Historic Port Tomis (Constanta)

Welcome to our day trip downtown...to the old, OLD former port Tomis(TOE-mees), a thriving port. As long ago as the 7th Century B.C., the Greeks founded a number of colonies on the Black Sea shore. These were the ancient cities of Histria, Tomis and Callatis (now Constanta and Mangalia), strategically located at points where the Danube River flows into the Black Sea.

Five centuries later the supremacy of Greece declined, and a new power arose: the Romans. The Dacians (the locals) fiercely fought to defend their land against Roman occupation, resisting more than 20 years! These "locals" don't look so fierce though....

Traianus, a great Roman leader, conquered the great Dacian city only after a traitor sold him the secret of the hidden water pipes. The Romans left the city without water, forcing it to surrender. Decebalus (the local leader) killed himself, and Traianus celebrated the victory for 123 days. In honor of this victory he also erected a sculpted column to tell the story of conquering Dacia. Traianus's column still stands in Rome....just look at him go on his little bicycle with a basket on the front....(ding, ding!) Go Traianus, go!

During the two centuries of Roman Occupation, new roads and cities were built in Dacia. The official language was Latin, from which the present Romanian language was born. The Romans retreated from Dacia in 271 A.D. .....which brings us to modern day Constanta...named after the Emporer Constantine.... a flourishing port city, with about 300,000 people, full of life and diversity.

This building is the ICON of Constanta, a beautiful Art Nouveau Casino which sits on a prominent point at the port.

Dancing in the street!

A beautiful boardwalk fronts the sea, near the casino. It was picturesque at sunset with sweet hearts walking hand-in-hand, vendors (selling things from the Phillipines or China), delicious dining smells and accordian music wafting down the sidewalks. Ethan gave this guy some money and he sang and entire song just to him with a big broad smile! It left us all with a little spring in our step, had some nice rhythm!

Sweet Olivia! Made friends with a little girl whose parents both spoke English. He was a local Orthodox priest and she was a stay at home mom that paints icons for sale at the church. They were the nicest people, we visited for over 30 mins. I'd love to run into them again.

Someone told Ulyssa that cute girls always tip their heads for photos!

Ash and Izzy explore the wavebreakers at the base of the casino. This is supposed to be a great area to scuba dive, lots of wonderful sea treasures to explore...also a favorite wedding photo location.

Our girls....

Our boys! Little handsome devils!

Love those smiles! We're still wondering where they all came from! ha ha

A few random shots to prove that we are completely off-the cuff and chaotic (word to all you who think we tour in leisure) Would love to say that everyone walks in a perfect line and never hangs off dangerous ledges or runs into traffic, but then that would be A BIG FAT LIE! :) Touring with 6 kids is a lot of work, but ultimately has a great payoff...as long as they stick close!Famous mosque minaret in downtown Constanta...didn't get to go inside....they barred the doors when they saw us coming.....just kidding. This is why....would you let this bunch in your place of worship? ha ha I would!

Puppies <3

>By Ashlee

We found a newborn batch of puppies behind our house one day and immediately fell in love with them and wanted to spend ever minute w/ them. Here are some fun pics! Enjoy.

Everyone has a puppy that they especially loved and named them.
There were 4 girls and 3 boys.

E-man and his puppy Sir Knight #4. Ethan the extreme video-gamer said,
"Wow! This is better than video games," Now that is remarkable! He is so sweet.

Mom and her puppy, Cookie!

Olivia and her shawl (a.k.a. puppy) Lipstick! Perfect name right?!

Happy family, happy puppies!

Izzy and her pup Oreo. She was so sweet and caring to her.

Ulyssa being.....helpful?

<3>

Wissa-Wae and her Sparkle-Diamond (we found out later that diamond was a boy, so we named him Chewy, like Chewbacca.)

The puppy-dog's were licking our puppy's toes, Statton's toes!

Statts was licking the doggy and then he pulled back.
Apparently the pup didn't taste so good.

Me and my doggy, B.licky, (black licorice.) She was the runt of the batch.

Statton Boy-4 1/2 months olds!

As told by Ashlee ;)



Awww! It's Statton, 4 months old and livin' large in Romania!

Statton's cute little eyes from mommy.

This is Dad's beanie that he wears to work under his hard hat, a little to big for "Statts."

Ahhh, big brothers! is this what big brother are ment for!?

Whoo-oh-whoo! Getty up horse-y!

Olivia on a stroll with her babydoll, wait......it's Statton! The little girls are ALWAYS playing with him, they love him lots!

Eye buddies! Who's the goegeous girl in the back!? :D hehehehe!

Peek-a-boo! Mom and i love this!

BOO! I bet it caught you off guard right!?

3 words, Center......Of.......Attention.

This view was my suggestion of course. you gotta love the chub!

Mom was working on the computer with Statton-boy on her lap, and he kept smacking at the blinking lights on the laptop.

This is his "Angel picture" according to Olivia and Ulyssa.

Oh Say Can You See....

Being an American is such a great priveledge! We hope that you can relate to what we are feeling this 4th. We are grateful to be citizens of such a great country (political issues aside here for a minute) where we enjoy many wonderful freedoms and bounties. We missed our traditional activities in America, Bryan worked until 5 pm, but we were finally able to celebrate with a big bbq at our home. We had close to 50 people come..... where we ate until we were sick! Dang overeating Yanks! It was a great feast of friends!

Little Ulyssa and her "Walow Melon"

Bryan conducting the choir....huh? Must have been prayertime, otherwise that hat would be stuck to his head!Sister Ostler, Izzy and puppies

Our traditional 4th Jello. All the Romanians thought it was funny and were very intrigued by the idea of jello salad. No CoolWhip here, we handmixed some "topping", then had to setup for 4 hours in the fridge.

Olivia, Missionaries (Elder Bigu and Sister Hardy) and Mariana (Our branch president's wife--she is an incredible linguist and an all around incredible person)


Our kind neighbors Elias and Nina. He is a Seaman (ship engineer) she is the sweetest lady, a plant expert...told Lisa she was Sexy! ha ha also says cinnamon will give you the same results. They had us over one night and treated our family like royalty. She always cries when she hugs our girls.Elder Castro and Elias our neighbor, both Navy boys. Other Romanian friends from church

Random shot of someone's plate??Fielding is from Hibbard...Julie, he says he knows you from Highschool. Nice guy
In red T-shirt is Tibi, a one-of-a-kind Romanian from church. As an actor, he really knows how to pump up the fun and likes to include lots of people in his plans. He thinks Ethan is da bomb

Lacey Potter our fun, sweet, crazy friend...Dome Wife, like me! Here's her other half...Troy, He's taken a liking to Olivia and Ulyssa who give him big hugs, he and Bryan are co-captains on this Romanian Project.

Lily, Niku and Lucas...Romanian friends from work. She translates for Dome. Lots of
romanians speak with western accents (vs the British accent)from watching Cartoon Network and Hollywood Movies, I love it. Aren't they a nice looking family?



Izzy prepares for company! She's just coming out of her shyness....ha ha!Our full yard, the party spilled over into every part of the yard and house, we had company until 11:30. So fun, notice there are no pictures of Lisa. She was running circles with the kids and food and camera! We had friends from America, Romania, Italy and Rwanda. Can't think of a better way to celebrate our country's diversity!!!