So we thought Ephesus was beautiful... Just wait until you see Istanbul.
Seriously breathtaking.
Our tour guide took us to the top of a mountain to just see the views.
We ate lunch at a cute cafe right downtown in the city.
And then saw the most beautiful mosques ever.
One of them we had the ladies cover all skin and the boys had to wear the long skirts.. too bad this picture doesn't show the bottom half of our bodies.
Seriously amazing.
The second highlight of the day was the Grand Bazaar.
It was incredible.
The Grand Bazaar is a HUGE- BEYOND HUGE, shopping center.
We walked around for about an hour and only saw probably 1/6 of it.
Ryan was loving all the attention as there were hardly any babies. The turkish people are so sweet.
He got lots of kisses.
It was probably the prettiest place to watch as the boat took off.

So green and so beautiful.
Goodbye beautiful Turkey!!!
Oh and Mr. Ryan lovin another night on the boat.
P.S. Any guesses on that towel animal? hahaha we are betting on a snail.
Tomorrow we head to Greece to spend a perfect afternoon on the beach!
Goodbye beautiful Turkey!!!
Oh and Mr. Ryan lovin another night on the boat.
P.S. Any guesses on that towel animal? hahaha we are betting on a snail.
Tomorrow we head to Greece to spend a perfect afternoon on the beach!
We ported in Izmir but went to Ephesus for the day with our tour guide.
Such an unbelievable city.
I got to weave a turkish rug. It was so cool.
Our Turkish rug guide was on the right.
He loved Mr. Ryan.
We ate some authentic turkish food at a really cute restaurant
and got back on the boat.
So lets just show some highlights.
Hiking up to this thing.
P.S. this is how Ryan traveled Europe. He was such a little trooper being in there almost all day.
Aaron got a really good workout every day ha I put that thing on and almost fell over.
Every time we have been to NYC my mom and I die over the street gyros so Aaron and I have always wanted to try the real thing. I loved it.
So we have an underlying family rule (with my fam, and Aaron's fam) that we don't take the elevator on cruise ships.
We were on floor 10.
That way you feel like you can have all the food you want;)
Ryan liked this rule and getting carried everywhere.
Watching the boat take off.
And ending with the classic picture of Mr. Ryan loving the towel animal.
I loved you Athens! Such a cool city.
Tomorrow we hit the beautiful country of Turkey.
xo
Our first couple of days on the cruise ship were at sea.
It was so nice to relax all day every day.
We worked out, laid out, took Ryan to the kiddie pool, ate lots of food and went to the shows.
I think I had a pound of pineapple every day. Literally.
From night one Aaron and I rocked the room service.
At 11:30 PM I would order a fruit plate, and Aaron would order a turkey avocado panini hahaha
By the end they had our order memorized when we called.
I don't even think we were that hungry, but we just ordered because we could.
Ryan was THE ONLY baby on the whole cruise ship.
I think I saw one other stroller, so there could have been one more baby but a little older than Ryan...
And then there was about 6 kids out of 2000 people, haha. not any kiddos on this boat.
He was loved and praised and loving life.
We would walk down the halls and everyone knew his name.
Some older people would come up and kiss him.
The crew members would come ask how he was doing.
He was the star of the cruise.
My darling in-laws.
Andd Mr. Ryan just wavin at us! How cute is that picture of all 3 of them on the right!?
He is oh so happy.
I think my favorite part about cruise ships are formal nights and the dinners. I had seafood every night. I was in heaven.
The sweet thing about a 12 night cruise is you get 2 formal nights!
Clearly, we can put down a lot of sherbet for dessert. ha
The cutest little cruiser!
Goodnight Mr. Ryan! Tomorrow will be your first day in Greece.
xo
We were all wide awake by 5 AM sharp because of the time difference.
We packed up, said goodbye to our little hotel, and headed to the cruise ship to drop off our bags.
Excuse my crazy wind hair but this was our view of Venice from the ship.
We explored the ship and had lunch.
Ryan was pretty excited about our room and his crib being inches from our bed.:)
The cruise ship didn't leave Venice until 1 AM the next morning so we had a whole day to tour the city.
We went into some of the most amazing palaces, and saw the craziest prisons. It was incredible.
We shopped around and of course got some gelato.
(oh yes, and we have matching shoes and shorts, and totally wore them on the same day, not planning at all-)
Anddd ate dinner at the cutest restaurant right on the river while listening to Italian gondola drivers sing
On our way back to the cruise ship we found more gelato. hahaha

I wonder what the Italian people think of Americans. It's like we have never seen ice cream in our life when we walk into those gelato places. We are such tourists!
Such an incredible day.
Until next time Venice. You are so beautiful!
First off, Happy 30th Anniversary to my wonderful second parents!
Cutest in-laws in the world.
Because of them it was an unbelievable 2.5 weeks.
Tuesday May 21st we took off with my in-laws on our first ever 2-story double decker plane (yes that thing was huge) to the beautiful city of Venice, Italy.
Oh my gosh, I was so nervous about flying with a baby over-seas.
First for the time difference,
(my husband and I went to Europe with my family a couple of years ago, and I remember how hard the time difference was on us, I didn't want to imagine how hard it would be on a 9 month old!)
(my husband and I went to Europe with my family a couple of years ago, and I remember how hard the time difference was on us, I didn't want to imagine how hard it would be on a 9 month old!)
and secondly for the flight time.
Our usual flight from Texas to Utah is about 3 hours, and we knew that was about Ryan's limit of sitting still.
We had a 10 hour plane ride to Germany followed by a 3 hour layover and then another 2 hour plane ride to Venice.
I had no idea how we were going to do 10 hours straight.
We met the cutest ever German couple on our flight sitting right next to us.
How cute is that old man!?
We met the cutest ever German couple on our flight sitting right next to us.
How cute is that old man!?
They were LOVING on Mr. Ryan kissing him all over, and Ryan was in heaven.
He didn't even want to come back to us!
The wife was taking all these pictures of him and her husband. It was hilarious.
You couldn't understand a word they said, they didn't speak ONE OUNCE of English.
It's cool, my baby was just being passed around the plane to all these German people.
The first 4 hours was all happy times until night time hit.
All of the sudden Ryan was like, "Wait a minute, where's my bed?!"
I didn't want to be "that couple" with the screaming baby.
Too late. We were.
At 3 AM Texas time we found ourselves eating at a German bakery in the airport trying to get adjusted to European time.
The 2 hour flight to Venice was a piece of cake considering what we just went through.
We arrived in Venice, and I can honestly say it looks just like the movies!
It is the most beautiful thing!
It is the most beautiful thing!
From the airport we walked to this dock where we took a boat into the city.
It was the coolest thing ever.
For missing a night's sleep Ryan was a little rockstar.
We had 7 bags between the 4.5 of us. (Ryan doesn't quite count as a full person yet)
Before you judge us, One bag was strictly 85 containers of baby food, 110 diapers, and 150 wipes. ha
It was quite the sight to see, watching us get lost trying to find our hotel.
It was a disaster.
After 45 minutes of walking in circles, (no one speaks English) we found our hotel.
Cutest little bed and breakfast joint.
There were only about 10 rooms in the whole "hotel"
We were exhausted, it was about 3 in the afternoon and our goal was to stay awake until 8:30 PM to get our bodies adjusted.
Our first stop was an Italian Pizzeria.
Oh my gosh, ever since Aaron and I were in Italy last we have CRAVED Italian pizza.
There is nothing that compares!
We spent the night exploring the beautiful city, walking the streets, and my in-laws spotted a clothing store named after me;)
And we stopped at not just one but a FEW bakery's for cookies and gelato.
I think I got mango or strawberry every single day.
It was heavenly!
The babes had his first taste of gelato and as you can see, he was pretty happy about how the next 2.5 weeks were going to go.
Just as the sun was setting we set off on a gondola ride through Venice.
The Italian man sang to us,
just like the movies,
and it was perfect.
(besides the fact that Ryan kept wanting to get off the boat and get in the water)
Bucket list check for all of us.
We made it until 8:30 PM and then crashed in the hotel.
Ryan was a little champ.
He woke up a few times to eat in the night and I fed him (poor baby thought it was day time) but after a few nights he got the hang of things.
And so our trip begins..:)
xoxo

Hello!! We are the Powell family - Aaron, Karina, Ryan, and Luke; but let's be honest, you will mostly just hear from me. We are lovers of all things fitness, traveling, and thin crust pizza. You can read more about us here.