A Much Needed Vacation!

Rod and I got the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Portugal for ten days this last month! It was a much needed vacation together, and thanks to my sister, mom, and dad (who fixed everything broken in our whole house!), we were able to go and not worry too much about the girls - they saved all the major drama for when we got home! We got to visit Lisbon, which is the capital of Portugal, and also the island of Madeira. It was so incredible to learn about the country while we were there. Who knew that so much history was being made before the United States even really existed!? We got to take a lot of guided tours, which was nice because we not only learned and experienced more, but we made some friends that hopefully we'll stay in touch with for a long time to come! My only gripe - of course - was the food. Very interesting to say the least! I'm not a big fish eater (or a fish eater at all!) - and most of our meals were fish, so needless to say, I lived on a lot of bread for ten days! The best part of the trip was remembering that I really do love being a stay at home mom, and the mundane routine isn't so bad after all. We really missed our girls! Their hugs made being away for a little while all worth it! All in all though, I do have to say that I really do love America!

One of our tours was to a coach museum where they displayed several of the royal carriages. I was fascinated by all of it. Can you imagine seeing this thing going down the street? This is one of the few pictures that worked because we weren't allowed to use the flash inside of the museum. The whole backside of this carriage is made out of solid gold! Everything in Portugal is very symbolic - beatiful!

This is the most amazing thing either of us have ever seen. This is a castle in a beautiful area called Sintra. We couldn't take pictures of the inside, but it was just gorgeous! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip! The President of China was even there while we were!


Front tower of the city center in Lisbon. Tons of shopping!



This is the most Western part of Europe you can go to.


Overlooking the city of Funchal in the island of Madeira.
This is in the city of Cascais. Look at the sidewalks! This city is the richest in Portugal. It is so pretty. It borders the Atlantic Ocean. There is casino there called Casino Estoril, which is where an original James Bond movie was filmed.

This is the first thing we got to experience after landing in Madeira. They call it a tobaggon, but it was actually more like a wicker sled! The two guys in the hats guided it down the whole mountain. They had steel and rubber soles on their shoes so they could brake when needed. It was a blast!
Madeira was exactly like something you'd see on a postcard. A beautiful tropical island with little villages everywhere, fish markets, fruit stands, and even cobblestone streets. Apparrently it's quite the vacation spot for the British people - kind of like our Hawaii. We met some hillarious English people one night, and couldn't get a word in edge-wise!

A special thanks again to my sister and my mom and dad who made this trip possible for Rod and I! Love you all!