Too Cheesy????

O.K. ... I felt like it was time to update our blog, so I've spent the past few hours working on the update. Now, I need some advice. Pete says this picture is too cheesy to use. I maybe agree with him; however, I can't find any other picture that I want to use. I love this picture (although, it is admittedly cheesy) because it was taken on this Christmas in Cinque Terre and it is one of my favorite memories. I do have two other options and here they are. One is a picture of Pete and I in Prague and the other does not have either of us in it - it is a picture of the sunset in Santorini.
So ... tell me what you think. What should I use? (I'll also take input on the site in general if you have any comments).

Pictures from Mykonos

O.K., so yesterday I covered Turkey, today I'll move on to the Greek islands. We stopped in Lesbos for a couple of days, then spent one night in Samos, then we headed to Mykonos. In Mykonos our summer vacation truly began. My friend from home, Hailey, met us there and found us a place to stay. Most days consisted of waking up late and heading to the beach. One day we rented motor bikes and went around the island. The bikes scared the heck out of me, so needless to say we didn't have them for long. Even at 30, the whole time we had them we kept saying "Our parents would kill us if they knew we were on these things!" so basically, we rode them to the beach and then turned them in - I guess you never really stop being a kid, huh?
Lorissa - the picture of me on the rocks is of me playing mermaid. Of course, I thought of you! ;)

Change of plans and pictures

Hello from Sofia! We've had a little change in plans, and have decided to stop in Sofia for about a week before continuing our adventure. As it turns out, we aren't 20 anymore and traveling is a bit more tiring than it used to be. So, after the Greek islands, Athens, and Metaora we are now back in Sofia until the 6th or so then we will head to Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, and finally London before heading back to school for another year.
Instead of overwhelming you with pictures, I'm going to upload them over the next few days. I'll start with our first stop which was Turkey. As I mentioned before, we stayed with our friend David who owns a fantastic house right on the coast of the Aegean sea. As there was limited space, Pete and I camped outside (camping equipment thanks to many, many thoughtful wedding present givers). Everyday David's girlfriend, Karimeh, cooked us fantastic meals that we ate outside on their patio. Their patio, by the way, is exactly what I would love to have at our house someday. Beautiful! Most of the time we just relaxed, read, and/or went to the beach. It was great. Pete and I took a trip one day to Bergama where their are lots of interesting ruins, one of which is a church mentioned in the book of Revelations - pretty amazing to see it all. The other pictures here are from the henna party we had for Anne as a celebration of her renewing her vows with her husband. Lots of fun.
I don't have any pictures of the circumcision party, but I think Patrick took a bunch. I'll try to get some from him in the future - quite an experience. I uploaded a picture I found on the internet that shows the outfits the boys wear during the party, while they are showered with gifts and money. (By the way, I found out while looking for a picture that the circumcision is done without any anesthetic - ouch!!!)
Tomorrow, pictures of Greece!

Santorini

Hello everyone from one of the most beautiful places on the planet! Pete and I are currently in Santorini and loving it. This our favorite Greek island so far. It is absolutely gorgeous here. We are camping during the evening to save some cash, but during the day we are living the good life :) Actually, just yesterday we lived the good life - today we have to clamp down a bit. Yesterday Pete and I spent the day walking around town, then we went to dinner at a romantic little restaurant that overlooked the sea. We had a great dinner while watching the sun set. It was wonderful. Today we are going to check out the beaches, then tomorrow we are going to try and head for Crete. While we have loved Greece, I think both of us are ready to go to places that are a little more reasonably priced, if you know what I mean - living the high life costs a bundle!!!
I still haven't figured out how to upload pictures. I have a feeling I'm going to have to have a whole blog full of pictures when we get back.
I hope everyone is well - Andy and Ali, we LOVED the pictures you sent!!! So exciting!!!

Greece

Quick note - internet is expensive, so I have to make it fast. We've spent the last five nights in Mykonos relaxing. Tomorrow we head to Santorini - we're having a blast. Hopefully I'll find a cheap internet place one of these times :)
We love you all!
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Lesbos, Greece

Hello everyone! I really wish I could put pictures up here - it's so bland without them. Maybe I'll do some research at the next internet cafe.
Let's see ... where did I leave off ... Let's start with Turkey. Here are the highlights: Pete and I spent a day in Bergama, exploring the ruins there. We even ate the lunch we brought under one of the columns at the Acropolis. That was super fun. After that, we explored the Red Church, which is one of the churches mentioned in the book of Revelations. That was pretty cool, I have to admit. It's hard to believe it has been there since biblical times.
One of the main highlights in Turkey was getting invited to a "Circumcision Party" in the village we were staying in. Apparently, in Turkey boys aren't circumcised until they are about 8 years old. It's a rite of passage there, so the celebration is huge! They played music, danced, and served great food. The boy dresses up in a hat and cape, and everyone pins money on him. The little boy was bawling his head off though - no wonder!
After leaving the village, we spent the night in Ayvalik, then took a ferry to Lesbos. In Lesbos, we have basically just relaxed. We dropped our laundry off yesterday morning and then spent the day at the beach. It was great. Today we plan on exploring the city, then tomorrow morning we will take the early ferry to Mikinos.
I hope everyone is well! We love and miss you!

Ayvalik

Hı all! We are ın Ayvalik, Turkey right now and will stay here until our ferry to Lesbos, Greece tomorrow evening. We are having a great time - there are stories to tell, but I'll have to tell them when I get to Greece, as I only have a minute here. More later ...

On summer adventure begins in Turkey ...

After a 24 hour bus ride from Sofia to Dikili, we arrived at our destination spot in Turkey. We are staying at our friend David's house in a little village outside of Dikili called Yahsibey. His house looks out over the Aegean Sea - it is very peaceful and relaxing. Pete and I set up our little tent and have made a nice little home here. The first day we spent the day swimming, basking in the sun, and basically de-stressing from the last month. Yesterday, we read and played games, adn last night we had a henna party. One of the friends we are traveling with has decided that she and her husband are going to renew their vows on this trip. So, we pretended like she was getting married and a local women from the village came over and put henna on all of us. We danced, laughed, and had a great time. My hands now look pretty weird, however, and probably will for the next few weeks. All worth it though. Today we will do some sight-seeing.
We hope everyone had a great fourth of July. We missed the K-falls gang - I wish we could have all been together.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm on a dial-up connection right now, and I still haven't figured out how I'm going to upload pictures from computers that aren't mine yet. I'll keep working on it. Stay tuned ...

SUMMER ... HERE WE COME!!!

It's 9:55pm, our bus leaves in an hour! Our cards came today and we are MORE than ready for summer travels to begin! Hooray! We'll be in touch via the blog and via email.
We love, love, love you guys!!!!
T & P

In a holding pattern

Well, school is out and we're ready for summer. Unfortunately, we are missing a key ingredient needed for summer fun: access to money. A couple of weeks ago, we were informed that our Washington Mutual debit cards would be changed from Visa to Master Card, and that our current cards would no longer work after July 4th. So ... after many, MANY, MANY phone calls to WaMu, we supposedly have cards on their way. In fact, apparently they tried to send them once already but they never made it here. This time I have a tracking number and can see that the infamous cards are now in Paris. Now we just need them to get from Paris to Bulgaria ASAP. We were planning to leave tonight (Sunday), but that has now been postponed until (hopefully) tomorrow. If my sanity is to stay intact, the cards need to arrive tomorrow :)
At any rate, I will definitely blog before we leave and I'll keep you all up-to-date throughout our travels. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to upload some pictures as we go. More later ...