It has been nearly two years since all our family has been under one roof. As if that weren't a good enough reason to get together, we needed to celebrate a mission well served and a new baby on the way! Lets face it, since when do we need a reason to adventure!
We started our meet up in Venice Italy, all at the airport and giving hugs to jumping in a couple of cabs and headed towards the port. It was a spectacular view sailing out of Venice with its majestic buildings and beautiful water front history. It was like a hint of how great this vacation was going be right from the start!
How does it get better than all the soft serve you can eat!
Beautiful views all around and so great to hang out together!
Our first stop was Kotor Montenegro
We saw it from a hop on hop off bus that had no lid and it was HOT!
Logan and Parker snagged the only seats in the shade which was good for the very white boy and
the easily overheated pregnant girl.
We got off the bus at a Roman ruin where the mosaic tiles still remain. Very cool even for people who came from the Rome area to see something different.
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| Luana and Tori trying to stay cool on the very hot bus! |
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| Thats us as we exited Montenegro! |
The next day of our cruise might have been the best day. In fact I think I heard expressions of "This is the best day of my life" WE rented a private boat with captain and sailed around the Greek Island of Corfu.
We swam in some of the most beautiful water that we had ever seen. Snorkeled to see sea life and swam through caves and tunnels that had breath taking rocks and the temperature was exactly perfect!
After a bit of cave swimming we packed in again and found our way to another area with white sands and more sea life.
Even as I look at the pictures I can not believe have amazing the experience was.
So stinking beautiful!
(I need to add to pictures of the food the captain cooked for us on the boat- Ill get back to that)
At night on the cruise ship we enjoyed dinner together and makeup and hair doing parties.
A few of us had fun at trivia games and Karaoke
And then when the boat stopped we got off in Athens and saw ruins dating back to 6k years before Christ.... WOW!
We were told "Europe starts here"
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| It was scorching hot |
Seth really enjoyed him self and it was a great time for a kid who has studied a lot of
Greek Mythology.
It wa an unexpected treat to get to watch the changing of the guard in front of the old palace which is now government offices. Our tour guide explained to us that the uniforms are very symbolic. There are 30 pleats to represent the 30 years of occupation by the Turkish, The white is for the peace they hope for and the red is for the blood spilled by the warriors.
We stopped and saw one of the many old olympic stadiums and found this sculpture of an olympian discus thrower. Seth had competed in track and field last year as a discus thrower so he was happy to pose in his stance.
A mountain top view over the city of Athens that includes the acropolis from far away.
And a tip from our tour guide lead us to some good authentic Gyros... because when in Greece (well I think the saying is in Rome but it applies)
Do not think for a second that having a gyro would stop us from enjoying dinner on the boat.
No way in fact it wouldn't even stop us from ordering multiple desserts when the mood struck! Always love to capture the art of food before it is appreciated by the mouth!
This my friends: This is Mykonos The iconic city of white buildings with blue tile roofs. Old fashioned windmills and a day of exploring just waiting for us!
This is as close as we got..... The wind was so strong that the customs people couldn't get board to clear us. We did not have a spot to dock so the plan was to send small boats out to the shore to deliver visitors (US) to the shore. However the wind was too much to make a safe trip. The captain decided we would move on to the next island and abandon this day trip. We were all so sad. In fact we had wished he waited it out and skipped the next days trip which was much less iconic, but we aren't the captain.
So on to a day in Argostoli - another greek Island with adorable buildings and a few small tour trains that were in competition with one another enough to make us hiss as the yellow train passes and feel like we were on the winning team on the red train!
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| Fun shopping |
Well, wouldn't you have?
YES!
Handsome men ready for the formal night dinner (Un like the formal night dinner that they nearly slept through)
Paige : "Best part of the cruise- towel animals"
Arlena : "Best part of the cruise - All my babies together"
And just when you thought the fun was going to end.....
Venice Italy-
Water bus to the hotel, We tried to get a land taxi and he told us you cant get here by land. You need a water taxi. So we got on another boat!
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| Hotel in the center of the city just a block from St. Marks Cathedral |
Breath taking cathedral
All the things Venice is famous for!
With all the same family fun! These two...
And these two...
And this whole group! <3 p="">
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| Wheres waldo - I mean Seth |
The thing you cant leave Venice without doing!
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| Sunset |
And then like all good things.........
We put them on a water taxi to the airport early in the morning and our numbers dropped and our fun reduced and all of a sudden we couldn't wait until Christmas when we get to see them again.
However we still had several hours till we were to fly back home so we must trudge on and enjoy venice as 6 instead of 8...
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| Luana laughed at the agents of the Italians in Venice and decided Venice was pretty nice so maybe some parts of Italy are better than others. |
And we went out with a bang! Ice cream Sundays on the port with the breeze and shade! I love vacation! I love my family and there are no better people to adventure with than this crew right here!
