A Day in the Life

How did this summer get so packed full of traveling and fun stuff? I’m not complaining, but I really thought our Europe trip would be IT for this summer. Then a couple more trips popped up (mostly thanks to my family), and here we are, almost in August! It has been a fun summer so far, but now we are home for good (I think). So its time to break out the creativity to keep us busy for the next few sweltering weeks.

Last week we went to Newport Beach because Zac was working there, and my family came out as well. For those of you who don’t know, I spent most of my childhood in Oak Park, CA (we moved to Dallas when I was 13), so I was excited get back to California for a few days.  Of course the weather was cool and breezy (I broke out my long pants for the first time since March), and the traffic was crazy, but we had a good time.

We spent most of our time at the beach, where Adelyn had a little adjusting to do.

Day 1: She would NOT touch the sand, much less the water, and cried whenever she got even a fleck of sand in her shoes. She spent most of the time being held.

Scared of the water

Day 2: I talked her into walking in the sand barefoot, and Zac taught her how to build a sand castle, which she loved. But the ocean was still a source of terror for her.

Playing in the sand

Day 3: She is running in the ocean! Yay! She loves to run, and she loves water, so finally when she realized she could run IN the water and it wouldn’t sweep her away, she was LOVING it.

Loving the ocean

I loved digging my toes into the sand and soaking up the sun. And spending some time with Cami and Scott, who live in Utah. We also went to Downtown Disney, Panda Inn (LOVE LOVE LOVE this place), Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach (to roast smore’s and see my cousins and their cute kids), Fashion Island (mall), and the Block in Orange (another mall). Sounds like a lot, but it really was a nice, relaxing trip. Someday we should try out the beaches a little closer to home.

Lego Store at Downtown Disney

Smile!

A little ice cream at the end of a busy day

Listening for the ocean in a shell

Love my family

Two weekends ago we went up to Broken Bow with Dave and Lisa Grow and had a great time. Then my brother came into town for a week, and then my family decided to go to Broken Bow again for a few days. Addie and I went up and left poor Zac at home, since he had to work. Sorry, babe. The former weekend was spent riding 4-wheelers with the kids, wakeboarding, skiing and wakeskating on the boat, skipping rocks in the river, cooking (oh how we love cobbler…), playing games, etc. It was hot, but it was fun to have Eli there for Addie to play with. And after the boating experience, both kids were pooped and took 3+ hour naps. We had lots of fun!

The latter weekend we spent most of our time on the water. We stayed at the Lodge, which is right on the lake, and has a boat ramp right outside the hotel. The weather was hot, hot , hot and the water was hot too, but it was somewhat refreshing. We all skiied and wakeboarded, although Scott is leagues ahead of the rest of us, we had lots of fun. Addie LOVED the boat. She got very attached to her life jacket, and was very good about keeping it on all the time. In fact, she got excited about putting it on.  She mostly sat in the boat and watched everyone else ski/wakeboard, and would always tell me when someone fell down (“Scotty fall down, Mommy”, repeated over and over). She loved when we stopped for a break and all jumped in the water. She absolutely loves to swim. She has gotten over any fear she had of water, and now jumps in full force.

We also went golfing one morning. Broken Bow has a beautiful golf course that is always empty, so we played 9 holes one morning before it got too hot (haha, yeah right). Scott’s clubs are up in Utah, so my dad brought him a few of his clubs, but didn’t have an extra golf bag, so he brought a box. It was pretty funny looking. I took pity on him and let him share my bag. We had a great time, although I think my dad was the only one who ever got a par.

Also a great find in Broken Bow: Papa Poblano’s for dinner. Great Mexican food!

We had a great time, and we’ll be back soon!

To Cami: Happy 30th Birthday! Thank you for suggesting a girls weekend in New York to celebrate! Although it was hard for me to leave this little one again:

But she had a great time with her Daddy, and I had a great time with the girls!

Our hotel was close to Times Square, so we were probably there every night, just doing some shopping, eating, shows, shopping, and eating.

Times Square

We went on the “Top of the Rock”, where you take a trippy elevator ride up 65 flights to the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It has a great view of New York, except on foggy/smoggy/hazy days like this one. Maybe all days in New York are this way, but oh well. We went on the NBC Studio Tour, and saw the set of SNL and some other shows. I can’t believe how small the sets are in real life! Their magnifying cameras are amazing! My favorite part was the gift shop, where I wanted to buy every $25 t-shirt there. But alas, the anticipated shopping trip to H&M that followed was worth forgoing the “Michael Scott Paper Company” shirt.

On "Top of the Rock"

View of foggy New York

30 Rock!!

After our NBC Studios Tour

We went to St Patrick’s cathedral, Trinity church, and Riverside church, which are all beautiful, and remind me of Europe in a lot of ways. But they are here in America! The stained glass is breathtaking.

Hot Dogs

Metropolitan Museum of Art

I had to get  a hot dog from a hot dog vendor. It’s just a New York-ish thing to do, right?

Then on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There was an exhibit on fashion, which is totally Cami’s thing, and Picasso, which also floats her boat (she was a humanities major). I liked the Monet’s the best. Then we wandered Central Park, and watched people play frisbee, eat lunch, and watch the boats on the pond.

This sandwich is bigger than her face

We love Broadway shows! We saw “In the Heights”, a modern love story about growing up in Washington Heights, which I really liked, and “West Side Story”, which I was a little less impressed with. I think there is just too much snapping and dancing without singing in that one. Juliana’s high school version was more entertaining for me.

In the Heights = two thumbs up!

Matchy matchy

We took the boat to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was hot and muggy this weekend, so it was nice to get out on the water. We only climbed the pedestal of the statue, but that was enough for us! We had a great view of New York Harbor. Ellis Island is a historical monument. You walk in the building and can just imagine what it was like for immigrants to wait and wait and wait to be processed, always in fear that some little thing would make them “ineligible” to stay here, only to be sent back to their homeland. The museum is simple, but creative, and there are quotes and recordings from people who came through here. I really liked it.

On the boat to the Statue of Liberty

There she is!

View of New York from Liberty Island

Next it was up to Columbia. My dad was going to school at Columbia when Cami was born, so we visited the University, as well as Riverside Church and Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb, which are nearby.  We also saw Cami’s first home, a tiny apartment on Riverside just a few blocks from campus. My mom regaled us with Cami’s birth story as we walked to the hospital where she was born. If I moved to New York, I would want to live on Riverside. It is so beautiful, and less crowded than where we were staying.

Doors of the beautiful Riverside Church

Visiting Columbia

Lunch at Penelope

What a great trip! It was quick, but we managed to squeeze in tons of stuff. My camera battery died one day, so the other stuff not pictured here includes:

• FAO Schwartz
• H&M shopping extravaganza
• Central Park
• Dinner at Stardust (most fun restaurant experience EVER)
• Shopping on Canal Street
• Wall Street/NY Stock Exchange
• Ground Zero

Let’s go back soon!

We really saved the best for last. Sorrento is about an hour south of Naples, right on the coast. The most beautiful drive in the world has got to be the cliffs of the Amalfi coast, where the Mediterranean sparkles and the towns spring up out of the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our hotel, which maybe made Sorrento my favorite place of the trip. Rome is still duking it out with Sorrento in my mind.

Favorite Sorrento things:

• Shopping and walking around town. Sorrento is small compared to the other tourist towns we visited. It has shops and restaurants and gelaterias (very important), and not much else. We walked down to the pier, we shopped, we ate, we watched the sun set from our balcony.
• Pompeii – an ancient city that was covered in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. The town was buried and preserved until the 1700s, when excavations began. It was amazing to walk the streets of this city and imagine what life was like back then. This city was at its height during Jesus’ lifetime, so although I’m pretty sure Christ never visited Pompeii, I’m sure the lifestyle was similar.
• Along with that, we went to the Archeological Museum in Naples, which has artifacts from Pompeii that survived – paintings, frescoes, mosaics, dishes, silverware, vases, statues, etc. Unfortunately the Mosaics room was closed, but we got to see everything else. It was neat. Although it’s too bad we had to go all the way to Naples to see it. Naples is kinda rough…
• Amalfi Coast drive. Wow. So beautiful. We took a bus, which wound around the cliffs of the coastal mountains in a one lane highway, squeezing past cars and mopeds going the other way. Scary. But it was really beautiful, especially Positano, where we walked down to the beach and stuck our fingers in. The beaches are really pebbly there!
• Pizza in Naples. I wanted to go to the famous L’Antica da Michele pizza place, but the only day we were in Naples was Sunday, and they were closed. But the pizza place across the street was open, so we grabbed some pizza there, and it was delish! I love my American Pizza, but Italian pizza is so yummy! I swear their tomatoes are different than ours.

  

  Pompeii street

  

  Chariot ruts in the road, Pompeii

  

  Original pots from Pompeii

  
  

  

  Fresco on a wall in a home, Pompeii

  

  Doorways in Pompeii

  

  Basilica ruins, Pompeii

  
  

  

  Pompeii painting, preserved in the museum

  

  Amalfi Coast/Mediterranean Sea

  

  Climbing down the steps to Positano

  
  

  

  Touching the Mediterranean

  

  City of Positano

  

  View of Sorrento and Mt Vesuvius from our balcony

  
  

  

  Trevi Fountain, Rome

  

  Overview of the Forum, Ancient Rome

  

  Ancient Rome

  
  

  

  Temple of Saturn in Ancient Rome

  

  Basilica in Ancient Rome

  

  Colosseum, Rome

  
  

  

  Can you see where the steps used to be? (Colosseum)

  

  Interior of Colosseum

  

  Arch of Constantine, Rome

  
  

  

  St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

  

  Dome of St Peters from the inside, Vatican City

  

  Ceiling of St Peters, Vatican City

  
  

  

  Michelangelo’s Pieta, St. Peters, Vatican City

  

  Ceiling detail, St Peters, Vatican City

  

  Outside St Peters on a rainy day

  
  

  

  Raphael’s “School of Athens”, Vatican Museum

  

  Best Gelato EVER.

  

  Della Palma Gelato. We went here every day multiple times.

  
  
  

Roma – The Eternal City, The City of Love, etc

• Rome is seriously magical. We got there in the afternoon, ate dinner, and then walked around Rome until it got dark. Rome at night is another world. The lighting is all orange light, so that it resembles torchlight. So Rome honestly feels like an old city, since there are no LED screens or florescent lighting anywhere. you feel like you are walking through ancient Rome. We saw St. Peters, Castel Sant Angelo, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona that night.
• Ancient Rome – the Imperial Forum, Arch of Constantine, Palatine Hill, Arches of Titus and Septimius Severus. This is where Rome began and was ruled. The Senate where Julius Caesar was killed, the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Saturn, the Via Sacra (Main Street), the Basilica (governmental seat), the church where Peter the Apostle was (maybe) imprisoned, the COLOSSEUM. It’s all here. Right smack dab in the middle of modern Rome. We spent all morning here, taking audiotours and learning all about the beginning and end of the Roman Empire.
• St Peters/Vatican City. This was an all day event. St Peters Basilica is the largest Catholic church in the world, and probably the most decorated. It houses Michelangelo’s Pieta, and multiple works by Bernini, including the altar  and the huge brass canopy over the altar. It also houses the tomb of St. Peter, and the tombs of many Popes. It is so ornately decorated, you really have to see it to believe it. We toured the Vatican Museums as well, and ended in the Sistine Chapel. I feel like Michelangelo and I should be friends at this point, as now I’ve been to his hometown, his tomb, and all of his greatest works. Great job on the Sistine Chapel, buddy. Really, it is amazing. To think that he literally craned his neck to paint a ceiling for four years, and on fresco! It is almost emotional. Once again, you have to see it to believe it. It was so beautiful, we stayed in there for a half hour just looking and looking.
• Catacombs! We went to the Catacombs of Domitilla, and did some underground hiking. This is where the early Christians buried their dead, instead of cremating them like the Romans did in that time. This was a sacred burial, because they were buried near family members and martyrs for the Christian religion. Romans did not treat Christians well at that point in time. Now, there are no bodies there, just holes in the walls. But what I liked were the frescoes and writings that have survived all these years.
• We were SO EXHAUSTED by the end of our trip, that we spent a good portion of time in the hotel spa and relaxation room. At first I was worried about wasting time that could have been spent sightseeing, but as one of our reasons for this trip was to just be together, we decided this was a worthwhile usage of time. We missed our little girl a lot, but to just be together, without any responsibilities, was refreshing.

We’re breaking Italy up into two portions, because there is just too much good stuff to post about! Venice was first, and we only spent a day there. But it was so beautiful that we took many, many pictures. We didn’t need to even do anything in Venice but ride the water bus and eat gelato to soak up the best that Venice has to offer. The Grand Canal is lined with apartment buildings, hotels, and office buildings that all convey the same message: ‘We are Authentic Italy. We don’t need to repaint our buildings, fix the weathered wood, or rebuild in a modern style to attract people to our city.’ And seriously, walking around you feel like you are transported back in time. Of course people dress in modern clothes, and there are tourists EVERYWHERE, but if you get lost in a back alleyway, you could mistake the year 2010 for the year 1910 pretty easily.

Venice activities included:

• St Marks Square: the Byzantine style of St. Marks Cathedral was so different from every other church we’d seen. It reminded me of something you’d see in Moscow or something (not that I’ve been there, but I can imagine). No pictures inside that one.
• Doge’s Palace and Correr Museum – Neither were particularly inspiring, except that through the Doge’s Palace you get to walk across the “Bridge of Sighs” and into the prisons. I think that bridge is famous from a movie, but I’m not sure which one. No picture of that either, it was covered by scaffolding and advertisements.
• Cruising the Grand Canal – we were cheap and didn’t take a gondola ride, but even riding the water bus with 100 other people, you can find a corner and watch the world go by in a slightly romantic setting.
• Frari Church – we took an audio tour from Rick Steves on this one, and it was good we did. Don’t you think that the more you know about a place, the more you appreciate it? That is how we felt about this one. And by the way, if you EVER go to Italy, you MUST consult Rick Steves’ website, and download any audio tours he has on iTunes. They will save you money and give you all the information  you could want for wherever you are going.

  

  Venice at night

  

  Sunset from St Marks Square, Venice

  

  View of St. Marks from the Doge’s Palace courtyard, Venice

  
  

  

  Doge’s Palace, Venice

  

  

  House covered in vines, Venice

  
  

  

  Traffic in the Grand Canal, Venice

  

  Restaurant in Venice

  

  Zac’s Pizza Diavola, Venice

  
  

  

  Andrea’s Pizza Capricciosa, Venice

  

  Boat parking lot, Venice

  

  Pretty Alleyway, Venice

  
  

  

  Duomo in Florence

  

  Detail on the facade of the Duomo, Florence

  

  Sitting in front of the Duomo doors

  
  

  

  Campanile (bell tower) in Florence

  

  Copy of Michelangelo’s David, Florence

  

  Florence

  
  

  

  Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

  

  View of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

  

  Another view of Florence

  
  

  

  Statue of Michelangelo and the rainbow, Florence

  

  In front of the Ponte Vecchio

  

  Michelangelo’s tomb, Florence

  
  

  

  Touristy Leaning Tower of Pisa

  

  City of Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

  

  It was cold and rainy in the Cinque Terre

  
  

  

  Flowers in the rain, Cinque Terre

  

  Climbing the steps to Manorola, Cinque Terre

  

  
  
  

We had 3 days in Florence, and spent the first two exploring the city, and the 3rd out in the Cinque Terre, or “Five Lands”, out on the coast.

• Duomo – HUGE church, complete with a tall bell tower (campanile) and a baptistery across the square. This place is covered with statues, green and white striped marble, sculptures, gold-leafing, and more. We went to the Duomo Museum to see all the original sculptures from the 1500s (the ones on the church now are copies), and the original doors to the baptistery, which were made out of GOLD, and depicted Bible scenes (made by Ghiberti).
• Michelangelo’s David – WORTH EVERY PENNY. Go see this in the Accademia Museum. It really is amazing. It is 17 feet tall, and the detail and emotion that Michelangelo sculpted into this piece of marble is incredible. The fake one out in the Uffizi Square is cool too, but the real one is stunning.
• Churches – Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce – both include tombs of famous people, Michelangelo being one of them, and were beautiful and worth visiting.
• Uffizi Gallery – This museum traces the history of art from Medieval times (1300s) to Renaissance (1400-1520) all the way through to modern art. But the focus is on the Renaissance, since it started in Florence. It was cool to see how art evolved, and how new ideas and techniques caught on like wildfire with all these artists once the Renaissance began. I can now tell you at least 3 differences between pre-Renaissance art, and post-Renaissance art. I felt very educated after touring this museum.
• Ponte Vecchio Bridge – The only bridge to make it through WWII undamaged, and it is chock full of gold and jewelry merchants. It looks like there are little houses on it when you see it from the outside.
• Piazzale Michelangelo has the best view of the city, across the river and up quite a few stairs. We made the trek in the rain, but we were rewarded once we made it to the top with a beautiful rainbow over the city as the rain stopped and the clouds thinned.