Monday Fun Day in Malta

More Pictures from Malta

Yesterday we tried a hop-on / hop-off bus tour...we started up top because it was hot and we figured Lilly would like the wind.....wrong-o. So we moved to the bottom which wasn't sunny but super hot. She did as well as oculd be expected and we only hopped off at the Blue Grotto, no pictures of that yet because we didn't bring the other camera. It was a good chance to see the island, even if it was from the windows of a bus.

1. Lilly and me at the pool
2. Floating in the Mediterranean
3. One of the public beaches (which is why we're staying at a hotel with a private beach)
4. Just some boats we're thinking of buying....
5. Dave and Lilly after dinner by the water

We're in the Republic of Malta!

We flew here to Malta on Thursday to stay for the next week. This will be the first 4th I've spent away from the states AND away from Americans. Tomorrow Lilly will wear her blue and white outfit and we'll tour around Malta; see the temples, Blue Groto, some beaches and churches and of course hit the salt water pool and eat a fantastic dinner.
We flew in on Ryan air which wasn't at all as bad as some people say. For 200 euro we all made it here safe and sound. Oh and the $8 glass of milk we bought for Lilly at the airport, when I say glass, I'm talkin 6 ounces. Our hotel (Westin Dragonara Resort- Google it:) had a man waiting to pick us up with a sign : "Mr and Mrs Smith" and yes, he referrenced the movie. Original. The hotel is pretty remarkable and the view from our balchony is priceless. OK...so maybe not priceless, but it's pretty gorgeous. This morning I got up to go for a run. NO ONE on the island seemed to be awake except for the trashmen, 3 road workers and a lady cleaning puke off the sidewalk in front of her bar. It's similar to the Bahamas in that the coastline is amazing but when you hit the streets it can be pretty slummy. Run finished we all went to breakfast at the Executive Suites Club.....I'm pretty sure the people thought we were sneaking in. Today was a pool day. Lilly had a great time making friends with a few Italians, Brits, French and one little Asian girl. What a cool experience for her that she won't remember. Tomorrow we're hitting up one of those hop-on hop-off tour busses. Malta is rich in culture and history, it was nearly obliterated during WWII. There are some above and under ground temples that are the oldest free-standing structures in the world! Another day they have a Sea World type place where you can swim with the dolphins and a new high dive show that looks fun. We'll hopefully take a helicopter over to their other island, Gozo and check out the beaches and temples there. The food this far has been GREAT and a little expensive, but did I mention GREAT??

That's the rundown. I'll post a couple of pictures. I can't connect our "good camera" to this computer so these are from our other, not prime choice photos but a couple really good ones. The first is you know who as they sit on one of the beach side bungalows of our hotel. 2. The view of the Casino belonging to Westin from one of the pools. 3. This picture's probably wrong I just can't figure out why there was a hooka (spelling?) sitting  there. 4. Lilly having fun with Dave doing her "cannon ball" into the pool. 5. The water is beautifully clean. 6. a picture one of my friends took of Lilly the other day at a boy's birthday party.

Ciao!

Happy Birthday, Aaron!!! The big 25 still!

Congratulations to my cousin Matt for getting picked up by the Minnesota Twins! Look forward to watching you on TV some day and definitely at the Great American Ball Park :) HOW COOL!

AFAP Conference in Germany

Last week I went to Weinheim, Germany for the Army Family Action Plan regional conference. Basically we were broken into 5 groups where we were assigned 20 different "Army issues" to try and work resolutions for. I was voted to brief our groups and in the end, 2 of our top 3 issues were chosen as part of the coference top 6 and sent up to DA. They'll have their conference in January and hopefully some important things will be resolved. In the first picture I'm talking with GEN Bagby who was my old division commander when I was at Ft Polk. The second picture is myself with two others from the conference. The last picture is myself in our work group, argueing with the guy across from me :)