Day 6, Lunch in Sorrento, afternoon in Capri

This might be one of the best lunches I ever had! Yum! Lunch in Sorrento was, well in a word, amazing. I love that there is wine on the table, wine and water. I even liked the white wine. Mike picked up a suitcase, yes seriously, for his office manager here. We carried it all around for the rest of the day, so funny! We didn't have too much time in Sorrento, then we took the hydrofoil (ferry boat) to Capri. I sat and enjoyed the view for about an hour. It was just beautiful. The boys did a bit of window shopping. This is the place for the limoncello (a liquor). It is the best! This was a great day. I decided I may need to see Italy again after today! LOL

Morning in Pompeii, Italy

Day 6 Naples, Italy... Pompeii in the morning

This day turned out to include one of my favorite parts of this vacation, Pompeii. In 96AD when Mt Vesuvius erupted it buried this whole city, buried many alive. Much of it has now been uncovered, but they are saving more for future generations. It appears to be 4 square miles, it is HUGE! I had no conception that they lived so much like us in so many ways. It was amazing to see the buildings and the huge homes. Our tour guide today was fantastic. It felt like we went back in time to this once thriving metropolis. I will treasure this as one of my favorite memories of Italy, it was truly unbelievable. It was so much more than I could have imagined.

Are you liberal or conservative?

I would love to know your score after you take this quiz. I got a 24. Guess that makes me fairly middle of the road on the conservative side! (40 points is conservative, 0 is liberal)

http://www.franz.org/quiz.htm

Day 5 Valletta, Malta

Did you know that the island country of Malta is the connection between Europe and Africa? Its location has made it a strategic point for wars from WWII back to the crusades. You can see that in the architecture. The main city of Valletta is essentially a huge fortress, it is really neat. Also, the entire island is made of limestone, the only natural resource of Malta. It is soooo beautiful looking! We went on an interesting tour, the only non Close To My Heart tour of the week, where we saw the presidential gardens, a lovely church, and a winery. I guess we figured we better see one winery in Europe! The first two pictures are of the city of Valletta as we cruised in... it was beautiful! The next one is of the boys and I at the winery where we tasted one white and two red wines. We also got some goat cheese and crackers. Yum, the first white wine I ever liked! LOL (and that continued throughout the trip). Casey liked the wine too. The last photo is of me and Jen. We had dinner with Jen and her hubby after our day in Valletta. Jen is my first downline to earn a cruise. I am sooo proud of Jen! We also went to the artisans village where we saw lots of glass blowing. I bought a wine stopper there. Oh yes, and did you know that they are famous for the filigree jewelry? I got an awesome 8 point cross (for the 8 be attitudes) that was made by local artists. It is just lovely. So that is a bit about our 5th day, in Malta! Did you know that Popeye the movie was filmed there?

OK, I admit it, I am a Republican

But, it wasn't always that way. I remember when I turned 18 and registered to vote. Yes, that was a big deal to me, and I always vote. My father teased me for weeks, maybe longer. He could not believe that I registered as a Democrat. Those were the days! I really belived that social programs made a difference. Now I really only want kids programs, I want to decide how to spend my money... so I am Republican hear me roar! I love this cartoon, it really does speak to my political beliefs!

Friends

I had lunch with my friend Leigh Anne right before we left for the cruise. Aren't we cute? Too bad she is a Democrat.... =-(

Blogger has been a royal pain yesterday and today, I will do more trip blogging tomorrow. Nite nite!

Day 4, our one day at sea

I was so excited to be on the ship! Europe, wow. I knew two years ago when Close To My Heart sent me the brochure that I would be earning this trip, and we would go! Mike saved all of his personal days, and has never taken a sick day. It was really going to happen, the trip of a lifetime. When I had enough points to earn the trip and the airfare I almost started to cry. This wasn't my first CTMH trip, and won't be my last, but it will be hard to top for me! The first one is the hardest to earn, you have to want it. Break it down into months and make it happen. You can be successful in Multi Level Marketing, but you have to do some work, you can't just wait for your phone to ring! I guess that is really true with every job.

Monday started, early, with a walk around the ship. This walk was for Operation Smile. I walked quite far, but the cool morning air on the Mediterranean Sea was unbelievably perfect. If you don't know about Operation Smile, google it! Proceeds from every stamp set sold go to Operation Smile. It is a good thing.

Later my family had lunch at Le Bistro. YUMMY! It was fantastic. We then simply found some time to explore the ship and get to know where everything was located. This ship, the Norwegian Gem, is laid out a LOT like the Norwegian Jewel that I was on with the Alaska cruise last year. But I took a friend, so my family wasn't familiar with the ship.

At 3pm we me the CTMH group for our 'business meeting.' LOL Yea lots of business! A few presentations from corporate and then we were on to a game show. This year it was 'family feud.' It is always fun/funny as the significant others participate too! Mike and I ended up on the winning team. I think it was the question, 'how do you know when your wife has been scrapbooking?" that got us the big win.... he answered... No Dinner. LOL Yep, true, and funny too.... actually the whole show was a blast. I even earned some FREE products for being on the winning team. It was me, Sue Nielson, and Lynn Como with our husbands. Kristine picked us out of a hat, lucky us! Hehehehe. Funny that I don't even mind being on stage in front of all of those people. =-)

I honestly don't know what we even ate for dinner that night. We had dinner and went to the show, which was fun. And then off to bed for our trip to Malta in the morning. Casey even got some homework done on the balcony that day. ( Can you believe the company buys us a room with a balcony? Awesome huh!) Our adventure had only begun.... more to come tomorrow!


Woohoo! The cruise is HERE!

I love being in the front row! LOL


Although some say it stands for can't tell my husband...

Algebra 1 by the sea

Day 3 Barcelona & Embakration

Day 3 started, in the same clothes, with a buffet breakfast at our hotel and a tour of Barcelona. The hi-lights of our day included the amazing park and the La Famila Church. This church has been under construction for over 100 years! Yikes, that is a project. We even saw a naked guy (well with a messenger bag) walking around the city. Hehehehehehe. After our 3 hour tour (I know, I kept singing Gilligan's theme song too) we got on our ship, again in our clothes from FRIDAY (not that I am counting). Our mini-suite was lovely. I can't believe that Close To My Heart gets us all balcony rooms! WOW. I did upgrade to a mini-suite for a bit more room for the four of us. It was lovely, yet small. We got on the ship, got some food and started to explore. The first night is the CTMH cocktail party, with finger foods and cocktails for all! Yum. The kids even enjoyed it. And, it is nice to see Jeanette Lynton and her hubby David and say thanks for the opportunity to take this great vacation. It is also great to see all of this years cruisers. Sailing out of Barcelona into the Mediterranean Sea was the experience of a lifetime, lovely. I couldn't believe all I had already seen, I was so excited about our week ahead. More to come tomorrow....

Day 2 Barcelona, Spain

When we got to Barcelona, without our luggage, we picked up the Close To My Heart transfer to our hotel. They weren't ready for us to check in right away, but it only took about 3o minutes for us to get our room. It was neat. We walked up the street to the museum. They have several original Picaso's there. The museum itself was beautiful, and interesting. The kids did not like the Picaso's at all! They thought it looked like a second grader did the work! Hehehehehe.... Personally I was just about seeing them, and I do love the colorful ones! We walked the museum and then sat outside and drank a coke overlooking the city! YUM made with real sugar. Then we went to eat at a restaurant recommended by our hotel. Seafood, yum. It did all come with heads, so that was interesting, but it really was fantastic! The kids were troopers and didn't whine, simply cut the heads off and ate away! LOL We, of course, drank Spanish wine with dinner too! Then we went back toward the museum and saw the fountains. At night they do a big light show with music and water dancing. Lots and lots of people, but very relaxing.... I loved it.... Oh, and we are getting pretty tired now.... off to sleep, the most rock hard sleep in a long time for all of us, just exhausted! WHEW.
Tomorrow I will write about our brief tour of Barcelona and getting on the ship!

Our European Adventure, day 1

On our way to Barcelona. The trip from Portland to Atlandta was about 6 hours, and the trip from Atlanta to Barcelona almost 10 hours. Unfortunately none of us were able to sleep on the plane! what a bummer, buh? But, we did get a yummy meal, and then breakfast right before we landed.... wine came with the meal, yum!

When we arrived in Barcelona it was 11 am local time (and no one has slept yet). Unfortunately our luggage did NOT arrive with us. BOOOO. So we were told about four thousand different things. But, ultimately we decided to get over it.... well I decided that anyway, and see Barcelona anyway!

More to come...