Santorini, Greece

In Santorini, the water is too shallow for the ship to dock so we had to get on small tender boats to get to the shore. Wonder what happened to the last ship that tried to dock anyway? It sank. It's still sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor.

Us after docking from the tender boats. That's our ship in the background.

Jeremy, Emmy and I decided to ride donkeys up to Santorini. Santorini isn't actually next to the water but is very high up on top of a caldera. It's quite the hike up or you can take the cable cars to get up there. Or ride donkeys like we did!

We had so much fun riding up. Not the greatest picture but I was on a donkey as well trying to photograph the journey - not the easiest thing to do!

Overlooking Santorini. The entire island is so pristine and white. It is absolutely spectacular against the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea.

I am in love with these windmills. They are all over the island.

Emmy with our tour guide Patricia. She took us to her home so we could see typical homes are built. They are caves that are turned into homes.

This was a blue door that Patricia had at her home. It made a perfect backdrop for family pictures!

The Mediterranean Ocean

Probably my favorite picture of the entire trip. Emmy wanted to play on the beach so badly. It had been raining previous to this so she was so excited to get on the beach. When it was time to leave, she let us know how she felt about it.

Check out the black sand beaches!

Family picture on the beach. In case you're curious - black sand hurts your feet! But we loved it regardless!

Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus and Kusadasi, Turkey

This was the stop that I was probably looking forward to the most. I have always wanted to walk the streets of Ephesus and see so much of the Biblical history that is there.

Unfortunately as soon as we got to Ephesus and paid our entrance fees, it started a torrential downpour. So we went very quickly through Ephesus, ducking into caves hoping it would pass quickly. Not so much!

After we were all drenched, our tour guide took us back to our boat to change clothes and we went to a rug factory and then to the Bazaar in Kusadasi.


Overlooking Kusadasi from our ship.

In Ephesus pre-rainstorm

It is so amazing - all the ruins are just there for you to see and touch. It's incredible!

Overlooking Ephesus from the top of the hill. This was after round 1 of the downpour. By the time we left, the streets were starting to flood.

At the rug factory. The little white capsule looking things are silk worms in the cocoons. When he sticks the broom looking thing into the large tub, strands of silk stick to it and it then wraps it around a silk weaving machine.

One of the silk rug makers. They only weave for 2 hours a day because it is so labor intensive.

The owner of the store. He gave Emmy her own mini Turkish carpet.

Our favorite sign at the Kusadasi Bazaar.
"Genuine Fake" - love it!

Emmy wanted a Belly Dancing costume. It makes a lot of noise and is pink. No wonder she was attracted to it. No worries peeps - she always wears clothes on under it.

a typical Turkish kabob

Yes, we're cute but check out that gorgeous Turkish tile behind us. I would have loved to bring home hundreds of those tiles for my kitchen!

On the ship sailing away from Turkey

The conversation jar

While perusing ideas for Young Women's (my calling in our church as a leader to 12-18 year old girls), I came across some adorable conversation starter cards for the girls to use with their families at the dinner table.

In my mind, I remembered back 6 years ago at this time. I was teaching seminary (a gospel centered class for high school students) and had a conversation jar on my desk. At random times I would pull a question out of the jar and ask my students a question.

6 years ago this very weekend, Jeremy and I started becoming more than just friends. We began to hang out more and more and I think he might have actually asked me out on one date by this point. (he was slightly intimidated- good grief!)

As we dated and got to know each other I discovered one thing about my man. He needed a few lessons in conversation.
So I helped him.
Isn't that what you do when you're in love?

I brought home my trusty conversation jar from school and on evenings where we were just hanging out, I pulled out a question from the jar and we would discuss it.
Jeremy hated that jar. I still have it in a box somewhere and the next time I find it, I may just whip it out again.

How about we have a little conversation jar fun of our own?

From time to time, I'll post a question and then answer it.
I'd love to hear your answers as well so leave me a comment!
Let's get to know each other!