When Mommy works from home...

It's all play, no work!! (hope my boss doesn't read this!) Roman woke up last Tuesday morning with a 103 fever. Poor boy. I can't complain, though. Because daddy left to fly, I had to work from home for two days to stay with Roman. We had a blast! Luckily, I wasn't that busy at work so I could play with him a lot too!

Roman got his back pack and teddy bear and went camping in his tent.

Teddy made him so happy!! It was hilarious!!!

Such a cutie! It took him a while to figure out his back pack was on his back!

What a cute little ham!

Wednesday afternoon during the lunch hour, we got to play with the hose in the back yard. I've never seen Roman so excited!!

This is so much fun!!

My big boy!

He loved the water!

Later that afternoon I realized that it was starting to get hot in the house. The air conditioner quit working! We closed all the blinds and got out a fan to try and keep the house somewhat cool until the repair man could come to the house. Roman had never seen a fan before. He was obsessed!!! So cute!

Park time!

We love taking Roman to the park now! He has a blast! The big slide is so much fun!!

Swinging on mommy's lap is the best!

Especially when daddy makes me laugh!

swinging by myself just isn't quite as fun...

Daddy and I love to look at the pond

Whoa, there was a snake swimming in the water!

The ducks and turtles are so much fun to watch!

Mommy was obsessed with watching the snake!

Growing and learning!

Roman turned 14 months on May 12th. He's growing so fast and learning so much!

One of his favorite things to do is climb!

He loves to be outside!! Meema and Roman played outside a lot! Meema stayed in town a couple days after we got back from our trip to celebrate my birthday with me. I loved it! We went shopping and just relaxed!
Roman has started trying to reach for things, even though they're not in reach. For example, he'll see a tree and try to grab the branches. I think he's in the process of learning depth perception.

Roman LOVES to get dirty! Such a boy! He finds water or mud outside and is all about it!

Meema and Roman!

Last Sunday, we took Roman to Ariele's son, Griffin's birthday party. It was at a petting zoo. Roman absolutely had a blast!!! He was laughing at the animals!

Roman got to play with the sand box for the first time! He was so thrilled!

Ariele and me

Roman and mommy at the party

After the birthday party, we headed over to our friend's house, Brandon and Melissa. They let us swim in their pool. This was Roman's first time in a pool this season and sure won't be his last!!

Roman loved the water, even if it was freezing!

Roman got to try watermelon for the first time and loved it!!

Roman and Tessa sitting in her little house. He loves her!

They brought out bubbles to play with! Roman again was in love!

Sunday night, we played in the front yard. Roman loves to "talk" to the flowers. It's so funny, he'll just stare and them and babble. So cute!

Roman loves his daddy!!

We had such a great week last week and weekend! Roman is learning so fast! Now in the mornings, after I'm done changing him, I will hand him his dirty pajamas and ask him to put them in the laundry basket and he will walk over to the basket, take off the lid, place the pajamas in the basket, and put the lid back on! I love it!! You've got to train them early!!! I feel like he's learning something new every day!

Europe trip!

We left for Barcelona on Friday morning, April 30th and got there Saturday morning. Saturday, we explored Barcelona ourselves the entire day and then crashed that night and slept 12 hours! Sunday afternoon, we boarded the ship and headed out. It was a fabulous trip! Below are the many photos!!

Thursday night right before we put Roman to bed. It was so sad to leave him!!!

We had a layover at JFK and found the plane that Matt flies! We just found out that we got two first class seats to Madrid! It was a fabulous flight with a 4-course meal, movies, drinks, breakfast, and the chairs laid out to beds. We were really rested for a full day in Barcelona!

Barcelona, Spain May 1st

The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona!

Sitting at a cafe in front of the Sagrada Familia enjoying our coffee! Love that Spanish coffee!!!

Enjoying our Spanish tapas!

Playing around at Parc Guell

Parc Guell

Parc Guell

Parc Guell

At the top of Parc Guell overlooking Barcelona

Walking along the beach in Barcelona

They had an exhibition set up along the beach for the World Cup

Breakfast Sunday morning at Placa de Catalunya

Our room on the ship! Matt is so silly!

Leaving Barcelona!

View of the ship looking down from our floor.

View of the ship. Looks like Vegas!

Sitting on our balcony eating our room service! We're about to start the day in Naples, Italy!

Naples, Italy May 4th The Almafi Coast tour

The Almafi Coast!

So they say!!!

Ravello, Italy

A little fishing village in the Almafi Coast!

they're known for the huge lemons along the coast!

The city of Almafi

The amazing restaurant that we ate in overlooking Positano!
We had to get a picture with 'mama'! The restaurant is family owned and she makes everything from scratch! The food was unbelievable!! They even make their own wine!

Eating lunch with Adamo and Cruzy Sue. I met them on Cruise Critic website and we decided to share the private tour together for the day. They were so much fun! The meal was amazing and the view of Positano was unbeatable!!

View from my seat at lunch!

Exploring Positano!

Positano, Italy!

Carmine was our tour guide. He was such a typical Italian man!

Rome, Italy May 5th

Matt and I took to train to Rome and then the Metro to the Colosseum. We got the little remote tour guides to tour on our own.

Listening to our tour at the Colosseum

We then took the bus and walked a few blocks to the Pantheon. Amazing!

We shared an amazing pizza and a bottle of wine for lunch in the Piazza outside the Pantheon. It was so wonderful!

Next, we walked to the Trevi fountain and threw our coins in to ensure that we would be back to Rome! It really works because I did it 14 years ago when I went to Rome with my family and now I'm back!!

Next we walked to the Spanish Steps. So beautiful!

We're sitting in front of the Spanish steps in Rome!

I love Rome!

We then took the metro to the Vatican City. Here is a quick shot I snapped inside the Sistine Chapel!

Florence, Italy May 6th

We took a bike tour in Florence, but it was raining, so we ended up walking around the city instead so we could hold our umbrellas!

The beautiful bridge in Florence

We love the different tomatoes in Italy!

The Duomo in Florence

It was cold that day in Florence, so Matt had to buy a jacket. He felt so "European" in his new attire!
Formal night on the ship!

These were our dinner friends every night on the ship. The two ladies on the left were from England, the couple in the back live in Miami but originally from Cuba, and the couple on the right live in Brazil. Matt and I really enjoyed their company!

May 7th Villefranche, France

We're riding on the Tender boat from the ship

View of our ship from the tender boat

Villefranche, France was beautiful!!

The amazing train station in Monte Carlo!

Monte Carlo!

The Yahts in Monte Carlo. I can't imagine having that much money!!

Matt loved the Yahts!

In front of the Casino in Monte Carlo!

We got lost in Monte Carlo somehow! It's only a little over a mile long! I was tired!!

Monte Carlo was so clean and nice! Beautiful!

Next, we headed to Eze, France for an amazing lunch at the Chateua De La Chevre D'or.

Our view at lunch. We got there late, so we could only eat off of their appetizer menu. A plate of assorted cheeses, meats, bread, duck patte, and a bottle of wine cost us around $130! It was so worth it , though for the view! AMAZING!

The city of Eze was so beautiful! It's an old fortified village!

The train station in Eze

Villefranche, France was so quant and adorable!

Toulon, France May 8th

We were exhausted on the final day of the cruise, so we just went to La Seyne Sur-Mer, France and walked around their daily market. It was amazing!

The market had everything!

We bought cheese, bread, chorizo, olives, and assorted French pastries at the market and went to have a picnic!

It started pouring down rain on our picnic, so we took cover under this building. We looked homeless!! I covered my head in my scarf for protection. Ha!

We got this huge water bottle filled with local wine from a barrel at the market for only 3 Euro! It was a nice addition to our freezing cold, rainy picnic.

We got back to ship on the last day and decided to go ice skating! Yes, they made us wear the helmets!!
We flew back early Sunday morning to JFK. We got seats in first class again! It was wonderful! They filled us up with another 4 course meal and then again later with a warm cookie while we enjoyed our movies. We were lucky to get on the flight because they closed Barcelona airport down the day before we left and the day after! When we got to JFK, they had closed down a runway, so many of the flights were canceled. We were panicking looking for a flight to get on to come home! Our only option was to hop on a shuttle bus through NYC and go to Newark to catch a flight to DFW. The shuttle ride took 2 hours and we thought for sure that we'd miss our flight. Here we are on the shuttle in New York!

We stopped in Grand Central Station to catch another shuttle to Newark!

Who would have thought that I would be driving through Times Square on our Europe trip!

We finally made it home around Midnight on Sunday, May 9th! The next morning, I got to wake up Roman! It was so fabulous to see our little boy!!! We missed him so much!!

Overall, this was the best vacation we've ever had! We got to do and see so much! Thanks so much to our parents for taking care of Roman while we were gone. I know he was in the best hands ever!