Mediterranean Cruise

On June 8, Greg and I flew to Italy to begin our vacation and meet up with my family to go on a 12-day cruise of the Mediterranean. We were supposed to fly into Florence, Italy and spend a couple days there before taking the train to Venice to meet up with the rest of my family. Due to wind conditions our plane was re-routed to Bologna and we were bussed to Florence. That was the beginning of our adventure. We had a wonderful time in Florence and enjoyed meeting up with my family in Venice when we arrived there. This purpose of this cruise was to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary which is coming up on September 3. My parents, both of my sisters and their families all went on the trip.

YUMMY Italian Gelato!


Me and Greg in front of the Duomo in Florence


Getting ready to take the train to Venice :)

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed spending some time in the following ports:

Venice, Italy

A quaint canal in Venice

Greg on the colorful island of Burano (outside of Venice)

This was probably one of my favorite places on the whole trip!

A view of San Marco Catheral from the ship as we were leaving port

Getting ready to go to dinner with Greg and my sister, Cheryl, and her husband, Kent


Dubrovnik, Croatia

The beautiful port city of Dubrovnik





Corfu, Greece

Such beautiful bouganvillia at a monastery in Corfu


Me and my sisters walking through an arbor at the Achilleon Palace




Olympia, Greece

Posing in front of some of the ruins in Olympia

Greg getting ready to run the length of the ancient olympic stadium :)


On the beach in Olympia


Athens, Greece

In Athens

Greg & I with the Acropolis in the background

That really is Jodie Foster there! She was at the Acropolis touring with her family. (My nephew asked her if she was Jodie Foster and she said "yes")

The Parthenon


Mykonos, Greece

The picturesque town of Mykonos

Me posing with the windmills on Mykonos


Beautiful sandy beaches


Kusadasi/Ephesus, Turkey

Posing by the "Nike" relief

Greg in front of the Library restoration in Ephesus

The tomb of St. John the Baptist

My whole family in front of the House of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus

Greg wearing the hat of an ice cream salesman in Turkey :)


Rhodes, Greece

The view from the acropolis at Lindos, Rhodes

The girls in my family: Mom, Shelly, Cheryl, Me in Old Town Rhodes

My knight in shining armor in Medieval Old Town Rhodes :)


Santorini, Greece

The beautiful island of Santorini!



Me at Black Beach

Greg at Red Beach


Naples/Pompeii/Herculaneum, Italy

Greg in Herculaneum, pretending to cook at one of their "food courts"


In Pompeii at the ruins made by the Mt. Vesuvius (in background) eruption

Me with my pizza in Naples, the birthplace of pizza!


Rome, Italy

Greg and I in front of the Spanish Steppes in Rome


Greg in front of the Vatican

In front of Trevi Fountain

Eating gelato one last time before leaving Italy... mmm mmm good!


We only had 1 day at sea and the rest of the days we were at a new port. It was an incredible trip filled with lots of sight-seeing. It was not exactly the “relaxing” kind of vacation. But not having to take care of my children and especially maintaining Caden's busy schedule with feedings, therapies, etc. So, in that sense, it was very relaxing. But we were up early every day in order to maximize our time in each port.

Communication with the kids was difficult due to the time difference. But we did manage to communicate via email with our friends and family who were taking care of them. In addition, we were able to do FaceTime with them on several occasions which was really fun for both us and the kids.

We were gone for a total of 16 days and by the time we were in Rome, we were ready to be home! The flights home were uneventful but it really felt like we were never going to land in Sacramento it was taking so long. But, we finally got home and were able to love on our boys. :)

It was a truly a wonderful trip but we were very glad to be home. It's nice to have a vacation where you are ready to come home when the trip is over. It seems like often we have to come home before we are really ready. This time I was more than ready to be home and definitely needed a vacation to recover from my vacation. However, I didn't have that luxury... ;) A million thanks to our family and friends who took great care of our boys while we were gone. We couldn't have done it without you!

Slacker

I know I have been a complete blogger slacker... My last entry was before our vacation to the Mediterranean in June and life has been a little crazy since then... I am sorry to anyone who has been looking for updates on Caden or our family in the last couple months. I have finally had time to go through all my pictures and I will be trying to post a series of blogs to get up to date. We've had a lot going on. Thanks for checking in and hopefully I'll have more to post soon.

Dreamnight at the Sacramento Zoo

On Friday, June 3, Greg and I took the boys to Dreamnight at the Sacramento Zoo. This is a free event put on for families with children with disabilities. We had it on our calendar for the prior month, but the weather was iffy that day so we weren't sure if we would go or not. But in the end, we decided it was good for us to all go so we could spend some quality time together as a family before Greg and I leave on our trip.

It was such a fun event! There were different groups there handing out stuffed animals, hats, ice cream, Chipotle was giving out chips/guacamole. They really went all out to make sure it was a fun time for these kids. What a great thing! And, what is really cool is that it didn't even seem to phase Kyler that there were lots of kids in wheelchairs, or had other equipment. I love being in settings like this where he is exposed to so many things. It helps him be more accepting of the differences between all of us.

Kyler begged to ride the carousel which we have never done there before. So we got 2 tickets so he and Caden could both go. Obviously Caden couldn't go by himself so Greg went also. Both the kids really loved it and laughed most of the time. We had a really good time and are so glad we went.

Kyler showing his "wing span"

My little kangaroos!

I know this is a little blurry but it's so cute I had to put it in!

"Hello!"

Kyler with "Rusty" the Lion, and Caden with "Leo" the Leopard :)

On the carousel - don't let Caden's expression fool you... he had a great time!

Me with my boys and a giraffe in the background

The boys being goofy on the caboose of the train as we were getting ready to leave (Greg was the photographer here) ;)