This is my son's idea of a nicely made bed. He was told to clean up his mess and make his bed. Still a little dishelved but not bad for 5 yrs old. And yet when you look a little closer any further frustration or instruction quickly goes wayside. Take a look.
It wasn't "hopsital corners" but it was so precious I was even able to overlook the rest of the mess in the room. Hey, there is a path there for me to come tuck him in at night and not break my leg on toys! He simply used up all his energy with his creative bed making.
And it is moments like this that make it all better.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Just a note. Reentry is always difficult. We are doing well. Lots going on. J leaves TDY tomorrow. Only one week and German school begins again. So not ready for that! I'm slowly getting the blog caught up from what we did on our cruise so if your interested keep checking for old posts. More later.
Yes we made it home about 2 am this morning... with all our bags and all of our children!
What a whirl wind trip! As you can see I scheduled the blog to post where we were and now that I am home I will go back and put some pics and journaling in. So if you want more of the details check back through out the week. I will be working on it between loads of laundry!
What a contrast though. We left a very warm Rome, Italy (90's) and arrived to a very cool Frankfurt, Germany (40's). We were all sad to see our trip end, but always glad to be home.
So today will be spent catching up on mail, laundry and posting some pictures... oh I guess I better think about groceries too... but noone is really hungry... we ate enough last week to last us for awhile I think! Thanks Carolyn for the Wii fit. We all got ourselves "registered" on it the week before we left and joked all week on the cruise that "she" was probably wondering where we went and would be surprised at our weight gain!! The kids have hit it hard this afternoon after unpacking their suitcases this morning!
And a huge thanks to my unbelieveably awesome husband for making the decision with his promotion to give our family such a wonderful cruise vacation and family memory! (... and for remembering to take one extra day of leave (today) to rest and relax with us as we all work our way back into reality!)
Sunday … our cruise is over. We said good bye to our ship and all its fun! We were one of the last to disembark and while waiting had some time to do something we had not... shuffleboard! We had planned to spend the day here in Rome. J had our travel agent arrange a pickup and 1 hr tour with a cab and we enjoyed seeing some of the sites quickly this way. Our driver took us up high where we could look out over Rome.
We also drove past the Vatican, the Collesium, and several other places...
This is the Circus Maximus where the chariot races and other entertainment used to take place and at the far end was where everyone got their refreshements. It caught fire and is known as Nero's Fire when 2/3's of Rome burned. Nero blamed it on the Christians and the persecution began. Below is the palace on the other side of Circus Maximus.
Fountain of Trevi
We were then supposed to be dropped off and do some touring on our own… but there was some confusion on the price and no easy place to leave our luggage so we ended up calling the taxi driver back to the train station and having him take us to the airport. A long day in the airport in Rome… bummer… but it gave me time to journal the week and not one of the kids complained! The older ones enjoyed a long game of Phase 10… and the two little ones just pretending in their own imaginary world! This was a family vacation they will never forget!
Saturday… Day 7. Cruising. After three days of nonstop touring we were ready for this day! And again we did it all, rock climbing, ice skating, golfing, swimming, talent show. We saw an amazing Ice Dancing Show and ate food, food, and more food!
John enjoyed face painting almost every day of the cruise... he was tigers and all sorts of stuff but today a clown. Mary and Clara did a little dance to the song "Sisters" from the movie "White Christmas". It was very fun to see.
This is an active volcano we cruised past ... tried to find out more online about it but cannot seem to pinpoint it at the moment.
Friday…Day 6. This is the capitol of Crete so we were in a very busy city. We wanted to go find a beach. J announced upon wakening he did NOT want to go to the beach. We said OK! So off to Adventure Ocean he went. Good think too cause we had a very hard time finding a beach! We only had 5 hours in this port so we had to move fast. We could have taken a cab but could not all fit in one and then would have had to pay for two… also could have bought the ship excursion and in retrospect maybe should have… but after some walking we did come upon this fountain...
and then we finally ran across about a 20 foot stretch of sand next to this fortress close to the ship… and decided that would have to be our beach. We really had a nice day all things considered.
Below was taken from the ship looking back at our "beach".
After returning to the ship Joey spent some time ice skating with J and C.
Another formal night for dinner, we weren't as formal as the first night but we still dressed up. Daddy and his little girls.
sorry, can't seem to get this next pic turned right...
S enjoying his steak!
R loving his giant shrimp.
Playing on the helicopter pad on the very front of the ship after dinner.
Thursday… Day 5.After spending the wad for the Athens tour we decided to just see what Turkey had to offer us on our own.We read in the guide there was shopping within walking distance of the ship.The kids had a "backstage pass"with Ocean Adventures to see the goings on there so Joey and I took the opportunity to get off the ship alone and scope it out.What we found was a taxi tour ofEphesus which was much more affordable than the ship tour so we made up our minds to do that with the three older kids (it was just too hot for the two younger ones to just go see more ruins!)We shopped a bit and decided after our tour we would take the two little ones to find their souvenir here as it was an easy walk and pretty cheap prices!We headed on board for M, S and R and then on to our tour of Ephesus. We were docked next to this Club Med boat and I thought it made for a nice picture !The ruins in Ephesus were much like Joey remembered Pompeii and Athens as a child… not so crowded and we could actually walk on them and touch them.It was quite amazing!
This is a small theater or concert hall called the Odeon.Fountain of TrajanFountain of PollioTemple of DomitianTemple of Hadrian
Nike the goddess of VictoryCuretes Street looking towards the Library of CelsusThe Library of Celsus (big structure, midpicture) and the Mazeus and Mathriadates Gate on the right. Walk through those gates and you head to the Grand Theatre.The highlight here was the Grand Theatre where Paul preached. Huge!He caused a great uproar in the theatre in Ephesus, where local silversmiths feared loss of income due to Paul's activities. Their income relied on the sale of silver statues (idols) of the goddess Artemis, whom they worshipped; the resulting mob almost killed Paul (Acts 19:21–41)
Below is Harbour Street walking away from the Grand Theatre. To the right would be the Gymnasium.
At then of the Harbour street above you can see a hill. This is pictured below and is called Prison of St Paulus because this was where he was held in prison.M and I as you look back at the Grand Theater over the Gymnasium.
We then headed to see the one remaining pillar of the Temple of Artemis… one of the seven wonders of the ancient world… which is actually now in London. If you zoom in the picture you can see just behind the Artemis pillar a structure with some small columns.
This is The Church of St John.These storks are were on the top of the Artemis Pillar.
Then our driver took us to see a local carpet maker which the kids found very interesting.
From here we made our way back to get C and J and find those precious souvenirs we just could not live without.We all found something of course and did well for the Turkish economy.
Our ship on the drive back.
A funny sign we saw while shopping!
This is what is called the "Evil Eye". It is kinda like a good luck charm and keeps the evil spirits away. They had them everywhere! IN the pavement in front of their stores, around their necks, in their cars etc...
So a quick shot before we head back on board with all our treasures.
This is my son's idea of a nicely made bed. He was told to clean up his mess and make his bed. Still a little dishelved but not bad for 5 yrs old. And yet when you look a little closer any further frustration or instruction quickly goes wayside. Take a look.
It wasn't "hopsital corners" but it was so precious I was even able to overlook the rest of the mess in the room. Hey, there is a path there for me to come tuck him in at night and not break my leg on toys! He simply used up all his energy with his creative bed making.
And it is moments like this that make it all better.
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