THE WEDDING - July 27, 2010

On the left is the view from the balcony of our wonderful condo. Everyone enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Amanda and Kayla were in everyday.

Don, Greg, Amanda and Kayla had a wonderful time snorkeling. They saw beautifully colored fish and giant turtles.

We went to a luau at the Grand Whialea Hotel. The gardens were so beautiful. The Franklin family is standing in front of one of the pools.

The Trust and Franklin families at the luau.

We had such a wonderful time, Amanda, Kayla and Brandon posed with some of the dancers. The show was great and the food delicious.

What a beautiful sunset we had. Jeff and Carrie and the Franklins looking so happy.

We spent the day of the wedding relaxing at the Makena Hotel beach.

Right before the sun set beautiful Carrie made her way very carefully to join us on the beach.

Jeff is waiting for her at the end of our reception line.

It's official, Jeff puts the ring on Carrie's finger,










and seals it with a kiss!

Here is a picuture of the whole group, what a great looking bunch!

A reception followed at Gannon's Restaurant on the patio where we were
serenaded by very loud frogs. Dinner was delicious and there were lots of happy faces.

We had a lovely brunch the next morning. The restaurant was on the beach and the views were beautiful.

Our last night together we had dinner at our condo. I love this picture, everyone looks so tan, healthy and happy, it makes me smile everytime I look at it.

CAMPING TRIP TO UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN

We started our 3 week camping adventure in Herkimer, NY with our good friends Ann and Pat with a great Maine lobster dinner to celebrate Ann's birthday.

Our next stop was Niagara falls. We spent hours walking all along both falls, the American and Canadian. These pictures are of the American falls during the day and at night when they are illuminated in beautiful colors.

Our next stop was Harrow Ontario to visit our friends Carol and Lynn. They live right on Lake Erie and we had dinner on their deck overlooking the lake. The next day we went out on their boat across the lake to Put-In-Bay, Ohio. We passed the Perry Monument on our way. It was a great ride and beautiful day.

We stopped at Grand Haven Light, one of Michigan's 57 lighthouses. We did get to see many of them along the peninsula.

We took a sand dune ride on the Mac Wood Dune
buggy along Lake Michigan.

The Old Mission lighthouse is on the 45th parallel which is half way between the north pole and the equator.

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge to go St. Ignace and climb the Castle Rock. We had to walk up 190 stairs to see the beautiful view of Mackinac Island and Lake Huron.

We took the Jet Star Ferry over to Mackinac Island with our bikes.

Riding you bike on the island was pretty exciting. There were lots of people and bikes in the main part of town.

The bike trails around the island were beautiful. This was right on the water's edge.









It's hard to see but if you look through this arch you can see the bike path below.

We took a shipwreck tour in a glass bottom boat. We saw many of the wrecks at the bottom of Lake Superior. To the right is the Captain's bathroom, you can see the toilet seat and edge of the tub.

We stayed in Newberry and visited the Tahquamenon Falls which is the second mightiest waterfall east of the Mississippi.

In Munising we went to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
This is one of the cliffside displays called Miner's Castle.
















Don is going down one of the log slides. The dunes were used to move logs from nearby forests to market.

In Soo Locks we took a boat tour through the locks and were lucky enough to follow behind one of the freighters that had gone through right before us. It didn't look like it would fit under the bridge, but amazingly it did.

This is the lock opening up after it was full enough for us to go through it.

This tug is taking dirty linen and garbage from this freighter that had just gone through the locks. On the way back they will deliver food and new linens.








We were lucky enough to see many freighters pass in front of our campground
which was busy day and night.

Our last stop was in Frankenmuth, Michigan's Little Bavaria. We went to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. It is the size of 1 1/2 football fields full of Christmas decorations of all shapes and sizes. We had dinner at Zehnders where we had the family style chicken dinner. It was really a treat.

TRIP TO EUROPE

Here is Don with our rental, a Fiat Panda, what a great little car, easy to park and got us up and down many mountain roads.

I have to say I've had a problem picking out pictures for this blog. Of the hundreds of pictures I took, these are just a few.

This is the town of Lover, Italy where my Dad was born. Above is the house he grew up in and is now owned by his youngest brother, Carlo. They have made 2 apartments, Carlo and Bianca, his wife life on the second floor. My brother's family and Don and I stayed in the very roomy apartment on the first floor.




This is the view from the balcony of the house

on the right is the town of Mezza-Lombardo
below are the hundreds of Golden Apple trees which they tend and sell.

On the right is my brother, George, my Zia Libra who will be 90 and myself. We visited her in her house which was built in the 1400's.

We had a family dinner on the night we arrived. It was so nice to meet all my cousins and they were all so welcoming. We enjoyed some delicious pizza etc. Below from left to right, is Zia Gina, George, Zia Bianca and Zio Carlo.

My cousin, Anna, has a beautiful Chalet with this wonderful back yard and patio. The night before we left we had dinner out on the patio. Once again, it was such a lovely evening and one I will never forget.

Family from left to right, Ann, Danielo, Luciano, Anna, George and Josh.

When we left Lover we drove to Grindelwald, Switzerland. This is the view from our hotel room in the Blumlislap Hotel where Don is giving a wave below.

The Biada Family is waiting for the Junfraubahn Train which will take us up to the top of the mountain known as the Jungfraujoch -Top of Europe.

We went into the Ice Palace which is all ice. The floors and walls. There were lots of ice sculptures and it was pretty cool.











Here we are at the Top of Europe, 11,333 feet up.

After we left Grindelwald, we went to Montreux, Switzerland. The hotel we booked was full so we were upgraded to a 5 star hotel, the Royal Plaza which was very royal. It was right on Lake Geneva.

Right outside the hotel all along Lake Geneva were beautiful floral displays. I was so impressed by all the beautiful flowers everywhere you looked.









This is just one of many beautiful gardens along the lake.

On our last day in Montreux we drove to Vevey, a beautiful town with, once again, beautiful floral displays. This is the back of a peacock, the front was just as magnificent.







These are some of the colorful houses in Vevey's town .

Don became good friends with Charlie Chaplin.
















This fork sculpture was in the middle of the Lake with no explanation as to who put it there or why.

After we left Montreux we went to Ospedaletti, Italy which is the Italian Riviera. This the Hotel Firenze where we stayed and if you look at the top floor you'll see our open door. We are looking up from the beach.







Here's Don on the balcony of our room looking out on the Mediterranean.

Don standing in the little town square.

My first and last swim in the Mediterranean.