Ahhh...Italy!

I just took a break to daydream about Italy - and the wonderful times we have had there! In honor of Dan's mom traveling to Italy this weekend, I thought I would share some of our favorite photos from our trips...hope you enjoy!

Africa Slide Show Test

So this is my test of using slide.com for adding a bunch of photos...seems to work ok! I'm sure I'll try more of these in the future...enjoy!

Kauai January 2008

We spent a little more than a week in January soaking up the Hawaiian sun with five friends and their one-year-olds. It was a welcome sight to have the sun rise before 10am and set after 5 pm, and we discovered the wonderment of 'warm nights' and stargazing without arctic gear again. We laid on the beach and by the pool in the rental house, hiked up Sleeping Giant and on the Kalalau Trail, zip lined down a valley, watched whales from the shoreline, jumped off a waterfall, snorkeled to our heart's content and I even got in a Scuba dive at night! We had a great time, and can't wait to go again!


Artistic picture of a beautiful flower in our yard with a bee.


A shot over the Wailua River at sunset


Hold on to your hats when you visit Waimea Canyon - we almost blew away with all the wind!!


Sunset from our house


Us getting ready for a zip lining adventure!


The boardwalk in the historic old town of Koloa (my Dad's favorite place for pie!)


On a hike up Sleeping Giant


Holly at the Hanakapia Beach off the Kalalau Trail


The river that runs into the ocean at Hanakapia Beach


Na Pali Coastline


Kalalau Trail - this terrain is most of the way.

McNeil River Part II

Just for you to see how close we actually came to some of the bears, rather the bears came close to us, here are a few of our McNeil River Bear Sanctuary pictures with people in them.

McNeil River People Pics

McNeil River Bear Sanctuary

Finally, I have gotten to editing all 2000+ of our photos from our spectacular trip to McNeil River Bear Sanctuary in Alaska this past July. It took a while, but hopefully it is worth the wait to see these pictures. It was an amazing experience and we are excited to possibly go again in the future. We've uploaded our favorites to our Picasa Web Album, click on the picture below and enjoy!

McNeil River Bear Sanctuary 2007

Land of Gelato

Gelato in Marsalforn, Gozo on the promenade by the ocean

Gelato at the World Champions in San Gimignano, Italy


There is just something so nice about having a bowl of gelato (basically ice cream)in a warm Mediterranean breeze - ahhh - I miss it so much! Our Alaskan friend Jenn, Dan and I began our gelato tour in the sleepy town or Marsalforn, on the island of Gozo in the country of Malta. We each had a couple scoops, and I think this is where we discovered hazelnut gelato...YUMMY!!! Just like frozen Nutella. I'm pretty sure we had a few more gelatos in Malta, but unfortunately no pictures of them. As we moved North to Tuscany, Italy, Jenn and I were determined to have 'the day of the gelato', allowing ourselves one scoop only at each gelato stand we could find and then moving on. What gave us this idea was that in San Gimignano, they claim to have the 'World Champions of Gelato'. So Jenn and I decided we would be the judge. After about 3 gelato stops, Dan spotted another one and asked if we wanted to try it. I never though it was possible to say no to gelato, and I'm sad to say my stomach just couldn't say yes, I was all gelatoed out!

NOTE: My favorite turned out to be from the town of Montalchino, although Certaldo was a close second. While the World Champs were good, I have to say I did not agree that they were the best. I think we will have to plan another vacation there to really decide!