Italy, Part 1

So, I am wondering if I am going to need Part 2 and even Part 3, but we will get all of these pictures shown in some form or another! There are just way too many to go through! :)

To start, I need to say thank you to my Dad and Lisa for taking the whole family on this amazing vacation. We had such a FABULOUS time and are so thankful for the opportunity! We felt very blessed to be able to go! Also, thank you to my Mom and Dan for taking the boys the entire week so that Teage and I could have a get-a-way! It was so amazing to be able to not worry about the boys the whole week and just focus on vacation and relaxing!

For Dad and Lisa's 20th wedding anniversary, they generously decided to take all of us kids on a vacation to Italy! We (mainly Lisa) :) spent months planning and organizing so that we could do the most amount of sight-seeing in the least amount of time. :) And to do our best not to get lost. :) She did a fabulous job!

After a horrendously long flight, Teage, my brother Sean, and I arrived in Rome early on Friday morning. We hadn't slept well on the plane, but only had about a day in Rome, so we went straight from the airport to our hotel, dropped off our bags and took the hotel shuttle

into the city. We had a map and an idea of where we wanted to go, but that was about it. :) We ate our first official Italian meal at a little restaurant on the side of the road, got more directions from the waiter on which buses to take, and off we went. Our first stop was the Colosseum, which was the one thing I was just dying to see! However, we got off the bus a little too early (not understanding the language has its drawbacks :) ) so we walked a few blocks to the "Major's House" and toured around, and then a few more blocks to the Colosseum. What an amazing sight! It was hard for me to fathom the fact that we were standing and touring around a building that was built in 80AD. We were dead tired, extremely hot, and loving every minute!!Teage and me at our very first lunch in Rome!

Everyone there drives either a moped or a Smart car, they were everywhere!

The Major's House



The Roman Forum (ruins)







The Spanish Steps

The Borghese Museum

We met up with the rest of my family later in the day at the Borghese Museum. This used to be a mansion owed by the Borghese family and houses many amazing pieces of art.

After that, we were all pretty tired and hungry so we found a little Italian restaurant nearby and had dinner, which turned out to be really fun! Dad ordered a "coka" or Coke an the waiter asked if he wanted a "big coke?", so he said yes. This is what came out for him! It doesn't look huge in the picture, but believe me, it was enormous!

And here is David and Teage eating my dinner for me...

After dinner we took at taxi back to the hotel (fearing for our lives! :) The taxis in Rome are a little crazy...) and went swimming and just relaxed for the night. This was the view from our AMAZING room....we couldn't believe how fancy this hotel was. We just kept oooing and awwing about it all. Our view overlooked the Olympic sized pool and then all of downtown Rome!

Boys are waking up from their nap....more to come....