Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Eclipse

A few friends and I went to the premier of Eclipse this week!


Jaymi, Brooke, & me

Lori, Lauren, & Lindsey

Lizeth and her two sisters


Nona, Jaime, & Janie
Last year we went to the New Moon premier and it was ALOT of fun. There are THOUSANDS of crazy fans!!! Men, women, teenagers, adults, it doesn't matter. And if you've read any of the books you would understand why! This year, just like last, instead of standing in a crazy line for hours in the horrible heat we opted to watch the whole series.

Twighlit, New Moon, & Eclipse!

We had to wear these AWESOME bands and through out the time we were waiting the entire theatre had to raise their arms to show they had all three wrist bands! Tight security!

Yes, count them. That is three movies in one night!! We started at 7pm and were finally done about 2am!!! We all agree that basically Twilight sucks! But Eclipse was by far the BEST of the entire series (thus far)! Breaking Dawn will be out next year some time and I hear that it will be split into two movies. Not sure what our plan is for next year. That is a LONG time to sitting in a movie theater! May need to pack a bag!

Anyway! We had a good time and I HIGHLY recommend not only seeing Eclipse but read all the books if you get a chance! They are AWESOME and no movie could ever do it justice! All though this one did a really good job!

For the LOVE of water!

Landon LOVES to be in or around the water!! It doesn't matter what form it is...


Slide Rock



The Pool


Splash Park


Water Day at Jordan & Kierstin's Vacation Bible School


Relaxing on Mima & Grandpa Bob's boat

-The water ski did not last long. One splash of water on his face and he was done and ready to come back to the boat.

Captin No Beard

Or just running through the sprinklers! This kid LOVES the water!!!


The Greatest Show on Earth



Last year when we took Landon to the Circus I wasn't sure if he would love it, hate it, or not care at all. I purchased nose bleed seats just in case he hated it and was scared and didn't want to want it. To my great surprise he LOVED it!!!

His favorite part was the dancing girls.

(2009)

So, this year I went for the good seats (ok, better seats). We went on opening day so the tickets were half price! Yippie! And again Landon LOVED the Circus! Is favorite part still is the dancing girls!

We even arrived early and were able to go on the floor level and see the animals, clowns, and stage up close. It was very cool. Seeing it all up close was almost better than watching the show from our seats!
My favorite part is the animals. Especially the elephants! It is amazing how they get them to do all that stuff! And a little sad.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Swim Class Part Deux

The first day of class was a little rough! Landon would NOT get in the pool!!
He has a new teacher and there is only one other little girl with him! Nick had to get in the pool and put Landon in. After that he was fine!!! KIDS!


Of course now he's fine. He is still having problems putting his face and full head in the water but I think someday (or by next summer) he will have no problem with this.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Graduation

YEAH!!! Landon passed his swim class with flying colors!! As I knew he would.He now goes into Preschool B swim classes. These classes are in the deeper part of the pool which means he won't be able to touch the bottom of the pool!! He's not too happy about that! But he had a talk with Mr. Mike and now he seems ok with it. We'll see what happens!!


Thanks Mr. Mike!!!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Random

I found this sign in London. At first glance I thought WOW a shop with my name on it! Due to the unsual spelling of my name (thanks Dad!) it's not very often I see my own name, so when I do find it it makes me smile.

When I looked at it again it realized it had the right letters but not in the right order. Not my name at all! It's close. But no CIGAR!!!! hahahaha


*** I realize this fully demonstrates the extent of my dorkiness, but I don't care! I wanted to share the giggles! ***

Marco!... Polo!...

Landon man is back for the WHOLE month of June!!! Nick and I are very excited to have him with us and since I'm not taking summer school this semester I have some fun things planned! First up, swim lessons!!!

The first day of swim lessons did not go so well. Landon unfortunately fell asleep in the car on the way to his first lesson so when we got there he was a little crabby. He had a death grip on Nick and would not get in the water. After a few minutes when he saw how much fun the other kids were having he finally got in. But then the death grip was on the side of the pool. But again a few minutes later he was having fun and kicking up a storm with Nick's help.
The second day of swim class Landon didn't want Nick in the water at all and wanted to do it all by himself! He was a little distracted this time around (he's three! and let's face it, Nick's son!) but he listened pretty well. I think he actually likes it now. I am fully confident that Landon will pass his class and soon be swimming like the big boys all by himself. Next step is to buy a house with a pool!!!

When in Rome

On our last and final day in Rome we went for the trifecta. We saw Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Pantheon, and Piazza Novana.

We started at the Spanish Steps.

Lots of tourists; basically it was a church at the top of a hill with lots of stairs leading up to it. Not very exciting. I’m sure with a guide telling us the history it would have been more interesting. However, it was just a bunch of steps to other church and another thing to mark off my bucket list.
(I am actually in this picture. Did anyone play "Where's Waldo"?)


Next we saw the Trevi Fountains. Although pictures and describing it to people who haven’t been there makes it seem very uneventful and just another fountain; it was my favorite of the ENTIRE trip! Still not sure why. It was beautiful, huge, and very peaceful. Ironic since there are tons of tourists taking pictures and throwing in coins. But still my favorite!



The Pantheon was awesome! Gianormous!! The outside was pillaged of all it’s splendor but the inside was mostly intact. The Catholics of course took it over and there are some popes and former monarchs buried there. But it gives you a glimpse of what Rome looked like in it’s pagan days and what the Colosseum coulda, woulda, shoulda looked like. AMAZING!!!



Last and certainly least was Piazza Novana. Our tour guide talked it up for the optional excursions like it was some big and great thing to see. We got there and it was two fountains on either side of the piazza (city square –or shopping area) flanked by cafés and pizzerias (restaurants) and people selling paintings in between.




We considered buying a painting for the house but soon realized that all of them were selling almost identical paintings. I really would have wanted an original –especially for the price they wanted – not a mass produced reproduction that I can find in the states! So we didn’t buy one and headed back toward the hotel to do some shopping. (I got me a pair of shoes –of course!)

Italy was definitely our favorite!!! We both agreed that we HAVE to come back some day! The food was fantastic. The sights were amazing. And the people were really nice!

(Nick's favorite restaurant!)

Ciao!! Arrivederci!! Au revoir!!! Cheerio!!!

Buen giorno!!

Our first morning in Rome we had breakfast at the hotel. We met a very nice older couple at breakfast that gave us a secret to getting into the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel. Go later in the day when the lines are not as long!!
Yummy donuts!

And then headed off to the included St Peter’s Basillica tour. The church was HUGE and amazing!! I think I enjoyed St Paul’s Cathedral a little more because it seemed more open had more light. St Peter’s was very beautiful and the largest of all the catholic churches in the world. On the floor they have stars showing the size of other famous churches around the world including St Paul’s. It’s interesting to see the size compared to other places we’ve already been.





Our next stop was to the Colosseum. This was Nick’s favorite place! We found out that all the marble, stone, and bronze that is in St Peter’s Basillica came from the Colosseum and other Roman ruins. The structures from ancient Rome are not falling down due to time or nature but by man. The Romans built their structures to last forever and the Catholic church came around hundreds of years later and pillaged the pagan temples for their own churches and temples.





We then headed back over to the Vatican Museum to find the Sistine Chapel. Our breakfast buddies were right! The museum stops accepting visitors at 4pm; so we got there at 3pm and walked right in!!! No lines at all!!
However, they don’t make the Sistine Chapel easy to find. You basically have to go through the entire museum to find it. It was not like the Louvre where we could get the Sistine Chapel (Mona Lisa) done and move on. Nope. Miles of hallways and thousands of paintings, carvings, and sculptures later we finally found it!


(Very blurry Creation of Adam)

Pardon the VERY blurry pictures; you’re not allowed to take photos in this room so all of these pictures are pirated. The guards were yelling (in a reverent whisper, of course) at everyone about not taking pictures or video. It was a little chaotic. It was also very beautiful! Amazing! I can now see why it would take Michelangelo 11 years to paint it.

I over heard a guide talking to some people and he said that Michelangelo originally painted everyone naked. The pope at the time didn’t like that everyone was naked and wanted him to cover all the genitals. Michelangelo refused to do it and told the pope to find someone else! The Pope called Michelangelo’s best friend and apprentice, Botticelli, to paint the fig leaves and robes to cover their private parts! Although I can’t find this lovely story on Wikipedia anywhere I still like the story!

In all the crowd and hustle & bustle of finding and being herded out of the Sistine Chapel we missed the painting of The Last Supper. ;( I guess that will just give me a reason to come back again!