My new project

For those of you who have know me since birth, I think it would be sufficient to say I have pleasantly surprised you in my domestic skills. Cooking, cleaning, even gardening are things I do well and even like. Decorating is still one I'm not so hip on. Maybe it's just because I haven't had much to decorate in the last three years. Well, to fit with Tres and I's nontraditional life, I have learned a very traditional female skill.......SEWING!!!! Not only by hand, but on a machine too. Mom and Meg, I know you are laughing your heads off right now. Until I got here, I didn't even know how to sew a button. My first project is a Mexican old lady dress that I am turning into a two piece outfit. I am going to try and get it done by the time we leave the ship -- august 13 for those of you who don't know the date. What I have decided to do is take pics of the progress so you can see my first project. Who knows. This could be the start of a new career for me. Also, if my friend Jessica is reading, I also am using no pattern. Simply trial and error. I know it seems weird to write about this while we are on a world cruise, but I am so excited. Oh, the other cute part of the story is the dress is from a Mexican lady that cleaned our room when we were rehearsing in Miami. We spoke Spanish together, and she gave me a goodbye present. She must have thought I looked pretty big. Ok. I will try and keep you as posted as I can.

Just Another Day at Sea

We are having occasional sea days on these cruises because we are going back and forth to St. Petersburg. The captain on our ship is really nice and likes me and Tres so we spent the day with him. He even let us drive me drive a little :) Too bad for the passengers. They were really nice to let us in the bridge and take some fun pics. We have had fun on the Marco Polo but are looking forward to getting off the ship in August and backpacking. It will be refreshing for us, give us perspective, and maybe even be a pivotal turning point where we decide what we want to do or where we want to be. I won't push it too much. Other than these pics, we haven't done alot recently. We have stayed on the ship alot trying to catch up on sleep and planning our trip. These ports are really expensive so it is no fun to go out as much. Plus, it is quite cold here. You all know us and cold weather. It's not a good mix. We will try to update more often during the next few weeks.

Oslo, Norway

As you can tell, we are getting a little tired of the Baltic/Scandanavia area. Less pics. We have been to Oslo before, but this day we spent a little time checking out the castle there. It was nice because our ship docked right beside it. We don't know the history, but it was pretty and fun to check out. We later went to TJI Fridays and had potatoe skins and hot chocolates for around 30 dollars!!! We didn't know it would be that expensive, but we did get free wireless and stayed there for around 4 or 5 hours. Here are a few pics from they day. Sorry we aren't updating the blog as often, but it is hard to get wireless where we are. Hope you are all doing ok.

Views from the Ship. Enjoy!

We thought you may like to see some of the beautiful sights we see from and on the ship. Tres was taking a nap at 1 in the morning going throught the Baltics. Check out the sunset -- yes, at 1 in the morning. Very cool, huh? There are also some pics of 1) Amanda Sewing. Yes, family, surprise, surprise, I have learned to sew. I'm not bad either. 2) The ship at night from the back side. 3) A not so great pics of Tres and I in one of the shows. The French section. and 4) one of the many bathing beauties onboard. Enjoy.

Gerrainger, Norway

We didn't get off the ship this day, because we had a short amount of time in this port. We did spend the day on the top of the ship making plans for our next Greece/Italy trip. Then we enjoyed the sail out of the Fjiords. They are as pretty as the magazines. Check out the waterfall that has a "bottle" in the middle. PRetty cool, huh? The town was gorgeous and had a waterfall running right through it. If we come back, we hope to get off next time.

Flamm, Norway

Some of you may call me a bad wife after this blog. Tres and I had planned to take a shore excursion through the ship this day but due to complications they only had room for one of us. Being the gentleman he is, Tres let me go and opted to stay back on the ship. Maybe he really just wanted a break from me :) I have to say, despite the often cold weather, Norway is one of the prettiest countries I have seen. The waterfalls were amazing and felt good after a packed, hot bus ride. The mountains were breathtaking, but it would have been so much better if Tres would have been there. He thinks the pics would have been better too. I have to say the Viking man was quite a funny tourist attraction, but I was thinking of Tres the whole time. It was a good day all in all. I hope Tres gets to go on this excursion next time.

Ronne, Denmark

Tres and I took an excursion this day and thought this was by far one of the most beautiful places in the Baltics that we have visited. It is a little island in Denmark that is beautiful, quiet, and peaceful. We first visited the coast which was great but a little cold. Then we headed to a church that was also a fort. It was so cool! We loved going to the top where there was a dungeon. After getting too curious, they had to put Tres in for awhile. The thing I loved the most was the cemetary. Strange. The markers and grave plots were more like gardens with rock and flowers, bushes, etc. Families were buried together in the same plot. I made Tres take a pic for reference. Tres was proud of his photography abilities -- no there is no photoshopping involved in the clouds or sky. We had a great day and would definitely come back to visit this island.