Rimini

Rimini is a great beach town on the east coast of Italy. It gets really crowded in the summer, but it's very quiet in the off season.


The Arch of Augustus, built in 27 B.C. in honor of the Emporer Augustus.

We met up with our friend Jake. This has to be one of my favorite pictures.

Mantua

Alex's brother Nic came to visit us for a week. We headed out to Mantua, an hour and a half southwest of Venice on Alex's first day off. Mantua was once ruled by the powerful Gonzaga family from 1328-1708. They resided in the Palazzo Ducale, a series of huge buildings in the center of town.

Me and the 25 week old belly.


The brothers.


Eating the BEST gelato ever for the first time. We had to go all the way to Mantua to discover this place. It's a chain called GROM and they have a store in Mestre. Alex and I went at least three times a week. Look at the fresh panna on top!!!!

The Palazzo Te is a straight shot from the Palazzo Ducale. It was built by Giulio Romano as a summer residence for the Gonzaga family. There is a huge park in front of the palace where everyone can hang out and the children can play soccer. Not sure what I'm doing here.

Mestre

Alex's gym is actually located in the town of Mestre, which is the town on the mainland that connects to Venice. We had some business to attend to in the center, so we took advantage of the nice weather and enjoyed people watching at one of the many cafes.

Verona

Our first trip of the season was to Verona, which is less than 2 hours by car from Venice. We first visited back in January, but we did not get there in time to get some good shots of the center and amphitheatre.

Alex eating a panini in the center. Looks like a mixture of Venice and Portofino. There's also a gelato shop here that sells grapefruit gelato. DELICIOUS!!!!


Roman Amphitheatre.

Hurricane Ike

Ike came through last night. Here are some pictures of the storm damage.


Branches from our neighbor's tree blocking the driveway.


Fence in our backyard.


More fence damage.


Uprooted tree.

It's a Boy!!

Alex leaves for Venice this Friday, so our doctor let us take a peek to see if we could see anything before Alex left. After a searching for a while, the bashful baby Boogie finally cooperated, revealing that he's a boy!!!


16 weeks!!

Shou-Chuan Tao 1915-2008

My grandfather passed away on Wednesday. I'm not the writer in the family, so this is a link to my cousin Eunice's tribute to our grandfather, Shou-Chuan Tao.

http://ryanandeunice-life.blogspot.com/2008/07/gong-gong-1915-2008.html

California

We spent a week in California visiting family and friends.

Group pic with Valerie and Paxon, two of my cousin Jennifer's kids. Pax looks a little nervous.

Pax was just starting to walk. Here he is, walking to great-grandma.


Great-grandma with her three great-grandchildren, Valerie, Paxon and Melody.

We drove down to San Diego to support our friend Kate, who was running her first marathon. She's the one in the peach top looking very chipper at mile 10.

Kate and her husband Tony after it was all over. Under four hours!!

Along the coast in Coronado.

Fabriano

After eight months, we finally got around to taking pictures of Fabriano's center. It's a small town, therefore, only three pictures.


The main fountain, modeled after the fountain in Perugia.


Main street.


The local hangout/cafe.


Red flowers on the outskirts of town.

Santorini

Our next destination was the island of Santorini.


The view from our hotel in Oia.


The island is less beachy, more cliffs with sheer drops.


Sammy and Alex enjoying a nice meal and sunset.


The buildings are built into the cliffs, so everyone has a great view of the ocean.


Three sculptures.


Our hotel pool. 90% of our time was spent in or beside this pool.


The narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants.


Self portrait.


Self portrait #2.


People gather to watch the sunset every evening.


Our last dinner in Greece.


Santorini sunset.

Mykonos

From Athens, we took a high-speed ferry to Mykonos.


The ferry left at the crack of dawn, but you can't tell from this picture!!


Paradise Beach. Very windy, but beautiful.


Not quite tourist season.


View from our hotel room. This is the construction for the new port.


Another view from our room.


On the outskirts of the center of town.


Octopus drying in the sun.


Did I mention that it's windy in Mykonos?


Classic white and blue building in Mykonos.


Little Venice.




Souvenir shops line the streets of Little Venice.


Alex eating a chocolate bar in an alley.


Narrow, narrow streets.




The monastery in Mykonos.


Windmills.


More windmills.