Sunday, April 26, 2009

Weekend!

We had a super busy weekend!
Friday night we Steve Collins, Ellie, and I took Carter to his first Cedar Rapids Kernels game. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.
Saturday morning Kate and Max came to spend the weekend here. The boys had a great job reconnecting! Max has gotten so big...and is the worlds best roller!! We went to the mall and then came back had a sleep over. Sunday morning it was unfortunately raining in the morning so we did not get to do the walk, but we did meet Steph and Jady in Cedar Rapids for a photo shoot!

It was fun to finally get all of the three kids together! Hopefully we can do it again sooner than later!
Once we got home it started to get nice out so Ellie and I started a landscaping project...and six hours later we had created a masterpiece! Ok so not really, but for anyone who has seen our front yard..we made a huge improvement. Special Thanks to the Kleppe's for hanging out with Carter while we worked outside...it was a huge help!

Cant believe its the End of April...time is going fast!

Fun times at the mall (sorry for the blurriness...my new cameara is acting wierd!!)
Carter, Jady, and Max(max was bored by my funny faces)

Fun times!

How many more pics are we going to take??? haha

We love tummy time!!

Carters 1st sleep over..hanging out in his new chair!

Loves sleep overs!!

Mom's with their boys

Carter loves his buddy Max ...=)

lanscape project...we just had dirt and sod in the front of our house..
..We dug out the dirt, added pavers, rocks, and then took out the grass that was ruined by ace and replanted the grass we dug!
Still have to plan the pots of flowers, but we knwo where they are going to be put.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

We are back...

Well we are back in the States! It has taken me a couple days to get back in the swing of things, so i apologize for the tardiness of my posts.
Our last night in Italy we ended up going to the Hilton Airport hotel and just relaxing. We worked out, took carter swimming, and then ate supper. We actually had really good hamburgers...think we were ready for something that tasted "American."

Our flight left Rome at 6am..so we left the hotel at 3:50am. We got to the airport and unfortunately the power went out in the airport...nice timing right? Well we waited around for about an hour and it finally turned back on. Once we got to Amsterdam, we had to run to make our connecting flight. Luckily they held the plane for us. The flight was about 8 hours long..and overall it went well. Once we reached Minneapolis we had a 4.5 hour lay over, so needless to say it was a very very long day.

Luckily Carter adjusted well and to be honest(nobody get mad at me ok?) Carter never missed a beat..he slept through the night all week long! Yes i know my next child is going to be the worlds fussiest kid...but for right now I will count my blessings!

Carter turned 7 months old this week. Couple milestones update:
*Got his 2nd tooth...both on the bottom front
*Loves picking things up and passing it back and forth
* Crawling...No not yet, but he has figured out what he needs to do...Ellie and I are predicting in the next month or so
*Food...loves to eat!! Gets so excited when the spoon and baby food comes out. Squash, applesauce, bananas are some of his favorites. We started some of the stage 3 Green beans and rice and we are thinking we might start to add some table food soon.

I posted a few final pics from Italy

Ciao!


Last Supper at the hilton
Family shot on last day =)

Do you think we packed too much? haha




Running to make our connecting flight!

First day back...Loves his suspenders

Friday, April 10, 2009

Amalfi Coast

We had a great day! Francesco took us on our last tour which was a day trip to Pompei and to the Amalfi Coast.

The city of Pompei was destroyed back in 79A.D. when a volucanic eruption burried the city. They have been able to dig up the whole city...and it was pretty amazing. Some of the highlights of the town were: houses, spa, town laundry area, brothel, theather, bakery, and amphitheatre.

Next we drove down the Amalfi coast to a small town called Positano, Italy. It was soo beautiful. We took lots of pictures, shopped at the local shops, and then ate lunch at a restaurant right on the beach.

We were so thankful that we got the chance to meet Francesco(and his whole family.) They helped us navigate through parts of Italy we never would have seen, and helped us travel with a lot of luggae and baby supplies! Francesco was great with Carter (even got him some Italy attire)

Tommorow Francesco's dad has offered to bring a driver to our hotel to take us to the Hilton Airport hotel because our flight leaves at 6am sunday morning...which means we should be there by 4:00am!! So tommorow we will be just relaxing and enjoying our last hours in Italy!

Ciao!

group shot at pompei
Tour guide explaining the art work on the walls
this was in the brothel..yes that picture is X ratesd...there was about 4-5 pictures called the "menu selection"
Picture of the town and the volcano
First crying pic we got of carter on the whole trip...what caused it? We took away his map..and he did not like that!! haha
Our drive to the Amalfi Coast
What a cute couple =)
Another Cute couple...
Group shot..minus carter- he was sleeping in the van with Francesco

Looking good!
We all got to wear bibs
Another great meal that Francesco planned for us
Fish soup-perfect meal for Good Friday
pizza--in the shape of a heart
Hanging out at the beach
playing with sand for the 1st time
We decided not to go in the water!
Group shot with Francesco
What a stud
We had to get one more shot...it was soooo beautiful!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Food and more food...

Well we have had two very big suppers the last nights that I must tell you about.
On Wed night Jim and Roger made friends with Alec, a server at one of the local restaurants in Florence. We ended up eating there for three hours...and the food was delicious! Alec was quite the entertainer! During one point of the night Jim and him came up with a idea to prank Roger...so when it was time to pay the bill Jim said he forgot his credit card at the hotel and asked roger if he could pay. The bill came for $600 Euros...and roger almost fell over! Little did he know that Alec and Jim had staged the whole thing! It was pretty funny...but even more funny after the 4 bottles of wine and glasses of Lemon Chello! =
We didn’t think we could top last night, but when we got back to Rome tonight our hotel recommended a place called La Barca. (Rumor has it the pope has eaten there...we are not sure which one though? haha) We got there early around 6:15 and we were the first customers. The server asked if he could handle "ordering for us" and would start us with a appetizer. We said yes..and 3 hours later...15 courses later...We were happy customers. They kept bringing us out course after course. Bread, sheep cheese, fish salad, mussels, tuber and fried squid, oysters, soup, lobster pasta, sorbet, salted sea bass, baked veggies, fresh veggies, a strawberry desert, fresh fruit(every kind that u could imagine), and then of course grappa and lemon chello. Then when we were leaving the restaurant the owner gave each of us ladies a bottle of wine and a flower. It was a very cool meal. Roger said "one of the best he has ever had!!!"

So yes we will all be coming back a little plumpier!I have run 4 times on the trip(which is not a lot since we have been gone 12 days...but definitely will need to kick it in high gear once we get back to be ready for the relay run.

Tomorrow we got to Pompei for the day....thank goodness for all the walking we will be doing!




Alec and the whole group after a great meal

Kenny and Alec taking a pic with the American Flag dessert








Enjoying the drinks at La Barca

Ladies infront of La Barca