Turkey

I have been working on this post for 2 days now! This pictures have taken forever to upload!! Anyways, our stop in Turkey was one of our favorite. We took a tour through the cruise line because we wanted to see Ephesus (we ported in Izmir). It was so neat to walk the ruins and thinking about the church. We enjoyed reading Ephesians that night.

This is the bathroom. Apparently fresh water runs along the bottom and you bring your sponge with you to wipe. In the winter the marble would get very cold so the wealthy people would send their slaves ahead of them to warm up the seat. It was also a place to socialize. Look how close the holes are though.

The Library of Celsus in the background is the most famous sight. I can't imagine how much work it has taken to restore the ruins. Even though the main walkway is crowded with tourist we could almost picture it with the Ephesians getting on with their day. It was very bright that day and we loved the sun!

Where I am standing taking this picture is where the brothel is. They found a tunnel that ran from the library to the brothel.

The theater where Paul supposedly preached. Outside of this theater is where the silversmiths got mad at Paul for ruining their business of making idols (Acts 19).

At the end of the walking tour was a quick demonstration of what life was like. He is a street performer.

After seeing Ephesus we went to a Rug Warehouse. We got a demonstration on hand-woven rugs.

They were beautiful and I was sold! During this demonstration they just kept throwing out all different kinds of rugs. This little marketing ploy worked for me and we bought one. It was supposed to ship straight to our house but we haven't gotten it yet. Hopefully we will get it in the next few days and I can add a picture.

After our tour was over we still had a little bit of time so we walked down into the town of Izmir (Smyrna from the bible). We were hoping to do some more shopping (like my rug didn't cause enough damage) but didn't see much. Not all ports have a nice area in walking distance so we had to take advantage.

We decided to let Chase play a little. He did great on the tours but after a while he needs a break. Don't make fun of his hat, his blonde hair attracts a lot of attention so we made him wear it.

Next stop - Egypt!

Athens

Arriving to Greece - the view from our balcony. We had great weather that day!

We had many offers from cabbies to show us around for several hours. We fit all 7 of us and the cab driver - it was a little tight!

Our first stop was to head to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. They are restoring it so there was a lot of scaffolding but cool to see none the less.

One of the few pictures of all 7 of us! Don't worry Chase is just asleep.

Our cab driver gave us these delicious oranges. I loved all the orange trees there.

Olympic Stadium

Our future Olympian!

Our cab driver - Vasile.

We stopped to see the changing of the guards.

The balls on their shoes, skirts and high steps made it quite commical.

This is how we roll....

Brad bought an iphone when he was in Vegas. Every possibility of there being Wi-Fi our men were like this...

We only wish we could have seen more of Greece.

Rome

Our first stop on the cruise was Rome. This is actually the night before. Chase was sooo tired. It was nice having sea days to recover from the busyness of the days we were sightseeing.

How do you really do Rome in 8 hours when we actually ported an hour away? We could only see a few things. Our first stop was Vatican City.

After a long line of security we got in St. Peter's Basilica.

We then went to the top of the dome for a view of the city. I am glad Brad was carrying Chase for all the stairs!

We then headed to the see the Sistine Chapel. It took about 30 minutes to get in the Vatican Museum and then about another 3o minutes of walking around to get to the chapel.

Of course we had to see the Colosseum. By this point it was really raining (Brad would say a light sprinkle) and Chase hadn't napped yet. I finally got him to sleep on me and we started our tour.

I had a hard time keeping up and was soaking wet. I told Brad that I thought I was done. He looked at me and said, "you are in Rome at the Colosseum and you're giving up." He was a little upset but I laugh at him now. After that exchange we lost our tour and decided to just head back to the metro.

Look at all the people with umbrellas - it was raining NOT sprinkling!!!

I don't have much to say about it because I couldn't really hear the tour guide. Despite the weather it was really cool to see.

The last thing on our list was the Trevi Fountain but it was a pretty far walk and we weren't sure what time the train left to get back to the boat so we decided to just head back. We will have to save everything else for our next trip there :)

Next stop - Athens.

Barcelona

We had to fly into Barcelona to catch our cruise. We got in the night before and had most of Valentines Day to explore. We took a bus tour so we could see a lot of the city in a short amount of time. We loved the architecture of all the buildings but didn't get many pictures.

Olympic Park

Not really sure what this little parade was about but Chase liked it better than all the buildings!

There are a lot of pictures on our trip of Chase chasing birds. This is at the end of the Gothic Quarter.

La Sagrada Familia

One of the more famous sights. It is the work of Antoni Gaudi. It began in 1882 and is not scheduled for completion until 2026.

This picture below made me very sad. When we got to the boat that night I realized I was missing a diamond earring. I immediately started looking around our room and couldn't find it. I started looking through the pictures of the day and realized it was missing in the this picture too. I knew then I had no hope of finding it. I was really hoping our insurance would cover it but no such luck. These were the earrings Brad got me for my push present. It was such a good story and I am so sad that one is gone. I think we are going to try to reset the remaining diamond to make a necklace and get new earrings sometime in the future.

Our home for the next 12 nights!!!

The next stop...Rome.

We're Back!!

This blog has been quiet because we have been cruisin' the Mediterranean with some friends! It was a wonderful trip but we are glad to be home and get back in some sort of schedule and learn how to eat only 2,000 calories a day instead of 5,000 or however many we consumed! We had great weather for all but one day. Our iteneiry included Rome, Athens, Izmir (Ephesus), Cairo and Alexandria and Malta. I'll try to post some pictures soon once I get some groceries in the fridge and clean clothes in our drawers!

Stamps

I stole this activity from my friend Jen. Chase is a little young - he didn't always know which way to hold the stamp. He sure likes to paint though! I will definitely try this again in a few months.

Another Activity

I've done stickers with Chase before - just working on transferring them to a piece of paper. This time I wanted him to put them on a certain point. I also used those eyeball things so he could get a little better grip on them. He really enjoyed this and played long after I stopped :)

Haircut

Chase has had a couple haircuts from dad and grandma but it was time for a professional one. I was shocked how much hair he had to cut off. He looks like such a little boy right now. He has been doing great without the pacifier but I decided to give it to him for the haircut. He did really well!

He gave him a little mohawk at the end. So cute!

Big Race

Optimus Prime vs. Tow Mater. Optimus Prime would spontaneously transform during the races so Tow Mater usually ended up winning!

Thanks Walkers for the toys!

Thanks for the prayers/concerns about the lead. I met with the head of pedriatics this morning and we got Chase retested with drawing blood from the vein (that was not fun!). We should get the results back in a week. If the number is the same then I am just going to do the few minor changes they recommended (clean toys, wash hands more, etc.). If it goes up then we will probably look into moving.