Next Stop, Spain

Our first stop in Spain was Vigo. We had a few stops in Spain, Vigo, Cartagena and Barcelona. In this post i'm going to mush all our Spain spots into one post. Otherwise, my Europe posts would be forevvvver long! So lets get to it!

[vigo]

[barcelona]

cherbourg, france

i decided to keep good on my semi-promise from earlier. i am feeling a little more blogger-ish tonight, so i'll post about stop #3 on our cruise, but i 'll have to detour from Spain like i said earlier.

stop #3 was Cherbourg France. it was a cool little fishing village. i don't remember too many specifics about it (other than the fishy smell, bleh) but what i do remember was a very cool church and some adorable yummy little french bakery's on the street. back to the church though. we found it on the map, listed as Cherbourg's Notre Dame. my favorite part of it? the bullet holes in the cement all over the church. dave remembers it as the "place with the skate park". yeah, so we know what matters to dave, and apparently it's not centuries old historic structures.

[the.church.in.cherbourg]


[the.bullet.holes]

[dave.and.i]

[rachel.and.mom.listening.to.mass.inside]

[dave.&.mike]

[the.streets.of.france]

[random.street.shot]

[another.sweet.old.building]

please forgive me

i just haven't felt like blogging lately! i'd rather read in bed. i hope to get to it tonight...?
:)

back home, and back to decorating

Dave and I had a little date night last night. Ok, we're childless, so everytime we go out is pretty much a date night...but anyways. We went to Jerry's Dogs, which if you haven't had, is delicious! We dined on fine soda's, cheeseburgers (plain) and then I popped the question. "Do you think, that umm, maybe when were done, we could, maybe, i dunno...just pop into Home Goods? Cause it's just right here, and we have the whole evening...ya know?" haha. He said yes. After insisting that my suggestion was premeditated, which is completely untrue. It was absolutely spur of the moment and in no way thought out beforehand.

So the result of our date night is this great new addition to our home. I brought her home to test her out in our master bath...and i think she'll stay! She's a shade of light grey/blue with some creams and a charcoal color. (there's not much natural light, so the picture isn't as good as it could be). I think she fits into the scheme very well. Anything tan/brown would have just gotten lost in the tile. And i need to try not to get caught in a tan funk! Although it's still not bold, it goes well since the bathroom opens up into the master.

Say what?

On our trip, alot of time was spent with our fabulous family. And with all this time that was spent together, were some memorable quotes and such. I realized that if I don't get it onto paper (or blog) then I won't remember. Les, anyone else that was there, feel free to add things. And i'll update as memories pop into my head.

"It's windy enough up there to blow over a baby. Twice. I know from experience."

"Your a peach from a vineyard"

"Santa Maria"

"You can't say that here. Stop saying Santa Maria!"

"If it's too cold to lay out, you can just sit there and look at Africa"

"Look, there's a naked man on his balcony!"

"Look, Nascar is dancing!"

"I will survive...." sung by Rachel

"I twy, and I twy..."

"If I hear one more ABBA song I am going to kill myself"

"It's so hot, milk was a bad choice"

"Can I put my (digital) camera through the X-Ray machine? Won't it ruin my film?"

Vive la France!

Our second stop on the cruise was La Havre, France. Of course, with Paris being less than 2 hours away, thats where we spent our day! With only one day, and a limited amount of hours, we had to try to cram as much as we could into what time we had. SO, like all good tourists, we took the double decker red bus around the city. We hopped off and on thru the day, and were able to see more than I had expected to see. I have to go back here someday. There was so much to take in! My favorite part: the Eiffel Tower. I was just amazed! I think Les got a picture of me "taking it all in so I could remember".

I'll show you our day in photos, because it's much more fun than reading...and i don't feel like typing all the details. But in 2 words, overwhelmingly amazing!

(oh, and if you notice no Dave, it's because while we were in Paris, Kevin, Mike and Dave were at Normandy. Which maybe he can guest post about? haha...yeaaaah riiight!)

[THE.tower]

[on.the.red.bus]

[arc.de.triomphe]

[relaxing.on.the.tour]

[lunch.at.a.little.sidewalk.cafe]

[the.louvre.and.the.fam]

[sister.in.laws!]

[notre.dame]

didn't get to go in. next time!

[randoms]

[baby.takes.eiffel.tower]

[the.opera]

There are alot more pictures, that the family has, that I don't have copies of yet. So i'll have a "best of" post later!

Out of our trip, there are two places i want to go back to.
1. Paris.

2. Rome (which you'll have to wait to see!)

Stay tuned for: Spain!

I'm baaack!

I'm back! I have mixed feelings about being home. I was sad to say bye bye to our cruise ship, having someone else clean up after me, serve me my meals, and turn down my bed at night while leaving me a little chocolate....BUT i'm glad to be in my own bed, not break a sweat just by stepping outside and to be done with flying accross the country. So I bet you're all wanting me to get to the good stuff, right?! Well i'm going to do this in installments. There's just too much for one post. We saw alot of amazing things and visited alot of fabulous places. Detail wise, we flew into London and spent the day there. We took the tube all over, and stayed the night by the airport. We left the next morning and boarded the ship. The next day we woke up in France, went to Paris, then Cherbourg, Vigo, day at sea, Lisbon, Gebraltar UK, Cartagena, day at sea, Barcelona and ended in Rome. We stayed the day there, spent the night near the airport, and flew out the next morning for home! Phew!! I can only say that by the end, London seemed like such a long time ago, but the cruise flew by!

Now for Europe stop # 1:

London, England!

[buckingham.palace]

[and.mind.the.gap!]

[parliament.at.night]

[big.ben]

[baby.in.awe]

[us.again.with.david.&.baby.in.back]

[westminster.abbey.at.night]


Stay tuned for: Paris, France!

suitcases and passports and airplanes, oh my!

i'm done with work (for 2 weeks)!!!! but i'm still busy before we fly out tomorrow. i need to...
- get a pedicure & manicure
- get a massage tonight with dave
- finish packing my big suitcase
- get our carry ons packed
- shower
- eat!
- sleep

gotta run, but i'll see you all when i get back! pictures will come shortly after!!!!
can't wait to share the experience with you all!

xoxo