Rome- Day 2- Part 1

*Beware* This could be a long post!

Our second day in Rome, we did the Vatican tour and went to the Colloseum, Roman Forum, Palentine Hill, and anything else we walked upon while going from stop to stop.

I definitely did my research for this one and booked a nice tour that would pace us through the Vatican City walls. I did a good job because our tour consisted of less than 20 people. I know this sounds like a lot, but we saw other tours that had 60 to 100 people in them. This place was packed, so I could not imagine being in a tour that big. Our tour guide spoke really good English and was humorous, too. He picked out the things that most people find interesting and made it about a 4 to 5 hour tour. We met him at the yellow stone wall outside of the Vatican City State. He brought us to a nearby cafe, which was friendly, and gave us some information, our speakers, and a little about what we would be doing. We headed out for the Vatican Museum and as we are walking, we began to see the line to get in. Oh my goodness! This line was forever long. Like seriously, it took up several blocks, and probably took people 4 or so hours to get in. It was ridiculously long. At this time, I am realizing I made a smart move by booking us a tour. 

So we finally get in and this place is huge! Obviously, it is very huge. Our tour guide showed us around, brought us through the museums, courtyards, showed us the different sculptures and galleries of paintings, tapestries, and maps. We also saw the Basilica, Sistine Chapel, and the Crypts of the Popes (which is located underneath the basilica). Mr. Man and I loved it. The guide gave us tons of information, and we were able to soak it all in, take tons of pictures, and enjoy it. That is exactly what we did. 

Now, just so you know.. most places did not allow cameras, and when they did, you were not allowed to use the flash. So I will add some pictures of the tour, but please keep this in mind.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Entrance to the museum.

One of the courtyards.

Another courtyard.

One of the sculptures in the courtyard.

One of the galleries.

A ceiling.

A floor.

This Jesus looks at you no matter where you are in the room.

The map gallery.

A tapestry.

A painting on the wall.

This is where important people walk. Also the same place where the Pope walks every Wednesday morning for the Papal Audience.

Mr. Man drinking from the fountain.

The Swiss Guard.

Mr. Man and I in front of the fountain.

St. Peter's Square.

Looking from St. Peter's Square.

Please forgive me for all the pictures. It is too hard to decide which ones to post.

Kindred Connection:

Let's get connected, yea, yea, yea! Kindred Connection party is right here, right now! So go link of and meet some people that have something in common with you!

The questions this week are:

1. What pets currently reside at your house?

(If you don't have any now, tell us what you grew up with)

We have a beautiful Miniature Schnauzer that totally owns our hearts. He is most adorable thing in this world. He is extra snuggly and loves to share his love, especially with kids.

2. What is one really strange thing your pet(s) does?

I am not sure I am aware of anything strange that our boy does. He is deathly afraid of water, and I really think it was because Mr. Man threw him in the pool one summer when he was younger. He shakes very bad when he is around water until he realizes that everything is ok. 

When we still lived in Texas, we had a pecan tree. And this pup loved to eat the pecans that had following from the tree. Not sure if that is strange or not. That's all I can think of for now.

3. Now fess up here: give us your nicknames for your pets (we KNOW you have them- and we KNOW they're good)!

So his name is Buttons. When we got him, I wanted to name him Harley. Mr. Man wanted to name him Buttons. Mr. Man grew up with a Buttons when he was a baby, so he really wanted another Buttons. I gave in of course, but we decided to give him a middle name. So he is Buttons Harley, and I call him that pretty often. I also call him my Snuggle Butt because he loves, loves, loves to snuggle, and I love that he loves to snuggle. Mr. Man will sometimes call him "Butts" for short, which was also what they did with his other Buttons'.

4. Are your pets spoiled or not (grin)?

He is very much spoiled. We will admit it. But he also is an only child, too. Mr. Man and I get attached to our pets, so of course we are going to take extra care of them and spoil them. We dress Buttons, he sleeps with us (sometimes in the middle of us), when Mr. Man comes through the door from work, Buttons is who he goes to first, we plan our weekends around doing something for him, etc.

One really bad thing that I did when I was still in Texas was give him Sonic Ice Water. Every morning (while Mr. Man was deployed), I would take him for a walk. I would stop by Sonic and get a large ice water. Buttons got the drink the water and crunch on the ice. He loves Sonic ice water just as much as I do! (We didn't share it, though.) For the longest time, he wouldn't drink water unless it had ice in it. 

5. Insert pet pics here :-)

PERFECT!!

Here is him as a puppy. He was also eating pecans from our tree.

 

Here is a picture of him for his first birthday. (Mr. Man was deployed.)

I will save you the other birthdays, but he did have them.. He will be 4 in September.

Here is a more recent picture of him.

He loves the outdoors. He loves the sun. And he definitely loves his Daddy!

These two guys are like two peas in a pod... and I'm the corn!

Tuesday is Today!

Top 2 Tuesday is host by The Undomestic Momma. 

This weeks Top 2 Tuesday is Guilty Pleasures. This is hard, but this what I have chosen:

1. Panties/Lingerie. I have an obsession with constantly buying new panties and lingerie. Surprisingly, it is hardly ever for Mr. Man. I just love panties. I love bras. I love cute little sleep outfit. And I love to occasionally (And I mean "occasionally") play dress up. Just recently I sent $60 on panties from Victoria Secret, only because they were on sale. But then a week later, I went on a shopping spree with Mr. Man and could not resist not buying more. Needless to say, my pantie drawer is stuffed full (but somehow I manage to fit more and more and more in it). Bras.. I got through bras like crazy because I wear a regular bra everywhere and for everything I do. So gym, I wear a regular bra with a sports bra. Definitely not because I have big boobs. It's actually for the opposite. It tends to give my boobs a little extra "ooh la la." 

2. My other one is a tie between shoes and purses. I definitely own more shoes than purses. The last time Mr. Man deployed, the 6 month one. I had accumulated 12 new pairs of shoes while he was gone. Sadly, I did not start buying them until 2 months into the deployment, which means.. yea, you get it. Mr. Man came home to shoe boxes stacked up the top of our tall dresser in our bedroom. (Oops!) Purses, I definitely love, but somehow I can talk myself out of buying them. Not really sure why or how I do that, but I do. It still does not change how much I want them and how much I love them, but it does save Mr. Man's pocketbook.

Today:

Today was my first day back into the gym. It was exciting, exhausting, and emotional. Exciting because I was stoked about getting back into the gym after eating nothing but fatty foods for 2 weeks. Exhausting because I still feel like I need to recover from my vacation. I need sleep, need relaxation (spa day just was not enough. How about 5 more of those?!), and need a change in pace. Emotional because... well because... I got a new iPod. I plugged it into the computer and all the music downloaded to it. All of that music seemed to be depressing country music while I was working out. Seriously, one song would come on and I would want to cry. No exaggeration there. (Hello Hormones, Glad you could welcome yourself into my "hardcore" moment!) I snapped out of it quickly, though. For the most part anyway. It was definitely nice to be in the gym, though. It was a slow pace workout, but it was successful. I felt refreshed and calm when I was done. Definitely could have sleep for days after it, but I didn't.

Instead, I had to get groceries. Our house has been empty since we left for vacation. There was no point in leaving anything with us being gone so long. We got back on Sunday, and by this morning the pantry and refrigerator were dry. (Speaking of our pantry and refrigerator being dry... When I woke up this morning, Mr. Man went out got breakfast for us. He's been too sweet. So sweet that I think he might have something up his sleeve?) So today was grocery shopping day while Mr. Man was at work. Now we have food, YAY! A lot of it, too!! 

Ok, now I will go work on the pictures. 

Day 1 of our Trip:

We left home on Saturday, May 29. We headed to London for the night to catch an early flight the following morning. The drive to the airport and hotel was smooth. We saw many random "positive signs". I just knew things were going to go well. Our bus was numbered 777, we caught the time on 11:11 two times that day. But... that was not the case.

We left for Italy on Sunday, May 30. Our flight left at 6:50am, and let me tell you... it was a long and tiring morning and rest of the day. We flew through RyanAir, and they need to fix their website on checked baggage regulations. I read it as they would take 30 kilos and below as long as it fit certain dimensions. Well that was obviously not the case because when we checked our luggage in, it was overweight. And for every kilo it was overweight it was 20 pounds, which is over $30. We were about 5 kilos over,  but we were able to squish some things into the carry on so we would not have to pay so much money to get our luggage there. Well because of this, we were running around the airport paying the fees and dropping off our luggage. It was crazy because we needed more money out of the ATM and the ATM was across the airport. Then we had to bring the luggage to a certain spot for overweight luggage, which had a long line. All of this and we just knew we were going to miss our flight. I was freaking out over it.. and Mr. Man was running through the airport and I could barely keep up with him. Up a flight of stairs only to go back down not much longer. This happened a gazillion times. By the time we reached our gate, we were sweating and needed water. Well, that didn't happen because we had to get on the plane. We made it, but it was scary to think about.

Our flight was good for the most part. It was my first time flying on a smaller plane, so I was nervous about that. Whoever said that flying does not feel like you are in the air, it feels like you are on the ground is such a liar because I totally felt like I was floating on clouds. That is not a feeling my body enjoys. So Dramamine, thank you for being there if I needed you. I ended up not taking it because the flight was only a little over an hour and it would not have set in until 30 minutes into the flight, then what was the point after that? None, so I dealt with it. We did hit some "bad air" so the plane shook and jerked some. I was laying my head down when it happened, so it freaked me out when it happened because I was actually relaxed. Well Mr. Man thought it was funny, but I totally did not.

Once we arrived in Rome, we immediately realized they are an  hour ahead of England. This is something I forgot to look up  before we left (even though it was on my to-do list). We went straight to the hotel with our luggage and grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby Pizzareia (?sp). After we ate, we went back to the hotel, did some unpacking, freshened up, and headed out to see something. We were too anxious to not just sit around all day... so sightseeing is what we did. We went to a church. The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which had a few piazzas and things nearby, so it took up the rest of the day. They were actually having mass and it was in both English and Italian, which I thought was really cool. We toured the church and sat through the mass, then headed out to walk around until we went back for dinner. For dinner, we grabbed quick (and yummy!) pizza. After that, it was sleep time for a long and exciting Monday.

Here is some pictures from that first day in Rome.

 

 

 

Our Spa Day:

So today was Mr. Man and I's spa day. We arrived at about 9:20am, made sure our appointments were at the same time, and got a tour of the facility then hit the jacuzzi. It was such a nice and relaxing day. The very first thing we did was put on our swim suits and went straight into the jacuzzi. It was hot and nice. The facilities were all indoors because it is ENGLAND! Which means hardly no sunshine.. no warmth. It has been cloudy today. I actually had to wear a long sleeve shirt and pants, which really stinks coming from a place where I could sport my bikini, tube tops, and booty shorts (wink, wink). Either way, the water was warm and cozy. The bubbles were nice. Mr. Man was 1 of 3 men in this area, seriously. It was quite funny. Next, we went into the sauna to dry up a bit  before we got out massages and pedicures. They give us slippers, robes, and towels for the day, which is awesome. We walked around this place wrapped in robes all day long. It was quite hilarious to see Mr. Man in these type of clothes. Haha! Anyway, after the massages and pedicures, we had lunch. Mr. Man got teriyaki salmon with some scottish egg thing, and I got a steak with roasted vegetables. It was all very yummy. It was a lot of food, too. Mr. Man said he could have eaten more, though. But we all know he is a fatty and eats a ton! I had way too much food, so I shared with him. After we ate, we hung our by the pool and steam room until our manicure appointments. After the manicures, we decided it was time to come home to our boy because we missed him. Plus, it really is not fair to come home, only to leave him behind again. We got home and relaxed. I fell asleep on the drive home because my body was so relaxed from the spa day. 

My appointments today were amazing. The girl was extremely young, but she did a really good job. She was really sweet and friendly, too, so that made a difference. My hands and arms are so soft from the conditioning treatment and massage. Same goes for my feet and bottom half of my legs. My back and shoulders could use some more work, but that is just how my body is. That's not anyone else's fault. Over all it was a nice treat for the both of us, and it was just the right thing to welcome us back home. 

Pics from the trip and things to come soon!

We're Back!

We are back. It has been a long day, but we have made it home safely. We have been up since 3:30am and have been going nonstop since. It was all worth it. This whole vacation was totally worth it. I plan on posting the pictures as soon as I go through this, which could take me a month or so since I took over 5,000 pictures. I do plan on telling you all about our trip and show you some of the pictures as soon as my brain has some sleep, and I can function properly.

Can I just say one more time that we had a blast?! Ok, good! We had a BLAST!! This was the best two weeks of my life. The best vacation for this family thus far for this family. It was absolutely amazing, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I did a really good job on the research because our hotels were amazing, the atmosphere was amazing, the food was wonderful, it was not too exhausting, we were able to save money, we show everything we wanted to see plus more.. Ok, it was a great trip. Well worth every penny thrown that way.

I do have to say I am happy and thankful to be back home. We missed our son dearly. This was the first trip that I have left him behind. Mr. Man obviously has left him behind before with his TDY's and deployments, but for me this was a new experience. I thought about him constantly and always wanted to email the people keeping him. Everytime I would see a dog walking down the street or see one on the trains, I would get a little sad and want my puppy. But all in all, it was worth it. He had a wonderful time with his new puppy friend and he was a happy little guy when we picked him up earlier today. He was jumping around all excited, running circles, and barking a little. He gave both me and Mr. Man some snuggles and kisses.. the best kisses from him, too! We definitely missed him. It was satisfying to see that he missed us just as much.

Tomorrow we have an all day spa day, just the two of us. So I probably won't be posting much, but Tuesday our schedules will go back to normal since I will be back in school and Mr. Man will be at work. I may do multiple postings in one day depending on how much I get done with the pictures such. Be on the lookout for our adventures. And I will try not to drown you all away with it all!! I am still excited  about the trip, so please forgive me.

A glimpse of Rome

Here's a glimpse of Rome just for you!