It's big, it's colossal, it's the Colosseum!

Another of the many sights we saw in June was the Colosseum. Huge, incredibly huge, for the time in which it was built. If you look carefully behind Ed and Jesse's heads you can see the itty-bitty people way up on the next level above them. Wasn't built until 79AD so all those images you have of people being killed in it happened AFTER that point in time. It still is a rather amazing sight. Funny though, living with Busch Stadium as a ballpark, going in the Colosseum felt very familiar!

This Gelato is for Katrina

What can I tell you about GELATO! Before we went to Italy, my daughter Katrina gave me one piece of advice, "Eat as much Gelato as possible." So this entry is mostly for her... thanking her for the great advice. Here is my gang at San Crispinos... reportedly one of the BEST gelatterias in Rome. They make it there themselves (as do most of the best places) and it is AMAZING. The kids were hooked from first bite. We were on the prowl every day thereafter for more good gelato. This one was eaten on the first night in Rome and it was AWESOME! (Side note: they give you the cutest little spoons to eat it with too! Or you can get it in a cone... I prefer the cup, no rushing to eat it that way!)

The Eiffel tower photo is in response to my son-in-law Nathan's earlier comment about my Eiffel shot a few blogs back. He questioned whether I had actually made it to the top... the photo is my "proof"... you can't see my hand clutching the railing for dear life! It was pretty windy that day too!

Trevi Tossings

Here's the two of us at the Trevi Fountain. (Yes, Ed tossed a coin too, and promptly covered his face with his arm in the photo...no fun!) The story goes that you must toss a coin into the fountain with your right hand over your left shoulder to guarantee your return to Rome. So we did. In fact, if you look carefully, my coin is still frozen mid-air just beyond my hand... good shot, Ed!
The real story of the fountain is almost better... notice it has a building with windows sort of RIGHT behiind it. Well, apparently there was some ancient dispute over land and water access to this particular spot and the family which owned the Palazzo was forced to share. So they decided to make it something that would sort of show the grandeur of their family while they were at it. The result, they built the fountain right into the backside of their Roman Palazzo.... the Trevi! One pretty upscale watering hole, for sure!

Rome and St. Peters Basillica

I know one is expected to say "wow" a lot when in Europe, but there is no spot on the planet more likely to cause you to say it than Rome... particulary Vatican City. Yes, I know... being a good Lutheran I should be immune to all the trappings of Catholicism, but I'm not. I stood utterly amazed at what incredible monuments of art and architecture were build hundreds of years ago out of the devotion that men felt for God. That is the biggest "wow" for me of all! And when I think that they did it all without the use of electricity and modern technology.. I am amazed even more. Rome was WOW!

Travel Adventures - Part One

As most of our family and friends know, Ed and I spent June 8-18 touring Europe with 9 of our students and 3 of their parents. It was an amazing adventure. We traveled with EF tours and saw so many beautiful things! The tour began in Rome and ended in Paris with stops in Florence, Pisa, Siena, Monaco, and Nice in between. Since I'll probably be posting photos from this trip for quite awhile - I shot over 1300 photos (don't panic.... they're not all keepers), I thought I'd share just a couple here for you to enjoy. One is a fun angle on the Eiffel Tower... which I actually rode to the top of.... despite a serious fear of open heights. It wasn't too bad, even though it was pretty breezy at the top. The other was shot along the coastline of Monaco... Heaven will look just like this someday! We had 12 solid days of Mediterranean sunshine and great fun. Not a bad way to start a summer!

The New "Baby"

We arrived home from Europe late Sunday night. After seeing SO many small, very fuel efficient cars there (I am personally in love with Fiats and the "Smart" Cars - more on those later), we were convinced it was time to have an alternative to driving the truck as our 2nd car. Not that we don't love the truck.. we do, but it sucks gas like there's no tomorrow! So we went car shopping bright and early on Monday morning. We decided that if it was going to be small, then it was going to be FUN to drive. After several hilarious attempts to stuff Ed into some very snazzy smaller foreign cars.... we went to our VW dealer and test drove the new Beetle convertible! The result... we loved it... bought it .... and brought it home. It's such a spiffy little set of wheels, loads of fun to drive, and hey, it goes well with Ed's gray hair! What more can you ask of a car!

Summer Officially Begins

Everyone knows the "official" first day of summer is Memorial Day, and this year was no exception to that rule. The day dawned hot and steamy. Ed and I went out to the vineyard and got our garden planted. We were home by noon and around 1pm Gret, Leon, and Bailey arrived. The rest of the day was total relaxation. Ed spent much of it doing up a GREAT barbecue for dinner... chicken in the smoker, Eggplant, corn on the cob, sausages, the works! All of us swam, but the most enthusiastic swimmer was Bailey who could barely wait to get into the water! Over and over he would dive in and paddle about, then step out and SHAKE like crazy! He must have gone in and out over 20 times! What fun! We topped dinner off with a delicious lemon cake... we didn't eat the daisies! Yum! What a good day!

Graduation day

Last Saturday was graduation day at Lutheran High, and the day was hot and sunny. I just had to post a few photos of the day. Ed was the graduation speaker and I introduced all the academic speakers. We had FOUR valedictorians this year so I did a lot of introducing!. The rest of the day was spent going to parties and generally celebrating an end of a good year.