Yesterday Al and I celebrated 11 years of marriage! We spent a low-key but really nice day together. After a pancake breakfast we loaded Kelty up in his hiking carrier and headed for a nature/wildpark hike by the house. After we got back Kelty took an AWESOME 3-hour nap while Al and I did some work around the house. At 7pm our babysitter took over "Kelty duty" and Al and I walked down to our village for a quiet dinner. That's a wrap on our 11-year anniversary!
I'm sure our military friends will understand when I say our life is broken down by duty locations ... it's how we group phases in our life. We were discussing the places we lived and Texas came up ... Al lived in Texas for almost a year ... I never did! How crazy is it that while we were married, my spouse held a residence somewhere I've never lived. We spent a lot of time seperated early in our marriage when I was also active duty ... the joint spouse thing never really worked for us and our duty locations. Mostly do to the fact that both our career fields required extensive training in the beginning ... Al was a Navigator and I was an Air Traffic Controller ... both these fields require training in designated places. Despite being seperated a cumulative period of 3 years during our first 5 years of marriage ... I think we've done GREAT! Our first year-long seperation came after we had only been married 6-months ... we were still "babies" in our marriage. Al and I both agree that our marriage had to be built on "communication and trust" in order to survive our long and frequent seperations. Now we've added "patience" into that mix. :o) With a high demands on Al and his career and the blessing we call "Kelty", patience is neccessary! Of course it's all built on love too! So that's my take on our success!
I'm sure our military friends will understand when I say our life is broken down by duty locations ... it's how we group phases in our life. We were discussing the places we lived and Texas came up ... Al lived in Texas for almost a year ... I never did! How crazy is it that while we were married, my spouse held a residence somewhere I've never lived. We spent a lot of time seperated early in our marriage when I was also active duty ... the joint spouse thing never really worked for us and our duty locations. Mostly do to the fact that both our career fields required extensive training in the beginning ... Al was a Navigator and I was an Air Traffic Controller ... both these fields require training in designated places. Despite being seperated a cumulative period of 3 years during our first 5 years of marriage ... I think we've done GREAT! Our first year-long seperation came after we had only been married 6-months ... we were still "babies" in our marriage. Al and I both agree that our marriage had to be built on "communication and trust" in order to survive our long and frequent seperations. Now we've added "patience" into that mix. :o) With a high demands on Al and his career and the blessing we call "Kelty", patience is neccessary! Of course it's all built on love too! So that's my take on our success!
This was a field of deer ... you can't really see them in this picture. On our way back past the field we fed them wild blackberries.
Horses ... of course
Ostrich's ... these little guys were sticking their necks out soooo far through the fence!
Balance the camera on the other couch, set the timer, run into the picture and SNAP ... after our anniversary dinner. This was actually the first anniversary we spent together in 4-years!
Sooo ... as I referenced above, we had to "plug" Kelty with his pacifier. The Basilica has these beautiful in-laid grates .... Kelty thought it would make a great resting place for his paci.
See it? Right there ... bottom center of the pic ... "O Holy Paci"! It is still there ... we couldn't get it out! Ha!
The Sistine Chapel ... to my dissapointment I only took 2 pictures! Al and I both stood there and just gazed at the ceiling. The frescoes actually looking like they are coming out at you ... something we didn't really expect.
Trevi Fountain
Kelty threw in 2 coins ... one for "good luck" and one for a "return trip to Rome"
Kelty sitting across from the Pantheon (I think his expression reads something like this ... "C'mon Mom, more pictures!"
The Colloseum!
Kelty running amongst the ruins of the Colloseum
We took Kelty to "the beach" one afternoon ... this beach was down the cliff from our hotel. We swam in the little area between the boats and collected broken pieces of mosaic from the water. 
One of the lemon groves. Sorrento is known for its lemons ... they have their own "lemon" that only grows in this region ... it's "pulpy" and supposed to be great for marmalade's.
