The Colosseum

By:  Caroline

My Top Ten Favorite Things About Rome

By: Madison

10. The tiny, crazy cars that they have there

9. The Circus Maximus

We didn't have a picture of the Circus Maximus but was a giant stadium used for chariot races that could fit more than 380,000 people. Now, its just a big hill and field.

8. The Pantheon

7. The Colosseum

6. The Forum

5. St. Pauls Church

This is where Paul the Apostle is buried in a church that is named after him.

4. St. Peters Cathedral

3. The Trevi Fountain

(I don't know how to spell it)

I couldn't find any pictures of this fountain either but its a fountain in Rome that has statues of the Roman gods on it. Legend says that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will come back to Rome. So far... they were right about me.

2. The pasta & pizza!!! YUMMY!!!

I don't think we have this picture either but I think everybody knows what it is.

1. I bet nobody can guess my last one.

GELATO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite flavor is strawberry or Chocolate Chip & After Eight (Mint Chocolate Chip) mixed together. Oops!!! I almost forgot about my other favorite flavor: Creme de Grom. Its a mix of Chocolate Chip with some shortbread cookies, I think.

Pompeii pictures

by Elizabeth

Once my family went to Pompeii. here are some of my favorite pictures:

Above is me with the base of some pillars in the forum.

This guy was a stagecoach driver because they found him next to a donkey.

This was a picture on the wall that is about 2000 years old.

That was for election day it was kind of like the signs we use today.

This is a picture of us in the forum with Mt.Vesuvius in the backgruond.

This is ancient grafiiti of Rufus.

The bottom seats were for important people and the middle were for VIP's the top was for random people.

This was the stage for the theater

This is Amalphi it was fun because we were racing a cruse ship.

Yucky Foods
by Elizabeth

#1.Quick burgers. If you don't know Its basicly McDonalds. I don't like it because it tastes like rubber.
#2. The pasta at a Sheraton bar in Milan because the tomato sauce tasted yucky.
#3. A waffel I had for breakfast at the same Sheraton and the same day I ate the pasta. I didn't like it because it tasted like little dots.
#4. Bread they had for breakfast at a Renaissance.  It had some type of seeds in it.  Yuck!
#5. Grapes at a fruit stand in Rome because it had seeds in it.

Gypsies in Europe

Turns out laundromats aren't as plentiful as I thought they might be...

Jealous?  Took 2 days to dry.

Edited for bloomies and other "unmentionables"...

Blessings

By: Madison

On this trip, I have realized that I have a lot of blessings. Some of them include a place to stay, a yard, food, money, a car, better schools, places to run and play, a better education, and parents & sisters that love & care for me. Some of the people that I have seen on the street probably didn't have any of the blessings that I mentioned. I couldn't imagine living without most of those things. Here are some more things that I have noticed: 

• Some people have to take a subway or a bus or walk to school or work.
• When you get a cart, you have to pay for the cart and then when your done, the register gives you your money back.
• The grocery stores are a lot smaller.
• Some people don't have jobs so they sell things like purses and toys or wallets.
• The air almost always smells like smoke.
• A lot of people smoke in Europe.
• Cigarette trash is everywhere on the ground.
• Ketchup costs money at McDonalds.
• Some people on the streets are homeless people that beg for money. Its sad to see.
• They don't have many options of what type of food to eat at restaurants in Italy. You'd better love Italian food if you don't wanna have Hard Rock Cafe every meal.
• When people want to dry their laundry, they hang them up on a wire to dry outside.
• In the city, almost everyone has no yard, just a balcony.

Top Caroline Quotes in Europe

This list is not all in inclusive because, let's face it - Caroline is funny.  I can't remember half of what she says.  I just know I belly laugh quite frequently with her, and that's not a bad thing in my book.

1. Can we go to McDonalds?
2. My foot is sparkle-ly (after it fell asleep in the car).
3. There's a McDonalds!!!!! (Pointing)
4. I really want one of those!! (said after passing any type of illegal street seller)
5. How about McDonalds?
6. I'm hungry... (10 - 15 minutes after finishing any meal)
7. Shoe Sale!  Shoe Sale! (announcing a game she made up in the hotel room selling our shoes back to us)
8. Hey! (Pointing) McDonalds!!!! (who needs GPS?)

This is a hat we found in a store.  It is from one of the foreign language cartoons we've watched here.  She recognized it immediately.

With all her laughter, I will say I'd be hard pressed to find a more compassionate soul.  We don't pass a beggar that she doesn't ask for money to give them.  She even asked to take Madison's "sit out of the pool time" (a very light punishment for a needed attitude adjustment) so that Madison could swim.  She couldn't imagine Madison not getting to swim.  Or maybe she just knew that would melt my heart and get both of them back in the pool.  Either way, its a big gift for a 7 year old heart.

Today Madison turned 12.  12 years ago we knew our lives had changed forever.  We just didn't know how much better they would be.  Madison is amazing.  She is such a great sister.  If I took a picture every time she grabbed a sister to walk arm in arm, I would have hundreds.  Every time I hear "That's great, Caroline!" or see her kissing Elizabeth on the cheek, I know she is on this earth for a reason.  She genuinely loves her sisters.  I hope she'll always know the joy that comes from allowing them to be at the top of her friends list.

In reality, she values all relationships.  She's so quick to apologize when she's wrong or may have hurt someone's feelings.  She is kind and friendly to everyone - I'm not sure she's ever had an enemy.  She keeps no record of wrongs.  In fact, the few people who have somehow hurt her feelings or were mean to her at school have been converted into "friends" or "good friends" in a matter of weeks.  I learn a lot from her.  She inspires me to love people more.  We are blessed and grateful to be her mom and dad.  God help us as we strive to show her even a portion of His love for her.  Happy Birthday, Madison.

How to keep busy in a hotel room...

What to do at a 4 hour lunch and dinner by Elizabeth

At home, we eat for one hour.  In Italy, you eat for 4 hours!  Here's why:

• First, you arrive and eat ham and cheese while everyone talks.
• Then, we go outside and play at the farm (where we ate lunch) DURING THE MEAL!

• Then, we went back inside and had pasta.
• Then, we went back outside and played this game with Italian kids who didn't speak any English.
• Then we had chicken or steak, 
• Then gelatto, tea or coffee.
• We got there at 12:30 and left at 4:30.  Then we had another meal with that family at their house.  We got there at 8:00 and left their house at 11:30.  
• I think meals that last that long are GIANT!  Humongo!  Lucky for me, they had an ipad, and I played on it.  I would not like to have meals that long because they are kind of boring.

McDonald's and I are long lost, newly found friends.  There was a time in my adult life that I actually loved McDonald's.  When we first moved to Kansas City, David and I met there all the time for lunch with Madison in her carrier - so it wasn't about the Happy Meals.  With toddlers, lets be honest, I loved it for the playland - and for the little tiny ice cream cones that provided dessert that somehow managed to stay in their mouths and not all over their shirts.  This summer, my love is renewed.  My kids are happy.  The food is dependable - you always know you'll get the same flat, little hamburger with the one, lone pickle.  You are not charged for each ketchup packet, except you do have to ask for each one from the cashiers, and they are astonished at the number of times we will come back to ask for more ketchup.  Why they can't just give us 10 packets in the beginning is beyond me.  Anyway, we have visited McDonald's in Europe no less than 10 or 15 times.  Is that a lot in just over 3 weeks?  As someone who often visits Chipotle 3-5 times per week, I think not.

These are the toys this summer.  Little boom boxes that play a short stanza from the band's song over and over and over... not ideal.  Apparently, we are collecting them - but somehow, they keep getting "lost".

Yes, this is a fresh rose - in a McDonalds!!! And it's not uncommon!

This is their version of a trash can - no more ketchup-splashed doors to maneuver open - just slide your tray into the tray holder and put your drink on the top.