{ According to Us }

This is my absolute favorite time of year! For the past 4 years I have put on a costume party and this year's was THE best one so far. Thank you everybody who came and brought yummy delicious food! Here are a bunch of pictures my sister Dana took with her new camera (yes, I am jealous dad!) I wanted my hair in ringlets so Dana took a couple of hours curling every piece of my hair and then pinning it up. I felt so funny with it like this. So here is our finished product! We are Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd. We went all out this year on our costumes and I didn't regret it. Carrie loves Halloween just as much as I do and she was so willing to help me with everything. And she puts up with me talking about Halloween in July! They dressed up as the ultimate Florida Gators fans. Pete, Dana, and Jonas as Todd and Sarah Palin. Jonas is the Republican Elephant. I thought that this was so creative and Dana kinda looks like Sarah. Glade and Shari were Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. M...

Okay, so this is the last of it. Almost everyday we ate ice cream or *gelato* at this awesome place called Finzi Contini. If I could, I would open one of these in Utah... it was that good. On our last day we went to the "newer" part of town. This area has recently been updated because they had the worlds fair in 1998. One place we stopped by was the Oceanarium. These guys are my favorite at any aquarium! They were actually huge...and sleeping. I was sad that they weren't playing but, they both had a piece of seaweed wrapped around them like a blanket. It was so cute ! I wish you all could have seen this guy. He weighs 2 tons and he was probably the weirdest fish I have ever seen. Penguins The floating walk way. We stopped off for some lunch at a place called Irish & Co. Once again I got chicken and it has never tasted like this before. You know the seasoning you can use in ramen noodles, that's what it tasted like. Kinda weird. This is one of the many "toast...

This was by far one of the best places we visited. So much character and charm. Buildings so close together with small winding roads. I loved it. Walking through the streets of Sintra There were plenty of fresh water fountains that you could actually drink from. I don't know why, but we never drank from them. Quinta da Regaleira A large mansion with acres of huge gardens and under ground tunnels. We toured the inside of the mansion. It was pretty freaky. I am positive it's haunted. At the top of the mansion. Walking around the grounds. Yes, that is green water. These stones lead to underground tunnels. We were scared to cross them at first but Chris got brave and we figured out that we were suppose to cross them. If you have ever watched MXC you might have an idea why he was scared. Sinkers & Floaters. This was the best part of the grounds. A huge tower! Here we are walking around the top and looking down the tower. This is the view from the top. Castelo dos Mouros ...

Continuing on. Next morning we hopped on the train to Estoril. 30 minutes later we were on the beach ready for a 30 minute walk to Cascais. There were lots of men in skimpy swim suits ;) Ahh, the Atlantic Ocean. Not nearly as stinky as the Pacific, but still just as beautiful. After we got to Cascais we wanted some lunch! We stopped at one of the hundreds of cafe's. For some reason, everywhere you go you get fries with your meal. Plus a salad consisting of shredded carrots, unpitted olives, and tomatoes. Ty and I went to McDonald's. I know. Who goes to a foreign country to eat there? It was actually better tasting than back in the states. Walking up the streets in Cascais. One of the neatest things about the trip was the free bikes or *bicicletas* that we used for the day to ride up to *boca do inferno* The "mouth of hell". The boys found a hole in the rocks that sounded like Darth Vader when the waves went in and out. We had gone to the monastery earlier in the w...