Where in the world?

Just got back from an amazing trip cruising around the Mediterranean and back to the US on a transatlantic cruise.  Being in Europe is like going back in time about 500 years, so it's nice to be back in the 21st century again.

Trip Fun Facts:

Countries visited: 6 - Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, and Portugal
Days to cross the Atlantic - 7
City with the most bridges - Venice
City with the best street parade - Barcelona
City with the best gelato - Florence
City with the best beach - Alicante, Spain
City with the best ancient ruins - Pompei
City with the worst traffic - Napoli (Naples)
City I most want to visit again - Rome
City I least want to visit again - Istanbul
City with the best raspberry tart - Aix en Provence, France


 Venice, Italy
 

 Athens - Parthenon - Acropolis

 Figured out the metro system - it's all Greek to me.  : )

 Cruising.

 Ephesus, Turkey

 Istanbul, Turkey.  The grand Bazaar and Blue Mosque

 Greek Island - Mykonos

 Pompei - much larger than expected and lots to see here.

 Rome -

 Swiss Guards at the Vatican - can't beat that uniform.

 Alicante, Spain - Climbed that hill in the background to tour the fort.

 Could this cannon take out the cruise ship below?

 Malaga, Spain

 Funchal, Portugal

 On a sailboat off Tenerife, Canary Islands,  whale watching.

 Back in the USA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 We got lucky and were able to see the Mars rocket take off from Cape Canaveral on our last day in Florida.  This is NOT a picture of that rocket. 

 Savannah, GA

 Charleston, SC - on the boat out to Fort Sumter.

Biking on the beach at Hilton Head, SC.

Great trip?  Where in the world will we go next year?

Quick trip to San Diego

 A quick trip to San Diego with the two older boys. 
Legoland was on the top of their "must do" list.

The beach is always at the top of my "must do" list.

My new boogie boarding buddy - 9 year old caught on quick and was a natural!

Seals on the beach.  We saw dolphins too!

 Flying kites is easy with all the wind at the beach in La Jolla.

More fun trips to come.

Happy Birthday One Year Old!

Baby B is One Year Old today!

Happy Birthday!

Also, If you put up a hummingbird feeder, they will come.  They drained this in one day!

Running with Cactus

Labor Day means its the annual Saguaro National Park Run.  

This is the only National Park which has an official run inside a National Park.  The run is 8 miles around the Park loop road with several steep hills, so it's quite a challenge.  This year they also added a 5K which seemed much more kid and Yaya friendly. Ken and Kevin ran the 8 miler while  9 year old C and I did the 5K.  This was C's first official race.  We got up before the crack of dawn and arrived at the race site to get our numbers and T-shirts.  The sun came up just before the start of the run and we were off.  As you can see in the pictures, there was a lot of cloud cover and even a sprinkle of rain to keep us nice and cool.   C and I did a walk/run and finished mid-way in the pack. We didn't learn until later that C actually got 3rd place in his age group!  Awesome!   Ken and Kevin finished their run before the times they expected.  We even saw a wild javelina around the National Park Visitors Center after the race. We did not see any rattlesnakes, scorpions, bobcats, cougars, or skunks on the course.  We did see lots of saguaro and other cactus.  The highlight for C was collecting all the free snacks after the race.  Great day for all!

  
We didn't run in the dark.  This photo was taken before the start of the race.



Sunrise.

Saguaros

Let's do it again next year!

Rock climbing

Seeing balancing rocks, climbing over boulders, finding caves - all fun things to do on a hike in Echo Canyon at Chiracahua National Monument. 


 

Kevin's family.


So many balancing rocks. 

They found a little cave.  

 It's a long way down.  The kids loved hearing their own voices echo...echo...echo.

 

 More AZ fun to come.....

Tombstone

Two posts in one day - this was a busy weekend.

Here we are in Tombstone. 


We saw Indians....





and cowboys...


and horses.




Here's one little guy in the saddle, without the horse.



Almost got the whole group here.  The kids will soon outnumber the adults.




It's not the wild west without some target shooting fun.



After a long day in the sun and dust, a bath seems like a good idea.

Baby Q is not so little anymore, but he still has those amazing blue eyes.

Cupcakes!

All dressed up in her pink princess dress, with shiny earrings and necklace, it's a 5th birthday party for Princess B.  Pink is the color of choice for this party and there must be balloons and cupcakes.

Welcoming her guests at the door.

Cupcakes and ice cream for everyone.

 Games and general chaos.

 Presents made her the center of attention.

 Dancing princesses.

 Decorating crowns.

 "I love birthdays"......