Baby pictures.

Our little garden is growing up so fast (sniff, sniff).

Actually it is pretty awesome, and at the risk of seeming like an overly proud mother shoving pictures of her kid is unsuspecting bystanders faces, here's the latest:

Several lovely ears of corn are showing up!













A few baby yellow squashes making their first appearance in the world.

The bush bean seeds Nick planted last week are starting to sprout!

And the snap peas are ready to eat, and oh so tasty!

Family.

Amy got married! Amy got married! Amy got married!

I spent the last five days in San Diego seeing my aunt (my mom's younger sister) Amy get married to a wonderful man named Tony. It was an amazing experience. Tony's family is from Chicago and is very Italian and sooo similar to mine. We both play pranks on each other and love to laugh, two things that happened a lot this weekend.

The wedding was on a paddle boat that sailed out on Mission Bay. It was beautiful and scenic and perfect for themed prank pulling. Tony's family went with Love Boat while mine went with pirates (I have a little sore spot in my throat from saying "Arrrggg..." all weekend). In addition to flying a pirate flag off our balcony and passing out eye-patches at the reception, we introduced a new member of the family, Uncle Arrrrggg-nold (pictured below).

On of the best parts of the whole trip was dancing at the reception. Bopping around with my cousins and Amy in her beautiful dress was a blast. Then my great-Aunt Kay came on the floor. She was amazing and is officially my hero. How many 73 year-olds do you know who dance to Gettin' Jiggy with It (na na na na na nana)? Yea Aunt Kay!

It was wonderful to spend time with family, even parts that I haven't seen since I was little. I learned a lot of names, heard lots of stories about my grandma and grandpa, and generally felt blessed to be part of such an awesome group of people.

Here's some pictures from the trip.

Uncle Arrrggg-nold.

Pirating can be dangerous work!

Two of my cousins and me at the beach.

Self-explanatory.

Thanks Mr. Salinger

I just finished a collection of two stories (Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymore: An Introduction) by J.D. Salinger and I wanted to share a couple of my favorite quotes:

Please accept from me this unpretentious bouquet of very early-blooming parentheses: ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ).

My atoms, moreover, are arranged to make me constitutionally inclined to believe that where there's smoke there's usually strawberry Jello, seldom fire.

...all we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next.

The next adventures.

I've moved back to Flagstaff, Arizona for the summer and since I'll no longer be posting about Europe, I thought I'd change the look of the blog. I have no idea how much I'll be updating this in the future, but hopefully enough to keep your interest.

Flagstaff is beautiful in the summer. It is hot, but nothing like Las Cruces or Phoenix. I ride my bike to work every morning, somtimes stopping by our little Canterbury garden to water. And speaking of the garden, it is doing wonderfully! When I left seven weeks ago there was just dirt and soaker hoses to show that something was special about that plot of land. Now there are three rows of corn plants, each a foot tall. Pea plants climbing up stakes with buds where pods will someday appear. Pepper plants, lettuce leaves, potatoes, huge pumpkin and squash bushes...it is beautiful! Here's a couple of pictures that I couldn't resist taking...

The corn plants

Tomatoes, peppers, squash, potatoes, lettuce, garlic, and peas!

It is a little weird being in Flagstaff over the summer. I am use to the busy university life when I'm in this town. Not that I'm complaining about not doing homework every night, but I'm finding that I don't really know what else to do on weeknights. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

And so there you have it, the next adventure begins!

The Ice Cream Challenge.

Here it is, proof that I did actually travel around Europe...

The first desert at the El Paso airport with Dad...we would have had ice cream, but they didn't have any.

London, the chocolate stick part was really good.

Somewhere on the English Channel...it was too cold for ice cream, but this tart was tasty!

Mont St. Micheal, dark chocolate and strawberry, mmm...

Paris, near the Louvre

Taize, this one only cost 80 cents because it is sold not for profit...and it was good!

Nice, caramel ice cream, this was definately one of my favorites.

Gelato in Rome, I'm a big fan of the lemon gelato...

And my new favorite ice cream, Dutch Stroopwafflefest...you have to try it to believe it! Plus I was eating it with some of my best friends!

So, there you have it...a succesful ice cream eating adventure!

Home at last.

I am sitting in my living room, still in my pajamas at 10 o'clock in the morning, and I never knew that it could feel so good. Yesterday I was travelling for over 20 hours with only a couple short plane naps, but I think I pretty much beat the jet lag! The amazing thing was that I made both connections even the hour and a half in Houston to clear passport control and customs! My backpack did get lost somewhere between Houston and home, but if I had to lose it sometime this trip, this is when I would choose.

It is good to be home, but it feels a little funny sitting still after so much movement. This last week with Eleanor, Rachel, and Janelle has been a blast! We sampled every Dutch junk food we could, walked all over in the rain and a littttttle bit of sunshine, laughed until I (almost) peed my pants several times, talked about life, relationships, and the meaning of it all...and generally had a wonderful time.

Thanks for following this trip with me! I hope to upload some pictures once I get a chance to look through them, so stay tuned! And I plan to keep updating this blog with other random mutterings as I go through life, maybe I'll even write a more reflective ending to the trip if I get in a reflective type of mood sometime soon :-)

I hope all is well with you. May peace be with you in your travels!

Wow.

My trip is nearing the end. I can hardly believe it. Right now I am in Gronigen visiting my dear friend Eleanor who has been studying at an art school here for the past year. I flew into Amsterdam two days ago from Rome. Eleanor and I had talked about meeting in Amsterdam, but I had a hard time finding internet to really make plans. But then waiting for me as I walk out of baggage claim is Eleanor! It was amazing to see her there waiting for me.

That night we walked around the canals of Amsterdam, it is a beautiful city. All the tall skinny houses crammed right next to each other with house boats floating in the canal in front of them. I felt very European! It was surreal walking around such a foreign city with a friend I hadn't seen in a whole year. Surreal and wonderful!

Today we are walking around Gronigen, lingering in cafes, smelling roses, and eating yummy food. Oh, my favorite part about the Netherlands so far is that they but chocolate sprinkles on their toast at breakfast! I had never realized just how social acceptable chocolate for breakfast was in Europe...that is a tradition I am soooo starting at home!

It is very good to be with a friend that I have known for more than three days. I feel more rested and less stressed about traveling and where I am going to be next. It is good to relax and not be a tourist for a while. And our friend Rachel and Janelle are coming to Gronigen today, so that will be a blast!

Farwell for now!