Rome Day 2- Morning at the Vatican

The morning of Day 2 in Rome, we went to the Vatican, Basilica of St. Peter's, and the Sistine Chapel. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this part of our trip. I thought that since we are not Catholic, that I would not understand what I was looking at or the history behind it. Our tour guide did a fabulous job of walking us through and explaining all the details.

Entrance to the Vatican Museum

Mom and Dad with their "whispers"

Our tour guide explaining the paintings inside the Sistine Chapel. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the chapel, so this is as good as it gets. These posters do not do the paintings justice! The poster on the left has the paintings on the ceiling broken down into individual paintings. The middle poster shows the entire ceiling. The poster on the right shows the painting that is behind the pulpit and goes from ceiling almost to the floor called "The Final Judgement." Michelangelo was the artist who was commissioned by the pope to paint the chapel.

"The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo...in real life, the figures are life-size and very dramatic...I believe that the final judgement of Christ will probably look much like this painting...I'm so glad that I know that I will be one of the ones the angels are pulling up to heaven instead of being drug down to hell.

Painting of Jesus on our way into the Sistine Chapel.

Painting on the ceiling in the hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel.

I just loved this painting on the wall...the angel's coloring is so vibrant.

Just a glimpse of what the ceiling looked like in the hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel...completely covered in paintings and ornate moldings.

One of the domes leading to the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo's "Pieta"...Mary the Mother of Jesus holding Jesus' body after he was taken down off the cross.

One of the domes of St. Peter's Basilica

Supposedly, the apostle Peter is buried below in the the Basilica.

And then, we lost Hank...we lost Hank a few times on this trip. Hank and his wife are from Australia and Hank had a tendency to wander off. Isaac offered to hold our group's flag since the tour guide was so short. We eventually found Hank.

Statue in St. Peter's

Entrance to St. Peter's

After all of that, we took a gelato break!

Home from Italy...Our first night in Rome

We returned from our "Italian Holiday" last weekend. We had a fabulous time and cannot wait to go back to Italy, again. My parents gave me this trip for my graduation gift from PA school, and the time had finally come to go see Rome, Venice, and Florence. I have wanted to go to Italy since taking Latin in high school. It was a trip of a lifetime!

Our first night in Rome we went on an optional night tour of the city and celebrated my dad's birthday with an authentic Italian meal. Here is a sampling of the sights:

La Maddalena

Isaac and I in front of the Pantheon, "the temple to all gods", built in 1st century A.D....amazing! Notice how the building is in the middle of a modern square, this surprised me..but I guess Rome had to grow around the ancient structures.

Piazza Navona and Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

My first sampling of real Italian pizza...this is eggplant, basil, tomato sauce, and mozzarella...yum!

Gracie's Trip to the Vet

My poor kitty Gracie had to go to the vet on Monday. A few weeks ago she stopped using her litter box when she would poop. Her favorite place to leave surprises was in Isaac's office under a particular chair...he would get so mad that it was kinda funny. Well, this went on for about a week and then we went to Hilton Head. I told Isaac to be sure to shut the door to the office before we left, but apparently he forgot because when we arrived home their were surprises for every day of the week in the office! Isaac was not in a good mood at this point. I suggested that we take her to the vet, but we thought this could just be a behavior problem since she was still peeing in her box and she has an attitude naturally. She stopped her new behavior for about a week after we got back into town and then Isaac's family came to visit. She started leaving surprises again, this time outside of the office because Isaac was now very careful to shut the door. On Monday, I found pee, and for me, that was it...Gracie was going to the vet. I was pretty certain that she had to have a UTI at this point. Isaac had her in the carrier ready to go as soon as I pulled in the driveway after work and the next 20 minutes she cried the entire way there. The vet was very nice and his tech totally man-handled Gracie during the visit. After sticking a needle into my poor baby's bladder, they found that she has a UTI. The vet broke the news after Gracie had opened the door to the exam room and ran down the hallway trying to escape. My child is very poorly behaved! But I guess I deserved it, since I am not a very good mother...I got scolded by the vet for not having her vaccines up-to-date either! What can I say...she's a indoor cat!

Here I am trying to cram a pill down her throat...and I have to do this morning and night for the next two weeks.

I don't know if you can appreciate the amount of cat hair that was shed during her stressful visit to the vet, but what you can't see in this picture is the white hair balls sticking to my black pants! It was all worth it for my baby.

Visit with Mom & Dad Treesh, Abby & Daniel

Mom and Dad Treesh along with Abby and Daniel came to visit us a few weeks ago. It was a quick visit, but we had a really nice time. Daniel was unsure of the pool at first, but within an hour he was a fish out of water!

Daniel swimming with his frog swimmie

Uncle Ike is ready to jump in if needed!

Pop-Eye and Daniel in the "little pool."

Uncle Ike and Daniel went lizard hunting-Daniel wanted to catch a lizard with a corn-on-the-cob spear, but Uncle Ike decided it was better to catch a lizard with bare hands...

Daniel's pet lizard-until Uncle Ike set him free about 5 minutes later...

No trip to Florida for the Treesh family would be complete without frozen custard! Isaac and I love Rita's Italian Ice and I think it is safe to say that the rest of the family enjoyed it too!

Daniel wanted to try everyone's ice cream and had us all cracking up-he was tired and on a sugar-high!

Low-country Shrimp Boil

Friday night we had our first Shrimp Boil. We found a recipe we wanted to try while in Hilton Head in a local newspaper. My co-worker, Caroline, so kindly let us borrow her turkey fryer for the event. This worked out great because all the mess and smell was outside and clean-up was easy. We started the pot with boiling water, Old Bay Seasoning, and zesty sausage, then added red potatoes, corn on the cob, and finally the shrimp.

I believe that Lee rolled up Isaac's sleeve to show off his muscles...the pot was so heavy that I couldn't lift it high enough to dump everything out on the table.

Once we had eaten, the newspaper got rolled up and thrown away. This was a really fun meal shared with a few friends and would also be great for a Sunday School party or family get-together.

Hilton Head Island

Isaac and I and our friends Jason, Katie, and Carly all went to Hilton Head Island, SC, for a week at the beach. I also attended a continuing medical education conference for four of the days we were there. That week also happened to be our fifth wedding anniversary and we honeymooned on HHI. I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did and I know we had some great ones on Katie's camera too. Here's a sampling of our week away...

Isaac's first order of business was making a new friend...Carly wanted nothing to do with Isaac at first, but it wasn't long before they were buddies.

Carly and Isaac on the way to Harbour Town.

The Hilton Head lighthouse at Harbour Town.

We posed here for a picture on our honeymoon too.

What would vacation be without good food and a goofball named Isaac?

Katie and Carly napping on the beach.

Vacation always includes a trip to mini-golf...Kyle is probably looking for her missing ball in the woods at this point...

Jason, Carly, and Isaac listening to the music at Shelter Pointe before dinner at San Miguel's Mexican Restaurant and the weekly fireworks show.

That girl loves to dance!

We had such a great time with our friends at Hilton Head! The medical conference I attended meets there every two years...so this will probably become a biannual tradition. The weather was beautiful with only slight humidity...which is a rarity this time of year. I grew up going to HHI almost every summer with my family and we are looking forward to many more memories made there with family and friends.

We had another first on our trip-being rescued by firemen! The power went out after stepping on the elevator in our condo complex and the elevator was stuck between floors. One of the guys on the elevator called 911, and 30 minutes later, we had firemen putting a ladder down to us and pulling us out of the sauna. I'm glad we didn't have our camera for that adventure since we were wearing wet bathing suits, sweating like pigs, and my hair was matted to my head!

5th Wedding Anniversary in Savannah

On July 10th, Isaac and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Since we were going to be in Hilton Head the following week for a medical conference, we decided to leave early and spend our anniversary in Savannah, GA on the way. Isaac sweet-talked the hostess at The Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant) into reservations and it was a fabulous time! We both ordered the buffet which included fried chicken, low country shrimp boil and various country-style sides full of butter! We had to try the fried-green tomatoes too for an appetizer. For dessert, we walked a few blocks to a chocolate bar and shared chocolate fondue. We are so blessed to have a great marriage and to love one another more today than we did the day we said "I do".

At The Lady and Sons

The next day, we decided to go on a sightseeing tour around town. There is so much history in Savannah and such a fun town to visit. We plan to go back sometime soon and go on our own walking tour.

Map of our tour route-Jim was our guide and we really enjoyed his jokes and historical account of Savannah.

This statue is of a lady who waved to every ship coming in the port for several decades, hoping her love was coming back to her. Jim told us she also made alot of sailor friends, haha.

This fountain has been in a few movies-which movies? I don't know!

Pirate House where pirates actually camped out long ago.

If you are looking for a fun place to visit for a weekend, Savannah is a must! You can walk everywhere and there is so much to see and do. I'm sure the weather is beautiful in the spring and fall.