Joy's Favorite Memories

I really loved being with family. It was so nice to chat with Mari and sing with the children before bed, and play games with Mari and DeWayne. It was really special to me that Anna [left] called me her girl friend and it was fun to see how much friends she was with Derrill after he helped her with a hotair balloon and basket (minus the hot air) art project. We really felt special that DeWayne took time off work to play with us and to show us around, what a wonderful trip.

Mari [right, with baby Sarah] gave me a great gift. She suggested that I get my nails done to being a journey of not biting them. Well, happily enough I have not bitten my nails now for three weeks and I bought some nail polish and some files this last week.

A special moment for me was seeing Venezia from the Gondola. They are mighty expensive, but just as we took off in ours I realized that this was the way I wanted to see Venice and I was just thrilled with the whole ride. I was also especially happy when he took us through some quiet streets, most of Venice was really crowded, so the quiet canals were very nice. I also bought white hat in Venics :), so Derrill wasnt' the only one to come home with a hat this time.



Before we went into Venice proper we took a boat bus to Morano where they make glass and wandered through their canals. It is just like Venice only quieter and I really liked Morano for that.... sweet memories. [A restaurant in Murano]




The games we played with DeWayne and Mari were Carcazone, Settlers of Catan, Alahambra, and Turn and Taxis. The new one to me was Turn and Taxis. That was fun to learn and to play! I am thinking about owning it. :) I really enjoyed all the fun and laughs that we had, from Derrill banging his head on a table (you had to be there) to be quoting movies at strange times and turning the tables on Mari, trading a grain for a grain (her favorite joke). [DW - I really like this shot of DeWayne. This is the general planning his attack. There was a tomato caught in an eddy of the waterfalls and he was trying to decide how to get it out.]






Then there is Sacatini, yes from Italy it must be the name of a .....PASTA. This pasta looks like it is a paper bag tided at the top with a string. Inside it has pear and ricatta. So you mix it with oil, cinnammon and a healthy dose of parmesian and it is divine!!!!!!!!!!! The pumkin pasta with bacon was superb as well.





We went to a safari zoo where you drive through with you own car and the animals come up to your car. You are supposed to have you windows shut, but as you see we did not and that giraffe was really determined to get a bit of my carrot.... but I was determined as well.




The baby Hippo was really cute too. We were lucky to be passing by (for the second time) and saw the mom and the baby get out of the pool.





The castle that we saw in Trieste was way awsome. Inside it looked like you think a castle should look, not just like a museum like some of them. [Below is the dock by Castle Miramare.]

We really enjoyed the Gelato, that everyone said we should enjoy. We tried to get it whenever we could, we even got it twice one

day. That day was the over the fence gelatto. We had parked behind it and had passed alot of gelattorias that were closed, we were really hoping this one would be open because their lights were on, but when we walked up they had just turned them off. He still served us and that gelatto was fudgey and divine. All the chocolates were different (I always got chocolate).








Finally the waterfalls (featured in a preceding post) were really neat at Valley of the Miste in the Dolomites. I love water and bridges and that was a sweet spot!