Tour of Tuscany

My mom recently came out to England for her yearly visit, and we decided to continue our "Girls Trip" tradition by visiting Tuscany.  My mom is a pro at choosing hotels, and for this trip she found a sweet little B&B called Borgo di Pietrafitta.  It was nestled in the hills of Tuscany, near the town of Castellina in Chianti.  Of all the little villages that we visited, Castellina was my favorite.  We found a great restaurant and became "regulars", eating dinner there 3 out or the 4 nights of our stay!  We travelled to Sienna to see its beautiful Duomo, to Florence to check out the Uffizi Gallery and to see Michaelangelo's David, to San Gimignano for some wonderful shopping, and up to Volterra to see the awe-inspiring view from the city gates.  The trip was absolutely wonderful, and I am so thankful that my mom & I were able to spend some quality time together visiting one of the most beautiful places on earth!  I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition for years to come.  

Enjoy some pictures below...

The Duomo in Sienna

Inside the Duomo

Our B&B:  Borgo di Pietrafitta

My beautiful mom in Volterra

The shrine outside of our B&B...a lot like the one in "Under the Tuscan Sun"!!

Chianti Wine :)

My mom & I in the Del Campo Piazza in Sienna

Traveling England

I can't tell you how nice it has been having Chris home!  We've spent the past few weeks watching movies, going on walks, running errands (going to the Commissary is so much more fun when you have a buddy!), and traveling around England.  Chris's mom, Gayle, and her best friend, Vicki, came out for a short visit as well.  Vicki had never traveled to Europe before, and it was so fun to get to see her get so excited about all the sights and sounds of England.  We saw Wicked (AMAZING!!), and toured London, my way.  I say "my way" because I have a special treat for all of our England visitors when we tour London...it's called the Tube Tour.  I feel like I have done the Big Red Bus Tour so many times that I can recite the commentary in my sleep.  So, when my friend Kara came out for a visit, I decided to do things a little bit differently.  I did some research, and have now mastered the art of tube riding.  Come along w/ me and I'll save you 22pds by riding the tube instead of the bus!  We'll pop out at all the monuments, you'll get some fab-o commentary, and we'll have plenty of time to shop at Harrods to our hearts content.  I think it's a win-win situation for all involved :)  Anyway, back to our guests...

So, in addition to touring London we went to Bury to see the Abbey, and to try out the cute new cafe'/wine bar, Stone Angel.  If you haven't been, it's a definite "must try".  Very cute, and really yummy!  We also went out to Henry Watson's Pottery to see if we couldn't find any fun new kitchenware.  Gayle & Vicki had to make a second trip out to Harrod's because, let's be honest, how can you possibly do that store in one afternoon?!  Then, we embarked on our 4 day road-trip! 

First, we drove to Bath.  What an amazing city!  It was so interesting to learn about their Roman heritage, and to view the old bathhouses.  We walked around the city and saw the Pulteney Bridge, the Circus (not our kind of circus, mind you), and made our way up to 1 Royal Crescent where we were delighted to find 4 hot-air balloons taking flight.  The next day, we drove up to the Lake District.  FYI, you might want to check the traffic reports before embarking on a 4 hour journey...we'll definitely note this in our "to-do" book for next time since ours turned into a 7 hour trek due to the M5 completely closing down the Northbound lane.  But alas, it didn't hamper our mood.  In fact, I think one of the best parts of the trip was our conversations in the car!   We finally made it to the Lake District, Bowness-on-Windermere to be exact, and to our lovely hotel.  We explored the town of Bowness, took a lake cruise, hiked up Post Knott (another "must try" if going to the Lake District), and even found time to do a little bit of outlet-shopping on our way out of town!  Leave it to 3 women to seek out the only outlet in 100 miles!!  The trip was awesome, and I am so glad to have shared the experience w/ two such remarkable women.  Enjoy some pics below...

The hot-air balloons in Bath

Vicki, Gayle & I on Bath's High Street

Pulteney Bridge

Chris & Gayle inside the Roman Baths

Looking down onto the Great Bath

A view of St. Theresa's

All is as it should be...

Besides my wedding day, Monday ranked right up there as the absolute best day of my life.  After five long months, my most favorite person in the entire world finally came home!!  On Sunday night, an email popped up in my inbox with the title: Jet Return.  Before I opened it, I laid my head down and prayed that it would be sooner, rather than later, and that Chris was actually still going to be on one of those jets.  When I finally opened it, my emotions got the best of me.  I couldn't believe that he was actually coming home, that I would finally be able to talk with him again (we were a little limited while he was gone), and that I would be able to hug him anytime I wanted to!!  Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all on Sunday night!!

On Monday afternoon, we all met up at the squadron to wait for the jets to arrive.  There was food & drinks galore, and the pub (our meeting place) was filled with signs, streamers, balloons, and plenty of excited families.  At around 2, we were all herded into the buses so that we could go out to the flight line to see the jets land. Getting to see 14 F-15's make their final approaches and land, right there in front of us, was something that I will never forget.  It was absolutely amazing to see!  Once they landed, we had to load back into the buses so that they could transfer us over to where the jets were lined up.  When we pulled up, people couldn't get out of the bus fast enough!!  We all tumbled out onto the flight line and anxiously waited for the canopies to open.  My friend Wendy's husband, Jason, flew back with Chris & it was so fun to experience the excitement with her and her girls.  It seemed to take forever, but FINALLY we were able to run to the jets to welcome back our heroes.  My sweet friend, Amber, agreed to take some pictures of this great day for me.  She was amazing, and really captured the emotions of the day, taking over 400 great shots!  Enjoy a few of my favs below... 

Wendy, Sydney, Me & Cara w/ our signs!

Jason & Chris were in the second plane from the top.

Finally!!

Sweet Kisses :)

Oh, I'm so happy!!

Chris, me, Wendy, Sydney, Jason & Cara in front of the jet.

Us, finally together again!

Yay for FALL!!

I am so excited that September is finally here!! I love the Fall, and I am so looking forward to another one in England! Summertime here just isn't very summery, and the Winter can get VERY bleak...BUT, Fall is absolutely perfect & I try to take full advantage :)

Okay...so, that's all I got!

Cheers!
Amy

A Blessed Occasion!!!

So, in case you haven't heard, we have a wonderful new addition to our family!!  Yes, that's right, my little brother got married!!   Wasn't it just yesterday that we were playing hide-n-go-seek around the neighborhood?  Oh, how time flies!  

I got to meet my awesome new Sis-in-Law while I was visiting Texas this summer, and I gotta tell you, I absolutely adore her.  It was so fun getting to see them together, and witnessing the love that they share.  She is such a beautiful, sweet, compassionate, Christ-filled woman, and I know that she is the perfect companion for Travis.  Though I wish we could have spent more time getting to know each other, I am really looking forward to sharing life's adventures with her as my new sister.  What a blessing she is!  

Enjoy some pictures of their special day below...

This is my tearful mom when she saw Trav for the first time as a married man!!

The new Van Wig Clan...Peter, Stephanie, Travis, & my sweet Mama

Awww, I am so happy for you both!!!

Who says women can't change tires?!?!?!

Okay, so I admit...we had to have the help of a man, but hey, we were well on our way until we got to the part about removing the lug-nuts!! My friend Wendy had a car crisis yesterday (a super flat tire) and after much consideration, we decided that we could definitely change it ourselves! Another friend of ours, Holli, was over at her house, so we thought that (surely!!) we could combine our strength and get this thing done. We jacked up the car, figured out which tools to use (oh, this took some time!), and were well on our way to unlocking the wheel when we realized that sometimes "man strength" can really come in handy when you're in a pickle! Wendy ended up calling the squadron & they sent over a very new Lt. to help three ladies out. Oh, what he must have been thinking when he got that assignment!! Much to our amazement, he actually got all 5 lug-nuts off, and was proceeding to take off the tire when he realized that it was stuck. After about 15 minutes of tugging & pulling & pulling & tugging, he finally gave up and decided to ask the Car Care Center what our next option was. They gave him some very shady advice (which we reluctantly followed), but kicking the tire was actually the only thing that worked! So, after about three good kicks, off it popped! Getting the new tire on, and lowering the car back down was the easy part...I think I actually cheered! So, there ya go...who says that women can't change tires?!?!

When Chris heard that we all attempted to accomplish this seemingly easy feat, he promptly called to let me know that he would have paid money to see the fiasco! Oh, how I'll be glad when he gets home!! :)

PS~ Thanks Lt. Russell for totally coming to our rescue!!

WooHoo!!

After much time & a little bit of frustration, I have finally gotten my blog back to normal! And, the best part is that I did it myself (you will only truly understand my excitement if you are as computer-challenged as I am!!). So anyway, this is a very happy moment for me, and I just wanted to bask in it for a little while!!

Love to you all!!
Amy