Ukiah

I headed up to Ukiah about a week after I landed in Vegas so the exact day was like the 17, which was way to soon to be getting back on a plane in my opinion. Luke and Kriss picked me up in Sacramento that evening. The flight was nice and short and I had like mobsters or gangsters sitting on the plane next to me so I felt safe because they were very friendly mobster/gangsters. I had a really nice visit with everyone. Katie, Mona and I went and got our nails done, which was really nice since they don't have any place to do it near base here. We did Christmas for us while we were there and had a nice dinner with everyone. I know Luke was really sad to leave, it is always hard to leave family.



Just hanging out at Tom and Kriss's the night before we left.



Me, Luke, Katie and Blake at our Ukiah Christmas



Me, Luke and our cute little nephew, Darren! It was so nice finally getting to meet the little guy.



All the brothers and Darren.

In the end our trip was great. We both had a great time but like always it was WAY too short. Hopefully we will be back soon, or at least within two years. I know I will be back at the latest May '09 for Kelsey's graduation, but even that seems too far away.

Las Vegas

I arrived in Las Vegas surprisingly in one piece and Luke made it to Tucson! What a hectic flight we had, it is nothing short of miraculous that we made our flights from Denver to Tucson/Las Vegas! My trip to Las Vegas was good. It was great being able to see family again except for the fact that you really realize how much you miss them when you are there with them. I got to eat a lot of great food, well maybe not great food, just plain old fast food, which was great to me since I don't get it anymore in Germany. I think Kyle had thought I went crazy when i kept talking about Del Taco like it was the best thing ever! Well Kyle put up with my craziness rather well even though he doesn't understand what is so fascinating about fast food and my old work and the fact that I am horrible at taking night pictures.
I had a chance to go out to eat with my good friend Pam who i hadn't seen in forever. That was a blast and makes me miss going out for sushi and just having a friend to talk to who knew me before I got married. I got to go and see people from the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society which probably made my whole trip. It was my top thing to do while I was in Las Vegas, although it was probably the worst thing to do because it made me so sad. I think that volunteering with them was one of the best decisions I have made and i miss it and the amazing people so much. What else, what else...I did a lot of shopping. It wasn't so great though because i was Christmas shopping so I had to shop for other people and not myself, even though I did cheat a little and got some clothes.
It was amazing how fast the time flew by, one week felt like just a day when I look back. There was not enough time to do everything but I think i did all i really wanted in Vegas. I did realize that no matter were I am Vegas is home, it is my favorite place to be (even with the heat!).



This is just a picture I took out of the window while we were driving in traffic. Which is another thing i miss, traffic! These were more for the benefit of our German friends who haven't been to Las Vegas. I will post more pictures when my lazy brother decides to email the pictures from his camera!

Winter in Germany

So the weather has been horrible here! We are lucky if we get a day above 45 degrees! Lots of rain and overcast days. We have been busy getting ready to head back to the states. So much to do, so little time. Luke has started his Masters program and is busy busy keeping up with that and working. I am STILL taking classes, I am down to like 40 credits to graduate! The dogs are good, Duke is huge! Luke thinks he weighs between 80-90 pounds, and he is still stupid. He loves nothing more than running through every mud puddle he can find. Rudy is just as dainty as always, hates getting dirty. We haven't been doing much traveling since Italy, just relaxing at home. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Amalfi Coast

On Friday before we headed back to Naples we drove down the Amalfi coast, through Positano and stopped in Amalfi for lunch. It was a beautiful drive, finally a place in Italy that I really liked. The restaurant we stopped at in Amalfi was great too, they had amazing spaghetti carbonara.
Unfortunately all the pictures are of me in my sloppy, travel clothes since we were flying out of Naples that evening :-(

More Sorrento Pics

Sorrento was beautiful. We had a beautiful view from our hotel room! The sunset pictures were taken when i was coming back from Stabia. The hotel room picture was before the conference semi-formal dinner. Luke wouldn't let me take a picture of him though!

Castellammare di Stabie, Italy

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OK wow that was a lot of photos! All from one day! Well this was from our Sorrento trip. On Wednesday while Luke was in his conference working, all the spouses went to Castellammare di Stabia and went to a spa and than went and saw the Stabia ruins. They were really amazing, we only got to see one villa that has been excavated. Stabia used to be the resort town for all of the bigwigs thousands of years ago. Than Mount Vesuvious (sp?) erupted and covered Stabia, Pompeii and the surrounding areas. Stabia is the lesser known site and has not had many sites excavated yet. It was amazing though, to see how old the things were and how well some things were preserved.

Sorrento, Italy

We arrived in Sorrento last night after a full day of chaotic travelling. We left the house at eight in the morning to drop off the dogs and then we were going to get the train to Dusseldorf. We met one of Lukes colleagues at the train station and waited and waited but the German train drivers have been on strike the past few weeks so of course it affected or train (although they weren't SUPPOSED to be striking and the day we were travelling). So we had to call a taxi to take us to the airport! The flight from Dusseldorf to Munich was easy but in Munich they had overbooked our flight to Naples so they were trying to get people to wait for the next flight. Luckily we made it on the flight, although we did think 'hmm we should just hang out in Munich for the night, if only certain people didn't have to be at meetings the next day!" In Naples we rented a car and drove to Sorrento. The peninsula that Sorrento is on is a crazy drive, lots of small rodes and curves. And the mopeds here are crazy, they just zoom in and out of traffic. We learned the rule for driving in Italy, "You stop, you're done" because nobody will let you move again people come out of nowhere and just drive everywhere! Well we finally got to the hotel at seven at night. The hotel is really nice, our room has a gorgeous view overlooking Naples Bay and Mount Vesuvius (sp?). (Pictures attached are from our balcony) We had a nice dinner at the hotel. It should be a fun week, tomorrow there is a trip to a spa for the spouses and Thursday we are going to Pompeii and we are hoping to drive over to Positano or Amalfi on Wednesday night for dinner, so I will be able to take more pictures.

Oktoberfest!

Important tip...when doing a blog it helps not to lose the password and username. Last Sunday we went to on of the largest Oktoberfest celebrations in our area, in Haaren. It was a really fun experience. Kind of like a carnival back in the states. The food was so good and the music was good. They had a German band playing and everyone dressed in traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest clothing. The dresses are so neat, I decided that i want one but I don't know where I would ever wear it after we left Germany. It was a very exciting week, Mona had her little baby boy! He is such a cutie, it is just kind of sad that we can't be there. But everyone sends lots of pictures so it is nice! We are getting ready to head back to Italy next week. I am tired of Italy (who thought that would be possible) and ready to go somewhere else. We will probably be going back to the states in a few months which will be SO nice. Being able to communicate with people and eat fast food again will be so great! Well other than that nothing much is up, i am on break from school for a few weeks. Luke is starting his classes for his Masters n November, which he doesn't seem to be as excited about as I am. I am just a weird person who actually LIKES school. Oh ya and my brother is a HUGE dork (and I hope he reads this, *Your story is in the works :-P*)

Latina, Italy

We got back from Latina, Italy last Friday. It is so good to be home, I am so sick of flying and sitting in airports! Latina was really nice. It isn't really a historic town, which was good because there were not many tourists. It was really nice there, lots of shops and squares to just hang out in. We mostly ate at our hotel because the food there was SO good!! Finally we had some good Italian food! That made me happy. We are happy to be home and relaxing with the dogs. Duke has grown so much, he weighs about 70 pounds and will only be 7 months old on the 10th! We will be heading back to Italy again in a few weeks for the third time this month! Heading to Sorrento, which is supposed to be beautiful, it is right on the coast.

Rome Pictures