Our Trip!

I have been SOO bad at blogging, but I wanted to share our Europe trip with you all! I know that so many of you have been asking about our trip and I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to share with with you! The summer was pretty jam-packed! I started with teaching 5 weeks of summer school which went well.  Then, we left for our cruise!  I'll break it down by each city:

ROMA: After a twelve hour flight, we finally landed in Rome!  Peter slept for almost the entire flight and I watched four movies... haha.   We arrived in the afternoon, got a little lost on the metro, but finally made it to our hotel.  We wandered around the city and had some dinner at a cute little cafe.  The next morning, we had a FULL day of touring.  We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum (where there were excavations from like 4 BC and 5 AD... amazing!), Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta, St. Peter's Basilica, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and more.  It was amazing and it was crazy to think many of these buildings have been around since before Christ.  It was sad to see how so much of Rome used to revolve around the Christian church, but how it has now been warped.  We really did enjoy seeing everything though and the buildings were beautiful! Here are some pictures:

Okay, then we arrived at the port and boarded our ship.  I have never been on a cruise before and it was incredible. We had a room with a window near the front of the ship so we could watch where we were going. One of the best things about the cruise was dinnertime and it wasn't just because the food was amazing, but we got to eat with the same people every night.  We became like a little family and shared stories about our days.  We really enjoyed the other couples and families that we got to spend time with.  The first day on the cruise was a trip to Messina, Sicily.  We arrived here and traveled to a little town named Taormina.  This was one of those cute little Italian towns that you might see in a movie and so I loved it.  Here is a picture from this day in Taormina:

The next day was a day at sea as we were on our way to Athens, Greece.  Athens was SUPER hot and humid, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  We went to the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon and a few other cool buildings! Pictures would probably show it best:

  

The Parthenon

After we left Greece, we made our way to Kusadasi, Turkey.  This was the most obviously foreign.  When we were driving through Italy and Greece, I felt like we could be in different parts of California.  When I saw the coast of Turkey, I felt like we were really in a foreign country.  This was the first time that I had ever been to Asia since half of Turkey is technically Asia Minor.  This was our longest tour because we spent most of the day in Ephesus, then went to St. John's Basilica, and then to a Turkish Rug place.  Ephesus was amazing.  I got to sit in the Grand Theater which is where Paul is said to have preached his last sermon before being killed.  Despite the whirlwind of a day, I really tried to focus on just how amazing that was.  The Turkish rug place was hilarious to end the day because they tried to sell us a very small rug that was $4000. We tried to leave as quickly as we could :)  

I was sitting in the Theater looking down.  Pretty awesome!

The last day was in Crete where we didn't get many pictures because we were wiped out.  It was a beautiful Greek island though.  The cruise was wonderful and it was so nice for Peter and I to have time away from our crazy lives!

We got back and had a week at home and celebrated my bday!  Then we left for Lake Powell for a week with the Knicks.  It was a great, relaxing, active week.  We enjoyed ourselves but were ready to come home and get some rest.    Here is a picture at Lake Powell: Craig (father-in-law), Jackie (family friend), Kelly (sister), Kathleen (sister-in-law), Jamie (family friend), Jake (Kristin's boyfriend), Kristin (sister), Dawn (mother-in-law), me & Peter all at the Rainbow Bridge!

Now I am back to work and starting up Year #2 in First Grade.  It has definitely wiped me out, but I'm enjoying my job.  I want to thank all of you for how you have been supporting me and my family throughout the past month or so.  We have really felt your prayers and are so thankful that we have you in our lives.  I especially want to thank those that were at the hospital with my mom when I couldn't be there.  I love you all and hope to see you soon!