Cooper's new "do"

Fun with Nana & Gramps (aka - Honey)

While Corey and I were gallivanting around Italy, as mentioned in one of my earlier blogs this week, Cooper was spending quality time with Nana and Gramps (aka - Honey). Nana has a tendency of calling Gramps "Honey" and hilariously enough Cooper picked up on it and calls Gramps "Honey" now too. While we were enjoying fantastic weather in Rome (65 degrees) at home they received 3-4 inches of snow. Nana and Gramps took Cooper out to play in it. This was the first time Cooper had ever been in snow and of course his favorite thing to do was make snow balls and try to throw them at Nana. He absolutely loves picky on Nana. Lastly, check out Cooper's new hair cut. Nana and Gramps thought it looked adorable, Corey and I were appalled. So now Cooper looks like he is entering the military - I will post a new picture of his new hair do later.

Again, thanks Nana and Gramps for taking care of our little man.

Below are pictures of Cooper's adventures with Nana and Gramps:

Day 2 - Italy, Rome

Day 2 Recap - Vatican City: St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel; Piazza Venezia, Victor Emmanuel Monument and dinner at Hostaria to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

We walked to Vatican City from our hotel so we could see more sites. These were some of our first views of Vatican City and St. Peter's -



Corey and I in front of St. Peter's -



Looking out into St. Peter's Square -


Corey standing in St. Peter's Atrium -

Holy Doors -

First glance of St. Peter's Basilica -


Altar at St. Peter's Basilica -


Michelangelo's dome in St. Peter's Basilica -


St. Peter Statue inside St. Peter's Basilica -


Michelangelo's Pieta -


Now starts pictures from Vatican City Museum. When we arrived we found out that the Sistine Chapel would close within an hour for a special event. So we bypassed a lot to get to the Sistine Chapel before it closed - we made it just in time.

Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" over the altar of the Sistine Chapel -


The famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel -


Here are a few other exhibits in the Vatican Museum that caught our eyes -



The Raphael Rooms - unfortunately we did not get to visit. We were only able to sneak a peak.
St. Peter's Square -


Statue of Peter in the square -
Castel Saint Angelo -


We ate dinner at Hostaria for our 5th wedding anniversary. This place was adorable -



Random church on our walk back to the hotel -

Victor Emmanuel Monument and Piazza Venezia -

Rome, Italy - Day 1

Itinerary Recap for Day 1 - Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona.

View from our Hotel's roof top terrace -



View from our hotel room window. We were overlooking the hotel's piazza -



Right below our hotel was the Spanish Steps -


Bernini's Sinking Boat Fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps -



Trevi Fountain up close during the day -


Trevi Fountain at night -


Bernini's extravagant Fountain - Fontana dei Quatro Fiumi at Piazza Navona -


Our grand view of the Pantheon from our table at dinner -

Our Anniversary - Rome, Italy

For our 5th wedding anniversary Corey planned a trip for the two of us to Rome, Italy for five days (3 days in Rome & 2 days for travel). Yes, you read correctly just the two of us. We had always said that for our 5th anniversary we would take a trip to Europe and then start a family. The family part of course happened for us a little over 17 months ago, but we thought what the heck we would still do Europe anyway. It was a much needed getaway for Corey and I to have quality time together and some R&R. This was the first time that Corey and I had been away from Cooper at the same time. Also, it was the longest amount of time that I had ever been away from Cooper. It was easier than I had thought it would be, but we did so much in the three days that the time went by very quickly!!!

Here was our itinerary - jam packed as you can tell:
Day 1 - Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona
Day 2 - Vatican City: St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel; Piazza Venezia and Victor Emmanuel Monument.
Day 3 - Ancient Rome: Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trajan's Column, Trajan's Market, Piazza del Popolo, and Santa Maria del Popolo.

Corey and I decided we would see more if we walked every where instead of taking public transportation - our legs and feet were killing us by the end of the trip. It was a fantastic trip and we had a wonderful time!!! I will post a blog entry for each day with my favorite pictures of the sites. I will apologize in advance, sorry for the over kill of pictures to come!

Special thanks to my mom and dad who came to our house to take care of Cooper and the cats while we were gone. It was great knowing all was well at home while we were seeing the world.

5th Anniversary Present

We received flowers from Jackie and Bob on Monday for our 5th Wedding Anniversary. They were so beautiful I had to post a picture.



Thanks Jackie & Bob!!!

UVA vs VT