Do as the Romans do...

Vatican Museum (below) - Raphael's painting...Can see all the people in the room at the bottom you will understand why I will never go back there. The artwork was truly amazing,however they really packed people in...and we went in the morning a couple weeks before "tourist season" begins. The sculpture to the right Pieta by Michaelangelo is truly amazing! I learned a ton about how crazy Michaelangelo really was...never showered...wore his boots until they fell off, then had another pair made for him and sewn on.

When in Rome...

I am sure it will take me months to get all our Mediterranean pictures posted, but I need to start somewhere... This picture of the Trevi Fountain just blows my mind. It is so beautiful!!! Thankfully we didn't get a picture of the crazy guy that had just gotten arrested by the police for trying to climb in. When in Rome...

This building is on the opposite side of the roman Forum. Blow is the Colosseum. I loved learning more about this structure. One of the most facinating things was that they would flood the structure and have ship races in here (the picture doesnt' really show its magnitutde. Another cool fact was that the area now serves as a microclimate. They have plants from all the corners of the Roman Empire that were brought there (in the stomachs of the animals) and are still growing there today.
The family on the steps of the Spanish Steps. We had just finished lunch and saw the sign...no eating afterwards. Dave has a pretty crazy face he is making :)

Above Dave and I are in front of the Arch of Constantine - that was just between the Colosseum and the Forum. We had a really cool guide that took us through much of the Forum history.

Snowmobile fun

We hadn't taken the boys snowmobiling and really wanted them to have that experience. The boys had a teacher prep day at school on a Friday Dave was off...so we leaped at the opportunity.

We rented a couple snowmobiles, borrowed some helmets from the McLeod's and headed up to Daniels Summit. It had been great weather up until the day before we were scheduled to go, and the day before it DUMPED snow. All the better for us!

We didn't see much blue sky, but we it was a beautiful powder filled day. Ethan and Kaleb enjoyed driving the machines the most.