Cinque Terre

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

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

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!

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

Pisa!

(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!

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...

Biking the wall in Lucca.

Hello From a Real Computer!

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

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

In the Piazza Signoria in Florence.

C's contribution to Florence- a good nap!

Siena!

> 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!)

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

Tuscany!

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

Sweet babes in the new bedroom.

Happy Easter from Rome!

(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

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

M at Vatican Museum.

Happy Birthday Carter Mac

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!

Hanging with Mama at the zoo.

Birthday pizza in Villa Borghese.

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

Pardon my spelling!

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

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!

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

Waiting...

...for the shuttle in the rain.

Squished in!

Leaving home.

Stay Loose!

Growing up, my dad would always tell me to stay loose when skiing so
I'd be ready for bumps and dips headed my way. As time went on, 'stay
loose' became a saying to encourage me to handle the twists and turns
of life. Today was one of those days for the 5Gs.

Everything was fine until we got to pdx 3 hours before our flight. We
then found out that our 10 hour flight was delayed 3 hours! Not ideal
with 3 kids in tow, but we are staying loose. Lufthansa gave us a $50
food voucher to use at one place and let me just tell you that it
isn't possible to spend that much at Panda Express. Now Joel and kids
are playing Chinese checkers and I am practicing blogging on an
iPhone. I have more to say (surprise) but my hand is cramping up!! I
guess I will have to choose my words carefully the next month!
Sent from my iPhone

Down to the Wire

House is clean.
Suitcases are (mostly) packed.
Dining room table is the gathering area for all things carry on.

48 hours from right now we will be somewhere over the Eastern U.S. (Or NE Canda? No idea...)

I have to admit in the past 24 hours there have been a few second thoughts on my part. J is so calm and collected (and organized!) and I am. . . just not. On Friday we celebrated G's last day of preschool. His LAST day! Next is kindergarten. So I cried on the way home from that. Once I'd composed myself I asked him how he was feeling about preschool being over. He said, "Good and bad. Good because I am SO excited for our big adventure! Bad because, well, I really like preschool and all the fun stuff we do there." I thought that was pretty good verbalization for a 4 year old! (And, I LOVE that he calls the trip, 'Our Big Adventure.')

Friday afternoon I picked M at a friend's house- they'd had a little going away hot cocoa party for her (so sweet!), and she sobbed all the way home from that. She's going to miss her buddies so much!

Thinking about missing our families for 5 weeks, about being away from friends and family for Carter's 2nd birthday, missing comforts of home, all these things set off a little of anxiety in me for sure. This is normal, right? J is going to have to give me several more pep talks in the next 24 hours!

At any rate, we are down to the wire. I can't believe we're really doing this!!

Trip Planning, Family Style...

Less than 13 days. Suitcases are out.

I did power laundry last night. (If you don't know what that is, you shouldn't be reading a blog about family travel.) I decided that no one can wear 'trip clothes' anymore, because the chances of me getting through another bout of power laundry in the next 13 days is slim to none. This isn't much of a problem, since most of the trip clothes are new and we've all survived with out them until now anyway.

M is memorizing the Italian phrase book. She is quite excited to learn of all the similarities between Italian and Spanish. I did recommend to her that she memorize 'Where's the bathroom' or 'how much does that cost' before the body parts.

It's All Coming Together

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Today Joel and I spent a good part of the day working on our Google Maps. Do you know about Google Maps??? It is pretty cool. Joel is making itinerary maps for each of our destinations. (We were inspired by these at Delicious Baby!)

And then I put together one of eating establishments in Rome. (And coffee, don't forget about the coffee!)

A few minutes ago G and M were huddled around Joel, (who has been reading Rick Steves all day long), and he went through all the fun things we will be doing. He started with "An airplane ride, and then a taxi ride..." and continued through gondolas, castles, and boat rides down the Rhine. I could see the excitement building in their eyes. G is especially excited about the tobaggon rides in Germany (eek!), and M would pipe in at different times with, "I learned about that in school!" It's finally becoming real. To picture my clan in line for gelato, sitting in the sun at the Coliseum, riding a vaperetto in Venice. Wow! We are really doing this!

I also bought these today. I do realize that people in Europe wash their clothes, and most likely have a type of detergent for doing so, but on some of our other journeys we've had a hard time finding small containers of detergent, and we end up buying some big huge thing, and leaving it there when we leave. Since we have so many destinations, this isn't a great idea, so I thought these little things were perfect. I do realize that baggies of powder probably would have worked as well. But they do look fun! Plus our kids (especially G) have such sensitive skin, it's good to know that these are not full of harsh chemicals. The last thing we need in Italy is some random rash!

16 days and counting...