Egypt

Well, Egypt was an eye opener, to say the least. We ported in the city of Alexandria and then we were whisked off for a 3 hour drive to Cairo by 3 Muslim men to guide us and guard us for 2 days. So much to say about this adventure, but suffice to say it was enlightening, shocking, incredible and depressing (not to mention at times quite frightening). The first hour of the drive was a bit scary in that we knew we wanted to trust out travel agency and did but that didn’t stop all of us from one time or another conjuring up creepy endings to our Egypt experience. We were somewhat disappointed to have no one else on our excursion, thinking we were to have a family of 3, and then we were surprised to have a driver, a tour guide and a “manager” from AMX, to watch over just our own family experience. They were all locals of Cairo and spent plenty of time chatting in Arabic. It was a little intimidating to say the least. Come to realize after the drive, we all relaxed a little and had a great time.

We saw EVERYTHING in 2 days. The pictures tell the story a little bit. Spending the night (in the city of Giza) in a bottom floor mediocre (they called superior) hotel room was not great that night so we all squeezed in 3 twin beds. We used the extra room for the bathroom only. Girls were a little freaked, and OK, I was too.

We had 2 authentic pre set lunches and one crappy buffet breakfast. Food was a lot like in Greece. We went to Cairo for the laser pyramid show, saw the pyramids, King Tut’s collection, Mohammad Ali Museum,, camels (rode them to see pyramids), went to a Papyrus Factory/shop and saw how they do the art. Went to a Perfume/oil factory/ store and watched it all happen there. Spent $ in the Egyption Cotton factory/store and got some amazing 1000 thread bedding, went to the local bazaar and did that basically holding hands in single file, looked at the ground and never made a sound or looked in anyone’s eyes, and then saw many more exhibits! Wow. We were overly thrilled to get back to the ship the next night. Still amazed we made it because our driver was either amazing or just flat out crazy. Tell you later.

My favorite parts were seeing the cars and donkeys ant the same time on the same road. Riding the camels: getting ON the camels and getting OFF the camels. Watching the children play in the alleys. Looking at the fresh produce that they sold EVERYWHERE even on the main high ways. I loved watching chaos in the streets that we would have if we too had no stop signs or cross walks. I love that rapists are executed within 1 year of getting caught. No drunk driving because it is against their religion to drink. However we just might drive better than they do, drunk. Not sure.

Tonight is New Years Eve! It is formal on the ship. It is also incredible because it is a full moon in a clear sky AND we are having a lunar eclipse. In addition to that, we will be cruising by land soon, and it will be LIBYA Scary! There is a storm warning for tomorrow afternoon so we may miss our next port of call in Italy, the Captain is keeping a watch on it. Great. I bought some wristbands just in case the waves (predicted 20 footers) get too much. I hope we just pass that port and keep the beautiful weather we have now.

Happy New Years to everyone! CHEERS to 2010!

Cyprus

So...fun to visit, but no need to return. Half Greek and half Turkish. An island country. Famous for sea sponges, oils, shells and wine. Guess I can go another 46 years with out being back. Sorta dull aside from 2 castles and some pretty landscaping. However the funniest thing happened today that actually made me laugh so hard I cried. What happened was, here we were at another tour of a castle and we were tired and getting hungry. We were in a group of about 30 and we were all staring at some gorgeous 5000 year old tile mosaics. It was silent except for Rosemary the guide chatting away. All of a sudden, Reed decides to put on his sweatshirt and (I saw everything) as he was lifting his arm, his huge pointy elbow slammed into an old mans nose ejecting his glasses straight up into the air and then, crazily, they flew in the air and over a few heads and landed with a plink plink sound we ALL heard smack dab onto the very 5000 year old, never to be touched mosaic tile that we were all talking about! OMG! Seriously? I practically peed my pants. Then Reed, dumb founded apologized but the man could barely see. Not knowing if his nose was broken or the glasses we had to wait and then the guide had to be most creative and fetch them. The man was grouchy. His nose is fine and so were the glasses. SO funny.

Off to Egypt in the morning for a 2 day overnight tour with a private guide. He will take us 2 hours into Cairo and we will do the Pyramids, with their night time laser show and spend the night in a hotel. Wierd. Also camel rides the next day. So, with excitement and anxiety we will go. Hopefully that old man is not going with us this time.

We are all having a blast and love all the people we are meeting. Starting to realize cruising might be the way to travel. See everything you want to, just the right amount of time. Food and drinks abound. Cozy cabins and basically nothing to do but see everything, relax workout and read. Lots of walking! Hopefully I can get some pics up soon.

Oh, to be in TURKEY!

Well, what to say about Turkey? First time I really felt FAR away, even though I know we really are. But wow, I mean, if the way we were approached, stared at, descended upon is at all like being a celebrity at home, then I hope to never be famous. No, I do not want to buy Turkey Delight. No I never knew cats are like birds there. Makes Mexico with their cat problem seem tame. Euphias was amazing, a 2000 year old city still being excavated. Totally cool. Streets, stores Brothels, temples, theatres and amphitheatres were all there to see. Plus, we enjoyed sitting on the 2000 year old toilets.

We had an adventurous lunch in the Market Square. So funny! Austin ordered a plain hamburger with fries. It came of course, fully loaded! and no fries. After staring at it for a few minutes, with cats rubbing up against our legs, I finally, felt bad enough for my “starving” son to remove the cheese, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce for him. I never did tell him the beef looked like, well, I don’t know still, but I did find his fries. They were under the beef, you know, just like he ordered. Hamburger with fries. Funniest thing ever, even though he wasn’t laughing tooooo much. Oh and just so you know, we ordered before so many different local families and they were all served in about 6 minutes, we however kept getting told just 5 more minutes! My lamb thing was good though.

Saw Beautiful rugs, almost bought one. Gorgeous. Drank hot apple tea, bought scarves, a leather jacket, t-shirts and yes…finally Austin wanted to get some Turkish Delight! He liked it.

Saw fantastic magic show tonight and now getting ready for the day in Rhodes, Greece tomorrow. Hoping to relax, shop, eat good food, and get some sun. Supposed to be 80! Want to also see one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Going to a Greek Tavern…should be interesting.

Oh, forgot to mention that last night Reed and I apparently happened to walk in on a Pub Singalong, which happened to be an Irish one. I took advantage of it and showed the bartender my suite card, he gave me a 20% discount, for the Kelley in me. (I actually asked for a free drink, but was good with the discount). I felt pretty clever doing that, I doubt anyone else asked. After singing My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, we went to the casino.

Brilliance of the Seas

Yes, we made it on board. Us and about 2000 other people from about 50 different Countries. Apparently, it seems, as of now, we may have come the furthest. We got on board around 1pm, unpacked in our suite and started a family walk a bout the ship. Huge! We are on the 7^th floor and there are 14 floors total. Beautiful Christmas tree here on board and all the decorations are gorgeous. Food is everywhere, especially alcohol, and I figured out this is why after seeing some of our passengers, some are unaccounted for on the last day. lol. The ship departed at 6:30pm due to people’s flights being delayed for weather. We started with the nightly show, fun. There is one every night. We were at our table for dinner (with Tatiana and Mr. David our servers for the trip) by 8 and Austin and Lauren were back in the room by 8:30, feeling a little woosey (more so Austin, Lauren helped). The weather as perfectly predicted by the Capt’n to be rough seas an hour after departure till morning. “Use the hand rails” Ok. Well, I was up till 3 am trying to adjust to the rock and roll. No, were we not at the disco, it was my bed here on the ‘ol Brilliance! After 1 and a half Xanax I think I fell asleep. I did get to watch lots of movies in many different languages. Things were calmer the next day and we had a great day at sea. Haircuts and massages in the spa and the dinner at The Chops Grille (like Ruth Chris). Too tired for the show, so saw a X-mas movie and went to bed. Christmas morning, small gift exchange with the family, room service and a reading day at the pool. Getting a little choppy again as we are smack dab in the middle of the Med. 10 hours ahead of you all at home. Nuts! Dinner in the dining room with another 5 we have not met yet. Going to be fun. It’s formal tonight. Yippee.

We get to go into Kusadasi Turkey in the morning, a day of shopping and fun times. Going to see Ephesus, steam baths, temples,The Grand Theatre etc. Want to see the Kusadasi rugs.

Things I have learned so far on my first cruise:

- So many different nationalities can all be together without chaos.

- Sea legs take longer for some than others.

- Bromine (like Dramamine) only takes about 10 minutes to start working and save room for 12 hours of deep comatose sleep.

- Staring at the churning sea while riding in the glass bubble elevators can be risky.

- Anything goes for men’s bathing suits.

- Tatts are in.

- Be prepared to greet all the 850 people working for you on the ship all the time with a verbal comment and a smile.

- Mr. Thomas (our room guy) will do anything and even check to see if Miss Megan has returned from her walk about.

- Some people book facials every other day. Seriously?

- If we are not careful when we step out onto our back deck, we could go over board.

- Champagne Bars are awesome.

- Forgot what land looks like.

- If you slam your bedroom door for privacy, it may jam and lock you inside. Lol

- Super difficult to blog, e-mail and basically just communicate. Hope everyone had a fabulous Chistmas!

Ok, it’s the next day and we just arrived in Turkey! It is absolutely beautiful. Getting ready to go off the ship for the day. 70 degrees and sunny.

Also, went to casino last night. Lost all Reed’s $. Felt bad so played that amount all again on just 1 hand. Got black jack and gave it all back to him!!!!. So fun!

Buenos Noche!

So...dinner at Le Olive.

We were the first to arrive for our definitely needed 8:30 reservation.

Started with some thumb nail sized clams, that were the best clams I have ever had.

The broth was in sane. Initial problem: how to eat them. Solution: pick them up and suck out the little morsel.

Then I ordered the grilled prawns ( usually love them) but had an issue with the eye balls, matter and poo. Traded with Lauren and enjoyed the Sole Ratatoulle. Ended dinner with Coconut ice cream with burnt custard. Working out in the morning!

Things we have learned so far…

• No tipping. Look like an ignorant American. Not even nice to do.
• Parisian= Paris cuisine, not Persian.
• Green walking light means run like hell across street, they don't need you that bad.
• Pancetta is everywhere.
• Ice?
• Over the top Christmas decor. Beautiful.
• Talk quietly.
• Wear leggings and boots, that's all.
• No one is fat here, they are all living in Tacoma.
• Intimidating beauty. Remind me to sign up for What Not To Wear or try out for Today Show Friday makeover.
• Seattle is small.
• El Paseo tries.
• Smoking is cool.
• Lamb is Lamby.
• No need to get up early here. Look like the help if you do. Nothing open till 10.
• Harbor Lights got their cocktail recipes from Barcelona, Spain.

Barcelona! Dinner at Sikkem with the Jewsens. Excellent. Stayed till midnight.

(Reed is trying to move out of the way)

Bon Jour!

Hola!

We made it.

Air France is the way to go. Seattle to Paris, but it is still 9 hours too long. We made it in 10 hours and tried to do the sleep thing, you know the drill, sleep the whole way then you are rested and can start your day when you get there. Please, seriously? We left around 2ish, read our books,watched tv/movies then had some dinner. By then the lights went out and we were all supposed to pretend it was night time and go to sleep. Omg! Everyone was wide awake. Even Reed cruised through his 2 Tylenol PM's. Xanax? No. So we all got punchy and I started to do my cry laughing thing because I found it soo funny that everyone on the plane was "pretending" it was night. It really never worked for anyone. We got to Paris tired but excited and it couldn't have been more beautiful cause it was snowing! We went straight to the Pavillion De La Reine and met up with Lauren! After 4 months being away, it was the best feeing ever to get the family back together. After tears and hugging we all just hung out in our room and relaxed. Lauren wanted to take her first bath in 4 months and so we all took an hour nap. Then off to our first Parisian dinner. The restaurant had only 10 tables and was perfect! So delicious!. Oh, forgot to mention I bought a fun hat, I realized that I was the ONLY "lady" with out a hat in Paris when I got there, so I nipped that in the bud fast. Then I fit

right in with all the other "ladies". Yes, that is what I am here, a lady, that's it, just "lady". Is the lady ok? Is the lady ready to order? Can I help the lady? So, either I have aged 10 years here in 2 day's or.... I bought the wrong hat. Hmmmm.

Day 2 was all the tourist stuff that the kids wanted to do, the Eiffel, Lourve, cafe's. But lunch was an issue. After much trepidation, seems we all ordered the wrong things. Reed's lunch (he was told not to get the Club, too American) so I think he got some shit on a shingle. Austin's hamburger came naked, no bun. My fromage sald smelled like hot BO on toast and Lauren teared up with the cat food (tuna stuff) plopped all over her Nicoise salad, that stunk up the entire table (and maybe the whole room too). After spooning the chunky slimy tuna under all of the families un eaten morsels, we paid and left. I sorta knew it was a bad call, initially when I got a glance at our waiter/owners brown teeth, coins for the potty and the smoke smell upon entering but we were s t a r v i n g! Oh, and Megan did the best with her French Onion soup. Lucky her!

Did I mention it was Reed and I's 23rd anniversary? Snowing in Paris again? Perfect. Did I mention the place we stayed, adorable French decor and the best breakfast ever? And we ended with an amazing dinner of Lamb, Partridge, Pig and Lobster. Crazy. Not to mention, Austin had his first Champagne! They just put a glass in front of him and poured in the bubbly. Had they looked at his face, they would have noticed that he was petrified. We toasted and he did not like it. Good, but a very sweet memory.

Now we are in Barcelona. Will write again tomorrow. Love the Casa Fuster Hotel. Dinner with the Jewsens tonight in the city! Loving Europe!

Pictures soon.

The year with out Christmas........ at home

Family Christmas fun that I will miss the most...

Going with the kids to pick out the tree in the dark, always remembering to cut off the bottom. Making my sugar concoction preservative.

Watching Reed bring in the tree and then listening to him tell me for the 22nd time to be careful tipping the bucket with water for him to perfectly place the stump.

Laughing at the few needles in Reed's hair and him looking at me with the "we are getting a fake tree next year look"

Waiting for Reed to put up 1700 lights or more and pointing out the branches he missed. His face, priceless. Going to Target, late, for more lights.

The kids helping decorate and Austin purposely placing my favorite ornaments on the "wrong" branches just to see my reaction (he totally knows). I just smile and say, "great" and then move them the next day. Our little game.

Looking at all the lights inside the house and on the tree, alone before I go to bed.

Trying to stay up till midnight to see Santa and help him do the Christmas thing that he does! He is amazing. We have a blast and we are soooo good!

Loving that we all know Santa is now too full to eat cookies at our house but no one can stop putting them out.

Making the egg/sausage casserole every year for the family, knowing that it is just Reed and I that eat it. They like the cinnamon rolls.

Swimming in Christmas wrapping.

Tearing up with that perfect moment. No one knew.

Trying to hold back the time, s l o w i n g it all down to savor the moment, so incredible with our family.

Cleverly and adoringly spoiling our children, but knowing it's our journey, going by too fast, and there's plenty of time to correct later.

Watching their faces and the new found appreciation for all the x-mas hoopla we do for them, because we love them and because this is what makes us the happiest.

Congratulations Megan!

HAMILTON COLLEGE in Clinton, New York

Megan got accepted last night to Hamilton College, on line, at 5 pm. The process was a bit nerve racking in that everyone was also on that very site checking their status as well. It took a few minutes to up load. She was super psyched as we were too that all the stress of "college shenanigans" were over! So she will be going there. Guess we will have one daughter on the west coast and one on the east coast. We are so happy for her! We are so proud of her. We are so ready for our vacation. Friday we are all off to Paris to rendezvous with Lauren, our deeply missed family member. Believe it or not, she is ready to embrace us again and she is relishing in the fact of just hanging out with us for 3 more weeks of travel and simply taking on the role of the sheep. No thinking, plotting, planning or training. No train platforms, taxis, gummy bears and peanut butter. No more German, ATM runs, backpacking, skinny dipping with sharks and stair climbing to the castle. Just hanging back, relaxing and reminiscing with the family on a cruise ship to Egypt, about her past 3 months abroad. I am so excited to get the family together for the Holiday's. Merry Christmas! Yippee!

A special day.

WHITE

CHRISTMAS

The 5th Ave. musical production was wonderful. Megan and I went, just the two of us, this year and loved it! It was the perfect way to jump start our Holiday season. After so many years going to the Nut Cracker we felt it would be a nice change. In the past we have traded off every other year going to the Tacoma and the Seattle renditions of Nut Cracker. So much fun to see the differences in the two and both are amazing in their own ways. A White Christmas was so fun, plus at the end of the performance, they had it snow in the entire theatre. Totally cool. Then we couldn't believe it, but we drove home while it was snowing! The first snow of the season and we were perfectly in the mood. Funny thing though, last year our entire family went to see Scrooge at the Lakewood play house and when it was over, we all walked out to see 4 inches of snow everywhere! Lauren was wearing a skirt, no leggings what so ever and low heals. It was so funny to watch her try and walk to the car. Apparently she was still in her CA. mode and forgot all about our unpredictable weather. I guess we can assume that whatever Holiday event we go to next year, we should be prepared for snow when it's over. How perfectly perfect to have snow after these special events!

One more week......

"Twas the night before Friday

I started to think

It was time to start packing

Time passed with a blink.

Lauren was waiting

with her gorgeous brown hair

in hopes that her family

soon would be there.

I could barely believe

It happened so fast

That we'd be seeing our daughter

finally at last.

So we started the planning

and all the required

to make our trip fun

and not be so tired.

I got a good start

set out lots of good stuff

but panic set in

and so Reed got real tough.

I sprang to my suitcase,

I flew like a flash

Then tossed out the old crap

was hoping for cash

The thought of my girl

awaiting the fam

gave a picture of laughter

she is such a ham

Eight more days is all I can wait,

that is it.

But, I'm all ready to go

wish tomorrow was it.

I know I am patient

I've waited this long

Eight day's is the count now

One more day would be wrong!"

Obviously, I am so very excited to see Lauren and spend our Christmas in Europe as a family. This has been the longest time we have spent away from her and though it has been an experience of a lifetime for her, we are all thrilled to get her back. We miss her, we love her and we can hardly wait to be a family of five again. Hoping for the best Christmas ever!

THOSE WERE THE DAY'S

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Hank thought our fountain was a monster this morning! 25 degrees. Going to be this chilly for a while! I love icicles!

Austin's first and last (15th) Birthday Parties!

From Ice Cream cakes to Caramelita's. From pony rides to paint balling, here we are at 15 years old. What a transformation. I remember this first Birthday and thought it was so funny that following this shot, Austin hated getting his face dirty with the yummy cake. Every cake from then on went either directly to his mouth or just all over his fingers. He hasn't changed a bit. Neither has his desire to continually have Birthday parties up until now. He has always been an entertainer and anyone that knows Austin, knows how much he thrives on laughing and hanging out with his friends. He has had Odyssey parties, putt putt, laser tag, Game works, magic shows, pony rides and finally paintball. It was this final one, my last one hosting, my 51st party, that we will finally end on. Like all of them this one was really fun and equally successful. By that I mean ten 15 year olds, overnight and no incidences! Whew! And by whew, I mean, it was fun, but time to move on. Ten older boys, still obviously craving the fun of a "Birthday" gathering, came to our house at 10 am to embark on their 24 hour extravaganza. After borrowing another SUV, we (Reed and I) followed each other with packed cars, music blasting (and I don't mean Disney) on a 40 minute drive to the Key peninsula. All boys were outfitted with their what appeared to be ninja masks and guns and began their 3 hour shoot off in some field I never got to see with their 500 paintballs apiece. Needless to say what they looked like at pickup time and smelled like in the cars on the way to Mc Donalds for extra large meal deals (and a few apple pies!) Yes, they ate there at the horror of all the Santa lapping kiddos in their finest. Home they came to strip down in the laundry room and hot tubbing and icy cold pool tossing they began. I started what ended up being 5 loads of laundry, that some of which I had to load in my machines with my pincher fingers as I was so grossed out. At the fear of sending home shoes their parents would no way recognize, I hand scrubbed 20 tennis shoes to their original luster. Yes, that was my choice. Then after a case of pop and Chex mix, out they all went to play football. Break for me, but not for long. Too cold apparently and some snow flakes were showing up, so the x-box games began. Then after 4 extra large pizzas and another case of pop down with 24 cupcakes (thanks to Megan) they watched a movie. X-box again till 2:30 am after the cheese and crackers tray. Rise and shine at 9:00 for 24 donuts and 2 gallons of milk. Then out the door they went thanks to with it parents and then off to the Seahawks went Reed and I, for a great game and a much needed and deserved Bloody Mary! All done!

Would I do all these parties, all over again, with all my 3 kiddos? Absolutely. What an experience it has been. And my...... have they changed!

Oh Hank......

I'm OK! Just because it is pitch dark here and 28 degrees and when I took the pup out to play and then slipped, landed flat my back (kinda like a cartoon character) and smacked my head and THEN he came over, looked at the scene, took my slipper and ran, really it's all good. My foot was a little chilly and so what if I had to hop around the dark golf course on one foot trying to catch him with my slipper? Luckily, he had the glow ball in his mouth and I could track him down. After faking I had a cookie, I was able catch him and put the cold, soggy slipper back on. We made it home, but not before I glanced around, sure I would see a candid camera somewhere lurking around, documenting my incredibly dorky and somewhat painful experience. Gotta love those puppies! lol

The Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

What a fun night we all had. My sister's family and my mom. All of us ate too much, laughed too much and then were too exhausted before our Christmas movie was over. Oh... and Reed did perfect in his new role as table side turkey carver! Guess we never knew he had a little Norman in him! He's amazing!