Greek cruise...part 3

So my last blog was our full day out at sea sailing from Venice, Italy to Corfu, Greece.  It was so relaxing and so much fun but as soon as we saw land I could not contain myself!!  The whole reason we went to Greece was because it was DD1's choice. You see when we first found out we were going to Germany we asked both of our girls what their dream place to visit would be.  DD2 wanted to go to Paris which we did last year and DD1 wanted to see Greece and  we finally made it.  So watching her face was absolutely priceless!!

Corfu was gorgeous and everything I thought it would be..a total beautiful beachy shopping paradise!! :)

 Yayyy the first sight of land in over a day!!!

 A beautiful building and museum.

 Unfortunately there was a fence all around this or I would have insisted on a family photo here. How gorgeous is that?!?!

 Well duhhh...of course Mr. M once again sniffed out a McDonalds!!

 Can you say heaven?!?!  I am a total bag junky and Greece is a total paradise to me!!!  Muahuahuahuah!!

 They had a ton of cafes as well so you know when you get hungry from all the shopping and walking you can sit down and enjoy a latte, sandwich and of course some fabulous gelato!! Yummmmmmmmmyy!!

Simply gorgeous no?!?!  I truly adored Corfu and was so excited to move onto the next place.. goodbye Corfu and hope to see you again some day!!











So we spent all day on Corfu and bought so much fabulous stuff that Mr. M finally said "feed me or I am leaving you" and since you know he is the bag holder(he loves it!) we fed him and headed back to the ship to give everyone a rest.  Of course I have not yet taken photos of all the goodies we bought so that will have to be an after blog when I am all done with the cruise.

See you tomorrow for another day of our cruise!!

Greek cruise...part 2

Ok so  I left off yesterday where we finally got to the cruise and after a short bit of shaking and the girls crying because they were so relieved to finally be there we got checked in and headed to our room.  The first picture of our cruise is kind of funny in my opinion. Mr. M says it's just sad and he didn't like it but I just had to have it to chronicle the mess that it was getting there..

Don't we look scared out of our everloving minds and happy to finally be out of the truck so happy to be starting our cruise?!

So we left the port around 5:30pm and were at sea for the first day. We had tons of time to look around the ship and enjoy it and that is exactly what we did.

 We shopped!  Mainly because my genious self had bought DD2 a new swimsuit and didn't notice that her top was size 7 but the bottoms were size 14..ughhhhh!!

 We swam and swam and swam some more!! There were 2 pools and 4 hot tubs and tons of places to just sit and enjoy the sun.

 Looks like fun right?!

This is how it looked before all the sun bunnies got there!  So peaceful and beautiful.

 We ate buffet the first day. I can not say enough about freestyle dining on this cruise..it was AMAZING!!

 The girls loved that they always had fresh fruit and hot dogs no matter what time of day it was.  Well, ok no hot dogs for breakfast but the rest of the day you could get hot dogs, hamburger, cole slaw and potatoe salad any time you wanted.  Oh and did I mention that there were soft serve ice cream bars on the pool level and you could get ice cream 24/7?!?!  Yummm!!!

We all enjoyed just hanging out on the deck as well and watching the gorgeous water go by.  











We did watch a show that night and it was fabulous!!  The girls thought it was so much fun that we changed clothes all day long to do things...kids!!!  We dressed for breakfast in casual and then went swimming and then changed for lunch and then dressed up for dinner and the show.  Let me just say that thank goodness they offer a laundry service on the ship because we packed light...whoopsie!!

I would say the best thing about our day at sea was just the relaxed atmosphere. We didn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning or our jobs at all.  I highly reccomend a cruise if you really want a relaxing and pampered vacation!!

Come back tomorrow for our first port in Corfu, Greece and all the exciting things we discovered there!!

Greek cruise...part 1

So we took off June 11th around 2am in the morning to drive to Venice, Italy and take our cruise.  We were so proud of ourselves for leaving so much extra time once we get there to look around Venice a little before leaving on our blissful vacation.  After about 2 hours of driving we started realizing we were not going the way we had thought we would go and went to check the gps.....ummmmmm....yeah so by the time I spam out on the gps and to find out that for some reason we are being sent through Switzerland instead of Austria we are at the border and have to purchase an overpriced autobahn sticker!!  We weren't worried though because time wise we were still right no schedule and would have plenty of time to reach our port so we drove on.

Let me just pass about 6 more hours of traffic, construction and going up and down mountains to say that it took us 8 hours to get through Switzerland...GRRRRRRR!!!  By this time we were nervous and getting madder by the minute.  Once we finally hit Italy's border it took us almost an hour to get through the border into Milan.  Let me just say.....God bless gps and the warning of traffic cameras on the road because otherwise we would have a ton of tickets to pay right now!! We were flying!!!

As we finally get into Venezia our gps dies on us. It keeps saying program error and won't reboot at all. We are frantic trying to find another way to the port and driving around aimlessly. It was also raining which didn't make anything else easy. As we watched the clock hit 3pm which was to be the last time the book said they would allow you to embark the ship we really got flustered.  Yes, yes I started to get scared that we would miss our cruise and I was sad!!  We finally spotted an Italian security guard and pulled him over to ask for help. He spoke no English but showing him the port number and map we were trying to get to he was able to point and help us find our way.  Once we hit the entrance to the port bridge we were so excited and Mr. M was still flying like we were on our way to the ER and then it happened.......*pause for suspense*..... Mr. M took a corner too fast and lost control of the truck.  The girls were screaming and crying in the back seat, I was watching the cars coming at us and wondering if there a family in their car as well and Mr. M was so calm and working hard to keep control of the truck that he didn't even notice he barely missed hitting 2 cars and a van and just barely clipped the end of a guard rail before coming to a complete stop.  We were fine!  The girls were still crying! Mr. M was mad and just wanted to get there!  At this point we all figured if they said they wouldn't let us on the cruise we were fighting tooth and nail and would get our place on that cruise ship.  Oh yeah we had been through it all that day and I was getting on my cruise ship NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

As we reach our ship and the dock, Mr. M pulls up to the luggage drop off and the people could not have been nicer.  Mr. M says we have bags and they help unload them out of the truck.  We head to check in and Mr. M heads to park the truck.  Oh did I mention that our tail light was hanging on the truck?!?!  Yeah good times!!  So we go inside only to find out that we have plenty of time and everyone keeps telling us how we missed the crowds and are lucky to get checked in so fast now....REALLY?!??!?!?!  We had an accident and it took us 12 hours to get there and it's just fine?!??!  Oyyyyy!!!!

So yes we made our cruise and yes I now have to fix the rear end of my truck and yes I will have tons of pics and things to show you all in the next few days.   Ok you can stop clutching that pillow now!!

 The atrium on the main floor of the ship.

 Map of the ship's levels.

 One of the grand staircases in the atrium.

 The bridge where they are driving the ship.

 This was one of the lounges where they held classes and you could just relax and chat with people.

 This is the theater where we watched all the shows at night. It was also the room where we learned about all the ports, where to shop and met to take off on our excursions.  The shows were fabulous!!!

Our ship docked at our first stop. Corfu, Greece   I was a little flustered when we first got on the ship to even think about taking pics of the ship.  She's a beauty isn't she?!?!











So keep coming back each day and I will introduce you to our cruise day by day as well as Greece and a few Greek Islands as well.

5 Question Friday and a bonvoyage message!!

1. How close to your childhood dreams is your life now?

Growing up I wanted to be so many things but most of all I always knew I wanted to be a mom.  I used to have dreams of driving my kids to dance class and football practice and cheering them on. I also had dreams of running my own business. Now I am a mom and am totally fulfilling that dream but I have yet to open my own business mainly because being a milspouse and moving all over tarnation constantly is a little harder to get a business started.  Maybe someday I will get the rest of my dream.

2. What is one must have item for the summer?

Maxi dress!!!  I looooooove maxi dresses and especially being overseas with no air conditioning they are so comfortable. 

3. Do you have your kids stay up on school stuff during summer vacation? (Or, if you don't have kiddos, did your parents make you keep up on school stuff during summer?)

I don't remember my parents making me keep up with schooling during the summer but I do remember going to church camp all the time. As for my kids I let them have their summer with fun and sun and all the good stuff but my oldest always reads and does her art work and my youngest loves to do workbooks so we do a lot of them.

4. Do you can or freeze fresh produce?

Nope I don't do either. I love to have fresh produce and really miss having a good farmers market to go to around here. We will be going to pick our own strawberries one day but I am a total city gal who never was taught to can or freeze anything unless you bought it frozen! lol

5. Do you get ready for the day first thing in the morning?

The first thing I do in the morning is check my emails and then add anything that has come up to my calendar. I am so in love with Cozi right now and have it on my laptop and my ipod touch. It keeps me straight and I adore it!  Oh and for those who follow me regularly yes I am working on getting an ipad and have decided it is a good investment not only for me but for my kids as well.

Ok so that is the questions for today and now I will tell you that I will be busy today packing up to leave town. We will be leaving tomorrow morning for our cruise!!!  I am so excited and the girls are so ready they have all their swimsuits and flip flops layed out already.  We will be seeing a little of Italy, Greece and the Greek islands. I am sure I will have a ton of pics to share with you when we get back but unfortunately I will have to say bon voyage for a little while as we will be gone for 10 days.

Be back soon with tons of pics and all the other good stuff!!!

A super fast catch up..picture heavy!!

Ok so things around here have been super duper hectic, and really busy. Let me start with the fact that right now I am taking a break from packing...a much needed break too...but we will get to the travelling soon enough.

Ok first of all my trip to Garmisch was amazing and fabulous and exhausting and very informative. I however do not have any pics to share with you because my dumb a** forgot my camera...can you say I need an Iphone now?!?!!?  So anywho it was great and then the next weekend was filled with catching a show at the theater, a birthday party and legoland deutchland.  I LOVE going to the theater and especially love that my girls love it too!!  We got to see Crazy for you and it was just fantastic.
 The next day we headed off to Legoland..yiippeeee!! I adore Legoland and the one here is even better then the one in California. They had so many rides we spent all day there and still didn't get to ride all of them.

 Can you see me?!?! Haha it was so much fun!!

So then let's move onto the closing ceremony for DD2's elementary school.  I was so sad to see the school closing because I liked the smaller class sizes but I guess all good things must come to an end. The kids sang songs and it was a beautiful ceremony..

 Yeah she is a total ham if she sees a camera pointed at her!!

 Look minisoldiers...ok ok they are highschool rotc soldiers but I really think they look like minisoldiers dont you?!?!

DD2's favorite part was the bbq afterwards and the cupcakes that she said "a lion cub walked on and left a footprint"  Soo cute!!











So then we have to go to DD2's dance recital for her hip hop class. She LOVES this class and I love the fact that she is so passionate about it..

 Seriously how cute are they?!?!

 She was concentrating so hard she forgot to smile! lol

One of my favorite moves they did.  It was a fabulous recital and I was so proud of DD2. She did a fabulous job and even had a friend give her flowers afterwards!!  You go girl!!










Now that would lead us pretty much up to today..yes I skipped some stuff but I was afraid to completely bore you.  I do however have to tell you that when I am all done packing up our bags we will be leaving early early Saturday morning to drive to Venice, Italy and catch our cruise ship to the Greek Island!!  I am SO excited and I promise I will NOT forget my camera on this one!!  So you all can look forward to more fun and gorgeous pics when I return.

Oh and just in case I have lost anyone due to my crazy hiatis because I done locked myself out of the blogger page....come back ya'll ya hear?!?!??!?!!!!!

This is what happens when you think you know it all....

So in case you all didn't miss me badly I knew you all did!! enough to notice I have not blogged in a while I have a funny story to tell you all. So I have started working on all my stuff for the club I am volunteering for next year and all my info of course has passwords on it. Well...my being the smarty that I am I decided to change all the passwords so I didn't have to worry about anyone going into my accounts and messing anything up. Smart right?!?!  Yeah well not if you forget to write down all the passwords that you have now changed...Haha that's right I made the mistake of not writing down any passwords that I chagned and ended up locking myself out of blogger...ughhhhh!!  Call me genious..go ahead I know you want to!!!

So I do appologize for not blogging in a while and will do my best to not lock myself any more.  Do you know how hard it is to talk with customer service when your hours are so far from their hours that you have to literally set an alarm to remind you to call them at a certain time?!?!  Geeeeezzzz  what a mess!!!

A lot has gone on in the past week or so also and I have so much to tell you but today I just got done volunteering for field day and I have a few hours until I have to go volunteer some more so I am taking a small break.  I will be back to update you all on our comings and goings soon though I promise!!

Have a fabulous day and I hope you are having wonderful weather like we are today!!

Post it note Tuesday!