When in Rome...

September 1st.

Surprise, we went to do some business with a CNG company in Italy and got to do a little sightseeing in Rome and Venice while we were there. We were in Regio Amelia for most of the week. This is a little church in the old town area. As far as the old and also more touristy places go, we liked Regio Amelia the best. It was the cleanest and more real and quaint than Rome and Venice, probably because it isn't over run with tourists but is more for the locals instead. We went out on Wednesday night, which in Italy is like an extra Friday night, and got to hang out with some locals. The best meal I had was also here in Regio Amelia, Salmon pasta, Yum!

This is part of the ancient city of Rome.

Here we are at a little cafe sitting at a table on the sidewalk. Most if not all of the places to eat had tables out on the sidewalk or even in the street. We paid 4 euro for the Cokes that we had here, that's 6 US Dollars for two teeny tiny, itty bitty, Cokes!

San Pietro (St. Peter in English) in the Vatican City. Designed and partially built by Michelangelo (he died before it was finished) it is the largest dome in Rome. I'm telling you, it is big! This is where the Pope goes to speak to the people.
The inside of St. Peter. OK, this place is massive. In modern terms it probably isn't that big but considering that it was built in the 1600s just blew our minds. The thing in the middle is St. Peter's Basilica. Supposedly the body of Peter (the apostle Peter from the bible) is under that.

The Plaza in front of St. Peter.

This is a real live castle!

The Colosseum at sunset (that is why it is so orange). This place is amazing just because it is so very, VERY old.

The inside of the Colosseum. On the bottom there are passageways and tunnels. So the ground of the Colosseum actually had tunnels underneath for moving that gladiators and animals. It was covered with a wooden "floor" and that was covered in sand.

A might tiger! Actually just a kitty but I bet that kitty didn't have to pay 11 euro to get in like we did!

Here is a pic of the outside again but if you look real close you can see how it is crumbling were they have reinforced the structure with brick. There is only about 40% of the structure remaining today.

The Vatican Museum was big and full of naked art! well, not all of the art was naked but there sure was a lot of it.

Not naked art but a real live mummy!

Venice

On our trip to Italy we went to Venice via train. We were in Venice Friday September 5th and Saturday the 6th then went back to Rome on Sunday.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the rivers in Venice (above). I don't really know if you would call them rivers or canals. It was actually sea water that smelled like dead fish.

Craig and I over the big river in Venice.

St. Mark's in Venice. I love this picture with the crowds and the girl in the black dress running. St. Mark's was beautiful with a gold mosaic ceiling and a Tile floor that Craig couldn't take his eyes off of. OK, so the floors were pretty great too. They are tiles that create different patterns and illusions. Unfortunately they don't allow people to take pictures inside.

Here are two gondolas in the big river. The actually move around with an oar, not a long pole like everyone thinks. The cool thing is that they only use the oar on one side of the boat but they manage to keep the boat going straight. We were going to take a gondola ride but it was WAY overpriced. $120 for a 20 minute ride! And it was even more after sunset.

This is a smaller canal and also more typical.

The "streets" of Venice. The doors of these buildings came right to the water and they were rotting away at the bottom. It made me wonder how people got inside.

Jeeping in the desert

So this is what I drive! Well, some of the time. Remember those commercials where the two people try to get ready first so they can drive the new car? Yeah, its like that at my house.

My jeep is actually white. We just haven't taken any pictures yet. It is so fun to take out to the desert. We took it out this weekend and drove up the side of a mountain quite literally. The funny thing is that its not going up that is scary, its coming down.

Anyway, we love our new jeep!

Memory Lane

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember!

Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!

Splashin' Cousins

Playing in the water is so much fun, especially when it is 105 outside!

We love the splash park by the library! It has a really neat river for kids to play in. The best part is that kids can play in a river without the mud factor. My girls and their cousins had a great time plugging up the river with their bodies so that the water would get really big.

By the way, it was a week of lots of girls! Craig and Steven where busy most of the time so it was Laura and me with 6 girls and 1 boy. Poor guy! Thats OK because Alison had a blast with Don and he played really well with her.

My First Race

Well, here it is, my first race EVER! The Midnight 5K.

(To get a closer look at the scrapbook page just click on it!)


Craig and the kids came to cheer me on even though Lizzi fell asleep. The race was actually a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. It was super dark outside because the moon didn't come out. We all had little LED headlamps but sometimes that didn't help much. We were running through a golf course and it was ALL HILLS! Nothing flat! Besides the fact that it wore me out almost instantly, the hills would suddenly pop up and I ended up tripping over them.

Overall, this was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact I am probably going to do the next 10K I can find!

Race results: I took 27th place in the womens overall ( out of 115) and 13th in my age group (25-29).

Hey, If any of you want to know a little more about skinney water, visit Craig's blog!

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Zion National Park

Back in April we went camping with Steven (Craig's brother) and his family in Zions.

Here I am at the top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Its funny, I have been to Zions tons of times but I have never hiked anything harder than Emerald Pools until now.

The kids all hiked up the first 2 miles with us then they stayed here and played (and napped) with aunt Laura while Steven, Craig and I climbed the treacherous half mile to the top.

This would be that half mile. It was steep and skinny, not for the faint-of-heart, but totally worth it.
By the by, I had an extremely sore throat and I was hopped-up on ibuprofen. This was on a Wednesday and by Sunday I was in the emergency room.