June. Already?

Time sure is flying. In four months we'll have been here for a year! Wow. In the meantime, we've been graced with Jennifer and Toya's presence. Toya is Dev's roommate and best friend in college. Jennifer is like a sister to Dev and a daughter to me. I love them both and love that the three of them get along so well. We did some great traveling but I think, maybe, that they would have been just as happy to sleep until 3pm and then walk back down the street to "their" bar. I guess if I were 19 going on 27 I would be enjoying the 18 years old age limit for drinks.

Aside from them enjoying the bar life we went to a beautiful castle. As far as castles go, this one was relatively new, and one of my favorites. Everything was gorgeous and had lots of history.

We then traveled to Paris. Good times. We even climbed the Eiffel Tower by foot. Over 1400 stairs. This was after a long day on the street. On the way home from Paris my GPS broke. That was a bit scary. The autobahns are not like highways. There are numerous ones and they aren't necessarily clearly marked. Like on 95 in Richmond, Va there's a sign that says Miami, Fl. So I know I can get to SC from that road. Not so in France/Germany. Double the anxiety when you are responsible for someone else's precious children.

Next stop-Southern Germany. To Garmisch. A welcomed time to rest up after a busy few days. The view of the Alps was amazing.

And then-Rome. Upon first arrival I thought the plane had flown to Mexico. It looked very similar on the outskirts and I started doubting the decision to visit. We got checked in to our hotel room and started walking around and as we were crossing a street, we all looked to the left, and boom. The Colosseum. Breathtaking. We walked across the entire city for almost three days. Rome could also be known as the city of stairs. It has been my favorite trip so far. We ate Gelatto-twice a day. We had to refuse numerous beggars. We didn't get robbed. Upon every turn in the city was ancient ruins just waiting for us. We went to the Vatican and saw the Sistine Chapel. We saw the Pope speak. Did I mention we ate some gelatto? I stuck to Pineapple, Drake to Biscotti, Jenn to Chocolate, Toya to Strawberry and Dev to....oops. Dev was sick and didn't make the trip with us. Yep. We all felt terribly about leaving her but we had to do it. I have a feeling she'll make the trip before we leave here.

And that rounded out their time here. Jenn leaves on Monday so the next few days we'll see some movies, eat good and the kids will hit up the bars. Some nights I can hear them walking home, around 130am, from a few blocks away, just laughing and laughing and laughing. It's been nice. I'll miss them.

PS-Dev arrived on the 17th of May and is home on college break. It's so good to see her. She finished her first year with a 3.57 and loved it. She wants to go back early. =( Shane is one month shy of coming home. He's been enjoying flying and has run into a few divers and a friend of ours from high school. He's been networking with pilots from Delta and the State Dept. Retirement is coming.