Off to Wales for an impromtu Pub Crawl

Our first stop in the UK was a quick visit to Wales to visit our Uncle Ronnie. We were so excited to see him again after almost 12 years....although we were worried that we would not recognize him after so long. While waiting for the train we realized that our wonderful mother had calculated the time change incorrectly and we had to run around frantically searching for a wifi hot spot so that we could inform Ronnie of the correct time we would be arriving in Wales. Upon arrival we scared the life out of an old man when we rushed him thinking he was Uncle Ronnie. Then when the real Uncle Ronnie saw us....he ran!

We really enjoyed our time with Ronnie, Susan, & Kevin. They took us all over Anglesey to see the coast, a castle , and lunch at a local pub. The high point of the trip was when we went to a pub for dinner and drinks on our last night. We were the life of the party at the pub and we filled the place with laughter and hiccup remedies. We stayed at the pub until it had closed and all the other patrons had gone home. That is when we realized that we needed a cab....in the middle of no where. We called multiple different cab companies and were told that there were not any cabs anywhere in the area. So the 7 of us realized that we were either going to have to walk or sleep in the car. We chose to walk the 8 million miles home and it turned out to be a fun adventure that we like to call our version of a "Pub Crawl." We talked and laughed while wondering through the Wales country side in the middle of the night with only one flashlight and some stars to guide us!

Uncle Ronnie's beautiful garden

Off to see a castle!

Uncle Ronnie is super tough.

Struggling with a case of the hiccups...

Kevin showed off his superb hiccup removal techniques.

It ended with laughter....and hiccups.

Paris!

We had an absolutely amazing time while we were in Paris. We had the extreme fortune to stay in a flat in the heart of the city and spent a full week exploring everything Paris had to offer. Thanks to our built in GPS (aka Vicki Redwine) we walked all across the city and found not only the major tourist destinations but some hidden gems as well.

Bastille Monument

Mom & Aunt Rhonda

Arc de Triomphe

Kayla had a Marilyn moment!

The Louvre

Funniest street performer ever.

A singing group serenaded us.

Model Rhonda having a sit down.

Night out at the Moulin Rouge!

Aunt Rhonda was so impressed by the plant protectors that she found one for herself :)

Notre Dame- My favorite place in Paris.

A crazy lady walked up and just plopped some birds on Kayla.

Whatever Floats Your Boat...Venice, Italy

After 4 months of traveling with just the 2 of us the time had come to add some more fun to the party....my Mom and Aunt Rhonda met us in Venice! Kayla and I were so excited to see some friendly faces from back home.There is nothing better than a hug from your mom after so long.  We met them at the Venice airport and headed off to catch a boat!

While in Venice we stayed on the small island of Lido. This worked out really well since the actual island of Venice was swamped with tourists. We were able to wake up and have a leisurely breakfast and then hop on a water taxi and head over to the main island.

On our first full day we went and visited the island of Murano which is where most of the famous Venice glass is made into things like sculptures, vases, and our personal favorite....jewelry! We spent a whole day wondering up and down the twisty waterways popping into shops and treating ourselves to pizza and gelato. It was definitely the perfect way to start our time in Venice.

On the second day we went on a walking tour and boat tour of Venice. We had the chance to see of the famous sights like Piazza San Marco, Grand Canal, and the Bridge of Sighs. You really can't see all of Venice unless you hop in one of the million boats. We had a semi private taxi boat to show us all of the sights on the water. We saw the private homes of the Venice elite and also the vacation rentals of celebrities like Johnny Depp and Brangelina. We really enjoyed our afternoon out on the water.

Of course there was a lot of wine involved in our stay in Venice.

We enjoyed gelato EVERY day!

Yum

Relaxing on Lido

Our fab Aunt Rhonda

Our own private water taxi!

Off to see the sights of Venice

A glass blower in Murano

You can't visit Venice without having some fun with masks!

Piazza San Marco

Beautiful Lido

No surprise that Kayla wanted to chase the birds.

We were always on the look out for a hot gondolier.

The nice gentlemen that drove us around Venice. We almost stayed on the boat....for one obvious reason.

While out enjoying a nice pizza and bottle of wine we were surprised by a sudden downpour.