Merry Christmas!

May you find this Christmas full of laughter and love! We wish all our friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our newest post will be from Vegas for the new year!!!

Tokyo Day 3

My adventure to Tokyo is ending today...and I am on my way to Hong Kong. Today was a day of exploration. It started at the Emporer's Palace and then lead to my first train ride in Tokyo by myself. In Japanese. Needless to say I made it to Shinjuki and had lots of time to shop and admire the great electronics they have for sale!

After Shinjuki I went to visit a local shrine which was then proceeded by an hour train ride to the airport.

I can honestly say Tokyo is a great city. I will definately come back again.

Asia 2008

As luck would have it I have been fortunate enough to make the trek to Asia...for my job! How cool is that...

The first stop is Tokyo. We are here now and having a great time. The people are so nice, the food is great and the weather is actually quite nice. The hotel is gorgeous and tomorrow is site seeing. I am only here for one more day before I head off to Hong Kong and I have found some great photo op sites. So far I have taken lots of pics at the hotel as they have great views of the Tokyo sky line as well as this great Japanese garden outside the hotel. Sushi, lots of sticky rice and really great pork. It's all good here in Tokyo.

I'll send more photos after the big adventure tomorrow!

Cheers!

San Fran Marathon 2008

We had a great time running the San Fran half and full marathon this year. David being the overachiever ran the full, and I ran the half. It was a great day for a run...cool, overcast and a little drizzle every so often. Surprisingly we didn't find the hills too much. The crowds were great, the runners super nice (and overly excited to run as fast as they can). We had a great time and the medals were pretty cool.

Napa Valley

We decided to head to San Francisco for the marathon this year. And in addition to the race, we decided to go up to Napa Valley for a night. We took the Silverado trail through some of the vineyards and decided to stop at the Robert Mondavi and Clos Du Vois wineries. I did a tasting at the Clos Du Vois winery. They are cool places to check out, but after a few they all look the same. I do admit we would have fun having our own vineyard if we had a house like they do! Holy cow those places are massive! And totally gorgeous. Some of the country side reminded me of Tuscany...but we all know Tuscany is just way cooler.

San Fran has been a good trip again. We always love coming back here. And we always stay at the same place. Hotel Nikko is a great place in Union Square, reasonably priced and close to everything. We tried to find the expo for the race on Friday when we got here...but didn't realize that the Piers are numbered evens on one side of the Bay bridge (so Pier 39 where the sea lions are and Fisherman's Warf) and the evens are on the other side of the bridge. Needless to say, we have gotten our walking in! Tomorrow is the big day...go race day!

4th of July and Leadville Marathon

This year we went up to Leadville, CO for our 4th of July celebrations. We decided camping out in the wilderness was the route to take. Our friends Kyle and Kenya came up and we had our own personal cook...AKA cookie. The 4th of July celebrations were at the local high school. It created a few fires nearby. Always nice to watch the fireworks explode, and then lite the near by grass on fire. Good times.

David decided to run this year's annual Leadville Marathon. 26.2 miles of pure up hill running. Literally up a mountain and back down. He is a brave man...and has the battle wounds to prove it. Congrats David! Another marathon under your belt...

We had a great time eating ribs, steak and eggs, smores and lots of chips. We will probably pick another place for next year...

Amsterdam

David's favorite city to date! I think he said multiple times he would totally live there! We had a great time...Ashton came with us for a day and then headed off with his friends to Eurorail...what a rough life! Our hotel was central Amsterdam, so we were close to everything! Yes, we went to see the Red Light District...not as bad as I thought it would be, but definately something I'm not used to seeing!

We visited Anne Frank's house...what a great story there is to see and learn there. Rented bikes (which I almost died on) which was the highlight of David's trip. He tends to ride his bike a lot in Denver, so he felt at home. We did get lost a few times, but eventually made our way back to the city!

We found a great little french fry place called Chipy King. Order any size of french fries and the toppings (mayonaise seemed WAY too popular) for a fairly cheap price! As tradition, we grabbed some cheese and bread and headed to the park. David made a new friend, a duck that loved his bread and cheese. She came up and ate of his hands and had a great time trying to make the other ducks mad.

We had a great time hanging out and enjoying Amsterdam, we'll definately go back!

Italy

Our adventures this time took us to a few places, to name the least, Italy. Mom and dad rented a villa in Tuscany, right outside of Pisa for a week. What a great place to relax and wish you lived in Italy! David and I headed to Sardina, an island off of the coast, for 2 days (work for Brooke, play time for David). It was heaven on earth. We were able to visit the house of a local sculpture who took rocks and cut rivits in them to create different sounds.

The villa had a great brick oven outside the house, which fed our pizza and garlic bread ball appetites for the week. The wine was great, the food fresh and the pizza tons of fun to make and eat. Although we were overrun with misquitoes while we were there, I think the "suffering" was worth the trip! We couldn't figure out the coffee maker (perculator) so we had to improvise with strainers, paper towels and boiled grinds. All in all, a good brew! David, Brooke and Ashton went for a ride and found a lake, that then lead to renting a canoe, that then lead to us out on the river for an hour, paddling with the ducks and praying our boat didn't turn over.

Pisa was just a day journey for us. The tower was not as big as I had imagined, but once you were inside, you started to freak out as it literally leaned! Walking up 300 stairs, leaning half the time, was quite a trip! David wasn't too thrilled at the top, as the lean made you feel as if you were falling off! We had a great time walking the canals and trying to drive through the city with Maggie, our GPS guru. We were in luck this time as the soccer championships were in full swing, and Italy was in the playoffs while we were in all the cities in Italy. Needless to say, it was hard to find restuarants open as they all close to watch the game!

Florence was such a great city. Although we didn't have time in our day trip to see the actual sculpture of David, we saw a good remake! They had the biggest beer's, great shopping (shoes were to DIE for!) and decent food. Florence had a great little market with fun vendors (great gifts for those who watched the cats) and fun bargening. The architecture in Florence is quite different from Rome. Many of the churches looked a lot like the Taj Mah Hall in India with the inlaid marble and designs. Although dad did take the side of the car off trying to get out of the car garage we parked in, Florence is a great city!

Sardina...the gorgeous island of paradise! We went down to Villasiumus where our hotel was literally on the edge of the island. You couldn't go any further out as the ocean was there. The Sofietel (same as Egypt) was 10 times better, the food fabulous and the company great. We got some good tans as most of our time was on the beach, enjoying the warmth and soothing sounds of the ocean. I would definately go back.

Italy you have my heart. One day we shall meet again..but for a much longer adventure.