Some (very belated) pics from our cruise (days 1-4).

We arrived in Nice, France, after a long but luxurious journey on Delta. We were met in Nice by the tour organizers and herded onto buses for the drive to Monaco. Because we could not board the ship until 3:00 (and we had arrived in Nice at 7:00 a.m.), our hosts had arranged a visit to the village of Eze. Although we were tired, we enjoyed stretching our legs on a very hilly walk through the village.




As we were leaving Eze, we saw this amazing spice market.




After Eze, we drove to Monte Carlo, toured the palace, and watched the changing of the guard.





We finally boarded the SilverSeas Silver Whisper in Monte Carlo, Monaco.




After traveling for close to 24 hours, we took a quick nap and then had a delicious dinner with our hosts.




After dinner, we rallied a group of people to hike into town to see the Grand Casino and Hotel du Paris in Monte Carlo.




We have never seen so many fancy cars in one place, even at an auto show. There were Maseratis and Ferraris and Porsches and other things I didn't even recognize!! All of them were being driven all over, parked right on the street in front of the casino, and obviously being "shown off."



After a very late night (early morning?) of enjoying the hot tub and some room service shrimp cocktail and champagne, we were very glad that our second day was spent in port. The ship set sail from Monte Carlo at about 1:00 in the afternoon (day 2).

That night, we dressed up for a cocktail reception and wonderful dinner.



After dinner, we again stayed up very late on the pool deck, at what would be come to be known as our group's "table."




Our next port (day 3) was the Italian town of Alghero, Italy, on the island of Sardinia. We pulled in at 8:00 a.m. and I was able to watch our arrival from our terrace.



No pictures from our time on Sardinia, as we spent a good chunk of time trying to score scooters to tour the island with absolutely no success. We retreated to the ship and had a leisurely lunch. Jim snapped this photo of the Sardinian coast as we set sail at about 7:00 p.m.




That night was another great dinner (are you sensing a theme here?). We watched the sun set out the dining room window! It was a special evening as we had our own personal somelier (a guest of one of our group members) and enjoyed several very fancy bottles of wine.



After dinner, Jim spent some time in the Humidor.



Day four, we pulled into the French port of Antibes, France. The most interesting thing in Antibes was the Picasso Museum. The Museum was created from a villa at which Picasso stayed for several months. It was full of paintings and sculptures and pottery (I had no idea Picasso made pottery plates and bowls, but he made a lot of them!).




In Antibes, we also explored the local market and had a lovely, simple meal of sausages, bread, and Orangina in a beautiful little park.

More to come the next time I have time to post about this fantastic trip!

Last day of soccer...

Saturday was the last day of the fall soccer league. This also happens to be the last day of me enjoying having only ONE kid in soccer, as the littles are just begging to start soccer as soon as they're eligible, which means I'll have THREE little boogers in soccer starting next spring.

Anyway, it was a chilly, windy fall day for soccer, but we all endured.

Thanks to Abbey's grandpa for taking this shot of Abbey and Denali going for the ball in practice. (I meant to take my camera, but forgot in the rush to get out the door!).

Kudos to Coach Jim for bringing the girls along... 8 5-year-old girls are certainly a challenge! The girls improved a lot from August to October... playing positions, understanding defense, spreading out, passing, getting back to defend the goal. They looked really good.

And a special thanks to a really great group of parents for cooperating in the snack schedule and supporting the girls without ever getting obnoxious!

Fall hike with my fur babies

It was such a beautiful crisp autumn morning here that I decided to take the dogs for a hike to the moose pond. To make it more interesting, I took along my camera and spent at least an hour playing with different settings and trying to get some "money" shots of my dogs.

Here's what I got...