Gratzi Venezia

After Jeff and I left France, we took a train through Switzerland and arrived in Venice.  Here are the photos from our 2 1/2 days in Venice - for some reason they didn't load in order, so my apologies if it confuses you.  It was so beautiful and the weather was spectacular!  The only problem we faced in Venice was a stomach virus that hit Jeff and the incredibly expensive tourist traps, otherwise, it was everything I imagined it would be!

Enjoy this set of pics!

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Observations from Europe

Jeff and I are in Europe.  We arrived last Wed. and will be here for 5 more days.  My sister and her husband are at home with our little ones holding down the fort for us.  We are currently in Venice and leave for Florence tomorrow.  J has come down with some sort of flu, so we are spending the evening in our hotel room tonight (it's 9:39 p.m. here right now).  Anyway, I thought I would post some of the stuff I've observed while I've been in Europe this last week...Enjoy the list and I promise to post pictures after we get home and get settled back into our routine.

1. SLOWER PACE - things here move at a lot slower pace.  It's almost impossible to get a coffee to go - everywhere expects you to sit down and enjoy yourself.


2. Waiters WORK hard for their money.  They are not only the waiter here - they are the host, they bus the tables, they handle your check and they don't expect a tip (no one in Europe tips)


3. Restaurants will turn you away when they are full - there is no wait for a table - when the restaurant is full for that seating, they simply tell you sorry! 


4. Almost everyone speaks at least a little English or Spanish - it has been amazing to see how much English the French and Italian people know.  It really puts our culture to shame for not teaching our kids more than one language!


5. I have little to no tattoos!  Lots of Europeans have piercings, but tattoos are not common


6. There are churches in every town, square, village - it's amazing how many Grand, Beautiful Churches there are


7. A majority of the people here smoke  - don't expect to eat outside without being smoked out!


8. Dogs are allowed in restaurants in France - can you believe that?


9. People do not clean their dog poop!


10. Crepes in France are like hot dogs in New York - there is a crepe stand on almost any corner!  And, they serve them with Nutella - Yummo!


11. They don't brew coffee like the Americans do....If you want coffee, it's going to be espresso (either Cafe or cappuccino if you want milk or latte)!  And, the coffee is yummy, but you better like strong coffee!


12. The Louvre is an amazing museum, but very overwhelming and extremely crowded


13. It is best to travel to Europe with small luggage.  J made me pack light and it's has been the best thing - we have walked everywhere or taken the public transportation and if we had lots of suitcases, it would have been a nightmare.


14. Men carry purses - it's the oddest thing to see, but they do it!


15. Don't come to Europe with the idea that you are going to stick to your South Beach/Atkins diet!  There are some serious carbs here!  For Breakfast, it's almost always bread (baguette), croissant, or toast (with Cafe, of course)


16. Strasbourg, France is on the border of France and Germany, so the cuisine there is both French and German.


17. There are tourist from all over Europe - I can't even tell you how many different languages we heard while in France - it was a lot!


18. In France, they serve you tap water in a small pitcher or bottle at your table.  It was such a nice way to keep your water glass full while the waiters attended to the other tables.


19. Every one takes the train here....the train stations are packed and people travel by train more so than airplanes.

Well, that's it's for now.  I'm sure I'll observe more in the next few days, but wanted to share these with you!

He married me twice...

11 years ago today J married me for the 2nd time!  I remember that blazing hot July day like it was yesterday!  What a great day it was and we had a blast!  We danced all night long and enjoyed celebrating our life together!  Although he is halfway around the world today, I can't help but smile at how quickly time has gone by and how much fun we've had over the last 11 1/2 years.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend, love of my life, man of my dreams!  You are an amazing husband, father, friend and partner in life.  I don't think a woman could ask for more.  Thank you for blessing me with your love these past 11 1/2 years.  I'd marry you all over again for the 3rd time!

4th of July Fun

Our family shared the celebration of our country's independence down on Orange St.  The block party was a blast and a fun time was had by all!



JT had a blast with his friends...



Curly spent the entire day on the slide - only to get off for the bike parade!  He even got to spend the night with the Beasley's and slide 'til they came to take it away!



Cupcake had a blast with her friends too...they had some good girl time!



J and I even got to enjoy ourselves with some great adult conversation!



Lulu joined the fun too...she is wearing her new "gentle leader" leash here...it helps her not pull on the leash!



We had a Fantastic 4th of July!  God Bless America!

Joy, Joy, Joy!

What a wonderful month it has been!  The kids all celebrated the birth of Christ in their classrooms...what a joy to be able to see my children tought the true meaning of Christmas. We had many performances with so many beautiful Christmas songs!  We enjoyed an evening with adults at our wine tasting party, we celebrated Christmas with 15 cousins and we celebrated our 11 year anniversary!  So many wonderful things happened this month!  It was a wonderful Christmas season and full of joy and wonder!  Here is a small taste of our month long joy!

Wine Tasting Girls....(love the lurkers in the background....)

helping Grandma Haydee celebrate her 84th Birthday...she's all I've got left and I love her so much!


Campos Christmas Eve - we enjoyed a day with my 3 sisters, 1 brother and all the spouses, friends, 15 children and grandma Barbara

Christmas Day at Nana & Papa's- more formal, more mellow, but full of christmas fun

Celebrating 11 years of Marriage - we spent the night in Santa Barbara (my sis, Patty, watched my kids) and we enjoyed 24 hours to ourselves!

2nd Annual Friends Thanksgiving

Last night we hosted our 2nd Friends Thanksgiving. We wanted this to be a small intimate, formal dinner with our closest of friends. We had a great night. Ate some amazing food - Prime Rib (we figure we'll eat enough turkey this month to last us through 'til next year - so we change it up a bit with Prime Rib), whipped horseradish, cream corn, carrot souffle, wild mushroom soup, an amazing salad, the best whipped potatoes and asparagus. Thanks everyone for bringing your A-game and making some amazing food!  We finished off the meal with some pumpkin pie and pumpkin cakies!
What a great way to start the holiday season.....


(notice my adorable apron...thanks Jen for the beautiful hostess gift)

The Soup's On...An Evening of Culinary Delight

It sure was...We tasted lots of yummy soups and enjoyed a great evening with some wonderful people and great friends.

The basics- bring a culinary delight of soup - go around and taste all the soups and rate them! They were all amazing!


I so wish this shot wasn't so blurry, that's why I am posting so small -


We had a great time hanging out together and enjoying the Autumn evening!

Duffy Cruise

Last weekend we went on a cruise through the Newport Harbor- since I am currently in Hawaii...I will post short and to the point:

Jen and I bid on an auction for a great cause and we won!  What did we win?  Well, we won a fantastic evening with amazing, close friends.  We won 3 hours of cruising the harbor, being seranaded by the locals, eating some amazing Greek cuisine (thanks to JKru's amazing culinary skills), ate some super yummy cupcakes (thanks, E, they were all amazing), enjoyed the company and converstation of great friends.  Who could ask for more when you are donating to an important cause.  Thanks, Kru's, for making this evening happen and to Jen for being our bidding warrior!

ABF Date Night

Sunday evening we enjoyed an evening under the stars with a few couples from our Young Families Lifegroup.  We had some great food, good conversation and a round of "competitive" gestures! 




It was a wonderful evening and we are looking forward to the next one!

Haven't Stopped Going....

We got home from NY and haven't stopped since we walked off the plane.  Last Wed. Curly got his very first trophy and he was so excited about it!  He has been waiting for a trophy since big brother got his first 3 years ago.



Friday, JT had crazy hair day at school.  His hair is so dark and thick it's really hard to make his hair crazy!  So, we put lots of hair bands all over the top of his head...he looked great and got lots of attention from all the kids in all grades... I think he looked great, what do you think?



When we were in NYC I had the most amazing banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery.  Last Christmas my running partner/good friend gave me the More from Magnolia cookbook and wouldn't you know....the recipe for the pudding was in there.  So, Friday night I made it and it was a hit!  Here is a pic of the last layer of the pudding:



If any of you want the recipe...post a request on the comments and I will post it!

Saturday morning we had JT's team party at our house....the kids got their trophies. The kids and parents had a blast and it was a really fun morning.



Saturday night we went to dinner with my favorite running gal and her hubby- E & J.  We went to Honda Ya and it was so yummy.  We had dessert at Yogurtland and that was so yummy too!  It was a great evening all around!



Sunday we took all the kids to see Indiana Jones (very cheesy, but the kids loved it) - I wanted to take a picture of all the kids because JT, Zeh and Curly were dressed in their Indiana Jones Costumes and they looked so cute, but we never got a chance to!

Finally, Monday we started our two week crash course of swim lessons and Cupcake did amazing!  I think she is going to pick it up quickly!  After lessons, we had Alison, Bryan, Jenni and Seth over to swim.  Of course, the adults hung out by the fireplace, while all the kids lived in the 90 degree pool all day.....



We are exhausted, but have had so much fun the past two weeks!  Summer is almost here and whether it warms up or not, we are ready!

I Heart NY

Thursday we joined J on a business trip to New Jersey.  We left from JWA bright and early and the kids were thrilled to be going with daddy on a trip.





We arrived late Thursday evening in Newark.  We spent Friday morning at our hotel in Parsippany (which, by the way, is a beautiful town).  J got out of work around 2:30 and we headed into the city for a weekend of family fun in the Big City.  The kids couldn't believe the skyline and loved all the lights in Times Square where we stayed.



        

Friday night we went to dinner and dessert at Serendipity's.  They are famous for their Frozen Hot Chocolate (seen on the left and Cupcake Enjoying it above).  We also had the "Can't Say No Sundae" (which is a slice of humble pie - peanut butter pie with a graham cracker crust- hot fudge, vanilla ice cream and whip cream - truly decadent and delicious)

Saturday Morning we did the "tourist" thing and took a double decker bus tour of the city.  It was great and the kids enjoyed the top of the bus.





Curly loved the massive amounts of taxis - we had fun counting them when we got bored waiting at bus stops to hop back on our tourbus.





The kids loved seeing the Empire State building...

We hopped off the bus in China Town and walked up to Lombardi's for Lunch - we waited a while, but it was so worth the wait...





The best meatball pizza I have ever had - coal fired in the oven that opened the place in 1905.

 After lunch we hopped back on the bus and headed to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty (JT's requests were the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty).  We missed the last fairy boat to the island where she is, so we had to see her from afar at Battery Park.

 





JT was so cute with Cupcake- he let her sit on his lap almost all day and kept her laughing and happy!  What a wonderful big brother he is!  We had lots of people compliment us on him and how patient and loving he was with his siblings.  It warmed this mama's heart!

Saturday night the boys went to the Top of the Rock and saw the view of the city lights at night.



 

Sunday morning I wanted to do 2 things - Go to Central Park and Get cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery and we did just that.  Central Park was absolutely breathtaking!  It was so beautiful and so big!  The Aids Walk was taking place that day, so it was a bit crazy, but what an amazing park!

 















We got some cupcakes from Magnolia - red velvet, black and white, vanilla/vanilla and chocolate/chocolate.  We were told to get the banana pudding, which by the way, was so AMAZING.  Now you all know me and I am a cupcake fan, but that pudding was so delicious.



Monday morning we headed back to New Jersey so J could get back to work and we hung out at our hotel, swam in the pool and waiting for daddy to come home from work.  We had a nice relaxing day - which we needed after a packed weekend in the city!  Here is my girl taking it easy because she had an ear infection and sinus infection. 



Tuesday I headed home with all 3 kids in tow alone.  I felt like a Mama duck with all her ducklings following behind....they did great and I couldn't have asked for a better day of travel with 3 kids alone!

Here we are at Newark Airport waiting for our plane to arrive- notice the beautiful wet day...





Thank goodness for cupcake's pacifier - it helped with the pressure in her ears going up and coming down!