Seaside Adventures and.....Hey, where's the top to her swimsuit?

We only WISH, it was Ulyssa we were talking about, but....sadly, no, we discovered that it's pretty much accepted for women of all ages here to go topless at the beach. Our first experience at the beach involved a complex skillset of eye-darting! Imagine our surprise.......But, lets rewind to our glorious day.


We live about 5 minutes from Constanta's seaside resort town called Mamaia so we had to check out the famous boardwalk and ride the sky gondola before the season got really busy. We started out on the beach, but quickly realized that the boardwalk was a "safe zone" for everyone's eyes!


There were some delicious smells, fun shops and fountains, GELATO (yummy Italian ice cream) and some catchy techno tunes pumping through the PA as we strutted down the boardwalk, we just couldn't help ourselves. We slowed traffic with our fancy hip and foot work..... I think I even saw some Jazz hands! ha ha

















Izzy found the latest style in European pants. I'm not going to tell you what the kids called them.... but, needless to say, Bryan got himself a pair in red for the Fall. He'll be fierce in the Dome trenches!



The ride on the sky gondola was awesome it goes over all the big hotels, near the beach for about 3 kms. We took it one way and decided to play all the way back. Everyone got excited about the waterpark which isn't opened yet. With our family size, it's usually cheaper to get a season family pass then buy a one day pass for everyone!








This was a fun shot Ashlee got of Ulyssa as she whipped her head around to see something! Love it! Ashlee was the family photog for the day, didn't she do a great job?








We rounded out our day with a dip in the sea, half the kids brought swimsuits under their clothing, the other half didn't. There were several awesome photos taken, but after close inspection...we had to edit them for background content...if ya know what I mean!





Ashlee worked hard to turn Olivia into Ariel, with seashells and all. Bryan finally got into after standing as sentinel over the backpack. What a great dad he is.


This was a random shot we got of the kids at sunset on the beach. I loved the colors.

Our Romanian Home

We have gotten so many fun emails asking about our home, we thought we'd show you instead of telling you about it. It's 4 bedroom, 2 big bathroom, lots of outdoor rooms and spaces with 3 balconies/patios. It is a 3 story home, but we discovered from the outside there is actually a 4th story, so of course, we found the hidden attic ladder and the kids and I went up and checked it out.

We are maybe 1 mile from the Black Sea, which is beautiful and tropical feeling here. There are locked gates on both ends of the house and a gardener's shack in the back where she ( Cocoa) hangs out and does her work, it's a big job for her with the hot sun and constant breezes to keep everything watered and maintained. We don't often take pictures of our homes, so you know we have all really taken to this one.

We have air-conditioning, but only units in 2 of the bedrooms, so it will be interesting when it really gets hot. So far, the sea breeze keeps everything very comfortable. We have learned that the Romanian people are very superstitious. One of their superstitions is that if there is moving air (a.k.a. more than one window open at a time, or too much windflow) you will immediately get sick. Thus, rooms, buses, etc are very stagnant, even in sweltering heat. It's funny at church to watch the missionaries turn on the air-conditioning and the locals turn it right off. We're glad Romanians smell better than their Latvian or Russian counterparts or it could be BAD!

Roman ruins and countryside

Here's hoping school is out for most of you and your summer celebrations have begun! We are absolutely loving Romania, what a neat country! Here's Bryan trying out Ulyssa's birthday swimmie pool, Ashlee in the kitchen-cooking up a storm. She and Izzy made us dinner and served it with appetizers on the patio. Izzy models our awesome firepit, bbq area.

We had a great week, everyone has adjusted to their new schedules, we're eating good, we have a vehicle and saw some fun things we thought you may like to see too. Bryan's work visa was in the process of going through, so we got to have him at home a few days more. He was a great tour guide! Romanian countryside...apparently it's one of the new favorite places to make movies. You can see why, it's still so untouched by commercialism.

Monday, he took us to a place called Adamclisi, an old Roman Monument from the 4th century AD. I would love to tell you that the kids were riveted by the ancient carvings and the story told around the ruin, instead they wanted to play on the stairs and pet the mangy dog. We did all agree that the countryside is stunning and got some cute photos. The original blocks are exposed in the picture below.

A few minutes later, on a hill in the middle of a beautiful valley, was everyone's favorite...an ancient Romanian village... Tropaeum Trianai. We roamed, climbed and explored all we wanted and no one was in sight. It was inhabited until 7 AD, but had some awesome little columns and walls to explore, it was huge.It is still in the process of excavation.

We're still trying to figure out this drainage system that runs through the center of the main street. Wouldn't it be awesome to go back and see it?

We also visited St. Andrew's Monastery , built around this cave they say that Andrew the apostle lived while traveling and preaching. It is a destination for many catholics and a very holy site. The Monastery was beautiful. The kids got a kick out of a painting of Satan that made him look like a skinny goat. Very vivid painting style.
We finished the day off by letting everyone dip a bucket in a random well, because......hey, everyone needs to fill a bucket from an old well at sometime in their lives right?