ITALY!!!!

It is the moment you have all been waiting for: the ITALY blog has arrived!!! Anytime I blog a vacation or a huge event I always have a really hard time condensing the information, and this time it has been even harder.  I have actually started this blog 3 times scrapped the whole thing and started all over. This trip was so wonderful and meant so much to us that it has made it very challenging for me to summarize it into 1 blog. My sister in-law, Megan, kept a travel journal while we were on our trip which was a great idea! She then turned the journal into a blog, another great idea! Since we took almost 2,000 pictures I have decided to give you 7 of our  favorite pictures from each place we visited.  So away we go . . .

 Day 1- Venice/Venezia

Canals, Flooded Squares, Dollywood Naps and the long road to Rome

 

Off the back of the Water Taxi

 

Here I am in the Flooded San Marco Square

 

 San Marco Cathedral

 

On our Gondola Ride

 

 Beautiful!!

Our FAVORITE picture from Venice!

Our wonderful hosts! (San Marco finally drained out)

 

 

Day 2- ROME on My Birthday!!!

British friends, buses, trains, The Vatican, 1st pizza in Italy, The Colosseum, Spanish Steps by accident, and the  Trevi Fountain.

Riding the train in Rome- it was the best way to get from place to place.

Sweet family!

Everything in the Vatican is a work of art. This is just one of the beautiful ceilings!

St. Peter’s

The Colosseum

Creepy Italian Trees

 

At the Trevi Fountain

Okay- this is the 8th picture for Rome but I really liked this one!

Day 3- Pompeii

Dirty Naples, going to the volcano, Jupiter’s Temple, preserved bodies, trees to hug, 5 poops, and gypsy kids.

The EPIC vineyard picture at Pompeii

2 cuties!

The guys at Jupiter’s Temple

Mt. Vesuvius

One of the bodies

Sometimes you gotta just hug a tree!

Oaks x 4

Day 4- Pisa & Lucca

Supporting driving decisions, seeing the Amalfi Coast, the Golden Arches, Willie the Sparrow, Camp Darby, rain and farts at the Tower, blue skies, a fall in the mud, carousel ride, scary walk in the dark and . . .”I’ve got cereal on my butt!” (14 pics because we have 2 places)

Our faithful driver- he did a great job!

Yes , we ate at McDonald’s in Italy

At the Leaning Tower

Rain means cute umbrella pics!

The Duomo- post rain with pretty skies

I love this pic and I am not really sure why?

Chris Oaks- a self portrait

At Lucca- it is a city completely surrounded by a wall

Standing on the Wall

 

Someone took a little mud tumble

Riding the carousel

Back at the wall

Walking with Uncle Nick

The walls of Lucca at night

Day 5- Heading to Aviano

Cold shower for me, the van rocks, BLUE, Taco Bell, Winery for some tasting, MUSCATO, Shoe Shopping,  BFed, Chris “rocks” at Rock Band, Ace loves Nick

Getting ready to leave Camp Darby

My friend and I at Aviano

The Winery where we got the Muscato

Wild and Crazy in the van

Dinner at Bfed

Chris schooling Nick at Rock Band

Ace and Nick

Day 6- Piancavallo, Barcis, Polcenigo, Etc.

I can’t order my own pastry, Spaghetti House, Family Photo Shoot day :), really big fish, beautiful mountains and lake, rock picking, rock throwing, who brings an Escalade to Italy, JEOPARDY (Who knows how many pictures this will be, just enjoy).

Pretty cappuccino

These brothers just wanna hug

These brothers just wanna hold hands

At Piancavallo

Part of the Italian Alps

At Barcis- Love them all!!! (One of my FAVORITE pics)

Throwing rocks

Finding rocks

Holding Rocks

Guy picture

Girl Picture- miss you!

Love him!

Mom am I too far away??

Love this!

Going down?

Can we say- EPIC?!

View from the top

On top of the world- well it felt like it anyway

The trusty van!

Polcenigo

Beautiful!

I think the cave system is under there somewhere?

Pretty

The big fish!

Just love this one!

 Another one of my favorites 

Day 7 (the last day in Italy)- Trieste

GPS hates the Autostrada, Topher loses his OJ, Someone did not take his airborne and made someone else sick, Giant Cave, 1,000 Steps! Who picked this?, Tour guide almost didn’t 'make it, Nick attempted to conquer his fear of heights, no pictures allowed had to buy postcards, Gelato lunch, yay!!!, naps and packing, Bierengle, If I eat anymore I am going to have to leave here naked,. squatty potty

Giant Cave with 1,000 steps in Trieste

The exit out of the cave, no pics allowed inside.

The last meal- Bierengle, German restaurant

The 4 of us- we never got to take that picture (my only regret!)

Yikes- It’s the Squatty Potty!!!

Did you think I had forgotten the Green Shirt picture?

I know this blog was A LOT of pictures but to explain this entire trip in a blog would have been impossible. If you can’t tell from the pics we had a FABULOUS time. Italy is beautiful and we saw a ton of a amazing stuff. BUT this trip was more than site seeing for us, it was first and for most an amazing week with family. Family that we had not seen in a year. Nick actually realized on the last day of our trip that it was the longest period of time he had spent with his brother in five years, and it was the longest time that the two  of us had spent with Chris, Megan, and the boys ever. So every moment truly meant so much! All the laughs, inside jokes, and memories will be cherished forever! :)

I leave you with one final picture:

All of us

Chris, Megan, Topher, and Cannon we love you all very much and thank you for such a wonderful trip. We miss you every day and wish we were still there with you! By the way, we are so there for Ireland or a Mediterranean Cruise, just say the word ;)