Entrance to the Louvre in Paris

Arc de Triomphe in Paris

Oh la la...the Eiffel Tower

Tapas Dinner and Flamenco Dancing Show in Barcelona

Venice gondola ride!

Ooooooohhhhhh the food in Italy. This was my favorite meal of the entire trip - in Monterosso.

View of beach in Monterosso in Cinque Terre, Italy

View from Michaelangelo's Hill in Florence

The Trevi Fountain in Rome

Vatican

Ceiling of Pantheon in Rome

Europe photos

I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from our trip. Although, I think by now most of you have seen the 200 plus pictures on Kodakgallery.com. : ) I am already missing things about our trip, but these pictures take me back! Enjoy.

EUROPE!!

Well, were back from Europe and boy was it a whirlwind trip! We had an amazing time in each city and loved them all for different reasons. Darren and I both agreed that Monterosso in Cinque Terre, Italy was our favorite stop. We were lucky enough to spend 1.5 days in that small slice of heaven! Cinque Terre is made up of 5 tiny and quiet towns on the Mediterrean Coast in Northeast Italy. The food and wine were amazing and it was such a relaxing place amidst the crazy sightseeing schedule we had in London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Florence and Rome. One of the other highlights of the trip, at least for me, was going to the Eiffel Tower! It's so surreal walking up to it and then taking the shaky elevator all the way to the top. It was much bigger than I imagined it would be. The London Eye was another really neat experience -as well as waling past Big Ben and Parliament. Barcelona, definitely had an energy about it and I wish we would've had more time there. We spent the most time in Italy, and although some of the people were rude, we had a wonderful time. Venice was just as you'd picture it to be from pictures and movies you've seen. Lots of shops and restaurants and gelato stands! Were splurged for a gondola ride and that was really great. It was the day we were without our luggage so it was nice to be off our feet and resting even though it was only 35 minutes. Most of you have probably already seen the 200 plus photos I sent out, so I have just attached a few of my favorites.

1st Anniversary!

We did it! We made it through the first year of marriage - time really flew by and being married has been great! We've been celebrating for the past week or so. On May 10th we stayed at Laguna Cliffs for our free one night anniversary stay. It was a fun day and night remembering back to all the planning and fun we had at the wedding. We spent the day walking around Dana Point harbor and then laid out by the pool for a couple hours before going out for a nice dinner. Then this past Friday night Darren surprised me with tickets to see Wicked at The Pantages in LA. The show was really good and actually surprisingly funny. Today, our actual anniversary we aren't doing anything special since we are leaving for Europe on FRIDAY!! That is the real anniversary celebration!! We are both getting really excited and are probably going to start packing as early as tonight. We are still thinking about trying to see the new Indiana Jones movie on opening night, May 22 so we want to try and get all our packing done before then so we can see it. Our itinerary is below:



London - May 24 - May 27

Paris - May 27 - May 30

Barcelona - May 31 - June 1

Bologna - June 1

Venice - June 2

Cinque Terre - June 3 & 4

Florence - June 5

Rome - June 6

Flying home on June 7



One final note - just wanted to say thanks to everyone who sent messages and even cards and a special thanks to mom and dad for the beautiful flowers!



My next post will probably be all about our European vacation!



Love, Melissa and Darren

Mother's Day 2008

We spent a fun day at Disneyland for Mother's Day this year. It was my mom and dad, and Amanda and then Pam and Brent and the kids and John and Lou. The kids were very well behaved all day and Avery even went on Space Mountain for the first time. The weather was perfectly pleasant too. All in all a great day.

Love you mom!