A Story Worth Sharing

I just got home from a fun day at the zoo with Madelyn, Jonathan, Natalie & JulieAnna. It was a nice cool morning so the animals were super-active and so fun to watch. And for the giant pregnant lady, it was nice to not be sweaty all day long too!
So, I just got Maddy down for her nap and checked my email. This little story was waiting for me (something my aunt forwarded along that I actually decided to read). It's a story that just made me think "we all need to know about this woman and be inspired by her". So, here you go:

Irena Sendler
Nobel Prize Loser
The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' .. She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, ar ms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most of course had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.
* Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

(Now, I personally really appreciated Gore's passion and educational global warming info. So, this is not a slam on that from my personal opinion. But...it interesting to ponder, none-the-less)

Hope all of you out there are having a great last week of August. Can you believe September is practically here?! Crazy.

Hilton Head...our Wonderful, Relaxing (HOT) Vacation

Well, to say our vacation to Hilton Head was fun and relaxing would be an understatement. We had such a wonderful time, and much of it was to do with the fun company we had all week long. It was a big group of 12 of us (see photos below), and we had the best time swimming, eating, resting and...applying sunscreen nonstop! It was a HOT week (heat index between 107-110 every day!) So thank goodness for the ocean water and big swimming pool right outside our front door. Madelyn absolutely loved the beach (what kid doesn't like digging in the sand?) and she was so brave in the swimming pool. Every morning she woke up saying "I want pool. I want beach!" Well, okay then!!
Gary and I had never been to Hilton Head before, and we just loved it. Such a "family-friendly" vacation spot and hopefully we'll return soon. Maybe even next summer?! Between all 12 of us we took LOTS of photos. Here's a small collection with some highlight moments of the fun week together down south. (August 1st - 9th)

After our dinner at Kingfisher's restaurant.

Funny group photo after dinner. Go Team!

Here's some cute photos of people in our "Party of 12"

My parents: Mark & Lori

My sister and her boyfriend: Natalie & Mike

My brother and his fiance: JulieAnna & Jonathan

JulieAnna's family (flew to meet us from Utah) Maria, Julio, Anna & JA

And here's our little beach-bum...showing off on the beach. Should I contact a modeling agency?

This sand is GREAT fun!

Okay, can you all see where Madelyn gets her hair from? How cute is this?!!

We spent lots of time playing with Maddy in the shallow ocean water. Kept us cool and kept her entertained. More sunscreen please!

She was so brave with swimming. Kicking her legs and really trying to get the hang of it.

Fun group photo in the ocean.

I think Jonathan was the photographer (only one missing from the pic)

So yes, you were seeing correctly from the above photos that I actually mustered up the nerve to wear a 2-piece bathing suit. Ha! I decided that since I get lots of stares regardless to just "let it all hang out" and go "Hollywood Style" (that's what we called it!) Here's me & my little baby boy in our shining glory.

I just loved this photo of my dad and Madelyn. So sweet.

And here's our sweet girl on our long 12-hour journey home. She was such a trooper.

The End.

The Great "OH - IO" Cheer. You'll love this!

Here's Maddy proudly showing off her ability to cheer for the OSU Buckeye's just like the rest of us! Oh, she makes us SO SO proud! (This was while we were having pool time in our backyard and she found that playing in the gutter was just as much fun!)

Forever and a Day

Well, it's been taking forever to get more photos uploaded onto here from the first part of our trip (Sweet Rome!) So today, I found a little blurb in Parenting Magazine about this Smilebox website where you can make online photo books, etc...
So, for fun I tried it out today, and voila! Now you can at least some more photos from the first leg of our Italian journey.

We've been back home for a month now, and are in full swing trying to get the "Guest Bedroom" converted into "Baby Brother's Bedroom". Gary's been installing more storage space in our garage and we've both been cleaning out the big bedroom closet (and only storage space in the entire house!)

Meanwhile, Madelyn's been LOVING the little inflatable pool we bought for the backyard. We've had many HOT days lately, and the pool is the perfect remedy.
I'll post some cute pool photos when I get another minute.
Until then, I hope you like finally seeing a little glimpse of our WHOLE Italy trip (not just part 2 and part 3!)
With love, Karina (a.k.a. "Big Mama" these days!)

Something fun I found online today...trying out a new program.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Next Batch of Italy Photos

Okay...I was really trying to get all the photos uploaded at the same time, but this process always takes longer than I expect when uploading LOTS of photos. Plus, Madelyn's nap time is precious so I hate to waste it all sitting here at the computer. All you mom's out there can totally relate! Right now it's 11:15pm and we just returned from a fun night out on the town (all 3 of us -- yes, Maddy JUST went to bed!) So, Gary's downstairs watching a movie, Maddy's sound asleep, and I'm gonna steal a few moments to see about getting some more Italy photos on here. I'm going in reverse order so that when they're all up here, you can scroll thru them in order. So, here we go with the Florence part of the trip...a.k.a. "part two"!

Our last morning in Rome, we woke early to catch the 9am train to Florence. As we were approaching our train, we saw this Texas Roadhouse. It struck us as funny because the only American restaurant chain we'd seen was McDonald's...and then this. How random!

Later that same day, we found a nice little cafe to relax and have lunch in Florence. It was a hot, sunny day and we loved the quiet, shady peace we found in this tiny corner of the city.

This is a replica "David" (original by Michelangelo) is standing where the original once stood in front of the Palace Vecchico.

This beautiful marble carving also stands in the courtyard in front of Palace Vecchico and the Uffizi Gallery. This was one of my brothers favorites from the last time I was in Florence with Jonathan. Both Gary and I also liked this emotional piece of art.

The massive and marvelous Duomo in the center of Florence.

The Baptistry that stands directly in front of the Duomo (Dante was one of the many famous people baptized here!) This is believed to be the oldest building in Florence.

The famous bronze doors of the Baptistry referred to by Michelangelo as "The Gates of Paradise" depicting scenes from the old testament (created by Lorenzo Ghiberti)

This is the beautiful mosaic ceiling inside the baptistry.

Another view of the baptistry (foreground) and Duomo (background). Such massive structures they are challenging to capture on film.

The next day we went on an organized bike tour thru Tuscany. This was truly one of the highlights of our whole trip. Florence sits right in the heart of Tuscany and most visitors don't get out of the city. We had a blast biking thru the hills of wine and olive country. Stunning!

Yes, I know...very sexy!

Part of our bike tour included a tour of this gorgeous castle (we actually saw the Count that lives here!) At this castle, they have their own vineyard and olive garden where they make award winning wines and olive oil. Amazingly delicious.

First we sampled the wine and olive oil...and then we just had to buy some of both to take home with us. Yes, prego mama just had to try some of this delicious vino too.

After a long, wonderful day in Tuscany (10am-5pm) we went back to the city to stroll the streets and enjoy another evening in this slower-paced town. Here's Gary carrying our wine and olive oil purchases!

Palace Vecchio at sunset

The famous Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Our last evening in the city was spent up here at "Point Michelangelo" where we packed a picnic dinner and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the Florentine city. This is really the only way to see the whole Duomo (church) all at once.

Adventures in Italy

We've been back home to Ohio for a little over a week now, and I'm finally caught up with laundry, email, restocking the fridge, sleeping, returning messages (most of them)...and now think it's about time to add some postings on here about our AMAZING ITALIAN ADVENTURE! Gary and I took a 10-day trip to Italy and left Madelyn with both our parents. She stayed with his mom and dad for the first 3 days and my parents for the rest of the time. Of course she had the time of her life...and so did we. It was our first time away from her so we didn't know exactly how we would respond (emotionally). But to tell you the truth, it seemed to be a very healthy time away for all of us. It was so nice to re-connect with my husband and be able to come and go on our own time schedule (for 10 days in a row!) Also, it was nice to pay a little bit more attention to our little baby boy who is now almost 26 weeks along. He's kicking and moving all the time now, so it was fun to have this little baby bean as the center of attention for once!

We started our trip in Rome and spent 3 days there enjoying the many many many sights that you just "must see" when in Rome. Then we took a train up to Florence and the pace of our trip started to slow down significantly. After 2 1/2 days in Florence, we rented a car and drove north/east to the Mediterranean coastal area called "Cinque Terre" (Five Lands). We stayed in the most northern of the 5 villages called Monterosso and had a wonderful time hiking, swimming and relaxing in this quaint, untouched part of Italy. Our last day we drove down the coast, stopped in Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower, and spent our last night back in Rome near the airport. The whole trip was amazing. I'll add some photos and maybe a video clip or two if I have the patience to upload them!

These photos show "Part 3" of our trip (namely the last several days along the coast in Cinque Terre).

Sitting on the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence. Our last evening in the city.

We finally arrived to Monterosso in our cute little Fiat Punto. Driving in Italy was a fun adventure (for the most part!)

Once we arrived to our hotel in Monterosso we went up to the Lemon Garden Terrace (right outside our room) and just relaxed for a moment.

Then we strolled down to the seaside and got our first feel of the cold water.
The next morning we set off for our hike along the coast. It was a REALLY RAINY morning (4 hours of down-pour). We waited here in the cute Riomaggiore (town #1). Even in the rain, this town still looks beautiful.

Finally, the rain stopped and the sky started to clear. At about 12:30pm, we set off for our long, adventurous hike along the coast. You can see Manarola (town #2) in the background.

As you can see, the day became increasingly beautiful. This is Corniliga (town #3).

Vernazza (town #4)...probably the most picturesque of the towns. We spent a lot of time here relaxing, people-watching, eating gelato and preparing for the last 2 hour leg of our hike back to sweet Monterosso.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day...perfect for the beach. This is the beach where we spent the whole day. How can you resist this?

The Monterosso beach (2 minute walk from our hotel)

Beach Bums (and loving it!)

The following day (our last day) we drove down the coast and stopped in Pisa. Thank goodness we arrived when we did. I was asked to stand here for several hours holding up that Leaning Tower. Otherwise I'm sure it would've collapsed!

Downtown Pisa by the river.

Here's a video clip for our little stop in the town of Vernazza on our big hiking day. Gary was sound asleep on the rock wall as I was filming.