Absolutely Amazing!

Mom saw the most amazing sunset tonight (Travis & I were in the Stardust watching the night's entertainment). When we got back to our stateroom I sat out on the balcony for a while watching Sicily as we passed off her east side. Then I figured out why Mom was able to see the phenomenal sunset - Mt. Etna was erupting! We saw the lava flow down the mountain.

How cool is that????!!!!

Malta - the Desert in the Mediterranean!

We docked in Malta today and spent several hours touring the Duomo, visiting a glass blower, seeing how they make filigree jewelry, and a botanical garden. The Duomo (church) was phenomenal - it is the 3rd largest dome in the world; the largest being St. Peter's at the Vatican and the 2nd being in London - this come in right behind it. There were statues and artwork all over the church. We saw a replica of a bomb that hit the church but didn't detonate; which is classified as a miracle by the locals.

The botanical gardens were a little anti-climatic - who would have thought that an island in the Mediterranean would have a lot of the same plant life that we have at home? There were jacaranda trees, bougainvillea, oleander bushes... even prickly pear cacti!!

Ok, now that I've told you a little about the plant life - I can tell you about the climate. Would you think that Malta would rival the temperatures in Phoenix? Neither would we!!! We were a little surprised to find that the temperature was over 90 today! Add the humidity and it felt worse that our 122 we hit a few years ago.

When we got back on the ship, we "HAD" to hit the pool; it was so refreshing - not to mention relaxing! Tonight is the formal night for dinner so I will get pictures of Travis in his suit.

We miss you all!

Onboard

We got on board yesterday and spent hours exploring our ship. Travis spotted a giant chess board that is painted onto the deck with chess pieces that are about 3 feet tall (so guess what I get to do today). The ship also has a bowling alley! We have been very pleasantly surprised by the amenities since the NCL ship we cruised on in Hawaii was a little lack-luster. We ate in the Italian restaurant last night and the Chicken Parmigiana was probably the best I've ever had in my life. We have a day at sea today so we're going to hit the pool & the bowling alley. Our room is beautiful; very large for a stateroom and the balcony is nice and relaxing - which probably explains why we can't seem to get out of bed! Oops! :-)

Gaudi, Gaudi and more Gaudi!

Ok, so I have to confess... we didn´t quite make it out of our hotel as early as we would have liked to - but it was earlier than yesterday (ok, I confess it was only by about an hour) but we´re making progress, right? We got out and about slightly before noon today and spent the early afternoon at Park Guell. The pictures I´ve seen online and in text books don´t do it justice. It is absolutely breathtaking and remarkable to think that these ideas all spilled out of one person´s brain. The meandering park bench was beautiful, so many different colors and the intricacy of the mosiac work was remarkable.

Next we spent several hours at La Sagrada Familia - The Church of the Holy Family. The construction on this church has been ongoing for over 100 years and you would think that it would be nearing completion - not so... but breathtaking nonetheless. The interior was filled with scaffolding but portions were complete or near complete and the intricacy and attention to detail are fabulous.

We´re off to catch dinner now and then we´ll be hitting the cruise ship tomorrow.

Barcelona... off to a slightly ¨wobbly¨start

We arrived in Barcelona yesterday and we had to wait for our hotel room for several hours. None of us were able to sleep on the plane ride over so once we got into our room, we decided that ¨When in Rome...¨and we took a five hour siesta! In the early evening we went for a walk near the hotel ~ the weather is beautiful, 68 or so, but with at least 90% humidity. Unfortunately Mom was busy gawking at the beautiful buildings and didn´t see this tiny marble step and took a tumble. She´s alright, a little banged up and sore, but we aren´t giving her a chance to cramp up!

This morning after getting up at 11:00 (I guess I´m really getting into this unemployed thingie aren´t I?) We grabbed a absultely wonderful pastry and headed off in search of the hop on\hop off bus tour. Unfortunately, the hotel staff sent us on a wild goose chase and we ended up having to take a taxi (see aforementioned ¨tumble¨ for clarification) in a totally different direction. After exchanging our voucher for the actual tickets, we boarded the bus and sat back and enjoyed the ride. Travis was totally in awe of the La Sagrada Familia and some of the other Gaudi architural marvels we passed really want me to return. Our plan is to get up a little earlier than 11 tomorrow morning and take a taxi to Park Guell since the bus stop is still several uphill blocks away (see aforementioned ¨tumble¨ if you still need clarification) and then after catching all of the sights at the park, we are going to catch the bus back to the Church of the Holy Family and do a tour there.

We miss everyone...

I'll miss you most of all....

This will make sense to a couple of people... everyone else will think I'm off my rocker! I guess there is nothing new there :-)

8th Grade Graduation

I find it so hard to believe that my "baby" had his 8th grade graduation this morning. Shhh... don't tell him because he will blush, but I think he looked very handsome!

All of the graduates that were members of Junior National Honor Society got to wear the awesome medal.



























Travis with his sister, Robin, her fiancé - Sisco & his daughter Andi




























Travis with Aunt Suzette, Grandma & his cousins, Shannon & Nic!




























Travis with his favorite teacher, Ms. Goding (aka - Aunt Martha!)