2 new stamps in our passports...

We left Venice last night and took a night train through Slovenia and into Croatia. This required two passport checks within about 20 minutes, kinda overkill, but fattening up our passports none the less.

We crossed over into Zagreb, Croatia's capital and took another train to Split, in southern Croatia. The train ride was absolutely beautiful. One of the best of the trip so far: rolling hills covered in fall foliage and meeting rock jut-outs of grey and red. Lots of skinny strips of corn fields and quaint pumpkin patches. Quite spectacular.

We're in Split now and are enjoying a bit of a relaxing day, enjoying the town and perhaps catching up on some sleep...

So, here's a few quick shots from Split today:





And a catch up of Venice:



The canals of Venice.



You're two super travellers, covering Europe in record time.


Hungry, yet? I wish I could bring you all home some pasta and goodies.

Ah, yes, and Nice, France. Yep, we've been to four countries in three days, we are super travellers.



Did I mention we've seen a few famous folks?? Not Brad and Angelina... but close. We saw Rick Springfield (don't pretend you haven't heard Jessie's Girl...) at the Vatican and the old lady from There's Something About Mary. We saw her on the beach in Nice. Not pretty.

Until next time.

Venice!

We arrived in Venice last night after a train delay and a missed train, but found an awesome hotel (toilet, shower and air conditioning included plus two twin beds pushed together to make a double).

We wandered around a bit last night and are hitting the town today to see some of the blown glass and explore the 17 islands that make the city. Sorry no pictures, but the camera battery is dying and we decided taking is more important than sharing at this time. (You'll see them all later, I'm sure).

Thanks for the comments, we love to hear from you all.

Hope you're all doing well.

Next stop...

We haven't written for a while, but we've been making good use of our rail pass.

Can you tell where we ended up?



How about now?



Now?



Now?



That's right, we got derailed (aren't we funny) and ended up in Paris for the day.

Before that, we headed from La Spezia along the Italian Riviera to Genoa, where we hopped onto a train bound for Milan.



This is us in a park in Milan. There was a big band playing in a gazebo and lots of people milling around listening and lounging.

We spent the day walking around Milan and went out for pasta and wine (imagine that). Quite a nice, bustling city. Lots of international stores that we recognized. Even a Ferrari store which Brad drooled in.

We spent the day in Paris, after a night train from Milan. When we arrived, Brad promptly used his Captain Awesome skills and saved a woman from an escalator accident. That's right, I've always had a fear of them and they can be scary. A woman fell backwards with her luggage and took down a line of people like dominoes. Quite scary actually, but everyone got picked up and only one person was hurt badly. Brad will tell the tale when we get back (by then there may be guns involved) :)

We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral (first pic), the Louvre (second), the Arc de Triumphe (third) and then of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Our plan was to detour for a day and then head to Venice, but the train was full, so now we're in Nice. We had a nice relaxing day on the beach and are just on our way out for supper and a stroll along the ocean. (If you've been following our trip on a map you may be wondering, what the heck are they doing? Well, we're winging it... Brad and Kelly style).

Grampa Sackett, good luck with your surgery. We'll be sending hugs your way.
Brandi, I heard you still have a few weeks. Hang in there....

La Spezia

We're here in La Spezia, on the Northwestern coast of Italy, today.

We just hiked 12km up and down stairs in the burning Italian heat in the Cinque Terre National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Quite possibly the best day of the trip so far, even though it probably doesn't sound fun.





We hiked between five villages that are all perched on the cliffs along the ocean and connected by stone steps, wineries, olive groves and bamboo patches. It was nice to stop in the villages for a quick swim in the ocean to refresh (Our first glimpse of the ocean...)

Brad was happy that we passed 'a ton' of people and never got passed ourselves and even invited me to join Team Awesome, huh, I thought I was all ready on the team.

Yesterday, we left Florence and stopped in Pisa for a quick picture of the tower. It was so nice to just jump off the train, walk across town and take a few pictures and do a bit of exploring and then get back on the train to La Spezia. We're getting much better at using the trains.



These are a few pictures we took in Florence that we didn't include last time.





and, we're a little late, I think, but Happy Belated Birthday Dad Higginson! Hope it was great.

Quick Check in..

I know it hasn't been long since our last post, but we have free internet available to us, so more updates...

We're now in Florence. Took the train from Rome this morning and saw some beautiful countryside along the way. We used our rail pass for the first time which was a little exciting. Eleven minutes before the train arrived we learned that we had to get our passes stamped, which meant we had to wait in a long line up at the ticket booth. We sweet talked our way up the line (which is impressive because so far Italians haven't been wildly friendly) and ran to the train with our huge packs with about a minute to spare. Then, we got off at the wrong train station in Florence.... we're learning.

We visited the Duomo, a few plazas, tons of monuments and statues, a beautiful old bridge, and a rose garden, which had no roses, but had an excellent view of downtown Florence (which is called Firenze here in Italy, another difficulty on the train). Unfortunately, we can't upload pictures from this computer, so you'll have to wait for the next post.

We've walked all over Florence and had an excellent meal again tonight, wine and pasta and vegetables (vegetables, how exotic) and swordfish. Quite good. We are now heading out to a festival downtown and then back to get some of the gelatto we eyed up earlier in the day.

Hope you're all doing well. Any baby news yet, Brandi and Curtis?

P.S. Brad says at the going pace of site seeing, he'll need a vacation from his vacation. Luckily, we have some relaxation time in the books in the next couple of days.

We're here!

Well, we arrived safe and sound and have all ready made the most of Rome.

We got in to Rome at 5:30 in the evening on the second of September and imediately went out for Italian wine and homemade pizza. Delicious, although we've come to realize that bread and cheese are definitely the staples here. No Atkins diet for us.

Yesterday, we saw almost all of the sites in Rome: the Coloseum, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, Cicus Maximus, and Vatican City (St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museum which included the Sistine Chapel).

This is the Colloseum:



and St. Peter's:



and the Vatican:



There are numerous glorious fountain all over town (which all dispense drinking water) along with beautifully carved monuments. As the Lonely Planet says, "Rome is the only place where there are more ruins than dog poop." You literally stumble upon them at every turn.

Here's a picture of us for posterity. We're alive and well, mom. No worries. Although, at 34 Celcius in the shade, we may melt.



Hope everyone is doing well.

Preparations Complete

Today's the day! In a few hours we'll be flying out to Rome!

I ran all over this weekend getting Bailey all packed and ready for his 'vacation' at the farm, and got to spend some time visiting family and getting a quick visit in with Sam and her new wee babe, Jack.

Here's Jack:





What a cutie!

And... I took lots of pictures of him and his super cute big brother John, so I'll share them, too.













And, Bailey's new hair cut, complete with playoff beard:



Ready for the life of a farm dog!

So, now that the camera card is cleared, we're ready to head out. Next time you hear from me, we'll be in Europe!

Leaving on a jet plane....

So, it's just about time to take off on our much anticipated trip to Europe...6 sleeps left!!

I'm constantly surrounded by travel books and highlighters whenever I sit on the couch nowadays, but I'm really getting excited.

We're planning on hitting Italy:



Greece:



Turkey:



and Croatia:



while we're there and we've got a month to do it in! Yeah!


This is a map of southern Europe to show how they all sit together:



I can't wait! New pictures to scrapbook when I get home ;)

So, I'll try and post pictures and updates here throughout the trip, but in the meantime, if any of you have been and have tips, I'd love to hear them!

Wildlife in our backyard

Living in a national park definitely means we're exposed to more wildlife than most. We are constantly checking to see what animals are on our front lawn as we leave the house or who's been hanging out in the neighborhood when we go for a hike. I've even actually heard a mother tell her two young boys, "if you see a bear, you come straight home."

So, I thought I'd share the experience and show you some of our recent visitors. Pretty cute and cuddly looking, but I like to take pictures like these from the safety of my dining room window, because they aren't always as docile as they appear.



As if that's not Winnie The Pooh there posing for my picture...



They're just fencing us in at the moment, so we may actually lose this interaction with animals to some extent, but it may also save the wildlife from accidents on the highway and too much exposure to people, which usually kills them in the long run. The fence that circles our cul de sac and impedes our view out the back window kinda makes you wonder who are the animals in the zoo.

Hiking in Yoho National Park

Remember I said I did a great hike ages ago? Right after I got my wisdom teeth pulled?

Well, I finally got around to pulling those pics off my camera to show off.

It's a great trail, called the Iceline that runs along the upper reaches of Yoho Valley, right across from Takakkaw Falls, the second highest waterfall in Canada. It's great, because you actually get above the falls and can look across the valley to the glacier that feeds it.

It takes about 5 hours to do the 20 km loop (we took the Marpole Connector back down towards Laughing Falls).

This is Takakkaw Falls close up, from the Iceline Trail.



As we got higher, we travelled farther away from the falls, and it looks so tiny.



This is a line of ice that is there year round, hence the name of the trail. It looks much more impressive when you're actually there than I could capture with a camera.





My hiking partners, Dianne and Timber heading across the rocks. It's almost like walking on the moon or something up there because there are so many loose rocks and you're quite aways above the treeline.





I highly recommend this hike. Can't wait to get these pictures in a scrapbook.

More Scrappy Stuff

I thought I'd show you another scrappy thing I did over the weekend... I actually started out with this because I'd been out of the game for so long, I thought, I need a scrappy project to do just to refresh my memory.

Luckily, I have this great class kit created by Aimee Grenier from my retreat that I hadn't gotten to. What a fantastic project to make me remember why I love this hobby.

So, here's my take on it. I all ready have someone in mind for this...





I just need a few photos to finish it off...

Cute, eh? I loved these rub-ons from Fancy Pants, but they're a little tricky to use sometimes. Not super easy to rub off, but so cute!

Scrappy Stuff!!!

So, I had a wonderful, crafty, scrappy weekend. Who cares that it was kinda gloomy for August Long? I spent it indoors for the most part, and had fun!

I'm still geetting back in the swing of things.... I fell like my craftiness is a little rusty as I've taken sooooo long off. Luckily, a weekend, some inky fingers and fun photos and supplies have gotten me back into a scrappy mood.



This was actually an old photo I had from a photo class I took at SAIT. It's a liitle worn, so I distressed it even more and put it with my new favourite quote which I put up a few days ago.



This here is another wedding layout. I know, just do them all at once. Yeesh. I can't help myself. I like to spread all of my little projects out and work on them when I'm feeling in the right mood. Anyway, I did a basic digital layout



and then stuck it onto a good ol' paper layout with some stickers, metal embellishments, paper ribbon, and great white velvet letters for a little hybrid fun.



So glad we got married in the fall. Love these fall colours.

Summer Reading

I'm a pretty avid reader. I love all kinds of books: mysteries, true-stories, humorous novels, whatever. Anything I can get lost in.

Here are a few of the books I've read this summer that I really liked.

I all ready mentioned this one in a previous post, but I really enjoyed it. Great story about what one person can do to change the world. Really inspiring and if you're interested in the war in Iraq, and all of the current political turmoil surrounding the war, you will like this.



Also a true story, but much lighter, this is a book I've wanted to read since it came out (right about the same time we got our puppy, Bailey). If you've ever had a dog you will enjoy this. It made me laugh out loud more than once.



This series by Janet Evanovich is hilarious. Very light, nowhere near true, but seriously funny. The series revolves around a female bounty hunter who fell into the job when she got fired from her job selling lingerie in the mall. Her sidekick is Lula, a plus-sized, brightly coloured spandex wearing ex-prostitute. Seriously. Just take my word for it. You'll laugh.



Steve Berry's books are quite similar to Dan Brown's writing (The Davinci Code, Deception Point, Angels and Demons). Really gets you immersed in the worldwide hunt for an ancient library that holds original texts missing for thousands of years. If you liked the action of the Bourne series or any of the aforementioned Dan Brown books, you'll like this.



Atonement was really interesting. A look at the fall out of a little girl's lie on all of the character's lives mixed in with war, family ties, and propriety.



So, those are my favourite reads lately. If you're looking for something good to read, I'd suggest any of them.

Quote I love

I was looking for a 'life journey' type quote for a page I'm working on and found this one.

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good."

I really like it and it fit perfectly.

I'm actually finding it hard to find my mojo... I took so much time off of crafty endeavours, I forget how to do it. Of course, I know there's no right way, but I'm not a scrapbooking genius at the moment. It's still fun, though.

I'll show you some of the things I've been working on in the next post.