Joshua at Soccer Camp - June 2010

Daniel playing T-Ball - June 2010

Emma Standing - Jan 2010

And then the evil side of Emma!

Summer Fun

Our New Orleans Get Away
We took the kids to New Orleans as real tourists for a few nights. It was HOT but we had a great time at the Insectarium, Aquarium, River Walk, etc... And we all got new sunglasses at the Flea Market.






















T-Ball
Daniel's first year of T-ball went very well. He had a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs!

Yes, we have a third child...

and we are not ashamed to show her off. I've just gotten even worse than I was previously about updating our story.

We are back in the United States as of January of this year. Since then, Emma Chifici was born.

March 1, 2009 - born via c-section due to her being breech (yes, a complete surprise to all)

Emma has since been doing very well and her brothers are enjoying having her around. She has had some complications with her hips from being breech for so long, but they are slowly improving. She has been an angel baby and began sleeping through the night long before her brothers ever did (Joshua still doesn't sleep all night). She is an extremely happy baby and we are loving her smiles and laugh.

Michael and Ann's Wedding - October 4

Michael and Ann Van Wagener

Scott's little brother (okay, younger brother) had a great southern Louisiana wedding in October.

Best Man and Ring Bearers

As you can see, all the Van Wagener boys were in the wedding. Daniel and Joshua did great walking up the aisle and were good for nearly the entire ceremony. Both were VERY proud to be in their tuxedos.

A few family pics

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AIDA Cruise August 29 to September 5

AIDA is a German cruise line - very popular with the Germans. Our cruise went to Istanbul, Turkey and several Greek islands.

AIDAvita - our ship
















Crete, Greece
Another country, another playground! We did eat some great Greek food and explore other areas of the city, not just the playgrounds.















Istanbul, Turkey
We were docked in Istanbul for a day and half. During that time, we were able to explore some of the mosques in the area and take a tour of a museum. We also spent some time shopping in the huge Bazaar and walking around the Turkish market place.



















Volos, Greece
We took an excursion to a city called, Marsitas. There we had a great view and enjoyed some more Greek cuisine. We then took the bus down to a local beach and froze in the water for an hour or so.















Athens, Greece
These are pictures in front of the Parthenon. We were too lazy to walk all the way up with the boys so we shopped and ate and let the boys run around. Our excursion continued at a local beach where we were surprised to learn that many women go topless! That was NOT in the brochure! And sorry, no pictures.




















Mykonos, Greece
Beautiful city with all blue and white houses, great windmills, and restaurants on the coast. We were so sad that our camera battery ran out here because we wanted a picture of everything. Our next next Greece trip will definitely be here!

SPAIN - May 31 to June 7

We took a Spain trip with my parents and sister, Amy, the first week of June and stayed in a villa outside of Madrid. These are the cities we were able to visit during the week. Some days were more fun than others, as Joshua had a terrible stomache bug for much of the trip and upon entering our villa, Joshua fell on the corner of a table and cut his head and Daniel split his lip open. Fun times!

El Escoreal
We spent our first day walking around the nearby city and searching for good tapas. The cross is a huge structure just outside of El Escoreal that was visible from our villa.






















Segovia
In front of the Aquaduct

















Madrid
























Enjoying Spanish Chocolate













Galapagar

This is actually the city where our villa was located. The picture is outside of the resaurant where we had great tapas and sangria!

























Avila - the walled city