So, today I dared to check my blog to see what the last post was. Rome!? That was a  very long time ago! Life has been pretty busy for the Gardners lately, and I have completely slacked at updating my blog. One of the biggest reasons for my writing hiatus is that I am now expecting Baby Gardner #3 and the morning sickness kept me down for a while. I am feeling pretty good now (as good as it's going to get for a while!) so I'm telling myself that blogging will become a more regular activity for me now. Maybe I should add this to my list of new year resolutions...

So here is a first look at our newest little one: (taken back when I was 11 weeks)

We find out this week if we will be having another little princess or a little prince! People keep saying that it looks like a boy in this picture, but you have to take into account that boys and girls at 11 weeks gestation have very similar looking "areas", and you might actually be seeing the umbilical cord and not a real piece of anatomy. We will know for sure pretty soon!

So our next adventure after our amazing, albeit super hot, trip to Rome, was a Baltic Cruise. Our very good friends, the Fosters, watched our girls for us for the entire 7 days we were gone! How different a vacation is when there are no children! Of course, I missed my sweet girls the entire time, but it was nice to sit and talk with friends as well as eat my meal while it was still hot. Or even just taking an uninterrupted shower, or being able to use the bathroom without the company of little ones. It really is the little things in life!

Our trip started by flying from London to Coppenhagen, Denmark, where the cruise ship left port. Our stops included: Tallin, Estonia; St Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden. We were definitely underwhelmed by Russia. I was very excited to see St Petersburg, but what I found was a lot of ugly brown buildings that were falling apart, and poor people that drank an incredible amount of vodka (vodka was free, water cost money) and smoked their life away. Depressing!

Most impressive was definitely Stockholm, Sweden. The landscape, city, and people were beautiful!
Here are some pictures from the amazing trip!

Our cruise ship

Tallin, Estonia

Dancers in Estonia

Tallin, Estonia

Tallin, Estonia

Formal Dinner Night

 On to Russia:

Peter's Palace

Peter the Great's "Swan Boat." He actually used this very boat to go up and down this canal!

This Palace was the only well-kept place we saw!

Walking around the palace grounds. St Petersburg, Russia

 Meanwhile, on the ship...

Matt competed in a pool competition. The crowd judged the competitors on their jumps: a canonball and a bellyflop!

Matt is making a splash!

 And Matt won!

On to Helsinki, Finland...

Getting ready to go kayaking in the Gulf of Finland

 We made it to the island in the Gulf of Finland where we ate a packed lunch, had a little hike, and rested a bit before we had to kayak back to shore. What an amazing experience!

After so much work, we needed to fuel up. Special of the day in Finland: Reindeer Delight! It was actually pretty good!

 And our last stop, Sweden: (Turns out, we didn't take very many pictures of this beautiful place or its beautiful people)

The place in the above picture was made completely of ice, and so was everything in it! The seats, glasses, bar, everything! After about 20-30 minutes, we were ready to get out of there.

Some more fun shots from the cruise:

This was just for fun!

Going home!

Summer of Fun Part 2 - Rome

Our summer of fun continues with a family trip to Rome!! Out of all the places we've been, this is probably the one I was most excited about. Matt's Uncle Dave and Aunt Mel, along with their two children, Quinn and Tatum, were taking a trip through Italy and stopping in Rome for a few days. We decided to meet them there since we had yet to see Rome.

It was amazing, but HOT! A word of advice for anyone who might want to travel to that area during the summer, pack two outfits per day of travel. Each day we were there, we went out and did something in the morning, came back after lunch for a little shower and siesta, and then went out again in the later afternoon/evening.

Here are some pictures from our fabulous time in Rome :

About to tour Vatican City

Gelato!

The Spanish Steps

Exploring

Pantheon

The girls dancing to the music of street performers

Ainsley and Tatum

Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum!!!

Aunt Mel with Ainsley

Our hotel was Jazz/Blues themed

Thank you so much, Dave and Mel, for letting us join you! We had an amazing time!

Summer of Fun Part 1...Germany, Austria, Paris

We have had such a busy summer! We were so blessed to have so many family members come and visit us. We also did some traveling on our own, which included a Baltic Cruise! Here are some captured moments from our amazing summer.

Punting in Cambridge with my sister, Cate

Then we went to GERMANY and AUSTRIA!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Matt and Myla made it to the top of the Alpspitze

A crazy German delight

While my sister was in town, we decided to do something crazy. The two of us woke up early in the morning, drove to the tube station, got on a tube to London, and there we switched to a train that took us straight into Paris, France. It is amazing that we can get from London, England to Paris, France in just two hours! The train goes under the English Channel!

After arriving in Paris, we decided to do our own makeshift walking tour. We did not take a single taxi all day and did not even sit to eat (we opted for some delicious nutella/banana crepes as we walked down the  Champs-Élysées). We walked all day until it was time to hop back on the train to England and we were back at home that night. Yes, we walked Paris in one day! Here are some pictures:

Musee Du Louvre

Cate at the Louvre

Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame Cathedral - sorry it is blurry!

Any Harry Potter fans?

Beautiful Paris

Also this summer, a very special girl turned two years old! Happy birthday to my sweet, sweet, Ainsley!