Rome Marathon--4th and 45th

Here's Anne standing on the balcony of our apartment in Rome, See the Coloseum in the back? We had a 2 bedroom apartment just blocks from the start and finish of the marathon. Rich post-marathon #45, not wanting to sight-see much today, so we are people watching at Coloseum, trying to guess where people are from. The Americans stick out by their white running shoes and clothes of every color. The Italians are the best dressed, and mostly wearing black. The Germans always have the worst colors and styles. (hope we don't look German!)

Anne and I took the hop on and off tour bus around town on Saturday, we saw the whole city, then stopped at the train station and got food and books. The guys went to the marathon messe and had their pasta party and bonded withItalian runners-who were on the look-out for women!
Anne and Erik stuck their hands in the Boca and came out whole. The interesting thing is that now you have to pay to take a picture here. In the past it was free, but with hard economic times I guess 50 cents a picture adds up!





Erik striking a pose to catch the attention of the cute Italian girls passing by!

Anne and I spent alot of the marathon day at the Trevi fountain watching people and runners and waiting for the guys to run by, unfortunatly we missed them on both sides, but we had some great gelato and enjoyed the sunny weather.

The tourists.
















Here's the guys resting up after the marathon, all wrapped up in their "warming blankets "they get at the finish, it's basically a thin sheet of tin foil!

Here's the look at the finish- a little pain, but very happy!

















Here they are at the start- crazy runners ready to take off and start running(ALL DAY!) We are proud of them! This week we are off to Venice and our Mediterrean cruise, so next time pictures from Greece.

commentary on "Turkish pants"

Rich went to Turkey for a week and brought us all back Turkish pants. I think the pictures are awful, we were trying to stand with our legs apart to show the pants, but it makes really bad pictures(unless you're just trying to see how the pants are made.) Rich had local assistance shopping the street markets this time and got the authentic stuff. He brought Erik a hat too. The pants are one size fits all and it really is that way -they have a huge waistline pulled in with a drawstring so any size can wear them. Rich says you can wear many layers under these pants and no one will be able to tell! I think erik should wear them to the next take dance and start a new craze.
Rich had a fun time inspecting hospitals in Turkey and being the visiting dignitary, he got his own COLONEL car and according to his own words was "somewhat a big whig" on his trip. He wrote a very discriptive letter that most of you already received, if not let me know and I'll forward it on!
In other big news Erik finished his eagle scout project and turned 18! He got all the right stuff done before the brithday and now just has the final review to go. He did a great job on his project cleaning up the skeet shooting range and when he went back to paintball there this week they gave him a free case of paintballs to thank him.
Let Rich know if you want your own turkish pants- he has contacts in the area! Katie they would be great pregnancy pants, they accomodate any size!

Turkish Pants