We're Off!!

We totally moved out of our house on Monday, the cleaning ladies are getting their money's worth today!!! We are in a 2 bedroom temporary apartment until Friday and then the fun begins!!!! We leave for the airport at 9:30am German time, and will arrive in Phoenix 9:30pm... factor in the time change and the drive to Gold Canyon, and that puts us at about 23 hours of traveling!!!! OH JOY!!!! (that was a SARCASTIC 'Oh Joy!' in case you didn't notice)

I am at the library right now using the internet, going to try to get on one more time on Thursday to check my email before we leave. And then I will rejoin my online community on Saturday - LOL!

Please keep us in your prayers during our travels!

Happy Birthday Kare - Kare!!!

So my baby is two... sniff sniff!! She thinks she is three though <eye roll> EVERY TIME! you ask her how old she is, she says "FREE" (3) and then when you tell her two, sometimes she'll say, okay, two, and sometimes she says, NO, I FREE!!!! lol

blowing out the candles... I threatened Sierra and Ruby NOT to blow... and what does Sierra do on Karis' third try... she blows out the candle!! GRRR!

We took Karis to the local toy store to pick out some things last weekend. She wanted a baby - because the 15 I have at home don't cut it for her! And then we let her pick out some farm animal duplos from Grandma Patty and My Little Pony books from Aunt Amy (thanks for the checks! the rest will go into her savings :D)

We kept having to tell the girls that it was Karis' birthday and they had to wait for their birthday to get gifts. But we said tomorrow Karis has to share her new toys.

Already reading her baby one of her new books! She's definitely her Momma's child... she was more interested in the books than the toys - hehehe.

The 15 Euro Ice Cream Cone

So the first night in Italy we stopped for some Gelato (of course!) It was 50 euro for our whole family! YIKES!!

Mine was the most elaborate. I THOUGHT I had ordered a two scoop cone... this is what came!

Just for a frame of reference, 15 euro is about $22!!!!!

Sierra lost her first tooth!!!

My baby lost her first tooth tonight.  Here are some before and after pics.

 

This was taken a few days ago when it was just a little loose.  Notice the bump on her nose, she hit something in the hallway and her eye was a little pink too.

Here she is with it so loose its barely hanging on!  The bump on her nose has now gone down and been replaced with a black eye!!

She can basically lay down the tooth straight forward!! Mommy was afraid that she was going to swallow it overnight, so I just barely pulled and it popped out!

OUR TOOTHLESS WONDER!

And her little tiny baby tooth! Sierra informed us that the Tooth Fairy leaves a dollar AND a quarter these days! LOL!

Vacanza di Roma!

Okay, here are the posts complete with pictures from Rome. I put them all in the order we took them, Monday to Thursday! I took 193 pictures in 4 days... but don't worry, I only posted 69! ENJOY!

Vacanza di Roma! Monday

We are back and we had a blast. Bear with me, this is going to be a long post... 4 days in Rome! The kids were so good considering it was EXTREMELY hot and no air conditioning anywhere.

We got up before the butt crack of dawn!!! We left the house at like 3am to get to the airport in time!!! The kids were a bit cranky, but they did good! Then we had our flight to Rome. We flew Ryan Air, so we had to walk out to the plane, which the girls thought was pretty cool!

Once we got to Rome we got on a bus to the metro station and then had to ride two metros to the apartment stop. It wasn't too bad, but did I mention it was HOT!!! And we all had been up since 3am so everyone was tired, even though it was only 9am. We got to our apartment about 10:30 and were scheduled to drop off our bags at 11am, so we had to wait a bit. Angela was meeting us at the apartment and was supposed to be there shortly after us... so we started getting worried that she was either lost, or her plane was delayed.

We dropped off our bags and got something to eat at a Panini shop across the street (that's Italian for sandwich). After lunch we walked across the street to the apartment to leave a note for Angela, and she showed up!! Great timing!!! Her flight ended up being delayed, but we were able to do some grocery shopping and get settled in the apartment. After a rest for EVERYONE! we headed out to the Piazza di Spagna (rhymes with lasagna - hehehe) and the Trevi Fountain.

After the Trevi Fountain we stopped for Gelato! YUM! But boy was it expensive! Ang has a pic of it, and as soon as I get it from her I will post! Apparently we stopped at some gourmet Gelato place and my two scoop cone came with a sparkle pic, like 4 scoops, wafers and was 15 euro!! WOW! Total bill was 50 euro for just our family!!! We had pizza, pasta and salad for lunch for less than that!!! LOL!

Okay, I'm done for tonight... will post more tomorrow!

Vacanza di Roma! Tuesday- Colosseum

We woke up on Tuesday and got ready to see the sites of Rome! First stop, Colosseum

Right outside the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine:

We stopped right outside the arch for a snack before we headed to the Roman Forum (right across the street). Sat in the shade, and even saw a bride and groom getting a picture taken outside the arch.

Vacanza di Roma! Tuesday - Roman Forum

Next was the Roman Forum. All of these sites were outside, and it was HOT!!! The kids were just about done so we only spent a little bit in the Forum before we headed for a late lunch.

Here is a little cemetary... apparently Julius Caesar's grave is here, but like I said, it was HOT and the kids were done, so we tried to see this quickly.

Next stop... LUNCH! Pizza Pizza Pizza! Pizza everywhere!! And pasta and salad. I am all Pizza'd out! See, it was hot and the girls were done... but fortunately we found a restaurant with AIR CONDITIONING!!! Hallelujah!

After a late lunch, we headed home for cool showers and rests!! I think everyone slept from about 3-6pm so we just stayed in and made dinner Tuesday night and watched some movies.

Vacanza di Roma! Wednesday

Seeing as it was HOT (I did mention that, right? lol) and we had dragged the kids all over for two days, we decided to head to the beach on Wednesday. The train ride out wasn't too bad... maybe 45 minutes. And it took us right to the beach! We paid to get into a club and get lounge chairs right on the beach. Bought some sand toys and had a blast! We stayed longer than expected because the kiddos were so content. Of course, we all got a sunburn too!

When in Rome... LOL! Jessy decided to sunbathe topless (on the back only)

We stopped on the way back to the metro at a Pizzaria... only to find out that they didn't have pizza in the afternoon. Okay... so we ordered some pasta and other stuff. It took HOURS to get our food. The pastas came out, and we were finished for about 20 minutes before we asked for the rest... Jessy finally got her muscles about an hour later... and we told them to just cancel the rest of the food!!! AGGH!!! Here's a pic of Ang entertaining us while we waited - LOL!

And yet again, we headed home and Dustin was a wonderful husband and watched the kiddos while we us girls went out for some shopping at the Piazza di Spagna and dinner. Love you hunny! Thanks!