Italy - Day 5

Game 2 and Rimini
The girls had an 11:00 a.m. game against Finland which had us leaving the hotel early for the game. The weather was hot and muggy even by 11:00 a.m. and it was tough on the girls, but they persevered for a 4-0 win against the Finnish team. It was exciting to get an international win.

After the game, the team headed to beaches of Rimini on the Adriatic Coast for some fun in the sun. The beaches in Europe are quite different than the beaches in the United States in that they are not free for anyone just to walk up and lay down a blanket. You must pay for the use of the beach by renting a beach chair, and an umbrella if desired. The beach in Rimini is 200 km long and divided into 120 separate sections. We were in section 41 and paid 18 euros (about $27) for two beach chairs and one umbrella for about 4 hours time on the beach. I suppose we could have used it all day but the bus was leaving at 6:00, so our fun was over.

Dan and Carol in the Adriatic Sea, Rimini, Italy

We swam in the sea and then laid in the sun for a few hours just relaxing and soaking up the sun. It was a bit like Mexico in that there were a few vendors that came around, but not quite as prolific. A few of the girls paid for ½ hour massages, and most paid to have a henna tattoos. I think this was a good test run for the real thing because a few did not like their tattoo after it was completed. Good thing the tattos will be gone in a few weeks.

Italy - Days 3 and 4

Day 3 – Venice
We checked out of our hotel in Como and headed to Venice for a quick day of sight seeing in Venice (very quick – about 2 ½ hours in the city). The soccer girls opted for a gondola ride while Dan and I and another mom opted for a personal tour of the city. We entered the outskirts of the city on the bridge of freedom and then took a 20 minute boat ride to San Marco Square where we began our tour. Maggie and I read The Thief Load for her book club this year (and watched the movie) so seeing the sights in person was really neat.

Winged Lion, symbol of Venice

San Marco Square was an incredible sight to see, but was filled with so many tourists. We saw the bell tower, the pillars with the winged lion (symbol of Venice) and the city clock. The city clock was a marvel in its day, showing not only the time, but displaying the time in 5 minute increments, much like a digital clock. It also shows the zodiac sign (month) and the phases of the moon. It is a legend of the city that to walk between the two towers is bad luck, and if you wish bad luck on someone, you would day “I wish you to see the time” as the clock is opposite the towers from the water.

San Marco’s Square

Outside San Marco’s Basilica is a statue of four Roman lords carved in a dark red stone. This stone is not native to Venice and is actually from the Constantinople. It was carved in 600 A.D., before Venice was even a city, and was brought there at a later date.

Roman Statues

San Marco’s church is indescribable, with the ceiling, walls and floor covered with glass and gold leaf mosaics. The church was begun in the 1360’s and the structure completed in the 1390’s. However, it took 400 years to complete the interior decoration of the church. The floor was covered with many different mosaic patterns, and it was warped and undulating from the ground beneath it settling. Because we had a private tour (our guide was a native of Venice), we were able to walk into the church without waiting in line. The ceilings, walls and floors are covered with this incredible art work. Pictures are not permitted inside the church. It was, in one word, amazing.

We ventured away from San Marco’s Square and into the quieter section of Venice lined with small hotels and residences and a few shops here and there. Our guide took us to the houses of Casanova and Marco Polo, and then on to a local sandwich shop for a quick bit to eat while we walked. We then headed to the infamous Rialto Bridge, a marble bridge crossing the Grand Canal, before heading back to San Marco Square. On our walk back to the meeting point, we saw the Bridge of Sighs, a stone bridge leading from the court house to the prison on the opposite side of a small canal. It is named as such because the bridge would be the last place prisoners would see daylight before imprisonment and/or their execution. Finally, we finished our tour walking along the water front, passing in front of the building where Vivaldi gave violin lessons to orphan girls in Venice. We met our group for our return boat ride to our bus and eventual ride to the Republic of San Marino. It was a short trip to Venice, wetting our appetite for a return visit and longer stay in what is surely one of the most romantic cities in the world.

Gondolas on a canal

Bridge of Sighs (begin restored)

Day 4 – The Republic of San Marino
We arrived in San Marino, a small republic in Italy near the city of Rimini, on Monday night after a long day traveling and a short visit to Venice. Tuesday morning was free to explore this ancient medieval style town perched atop Titano Mountain. Our hotel is in the heart of this city not far from the castle towers. We spent the day exploring the city with its many shops and touring two of the castle towers (the third is not available to explore on the inside). The towers were started in the late 1200’s as watch towers over the valley below, but eventually became fortresses for the city, and even housed prisoners for a portion of the time. Sitting atop a sheer cliff, it is easy to see how the location of the castle was an advantage to any defenders.

Guaita and Cesta Castles

The views from just about anywhere in the city are amazing, with either the Adriatic Sea in the distance or the Italian countryside below. It feels so fairytale like to be staying in such a place like this with cobblestone streets and castle walls at every turn that sometimes it’s hard to remember where we are.

The girls played the first soccer game of the tournament today, tying a team from Italy 1-1. The game was well played on a hot day, and the opposing team did not get their goal until less than 5 minutes left in the game. It was a heartbreaker for them, but game two is tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m.

Dan and Carol at the top of Mount Titano with Rimini and the Adriatic Sea in the back ground

We also managed to get in some geocaching while in San Marino and left a Washington State Cougar Geocoin near another tower perched atop the mountain. It took a while to find it but we were eventually successful. Here is a picture of the coin with San Marino and Rimini in the back ground.

Italy - Days 1-2

Day 0 – Travel Day – Seattle-Chicago-Madrid-Milan
We started our day in Seattle leaving at 8:50 a.m. for a 3 ½ hour flight to Chicago, where we then boarded for an 8 hour trans-Atlantic flight through the night to Madrid, Spain. We flew Iberia Airlines, which is a Spanish company, and although they provided meals (unlike their American counterparts) the hospitality left something to be desired. There were many scowling looks from the flight attendants when passengers got up to use the restroom, as this interfered with food service. We landed in Madrid at 7:45 a.m. (about 11:45 p.m. Washington time) and then set off to Milan, Italy. All totaled, we traveled for 17:30 hours! We got a passport stamp in Madrid, but not in Milan, so we felt a little cheated.

Shilah, Maddie, Shawn and Haley riding train to another terminal

Dan and Carol in Madrid airport

Day 1 – Lake Como and Bellagio
After arriving in Milan, our tour bus took us to the city of Como on Lake Como in northern Italy, where we are to spend two nights. How nice it is not to have to worry about traveling accommodations! We boarded a private boat and had a tour of the lake as we headed to the small town of Bellagio. One thing we noticed as we took in the beautiful surroundings is that the houses are all very similar and made of stone, not wood. It is so picturesque and charming. Our guide pointed out many notable sights, such as George Clooney’s houses, Richard Branson’s villa estate (Virgin Airlines) and an old stone bridge in one of the small towns that dates from the Roman times that school children would cross to get to school. In the back drop is a beautiful waterfall.

Roman bridge and waterfall, children from Roman times walked across

One of George Clooney's houses on Lake Como

Bellagio is a quaint town with old cobbled streets and small shops all around. We spent an hour touring the city and shops before our return trip to the city of Como. The beauty of the lake and the small villages surrounding the lake is indescribable. We enjoyed our return ride just soaking up the sights around us. We checked into our hotel and finally had a chance to take a long awaited shower and change of clothes! After dinner, we sat in our room and watched the lightening strike the hillsides just outside our room. It was a spectacular display and a fitting substitute to the 4th of July celebrations we were not able to see at home. We retired quite early around 9 p.m. Italian time (12:00 a.m. Pacific coast) in preparation for tomorrow’s adventures.

One of the quant streets of Bellagio

Day 2 – Milan and Friendly Game
After much needed rest, we headed off to Milan to have a tour of the city and to play a friendly game with a team from Como. It took just less than an hour to drive to the outskirts of Milan, but just as long to drive into the city center. Our first stop was the duomo, or church, a massive gothic style Catholic church that dominates the surroundings. Construction was started in 1386 and completed sometime in the 18th Century, approximately 400 years in the making. It is the largest gothic and 3rd largest Catholic church in the world. It is quite impressive and hard to imagine how it was built without the conveniences of the modern world. We hiked to the top of the church for a splendid view of the city and the duomo square.

Gothic church in Milan

Carol on roof of Gothic church

Milan is the fashion center of the world (as most of you already know), and there were ample opportunities for shopping at high end stores. Somehow we managed to stay out of them, likely because we weren’t willing to pay the astronomical prices of the merchandise inside. Next to the cathedral was a covered area with many shops and even one of two seven star hotels in the world. All rooms are penthouses and go for 4,000 to 5,000 euros per night. That’s about $6,000 to $7,500 per night American. The area was created in the 1700’s when the separate lands of Italy became one nation. There are four beautiful mosaics on the walls surrounding the center of the mall, one for each of the 4 continents that were believe to exist at the time (Europe, Asia, Africa and North America). On the ground are four more mosaics, one for Milan (the financial center), one for Rome (spiritual center), one for Florence (cultural center) and one for Turin (the home of the king). The symbol of the Turin family was the bull, and we were informed of a good luck ritual by our guide which involves placing your heel on the balls of the bull and turning clockwise three times. Since we were playing a friendly later that day, Teri took honors to perform the ritual for the team. Earlier in the day, as Dan and I were walking around this same area and heard music playing, only to realize it was four young men performing a live version of Canon in D with two violins and two accordions. It was so incredible and mesmerizing to listen to inside this area that we sat and listened for over five minutes before we finally broke away.

Covered shopping area in Milan

Our guide took us out to the Scala Square where the famous Scala Opera House is located. It is reported that the people that watch opera in this house expect perfection and Pavarati himself was once booed off stage. In the square is a statue of DaVinci, in tribute to his many contributions to the land of Italy. Our last stop was an old castle that still remains in the city today. It is quite large (larger than I could get with our camera) and looks to be in very good condition. A fountain in front provided not only a wonderful picture forefront, but a place for all of us to cool our legs after walking all day in the hot sun.

Dan and Carol in Scala square in front of Da Vinci statue

From here we headed off to the suburbs of Como for a practice game with a local girls football club. On the way, our bus driver got lost and we had the good fortune to be driven around the magnificent country side of Italy. I really had no idea they grew so much corn, I thought that was just in Iowa. Hmmm. Anyways, we finally made it to our game, albeit about 30 minutes later than planned for warm-up. We had two girls hurt, so only two substitutions for the whole game. The girls lost to the host team 4-0, but put up a good effort after traveling for 18 hours the previous day and then having spent this day sight seeing in Milan. The host team was quite impressive and put on a good display of skills. One thing is for sure, they play a different style of soccer in Europe, and their balls skills are incredible. Our girls gave each girl from the other team a t-shirt that listed our team and tournament on the front and had a picture of the US with Washington and Longview magnified on the back, so they had an idea where we are from. They really seemed to like the shirts and were eager for the translator to explain to them what the shirts meant.

It was back to the Como hotel for showers, more thunderstorms and rest before heading to Venice in the morning.

Pre-Italy Update

Day -1, Seattle

The day is almost here, we are less than a day away from flying to Italy and a two week vacation. We headed up to Seattle this afternoon with childhood friends (second parents) of mine, Danny and Janet, braving the traffic and eventually enjoying a nice dinner at The Olde Spaghetti Factory near the Seattle water front. Riding with Danny and Janet reminded me of my teen years traveling on various vacations with them and their daughter, and of course, Danny making "the kids" drive. It was like a long test drive in a Honda Pilot, a car we may be looking at in the near future. It was a nice visit with two people we feel lucky to have as a part of our life, and we thank them much for their generosity in delivering us to our hotel before our trip. Of course, I did not think to get a picture until after they left, but here is one of us in our hotel before Thursday night. We had a glass of wine to unwind and then headed back to our room to wind down and get some sleep before the LONG trans-Atlantic trip. More updates to come. Ciao.

Summer 2009 is here!

Last Day of School & Lanna's B-Day Party

On June 12th school was finally out here in Longview and 3 out of 4 people in our house were beside themselves with excitement. We celebrated Lanna's birthday by having five 8 year old girls over for a barbeque, trip to the movies to see Up followed by a sleep over. (Lanna's birthday is not until July 2nd, but since it is so close to the 4th holiday and she'll be out of town on July 2nd, we decided to celebrate early.) Lanna had a great time, as did the girls, and they all enjoyed playing with her birthday gift of Bendaroos, making all kinds of shapes, sticking them to the wall, and even using them as hair accessories! Happy birthday Lanna.

Birthday cake and bend-a-roos

Timber Barons Select Soccer

Maggie was recently selected as a member of the girls U-11 Timber Barons Select soccer team. We are now officially "Soccer Parents" and will have plenty of weekend trips to various games and tournaments. Their team recently had two friendly games against two teams from the Vancouver area. These teams had been practicing for several weeks, while our team had two practices prior to playing the games. The team didn't even have uniforms yet, just white t-shirts and black shorts. The team did great and managed to win the first game and tie the second game. So far Maggie is really enjoying playing and looking forward to the time when she will get to stay in a hotel for tournaments (hopefully not too soon.)

Maggie showing her soccer stuff

Summer Vacation

Maggie and Lanna left Thursday morning for Indianapolis, IN with Nanny and Grandpa, Aunt Jill and Cousin Jo. They were very excited to be heading out in the truck pulling the 5th wheel and all the adventures that await them. Dan and Carol leave in a few days for Italy and are getting excited themselves. We hope each of you has exciting summer plans of your own.

The Ruiz Family pre-vacation 2009

1st Communion and Ft. Stevens

First Communion for Lanna

Lanna had her first communion on May 9th at St. Rose Catholic Church, and also had the honor or performing the first reading during the Mass. She did great and looked beautiful in her dress. It's hard to believe our little girls are both growing up so fast and have one more rite of passage under their belts. We finished the special evening with dinner at a steak house with Nanny and Grandpa and Lanna's Godparents, Danny and Janet Jacobs. Great job Lanna!

Lanna's reading, as filmed by Maggie.

Of course, it would not be an event for Lanna without something funny Lanna said. As the Eucharistic Ministers were lined up to receive communion, Lanna asked Dan "What are they doing?" Dan said "They're getting ready to take communion." "You mean they've never had communion before either?" Lanna asked?

Lanna and Maggie after 1st Communion.

Camping at Ft. Stevens

Wreck of the Peter Iredale.

We kept our tradition of camping on Memorial Day by heading to Ft. Stevens on the Oregon coast. We have heard much about this great state park, and it did not disappoint. We had great fun biking, hiking, swimming, geocaching and exploring the old fort itself. As a part of the Memorial Day festivities, voluteers were raffling off the opportunity to fire a Howitzer 105 mm gun or a Parrot Cannon. (I am sure there was more involved with the description of the other gun, but I didn't pay much attention.) The girls each bought a raffle ticket, and Maggie was the lucky winner. She had the honor of pulling cord and firing the 105 Howitzer gun. It shocked us all, but Maggie, and was a sight to see. We really enjoyed ourselves and hope to go back soon, perhaps for Labor Day weekend. We managed to find a few geocaches, looked for a few we could not find, but had fun in the adventure none the less.

Maggie pulling the trigger.

Kid Quotes

The girls were watching iCarly one day and Carly was caught by her brother smooching on the couch with a boy. Dan said to the girls "What are you going to do when I walk in on you?" To which Lanna replied "Oh, were not going to do that at home." Yikes! Are we in trouble or what?

Happy Memorial Day!

Father-Daughter Ball & Maggie is 10

Winter Sports

Winter sports have finally finished in our household and we are now into spring sports. Only, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that we would actually like to have spring weather to go with the sports. A few action shots of the girls during basketball. Maggie's team was the Chili Peppers and Lanna's the Tigers. The girls had a great time and again showed improvement from the beginning of the season to the end.

Father Daughter Ball

In February, Dan and the girls attended the Father-Daughter Ball. This is a well attended event and there are four separate events because of the demand. The girls had a great time dressing up and having a special evening with Dad. We all went to dinner at JT's Steakhouse first before they headed off to the ball. (Mom headed to the MMHS basketball game with some friends where she actually was able to watch the game and did not have an obligatory stop at the concession stand.) There was lots of dancing and the girls loved taking turns to dance with dad. They had a nightcap of Coldstone Icecream before heading home, and are already talking about next year.

World's Toughest Cowboy

Dan worked the World's Toughest Cowboy competition in Portland again this year, and we were fortunate enough to attend courtesy of Dan's friend. In addition, Jill, Tina, Cole and Jo were able to attend with us, which made for a great evening. As a bonus, the kids all got cowboy hats to wear. Lanna, of course, was ready to step into the role as cowgirl right away.

Cole, "Cowgirl" Lanna, Jo & Maggie

One Decade in the books!

Maggie turned 10 on Thursday and commented that she is now one decade! Wow, we can't believe she is that old already. She is maturing into a wonderful young lady and is a joy to be around. We made a rainbow cake for her birthday and she loved it. I will not be leaving my job as an engineer to enter into the baking business, as you can see by the lopsided cake. However, the cake still tastes wonderful and looks great inside. Maggie loved it. She received a new camera for her birthday, and some of the pictures on this post are courtesy of her.

Rainbow "Leaning Tower" of birthday cake.

Free Saturday

We actually have a whole weekend free from activities and sports! So what are Dan and the girls doing? Playing Mario Kart on the Wii. (Okay, Mom played some too.) Heading to Portland for a family day later.