What Did Eli do on Vacation?

So I am still working on the official “Vacation 2011” blog. I always find it hard to blog big trips and keep it interesting so I think for this one I am going to break it down into several smaller blogs.  Starting with Eli’s part of our vacation! So of course Eli went everywhere that we did, and we did try to capture a pic of him everywhere. I mean we had to have proof that he did go to Disney World! Here are the pics . . .

Eli was in a Wedding

Eli went to the Magic Kingdom

Eli (and some other random people) at Cinderella’s Castle

Eli went to Epcot

Eli rode the Nemo ride

Eli went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Eli got to meet Flick at the Animal Kingdom

 

So not only did Eli get to see and do stuff he got some souvenirs as well:

  Tigger Onesie (back &front)

Something for our Future Nerd!

A Safari Tigger to go with our onesie

There were so many things we could have gotten Eli, but these were our favs! Particularly the Tigger Onesie, Nick loves it! Can not wait for Eli to play with it and wear his stuff.

We had a great time on our trip and can not wait till we can take Eli again when he is on “this side” so he to can experience everything! So exciting to think about!

I ♥ President’s Day

Let me just say that I have a new found love for President’s Day and appreciate every President and was more that happy to celebrate there birthday with a 3 DAY WEEKEND! Nick and I took advantage of our day off and spent some time together in Gatlingburg/Pigeon Forge. Initially I wanted to just do some shopping, but that was not fair to my dear sweet hubby who wanted to hike. So we ended up doing a hiking/shopping/eating day. Everyone was happy!  Win-Win!

We started our day with a short hike to Laurel Falls one of the most popular water falls in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The trail is 1.3 miles 1 way and is paved, making it an easy trek for almost anyone. It was a beautiful day for a hike the temperature was just right and there was a slight breeze, which actual turned into a fierce wind later while we were shopping.

Hiking for us also meant Picture Taking Time!!! I got to get my big fancy camera out for the first time in a long time. I am so hoping to get more photography practice is as the weather get warmer. Here are a few of our favorite shots from the day:

Sun in the trees

Deep Thoughts . . .

At Laurel Falls

Bottom of Laurel Falls (Nick took this)

Laurel Falls again (My pic)

A so-so self portrait

I love the reflections you can see in this pool of water.

After our great hike we hit up Calhoun’s for some yummy ribs. I had actually told Nick when we were driving in that we needed to eat somewhere new this time because we always eat at Calhoun’s. BUT I had a total change of heart when we passed the Calhoun’s sign that said “Best Ribs in America.” Man, there ribs really are FABULOUS and I had to have some.

Once we took in our wonderful lunch we hit 5 Oaks and ended the day with fantastic shopping. 40% off the entire store at Old Navy- Need I say more?!

It was a truly a blessing to have this day off together. We had so much fun! Thanks again to the President’s!

Day 5- A Picture of A Place I Have Been

Ohhh the places I have been! In the last several years Nick and I have been able to visit a lot of truly wonderful places. Such a Blessing to be able to travel. As most of you know we took our dream vacation to Italy this year and it was such a wonderful trip.

For today’s picture I am going to take you back to our humble travel beginnings. The 1st week long vacation we ever took together was a trip to California in September 2006 to visit Nick’s grandmother and family on the west coast. It was on this trip that we got engaged so it holds a lot of memories for us.

 

Here is the younger skinner me taking a ferry tour of the San Francisco Bay. It was cold and windy as you can probably tell in  the picture. Nick did not propose here but rather at the really pretty Sun Dial Bridge in Redding, CA a few days later.

This was the beginning of our travels together and I hope they never end!

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 ;)