Don't judge me for sweating

You'll understand my title later on. :-) For now, let's talk about the Olympics! I can't get enough of it right now and it's interfering with my blogging. But that's OK. Who else is excited?

Michael Phelps and USA's men's 400m relay team is! :-) 

This weekend I went to Hamilton, Texas, with Zach's family and extended family on his mom's side. We had a great time in this 7500 sq. foot ranch house built in the 1930s and 800+ acres of land. We spent our time swimming, laying out, eating, playing ping pong, socializing and watching the Olympics. It was really fun!

We found 2 Paint Horses on the property, and, having a camera on hand and a now-second nature shutter finger set to take photos of Paints... here you go. :-)

The ranch also had a windmill which I thought made for a good photo as well.

Here is the pool!

OK I guess it's about time to talk about Europe! The morning of July 20 is actually when Zach and I took some of the photos of Sorrento. We spent the morning there and headed back out towards our final destination: Rome. 

In case you were wondering how we carried our belongings, I present the Aggie Turtle. That's what I named my pack! It holds a TON of stuff. I also had a regular backpack that I got at Sky Ranch. That's it! All my life for 3 weeks had to fit in those two bags. Are you shocked? Me too. :-) Also, this is our last look at our wonderful hotel in Sorrento.

 Welcome to the photo that inspired my title. Our second day in Italy was HOT. The train from Sorrento to Pompeii to Naples was slow and not air-conditioned. The train liked to take leisurely stops in each of the cities on the way, allowing everyone to get a little warmer. Zach and I took bets on whether or not we'd sweat through our shorts(and capris). We did... but there's nothing you can do about the hear in this part of the country, so don't judge me for sweating. :-) Pompeii is an incredible city of ruins. A random tour guide found us and gave us a 2 hour tour, and it was totally worth it! It would be easy to get lost in the huge expanse of ruins. Above you'll see Mt. Vesuvius and another mountain(I've forgotten the name). They were once one mountain in the first century AD, until the only Volcano on this continent erupted, raining 8 feet of ash down on Pompeii over an 18 hour period, burying the city. I can't imagine being an Italian around 79 AD and not knowing what a volcano is or what was happening. So crazy!

Water still flowed in Pompeii, and Zach sampled it for himself! It was still very warm out. :-)

This little guy was a decoration within the Roman-style baths.

Zach took this photo! I think it's cool how the flowers still grow(or were planted) among the ruins. Either way, it livens up the dust and rock.

Once we arrived in Naples and got on a nice, cool train, we found our train was very full, so the only two seats open together were in the hallway... which of course had no AC. We also couldn't sleep because people walked back and forth so we had to stand up from our foldout seats every time. It was super fun. :-)

 Look how excited I am about our seats.

 Pointing out my spot. It was just one of those things that you had to laugh!

Finally we arrived in Rome!! Our hotel was nice, clean and cool. We cleaned up and set out to find some Roman food. We were overjoyed to find a nice place nearby with pastas and pizzas to suit our fancy. :-)

Sorry this post is a bit short, I guarantee some days later on will be much, much longer!