thunder. No worries, we just picked up Big Dad and went to Tripps for a bite to eat. We decided to drop by Uncle Jeff's after, to see what they were up to. We walked in just as the gang was sitting down to dinner. Uncle Jeff has a group of regular friends that hang out at his house. Tonight they were dining on lots of things from the garden including corn, green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. I did eat a tomatoe slice - yum.

We left Uncle Jeff's and were still in the visiting mode so we dropped by my sister-in-law's house. She is Big Dad's sister and we love her to bits. Hollywood is crazy about her and we always love seeing her, her husband Uncle T, and their daughter Chloe.

Time to finish folding the laundry!

Can You Stand Just a Little More?

The ride over to Venice was fun and gave us a great view of the city by water.

Venice was very interesting. Easy to get lost - and we did but also easy to get found.

We were there for a couple of days - the highlights were St. Marks Basilica, the Frari Chapel (my favorite - more masterpieces including Donatello, Canova, and Titian), and the Doges Palace. These photos are of the Doges Palace from the water and one of the arches to St. Mark's Basilica - note the Byzantine styling.


On our way to Reutte, Austria we traveled through the Brenner Pass and stopped at the Zugspitzblick - a scenic stop with a view of the highest peak in Austria or Germany.

Austria is beautiful - rolling hills and beautiful lakes. On one of our days there, we hiked from our hotel in Austria, over the border to the Bavarian area of Germany to tour Neuschaunstein Castle. This is the castle built and lavishly furnished by King Ludwig. It is the castle from which Walt Disney modeled the Cinderella castle. Once we reached the property, it was a 30 minute hike, seemingly almost straight up to reach the castle.

We also had the good fortune of riding on the luges once we left the castle. Everyone really enjoyed this despite the fact that Hollywood ended up with a metal burn on her shoulder!

After Austria it was on to Switzerland. Our motorcoach traveled through the countryside, past the tiny country of Lichstenstein (sp?), past Bern, Zurich and Interlaken and into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. From the valley we took a train up to the town of Wengen, where we stayed for 2 days. This picture is taken from my hotel window. The view was magnificent. On our second day we took a gondola up the mountain to Mannelichen. From there we hiked with the group for about 1 1/2 hour to Kleine Scheidegg. The best part was when Hollywood, GMan and I opted to take a remote path back to Wengen. 3 more hours, practically straight down (or so it seemed) by foot.







These photographs say it all, don't you think. This was one of the very best days in my whole life. This day was worth more than I can say. We saw several waterfalls and heard and saw two actual avalanches. Switzerland was the best of Europe for the three of us. On the night before we left, we were treated to a genuine Alphorner teaching us how to blow the Alphorn. Everyone got a chance and really loved hearing this native music.
Brave Hannah.

From Switzerland we traveled through the French countryside, through small towns like Auxerre, Besacon and Dijon. We stayed in a lovely french country manorhouse in the small town of St. Faugeau. We had dinner outside on the lawn and we were entertained by music. The kids played badminton and soccer and we all danced.This is Mary and Jen, our tourguides with our motorcoach driver, Richard. It was the last night Richard was to be with us so we had a little celebration. Lots of singing and dancing and a lot of good food.

The teenagers actually had a really, really good time.

Our trip concluded with two days in Paris. We were able to see so much including St. Chappelle with its beautiful stained glass and the Cathedral of Notre Dame - magnificent inside, more masterpieces! We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe in the Latin Quarter. Gman almost had a stroke when I asked for ketchup with my french fries. Parisians do not use ketchup on fries - they use some type of mayonaisse - yuk! The waiter was kind enough to find some for me but not before contorting his face and expressing his disapproval.

The kids visited Mont Marte one afternoon while I tried my luck at shopping on Rue de Rivoli. I bought just a few things because every store I went to had a line at least 10 deep to get into the fitting rooms. I was told this is very common. I am not that patient.

We visited the Louvre Museum - two hours cannot begin to satisfy your desires here. We must go back. We did see the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory and Leonardo's Mona Lisa.

On our last evening, we had a dinner with our whole tour group. It was so nice to be able to meet all of these wonderful folks - very nice families. After dinner some of us took a cruise down the River Seine and saw some of Paris' highlights from the water.







The Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral from the River. This last picture is of us and two of the families in our group as we exited our subway train.

I could not have been happier with the tour. It was a Rick Steves' Family Europe tour and despite the fact that the euro is so high against the US dollar, I would do it again without hesitation. Thank you to all who made our trip possible including David, Eugene and Dan!

More Italy

Day 3 began with a trip back to the Vatican to visit the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel. We also got to see the Pope from afar, tooling around in the Popemobile after addressing an audience. I was able to take a few photos in the Museum, inside and out, but you are not supposed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel. Most everyone did so I tried to take a couple discretely.

Our ride out of Rome began on an ancient road that was modernly paved. The ride was very easy - on a big, airconditioned motor coach. Not too far out of Rome the landscape turns hilly and green. Many homes have that traditional Italian look - stone exterior with terra cotta tiled roofs. Poppyseeds and sunflowers abound. It is not uncommon to see a lone house on top of a hill surrounded by cedar trees and a plot of farmed land. We were in the Tuscan countryside and we arrived in the small town of Burchio. Our stay in Tuscany for next two days served as our base for a visit to Florence. Our villa was tucked between a vineyard and a horse stable. Our room was rustic. 3 twin beds, the 2 kids side-by-side and me over in the corner. Snacks of Limon drink and bruschetta are served before dinner. Dinner was pasta with mushrooms, veal ala Toscano, mixed vegetables and pan cota which we ate on the patio outside.

The kids had a chance to get together and play cards.

I got to spend time getting to know my "buddy" Annette.

Here is our villa in Tuscany.

Day 4 in Italy was Florence - Firenze as the Italians call it. We started out with a tour of the Accademia and were able to view the main attraction - Michelangelo's David. It is an awesome sight. A seemingly perfect specimen carved in marble. This statue was originally commissioned to be placed up high on a wall so the hands and feet look a little large.

From the Accademie we toured the streets, passing the duomo and Signella Square, where we saw many other beautiful statues. Florence was once heavily influenced by the Medici family. The family comissioned and collected many masterpieces - many of them on display at the famous Ufizzi Gallery, which we visited. Here we saw originals by Boticelli, Leonardo di Vinci, Raphael, Titian and Michelangelo. Definitely a highlight.

Europe

We left for Europe on June 12th and returned on the 29th. On the 30th, Hollywood had to report to her Summer Transition Program and on the 1st, GMan went back to Florida. So I'm feeling a little lonely after the best trip ever!!!!



Kids at Parliament/Big Ben

3 days in London. We visited the Tate Modern Museum and the British Museum. Saw the original Rosetta Stone and an overwhelming number of antiquities.

Then it was on to Italy. Our start in Rome was through passport control then over to the ATM or "bancomat" to get Euros. Then onto the train station in Termini. Once there we quickly found our hotel - Hotel Selene. After we checked in Hollywood and I ventured out to find a drugstore (farmacia) and try and speak Italian. We did okay. We met our tour guides and other travel companions later in the afternoon. Before dinner we did a walk through part of Rome - we saw a lot of churches with amazing statues and architecture. Through one area we rounded a corner and there sat the Pantheon. At night the structure is beautiful - lighted perfectly. Later we happened upon the Trevi Fountain - it was huge and illuminated - just beautiful. After throwing coins and making wishes, we all took a bus back to our hotel. Earlier at dinner G-Man received a candle in his dessert because it was his 16TH BIRTHDAY!

Day 2 in Rome was overwhelming. We met up with our Italian guide - Sonya. She led us on a very detailed trip of the Roman ruins. We started at the Colosseum - spent some time inside and learned about the emperors. From there we walked over to the Palatino and the Forum. I was quite amazed at the amount of ruins. From here she took us back to the Pantheon. We were able to enter and see the magnificent inside of this dome. Afterwards, we were on our own. We decided to use the time to take the train to St. Peters Square. A major highlight of this trip would definitely be the Basilica. This structure was probably the most awesome I have ever seen.

Here we are with Sonya at the Pantheon and the Colosseum.

The kids at Trevi Fountain.

Hollywood making her wish.