Italy, Part 2

So, I believe when I left off, we were still in Rome on our second day...yikes, I have a lot more to write! :) The second day of our trip, we went back to the airport to get our rental cars and drive out to Tuscany for the remainder of our stay. Lisa had found this AMAZING villa that she rented for our whole family! I can't even describe the scene of this fantastic place. Anyway, we finally got our cars after waiting for hours, and eventually made it out of the airport parking lot after figuring out how to drive "Italian" stick shift cars. :) We drove through amazing scenery on our way to Tuscany, passing hilltop villages, fields and fields sunflowers and olive trees, and gorgeous ruins along the side of the highway. And Teage's favorite, NO ONE drives in the left lane unless they are passing (and the A1 has no speed limit :) )!Linds and David watching our bags while we waited for our rental cars Our gorgeous villa!!!! Villa Scopitello Our very first night in the villa, the owner made us a wonderful pizza dinner, and we ate at the dining room table on the top floor of the villa overlooking the valley and the town of Sinalunga. The whole family sitting down to our first dinner in Tuscany! The next day, all of us were pretty exhausted and wanted to relax, so we spent the entire day by the pool. Teage, David, and I played tennis in the morning, and then all of us just swam, played games, and had fun in the sun the whole rest of the day. I can't even tell you how nice it was to just sit by the pool and read a book, or go into the house if we got hungry, or just admire the view without having to worry about ANYTHING ELSE! Even though we didn't go anywhere, this was one of our very favorite days in Tuscany. Just playing together as a family and having fun. Linds breaking the "how long can you hold your breath?" record :) David and Dad playing football Lindsey, David, and I in a race!

The next day we spent the whole day traveling to some of the little historical villages around Sinalunga, in Tuscany. The first hilltop village that we went to was my favorite by far. It is called Civita di Bagnoregio and it is was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago. The town is located atop a plateau of volcanic rock and looks like it may topple over any minute. The sides of the hill have eroded over the years, so the only way to get there now is a skinny bridge that doesn't allow cars. The city was just beautiful. It was amazing to walk around this city that is threatening to crumble at any moment, see the foundations that were built thousands of years ago and still stand, and think about how much history this city has seen over the years. And of course there was a Gelateria right outside the city....they are everywhere! :) And I just had to get a picture of myself by these enormous cans of Nutella, which is also everywhere.

OK....I think I am going to stop there for now....more to come! :)

Italy, Part 1

So, I am wondering if I am going to need Part 2 and even Part 3, but we will get all of these pictures shown in some form or another! There are just way too many to go through! :)

To start, I need to say thank you to my Dad and Lisa for taking the whole family on this amazing vacation. We had such a FABULOUS time and are so thankful for the opportunity! We felt very blessed to be able to go! Also, thank you to my Mom and Dan for taking the boys the entire week so that Teage and I could have a get-a-way! It was so amazing to be able to not worry about the boys the whole week and just focus on vacation and relaxing!

For Dad and Lisa's 20th wedding anniversary, they generously decided to take all of us kids on a vacation to Italy! We (mainly Lisa) :) spent months planning and organizing so that we could do the most amount of sight-seeing in the least amount of time. :) And to do our best not to get lost. :) She did a fabulous job!

After a horrendously long flight, Teage, my brother Sean, and I arrived in Rome early on Friday morning. We hadn't slept well on the plane, but only had about a day in Rome, so we went straight from the airport to our hotel, dropped off our bags and took the hotel shuttle

into the city. We had a map and an idea of where we wanted to go, but that was about it. :) We ate our first official Italian meal at a little restaurant on the side of the road, got more directions from the waiter on which buses to take, and off we went. Our first stop was the Colosseum, which was the one thing I was just dying to see! However, we got off the bus a little too early (not understanding the language has its drawbacks :) ) so we walked a few blocks to the "Major's House" and toured around, and then a few more blocks to the Colosseum. What an amazing sight! It was hard for me to fathom the fact that we were standing and touring around a building that was built in 80AD. We were dead tired, extremely hot, and loving every minute!!Teage and me at our very first lunch in Rome!

Everyone there drives either a moped or a Smart car, they were everywhere!

The Major's House



The Roman Forum (ruins)







The Spanish Steps

The Borghese Museum

We met up with the rest of my family later in the day at the Borghese Museum. This used to be a mansion owed by the Borghese family and houses many amazing pieces of art.

After that, we were all pretty tired and hungry so we found a little Italian restaurant nearby and had dinner, which turned out to be really fun! Dad ordered a "coka" or Coke an the waiter asked if he wanted a "big coke?", so he said yes. This is what came out for him! It doesn't look huge in the picture, but believe me, it was enormous!

And here is David and Teage eating my dinner for me...

After dinner we took at taxi back to the hotel (fearing for our lives! :) The taxis in Rome are a little crazy...) and went swimming and just relaxed for the night. This was the view from our AMAZING room....we couldn't believe how fancy this hotel was. We just kept oooing and awwing about it all. Our view overlooked the Olympic sized pool and then all of downtown Rome!

Boys are waking up from their nap....more to come....

Fire Trucks and Blueberries

I know I know....everyone wants ITALY! But, believe me, it takes a while to go through that many pictures, so be patient! They will come! :)

In the meantime, here are some shots of what has happened since we have gotten back from our amazing trip. :)

Since the boys could speak, they have been obsessed with trucks. Especially fire trucks. I kept telling them that one day we would actually go to a fire station and meet the fire fighters, and maybe even "ride" in the fire truck. Finally this week, I was able to keep my promise. We went with a group of church friends to the fire station to meet the amazing fire fighters. They showed us around the station, put on a demonstration for the kids with their outfits and oxygen masks, and yes, we finally did get to go see the fire trucks! The whole time the fire fighters were talking, Dylan kept looking at me saying "fire truck?"....he was so anxious about seeing the actual truck that he didn't care about anything that the fireman was saying! It was pretty cute. The boys were actually a little nervous when they initially saw the fire truck, but I waited until most of the kids had gone through and then asked the boys if they wanted a turn. Though apprehensive, they both took their turn, and ended up having a great time "riding" in the truck!

Then today for Teage's day off, we decided to go pick blueberries as a family. For any of you that know us well, you know we love a good deal! And we thought that it would be a fun experience for the boys as well. I wasn't sure how long they would last, but we ended up having a great time! Though the boys probably ate more blueberries then actually made it into the bucket, we came away with about 30 pounds, very dirty hands, and some fun memories. It was hilarious trying to teach them just to pick the "blue" ones and leave the "green" ones on the bush. They got it eventually though. :)

Happy Birthday D and L!!!!

We had such a fun time with the boys for their birthday this year. They only turned 2, so they still don't quite understand the concept of celebrating, or even what a birthday is all about, but they had fun anyway! For their present from Mommy and Daddy, Teage and I took them to their very first Mariner's Game. The week before, we were getting them excited about it, showing them the game on TV, and talking about baseball. But, I have a feeling we didn't even need to do that much! They had a blast! I was so surprised how long they lasted (we made it 7 innings), and they are STILL talking about it to this day. Especially my little sports guy, Dylan. Every once in a while in the middle of a conversation he will just yell out "run base!" and "baseball game!"....he just loved it.

Both of the boys snacked on junk, watched the game, and yelled with all of the rest of the fans "GO Mariners!"....we had a fabulous time!

The next day was their actual birthday, and we had a big open house party at our house to celebrate. I was thinking an open house would be great because then people could come and go and our house wouldn't be too packed at any given time. But boy was I surprised! Not that we didn't have fun, we had a blast! It was just very busy and kids all over the place. :) The boys were a bit confused about why there were so many people there, but I think ended up having fun with their family and friends. My great friend, Lindsay, and I made Veggie Tales cakes for the boys as well, "Bob and Larry!" which they just loved. Lindsay did the Larry cake, which turned out awesome! And alas, Bob was mine....I know I know, not the best in the world. But we had a lot of fun trying!

Overall, the boys had a fun week with friends and family, ate way too much sugar, and had a little bit of a toy overload....but, we had a great time. I can't believe my boys are 2 already. Time sure flies, especially with two very active boys. I love them so much and am so thankful for the opportunity to be their mom. I can already tell what sweet spirits they have, and love them more and more everyday.

Happy Birthday Dylan and Lucas!