JAG Ball

Surprisingly, Jeff and I just attended our first Military Ball. Somehow between us both being in the Military and together for over 10 years, we've never been to one. A lot of people found this very surprising; Jeff thought it was great! We were invited by my friend, Hillary, to the JAG ball downtown. It was a lot of fun with great people, food, dancing, and beautiful venue. We are hoping to get to the Vienna Officer's Ball next year!

Me and Hillary

With Pam

Easter

We had a lovely and low key Easter this year. We did the regular open Easter Baskets, enjoyed a nice breakfast, hunt for eggs, and also a great dinner with friends! Complete with Carrot Cake which is a favorite around here. I was also able to successfully have a "candy free" Easter basket without any comments or complaints from the kids. They didn't even notice!

Volterra

Volterra was our last stop in Italy before headed home. We drove through the Tuscany valley to get there, and it was absolutely beautiful!! We decided we would like to go back and check out other small cities in Tuscany. The pictures of Volterra don't necessarily look as beautiful as Cinque Terre, but we thought it was just as pretty and very charming. The city is walled and has lots of neat shops, museums, restaurants, and FANTASTIC views! We also liked that it was very clean and had very little tourists. 

Cinque Terre

I have a ton of pictures for this post because Cinque Terre is Beautiful!! I could have added even more, but decided to limit. We spent 5 full days in the area, and had a very relaxing trip. We traveled with our friends the Hackenberg's and stayed at a really cute cottage that overlooked the city of La Spezia (with gorgeous views of the water). We were able to visit all 5 towns. They were all neat. We had a great time eating our way through each town and doing a little hiking and walking. We even spent a little time on the beaches. It wasn't exactly sunbathing weather, but it was definitely beautiful and warm enough for shorts!

Our cute little cottage:

Vernazza:

 Vernazza:

We ate ALOT of gelatto:

Me and Staci enjoying our Sangria:

Luke and Conner on the boat ride:

Porto Venere, which is not one of the 5 towns, but still very neat little town:

Church in Riomaggiore:

 Riomaggiore:

Riomaggiore:

Climbing rocks in Manarola:

Views on our little hike in Manarola:

Manarola:

Manarola:

Pisa

Our first day of our trip to Italy included a 30 minute stop in Pisa. We've heard Pisa was nothing really that exciting, but of course we couldn't pass on the opportunity for the photo op! We actually flew into Pisa and it worked out well that we met up with our friends before heading to our villa in Cinque Terre. Something to mark off on the bucket list! I can't really say much else about the city. I'm not exaggerating when I only say we spent 30 minutes; we didn't even have a meal there! All in all we are grateful the kids will always have these pictures!