Halloween.

Since we're now into Advent, I thought it would be a good idea to post about Halloween : )  Brian was gone traveling to exotic places (South Africa), so I was alone with the boys for the week.  They had a trick-or-treating event on base, so I took the boys and they had a great time.  Owen didn't actually end up with any candy, but he was happy just running around.  

Since both the boys are now on the go, go, go, it's hard to get a good picture of them together.  This was the best one I could get that night. . . 

Pompeii Again.

Ok, wow.  I'm really behind again.  Sorry!  So this is the last post about Brian's parents being here.  We took them to Pompeii and had another great time there.  It was the fourth time we'd been there, but since it is still an active archeological sight there was more open than we'd seen before.  It was a very nice day.

We always LOVE having visitors, but it takes awhile to get back to "normal" once they leave.   We are so grateful that some of our family has been able to come visit.  We only have about 13 months left here, but we have some great trips and more visitors already planned for our last year here.

Happy Veterans Day!

I just wanted to say Happy Veterans Day to my amazing husband and to all the men and women who have defended our great nation so that we may be free!  Brian's 14 years in the Navy have had some major ups and downs, but I'm so proud of him for becoming the sailor he is today.  We're not sure where the next 10-ish years will take us, but I'm proud to be his Navy Wife.  I love you, our veteran and hero!

And possibly another future veteran in the family . . . 

Malta.

We took a trip down to Malta while Brian's parents were here and had a great time.  It's a beautiful country made up of three small islands south of Sicily.  

Here was the view from our hotel room in St. Julian's Bay.  We swam in all three pools, plus the Mediterranean!

We went into the capitol of Valetta and it was great.  The history and architecture there was amazing.

One of the days we took the ferry over to Gozo, Malta where we took a bus tour around the whole island.  It was an amazing experience that I'll never forget.

Venice.

Ok, so I know I'm extremely slow with posting this, but better late then never, right?!

When Brian's parents were here, Brian and I took a long weekend trip up to Venice by ourselves.  Yes, you read that right, by ourselves!!  It was amazing!  It was a little strange to be without the kids at first, but we adjusted quickly : )  It rained a lot, but since we didn't have kids with us we were still able to do everything that we wanted to do.

One of the days we went to Hard Rock for lunch.  Don't judge us, we eat Italian food all the time, so eating American food was very different!  Plus, this was our view from the table.

It seemed a little surreal to be celebrating our 10-year anniversary (the "reason" for the trip) in Venice while our kids were in Naples with Brian's parents.  We felt very blessed.