Catching some air...

Matt has his second day of teaching today and it went well. We've had cloudy overcast conditions today so he didn't get to kite.

I wanted to share the latest scrapbook page that I did on his jump a couple of days ago. I wanted to catch the sequence of the jump from beginning to "Huge grin" to landing.

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Credits:
Di Hickman - Oct 07 template
Papers & embellishments from Atomic Cupcake's "Happy Campers" kit
Photo corners (1/2 frame) & Alphabet from Atomic Cupcake's "Baby Mine" kit
Filmstrip frame by Yin (recolored with paper from Happy Campers kit)
Font Berlin Sans FB
Photographs by Angela Shetzer

Whew... a few busy days....

Well, we've had a couple of busy days and we're both pretty tired.

Matt began working today as a kite boarding instructor. His first student was a 12 year old girl. She was a great student and he goes back tomorrow for another lesson with her. I've been continuing to take pictures on the beach of people kiting to be able to sell those down here.

We went out last night to a great German restaurant just across the street from us. We met with two other couples that we have met down here and had a great time. After a long dinner, we went down to LAX (our favorite bar here) to listen to a band called XXX which is led by Joe, who we met when we were here two years ago. We didn't get home until after 2 this morning and boy are we both feeling it today (will bedtime ever come?????).

We had a funky wind today and while Matt did get to kite for a short time after teaching, the kite fell out of the sky and almost landed on me so it was a very rough landing for both of us (little scary too). We sat for a while on the beach and visited with friends, but not too much energy for anything else.

We are heading out in the morning down to Euncuentro, the surf beach, to go play in the waves a bit.

I thought I'd share a picture of me that Matt took today on the beach. This is my new office, complete with chair, foot rest (ok, log), camera and sun!!!

Credits:
Frame & flower by Dana Frantz
Photo by Matt

White men can jump....

We're getting ready to head out to dinner but I just had to share a couple photos of Matt jumping today... It was howling today... and the jumps say so!!

Credits:
Frame by yin

Kiting... and Greece...

We had great weather today. It started out rather cloudy and overcast, but the winds came up this afternoon. Matt was excited as he got to sail his new 10 meter EH kite which he prefers because it is a faster kite. I got some great photos of him jumping and also some good photos of some friends kiting. I want to do a great layout of a sequence of jumps that I caught this afternoon (hopefully tomorrow).

I also managed to finish a scrapbook page of our last day in Athens (June 18) before we headed out to Crete. I had forgotten just how busy we were during those days until I realized that it took me 3 double page layouts (or 6 pages) just to finish the day.

Because of this layout with the very large photo of the Acropolis, I am only going to show both pages together because it looks a little strange to see one page at a time.

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Credits:
Based on a sketch by Page Maps
All papers, embelishments, alphabets (recolored) are from thedailyscrap.com's "Ides of March" kit
(I had originally bought this kit to do all the Athens photos, but I lost track of it and just found it)
Photos are from Matt & Angela

Journaling reads:

We made the trip back to Omonia Square to have chicken pitas at the Neon. We rested until about 6:00pm and then set out for Filopappous Hill with wine and cheese for a sunset shot of the Acropolis. After dinner at Stifros we boarded the metro back to our hotel. We enjoyed the view of the Acropolis from the rooftop of the restaurant.

Another day on the beach...

We woke this morning to lots of cloudiness and were sure that the winds would be calm today. We went down to the beach about 2:30 to see if the wind would come up. We're in the middle of a low pressure and while the clouds have seemed a bit threatening at times and we see lightning all around, we've had good weather, just a bit cloudy. The winds came up about 3:30 so out Matt went!! I did my normal activities of photographing and reading on the beach while perched in my little chair.

I just had to share this photo of Matt before he went kite boarding today. Now is that relaxed or what????

Credits: Poloaroid frame by Amanda Roberts
Beach Bum emblem by Atomic Cupcake

What a fantastic birthday!!!

I had a fantastic day yesterday, thanks to my wonderful hubby who spoiled me rotten. We had lunch (including chocolate cake) down at Kite Club and then walked back home. After a relaxing day at home, we had a fantastic birthday dinner.

Just wanted to share a couple of photos from my wonderful birthday yesterday. These are from dinner last night at Marabu. It is a fantastic beach front restaurant. We both had white wine and lasagna which were yummy!!

Credits:
Lindsay Jane Designs for frame cluster

Theater of Dionysis & Temple of Zeus - Athens, Greece

I finished another layout last night from our trip this last summer in Greece. I have almost finished all the layouts from our first couple of days in Athens. Its been tons of fun reliving all the wonderful places that we saw. The history is just incredible there.

We visited the Acropolis in the morning and then after a short break in the shade we walked to the base of the hill that the Acropolis stands on and visited the Theater of Dionysis. A short walk through the Plaka district of Athens stands the Temple of Zeus that was so amazing.

Here are both pages together from our afternoon on June 18.

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Credits:
Based on a sketch by Becky Fleck
Papers & embellishments by Peppermint Creative "Twinkle Toes" kit
Vellum journal paper by Atomic Cupcake "Have & Hold" kit
Font: Trajan Pro
Photographs by Angela & Matt Shetzer

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The journaling reads:
After a quick break and some water, we set out for the Theater of Dionysus. We walked around the perimeter of the Plaka area on our way to the Temple of Zeus. This amazing structure consists of only a few remaining columns but the size and details were amazing.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Olympian_Zeus_%28Athens%29

The Temple of Olympian Zeus was began in the 6th century BC, but it was not completed until the reign of the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods it was the largest temple in Greece.

The temple was built of marble from Mt Pentelicon. It consisted of 104 Corinthian columns, each 17 meters high, (about)2.6 meters in diameter, weighed (about) 802,363 pounds, of which 48 stood in triple rows under the pediments and 56 in double rows at the sides. Only 15 of these columns remain standing today. A 16th column was blown down during a gale in 1852 and is still lying where it fell.

Another quiet wind day...

We've had a beautiful day here today, just no wind. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours and played in the surf a bit, but Matt didn't get to kite today. However, I got to fly the trainer kite (and managed to crash it into the ground way too many times).

Here is a picture of Matt yesterday that I played with in Photoshop to create a poster. I am always telling him that he is too serious (he says he is just concentrating) so I caught this cute smile and wave yesterday in the middle of a jump.

Frame by cottagearts.net

Nosotros somos estudiantes de espanol.

"We are spanish students"

At least we know one sentence, huh??? We had our second Spanish lesson on Thursday and it went well. We can now say sentences that begin with I am..., we are..., He or she is..., you are..., they are....

We've had good wind on both Thursday and Friday so I got to take some more photos of Matt kiting (see below).

Other than that, not too much going on. Matt is still getting used to the scooter so that we can take it out together. We went to LAX last night to listen to a local Puerto Plata band, Stereo Box, and they were quite good as they played cover songs from Cold Play, Incubus, etc. Its a great setting to sit on the beach under palm trees with little lights in the trees.

This is a photo of him jumping on Thursday. On Friday, he was pretty sore and having trouble walking and sitting up, but of course, the wind was blowing so he had to go out and kite!

What a jump!!!

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We miss you...

Just a little note to say...

Credits:

Based on a template by Di Hickman
Papers & embellishments by Rebecca Myers' "Christmas in July" kit
Font: Lucinda Calligraphy

Just add wind... and crabs....

We've had a busy couple of days here. Yesterday we started our Spanish lessons here so we are officially "estudiantes de espanol". We are attending the Coral Institute here in Cabarete. It is a private school for Dominican children and they also teach private adult spanish lessons. We have our next lesson tomorrow morning. We'll go twice a week for the next 10 weeks to help us be able to communicate down here a bit better.

Yesterday we had more stormy weather and no wind. Today was a bit better and Matt was actually able to kite today although he had to take the big kite out.

I wanted to share a scrapbook page that I did of him kiting on Sept. 13. Its entitled.. Just Add Wind...

Credits:
Based on a sketch by Becky Fleck
Papers and embellishments by Rebecca Myer's "anchors away" kit
Font: Stencil
Photos by Angela Shetzer

Also, we had several little friends on the beach yesterday... Here is one of them...

Just add wind...

Well, its been another quiet day here in terms of wind! I think Matt is officially stir crazy but the guitar playing sounds great!!

We've had another day of no wind, very little sun, and rain showers. We seem to be in the middle of some type of tropical wave (no idea really what that is) so the weather has been kinda icky! Needless to say, no beach time and we've spent quite a bit of time inside. It does seem like Tropical Depression Ingrid is dissolving so that is good.

We did buy a scooter today. Its a vintage (I'll use that term loosely) 1982 Honda scooter. I'll get some pics posted tomorrow for you. So far Matt has been riding it around trying to get used to it before I hop on the back. We are hoping it will let us see a bit more of the island especially going to Sosua where we can snorkel on the reef in the bay.

Here is a picture I took of him on the 13th which was the last day he was able to kite. I was able to play with our 400mm zoom lens and it was pretty nice, although heavy. Hopefully he can kite again soon so I can get some more pics!!

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Acropolis - June 18, 2007

We are still watching Tropical Depression Ingrid and she is looking like she might get a bit closer to us than we originally thought but we are not worried as she continues to stay weak.

Today we had lots of rain showers, thunder and lightening and managed to get thoroughly soaked on our walk home from dinner. It was a good thing we still had our bathing suits on under our clothes. Matt didn't get to kite today so no new pictures of him out. We went down to the beach for about half an hour before the rain and nasty clouds drove us in.

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Here is our trip to visit the fantastic Acropolis in Athens. We were amazed at the amount of reconstruction that was going on. As you can see in the picture of the Parthenon, there were cranes, scaffolding and workers everywhere.

Here are the two pages combined:

Credits:
Papers, Alphabet, Tag & Staples by Atomic Cupcake (Guy Thing Kit)
Arrows from an unknown designer
Based on a sketch by Suzanne Powell
Fonts are Hobo Std & Comic Sans
Photos by Angela & Matt Shetzer

Here is the first page in a bit more detail:


Here is page two in more detail:


Journaling on Page 2 reads:

Our second full day in Athens started with pastries and coffee at the corner bakery about 8:00am. We set out for the Acropolis hoping to beat the heat. We hopped on the red line metro and went 3 stops to the Acropolis. We left the metro and started up the beautiful grey cobblestone road. Matt found the place to check all of our backpacks as we started the climb into the area. We were amazed at the amount of reconstruction on the Parthenon and the Erechtheum as every structure was covered in scaffolding. We walked around the perimeter and looked in wonder at the wonderful structures.

The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. On September 28, 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures.

The Erechtheum, an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis was built between 421 BC and 407 BC. On the north side, there is another large porch with columns, and on the south, the famous "porch of the maidens", with six draped female figures (caryatids) as supporting columns.

The Ladders!!!

I think most everyone knows that our hike through Switzerland in early August included some very challenging routes. Perhaps the most challenging (mentally that is) was the day that we left Cabane Des Dix perched high among the glaciers and hiked to the small town of Arolla.

The day started out by spending over an hour crossing the glacier (which from above looked to be just some small piles of rocks). It was very nerve racking as the rocks shifted in the glacial ice under our feet. We were cautious to stay on the marked path to be sure that we didn't run across any crevasses that could be dangerous. After crossing the glacier, we climbed up the rocky, steep Pas de Chevres and were met with the 70 foot section of iron ladders mounted into the vertical rock face. Needless to day, I (Angela) was about to hyperventilate at this point.

Here are a coouple of photos that Matt of me while I climbed up the laddders (and I do mean ladders plural as you had to cross from one ladder to another about 10 feet away from the top). That is me with the light blue fleece on.




Here is a link to the gallery where I've posted all the photos from the ladders. There are pictures of me and also of some friends that were climbing right in front of us.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ARShetzer/HauteRoutePhotos

Boy was I glad when that morning was over!!

Another scrapbook page from Athens, Greece

I finished up another couple of pages late last night that should finish up our first full day in Athens. We finished up this hot, busy day by climbing up Filopappou Hill to view the Acropolis. I think we all agreed that this was probably our favorite spot in Athens. Very quiet and fantastic views!!

This is the combination of the two pages.

Credits:
Based on a sketch by Becky Fleck
Papers and all embellishments by cottagearts.net (Fall Flutter kit)
Alphabet by cottagearts.net (Chip Square)
Photos by Angela & Matt Shetzer
Font: Georgia


Here is page 1 in more detail

Here is page 2 in more detail.

Journaling reads:
The day was very hot so we decided to go back to the hotel for a rest about 2:30 in the afternoon. After naps and showers we set out for the Acropolis area of the metro. We walked around the base and then up the Filopappous hill for a wonderful 360 degree view of Athens (boy was the city a huge maze of white concrete buildings) and the Acropolis.
On our way down we stopped at the Café Dyonasis for coffee & beer. We sat on the wonderful terrace and watched the Acropolis glow with the setting sun. We set out for the Gazi area to find the restaurant Mamacas that Kim had heard of. We figured out what metro stop we thought was closest but weren’t too sure where to go when we came out of the metro. We started to look at a map as Matt noticed that the restaurant was immediately across the street from the metro stop. We had a long relaxing dinner outside on the terrace and started towards home about 12:15am to find the subway closed. A very nice Greek man and his son directed us back to Omonia Square (about a 30 min walk). We were amazed at the traffic and people out at that time.

Catching up... & a new scrapbook page from this summer in Athens

Its been a quiet day here today with very little wind so very little beach time and lots of time to scrap. We're not sure if Tropical Depression Ingrid is messing up our wind pattern or not.

I wanted to share a couple photos that I took of Matt's new birthday present (Yes, I know its about a month late!). He got a new 10 meter kite for his birthday to let him sail on windier days. His old kites weren't quite enough to let him sail at all times.

Here he is checking it out in the middle of our apartment.

And... Yes, it folds up to be very compact:
Here are a couple more photos from the past week that I haven't gotten posted yet:

Matt enjoying the beach and waiting for the wind:


Matt & Damien playing with their "inflatable pool toys" on a very light wind day yesterday:


I've finished another layout from our first full day in Athens. I should have another layout to do and that will finish up our first full day there. Boy, I'm never going to get done at this rate.

Here are the two pages joined together:

Credits:
Based on a double page sketch by Chris Greiser
Papers, flowers, brads from Traci Sims' kit "Be Free"
Photos by Angela & Matt Shetzer
Fonts: Arial, Century Gothic & Engravers MT

Here is the first page:

Here is the second page:

The journaling reads:

We then headed to the flea market at Monastiriki where we wandered around and stumbled upon the Ancient Agora site. After a great traditional Greek lunch of assorted Greek foods, we set out for the Agora. We visited the Temple of Hephaistos and the Stoa of Attalos. We were trying to figure out what the impressive structure high on the hill was and finally we determined it was the Acropolis.

“The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural centre, and the seat of justice. The site was occupied without interruption in all periods of the city's history. It was used as a residential and burial area as early as the Late Neolithic period (3000 B.C.). Early in the 6th century, in the time of Solon, the Agora became a public area.” From: http://odysseus.culture.gr

Syntagma Square - Athens, Greece

Well, I'm finally getting into the swing of things and really figuring out my new organizing program (ACDSee) for scrapbooking and its working nicely. I'm finally able to scan the 100's of gig's of digital scrapbooking kits that I have and find the perfect one to use on a layout.

I've started on our trip this past summer since everything is still really fresh and I can remember it all (or at least most with the help of my journal).

This layout is another double page layout (they look so much better when printed in the books when the pages coordinate with each other). Here is what it looks like when joined together:

Credits:

Based on a 2 page sketch by Connie Petertonjes
Papers, alphabet and elements from Traci Sim's Firewater kit (http://www.your-digital-dream.com)
Font is Kartika
Photos by Angela & Matt Shetzer

Here is the first page in a bit more detail: And here is page 2 in a bit more detail.
Since its a bit small, here is what the journaling says on page 1:

We started out our first day in Athens with great pastries and coffee. Our first stop was to visit the changing of the guards at Syntagma Square in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was quite confusing as police officers were yelling and blowing their whistles to move the crowd in multiple directions. They could not seem to make up their minds. We watched the parade and the replacing of the soldiers.

Here is more information from http://greece-travel.suite101.com:

In Greece, every male devotes two years to military service. The Evzones, those chosen for Ceremonial duty, represent the best of the best. To be chosen, they must stand over six feet tall and have the ability to remain motionless for extended periods of time. While on duty the soldiers stand with back straight, head held high for hours. Although they can call their superior for help by banging the butt of their rifle sharply on the ground, even that motion is barely noticeable. As the sound cracks across the Square, a superior officer appears to straighten a tassel or scratch a nose. The Evzones are so good that barely an eyelash flickers when a small child posing for a photo reaches up for the guard’s hand. Since the Ceremony is for the public, the Evzones dress in traditional Greek uniforms worn by mountain fighters in the War of Independence. This consists of a kilt, a shirt with flowing sleeves, a form fitting vest, wool leggings with tasselled garters and hobnail shoes with pompoms on the toes. A fez sporting a long tassel on one side tops off the outfit.

If you are interested in downloading any of these layouts, I've created a separate album on picasa where I will be uploading each finished page. http://picasaweb.google.com/ARShetzer/2007EuropeScrapbookPages

Just another beautiful day in the Caribean...

With Matt in school for the last five days, I've had lots of time to scrap and finally have started on our trip from this summer.

The first two pages are a double layout that will serve as the overview for the trip with a couple of highlight pictures from each country. We've been asked several times on our itinerary and here it is:
June 15 - July 24 in Greece (June 15 to July 4, we were joined by Kim to tour around the mainland and the islands)
July 24 - July 30 in England where Matt showed me around all the sites
July 30 - August 14 in Switzerland for the Haute Route hike
August 14 - August 26 in Egypt with the rest of the Shetzer clan for a family reunion

It looks a little strange in the middle because of joining two separate pages into this one file, but I think you get the gist!!

Remember to click on it to enlarge in another window so you can read the journaling.

Credits:
Based on double page sketch by Connie Petertonjes
All papers and embellishments by CottageArts.net (most from Autumn Breeze Kit)

New Blog Feature!!!

Hey!! We've been trying to figure out ways to keep in touch with everyone as we travel. In researching all the various elements you can put on a blog, I came up with the "Cbox".

If you look at the bottom right hand side of the blog (you may have to scroll down a bit to see it), you will see a bright yellow box. This is a comment box. All you have to do is enter your name, email address and message and it will post to the blog for us all to read. I've entered in a couple of messages to try it out.

Let us know what you think!!!

I wanted to share a picture taken a couple days ago of the beach and Matt pumping up his huge 14 meter kite!!!

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Yeah... Internet Connection!!!

Well, we finally have internet connection in our apartment here so I'll be able to get the blog updated with photos from this summer and some scrapbook pages that I'll be able to get to.

Today, Matt and I attended a First Aid Training class here in Cabarete. Matt needed the class for his kite board instructors class while I just took it to have the basic skills for all of our adventures. Today was the first day that it wasn't really windy but since we were in class all day, Matt didn't miss a day of kiting. He has 5 more days of classes to attend so I'm hoping to get lots of pool time and scrapping!!

I wanted to share just a couple of photos from a couple days ago (Sep 2 to be exact).

This first one is Matt as he is coming in from kiting.

This one is Angela's view of the beach... Pretty nice if I do say so myself!!!!!

Cabarete!!

We are all settled into Cabarete (although still waiting for the promised internet connection).

Matt has been kiteboarding everyday since we got here and the wind seems to be holding well. I’ve been working on my tan, a few books and a few scrapbook pages. I’ll upload some new ones of Katelyn with this post.

Here is a picture of Matt and his 9 meter kite that I took yesterday.

Here are a couple of pages that are from photos from Easter in 2006 (yes, I know I’m very behind!!).

This first one is of Katelyn and “Unca Matt” with her lion that we brought back from our trip to Africa in March of 2006.

Credits:

Papers & brads from Atomic Cupcake, Eggzhiliartion kit

Flowers from Atomic Cupcake

Based on a sketch by www.littlescrapbookshop.com.au

Photos by Angela Shetzer

Font: Lucida Handwriting & LuggerBug

This layout is from the same time and it is of Katelyn hunting Easter Eggs and a cute photo of Uncle TJ and Aunt Jamie.

Credits:

Based on a sketch by Chris Greaser

Photos by Angela Shetzer

Papers, flowers, buttons, brads, wordart, alphabet and embellishments by Atomic Cupcake (most are from her Eggzhilaration kit)

Fonts are Stencil & Kirsten ITC