June

I'm never going to get caught up.....

June started with some time at Grandmom's.  

  

 Riding her scooter with the minion.

 What are those boys up to?  Seriously??

 Cutting Connor's hair!  Uncle Ben convinced me to let him shave Connor's hair.  It was the beginning of a hot Texas summer, so I eventually said ok.  Connor did great for the most part.  After a while though the hair started sticking to him so he got pretty irritated. 

 Look at all those curls!

 Half way done....

 It became a two person job by the end.  He was not liking all the hair in his face.

 Papa and Connor with freshly shaved heads!  Thanks to Uncle Ben the Barber.

On June 6th we closed on our new home.  One of the best parts about it is that it has a pool in the backyard!  We had our friends over for a swim, and the first thing the kids wanted to do was jump off the ledge!  

Colson and her curly headed partner in crime, Mia.

Then it was off to Auntie Ash's house for a few days before dropping Colson off with Grandmommy for Grandmommy Camp. 

 Jon was not pleased that we shaved his head, but I think it's cute!

 Connor is hugging her as hard as he can.

And she loves it.

 Riding scooters to the park.

Daredevil.

Then it was time for Colson to go to Grandmommy Camp for a week.  For the last 2 summers, Jon's mom has hosted Colson and her cousin, Hadley, for a week of fun and silliness.  This year they went to the zoo, a Shrek musical, Build-a Bear, Lego Land, and a museum, among a ton of other things.  Colson always has so much fun!

For the last 2 weeks of June the kids stayed with family in Texas while friends and I met Jon (who was still in Luanda) in Italy for 2 amazing weeks.  The trip started a little rough as I almost didn't get on our flight to Rome.  Air Canada had overbooked the flight from Toronto to Rome, and the fact that I had booked the flight 8 months prior meant nothing.  I didn't even know there was a problem until we arrived at our layover in Toronto, which would have meant a fun night in the Toronto airport hotel until the next flight out the following morning.  There was horrible rain and storms in Toronto that day, which actually worked in our favor.  Our 2ish  hour layover turned into 7 or 8 hours because of the rain, but that rain also delayed/rerouted some other flights, so I was able to get on our flight.  Seriously, why would you over book a flight to Rome?!  Who books a flight like that and then just decides not to show up??  Apparently Air Canada is notorious for overbooking.  So, I would not recommend using them at any time.  Ever.  Anyway, rant over.  Once we made it onto the plane, the flight was uneventful.  We arrived in Rome, met Jon at the airport, and then took the train to Naples.

Naples was awesome.  We stayed with Gina's family, and they were so incredibly gracious.  We experienced an authentic, behind the scenes view and taste of Naples.  That city has the BEST pizza I have ever tasted, and some of the best pastries and other yummy goodies I've ever had as well.  We spent a day touring Naples, a day visiting Pompeii, and a day on the Isle of Capri. 

Side note - we visited Italy during the World Cup.  As true fans would, we sported our USA shirts/jerseys on US game days.  So that is why we have USA shirts on in so many pictures.

Touring Naples

 Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius in the background.

 Sitting on a ledge at a castle in Naples.

Eameal and Gina with Naples behind them.

Naples behind us.

Gino!

Ruins being excavated with some modern day scenery in the background.

 View of the ocean from atop a hill.

 The side of an apartment building.  Laundry lines everywhere!  Just like the movies!

Pompeii



 Jon, Gino, and Eameal

 A road through Pompeii.

 Some of the amazing people we stayed with.

Inside the stadium.

Capri - One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

So blue.

This is the pool of a new resort that hadn't opened yet.  We were invited by the owner to take a dip in the pool and relax in the shade.  We couldn't convince them to open the restaurant though.

Jon was the only one who actually went swimming.  The water is pumped straight

from the ocean, so it was pretty chilly.

The night before we left Naples we convinced our gracious hosts to let us take them to dinner.  They were so amazing and generous, making us feel like part of the family.  Here Gino is opening the thank you gifts we got for him.

 Jon had a little bro-mance with Roberto during our visit.  The two of them on Roberto's

scooter was quite a site.

 A picture before we were about to board the train to Rome.  These are some of the most amazing people.  Their generosity and kindness will not be forgotten.  We hope they will visit America so we can return the favor!

Rome 

After our time in Naples we took the train to Rome.  It was my second time to visit Rome, but the sights were no less impressive - well, the Trevi Fountain was being renovated and was closed, so it was less impressive.  We spent the first afternoon walking around Rome and visiting the Coliseum.    

(Go USA!)

 The coliseum is such a breathtaking site.  The history of this place is incredible.

 When Jon and I visited Rome several years ago, we took this same picture.  If you look on the post you can see someone has written ATM on the wall.  Gig 'Em!

 The next day we went on a tour of the country side outside of Rome.  There was a little confusion as we thought it was going to be a tour of Roman Castles, but turns out we just translated the Italian wrong.  It actually ended up being a great mistake, as we may not have decided to go on this tour if we had just thought it was a tour of the country side.  It was such a cool day though and we saw things that most people never get to see. 

One of the views from near the Pope's summer home.

One of the towns we visited was having an annual festival.  It starts with artists sketching a plan, then others picking millions of flower petals, and then others creating the sketched pictures with those flower petals.  It was amazing.  The creations spanned the entire main street of this town.

Our view during lunch - a volcanic lake.  At one point forever ago some crazy guy - literally, crazy, Emperor of Rome Caligula who I was told made his horse First Consul, built two huge ships on this lake.  Then I guess they sank, and were discovered when the lake was drained.  Rather than try to move the ships, a museum was built around them.  But when the Nazis were retreating through Italy they burned everything in their path, including this museum.  They have preserved as much as they could, but the majority of this incredible history was destroyed.

One of the anchors.  It was made of steel, therefor survived the fire.

Standing next to a real Roman road.  Those guys knew what they were doing!

The next day was a guided tour of the Vatican.  Jon has been several times, it was my second time, but this was the first time we had a guided tour.  The Vatican is much more interesting when you learn some of the history along the way.

One of the Swiss Guards.

 Some cool orb that I should probably remember the significance of but have since forgotten.

Our final day in Rome was visiting a winery in Tuscany and then heading to Florence to catch our train to Venice.

 Eameal and our awesome tour guide Max. 

Standing in between the cypress trees leading up to the winery.

A view of the front of the home at the vineyard.

Tuscany - beautiful.

The boys discussing the replica of the statue of David in Florence.

The famous bridge in Florence.

Venice

We caught the train in Florence and headed to Venice.  It was a really cool place.  It was the end of our trip, so we were ready for minimal sight seeing and lots of relaxation.

 Coming up to our hotel in our water taxi.

 View from our hotel room.

And sunsets from our room window.

 A guy blowing glass on Murano Island.

 Stopping for lunch.  Obviously game day as well.

 Gondolas on the canals.

Our last night in Venice, Jon and Gina shared a scallop lobster something that required bibs!

After Venice, Eameal and Gina returned to Texas while Jon and I took the train to Zurich for 2 days.  We arrived on a Saturday night, with plans to do shopping and sight seeing Sunday and Monday.  Sunday morning we woke up to cold, rainy skys.  Boo.  When the rain slowed we decided to venture out and get some food.  NOTHING is open in Zurich on Sunday.  Except Starbucks, thankfully.  But since Jon and I were unaware that the city shuts down for the day, we walked for hours, all over town, only to end up at Hooters for subpar food.  But at least it was warm and dry.  The next day we were able to do a little shopping and even saw a movie (Maleficent, pretty good) - probably the first one I've seen in a theater since Colson was born 5 years ago!  I took minimal pictures in Zurich, but we really didn't get to see much.

View from our hotel room.

Is that the sun??

 Our hotel was near the river through Zurich.

After an amazing trip, it was time for me to return to Texas and Jon to head back to Angola - yep, he didn't get to come to Texas until the end of the summer.  It was so great to hug the kids again.  Thank you everyone who helped take care of them while we were gone!!

-Amanda