Some favorite memories

So, I am supposed to share some of my favorite memories from my photo album and then tag a few people to do the same. It's actually kind of fun! So here goes:

This is my sister-n-law Rachel and I back when we used to run together. I miss these days so much! We ran just about every other day and then would run a race once a month. Brad was deployed at the time and she really helped me pass the time with running. By the way, she looks nothing like this picture anymore! She is a skinny-mini!

This of course is the first time I held Miles. What an emotional moment! After all that pushing I had forgotten a baby came out! Then they handed him to me. He was so perfect! :)

This is the first time Brad held Miles. He was sent home a few weeks early from Iraq and immediately hopped on a plane to Memphis. We picked him up and here he is meeting his son for the first time! Miles was a little over 2 months old.

Michigan is my all-time favorite place in the world! This is my parents lake house and we've been going here every year since I was a baby. Now Brad and Miles have joined in on this Baker tradition. It is the most peaceful place you could imagine. This is taken from the outlet. I am so excited for this summer!

Ok Ok , I know. We just got back from this place, but if you ever get a chance to go see the Pyramids, GO! It was just the most amazing site ever! Man fears time, but time fears the pyramids!

So, let's get this tagging part overwith. I just picked the first 3 on my blog list and it's:

Rachel Baker

Brittany Blake

Becki Grandstaff

All kinds of anniversaries!

Wow! Can't believe I've been blogging for a whole year now. Have I bored you guys to death yet with my silly jokes and boring blogs? I just read my first blog and I can't believe how far we've come. Here's a little trip down memory lane.  First Blog

Speaking of anniversaries, tomorrow is Brad and I's 4th wedding anniversary! Just think, next year we will upgrade to a "sapphire." I am looking forward to being married 30+ years like my parents or 60+ years like both sets of my grandparents. What great examples they have been to us! After only being married a short 4 years, I have a newfound respect for these couples and their love for God that brought them this far.

Divorce is too common and too easy these days and it saddens me. I am so thankful to have a husband who is committed to go all the way with me. 

Playroom

Brad and I finally turned our spare bedroom into a playroom for Miles. I had joined a friends playgroup where the house rotates every week. Next week is my turn so I had to get the ball rolling because there was no way 10 kids could fit into Miles little corner of the house.

Thanks to a couple trips to IKEA I think it turned out pretty successful. Thank goodness for IKEA! 

Here is Miles new playroom!

On a side note, I have had to find entertainment for Miles every night I cook. He is at that stage where he just hangs on my legs and I can't move! So every night I give him his own pot and spatula. Maybe he will be a fine chef one day?

School

Guess what? Both Brad and I are officially students at Liberty University again! We had been discussing this since we were married and it only took 4 years and a transatlantic move to get the ball rolling. We were the classical meet halfway through college, fall in love, so distracted I can't think, drop out case.
We both only have about 2 more years to go until we get our bachelors, although at the pace we are starting out at it may take longer! I know I am excited now but I can guarantee this will wear off shortly!

Brad's school right now is free (thank you Marine Corps) but mine is at $750 a class! Whew! Anyone have any secrets on grants other than Fasfa? My scholarship from LCA doesn't apply to the online courses! We are torn because we are aware there are cheaper, non-private schools but I have a lot of Bible classes that won't transfer, not to mention I don't want to deal with the transfers while in Germany. I'll stop rambling but if any of you are knowledgeable on this subject, please e-mail!

We're home!

We're back home now and it's back to everything German. We had so much fun on this trip! Thanks for all the comments and keeping up with our travels. Here are some more pictures from the trip. It was hard trying to pick 24 pictures when you have hundreds to choose from. 

They are in order from Rome, Athens, Ephesus, Cairo, and Malta.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Malta

Hello from Malta, our last stop.

This island is so beautiful. The cities are distinctly Mediterranean and I can't wait to show you all the pictures when we get back. If you are anything like me then you had no idea Malta even existed. It is this small island off the Sicily coast and recently became part of the European Union. They drive on the opposite side of the road and speak the unique language of Maltese. The island consists mainly of farms and fishing villages. We were driving around and had to stop for cows and sheep!

This place reminds me so much of Pentwater, MI (my family's annual vacation spot). Even though it's European it has that small town feeling and you can't go far without running into a marina. We love it here! It was a great way to end a fantastic cruise.

We are heading back to Spain tomorrow and will fly home to Germany on Sunday. It's been fun! Brad and I have crossed 3 places off our "bucket list" and have many more to go.

Thanks for reading about our journey!

Brad, Miles and I standing in front of one of Malta's many marinas.

Egypt

Greetings from Egypt!

We arrived at the port city of Alexandria and had to be ready to go this morning at death-o-clock. It was a 3 hours drive to Cairo and a 3 hour drive back. Yuck!
We finally arrived, and oh my gosh the pyramids were amazing! I know I've been using that word like crazy on this trip, but everything has been just that, amazing!

We were advised not to go in because it's extremely claustrophobic, less oxygen, pitch black, things like that. Not sure how that would have worked with a baby anyway! We learned so much about Egyptians history. They believe in a lot of magical things, worshipped cats, actually worshiped hundreds of different Gods, all kinds of things.

We also visited the Sphinx, the museum of Egyptian history, and a papyrus institute (where they make paper from reeds). The museum was awesome because it contained all the things taken from the pyramids so we were staring at the originals right there. I learned a lot about King Tut!

When we were outside the museum we heard the Muslim prayer go off. There is mosques on every block like there are Starbucks in the States. Their religion requires them to stop what they are doing and pray 5 times a day. It sounded like a chanting/singing voice. Kind of weird actually... Brad said he heard that all the time in Iraq.

Some things that I could have gone without was the horrible B.O. some man had on our bus. I mean, it smelled like he was sprayed by a B.O. skunk and we all had no choice but to breath B.O. air. Nasty.

The hagglers in Cairo, well, in all Egypt really are way too much for me. They are super aggressive and it's scary They get in your face, forcefully put things in your hand and follow you around. They do not leave you alone. There was one guy who sat on his camel and knocked on my bus window until our bus finally left! 
I was flabbergasted when Brad couldn't take this one particular guy anymore and just started to talking to him Arabic! He was actually carrying on a conversation with this guy! I guess that's what many tours in Iraq does to you. I was impressed.

I will write more about Egypt at home. We are here another day and plan on visiting the city our boat is docked at, Alexandria. Hopefully the hagglers will take it easy on us!


Brad, Miles and I in front of the Sphinx (foreground) and Cheops, the Great Pyramid (background).

Turkey

So today we visited Ephesus, Turkey. It was a weird experience for me. I really enjoy all the new countries but this particular country had a very strong Muslim presence and it was and odd feeling being in a country that borders Iraq.  I am sure most of you are aware that there is SO much Biblical history here, hence Ephesians! We got to explore the ruins of the city of Ephesus. We were able to see how the city was laid out and how they used live their lives.
An interesting fact we learned about the men of the city was every year the city would hold an auction and the men that were the highest bidders purchased a "city toilet." The were required to use it twice a day or they would lose their toilet! It was the strangest thing because there was 30 toilets in a row. I guess all inhibitions went out the window. I did get a picture of this and will post later.
We also visited the old amphitheater where Paul preached the Gospel! Brad and I went and stood where he had once stood and looked out into the what would have been the audience. Amazing feeling.  I also snapped a photo of that too.

Another interesting fact we learned was every morning the leader of the city would order 100 cows to be butchered everyday and pass out the meat to the citizens. But, you had to proclaim Caesar 'King of King and Lord of Lords'. So, the Christians denied and never got the meat. So much history here! It was just amazing!

Signing off now. Next stop is on Sunday and we'll be seeing Egypt! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Brad (Miles) and I standing in front of ruins in Ephesus.

Greece

Geia sou (hell0) from Greece!

Today we drove from the Port of Piraeus to Athens and got to see some spectacular views. We spent most of our time at the Acropolis taking in the sites of the Parthenon, temple of Nike, Erechtheion, the Olympic stadium from the first modern Olympic games and a bunch of other things I can't pronounce or remember the names of! (Will put a blog of all the other things after trip.) It was really neat to see all these ancient things. Our tour guide was even telling us how Paul had preached there. It was so cool to be standing where he once stood.

I wasn't as impressed with the city of Athens. Lots of graffiti and just kind of dirty. I do hear it is nicer in the Greek Isles though. The drivers are INSANE there! They actually have an interesting traffic system. You are only allowed to drive every other day. So if your license plate ends in an odd number, you can only drive on odd dates! Vise versa with even plates/even dates. Isn't that funny? I saw a traffic cop giving out tickets to all the odd plates today. Haha!

We went out to eat at a Greek restaurant and they try to over load you with wine! They were shocked when we declined. Here it is taboo not to have wine with your meal!

That's it for now. We are off to Ephesus, Turkey tomorrow!

Brad, Miles and I next to the Parthenon. 

Italy

Buongiorno! from somewhere between Italy and Greece! I hope everyone has been having a good week. We certainly are enjoying our cruise!
I tried to upload photos but the internet is incredibly slow and they charge you limbs for minutes so I guess I'll just have to wait til we get home. I was successful with 1 photo though!
So far we've visited Spain and Italy and are currently on our way to Greece. It is breathtaking here! Let me tell you that I am thoroughly impressed with Italians. We had the privilege of eating at a little "hole in the wall" restaurant in Rome and it was some of the best food I've ever had. The restaurant owner kissed us all on the cheek. Brad's favorite part was they brought us 5 courses to eat. Good grief! The owner even did the typical kissing of the finger tips and said "I-a make it-a special just for you!"
We got to see the Roman forum, Coliseum, the Vatican, St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica and just the city of Rome in general. Amazing! I don't have much time since it's like $70 a minute. But, I'll try to write about Greece tomorrow!
Hope everyone is enjoy their New Year!


Brad, Miles (kinda) and I in front of the Coliseum

And we're off!

Well the time has come! We are leaving tomorrow for our cruise! We are so nervous and excited. Excited about the cruise...nervous about Miles, forgetting things, etc. Some of the shore excursions are over 13 hours long and we've never not laid him down for a nap. Was that a double negative?
But what can you do? We didn't move to Europe to sit in our apartment!

We are also dropping our cats off with strangers this evening. EEk! I really hope that goes smoothly as our one cat, Tom, just scratched a little girl in the face a couple weeks ago. We found these people through a military yard sale sight. I put up an advertisement for a "pet sitter" and got quite a few bites. This one particular lady offered to watch them at her place. She has 3 kids and 2 other cats. I'm sure all will be fine but the situation just makes me a little nervous seeing the nature of cats.

I also wanted to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday! It's not til January 7th but we won't be here so Happy Birthday Mom!


Hope everyone has a good couple weeks! I'll be back to blogging Jan 16thish.

How much do you remember in 2008?

I took this quiz to see how much I remembered in 2008. First time I scored a 10%, but then again I had a toddler hanging on my leg so I retook it at nap time and didn't do much better, a whopping 40%. I'm not impressed with myself! Think you can do any better? Not as easy as it looks! :)

How Much Do You Remember 2008?

You Remember 40% of 2008

Okay, you were somewhat paying attention during 2008. But you're not going to impress anyone with your knowledge of what went down. You know the basics about what went down, but little else... Let's just say you won't be writing the history book for 2008.

How Much Do You Remember 2008?