Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Snoopy Train




By popular demand, here is a video of my new Snoopy train, a great addition around the tree.

Decorating the Tree

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Florence

Here are some pictures from the trip Carmen and I took to Florence. Florence is a great city and we had an amazing time. We spent two days exploring Florence and then drove out to Siena and San Gimigniano. We then drove along the Tuscan countryside at sunset to the birthplace of Leonardo in the town Vinci. We saw works from all of the Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. It is a totally different place from Sicily I must admit. We left the kids home with their Aunt Bronwen in our house without running water. Did we feel guilty? Maybe a tiny bit...Nah.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Florence

This was a presepe in a toy shop window in Florence.

Ballet

Here is Ella the Ballerina

Halloween

Here are some pictures of our Halloween festivities, carving pumpkins and decorating cupcakes. We also had our annual Halloween party, but those pictures will have to wait.

Soccer

So we realized we didn't take any pictures of Caleb playing soccer this year. But we did video one of his games so we'll have to send it to ya'll who are interested. Here are some photos of Abby. She was pretty funny this year. Her coach taught them to stand in the corner of the box when they were on defense to get them to stay back and not chase the ball forward. So when the ball came her way, she carefully watched as it went right past here because she had to stand where her coach said. He said to stand her so that's what I'm gonna do darn it!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

First Day of School

OK, so I'm a bit slow. Better late than never. Abby started Kindergarten this year and Ella started preschool. No, that does not mean Carmen has more time to herself. Quite on the contrary. Abby was very excited and is having lots of fun. She enjoys the deep plots and multifaceted story lines of Dick and Jane and has officially proclaimed herself, "a reader!"


Saturday, September 13, 2008

--------Alpine Slide Garmisch Partenkirchen

The kids were a bit skeptical about the alpine slide until the first ride down. Then they were sold, and six times down was not enough. So sit back, take a Dramamine, and enjoy the ride.

---------------------------Germany Austria

As you can imagine, we have hundreds of pictures from our trip. I've picked about 19. It was very beautiful and we had tons of fun!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

---------------------------------Camping on Etna

For my birthday, we went camping up on Mt. Etna. We had a lot of fun even though the Italians thought we were crazy for camping somewhere without bathrooms, showers, and most important, a restaurant. There were a lot of flies in the morning and they like pancake batter! Good times.

------------------------------------------Marcus' Birthday

Fun for all, yummy cherry brownies, and presents. Can you guess which picture we took to gross the kids out?


------------------------------------------------July 4th

For July 4th we went to the beach in Catania. It is a pay beach so the sand is nice and the water is shallow, but it is in the harbor, so there is no marine life and the water is not quite as crystal clear as up the coast. Our good friend Jannelle took these pictures, thanks j. For the exciting fireworks fire later, check my other blog, "Only in Sicily."

Sunday, August 10, 2008

.......................................................................Scuba

Here are my first photos scuba diving with my underwater camera casing. You can see an octopus. It was not happy to be disturbed, and kept squirting the ink. Pretty cool. This was just North of Aci Trezza.


Sunday, July 27, 2008

...........................................................Ella Slides

Ella tried the fast slide by herself.
She liked it but had no interest in doing it again!

............................................................Pool Party

I got an underwater housing for my camera for my birthday.
It's mostly for scuba diving, but we had our Branch Pioneer
Day Pool Party, so I decided to try it out.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ella



Ella likes to pick her own clothes out, especially for church. I think that she is inspired by her cousin, Little M, in her choice of fashion. You never know when the church might flood and you wish you had your galoshes on! And thick red tights on a hot summer's day are just the ticket to keep nice and cool.
"You think I'm gonna wear what? I don't think so!"

Caleb's Birthday

Caleb had his best friend Katrina over for his birthday and had a Star Wars birthday. Even his cake was a scene out of Star Wars, notice the hot lava.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Sierra's Birthday



Sierra had a great birthday. She had a slumber party with a few friends. She got a new camera and a new bike! Wow. Lucky girl.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Romania Trip

Carmen and I had a great time on our 10 yr anniversary trip to Romania. The kids stayed home with friends so we actually got to travel with two suitcases and we were both able to fit into one taxi! We spent the majority of our time up in the Carpathian mountains. We stayed at a Pensione in Brasov where we took the gondola up to the top of the mountain for amazing views and we visited the Black Church. There was also a great park where the local old men sat around and played Rummicub and Backgammon. We took a day trip to Sighisoara and ate at the restaurant now located in the house where Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) was born. There was a great museum as you climbed to the top of the famous clock tower. The next day we took a bus to Bran, where "Dracula's Castle" is located. Vlad is rumoured to have passed by the castle once and possibly held for a few days in the dungeon, but never actually stayed or lived there. Supposedly Bram Stoker used the castle as inspiration for Dracula's castle in his book. It was the home of Queen Marie and the royal residence until the commies took it over. The next day we traveled to Sinaia to visit Peles Castle, which was amazing. It was built at the turn of last century by King Carol of Romania as well as King Ferdinand and Queen Elisabeth of Romania. I'll have to post some of Carmen's pictures of the interior. The woodwork was incredible. We continued our journey to Bucharest. It was a big, dirty, former communist city. There were some neat buildings, but it could not compare to the beauty of the mountains.

Romania



Click on the Shutterfly link for more pictures than you ever wanted to see.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Ella's Third Birthday!

Our Trip to Naples and Rome


Pompeii
Trevi Fountain
The
Colosseum
The Vatican St Peters
Posted by PicasaFor more pictures, click on the Shutterfly link in the "Links" section to the right!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Pinewood Derby


We had the pinewood derby and cake auction all on one day. It was a long pack meeting but fun. Caleb won 3rd place overall with a very quick car, "The Purple Dragon" (this dragon does NOT frolic in the autumn mist). He also won for the best cake. Here is a video of the tiebreaker race for 3rd place. It wasn't even close!!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Abby's Birthday




Abby had a great Birthday and Strawberry Shortcake Party. The cake turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Pack Meeting



Caleb received his Bobcat and Bear rank on the same night at the Blue and Gold Banquet. Good times.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Sledding on a Volcano





Here are some pictures from our sledding trip to Mt. Etna. We went with some friends from the office. It was a freezing 50+ degrees!!! Rough life.