Blahg, Blahg, Blahg: Day. Eight.

A place where you have traveled.

So, does this mean an exotic place? Or like, some podunk place that few people have ever heard of? Because I've been to both.

I traveled to Honduras on a Missions trip when I was 17. I picked bell peppers out of a field to pave the way for a soccer field. I laid bricks for the caretaker's home on what would one day be a camp for children. I smiled as I watched small children beg for "moneys" every morning as we boarded our bus. I formed friendships with people who didn't speak any English, and maintained those friendships via email for a very long time. I helped to re-build a bridge when it was washed out by a storm.

I grew a lot on that trip. Mentally. Spiritually. Emotionally.

I've also traveled to Germany and the Netherlands. In 2006, my grandma paid for a cruise for me, my parents, herself and Tom to take on the Rhine River for two weeks. We went over Christmas and the New Year. I can tell you there is nothing like spending New Years in Amsterdam. Dear Lord, that was a celebration.

Our trip on the Rhine was something else. It wasn't a large cruise boat. It was a little river boat, full of people over the age of 65. Lol. It was awesome. We drank every night, and docked each day at some brilliant city. We got to travel all over Germany and see so many beautiful places, full of so much incredible history.

Castles.

Bombed out buildings from WWII.

Guttenberg's press.

Amazing.

Oh, and did I mention that's where Thad was, ahem, conceived? Oops! Lol.

While we were in Amsterdam, aside from the celebration on New Years, we got to see Anne Frank's house.

The VanGogh museum.

The flower market.

The red light district. Lol.

We literally spent every single day walking around for hours and hours, stopping only for the occasional bite to eat.

Tom and I talk all the time about how we want to go back, especially now that my Wegener's is under control. When we went the last time, I hadn't even been diagnosed and I was just living my life, day to day, struggling to breathe. I think it would be a whole different experience the next time around...

...who knows. Maybe we would even conceive another bambino!?

...wink, wink...

Just kidding, Tom! Lol.

(Tom was known for taking off on his own when everyone else was totally wiped out, and just wandering the city by himself. On one of the last days of our first stop in Germany, he found this pub where all of us went to toast the beginning of our trip.)

(This church has a bit of significance, personally. It's a church in Cologne, Germany. So beautiful.)

(I hated the food on our trip. I am so not into brats, or anything that ends in the word 'wurst.' When I came across some french fries, it was like I had died and gone to heaven. I think I was probably so hungry at that point. Lol.)

(This was our last group photo before boarding a little boat that would take us to Amsterdam. My parents and grandma stayed in a beautiful hotel outside of the city - very modern and spacious. Tom and I stayed in Rembrandt Square in a room that was just barely big enough for one-and-a-half people. ;) ).

(Notice the hat? I'm so European.)

(Tom, in front of a coffee shop...not to be mistaken with a coffee house. Lol.)

(My love and I. This place was right below our hotel, and we went there a few times for food and drinks, and to be shamed by my grandmother who always out-drank us. Lol.)