Baklava, Anyone?

Sully and Drew Preston rock climbing. Tucker and Ellie have done it, too. Ellie has made it to the top twice!

Tucker reading from Acts 17 on Mars Hill.

Greek guard at the King's Palace.

Getting their toes in the Mediterranean.

In Rhodes.

Ellie by the beautiful Rhodes port.

Hi! Monday, my last post, is when we spent a day at sea, on our way to Athens. We spent the day listening to Drew Preston say, "Can we go rock climbing?" or "Who wants to play putt-putt?". Who needs Europe? Just put him on a boat the size of a city block and he's good. Oh, he orders a hamburger for dinner EVERY nite. Life is good.

Yesterday we went to Athens. Another incredible day. Our tour guide didn't show up (by the way Mom, sorry again that they called you at 2:00 am. I don't call us not being there an emergency.) We waited for an hour and then got a taxi. Our taxi driver was a young, nice looking Greek man named Panos. He was the greatest. He told the boys about how his father is a spear fisherman and showed them pictures of the fish. He told Craig that in Greece people have only one or two children's and that "your wife is a hero". I really liked this guy. He took us to the Acropolis and we went up to see the Parthenon. It's amazing how it's right there in the open with relatively no security. It's HUGE. I've said that a lot on this trip, huh? The best part to me was when we came back down and went to Mars Hill, the place where Paul preached his sermon found in Acts 17. Tucker read it to us right there on the hill. It gave me chills.

Also in Athens we went (very quickly, Panos is very efficient) to the ruins of the temple of Zeus, the Olympic Stadium and to see the changing of the guard in front of the King's Palace. We loved this! They change every hour and it's very precise and slow and majestic. There were only about 20 other people there to watch so we got up close and personal. Loved it.

This morning we arrived in Rhodes, a beautiful little town with castles, churches and a Knight's Street. Got some great door pictures and had a good time shopping. We walked everywhere. The kids got to check "stick your toes in the Mediterranean Sea" off their scavenger hunt.

Sully wanted me to mention that we got a "War Eagle" in response to his hat when we were at the Colosseum. Also, the people who sit next to us at dinner on the ship are from Birmingham. :)

Tucker and Sully went to the teen arcade game nite last nite (11-14 yrs- there are only a handful on the ship) and made Tucker made a friend from Australia.

Also, we tried Baklava today, a traditional Greek pastry made of pyllo, honey and walnuts. None of us liked it. I was disappointed, it always looks so good on the magazine pages. But I had blueberry soup at dinner. YUM!!!

Praying for Beverly!

Praying for Ivy and Co.!

Tomorrow we go to Ephesus, Turkey. Tonite I felt like a true pioneer woman. I did laundry in the bathtub. Laundry has been a royal pain on this trip. Everywhere we go (except our wonderful B&B in Normandy, who did our laundry for us) it costs about $2 an item to get it washed and dried. The ship did offer a bag of laundry for $25 on the fifth day of cruising (today). I begged a second bag because we are truly out of clothes. I stuffed the bags as full as I could but still had a pile left over. So I did it in the tub with shampoo! Our t-shirts are now flapping merrily on our balcony in the sea breeze. Ellie had a great time helping me scrub.