Did we seriously fit all of that into one summer?

Landon, Abbie and Noah in the Colorado shirts that we brought them when we went to Minnesota for their dad's "graduation" from residency.

For the sake of written documentation, I'm feeling the need to list the events of this summer. Put them into print and stare at them and shake my head as I think "Holy Cow . . . did we fit all that into one summer?" I've already blogged about my trip to Vancouver, in May, our annual Hale-May Memorial Day trip (Kodachrome Basin), our lovely trip to Boston to celebrate Steve and Kalli's graduations and to help them move and the Hale family reunion in Brigham City. Next on the docket was our trip to Minnesota to attend Mike's "graduation" dinner from his residency in oral surgery and to help he and his family make their move from Minneapolis to Denver (via our place).

Mike saying a few words after being presented with his certificate. He was eloquent . . . truly.
It's been a long road for these two and their little family. They were married in July of 2000 and have continuously been in school or training ever since.

A few photos after the dinner, out on the "terrace".
We knew that when we drove from Minnesota back to Utah that we would be passing through Omaha, Nebraska where Sister Annie Hale was serving her mission. Since she only had a few days left to serve, her mission president agreed to let us meet her at the Trail Center and have her give us a tour. It was fantastic. No words.
President Milan and Sister Leslie Kunz. How I love this couple. I especially love how they love and serve their missionaries.

For some must push and some must pull . . .
My oldest and my youngest. This photo warms my heart.
Abbie and Landon playing outside of Little America in Wyoming where we stopped for sustenance! Moving along to . . .
The fourth of July and Mike's 33rd birthday. When Mike was a little boy he thought all of the fireworks and celebrations were just for him!
Scott, Rachel and Adelaide at the great fireworks at Davis High.
Lucy wasn't particularly impressed . . . her Uncle Scott was trying to help her feel better about all the bright lights and loud noises.
Forward to July 8th and Sister Andrea Hale's return home.
Okay . . . how cliche is this? I love it!
Annie with all five of her nieces and nephews. This was the first time she'd seen Adelaide.
Celebrating at Thymes and Seasons that evening. Brent and I took her to see the Stake President for her offical release from her missionary service, later that evening. Which brings us to July 10th and the "homecoming" meeting. Andrea gave a great talk and then we fed the "five thousand" with the help of lots of friends, family and ward members who contributed all kinds of yummy food.

The welcome home banner was crafted by the Rechis girls, across the street. Thanks ladies! Which brings us to July 13th and our Mediterranean cruise. This was originally planned to be a graduation gift for Mike, Steve and wives however the entire family ended up going except for Scott and Rachel who have a nursing baby. It was REALLY hard to leave them behind but they were great sports about it.
Salt Lake airport.
Layover in (some eastern U.S. city . . . can't remember which one). What a lively bunch. We were exhausted before we even got started!
Embarkation was in Venice. We had a day there before we boarded the Ruby Princess. There's really not any place like it.

Shipping out of Venice.

We had dinner every night on the ship at 8:30. Our head waiter was Eli and he worked his tail off for us. We loved him. The crew members of these big cruise ships work for 10 months, straight, at sea. Most of them have spouses and young children who they have to leave in order to support them. It's just not fair.
A game of mini-golf on the top-decks of the ship.
Remember my diatribe about Greek taxi drivers? Here they are, in force, blockading the port into Athens. There were also taxis blockading all the major tourist sites. Sigh.
Here we are just staring into the distance to see if we can catch a little glimpse of the Parthenon.
When I zoomed in my camera all the way, I was able to see it (against the sky to the left). Next stop . . . Turkey.
First Turkish port was Kusadasi. Great little place, but the best part was going to the ruins of Ephysus. It was early in the morning (to beat the heat) and the sun was just coming up. The ruins were so fantastic. We even saw the big amphitheater where Paul preached to the Ephesians.
Erin, Annie and Laura.
An ancient library. Next day we went to . . .
Istanbul. My camera developed some problems and most of my photos ended up with black spots on them.
A river cruise on the Bosphorus where we saw some very ancient castles as well as some modern estates.
Next stop was Mykonos, one of the Greek Islands. I wish I could have posted a few more photos of this place. White washed homes and businesses, with just a touch of blue trim, outdoor cafes, narrow winding streets, lots of little shops, incredible beaches. Might have to go back to this place.
Steve and Kalli all decked out to dine on the ship. I love the fedora, Steve.

Our next port of call was Naples (Napoli) . Naples wasn't our favorite city but from there we took a bus (train?) to the ruins of Herculaneum and that WAS fantastic. We didn't feel like we had enough time to see Pompeii which is massive and Laura had heard that Herculaneum was much smaller, but still wonderful to see. She heard right. The above photo is a well preserved fresco. Herculaneum was filled by mud flows when Vesuvius erupted (instead of weighed down by volcanic ash, like Pompeii) so the preservation is very good. Our guide, an older man named Hector, had a wealth of information to share with us. I would say this one one of the highlights of the cruise for me.
Herculaneum.

A great little pizza place near Herculaneum. The guys saw what they thought looked like sausage pizza and ordered several of them. They were called Tonna pizzas and turned out to be tuna pizzas. Fishy, strong tasting tuna. Not our best food experience. Except for me . . . I ordered the veggie and it was delicious :) We found out that Margherita pizza is so named in honor of a visiting princess who the pizza was created for. The red sauce, white mozzarella cheese and the green basil leaves are the colors of the Italian flag.

Outside the restaurant, enjoying his Italian lemon soda, is Mike. Not looking at all touristy, are you Mike?
On to Rome. The port of call was a little town that was actually a 1 1/2 hour train ride from Rome so we really had a ridiculously short amount of time to "see" Rome. This is Brent and I in the foreground of Vatican city. Because it was Sunday we weren't able to see the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican treasury. However, St. Peter's Basilica was magnificent.
The rest of the group at Vatican city and the basilica.

We also made it over the colosseum. What an evil place. During the big opening event of the colosseum, over 9000 animals were slaughtered . . . whole species of animals became extinct because of the colosseum blood sports.
We loved Florence. This building is the Duomo, a beautiful cathedral.
Potato pizza. Brent and I had some amazing potato pizza in Rome several years ago and have been searching for it ever since. We found this in a pizza shop in Florence. I thought it was great but Brent said it wasn't even close to what we had in Rome.
A quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. It's almost surreal to see it in person.
The cruise ended in Barcelona, Spain. Such a beautiful city. It was so great to have two Spanish speakers with us for this portion of the trip. Mike served his mission in Malaga, Spain and Jordan served in Chile. No problem getting around here.
Hop on, hop off bus in Barcelona. A great way to see the city.
We got home from our cruise on July 28th and had just a couple of days to get ready for . . .
Lake Powell! Steve and Kalli weren't able to join us, as Steve's new job started in Longmont, CO on August 1st, but Scott and Rachel were able to come on this one.
Annie with her great friends Megan Walker and Alexis (Lu) Redd. We love these girls.
Abbie and Landon observing the habits of the Lake Powell "rump-back" whale.
Nice show, Jordan.
The early morning reflection in still waters that I love so much at Powell.
Lake Powell hair. Lookin' good Rach and Elaine!

Uncle Len is like a pied piper for kids. My grandkids love him!
Adelaide, cooling off in a "tubby" bath. It was so hot while we were there.
Mike enjoying some tubing with his kids.
Mike, Erin and kids were only able to stay with us for three days because they needed to move on to their new home in Parker, Colorado. Here they are walking away to a whole new life. I can't quite describe how I felt watching them go. So happy for them . . . so sad for me. How I love this little family. We continued to enjoy the lake for an additional three days. I really thought when we got home from Lake Powell that life would slow down but it wasn't so. But I'm too tired tonight to continue . . . except to say, is it possible that all of this happened or was I just having a really intense dream? Nope. It happened. Irrefutable photographic evidence. Til next time . . .