Stuttgart for Christmas '09

Once again... life threw me another opportunity which was to spend Christmas '09 in Stuttgart, Germany where my host family, the Warchols, welcomed me with open arms.

The first night we enjoyed seeing P!NK live and had a very educational and adventurous train ride to the concert. Good times for sure.

The remainder of the visit involved two trips to one of the best Christmas Markets in Germany where copious amounts of shopping and eating and drinking of gluwein occurred. We had a marvelous time. The next couple of days involved finishing up a little shopping, cooking a turkey, and lots of holiday gifts. Santa arrived and brought all kinds of wonderful gifts for the entire family. Truly blessed to have such wonderful friends over this holiday season while Tres is once again deployed.

Seychelles for Turkey '09

Seychelles is an amazing place and little did I know that I would be spending Thanksgiving '09 there but this is how it works sometimes in our crazy life. Seychelles is located just past the equator, north of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean. The island is filled with very lush vegetation, French, Creole and English speaking natives, and an island of opposite driving! Just past our luxury apartment was a private beach that I visited at least once a day and sometimes twice. The food was magnificent with curry in everything! The market in downtown Seychelles has the cleanest produce I have ever seen at a market and the tables are filled with guava, mangos, and ohhh so much more. For Thanksgiving, we cooked a Creole-themed meal and enjoyed every bite! I am so blessed to have been able to visit.

Nola and P'cola for Two Weeks

For the past two weeks, I have been in New Orleans and Pensacola. Hanging out with my parents was a lot of fun and my best friend, Ginger, came all the way from Colorado to visit as well. It was so much fun.

Next week, I will be going to Rome for two days for a little concert action and then return back to the grind.

This was my favorite photo that I took of a wedding parade on Bourbon street. I shed a little tear... I am such a sap.

Home from Portugal

Hey everyone, Tres here. I just returned from 3 weeks in Beja, Portugal where I was supporting a NATO exercise. It was a great chance to see Portugal and make some lasting friendships. I'm home for the next 10 days and then it's off to Djibouti for another 3 months. Hope everyone has a fantastic summer and continue to check our blogspot for further updates.

Tres

Venice e romantica!

Venice was truly a romantic place and since there are no cars, no motorycles, and not even bikes... it was so beautifully and peacefully quiet at night. Tres and I decided since the Giro d'Italia race: Stage 1 was starting in Venice that maybe we should make a trip out of it and so we did. When we arrived... we found out that the Giro was having a presentation to introduce all the teams with Garmin-Slipstream, one of my favorites, and of course Astana (the team Lance Armstrong is on). The presentation took place in San Marco Square and was literally two minutes from our hotel. It was fun to see all the teams so up close. This is where I also got to give Dave Zabriski a shout out and that shout out freaked him out a little bit. He was probably wondering why this lady who is covered in Slipstream clothing doesn't have a backstage pass like the other million people in Venice who did. I couldn't figure this out either. It seemed everyone had access but that is just how it goes sometimes. We had a fabulous time in Venice eating, resting, more eating and LOTS of window shopping. The Giro started with a Team Time Trial on the Lido di Venezia and what a beautiful place. We had a wonderful time and just when we got down to the staging area Team Garmin was just starting their warm-up and I actually had to yell at a person who almost walked in front of the team as they were passing by. Later on... we got to watch the actual race as each team literally flew by in 5 minute intervals. It was awesome. The Giro is so strange because you would think it would be the MECCA of selling all kinds of team gear but no... there are only trucks driving around with 10euro Giro d'Italia kits and then nothing else is going on. I almost wonder if Giro won't allow teams to sell their stuff. We came home to find that Team Garmin released a line of clothing just for the Giro d'Italia that released on-line the first day of the race BUT we were there... and there was none of it around. All in all... Tres and I had an amazing vacation and now it is back to the grind of work. We made it home last night and then it was back to a 5:30am call for him to go away again for three weeks. Then he will be back for two weeks and then gone again until September. This schedule has been what our life has been since we arrived in Sicilia. We work like crazy and then literally squeeze in these trips where and when we can and sometimes it is close to darn near impossible but somehow in the last two weeks we have managed an amazing trip to Egypt and Venice. Now I need to rest!

We've Arrived!

Astana

DZ in Red, White & Blue for TTT

Team Garmin prior to Warm Up for TTT

San Marco Square before Giro d'Italia Presentation

Egypt was great... now countdown to Venice!

Greetings, all!

Egypt was an amazing place but I will most likely never return there again in this lifetime. It has taken me days to recover. We only had one 3-hour segment of downtime and other than that it was NONSTOP! I had to tell my guides that when they see the eyes glaze over to keep going and I will eventually jump back in with the listening skills... so much historical information to absorb. Tres and I are extremely busy at work and trying our best to squeeze in all the travel possible. Tres and I will be going to Venice next weekend to watch Stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia. Then he leaves for two weeks back for two weeks and then gone until mid-September. Ciao Ciao for now!

Back home and time for work tomorrow. More travels soon and more pictures from Egypt....

Just finished up a day of shopping and site seeing in Cairo. Tonight is our last night in Egypt, we fly back to Catania tomorrow morning. Hope to post our photos when we get home. Tres

Just finished up 4 days cruising down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Jen and I were able to see some of the most amazing places. We now have a few days in Cairo before we head back to Sicily on Monday. The picture on the left is from right after our felucca ride down the Nile to a Nubian Village. Stay tuned for more photos.

Tres and I are off to Egypt!

Tomorrow, Tres and I will be off to Egypt! Keep posted for the latest details of the trip.