So, we are home now :( and trying to adjust (jet lag really sucks)! Ryan got transferred to Gallipolis, OH.  If anyone has seen Mothman Prophecies then you will have seen his new home!  CREEEEEPY!  His new address is: 136 1/2 First Avenue # 2, Gallipolis Ohio, 45631. He would love a letter!  He is doing really great and really excited to start backing out his companion in the car. His last area he was on a bike so he is pretty excited about having a car.  He loves being a missionary and is having a wonderful time!  We miss him but we are so happy for him! Oh, we got a cat a few weeks ago to fill the void that Ryan has left.  In his honor we named her Cincinattali we call her Natti and the kids call her Cinci. She is soo cute but she is sick right now so not much fun! Not as funny as Ryan but possibly as crazy!

Update of Rome 10.20.08

Yeah, so the purses... what can we say?!  I think that we bought a total of 21 purses combined (not ashamed either!!)  We saw the Euros go right out the window or as the Italians say "Arreviderchi "(I'm sure that is totally spelled wrong, but it should be easier to read).  I'm not sure that we can show you the pics of today, too much effort to change to JPG files, and iTunes works here, so we have some Grey's Anatomy to watch to Americanize ourselves again.  Eating at the Hard Rock sure helps to make you feel a little more love for the good old USA (we did it twice to be exact!)  We are excited to see everyone, but not too excited to travel forever in the plane.  Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow.  McDreamy is waiting... Ciao!

The Trevi Fountain

This is the Trevi fountain post but has an added bonus.  The other picture is in front of the "Wedding Cake Building"  I can't remember the name but the building is really huge and I will know the name when I haven't been up almost 24 hours (not a lot of sleep the last few nights, even though our hotel in Venice was sooo nice!  I would recommend it to anyone going to Venice!  It had my dream bathroom, robes, a King size bed and slippers!  Who could ask for more (besides to actually enjoy the bed for longer than 4 hours).  Anyway, the Trevi Fountain was beautiful and crowded.  Had some great Gelati on the corner and walked on cobblestone until our feet are so sore, we want to cut them off and get electric wheelchairs like Caitlin suggested!

Sorry I added the wrong photo...

Here's Alecia's photo at the Colosseum.  Kaylee, you are super spoiled!  I think that your mom has more things for you than for herself!  Oh, and I added a pic from the outside of the Colosseum that I thought was pretty cool.

Rome!!

Our first big stop was really the Capuccin Monks!  But no pictures allowed.  You should check them out online.  They have a website if you google them and add Rome, Italy in your search.  Nicole got totally grossed out (it doesn't take much... the word "chunks" makes her gag.)  So we followed up the bone pictures with a little Hard Rock Cafe, the best hamburgers we've ever had, might I add.  Our next stop was the Colosseum.  We took a tour (left half way through because we were sick of the tour thing... shocker) but got some sweet pics to share!  Oh, and I forgot to mention that we stopped by the tie shop that I bought ties at in Rome from the guy who likes the missionaries and gave us the "missionary discount", and I told him that I had bought from him before, and he said " oh, you're the sister"  I looked at him a bit weird and said "yeah, I'm a girl" (great comment, I know), then he said " no, your the sister with the Mormons".  Totally remembered me, crazy.  We are going to get some ties tomorrow for Ry and the boys.  

Venice Sights

These pictures are various sights.  The sunrise from our Cruise ship as we ate breakfast really quick this morning to hurry up and wait.  The other pictures are from around St. Marc's square.  Venice is beautiful and one of our favorite spots so far.  Tomorrow is Rome, the girls are excited for my tour guiding, I know it.  I'm excited for the hamburger at the Hard Rock cafe after grossing out my sisters at the Capuchin Monk "Bone Yard" Pictures (sick I know, but I'm a nurse... what can I say).  Hope all is well at home!

Gondola Ride!

Totally rode on a Gondola!  (need we say more?)

Saturday in Venice 10.18.08

So, our last day in Venice was quite eventful... Mary Poppins children, eat your heart out, or shall we say "psycho St. Marc's square pigeons eat your heart out"!  Nicole and Amy didn't come through with the shower cap promise, but luckily none of us had to let the bird poop dry in our hair before getting it out (they say not to try and get it out right away, it just smears, but if you let it dry... it flakes right out!  I would go straight to the shower... crying!

Happy Birthday Greek Style for Karly!

So, Karly got sung to in Greek!  Dimitris sang Happy Birthday to Karly on the tour.  After stopping for lunch (we were a bit scared of the "Tavern") we had some great Birthday Cake that Patricia (Dimitris' wife) bought for Karly.  The greek food isn't too hot, but the cake tasted great!  At dinner, we tried to hide the birthday thing, but the splash of colored umbrellas gave it away.  The head waiter found out who's birthday it was (we were all sworn to secrecy, so he looked up our tables information and found out that it was Karly).  We never told!!!  The staff sang anyway and clinked bread plates together for cymbals!  It sounded like we should be breaking the plates and saying OOMPA!  Caitlin, Nicole and Amy decorated the room and we played stick the jewel on the crown... reminding us how old we really are!  Happy Birthday Kar!

Santorini, Greece 10.15.08 group pics

We did a ton in a short amount of time.... we also had an awesome tour guide this time around.  Dimitris was our photographer and he went to "new heights" to get our satisfaction.  The picture at the blue dome church, he stood on his bus to get a picture of all of us with the view!  While getting down, we had a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" Moment.... he busted out the Windex!  He said that his dad was the spitting image of the dad on the movie and believed the windex cure idea and added a little garlic.  We went to the beach (Caroline, you got some black sand!!)  We also visited the pier where they filmed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie.  I bet there weren't fish heads on the pier when the Gilmore Girl was there!

The ride to Fira on Santorini Island

If you ride a Donkey, does that make you a cowgirl??  We think we are honorary cowgirls today.  6 American "non-cowgirls" on 4 stinky donkeys and 2 very stinky (and tall) mules.  Caitlin got the tallest of all of the "packers",  she stood about as tall as the mules belly!  We were packed, stinky and cold, Not to mention a little freaked up the windy road to Fira.  After the ride, we still climbed a buttload of stairs, so I'm sure that we smelled as bad as the donkeys!

Santorini, Greece 10.15.08

So, here are the beautiful Santorini Pictures.  The boat one is straight from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie.  We looked for hot Costas, but he must have been fishing.  Our guide, Dimitris, took us to so many great places and we got some amazing pictures.  Of course the sun came up as we were leaving.  Our hair was all over as you'll see in the rest of the pictures.

Can you say "Dessert"?

I am shamefully writing this post.  If you count the amount of plates on our dinner table, you will in fact find 15.  To make us feel better, we only technically ordered 6 of them.  We had waiters that want our affection and think the best way to do it is through our stomach.  Anyway, we were given a couple of the best desserts on the ship one was strawberry pavalova and bachlava (buttlava if you have had our day!!).  We couldn't finish them all and literally had to "roll out"  (Transformer lingo for Quinn and Rhett).  Hope all is well, obviously we are being well taken care of!

Group Photos in Ephesus

These are some of the great pictures of our group in front of the Library.  We don't quite know a lot about the library because the guide didn't feel that it was important to tell us much.