Christmas Catch-up 2010 (Kitty Holcomb)

We had to be careful not to let Kitty know we were celebrating Christmas late this year...

we don't think she caught on.

She started the evening with a special Christmas dinner. (Sadly, she hated it, and didn't eat hardly any of it!)

Next it was time to see what Santa left in her stocking... Ohhh! Some new Greenies treats!

Next came the gifts. A nice new purple mousie...

Resting for a minute between gifts.

A new ornament from Mom and Dad.

Some VERY cleverly presented baby mice from Meme and Papaw Moore!

The baby mice were a hit... here she is in action.

Chasing a baby mouse around the corner.

And going in for the kill.

What? Where are the pictures of Bryan and I?

Apparently we forgot to take pictures! Or, perhaps you can see from this post who holds a place of great importance in this household! :)

Christmast Catch-up 2010 (Beezley-Moore)

Bryan and I were so happy to be back in Indiana near our families for Christmas 2010!

Despite being near, as health-care professionals, we're never guaranteed Christmas off. Bryan, being the "new guy", was on call over the week of Christmas. Me, being the "old new girl", worked the 24th, 25th, and 26th of December!

Nonetheless, I had three days to spend with the Beezleys and Moores up North, while unfortunately, Bryan was in Indianapolis taking call.

We all met at Mom and Bill's house for dinner and gift opening.

Mom made shrimp fettucine alfredo, which was a HUGE hit! I think my Dad went back for seconds and maybe thirds!

Hope and Mike before dinner...

Dad, probably wondering if he's going to like this shrimp fettucine... ha! Two beautiful young ladies look ready for gift opening!

The gracious host and hostess!

Hope, busy taking pictures, while Mike was in the center of the action.

A Captain America shirt!

I think I was too busy enjoying the evening... I seem to have not taken many pictures! Even if I was short on pictures, the night was certainly not short on love and enjoyment of the Christmas season and spending time with loved ones!

European Journal July 19, 2010

It was our last morning in Paris. We got up, showered, dressed, and subjected ourselves to one last buffet breakfast before getting a call that our shuttle was nearly 20 minutes early!

It ended up being a good thing, when we got to the airport and saw the line for American Airlines! It stretched on and on and on. We took our place at the back of the line, and slowly made our way to the counter. After an hour and a half in line, we were able to move to the self check-in. we checked our bags (which were thankfully under the 22kg limit), and headed to security. We had just enough time to grab a little something to eat and stop in a bookstore. We boarded our plane a little after 11:30am. We had a window seat and the next seat on an aisle, so we were very comfortable. This plane didn't have all of the amenities/entertainment that the first one did, but we did see two movies during the flight. Though it was a 9+ hour flight, it was virtually always lunchtime (we left Paris at 12:30pm, and arrived in Chicago at 2:30pm!). We had two "lunches" during our flight.

After a quick flight from Chicago to Indianapolis, we were happy and thankful to see Kristy, who delivered us home to our yet-unpacked condo and a very excited Kitty.

It was good to be home!

European Journal July 18, 2010

I was still feeling a little sick, so after sleeping in until 10:00am (!), Bryan decided to go back downtown while I hung out in our room watching our two favorite channels on TV. OK... the only two channels in English! BBC World, and CNN World.

Bryan took the Metro (subway) to the Opera House to take some pictures.

He then walked around by the Louvre, and stopped at a little cafe for a coffee and a crepe with Nutella (which is HUGE in Europe).

It was a picturesque, sunny day in Paris!

After a little more walking around, Bryan took the Metro back to our hotel. It was MUCH easier than using public transportation in Rome! We got ready in the afternoon for our last group outing, to Montemarte and the farewell dinner.

We took a bus ride to Montemarte, a bohemian area of Paris, with lots of artists and musicians who congregate in a Square. It's also home to the very large Sacred Heart Church.

We walked through the church, where there was actually a service in progress.

After visiting the church, we walked around the little square that was full of artists and musicians.

We spent about an hour and a half at Montemarte before taking a funicular back to our bus. We then drove to a restaurant called "L'Escaramouche." We drove by the famous cabaret, Moulin Rouge, on our way to the restaurant.

The restaurant was very quaint; we sat in a little private room that reminded us of wine cellars in Napa Valley. The walls were exposed rock, and it made for a nice atmosphere. We had several choices for each course of our four-course meal. They served unlimited wine, beer, and soft drinks. For our first course, I had french onion soup (for the third time in Paris!), and Bryan had escargot.

Our friend, Alice, ordered duck liver pate... I didn't try any...

Both of our appetizers were very good.

For our second course, Bryan ordered duck.

I had shrimp flambee.

The third course was an assortment of cheeses and bread.

We took a minute to get some pictures of the friends we had made on the tour, since this was the last night we would all be together. Below are Tony and Jen, who were from California.

This sweet Mother-Daughter duo were from Australia. The daughter taught us many slang phrases used in Australia.

Below are Alice and Robyn, also a Mother-Daughter pair from Australia. Alice was quite the shopper on our tour, and was worrying about how much her hand luggage was going to weigh on the trip home!

Dessert was profitteroles for Bryan, and peach melba for me. We joked that profitterole sounded like a medicine, but it was actually a yummy chocolate dessert.

I spotted some goldfish on a trip to the "toilets."

After dinner, we took some photos with our group and tour director, before heading back to our hotel.

Here's Bryan and I with Chiara.

Bryan had arranged for our airport shuttle earlier in the day, so we strategically packed our suitcases before going to bed so we could get ready to go quickly in the morning.