Tuscany Day 3: Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance

After our short stay in Bolzano, we drove three and half hours on to Sesto Fiorentino, which is right outside Florence.  We stayed at Villa Paradisino, an authentic 16th century family owned villa.  It was sweet.   

They had orange trees, lemon trees, a ton of olive trees, a big garden, fresh herbs, etc.  The highlight of the stay was the cooking class we took in the main home.  More on that later.

Sunday morning we attended an LDS church, it was only ten minutes from where we were staying, so that worked out great.  But, it only left us half a day in Florence.  And man, there is A LOT to see and do in Florence.  We didn't begin to cover it all, but I just have to be grateful for what we were able to see and do:

Piazza della Signoria:

Neptune's Fountain by Ammannati, created in 1565!!

Loggia dei Lanzi 

This is a REPLICA of David by Michelangelo… the real one is in the Accademia Gallery, which we didn't make it to.  Shameful, I know. At least this one was free to view and admire :)

We then went to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence's famous art gallery, which I kind of wish we hadn't bothered with.  I thought it was overpriced and they wouldn't even give us a map of the museum.  You had to pay 10 euro for a book that had a map insert in it.  I relied on my travel book to get an overview of the layout, but it turned out several of the rooms, like the Raphael room, were closed for maintenance and the paintings were relocated to different parts of the museum.  So, I was frustrated.  If I had to do it over, there are other attractions in Florence I would have rather seen, but didn't get a chance to.  

One of Michelangelo's few paintings.  He mostly did sculptures

The girls did amazingly well in the museum.  Don't they look like serious art critics?

Only Ben would take a picture of this priceless treasure

We continued making our way through the Florentine streets (narrow and packed!) and crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio.  It was jam packed with tourists, but I made Em pull over to snap a few shots.  She's always a good sport about it:

Then we hiked over to the Boboli Gardens.  Everyone was pretty spent at this point.  So, we just relaxed on the grass and were extremely humored by Caroline's crazy tales of "a little shrimp."  Really, the best moments of the trip were when we just took a break, enjoyed our surroundings, and hung out with each other.

Our sad "picnic" consisted of only a crust of bread.  I was lame on the snack front.  Afterwards we went out for a delicious dinner and yummy gelato, so all is well. 

Florentine skyline, not bad, eh?

Tuscany Trip, Day 1&2

I've been seriously anticipating my mom's visit since she booked her tickets back in January.  

Planning, daydreaming, researching our trip to Italy is what got me through the winter blues.  I was so excited to have my mom come out and see this beautiful part of the world.  So excited for the kids to have her undivided attention.

There it is: undivided attention

Of course, when you're expectations run so high, there's bound to be disappointment… naturally the trip didn't go as smoothly as planned.  Nonetheless, it was a great trip.  I'll give more detail in regards to the highs and lows later.  

Mom arrived early on Thurday morning.  I picked her up from the airport with the three kids in tow.  We stopped by the new mall on the way home and did some last minute shopping for Emily… she outgrows her clothes so fast it's ridiculous.  It was fun to show Mom the new gorgeous mall.  Mom took a short nap when we got back to the house and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the park across the street while the kids ran around.   I finished some last minute packing… Ben had deadlines breathing down his neck at work and didn't get home until 1 a.m. The next morning we were Italy bound!

Last October I took this same route to Italy when I ran my race.  I was by myself and it was the most gorgeous drive… through the Bavarian Alps, crossing into Austria through Fern Pass, and then taking the Brenner Pass over the Alps into Italy.  So, I was excited to show Ben and Mom how beautiful it was.  April's different than October though and I was surprised at the amount of snow on our drive!  Much different look than October, but still beautiful. 

Adorable Caroline showing off the Zugspitze (highest mountain in Germany) from the Austrian side

We arrived in Bolzano, Italy (the foot of the Italian Alps) late afternoon.  We went to an archeology museum where we learned about Otzi, the 5000 year old  mummy discovered recently in the mountains nearby.  We explored the town a bit, ate dinner, and went back to our hotel.  The next morning at breakfast Emily took a bite into an apple and lost her second front tooth!  Why didn't I take a picture?!  

Here they are running around the hotel grounds:

The girls were very sad we didn't swim in the pool.  I wish I would have worked that into the itinerary… but it was pretty dang cold!

 Day 2: we took an adventurous cable car ride up to Renon, where we had a beautiful view of the Dolomites.  This cable car ride was awesome.  It took you up and up and then it glides across the top of this huge valley.  Beautiful but not for those with a fear of heights!

Once we were up on top we took a train to the last stop and then hiked to the "earth pyramids"

The "hike" was more of a very long walk through a town and why didn't we bring the stroller and scooters???  Oh, because I thought it was a hike in the woods, which it wasn't.

This is the view we were rewarded with:

"The earth pyramids" in the bottom left

Emily made it all the way

Don't you love Emily's toothless grin?? 

The cable card ride/hike was definitely the highlight of our short stay in Bolzano.  I just love the mountains here!!

Springtime Happenings

I just love this picture.  Waiting to leave for church.  She just LOVES church, can't you tell?  :)

Thank Heaven spring is here!  

Although, don't be fooled, spring in Germany can be quite cold.  Today it was in the forties.  But the sun was out so we'll take what we can get!  It's been wet and rainy and WINDY this past week.  The worst kind of weather when you can't even play outside. But, one afternoon the conditions were just right for flying kites... sun and wind and James down for a nap :)  Ben got these cheap kites like a year ago from a gas station.  I usually roll my eyes when he makes such purchases because I know he's never going to get to it, even though he has the best intentions.  Recently, though, Caroline has been begging me to fly a kite (since sadly, Dad is rarely around), and I've been putting her off.  Last week when we came in from running errands, she asked yet again, and I had no more excuses.  Sure, why not?  I said. No time like the present.  So I finally pulled them out of his closet.  

I've never actually flown a kite.  So, after doing a quick "wikihow" search we gave it a whirl.  The first go-around it got stuck in a tree.  The second attempt C got tangled up in the string.  But soon we got the hang of it and it was really fun… even though the girls couldn't do much because it's actually kind of tricky.  They took turns being the "launcher" and then I got Em to start timing how long we kept it in the air.  Our longest was exactly one minute.  So now we have to beat that record next time around. 

 Other noteworthy events, C and J and I went to an easter egg hunt hosted by the USO on Panzer Kaserne.  It's a good 30 minute drive for us, and because we got stuck in horrible rain and construction, we arrived ten minutes late.  As we rushed into the USO building, C burst into tears to see that the hunt was all over… and I was fuming, ready to "choke somebody out" as Ben would say.  What kind of family event lasts only five minutes and gives no leeway to people who have to drive a good distance?  I found an employee and vented my frustration… C was howling and I was on the verge of tears myself.  I know, it sounds crazy over a stupid egg hunt.  Happily, they did some rearranging and put together another hunt for the stragglers (us and two other families). All was happy in C's little world.

 And this sequence of pics of J on the easter bunny's lap is hilarious… it's the shy, "I really don't want to be here but am doing my best to not have a total meltdown" look.  He does it whenever he's put in an unfamiliar/scary situation.  It melts my heart every time.  

Emily lost her front tooth this week!  She came home from school with it basically hanging by a thread from her mouth, with a little blood around the periphery of her gums (sorry to be graphic).  It was DEFINITELY ready to meet its demise.  But she was in TEARS, fearful of me pulling it out.  I gave it a gentle tug and out it came.  There's nothing cuter in the world than a little girl losing her tooth. 

 Except maybe her letters to the tooth fairy:

Today, Easter Sunday, was really nice. The sunshine poured into our bedroom windows this morning, blinding me a bit as I attempted to sleep in… but it also sweetly made me think of the resplendent morning of the first resurrection. 

Today felt odd because we didn't have church on account of General Conference… and since it is not broadcast until 6:00 pm here, we had the day wide open.

We went to the park this morning and saw some of our favorite friends… the Beckers who were having an egg hunt with their cute kiddos. C manages to crash every party. 

And this gang of girls, coming back from the community church services here on base:

  We invited a couple families from the ward, the Baums, and the Rogers over for Sunday lunch.  Mmmm.. it was delicious!  Then we met up with our LDS neighbors, the Gillmans and the Sotos for an epic egg hunt… with over 200 eggs and 17 kids!  The men hid eggs at the nearby park, which was great terrain for an egg hunt with all the trees and the playground.   It's nice to be with friends and neighbors who help alleviate some of the homesickness that always seems to befall me on holidays.  

Miles is going after the camouflaged egg at the end… can you see it?