June 5, 2007 - Rodin, Invalids & La Tour Eiffel

The Rodin Museum

This is one of my favorite museums in Paris. It is mostly outdoors, it is just a gorgeous space.

Rodin's Thinker through the trees

Rodin's Thinker

The roof of Les Invalides through the trees

Inside Les Invalides is Napoleon's Tomb. This is an incredible building

(little tomb)

Napoleon's Tomb

Alex standing under the Tour Eiffel

La Tour Eiffel

(she's a beauty!)

June 4, 2007 - Bonjour Paris! Graduation Trip!

Well... being the nice parents that we are, we decided to take the kids on a graduation trip. One week in Paris and then one week in London. After our week in Paris, we were meeting up with our foreign exchange student, Mathilde, and her twin sister Justine, and were taking them to London with us. The entire family will meet us in Paris at the end of the week and spend a day with us before leaving us with their girls.

One of the 1st stops is always the Louvre. I love the Louvre. I could spend a portion of every day here. BUT... we only made the kids go for a few hours. Of course Alex could have spent all week there.

May 5, 2007 - Cinco de Mayo in Key West!

Dan and I were off to Key West!

Friends we had met on our 2004 cruise had been inviting us to join them in their condo in Key West for several years. We finally decided that it would be a good time to take them up on the invite. Dan and I flew out to Fort Lauderdale a few days before we were to meet up with our friends. We picked them up at the airport and headed down the keys. What a gorgeous drive.

We stopped about 1/2 way to Key West at Islamorada. It was hidden in the bushes along the road and had THEE best blackend mahi mahi sandwiches that I have ever eaten!

Kathy and I saw this sign driving down the Keys... we hit the breaks and backed up to get a photo.

Dan and I decided to rent scooters one day. I had never done this before so was a bit nervous. It was the funnest thing! We tootled all over Key West. It was a fantastic day.

The marker marking the Southernmost point.

Dan has been wanting to practice his seaplane skills for awhile and he finally had the chance to do it. He saw a sign advertising seaplane rides and decided if he could pay the guy to let him practice his take offs and landings... I was just the action photographer. Dan wants one of these planes at his lake house some day... me, not so much :O)

Kathy and Jim... our very gracious hosts. It was incredibly nice of them to have us here with them for a week. The condo complex is terrific. It is right on the ocean with a pool and bar.

Sunset off the condo balcony... Awww Key West... a fabulous place to visit!

First trip to Paris - Nantes and Paris, July 15 & 17, 2006

This was our first trip to Paris and I was so excited to make a train trip in to see our foreign exchange student, Mathilde, that we had had over the summer. The only day we could meet them was on Saturday. We took the train from Paris to Nantes and it was our first experience on a bullet train. The train went 160 miles an hour. It was incredible! There was no time to say "oh, looks at that!" It would be gone... very cool way to get around. The girls had school until noon, so their parents picked us up and this would be the first time that we would meet her family. They told us to step off the platform and wait right there. That they would come to us. We knew them immediately and I am sure they recognised us right away. We went to square in Nantes and had cafe au lait and croissants until it was time to meet the girls from school. All the kids go to school on Saturday there.



After lunch at the Periot's house, we all headed out for an electric boat ride around Nantes. Their town was so charming. I cannot wait to return. It was SO good to see Mathilde and Justine again. I was so sad to leave.









Here is Dan with Florence, Pascal and Mathilde.













Back in Paris we spent the next day exploring Montmartre. It sits on the hill in Paris and I LOVE this neighborhood.

















Here I am at one of the MANY cafes along Boulevard St. Germain.

May 25, 2006 - Chicago

The river outside our hotel

Cool art in the city...

A very nice walkway that leads all the way out to Navy Pier.

The walkway along the river... this fountain goes off every hour (I think)

The lobby of the Hyatt Regency

Fox and Obel... a great grocery store we stumbled upon. I wish we had one! http://www.fox-obel.com/

The olive oil counter... with free tastings!

The cool cheese shop in Fox and Obel

Navy Pier was just covered in fog... I saw this cool ship anchored to the docks.

Navy Pier

This is one of the buildings along the river ride.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency... on the right... hard to see. It was an excellent hotel in a great location!

A great walkway along the river. I love it here!

For any of you that live here in Salt Lake, and want to know what's going in by the VA hospital... it's the Corner Bakery. This was a great spot in Chicago and all over the place. SO... hopefully it will do well here because it was great!

November 25th thru December 1st, 2005 - Holland America's Zuiderdam

The cruise port in Fort Lauderdale. There are many many ships that leave every Saturday and Sunday. It's fun to watch!

They had the pool area set up for lunch as you boarded. This can be an outdoor pool or indoor with the sliding roof. This is a great concept that I wish every ship had. Usually they don't have all these ugly table and chairs out. In fact, this was the first cruise I have ever seen set up this way. We were getting ready to cruise the Caribbean. Yay!

Our balcony cabin

Inside our balcony cabin. They aren't the prettiest we have seen, but it sure was comfortable, and Holland America is one of the only lines that have tubs for showers instead of just a tiny shower stall. They do have a nice cabin for the price.

One of our stops was Tortola and this is probably my favorite Caribbean island. The Bath's is something that has to be experiences to believe.

You actually take a ferry from Tortola over to Virgin Gorda to experience the Baths. This is SUCH a cool place. You wander through caverns like this in ankle to knee deep water... you walk through these rocks that are seriously as big as buildings... it is SO incredible! I didn't take my camera for the day. We were caring all our snorkeling gear and didn't want to chance ruining my camera. This is just one view of the areas where you walk. The echoing is very cool.. the colors that are reflected on all the walls of the rocks is something that I can't even explain. You just have to go!

Here is an area of the Baths... when you come out of all the caves.

Our favorite bar tender of this cruise, Chris. He was a martini man. Dan tried his different martinis every night. VERY nice guy!

Our ship outside of Nausau Bahamas (not my favorite cruise stop)

Cool picture of ship...

Another picture of the port at Nausau.

These are our tablemates. The old guys was hilarious! He reminded me of Jackie Gleason of the Honeymooners.