Mediterranean Cruise- Sicily

Our first stop was Messina, Sicily.  We knew the next few days in Athens and Ephesus were going to be pretty hectic, so we decided to take it a little easy in Sicily.  First, we took a little train ride around Messina and heard all about the history of the area.

It is really a beautiful town and it is the closest point of Sicily to the Italian mainland.  Because it is a port city, there are lots of tourists in the area, although many people venture up to Mt. Etna, a live volcano that you can see from the city.

 

 

After the train ride, we visited the Cathedral in Messina and we loved it.  I'm not sure Drew feels quite as strongly about it as I, but I would say it is possibly my favorite church we have seen, next to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague.  It had beautiful murals painted on the domes at the front and on each of the ceiling beams throughout the length of the church.  What a beautiful place to worship!

No trip to Sicily would have been complete without pizza and gelato so we stopped at a local pizzaria and then for gelato on the way back to the ship.

Sorry this is taking so long!!  Hopefully I can have the post on Athens to you a bit more quickly!!

Mediterranian Cruise- At Sea

There is so much to write about the cruise, I thought I would make an entry for each location.  This first one is about our time on the ship.

It was a bit difficult cruising with a one-year old (did I just say "one-year old"?), but the staff on the ship did everything in their power to accomodate Eli and his needs.  At dinner, they always brought us something special for him to eat and a special treat of some fruit, as well.  Royal Caribbean also has on-board babysitters who we used several times throughout the cruise.  They were so sweet with Elijah and absolutely fell in love with him.  They even put a love note and stuffed animal on our door as a gift to him.  The babysitting allowed us to have a special dinner at Chops (the on-board steakhouse, where we had the best steaks we've tasted since coming to the UK), to visit the casino, and to see several shows, including the ice skating spectacuar!

There were also a few on-board activities for babies on the ship.  There was a play group at least once a day and you could check out toys from the toy library for the babies to play with in your stateroom or on deck.


 
One challenge was the fact that there was no seperate baby pool and RC doesn't let children who aren't potty trained yet in the big pool so Eli didn't get to swim on board which means mommy and daddy didn't really get to either. There was plenty of room on deck for a quick play, however.

Our room attendant, Dinada, was a very nice man who took excellent care of us.  He warmed up to Elijah immediately, as he has a 10 month old daughter at home. 

We really enjoyed having a balcony on this trip.  It was a nice place to sit and relax and the views were amazing, especially when we passed through the straight of Messina between Italy's mainland and Sicily and could see the active volcano, Mt. Etna.

 

 

Be watching for posts about all the stops on the trip to be coming soon!

Llangollen, Wales

We were so happy to make a day trip to Wales last weekend.  The geneology information we have from my grandfather's family says they are not completely sure, but they believe that the family was from Llangollen, North Wales.  It also states that the Griffith name is most likley a contraction from the words "great" and "faith." 

Llangollen is a lovely town nestled on the Dee river.  There are lots of quaint little craft and antique shops, sweet shops, bakeries, and dear little places to grab a meal.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed strolling around the town.  We walked the river and then stopped at the Cottage Tea rooms for a nice lunch.  Drew had the traditional local eggs and ham and I had a very rich and meaty beef stew.  Then we split a corned beef pasty from the bakery and a strawberries and cream ice cream cone.    You can see the castle at the top of the hill from the town and the countryside around the village is gorgeous.

We were very happy to be able to make the trip to Wales to see a new part of the UK and visit the original home of the Griffiths!

Elijah's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Eli's first birthday at our house Friday afternoon with several of his close friends (and mine, too!).  It was a pretty typical birthday party, nothing fancy. 












First everyone had a snack. 





Then, the mommies had a nice chat while the babies played (it is so much harder keeping track of everyone now that all the little ones are mobile).   Eli had a great time crawling around from room to room and laughing with all of his little friends.









Then, we put on party hats,
sang the birthday song,
and had cake. 



Eli was very happy to see all of his friends and is very thankful for his new toys, books, and clothes.  It was very special to us to celebrate his birthday with you all.

 We plan to open gifts and cards that family and friends have sent from the states next week on his actual birthday.




Thanks to everyone that came to the party to help us celebrate and for everyone who is celebrating with us from afar during this special time for our family.  We appreciate all the sweet, thoughful gifts and birthday wishes.


 

Next up, Eastern European Cruise

Our next big adventure is a 7 night Eastern European cruise the first week in October. We will stay a long weekend in Rome and then head out to Messina, Sicily; Athens; Ephesus, Turkey; and Souda, Crete.  If you  have been to any of these places and have any advice on what to see/do or avoid, please let us know.  Also, if you have any tips on cruising with a baby, we'd love to hear that, too.  Thanks!!

Wish us luck and we'll tell you all about it when we get back.

Edinburgh, Scotland

The weekend before last, our dear friends John and Abby Kerber hosted us for a long weekend in Edinburgh.  We spent quite a bit of time just hanging out with the Kerbers and did a little sight seeing as well.  John and Drew got to go to the pub for a few pints and to catch the Manchester United game, but only after Abby and I got in an afternoon of shopping!  Unfortunately Abby did most of the picture taking, so she isn't in any pictures!

Alex and Eli had a great time playing together and we could hardly keep up!










One of our big tourist stops was the Edinburgh Castle.  It was really interesting to learn about the history of Scotland through the differnent exhibits at the castle and the views from the hill are amazing!! 

 We also enjoyed some very traditonal Scottish higlights including bagpipes and haggis!  Can you see it here on Drew's plate, complete with tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips)?

Abby was so sweet to remember that Elijah's birthday is at the end of the month and surprised us with a little cake for him and some Scottish slippers. 

 

After the birthday celebration, we watched the firweorks show at the castle from John and Abby's living room window (the little boys were captivated).  And the trip wouldn't have been complete without a screening of Braveheart (the big boys were captivated).

 

 

Thanks to the Kerbers and to Edinburgh for a lovely time.

 

OklaHOMa

We did entirely too much while we were home to recap everything.  Suffice it to say we spent loads of time with family and friends, ate a lot of good food (especially Mexican and BBQ), and soaked up the sun while we could. 

Most of all, I wanted to post this blog so that we could take the opportunity to say thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy lives to come spend some time with us (especially those of you who traveled a long way to come see us).  Also, thanks to our parents for hosting us and to all of you who provided or hosted a meal (or part of one) or took care of us in any way.  It was so much fun to be home and see you all and we feel very blessed to have such generous, loyal, and fun family and friends.

We didn't get too many pictures of the trip, but here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ireland

Last weekend we took a long weekend and went to Belfast and Dublin.

In Belfast, we stayed with Chris Hall, a friend of ours who works with Drew at EY in Manchester, and his parents, Liz and Sam (who live in Belfast).  They were fantastic hosts!!  Chris and Liz picked us up from the airport bright and early Saturday morning and took us around Northern Ireland to see the sights.  We started by visiting the Giant's Causeway, a rock formation in the form of several octogonal spires that our guide told us were once hundreds of feet tall, but have worn down.  Legend has it the Causeway was built by the giant Finn McCool so he could cross to Scotland and beat up his rival giant. You can even see his camel, boot, and chimney around the Causeway.

Then, we went for lunch in Portrush, a beautiful seaside town where many people go to vacation.  Just outside of Portrush, we took a tour of the Bushmills distillery and sampled the whiskey.  It was interesting to see all the barrells and hear about how the aging process works.





Finally,we went to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.  I must admit I was a little nervous going across the bridge, especially with Drew carrying Eli across one-handed!  Around the bridge you can see beautiful views of the Irish coastline; just what we imagine when we think of Ireland.




The Halls were such lovely hosts.  They had a car seat, high chair, and travel cott, all ready for little Eli and made us feel very much at home with their warm company.  They also fed us amazing meals!  Drew particularly enjoyed the Beef Wellington and we loved all the fresh produce from their gigantic garden.



On Sunday, we took the Belfast City bus tour and found the history of the city very interesting.  We were able to see the wall that seperated the Unionist part of town from the Loyalist part and the murals painted by some of the activists.  We also saw where the infamous Titanic was built; our guide was quick to point out that she was fine when she left Belfast!

After the bus tour we took the train to Dublin.  Our first meal was traditional Irish fare: potato pancakes and dumplings, soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and stew.  We saw the two Cathedrals in Dublin: St. Patricks and Christ the King, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and Kilmainham Jail.

Before we took off on Tuesday we enjoyed the National Gallery (including lesser known works by Picasso and Van Gogh) and we couldn't leave without partaking of a Guiness and an Irish Coffee (bet you can't guess who drank which).  We also enjoyed our first taste of Mexican food since moving abroad.  It wasn't bad, but we are looking forward to being home and making the rounds to our favorite places.

 Over all, we very much enjoyed our time in Ireland.  We especially enjoyed the countryside of Northern Ireland and would like to see more of the countryside in the south of Ireland someday.