Trip of A Lifetime Part 3

Day 4:  Sorrento & Amalfi by Land & Sea

So after sailing for 2 nights and a full day we woke up to our ship docking in the port of Naples Italy!  From this port we had booked an excursion to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.  It was an excursion put on by the Norwegian cruise line so the way it worked was everyone going on an excursion that morning waited in the Theater for there excursion number to be called.  From then we all filed outside where the tour buses along with our guides were waiting.  This whole organized group touring thing was a bit hard for Tyler and I, being the adventurous, climb, hike, exploring people we are, the structured out time schedule of the excursion was a little out of our element, but it was a great way to see & learn all there was about the towns we would be visiting.

It was about a 1.5 hour drive to our destination however it didn't feel that long at all.  Being in a different country it was so fun to people watch and look at how the Italians live.  Homes are crammed on top of each other, laundry hanging to dry from every window, vineyards and olive trees, 10-20 antennas on the roofs of houses and we even drove by Mt. Vesuvius, an active volcano in Naples.  

Once we arrived in Sorrento we were given about an hour of free time to explore the city.  All of the cities we visited with the exception of Rome were super close to the sea and built right up to the waters edge, it is just spectacular!  Tyler and I set out to get a look at the beach, do some shopping and to find coffee and gelato!

Mt. Vesuvius

Check out the size of those lemons!!  In Italy they make a wonderful drink out of those lemons called Lemonchello... It's a lemon liquor and it's to die for!

Yummy fruits and veggies

Streets of Sorrento 

Vespa of course!

Enjoying Cafe latte and gelato

 The amazing hotel access to the sea

After our free time was up we met our group for lunch.  They had reserved a table outside at Light Aurora Ristorane which is located on a corner street in the city square.  It was a great place to people watch and driver watch!  Drivers in Italy are CRAZY!  We learned that traffic signals are optional and a car is considered nice if it has 4 wheels and a horn.

After lunch we got back on the bus and drove another hour or so to Amalfi.  From here we got on a boat and did a sea tour that gave us a great view of the Amalfi coast as well as dropped up off in Amalfi to check out the city.  We found the city church which was beautiful!  All of the Italian cities are built with the church in the middle.  They typically have a dome roof and a bell tower which makes it very easy to spot.

Harbor

Amalfi Coast

City center with steps leading up to the church

 Bell tower

Inside the amazing church

Almafi Harbor

Once we arrived back from our sea tour the bus was ready to drive us back to the port in Naples where our cruise ship would be waiting our arrival.  Now I knew it was going to be hot but it was HOT oh my word like 100+ degrees with 70% humidity.  That along with walking and touring makes for exhausted people!  It's hard to be on a ship with so many fun things to do and be so tired.  But of course we pushed through it, we had tickets to the Cirque dinner show we couldn't miss out on!!

:)

Trip of A Lifetime Part 2

Day 3: At Sea
Monday was a full day sailing on the Mediterranean Sea.  Luckily our boat had lots to do.  Swimming, bowling, and Ice Bar, several great restaurants including a Brazillian steak house called Moderno (so yummy), water slides, a casino, shows like the Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soleil and Legends in concert.  We kept hearing that The Norwegian Epic had the biggest spa at sea so we went to check it out.  Sure enough.. it was gigantic!  Massage, facials, pedis, manis, waxing, saunas, soaking tubs, hot stone beds... it was the works!  We indulged ourselves and got a pass for the week to use the saunas, steam rooms and soaking tubs.  It was the perfect thing in the evenings after walking and being on our feet all day.  We also spent a lot of that first afternoon relaxing by the pool getting a tan.  The sun is SO intense over there!  That night we got tickets to The Blue Man group and went to bed early!  We were exhausted after 13 hours of traveling.

The boat was absolutely amazing and HUGE!  When we were in the different port cities our boat towered over all the other cruise ships that were docked.  The only thing I would say is the cabins were pretty small!  There was no room to walk around but since we were just sleeping in them it wasn't too bad.  There was only 1 night where we could feel the boat moving and that was only because it was a little bit stormy on the ocean.  Otherwise it was smooth sailing and you didn't ever feel like you were even on a boat.   

Check out some pictures of this amazing ship 

Epic Theater

Cirque Du Soleil show

 Ice Bar

The ice bar was FREEZING!  They gave you ponchos and gloves.  It was so much fun & we met some super fun people in there!

Sauna over looking the ocean

Soaking pools

A view of Deck 15

Part of the casino

Bowling

Our cabin.  Super small it consisted of a bed, closet, couch, small counter/sink, a shower and a toilet.

Trip of a Lifetime Part 1

I can't believe our trip has come and gone!  We had been looking forward to it, worrying about it & planning for it, for 5 months and now it's over!  I still can't believe we were there and saw the things we saw it was spectacular!

Our trip consisted of 7 days.  1 cruising the Mediterranean sea 2 days in Spain, 2 in Italy and 2 in France.  Since I have a million pictures I am going to do several posts.

ENJOY!

DAY 1 & 2:

We started out flying 4 hours from PDX to Toronto Canada then catching a connection flight of 8.5 hours from Toronto to Barcelona Spain.  The time difference is 9 hours ahead so we slept a little bit on the plane since we would be arriving in Barcelona at 7am with a new day ahead of us.  In Barcelona we had people waiting to take us, along with lots of other Edward Jones couples to a little Spanish Village where we spent the morning enjoying breakfast, shopping and some sight seeing.  It was Sunday and a lot of the Village stores weren't open yet so Tyler and I ventured out and walked to Olympic Park and checked out the location of the 1992 summer Olympics.   Unfortunately we only had a limited time in Barcelona before we had to board our ship.  There was so much iin this amazing city that we didn't get to see.

Spanish Village

View of Barcelona from the Spanish Village

Village square.  I guess there are MAJOR dance parties with live music in this square.

Olympic Tower

Olympic Village

Village cont.

cont.

Olympic Track

Love is..

"Love is everlasting,

Love is only kind,

Love is always patient,

Love will blow your mind!!"

- JeKob

Loving this song!!  The boys and I rock out to it in the car daily.  

I love finding up beat catchy Christian songs.  Cade can seriously memorize a song by listining to it twice, so I have to be EXTRA careful what goes into his little ears.  I'm trying to stay away from secular music but it's so hard because KLove and all the other Christian radio stations are um... lame! 

So I'm looking for a list of songs to download for us in the car.  

Please pretty please leave a comment with your favorite 

upbeat

danceable

funky

Clean songs!

Thanks!! 

rock on, 

Can't believe ...

That in a week...

I will have dropped my boys off in Dallas and won't see them for 8 days!

My sister agreed to watch them for SO long

I will have flown across the ocean SCARY! 

Be having breakfast in Barcelona Spain!!

Boarding the Norwegian Epic and cruising the Mediterranean for 5 days

Stopping in Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes and Provence

Spending a week with my hubby

SO nervous but SO excited!! 

Wordless Wednesday

          

Campout with Grandpa Don

My dad is so amazing with his 4 grandboys.  They all just adore him and it's easy to see why.  He  reads, wrestles, plays jail, gives pony rides, cuddles... pretty much anything those boys want to do he will do it.  Last year he did a campout in the back yard with them and they had a blast!  So this summer he had to keep it going.  

It all started out great.  They helped set up the tent, got the sleeping bags spread out and made a fire to roast marshmallows.  Everyone was settled in and grandpa told some stories before bed.... and thats about as far as it got.  After story time the boys decided they didn't want to sleep in the tent and they all piled inside.  Grandpa is such a great sport, he didn't care how much work it took or that he busted his foot really bad on a stake getting the tent set up, he just packed everyone up and brought them inside. 

Even thought they didn't last it was still a great time and the boys had a blast! 

Sun River Fun

This last week we packed up and took the long drive to Sun River, haha long.. ya right.  Try 15 minutes!  AMAZING!

We met my sister and her family for 4 days of sun, laughs, water, bikes, laughs, good food and did I say laughs?  We had a fantastic time and the boys were in cousin heaven!  I mean what little boy wouldn't be in heaven here?!  

Some highlights of our trip were defiantly the bike rides and the SHARC.  We rented 2 bikes with trailers so we could all cruise around together.  The boys loved riding to visit the horses riding to the pool and to pizza.  The SHARC is Sun Rivers new aquatic center.  Water slides, lazy river, activity pool, giant sand area and kiddy pool.  3 days spent outside makes for some tan little men! 

Sun River may be a new annual must do.

Perfect

This is the perfect picture to go along with The Dreaded Phone post

What to do when my 3.5 yr old is at Grandmas

Dinner out with my hubby & Blake

Curling my hair

Painting my nails

Catching up on gossip mags & watching some tv

Overhauling Cade's room

And lots of play time..

 Stories & snuggles with this man.

Enjoying our time but missing Caders! 

The Dreaded Phone

I HATE talking on the phone! 
I hate it not because I don't like the people that call or I don't want to talk to or call people.  
I hate it because of the battle and hurdles I have to jump through while making a call.

Here are some of the reasons it's nearly impossible to talk on the phone:

Blake LOVES phones.  He loves pretending he is talking on the, playing on them and just carrying them around.  So anytime a phone is out he thinks he needs to use it.  Try having a conversation with someone while you have a 14 month little monkey grabbing at clawing for the phone.

Cade LOVES the phone.  He loves playing games, watching movies and drawing on the phone.  
He thinks he is ruler of the phones and can have them whenever he wants.  So when I get the phone out to make a call he all of the sudden thinks he needs and wants to use it.  Sorry buddy your not the boss!! 

Cade loves attention.  When the phone rings or I go to call someone that is prime time for Cade to want or need something.  Or excuse me think he wants or needs something.

The best time for me to talk would be nap time or in the evening when the boys are down for a nap.  
However when that finally happens there are a million things that need to be done and a phone conversation usually slips through the cracks.  

I am trying to do better at making time to catch up with people.  
Bare with me and please don't be offended if I don't answer and it takes a day or 2 for me to get back to you!!  

However, text me and I am super good about getting back to ya!  :)

Tourists should not have all the fun!

WARNING!!  Forgot camera, this blog post contains no pictures of our adventure!! 

One of my favorite things about Tyler is his love for adventure and anything fun!  He always has great ideas to do as a family and loves to be on the go... ALL THE TIME! :) 

On Sunday after the boys and I took naps he decided it would be fun to go rent a bike at the Old Mill.  

Seriously SO MUCH FUN!

If you live in Bend or are just visiting we would highly recommend doing it.   You can rent them right in the Old Mill at Wheel Fun Rentals and the single bike is only $20/hr.  We had it out for pretty much exactly an hour and Tyler and I were exhausted after the hour.  It's a lot of work to keep that bad boy moving!  The boys loved it!  Blake was saying "ooo!!" almost the entire time and Cade got a kick out of helping with the breaks.  We totally felt like tourists, but like our waitress at Gregs Grill that night said; why should the tourists have all the fun?! 

Thanks Tyler for always being up for an adventure!