We're Not the Griswolds...(we hope!)

Lucca and Pisa

2008-08-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

We've been home nearly 4 months now. Life is back to normal, and as we suspected, our trip of a lifetime seems like a faraway dream. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't ordered a single picture of this adventure. We haven't even shared our pictures with our family or closest friends! It's so overwhelming to get them organized into a reasonable amount! But I have a quiet afternoon, and it's raining outside, so what better time, right? Meanwhile, always in the back of my mind I am trying to figure out how we can GO again. Between the falling dollar and rising gas prices, it just isn't going to happen for some time. I long for the quiet Venice mornings though, or the bells ringing across the Tuscan Hills.

This day spent in Lucca and Pisa was one of our best and most memorable days. We all loved riding bikes around the wall in Lucca. In fact, when we returned home, C's birthday present was a bike seat, so we can ride as a family! We have done it a few times this summer, which has been really fun. The kids remember playing on the lawn near the Leaning Tower of Pisa too. It's not something easily forgotten!

Hope you Enjoy!!

A Day in Florence

2008-05-22T23:22:00.001-07:00

Siena

2008-05-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

Barberino...

2008-05-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we've been home a month. We've had a busy four weeks, celebrating birthdays for C (yes, he celebrated for 2 months), S, M, and G. We had Mother's Day and a wedding. And then there's the general running and craziness that surrounds our little life. Joel went back to work on Monday. While I love our life and am so thankful for the joy we have, I find myself going through these pictures (often) and wistfully thinking of our days in Tuscany. Of sandy feet and lemonade in Cinque and cool mornings in Venice.

Two months ago we were gearing up to go to Barberino Val d'Elsa. It was a fabulous little apartment, and our rooftop terrace looked out over all the rooftops in the walled town. We were right next to the bell tower, that woke us early each morning. I always chuckled when the bells started ringing at 7 am. First of all, Italians stay up LATE. They don't even eat dinner until 8pm! The other thing is, nothing, nothing (!) is open at 7, or even 8 in the morning. Nothing- not coffee shops, not grocers, not bakeries. Why in the world the church bells ring at 7, remains a mystery to us!

Anyway, here is Barberino...
(I think you can click on it to get it bigger.)

Thanks, Danielle, for the photo advice. :)

Rome Slideshow

2008-04-30T09:23:00.001-07:00

I picked 30 of my favorite shots from Rome (not easy) to make into a slideshow. These are from my camera, so are a little different from the blog.

Can't believe we've been home a week. We are settling back into 'normal' life...although Carter is still having travel dreams. Last night he yelled, "NO PLANE! NO PLANE!"

In His Dreams

2008-04-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

We've been home for about 17 hours now. I awoke exactly at midnight, maybe to be able to enjoy today the fullest? (My 30th birthday), or possibly because it was 9am in Germany. (Much more likely) Either way, my little C awoke at 2am, also ready to take on the day. We snuggled on the couch, and both fell asleep for an hour or so. He woke me up with his sleep talking.

"No! Ice cream! ICE CREAM!"

I giggled, and snuggled back in. Then about 5 minutes later,

"All done, choo choo train? All done?"

I can only attribute these little phrases to a 'post-trip' dream because these are things we FREQUENTLY heard on our adventure. (We ate a LOT of ice cream and rode SEVERAL trains!)

We'll laugh about it someday...

2008-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Right?
We'll laugh about how a motel room that would be cramped for 3 got us
through the night. (Barely.)

And we will chuckle about how even though we thought we'd done a
practice run for our early morning plan of me dropping J, kids, and
luggage off at the check in counter, then me returning the rental car
and meeting them at ticketing, Gina fouled that up for us and I ended
up on a 15 km wild goose chase.

And I am sure I'll be able to laugh about running through the
Frankfurt airport trying to find my family having flashbacks about
losing my mom and missing my flight in the Honolulu airport 15 years
ago. (Mom- red crocs are easier to run in than gold flip flops, FYI)

Someday it might be funny that an 11 hour flight feels like slow
torture.
It will be a while, but I just know we will laugh about C spilling an
ENTIRE cup of very sticky orange juice on himself, J, and I about 3
hours into the 11 hour flight. I of course had extra clothes...for C!

In reality though, we will probably laugh about a lot of this stuff
once we are home, in clean clothes! The car got returned, we made our
flight, the kids have been awesome on the plane, and we are pleasantly
surprised how quickly orange juice dries. It could be worse...

Sent from my iPhone

Sommerrohdalbahn!!!

2008-04-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, I figure I should contribute a post of my own.
(that's not to say I haven't contribted and edited most of my wifes
posts!)

Today was dedicated to repeating our previous luging experience.
We've been stalking the local luge course for the past three days,
eagerly waiting for a chance to ride once again. Our first attempt
was spoiled by rain, the second by the European stereotype for
'flexable timeframes'. Thankfully, our third and last attempt was
succesful.

The day intentionally started off rather slow. We woke up late, swam
at the pool, spent some time at the nearby plaground (while incurring
some bumps and bruises - previous pics) and ate lunch at our favorite
german cafe - 'Hatie's Schnell'. Lunch consisted of fried chicken,
fries, and glass bottled coke.

After lunch we headed for the luge, which luckily was in the direction
of our rouge wifi hotspot. (You may have noticed a slight delay in
email correspondence over the last few days as wifi as not been
readily availabe in our current accomodations. Its embarissing to
admit that we have spent a few hours driving around german
neighborhoods to discover open wifi connections and now have two
locations which we occasionally visit in order to post blogs and
respond to emails. We found two hotspots so we wouldn't be attracting
to much attention, but S is convinced that the mail man is on to us.
Here's to hoping there's no police report when we turn in our car
tomorrow!)

At the luge we purchased ten rides for the adults and ten rides for
the bigs to share. Carter was free, but it didn't really matter
because after S took him down the hill and crashed into the 'tire
stop' on the initial run we couldn't convince him to go again. The
bigs, S and I alternated runs that zigzaged through the trees and
brush as we flew down the hill. This luge course was not quite as
smooth as our previous experience, but it was just as enjoyable and a
treat after we thought we'd left them behind in the alps. Towards the
end of our riding we began letting the bigs handle the stick as we sat
back and held on for dear life. G was fearless as he'd hold the stick
to the floor. S and I had to battle him to slow the cart around the
corners. I swear I'd never raced down the track as fast as I did with
G at the helm. The icing on the cake was on her last run M was ready
to brave the course on her own (previous pic). She handled the course
fabulous and thanks to the operator we each received an extra ride,
which M used on her own again!

After the luge we made our way back home (complete with a stop by our
handy hotspots) and made dinner for the last time in Germany.

Cheers! (as the Germans would say thinking we were British)

Her first solo!

2008-04-22T11:19:00.003-07:00

It was a little terrifying watching her race down the course on her
own, but she did so well she 'gave it another go' as G would say.

This didnt end well either!

2008-04-22T11:19:00.002-07:00

Guess what's next ...

2008-04-22T11:19:00.001-07:00

...flat on his back bawling! (For the record, S was taking the pic)

Final Day

2008-04-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, today marks the final day of The Big Adventure. We spent the
morning cleaning and packing, and then we made the drive to
Frankfurt. We made a final stop at our rogue Internet stop that J
referred to in his great post.
Once in Frankfurt, we found our hotel and then made a 'dry run' to the
airport so tomorrow morning will go as smoothly as possible.
After all that, Gina helped us get to the Museum of Natural History.
It was pretty cool, and you know our Little G loved the dinos!
We were pretty hungry for dinner, and I was really wanting some of the
yummy cooking we had when we first hit Germany 2 weeks ago.
Unfortunately that was pretty hard to find in the big city. (We did
find a nearby Starbucks that opens at 6 am! Yes!) Since down home
German cooking wasn't an option, we went for our second
favorite...Chinese of course!
Now we are back at our hotel preparing for a short night, and a
loooong day tomorrow. (Our April 23 will be about 33 hours!)

We are very happy to be headed home. We miss our family and friends a
lot, and we are also really looking forward to mundane things like
grocery shopping, doing laundry, and taking showers on our own turf. I
will say that we were all a little meloncholy packing up this morning.
We have had SUCH a great trip. We have built so many memories- big
ones of exploring castles and ancient ruins, and smaller ones- of
dancing in our train cabin on the way to Innsbruck, of sounding out
interesting German words, and all the little cafes we ate at. It is
hard to believe it's all over. Thankfully J doesn't have to go back
to work for 3 more weeks, so it will be a while before we are 100%
back to real life!
Time to get everyone snuggled in for the night. You should see this
set up. We have a double bed and a single bed. For 5 of us. M and G
are sleeping on the single, with heads at opposite ends, like the
grandparents on Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Should be an
interesting night.
Ciao, Cheers, and Auf Weidersehen

Exploring Rhenfiels Castle

2008-04-21T03:51:00.000-07:00

Today we checked off one of our last big 'todos'- the Rhine River.
The sun came out in full force for the first time in over a week and
we celebrated by shedding our sweatshirts and getting gelato!
We had lunch in St. Goar, and then took the little shuttle train up
the hill to the castle. Rhenfiels was the biggest castle on the Rhine
in its heyday in the 1200s-1700s. It is largely in ruins now, but it
wasn't difficult to get a feel for the enormity or importance of it. I
will admit that before going up there I was getting a bit 'castled
out', but this was my favorite one yet. (The sunshine didn't hurt, I'm
sure!) It was fun to explore with the kids because they could run
ahead and check out tunnels and peer over walls. They didn't have to
be quiet, and they could touch whatever they wanted. Best of all,
there were plenty of other families exploring as well.
I had a lot of fun getting pictures of the ruins with my camera as
well. I finally got the "memory card full" message- at 1984 pictures!
Not to worry, though I do have a smaller memory card still, so our
last 48 hours in Germany won't be neglected! There are 700 pictures
on this iPhone too - yikes!
After spending 2 hours imagining Rhenfiels Castle as THE place to be
500 years ago, we took a drive down the Rhine and spotted about 10
more castles. J read us blurbs about each one, thanks to Rick Steves!
Gorgeous drive, beautiful afternoon, fabulous day. Glad to be ending
on a high note. Tomorrow we will be checking off some of the kids
priorities-luging, local playgrounds, and the indoor pool- and getting
packed up. Hard to believe that in 72 hours from now we will be on
the ground in the States.

Auf Wiedersehen!

I love this about Germany.

2008-04-21T03:48:00.000-07:00

We have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of these windmills. I love the
huge fields of them silently spinning. So powerful, yet so graceful.

2008-04-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

M on the Rhine

2008-04-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

Quotables from Garrett

2008-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

G: "Mom, when I'm a grown up and I'm traveling with my babies, will
you come with me?
Me: "Ok, but, um, can I bring my husband?"
G, shrugs: "You can bring whoever you want."
----------------------
This morning M and I were talking and I said, "We'll just cross that
bridge when we come to it."
G piped up, "But Mom! There are so many bridges! There are
HUNDREDS! How will you know which one?!?!"
------------------------

Sent from my iPhone

MV201 - Misty Mosel

2008-04-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on the blogging front. Yesterday was a transition
day- we moved from the Landal Hochwald Resort to the Landal Wirftal
Resort. I use the term 'resort' in a very general sense here. The
grounds are nice though, and our cabin is cute. The Bigs are beyond
thrilled to have a bunkbed! I am bummed that there is no Internet in
sight- wifi or otherwise. Plus, our data roaming that we used all
through Italy isn't working in Germany, so who knows when this will
get posted. But the biggest bummer is that our cabin REEKS of
cigarette smoke. Reeks. Not my favorite thing. But really, with the
amount of people who smoke over here, and the amount of ashtrays we've
had in our other places, we are really lucky that this hasn't happened
before.
Anyway, we spent yesterday afternoon settling in and playing with the
awesome Legos we scored the day before.
Today we headed over to the Mosel River and Cochem again. We took the
boat up to cute little Belstein, a teeny little village about an hour
up the river. We braved the cold and sat on the top deck on the way.
Hot Cocoa (and cappucino for me) helped take the edge off though. One
of our favorite parts was going through the locks and showing the kids
how they worked. Carter was a little worried, "No up up up!" but he
soon found out it wasn't "Deedee" (scary).
After a cold quick walk around Belstein, we rode back down to Cochem.
We sat inside this time!!!
On the walk through Cochem back to the car we spotted a little cafe
where the desserts looked too good to pass up. We stopped in and the 5
of us devoured 2 large pieces of cake and 1 warm apple strudel with
ice cream. It was all delicious and we ate it in record time.
Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see us!
On our drive home we stopped at a grocery store. It may seem that
grocery shopping is not reportable, but I assure you it is. For weeks
we have been 'grocery shopping' in teeny little stores that are
smaller than the floral section in Safeway. Smaller than half the
entry aisle in Winco. So when we walked in this place, and saw a
store that looked nearly as large as half a football field, we were
stoked! We literally walked down every aisle in the store. My
favorite thing there? AVACADOS!! Anyone who knows me personally
knows that I love avacados! I crave avacados! My kids are the same
way. Our house goes through at least one a day, but it isn't uncommon
for us to eat 2 or 3 a day, (breakfast, lunch, and dinner!). We
haven't eaten any the past 5 weeks. So tonight we had a mini Mexican
fiesta! Tacos, salsa, tortilla chips, and avacados! We are five
happy travelers tonight.
3 full days left and then a loooooong day flying home. Hard to
believe. We are enjoying our last days here, but fuses are much
shorter, and the conversations about home are getting more frequent.
Still on the European agenda- the Rhine River, and The Museum of
Natural History (dinosaurs!!) in Frankfurt. Also, we found a luge
course near here, so if it stops raining we'll do that too!

Auf Weidersehen!

Legoland: Duetschland!

2008-04-19T00:46:00.000-07:00

We had such a great day at LegoLand. The park was practically empty,
we had no lines at all. The weather was cool, but it didn't rain, AND
we had several lovely sunbreaks that thawed us out.
Some highlights:
C loved the horse ride (previous pic). He was just barely tall enough
to go on it, but said he wanted to do it. They seat belted him on it,
and away he went! It was a kind of big track and he was actually in
and out of my sight for a minute of two. I was worried that he would
start crying once he realized he was alone, but he LOVED it!! He
ended up riding it 5 times throughout the day!
G, of course, loved everything. He was really into the factory where
they show how Legos are made. He was super brave and even went on a
huge rollercoaster with his dad. It wasn't his favorite though, and he
will probably wait a while before taking on any big rollercoasters!
M, on the other hand, really surprised us. She is usually a little
more careful than her brother. But at the end of the day, she decided
she may regret it if she didn't at least try out a big rollercoster. J
took her on it, and she did great! She didn't love it, but she was so
proud of herself! By then she had up her nerve though, so she and J
raced to the other side of the park to go on the one rollercoaster
none of us had tried yet. (G said, "No, thank you!") Again, she
wasn't sure she loved it, but she was really glad she tried it! She
kept saying, "I can't believe I went on two rollercoasters!"
Another highlight was enjoying warm, fresh crepes that were topped
with Nutella and bananas! Mmmm! We have all grown to love Nutella
over here and will definitely enjoy it stateside as well!
It was so nice to have a carefree day where it was fine for the kids
to be wild and loud- it was all about them.

The drive back to Hochwald was pretty grueling. A missed exit (or 2)
earned us a 40 minute detour, in rush hour. We finally got back to our
freezing cold bungalow around 10. Almost 5 hours after we'd left
Legoland. Our thermostat inside our place said 12 degrees, C. I don't
know what that is in F, but I am here to tell you that it is really
cold. Especially when 4/5 of your group isn't feeling great. And then
since it was so late, the mandatory nighttime control kept overriding
me and turning the heat off!!! We finally got warmed up though, and
I'll tell you- the 5 Gs slept great!
Auf Weidersehen!

2008-04-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Back to Hochwald

2008-04-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a very fun, very long day at Legoland, and a
verrrrrry long drive back to Hochwald. We are super exhausted so more
later. Tomorrow morning we check out of here, and head to our last
major destination!
Auf Wiedersehen!

2008-04-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

2008-04-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Quotables

2008-04-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

We've heard a lot of funny and sweet things out of these kids lately.
Here are a few things I never want to forget...

G:
"Mama? When I have kids, and they have a birthday party, who do you
think they will invite?"

Um...

--------------
G: I'm going to come back to Italy and Germany when I'm a grown up.
And where was that place where your bedroom was upstairs and we
watched the sun set?
Me: Tuscany?
G: Yeah, Tuscany. I'm going back there. When I'm a grown up, I'm going
to travel A LOT with my kids. Like to Italy, Germany, and Luxembourg,
and.....and CALIFORNIA!
----------

Also with G, a few weeks ago we all were having a conversation about
endangered and protected animals. Both of the kids, but particularly G
were interested in which animals were endangered or protected. This
conversation has drug on for weeks, pausing and resuming at the oddest
times. For instance, we are walking across the bridge in Heidelberg. G
says, amid the construction noise, "What about roosters?" I couldn't
hear him well, plus it was SO out of context and I momentarily forgot
about the animal saga.
"What?" I answered as I bent down.
"ROOSTERS!" He yelled, loud so I could hear, but also annoyed that I
wasn't still thinking about the conversation we'd left off on 2 days
ago. "Are roosters still ok?!?!???"
Right. "Oh, yes, honey, roosters are fine."
He was skeptical. "Hens?"
"Yep, lots of hens still."
Starting to feel better about things, he said, "Chickens?", but with
some confidence, like he already knew the answer, and then he stopped
to watch the boats.

In the past 2 weeks we have had about 10 simlar conversations,
covering rhinos, bears (every kind), tigers (white and Bengal), all
sorts of farm and domestic animal, eagles, penguins, and common rodents.

***********************************
M:
This girl is also a little traveler. She has said several times that
she intends to travel when she is in college, and also with her
family. When she travels with her family, she would like to go for one
year. What a goal!
-----------
M: "Dad? Is it too soon to laugh about when a bird pooped on your
head in Venice?"
(S and J burst out laughing.)
J: "A little too soon."
M: "Well, it WAS in a different country!"
-------------------
The other day I checked in with her to see how she was feeling about
things.
Me: How ya doing Sis? Are you still loving the adventure, or are you
homesick?
M: Well, I really miss my friends and our family, but I also don't
want the adventure to be over. I really love it.

I know just how she feels. .
****************************
C:
Our 'baby' has sure changed on this trip as well. In Italy, he was
saying, "Ciao Ciao!" to the locals and answering with, "Gratzie!" to
all the free candy he got. (just for being cute, I guess!) He is a
little copycat to any and everything that comes out of Big Brother or
Big Sissy's mouth- words, laughter, facial expressions, and attitude!
Whenever anything amazes him he says, "Oh MY!" or "Woah!"
He loves to be in charge, "Me do it!", and insists on being the center
of attention.
In the car, if The Bigs are singing, or talking amongst themselves, or
otherwise 'ignoring' him, he will start yelling, "QUIET", at the top
of his lungs. Since he is just barely 2, it sounds like, "CUT IT!" It
always sends the rest of us into laughter, which either tickles him
and he continues to shout, or (my favorite) it makes him mad and he
does this hilarious little old man scowl. Personality PLUS!

Sent from my iPhone

Meet Gina

2008-04-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Our freindly GPS. Ok, so she's only a temporary member of the G
family, but she sure has been a life saver to have around. Sure, she's
led us astray a few times, but nobody's perfect!
When we get in the car, the kids yell, "Dad! Put up Gina!" Once J
finishes programming her for the day and puts her on the window, C
says, "Dootoo! Gina!" (Dootoo means "Sissy" in C-speak.)
Have you ever seen that episode of The Office (Allison E., you know
what I'm talking about!) where Michael and Dwight end up in the lake
from following the GPS? We feel like that sometimes.
Gina: Turn right in 50 meters.
S: Where? I don't see where!
J: Right there!
Gina: Turn right.
S (not slowing): There?
Gina: Turn right.
J: Yes! There! You missed it!
Gina: Recalculating.

This is a common occurence in the G car!

Christmas in April...

2008-04-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

In Rothenburg! Today we packed an overnight bag, and drove East
toward Rothenburg, the Christmas capital of Germany. We arrived,
found a yummy lunch (thanks to Rick Steves book!), and decided to do
some shopping (pic). The weather was awful- sleet, rain mixed with
snow, hail...and even when it's not precipitating, it is stinking
cold. That, paired with us being tired, and also Mama G having
different ideas about 'shopping' than Daddy G, lead to a less than
lovely visit to Rothenburg.
We did a little walk around part of the city wall (other pic).
We left Rothenburg, and drove further south to Gunzberg, home of
Legoland, Germany! We found a great little hotel, walked to the
little town center and had Chinese, and now are settling in for the
night. It's the first time all 5 of us are sleeping in one room on
this trip, so it has a bit of a slumber party feeling! Very fun.
Tomorrow, bright and early, we will visit Legoland (praying for decent
weather), and then drive back to Hochwald for one more night.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Walking the wall in Rothenburg

2008-04-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

MV101 - Intro to the Mosel Valley

2008-04-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

We started out today with some Pirate Bowling! This place has a 3
lane alley that is completely decked out in pirate décor. The kids
have been wanting to visit, and we had some time to kill while our
clothes were washing at the laundromat.
By the way- this week is the first time we've had to pay for laundry
on this trip because most of the time we've had a washer. (But never a
dryer.) To wash a load costs 3 euro, and it also costs 3 euro to dry.
6 euro!!!! That's like $10 to do a load of laundry. Are you kidding
me?
Anyway, bowling was fun, we used the bumpers and even Carter
participated with the help of his Daddy!
After both bowling and laundry were complete, we drove over to check
out the Mosel Valley. The Mosel river is a windy tributary of the
Rhine river. They say most Americans imagine the Rhine valley (busy
and industrial) the way the Mosel valley truly is (sleepy and
quaint). Both valleys are comprised of several hilltop castles and
villages. The original intention of this drive was to scope out the
Mosel river cruise schedules (which we plan on enjoying early next
week), but we also had time to visit the Berg Eltz castle (pic). What
was SO cool about this place was that the Eltz family still owns the
castle, (33 generations now), and they still live there part of the
year! Are you kidding me? Both the interior and exterior were
gorgeous with original furniture throughout and a natural river acting
as a moat on three sides of the castle. The other amazing fact is that
this castle was never in any way damaged from enemy attack. It dates
back to the 14th century!
After touring we had a few hours of sunlight left, so we took the long
way home following the Mosel river upstream by car. We passed through
multiple tiny villages each with dozens of cliffside vinyards. So cute!

Auf Weisersehen!

Pirate Bowling!

2008-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, Matey!

2008-04-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Destination: Heidelberg!

2008-04-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

More cold drizzle in Germany. Thankfully we had a great day in
Heidelberg. We parked at the top of the hill and rode the tram
staight down into town. We arrived there about lunch time and found a
little pub, which was serving schnitzel. We'd been wondering what
the draw was, so we tried it. It was fine, but not our favorite. (It's
thinly sliced pork- breaded.) While we were sitting there, I was
lamenting being SO cold. I said that one thing I really missed from
home was being able to carry a 16 (or 20) ounce hot latte around,
especially when I was so cold. We were talking about how much $$ a
little coffee/wifi shop would do in a tourist town like Heidelberg. A
bit later we were walking around and noticed people with coffee in
paper cups! Like paper latte cups!! We were determined to find the
source, and THEN we saw people with Starbucks cups!!!!! Can you
imagine? I haven't had a Starbucks for 4 weeks. That's 28 days!!!! I
was one happy camper when we found it and I had my 16 oz Vanilla Latte
in hand. The funniest thing was that the kids and J were so excited
for me. So sweet.
Later we walked over the old bridge which was half covered in
scaffolding so we could hardly enjoy it. From the bridge, however, we
had a gorgeous view of the city.
Next we rode the tram half way up the hill and toured the Heidelberg
castle which is partly in ruins. It was simply gorgeous and I had a
lot of fun playing with my camera.
After walking around the castle, we were sufficiently frozen and rode
the tram the rest of the way up to the car. Heidelberg is a gorgeous
town and we'd love to visit again someday!

Auf Wiedersehen!

2008-04-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

View of Heidelberg Castle from the bridge. (And my sweet family!)

Saaaaay Schnitzel!

2008-04-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Why Heidelberg is my favorite German town...

2008-04-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Happy, happy, happy, happy Mama.

Luxembourg

2008-04-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

We woke up to gray and drizzle, but being the intrepid adventurers
that we are (ha ha NOT), we went on with our plan to go hiking in
Luxembourg. FYI, Luxembourg is a small country next to Germany, and
it's capital is Luxembourg City, naturally. I think they speak French
there, but I am not positve. Anyway, J had read about some cool
sandstone formations in the forests there, so went we hiking to see
them. We got a break in the rain, and had a very nice hike together.
It was gorgeous scenery and a couple of times I had to pinch myself to
see if we were really in Europe- it really reminded us of home!
After the hike we drove a little further into Luxembourg and visited
the ruins of a castle from the 1100s. It was pretty cool too.
On the way home we drove through Luxembourg City just to see it. We
found ourselves in the old center and it was gorgeous.
We headed home then, with the help of the newest member of the family,
Gina. (pictures forthcoming....)
Auf Weidersehen!

2008-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

2008-04-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Playing Catch Up

2008-04-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

We took today off from the long car rides, castle tours, museums and
churches. We needed a day to rest, hang out, and do laundry! We
grabbed some yummy pasteries at the resort store and the kids' and J
played on the playground while I stocked up on groceries and did
laundry. Later, we spent some time at the indoor play area. It is
pirate themed, so G was thrilled! It even has a pirate bowling
alley! G gasped, "I have NEVER been pirate bowling before!"
Unfortanatly we haven't yet had a chance to partake in pirate bowling,
but we did play at the huge indoor playstructure. There was a giant
blow up slide, a bounce house, and a big climbing structure- complete
with a (clean) ball pit! There was a smaller, structure for C, sail
boats to climb on, and lots of riding toys. The kids were thrilled,
and so were we since it was free for people staying at the resort.
The half of the room that wasn't a play area was a cafe, so we sat
there, sipped our Cokes, and watched the kids at play. Best of all the
resort has free wifi! The 1 resort computer costs 3 euro for 20
minutes, so finding wifi was a treat!
In the afternoon we rested, read, started a puzzle, played checkers,
finished up laundry, and made plans for the next 10 days. We also had
a chance this evening to visit the swimming pool. C was miserable and
terrified most of the time, but the bigs were thrilled to paddling
around a pool. Afterwards, we came back to our bungalow, took
showers, and J made us a fire while M read books to her brothers as we
all sat around. What a fun and cozy evening!

It's hard to believe that we are on the final countdown. No worries
though, we have had an amazing time, we have wonderful memories, and
1800+ pictures. (Those of you who have commented about seeing all the
pictures may not want to make eye contact with me for awhile!) We are
definitely looking forward to comming home- seeing family and friends,
enjoying comforts of home, and shopping and eating at familiar places!

Busy Day!

2008-04-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

We got up early, packed up the car, and went back to the little
restaurant for some pfannkuchen. Apparently that is a weird breakfast
food in Germany because they acted like we were weirdos for ordering
it, and they would only agree to making us 2 , instead of the 4 we
wanted. That was fine with us, and we also partook in the breakfast
buffet they had. It seems the typical breakfast in Germany is a buffet
of hard (or soft) boiled eggs, some different kinds of ham and salami,
assorted rolls, and cold cereal. The coffee in Germany is not so good
(at least what I've experienced so far). Anyway, between the buffet
and the pancakes, we had plenty to eat, and then we were off!
First stop- Zugspitz. The tallest peak in Germany. And how did we get
to the tallest peak in the German Alps? How any self respecting
tourist would, of course- a breathtaking, heartstopping, gondola ride
to the top!
J is not a big fan of heights, and I don't generally mind them, but
this was really, really intense! Towards the top, the mountain was
just huge, sheer, vertical rocks that made Yosemite in California look
like a kids' playground. J kept his eyes fixed on the horizon, but I
was looking straight down and decided maybe I was nuts to insist on a
gondola ride in the Alps!
When we got to the top (phew), we walked around the platforms and took
in the view. AMAZING. We could see so far- fields, gorgeous mountain
lakes, and Alps as far as they eye could see. I think it helped the
kids understand why the Alps are such a big deal. It was SO cold up
there. Carter kept saying, "Sky bus!! Sky bus!" We didn't stay up
there long, and the descent was not quite as terrifying. Almost
though! I was very relieved to step off that thing at the bottom! We
talked about it later and M and I decided it was the type of thing we
were glad we did, but we were also glad to have it be over!
Next we drove to Linderhoff Castle. It is one of the 3 castles that
King Ludwig built, and the only one ever completely finished. The
castle was really gorgeous, but the gardens and surrounding grounds
(including the faux cave/grotto) were even more beautiful. (pic)
Spring has barely sprung in the Alps, so most things were still bare
branches, but we could imagine how it must look once things get
blooming.
After Linderhoff we drove on the Romantic Road for awhile, and visited
the beautiful Wiess Church. Then we hit the highway, waved goodbye to
the Alps, and drove and drove and drove to our new 'home.' We
calculated the distance correctly, but it took much longer than we
planned, thanks to bad traffic, a TON of road construction, and a
really awful rain storm. We were so glad to pull into Landal Hochwald
at a little after 10.
We are staying at a country resort in the area outside a little town
called Kell Am See. Our place is a small and cute A Frame bungalow.
Downstairs is the living area and 1 bedroom. Upstairs there are 2 more
bedrooms. M and G claimed the upstairs for sleeping and playing- they
are thrilled. They also spotted an indoor pool, so we'll have to check
that out as well. For now though...

Auf Wiedersehen!

More castles!

2008-04-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

King Ludwig's only completed castle- Linderhoff.

At the top!

2008-04-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

BRRR!

Up, Up, Up!

2008-04-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

YIKES!

In front of the gondola

2008-04-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

What a day!

2008-04-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

Phew, we are 5 TIRED Gs tonight. Great day though. We woke up
stinking early to get ahead of all the (other) tourists, and drove to
Schwangau, home of the famous castles, Hohenschwangau and
Neuschwanstein. While we were getting ready, M and I went out on the
porch to watch the sun rise over the Alps. Wow.
We definitely beat the crowds, and got great times for our tours of
the two castles. Before our tours began though, we had time to eat
some breakfast. We had not gone out for breakfast for a long time
because in Italy they pretty muc
h just eat sweet rolls or focaccia for breakfast. We wandered into a
hotel and when they said they had a 'buffet' our hopes soared. The
hotel looked pretty decent and I was envisioning heaping piles of
steaming hasbrowns, maybe a custom omlette station, Belgium
waffles......
Not so much. Some salami, ham type stuff, SOFT boiled eggs (eww),
rolls, and cold cereal. AND the coffee was yuck! Not impressed.
Anyway, the castles were VERY impressive. Just amazing. The kids were
AWESOME during the tours and I think they really liked them. You can't
just wander around these castles, you have to take a tour. Much of the
original furniture is still there. There are several rooms that you
don't see- I would just love to have the keys and go exploring around
the castles!
After the last tour, we rode the carriage down the hill and found a
brautwurst for lunch. (that's German for HOT DOG) Then we hopped in
our car and went to Tegelberg. It was a cool place- looks like skiing
in the winter, and now that the snow is melting it has a luge course
along with a great playground. It also had a magnificent gondola to
the top of Tegelberg Mountain. We started with the luge. It was SO
fun and each of the kids got 2 rides. None of them are old enough to
go alone yet, so J and I took turns riding with them. After that we
played on the playground and the coin operated motorcycles for a
while , and when we went to purchase tickets for the gondola it was
sold out! Bummer. But the ticket lady was super nice and gave us
instructions how to get to a nearby park/naturetrail in Fussen. We
played there awhile and then went to find some dinner. Near the town
we are stating in, we drove past a cute little place and decided to
try it. We hoped we were up for the challenge when we found out they
didn't have English menus. So with the help of our little German
phrase book and very meager dictionary we took a super long time
deciding. We got through the whole kids' menu and maybe a third of the
dinner menu and we decided that we should change our strategy. Instead
of reading the entire menu and picking the very best thing on it, like
we would at home, we agreed that once we each found something we
liked, we'd just go for that! I ended up with a DELICIOUS mushroom/
garlic steak and a baked potato, J got a petite roasted steak with
fries, M got potato pancakes with applesauce, and the boys got
Eirepfanncuchen! Egg pancakes- they were big and fluffy, like the
ones I (or my mom/aunts) make for breakfast at home! Yum!!! I would
say our first completly on our own German meal went well. Phew.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Riding in Tegelberg-Bahn

2008-04-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here are our kids, playing on a playground in the Alps. These little
motorcycles were so cool. You could push them, or if you dropped .50
in them, they'd drive around for a few minutes!

2008-04-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

We took a carriage ride back down the hill after we toured the castle!

Neuschwanstein

2008-04-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

This is the castle that inspired the Disney castles. It was amazing-
inside and out!

M and G...

2008-04-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

In front of King Ludwig's childhood castle, 'Hohenschwangau'.

M overlooking Schwangau

2008-04-10T05:11:00.000-07:00

Sprechen Sie Englisch???

2008-04-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry that Carter is cut off a little here! We had to show THE ALPS
in the background!!! After our gorgeous train ride to Innsbruck, we
took an even MORE gorgeous train ride to Garmisch. This time we were
on the little local milk train that runs back and forth between tiny
villages in the mountains (the Alps!!!). At times we were on a
trestle hanging on the side of the mountain. M and G would jump back
in shock everytime they peered over the edge only to see a deep gorge
below. Incredible! We wound through woods, next to streams, past
alpine meadows. I swore I was near the set of the movie, "Heidi." Or
the "Sound of Music!"
When we got to Garmisch, we walked around, had a German hotdog, and
picked up our rental car. We will have this car for the next two
weeks, until we come home, and it is nice to know that our rushing
through train stations weighed down with all that gear is over!
We then made our way to the little town of Hopferau (via GPS! So fun
and easy!). According to our noses, the town has a major role in the
dairy industry. Although, beyond the smell, the sights are a feast
for the eyes. The snowy Alps are viewable in all directions and
immediatly surronding us are rolling hills of green pastures. So
beautiful.
For dinner we built up enough nerve to try out the local "home cooked"
restaurant. Luckily the waitress was nice and spoke a little English
(Very little that is), as we ended up with three orders of sparkling
mineral water after repeatidly attempting to order 'non sparkling'
water. The kids were less than thrilled with the water, but they came
out winners because we finally gave up and ordered them a coke to
share! (a big treat - as they usually don't drink Coke) The food
however was delicious! J and I each had roast beef, potatoes and
salad that was soooo good. The kids were happy with chickies and
fries. We also ordered potato pancakes with applesauce to share. YUM!
We will be in this new flat for 2 nights. It is super nice, huge, and
all our beds have these lovely flannel down comforters (No sheets is
how its done here). Very comfy! So comfy in fact that I think it's
bedtime!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Final Day in Venice

2008-04-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

We woke up to rain today. It seemed as if Venice was letting us know
our welcome was up. We had a few loose ends to tie up though, despite
the rain. First, we headed a final time to St. Mark's Square and went
to the top of the tower there. Thankfully an elevator took us to the
top so we didn't have to worry about slippery wet steps. It was a
gorgeous view of the Venice skyline.
Afterwards we were pretty cold, so we headed back to the apartment to
warm up. The kids and Joel hung out for a while while S walked to the
train station to make sure of our train schedules and routes for
tomorrow (Incidentally, when you are travelling in Europe, always,
always, always double check your tickets at the station the day before
your departure!!! We bought some of our tickets ahead of time, but
have still had to hassle with schedule changes and such.) When S got
back we all loaded up and headed to the Rialto Bridge for a last look,
and some souviners. We figured the Italia sweatshirts would come in
handy in Germany, where it is currently snowing. Yikes.
This evening we went back over to the Chinese restaurant and enjoyed
our last meal in Italy! Yay for fried shrimp with no heads! Garrett
started getting sentimental during the meal and told us he was really
sad because it was our last meal in Italy. We went around the table
talking about our favorite things from each destination so far. It has
been a busy and fun trip thus far!
Tomorrow our train leaves at 6:30 am. We will be traveling through the
Alps, stopping for lunch in Innsbruck, Austria, and continuing to our
destination near Fussen, Germany. We are a little nervous about this
next leg of the trip. Italy was simplier in that S was somewhat
familiar with aspects of the country, having traveled in Italy
previously. But none of us quite know what to expect in Germany! Plus
we are very clueless when it comes to the language! It will all work
out though and it's all part of the adventure.
A final 'CIAO!'

New Jacket

2008-04-08T12:40:00.001-07:00

Doesn't he look so old??

Team Italia

2008-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Saying Goodbye...

2008-04-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

To the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal.

Museums a plenty!

2008-04-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today we got up early and beat the crowds to St. Mark's Square. It was
amazingly empty at 8:30 am! (We've found that the Italians stay up
late and sleep in late.) Our first stop was a tour of the Doge
Palace. This is where the rulers of Venice lived and worked in the
1500s. It was amazing with velvet covered walls, huge fireplaces in
each room, and even a staircase with a gold ceiling! At the end of
the tour we got to go through the horrible dungeons of the palace
where prisoners were held. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs (pic) which
was the last time these people saw Venice before being banished. The
kids thought all of that was pretty cool.
Next we toured St Mark's basillica and the accompanying museum. The
basillica is absolutely gorgeous with it's extensive gold mosaic
inside and out. The kids have been learning about mosaics all week,
and even they were awed by it. G said, "but, how did they get that
done in time!?!?" We read that the surface area was that of a
football field- imagine placing contact lenses on an entire football
field, so that each blade of grass was covered. That's the amount of
work involved!
We had promised the kids another chance at feeding the birds if they
made great choices and that's exactly what we did next.
Eventualy we made it back home for naps, while M and J visited the
'Sistine Chapel' of Venice. Like its inspiration in Rome, it included
paintings on the ceiling and to top it off mirrors were available to
more easily view the art. M really enjoyed it!
We spent the evening basking in the gorgeous weather in the nearby
square, and ate dinner at our apartment. Two guesses what we had...

Ciao!

"Wadoh Bus...FUN!"

2008-04-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

That's the quote of day from C. We spent a chunk of the day on the
Water Busses, and C was a big fan, until we got on it. Then he kept
saying, "All done, wadoh bus! No wadoh bus!"
Today was a lot cooler, but no rain yet, so we got on the water bus
and visited two of Venice's islands- Murano and Burano. Murano is
famous for it's blown glass, and we enjoyed looking in all the windows
for some goodies to bring home. Burano is famous for it's lace and
hand stiched linens. Burano also has the most colorful houses we've
seen yet (pic).
We've continued working on the Treasure Hunt book for Venice. The kids
have spotted 96 winged lions! (symbol of Venice)
It is hard to believe we have been gone nearly 3 weeks! Our 'Big
Adventure' is going really fast in some ways, and in other ways it
seems like a lifetime ago that we were in Rome! We are all doing good.
We've all been extra tired- I think that 3 weeks of travelling are
catching up with us!
Ciao!

Shopping for glass on Murano

2008-04-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Looking for just the perfect souviner. G chose a dragon, M chose a
ballerina.

Happy in Venice!

2008-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day in Venice. It was sunny, but not hot, and the 5
Gs were happy to be out and about. Our first thing on the agenda was
St. Mark's Square. We got a little lost on the way there, but that is
part of the fun in Venice.
The kids LOVED feeding the birds in the square. Loved. I personally
find pigeons disgusting,(like rats with wings) but thankfully J is
'the fun one' and helped the kids. He even let them land on him! We
have a treasure hunt book for Venice, like we did for Florence, and
the we got 3 points for feeding the birds, 3 for letting them land on
one of us, and 5 for washing up after! Another thing the kids have
loved with the treasure hunting is looking for the symbol of Venice, a
winged lion, all over town. We've already found nearly 50! It is so
fun to have the kids so observant and alert. They really get into it.
After the birds we walked around and saw some other Venice sights -
the Bridge of Sighs and the Rialto Bridge - then got some lunch and
hoofed it back home for rest time. We haven't made a habit of taking
mid day naps, but it was really nice to crash for once.
Dinner tonight was Chinese. Such a treat after WEEKS of pizza and
tortellini!
Ciao!

They loved C!

2008-04-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

...he dumped his entire bag of food out in 3 or 4 shakes, unlike G who
gave 3-5 kernels at a time! I wish I could also share his shrieks of
joy!

Feeding Pigeons in St Marks Square

2008-04-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

All day long Garrett kept saying, "THAT was awesome!"

St. Marks Square in Venice

2008-04-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Chinese in Venice

2008-04-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

To say that the 5 Gs are growing a little weary of pasta and pizza
would be an understatment. So tonight we hunted down a Chinese
Restaurant and it was DELISH! 10 years ago I remember eating Chinese
in Venice (and Florence?) with my dad, so we were thrilled to find
this place. We may be visiting again!

Where can we get one of these?!?

2008-04-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

According to Carter the very best thing about Italy is the darling
little baby sinks in each bathroom! They are just the perfect size
for him, and he LOVES to wash his hands in them, especially when his
big brother washes his. You know what they say, "Cleanliness is next
to Godliness!"

Happy in Venice

2008-04-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

We were up with the sun today, and were a little bummed to be leaving
the gorgeous Cinque Terre. We knew we had a daunting day of train
rides and connections to accomplish before we would see Venice. The
train rides were stressful. We got conflicting info from several
different Trenitalia employees and we were frustrated and stressed
several times. Then our train was delayed, while we were on it, and it
was pretty exhausting to keep our hungry, tired, hot, and bored kids
happy...especially when we were feeling all those things too. When we
finally arrived in Venice we were relieved, but still had a huge part
of our journey to get through- getting 3 kids, 3 suitcases, 2
backpacks, 2 carseats, and a stroller to our Venetian apartment. We
ended up paying to ride the 'waterbus'. It was a gorgeous ride, and a
fun way to be introduced to Venice, but we were so fried we just
wanted it to be over. Finally we found St. Barnabas Square, where the
apartment is located. We met Antonio, the owner, and as he gave us the
tour, all our stress and frustration of the day began to melt away.
The apartment may be our best yet. It is well equipped, we control our
own heat (not a given in Italy), great washer, big hot water
tank...AND WIFI!!!!!!!! I was beginning to think it was illegal in
this country or something! Just kidding , but there is really NO
wireless Internet anywhere. So we were pretty excited about that.
Now we can put a few pics on the blog each day, plus check our email,
etc.
After Antonio left, we turned on the tv to see if we could see what's
going on on the world (what's going on with the presidential race???),
and we came across CHARLIE and LOLA! In ENGLISH! If you don't know,
it just happens to be one of the kids' fav cartoons. And while we
aren't trekking around Europe so our kids can watch tv, let me just
tell you that it was near heaven to have 20 minutes of no fighting, no
wrestling and subsequent crying because of wrestling injuries, and no
whining/begging. Especially after the day we had!
The boys fell asleep so M and J had some father/daughter time and
hunted down a grocery store. They came home with quite the assortment
of... Tortellini (shocking!), and also chicken, and Joel made us a
lovely dinner. Afterwards, we went on a gelato hunt, and happened
upon the square where I stayed when I was here with my dad 10 years
ago. Pretty cool. Oh, and as you can see on the picture, Carter has
on his new 'backpack' *coughharnesscough* that we purchased just for
this leg of the trip. And before you think that you'd never put a
harness on your kid, just know that up until now we never have, but if
my choices are a harness, or fishing my little monkey out of a
Venetian cannal... He us a quick stubborn little guy, and this trip
isn't the time to take any chances! Anyway, it is pretty cute on him!

Finally, just wanted to add that the Carter pics tonight are because a
certain Nana wanted to make sure he was still on the trip with us!

On the go...

2008-04-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

ALWAYS!
This would be why Carter hasn't been in many pictures. He's always
moving so fast, the iPhone can't keep up with him!

Yum!

2008-04-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Lovin the Gelato

2008-04-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

"Mo 'ato, peeeeese Mama!!!"

Final Day in Cinque Terre

2008-04-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today, like many days during the past 2.5 weeks didn't go exactly as
planned.
We spent some time this morning at the park in town. The plan was to
ride the train down to Manarola, have lunch, ride the ferry back
(because riding the ferry was a super high priority on the kids'
lists), and then spend the sunny afternoon hours playing at the
beach. Sounds great, right?
Instead, we rode the train to Manarola, had lunch, missed the ferry by
10 minutes (next one being 3 hours later due to 'siesta'), spent
waaaay too much time waiting for trains back to Montorroso, finally
rode the ferry, took a detour inland to the big train station to get
help with our connections for tomorrow, came back, threw a couple of
stones in the ocean, and realized the weather was QUICKLY changing,
and then RAN home in time to pull our drying laundry inside before the
storm hit.
The kids were bummed about not getting to play in the sea again, but
the ferry ride was incredible and they loved watching the wake at the
back of the boat. Unfortunately C slept through the entire ride. We
also had a chance ro grab gelato and McDonalds, so all in all it was a
good day. Tonight we (mostly J) packed up. Tomorrow 3 kids, 3
suitcases, 2 carseats, 2 backpacks, 2 parents, and a stroller head to
Venice - pvia a 5+ hour train ride- woot!

Ciao!

Nice and FRESH!

2008-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

That's what G yells often, referring to everything from donuts to ice
water to fresh lemonade.
I mentioned yesterday that the owner of our apartment (we don't know
her name) gave us a bag full of fresh lemons. It was very nice, and
also a bit funny because we are traveling with very little (what were
we going to do with 20 huge lemons???). Later we discovered our
apartment came with a lemon squeezer, so yesterday M and J went to buy
sugar, and G helped squeeze lemons, and we enjoyed some fabulous fresh
lemonade. It was so delicious!!! While I fully intend to make fresh
lemonade at home this summer, I am sure we will never find lemons like
this in the Willamette Valley. Here along the Mediterranean, they pick
them from the trees in their terra cotta pots, gardens, and terraces.

Delicioso!

Taking in the View!

2008-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

That's what Garrett yelled several times today during our impromptu
hike. We were visiting the neighboring town, Vernazza, and somehow
decided to hike home to Monterosso instead of taking the train. I've
mentioned before that the 5 towns have trails between them. Yesterday
we hiked the 2 shortest trails and until this afternoon we had no
intention of hiking the other 2- too long, too vertical, and too much
rough terrain for our little family...but then we were in darling
little Vernazza and it was a little cooler than yesterday, and the
kids really wanted to. So we did. C was asleep on my back (in the
beloved Ergo) for most of the way. It was seriously a climb though.
Lots and lots if stairs, but such gorgeous views. A lot of the time
we were straight up from the surf- 500 feet probably. Other times we
were winding through amazing terraced gardens and lemon orchards. The
kids did get tired, especially towards the end and especially G, but
it was SO worth it. At the end we soaked our hot, dusty tired feet in
the ocean. Oh, and Crocs aren't half bad to hike in!
When we were about a half mile from the end we smelled the delicious
scent of fresh lemons. A few feet later, around a corner was an
Itslian farmer selling fresh squeezed lemonade. Amazing!
Yesterday the owner of our apartment gave me a big bag of fresh
lemons, so when we got back from our hike, G and I squeezed them while
J and M went out for sugar (and pizza). The fresh lemonade was SO
good, matbe tven a little bettet than the one on the hilltop. G
REALLY wanted to have a lemonade stand right away, here in Monterosso,
but I think I've convinced him to wait until we get home. But he made
it clear that we have to do it with Grayson, and as SOON as we get home!

Anyway, other highlights of the day included:
-sleeping in (we are getting good at that!
-kids playing at the park while I rounded up some cappucino and fresh
croissants
-more train rides than we'd bargained for (reading the schedule is
usually a better idea than hopping on a train that just happens to be
there)
-FINALLY finding wifi...although not free. I rarely actually get
online from the iPhone- it uses a lot of MBs ( or something) to do
that. So I usually just use the email on the phone to post. It was
lovely to be able to read all your comments! M would like to say
hello to her teacher and her class-she REALLY misses you, and was
thrilled to hear that you check on her here every now and then.

Ok, the rest of the crew here is asleep, so I'd better join them. On
tomorrow's agenda- more capuccino, more gelato, a ferry ride, a more
playing on the beach. Sounds like a full day!
Ciao!
Sent from my iPhone

Vernazza

2008-04-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sending a quick pic since we just paid for 30 min of wifi. So fun to
get to log on and read your comments! More later...

Dinner in Monterosso!

2008-04-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Since we are renting apartments at most of our stops, we do most of
our big meals at our 'home'. It is super expensive to eat out,
Italians typically don't eat until 7:30, which is super late for the
kids, and it can just be generally difficult to eat at nice
restaurants with the 3 kids in tow. But tonight was an exception and
we thought we'd try a seafood place here in town. The kids chose
ravioli with shrimp, (you can see the big pot for it behind me), and
before it came I talked to them about having good manners even if
their food turned out to be different than they expected. Then I
ordered my stand by- grilled shrimp. Little did I know...

Not only were my shrimp whole- eyes and everything- 2 of them had some
major claws! It was almost more than I could handle!
J's dinner was pretty interesting too. He ordered the 'mixed fried
fish' and it sure was mixed! It had calamari, WHOLE baby octopus,
some sort of sardine or anchovy, and of course some whole fried shrimp.

The kids were great sports. Afterward M said to me, "Mom, did you
like that, or was it a little TOO different?"

2008-04-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Joel's dinner- the fried fish combo meal!

Hiking in Cinque Terre

2008-04-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

This morning we slept in- thank goodness for Italian shutters! We
then had a leisurely time getting ready and finally rode the train
down to the first of the 5 villages, Riomaggiore. There are hiking
trails that connect the villages and we wanted to hike the first 2.
The first was an easy stroll- wide and practically paved the whole
way. The trail hugs the edge of the cliff and the Mediterranean
looked absolutely turquoise in the sunlight. In the 2nd town,
Manarola, we got some delicious focaccia pizza for lunch, and then
walked down the trail to find some shade. The picture at the top of
this post was from our lunch spot, looking back at Manarola. So
amazing!
The 2nd trail was definitely more tiring than the first. Lots of
stairs, and the terrain was much rougher. I carried C in the Ergo
(LOVE that thing) and he actually fell asleep. By then it was HOT.
Okay, so maybe it was only 70, but for us Oregonians who left 40 and
rain, it seemed hot! The kids loved the hike. They were so nice to
each other and kept pointing out interesting things, like wildflowers,
butterflies and boats. I think this is the most engaged G has been
the whole trip. At one point we were taking a break and I watched him
stand perfectly still and stare at the surf hitting the rocks for
several minutes. When we arrived to Corniglia, city #3, we were
beat, and rode the train back to Monterosso.

We were all hot and tired, so we put on our swimsuits and went down to
the beach. Monterosso's beach is kind of in a bay, so the waves are
very small and gentle. The Bigs sat on the edge of the surf and dug
holes, looked at rocks, and threw stones into the water. C sat by us
and played in the sand. J layed in the sand and watched the kids, and
I alternated between reading and sleeping in the sun. It was truly
relaxing!
Ciao!

Cinque Terre

2008-03-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

Today we said "Arrivederci" to Tuscany and headed to Cinque Terre on
Italy's west coast. First, we drove to Pisa to drop off the BMW (no
dings or scratches, phew!) and caught the train. Actually getting on
the train was an adventure though. We missed the first and second
trains and nearly missed the third. Let's just say that getting on a
train in a foreign country with 3 kids, 3 suitcases, 2 carseats, 2
backpacks, and 1 stroller is no easy feat. By the time we got settled
J and I were both sweating. The train ride was fine though and things
went much more smoothly during the transition between trains. The
second train ride was amazing. One minute we were at the La Spezia
station, the next minute we were in a pitch black tunnel and then all
of the sudden we were looking out at the Mediterainean sea from the
cliff side tracks. The the train slipped back into the tunnel for a
few minutes at a time, popping out just long enough for each of the 5
train stations of the 5 Cinque Terre cities. Once we arrived at
Monterroso we basked in the sun for a while and waited to meet our
apartment owner. We waited a long time (apparently there was some
miscommunication. Suprise! Suprise!), but after a few telephone
calls we got it worked out. We're still struggling with a few small
issues, like we can't turn on the heat, and the washer is locked, but
I'm sure we'll get those details worked out soon!
The weather was warm, even hot, and after we regrouped (and caught our
breath after lugging all our stuff up many, many stairs), we headed
down to the beach. What a gorgeous evening!
We had dinner at our apartment (more tortellini) and then went out for
some night time gelato.
Ciao!

Kid day in Collodi

2008-03-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Tuscany, and we'd pretty much hit all our
priority stops earlier in the week, so we decided to head to Collodi,
where there is a lack of ancient ruins. Collodi is the hometown of
the author of the story Pinnochio. Like any good town with a claim to
fame, they found a way to capitalize on it, and the good tourists (and
parents) that we are, spent our hard earned $$ in 'Pinnochio Park'.
It was interesting and although all the signs were in Italian, we are
pretty sure Disney left some key points out of the movie. (a crab?
Pirates?) It also turns out that our kids, especially G don't really
actually know much about Pinnichio, and trying to explain what we
remembered to them made the story come off a little bizzare. "...and
then he made some bad choices and, um, apparently turned into a
donkey. And then I guess he got swallowed by a big fish, yes sort of
like Jonah, but don't worry, it all turns out okay in the end..."
Anyway, the kids seemed to enjoy it, so that was good. The weather
was unbelievable again, thank goodness. We are hoping it will be nice
at Cinque Terre as we visit there tomorrow through the 4th.
Ciao!

San Gimignano and Volterra

2008-03-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Another gorgeous day in Tuscany. The 5 Gs headed to some of the hill
towns nearby. When I first heard the term 'hill towns' I thought of
sweet little villages tucked in the hills and valleys. Not so. These
towns (there are actually hundreds in Tuscany including the one we are
sleeping in), are literally on TOP of the hills and ridges. Many are
walled, and it is obvious based on there locations and fortifications
that they were a midevil means of survival.
Anyway, our first stop today was San Gimignano, a hill town that still
has an impressive skyline of towers. We walked along the streets and
then climbed one of the free towers which resides within the remenents
of an old castle. Only the exterior walls of the castle remain and
the interior is now a quiet garden with olive trees, grass, rock
paths, an artist, and even a harpist! It was so peaceful and
beautiful. In the corner was the small tower that was climbable and
we had an amazing view of the town and a good chunk of Tuscany. It
was one of those moments were J and I just looked at each other and
shook our heads in amazement.

Next, we drove 45 minutes of hairpin turns in 2nd gear to Volterra.
Volterra has a serious wall around it too. It even includes a Roman
theatre that dates back to 10 BC, which was pretty incredible. We
wandered into the city park (where the pic was taken) and the kids
played on the playground while we relaxed. We were admiring the
castle/fortress (in the background) and wondered if we could visit
it. J looked it up in our guidebook and discovered that this ancient
castle is a prison. MAXIMUM SECURITY. Isn't that nuts? So, no, we
didn't visit.

We headed back (down, up, and over) to Barberino to get ready for
dinner. Our apartment has a rooftop terrace that supposedly has great
sunset veiws, but we've missed them all so far. We made tortellini,
artichokes, and bread, and snuggled on the terrace. It was amazing-
the birds flying and singing, the church bells nearby chiming, the
bells from the church across the valley ringing their tune. On top of
all that the pink and orange sky and our kids' excited voices. There
are really no words. At one point today J and I had conversation that
went something like this:
Me: Can you believe we are driving through the Tuscany with our babes?
J: No.
Me: It's surreal, huh?
J: Yeah. I think it will be one of those things, like when it's all
over it will still be unreal.
Me: I know, we'll wonder if it even really happened.

Ciao!

2008-03-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Bigs in San Gimignano. The city originally had 73 towers, and only
14 remain.

Pisa!

2008-03-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

(continued from last post)
...so we decided to drive to Pisa and see the tower! The kids were
pretty excited about that- they've known about it for a long time.
Apparently people under 16 can't climb it, so we decided that none of
us would. But of course we enjoyed the photo op, the sun, and the
wide expanse of green grass for our kids to run and wrestle in.

Time is going so quickly here! I can't believe we only have 2 nights
left in Tuscany and then we head to Cinque Terre. (If you don't know
Cinque Terre, you should google it for sure). It is hard to believe
that we are already finishing up day 11 of our adventure! (I have
taken nearly 700 pics on my 'real' camera!)

Tomorrow we will explore a couple more of Tuscany's hill towns.
Should be fun!

CIAO!

Lucca!

2008-03-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a gorgeous, sunny day and we headed to Lucca. It was over
an hour drive, and when we got there, we walked on top of the wall
that surrounds the old city until we found a bike rental place. The
kids were thrilled, and I was a little nervous (no helmets!), but we
were biking on top of the wall, which is basically like a giant park
with a wide path on it, and there were no cars. The Italian bike man
snapped a baby seat on my bike, and we buckled C in, and were on our
way!

C was so funny. He'd wave at all the other bikers, anyone with a dog,
and anyone pushing a stroller. He loved it, and I loved having him
right in front of me so I could kiss on his little head and talk to him.
M did a great job on concentrating and loved being on her own bike. G
liked riding with his dad, and was a huge fan of the little bell. The
entire 2.5 miles, I could hear the little ringing behind us.
After the bike ride we explored Lucca a little, got lunch (fish and
chips- J was happy!), and headed back to the car. The day was still
young though, and we realized we were pretty close to Pisa, so...

2008-03-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Biking the wall in Lucca.

Hello From a Real Computer!

2008-03-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

I am at the public library in Barberino on the public computer!! It is sure nice to be typing on a full sized keyboard for a bit. Today was supposed to be rainy, and we were exhausted, so we decided to have a quiet day. As the morning wore on though, we all were feeling a little cabin feverish and I could not get a certain red leather purse off of my mind, so we went for a little drive. Our destination was Monteriggioni, which I talked about on Tuesday, maybe...a little hilltop fort-castle type of deal. We had a delicious lunch and I got the red purse- my souvenir from Italy!

I wanted to do some housekeeping items now since I am on a real computer for a minute. (Would you believe that the librarian-a stern Italian in his early 60s probably-is typing on a real typewriter right now!) First of all, thank you for your prayers and thoughts for our health and safety. We have been so lucky to not have had to deal with theft or injury. Phew. Also, by some miracle we have all stayed moderately healthy through all this cold rainy weather. A few coughs here and there, and a few runny noses, but for the most part we are doing great. Here is a little individual shot of each member of our family....

J: Loving it. Loves not being at work. Loves being with all of us, and loves experiencing all this new stuff. He is an expert navigator as well. In Tuscany there are not a ton of instersections with stop lights, but mostly roundabouts. Sometimes I drive around them a couple of times while he gets things figured out, but all in all we are doing pretty well.

M: So into everything. She is interested in it all. Tired of standing in lines, and tired of pizza. Genuinely having a great time with her brothers.

G: Swings from super and excited and happy and interested, to "Please get me some gelato as soon as possible and no, I can not walk one more step." Overall a good sport, especially when his parents make sure his tummy is full, and a stroller is handy.

C: You may not recognize Carter when we come home. He is talking ALL OF THE TIME. He has the funniest intonations and facial expressions though. Even when he is driving us NUTS he is making us laugh. He has all the rest of us tied around his little finger. He, too, is a big fan of Gelato and asks Daddy for "more! MORE! MORE, Daddy! PEEEEEEASE!" Before Daddy can even get a bite in.

And Me: I was seriously unsure of what in the world we were thinking while we were in Rome. But now, I feel good (I have not cried while we have been in Tuscany!) and am really enjoying this gift of time with my family. Grandparents, we WILL be ready for some serious babysitting when we get home though. Not kidding!

I also wanted to give a couple of product reviews. Before we left I bought the DROPPS detergent packs and I LOVE them. They have been perfect for traveling- from doing laundry in the bathtub in Rome to the teeny front loader in Tuscany, they have worked great. They clean really well, yet are still mild on the skin. I will probably use them in my regular life when we get home.

Ergo- We are SO glad we bought the Ergo Baby Carrier for C. My only regret is that waited until he was 23 months old to buy it. I love carrying him in it, and it has been great for G to get to use the stroller with the amount of walking we have been doing. We mostly put C on our backs, but the other day I held him on my front (He was saying, "NO BACKPACK! NOOOOO!") and he had a great little nap.

KEEN Shoes- I bought these red, leather KEEN walking shoes before we left. I also brought a pair of Mary Jane Crocs in case it was nice (have not worn those at all). The KEENS are AWESOME. We have walked so many miles, and my feet feel great. No blisters. And they are so light weight- when it has been warmish, I have still been fine.

Welp, I think that is it for now. Thank you again for all the comments and kind words. We really do miss everyone, and love hearing from you. It is so encouraging to know you are thinking of us- we are thinking of you too!

CIAO!

Treasure Hunting in Florence

2008-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the best days we've had so far. The weather was
nice and after a lazy morning we decided to take advantage of the sun
and spend the day in Florence. In our pre-trip prep we'd found
treasure hunt guides for Florence and Venice, so the kids were pretty
excited to take part in that today. It was a really fun way to teach
the kids a little of the history of Florence and the Renaissance.
Once we got a certain amount of points, we stopped for gelato!
Other fun highlights of our day:
-walking through the beautiful Boboli Gardens
-J, M, and G climbing Giotto's tower and snapping some gorgeous pics
of Florence (while C and I browsed leather shops and enjoyed a
cappucino)
-after being convinced we wouldn't see Michelangelo's 'David' because
we hadn't made reservations 2 weeks ago, not only did we walk RIGHT
in, but today was free for some random reason! Huge surprise! Even
the kids quickly got over the nakedness and really saw how amazing the
sculpture was.
-had pizza for lunch on the steps of Florence's great cathedral, right
across from the 'Gates of Paradise'
-burned lots and lots and LOTS of calories on our way to and from our
car. It was a long distance with a ton of hills. We were racing the
parking meter and we were thrilled and relieved to find no parking
ticket when we arrived 2 minutes late!

Tomorrow will hopefully be a relaxing day of recouping (our legs are
tired!) and exploring our hamlet.

Ciao!

Treasure Hunting Girl

2008-03-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

In the Piazza Signoria in Florence.

2008-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

C's contribution to Florence- a good nap!

Siena!

2008-03-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

> First, I would just like to say, again, that I LOVE Tuscany. It is
> such a relief to be here. It is gorgeous, serene, and actually
> looks a lot like home. Except, you know, there is a castle or a
> midievil 'hamlet' on top of each hill instead of a strip mall or
> Walmart. Our apartment is amazing and I've done seriously 6 loads
> of laundry. Possibly 7. (Or 8) There is no dryer, so I've become
> perhaps a tiny bit obsessed with hanging things on the radiators and
> drying rack, rotating, etc. It's so nice to have clean clothes again!
>
> I also wanted to say that my sweet husband let me have 15 minutes in
> an 'internet point' yesterday and I had just enough time to scan my
> personal email a read the blog comments. Thank you VERY much for
> all the kind and encouraging words. I was so lifted up after
> reading them! Free wifi is so prevelant in the PacNW, we've been
> really surprised at the lack of it here!
>
> Anyway, yesterday the Tuscan sun was shining and we decided to head
> to Siena. It is this gorgeous little town where the old, walled
> part has no (well, very little) traffic. It has a large square,
> where we sat and people watched for a while, and an unusual striped
> church that we dragged the kids through.

On our way home, we took a wrong turn and ended up driving past a tiny
walled village (Monteriggioni) that we'd previously seen from the
highway. We parked, walked up to it, and expected it to be just a
historical site. Instead, there was a little living village. A small
church, places a residence, restaurant, even a little leather shop.
(I have my eye on a certain red purse there.) It was incredible, and
such a fun, unexpected treat. We've found several times over the past
few weeks that the best things that happen are not things on our
lists, or in our well laid out plans!

Once we made it back to Barberino, Joel cooked us gnocchi, artichokes,
and bread and we enjoyed fresh olive oil and Chianti. This is the
life! (But don't worry, we will come home!)

2008-03-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

From Barberino Val d'Elsa- our 'home' in Tuscany.

Tuscany!

2008-03-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Highlights of today:
-driving in a foriegn country for the first time ever
-driving a BMW for the first time ever
-our lovely, lovely 'flat' in Tuscany
-less rain than yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that
-Tuscany (it really is amazing)
-this incredible little 'hamlet' we are staying in. I think that means
town.
-our 1st sit down real Italian meal with local red wine...YUM! (see pic)
-the owner of the flat showing me where I can get a cappucino in the
AM- just 30 feet away.
-our sweet, happy kids

Moments today that weren't our favorite:
-paying a driver (who spoke no English) in Rome waaaay too much to
drive us to an Avis rental office in 'way the heck Rome' where we had
reservations for TODAY and then finding out that said Avis office was
in fact closed because today is 'Easter Monday' (really? Easter
Monday?). And then had to convince Italian driver to take us to a
different Avis office, a good 30-40 minutes away, which he did, but
also threw in the scariest taxi ride of our life. (thankfully Avis
upgraded our car for free for our hassle and paid for part of the taxi)
-driving a BMW for the first time while simultaneously driving in a
foreign country for the first time. (scary!!)
-spending 20 minutes after our lovely dinner (and bottle of red wine)
trying to get the door to our lovely flat opened.

Ciao!

First Night in Tuscany

2008-03-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Sweet babes in the new bedroom.

Happy Easter from Rome!

2008-03-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

(Picture from the top of the Spanish Steps)

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Our day started out gray
and rainy (again). We just sat by the big window (that has a radiator
underneath) and just watched it pour. We were hoping for it to let
up, because we knew that even with umbrellas we'd be soaked within a
few minutes. We had considered making an apperance at St. Peters,
but instead watched the hoards of people (on every other tv channel)
getting soaked from the comfort of our own flat.

Finally after lunch we saw a little blue sky, and we were SO sick of
being indoors, so we headed out. We hadn't seen the Spanish Steps
yet, so we took a nice walk down there by way of piazza del popolo and
via del corso. There were so many people out, and we were all
thrilled to be in the fresh air. The Spanish Steps were beautiful,
and we just sat by the fountain near the bottom and watched people for
a while- just soaking in Rome for the last time. The kids wanted to
see the Trevi Fountain again, so we tried to find it, got a little
lost, (ended up at the Pantheon instead!) and by the time we got there
G was asleep and the sky was getting dark again. Don't tell G, but M
threw a coin into the fountain from over her back to ensure she'll
visit Rome again.

By then we were getting tired from all the walking, and were making
our way back to Azuni St to our apartment, when the skies opened up
and it rained like I have never seen before- complete with thunder and
lightening. C was on my back in the Ergo, so he, M, and I huddled in
a doorway with some random strangers. J had G in the stroller and
they basically huddled against the wall with the umbrella. G fared
okay since he had the stroller awning pulled down over him, but poor J
got completely drenched. The rain lasted less than 7 minutes, and
then the clouds parted and the bright sunshine poured down upon us.
We hadn't seen the sun for 2 days! I tell ya, everything is intense
in Rome!

Once back at the apartment, Joel made us a delicious steak dinner, and
we worked on getting packed up. Tomorrow morning we are getting
picked up at 9 (hopefully! the communication barrier is an issue) and
will be driven to the Avis office where we'll get our car. Then we
are headed to Tuscany! We are really excited about our accomodation
there as well. It will be nice to be able to relax a little and do
some laundry!!
Ciao!

Vatican City

2008-03-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

To be perfectly honest, today was not fabulous. We woke up to pouring rain, like home in November. We knew we'd have rain on this trip, but we didn't realize Rome's entire annual precipitation would occur this week.

Anyway, today was the last chance to see Vatican City, so J and M set out early to do the museum (including the Sistine Chapel), the plan being that the boys and I would meet up with them in a few hours in St. Peter's Square, and we would all go through the basillica (church) together. About 45 minutes before the appointed time, we headed down there, on tram #19 that our neighbors/new friends/maintenance people told us about. It was handy and easy and took us right to the Vatican. But I inadvertently rode without a ticket, so that was a little stressful! Thankfully i didnt get busted! When we got to the square, I knew we were in trouble. First of all, it was raining SO hard. We had on heavy coats/hoods/hats, but no umbrella. I really couldn't hold one because C was in the stroller, and with my other hand I was grasping G's hand. Which brings me to the second problem. There were SO many people. Just a sea of brightly colored umbrellas against the gray downpour. The line for the Vatican Museum was so long that it wound for several blocks- to St. Peter's Square. (Which doesn't mean much to most of you but, trust me, it's stinkin long.) We went ahead and made our way to where we were supposed to meet J and M but it was obvious that there was no way that they were done with the museum, and even if they were, the chances of us finding each other were slim. That place was packed! I heard someone say that the line for thd basillica was 4 hours long!!! And of course by this time, G was totally soaked from his toes to his knees. Totally. Think of how wet your pants would be if you waded into knee deep water, and that's about how it was. If you know our G, you know that being wet, or having wet clothes is one of the 'things' that sets him totally over the edge. But I was very proud of him- he really kept his cool and stayed calm even though I'm positive he was miserable. C was in a little better shape since he was in the stroller with the shade down, and I'd put 2 pairs of pants on him. Once I realized the original plan was out the window, we headed right back to tram #19. (This time I bought a ticket.) I was hoping that J would survey the scene and realize why I wasnt there. I have to say that it was painful to be right next to the basillica- the biggest church in the world- and not be able to go inside. It really is an unimaginablely amazing place. Anyhow, the boys and I headed home, warmed up, dried off, and played games.

I was getting a little worried when 3 hours past the meeting time had come and gone and still no J and M. Finally, nearly 4 hours later, they showed up. When I heard how their morning went, I realized ours wasn't so bad.

They had arrived at the line for the museum at around opening time. They hopped in line but couldn't see the front of it, because it twisted around a corner. Joel couldn't step out of line to see where the beginning was because he didn't want them to lose their spot (hoards of people arriving), and couldn't leave M alone in line. And so they waited. And waited and waited...for 3 hours. J said that M was a trooper and didn't complain, but they were pretty miserable. As it turns out, they were still in line at our meeting time, and for an hour after. Once they finally got in, they had to somewhat hurry because it was almost closing time and they wanted to be sure to have time for the Sistine Chapel (which was the whole point). They enjoyed what they did see though, and loved the Sistine Chapel. When they were all done, there were 2 options to exit- 1 directly into the basillica (therefore skipping the hoards and line outside) and the other straight out into the square. (The entrance to the museum is several blocks away.) J, having no idea about the lines to enter the basillica from the square, thought he could exit the museum, make sure we weren't out there, and still tour the church without having to wait in any more lines. No such luck! I am so bummed that none of us got to see the basillica!

It continued to pour and be freezing the rest of the day. We still haven't figured out the heaters here- they come on faithfully each morning and evening, but there are a few hours in the afternoon that we are COLD.

We are here until Monday morning and then we head to Tuscany. We are super excited about our place there. We aren't sure what we are doing for Easter tomorrow. If it's not raining, we may head down to St Peters again just to experience that, but we'll see.

Ciao.

J and the mummy at Vatican Museum.

Sent from my iPhone

2008-03-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

M at Vatican Museum.

Happy Birthday Carter Mac

2008-03-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

Carter turned 2 today! We had a great day despite me being a little
meloncholy (read:sobbing my eyes out) about being away from friends
and family for his big day. It turned out wonderful though and I know
that some day we'll be able to tell him the story of his 2nd birthday
- a day spent in Rome!
First thing in the morning, M and G came and crawled in bed with us
and sang to Carter. Pretty sweet.
Once we got up and around we went to Explora. (you can google it) It
is a children's museum, and was really cool. Carter was thrilled with
it, and M and G were definitly happy to have a 'kids day!'
Afterwards, we grabed some pizza and walked to the Borghese gardens
for a picnic.
Finally, we took a long trek across the enormous gardens to the zoo.
It made us appreciate the Oregon Zoo, but it was pretty cool to see
species that the our zoo doesn't have - a camel, a pygmy hippo
(really!!!), and our favorite, the armadillos! If you've never seen
an armadillo, you'd better put it on your list- they are hilarious!
It got pretty cold and started raining while we were at the zoo, so we
had to huddle up near the lemurs for a while, and when things cleared
up, we headed back 'home'.
There we finished the celebration with a pasta dinner (too stormy to
go out), and an Italian cake, complete with a #2 candle. Carter was
pretty thrilled with the whole thing. Every time he'd walk by his
cake box, he'd point to it and say, "Happy?" During the day if we'd
ask him, "Who's 2?" He'd grin his little sly grin and say,
"Molly!" (his best friend) If we said, "Who's birthday is it?"
Carter would answer, "Daddy!" Always a teaser!

We hope you enjoy the pics. Sorry about the quality- we are only able
to use iPhone pics and there is no flash. Also, we haven't been able
to check the blog much (I am emailing the posts), so I haven't had a
chance to answer all your comments! But it is so nice to know a bunch
of you are thinking of us, so don't stop! I also haven't been able to
check my home email, but hopefully I can in the next couple of days.

Ciao!

2008-03-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hanging with Mama at the zoo.

2008-03-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Birthday pizza in Villa Borghese.

2008-03-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

Playing with The Bigs at Explora, Rome's Museum for children.

Pardon my spelling!

2008-03-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I would like to ask you all to please forgive my autrocious
spelling in the last post! I do know how to spell most words, and I
am aware that Colosseum does not (nor will it ever) have the letter
'y'. My excuse is that I am typing on this teeny iphone and sometimes
I don't pay attention!

Also, tomorrow ( Friday) is Carter's 2nd birthday! More about that
tomorrow!

Ciao!

Sent from my iPhone

Rain in Rome

2008-03-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

We had quite the eventful night. First C woke up crying in the
playpen, and J got him for me. While I was snuggling him back to
sleep, M was coughing so much that I decided to get up and get her
some cough meds. Well that made C go ballistic and he cried so hard
that he threw up, yes in like 30 seconds, even with his daddy
consoling him. Here we are with ZERO extra linens, no washer, and
puke all over our bed. (Have I mentioned there are only 2 towels
here???) By this time everyone is awake. So we get everyone and
everything cleaned up (thank you costco wet wipes) and finally get
settled back in. And just as everyone gets calm, the loudest thunder
I have ever heard starts up. At first we thought a nearby building
was crashing down near us. So everyone got all excited about that and
I think it was probably about 2 before we all went back to sleep. Oh,
and the sheets? Let's just say I'm getting good at washing sheets in
the bathtub!

This morning we woke up to sunshine and headed out to the Roman Forum
and Coloseum. We rode the metro over there- we are getting better at
that! We did Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum, and as expected it
was a little wild with the kids. I'm sure a stack of old bricks just
looks like a stack of old bricks to a kid! As we were finishing up
the Roman Forum, the skies just completely opened up. We tried to
hide out under some trees for a bit, but eventually made a run for
some museum entrance, where about 25 other tourists were hiding out.
We went to the Coloseym after that, which everyone liked, but even the
Coloseum is somewhat less impressive when you are wet and cold. We
are happy to be back at our apartment now having a rest! Although I
just tripped a breaker when I was making tea, so I had better call
Leonardo (not kidding) before it gets too much later...

Ciao!

No Place Like Rome!

2008-03-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

A quick hello from Rome. We've been here for a full day and are doing
well. This place is intense though! Kids were AWESOME during our 24
hours of travel, but are happy to be on the ground now! Free wifi
isn't as prevelant as we'd hoped, so I can only send one pic for now.

We arrived at our darling apt Tuesday just past dark. The apt is
teeny, but super clean and authentic, which is what we wanted. (you
can see it in the accomodation post below) The only prob is that the
street outside is really loud and that plus our screwed up internal
clocks (and my internal stress) equaled a rough night for J and me.
Thankfully, the kids slept great.

Around 3am we finally discovered the pack of earplugs the owner
supplied, and then we slept hard until 10. Feeling better, but slow
to get moving, we finally left the apt at noon. We took the metro to
the Trevi Fountain- which the kids loved. (see pic) On the metro we
had a pickpocket experience, but thankfully the only accessible pocket
just had sunscreen, which he didn't take. Haha Sucker!

Leaving the fountain, we wound around looking for The Pantheon. It
took us a bit to find it- we are definitely low on the learning
curve! Once we finally found it-WOW! What a truly amazing place,
really. G could have cared less, but M really got it. Afterwards, we
were wiped and hungry. I'd forgotten how intimidating the whole
buying food thing is! We'd purchased pannini earlier, but the kids
weren't really fans. So we caved (on day 1) and J went to McDs while
I sat on some steps in a piazza and the kids chased pigeons. We all
felt much better after that snack and were ready to trek over to
Piazza Navona.

We got seriously lost on the way there and finally bought a decent
map- muy helpful! Navona was busy and bustling, and I thought a
cappucino on the piazza sounded lovely! It was, but that plus 3 hot
cocoas cost us about $40!!!!! J will never complain about Starbucks
again!
We were pretty worn out after all the walking and getting lost today,
so we thought we'd catch the cute little 116 bus back to the metro.
Well, we caught the 116 alright, but it was headed the wrong way!!
The driver booted us on the wrong side of the river about 4 or 5
bridges south of where we wanted. But after the bus ride we were
feeling better and the weather was gorgeous, (setting sun), so we
decided to hike it. A stop at the grocery, and we finally arrived
'home'. M was thrilled to meet a little neighbor girl who is also 7.
They are going to play in the courtyard tomorrow.

Well, J is cooking tortellini with pesto for din, so I should go.
Tomorrow is the Coloseum!
Ciao!S

Watching planes

2008-03-17T14:55:00.001-07:00