We waited too long to put Max in these hand-me-downs.
I think this is the only time she'll wear them.
Silly faces!
30-Jan-23
Dan went on another mini adventure to Taranto. He found the building on the Italian Euro penny - which he doesn't believe exist (the penny, not the building.....the building's right there.....)
And here's KC's official 4 year old photo. She looks so grown up!
06-Jan-23
Playing with Christmas presents.
SUPER KC!!!!
Max learned to throw pretend snowballs.
08-Jan-23
Oh hey! A Christmas photo in front of the tree. It's only....2 weeks late....
KC's personal spa day, pedicure and hair styling.
Max in a tunnel!
I made art! ART! And sound dampening.
10-Jan-23
Everyone with grandpa.
We went downtown for Jim & Sherrie's last evening in Rome.
And found some street art.
We investigated a church. This is one of my favorite things - the miscellany wall. When they have all these architectural artifacts, instead of placing them in displays or whatever, they cement them into a wall. I think it's great.
A few more years before you can have that, Max.
Having fun with grandma!
Jim & Sherrie head home after spending the winter holidays with us. I'm sure they'll be happy to sleep in, but we will miss them.
(Sorry if you now have that song stuck in your head.)
The ice skating rink was open!!!
It wasn't too busy either.
KC kept insisting she knew how to skate, even though she's never done it before.
Dan did a very good job helping her skate.
Of course there was more carouselling.
Weeeeee!
We went for a wander around town.
There's a town sign over on the right, we never got around to taking our photo with it.
But it's in this photo!
We stopped in the big church in town. KC wanted to lay down in the pew and take a nap. I tried to tell her that churches weren't for napping, but then remembered, they kind of are...
Street art?
It goes for a long way, whatever it is.
I would be interested in coming back this way in the spring/summer. It's beautiful now, but imagine it with all the flowers.
In the evening, Dan and I escaped to an escape room!
It was in an old church/abbey which is now also a youth center.
Our escape room host apologized for his English, then proceeded to tell us the story of the room (about the Voynich manuscript) and paused because he didn't know the name in English for a specific type of castle with specific crenulations. We told him it was okay, we didn't know the name either. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we escaped!
It's New Year's Eve and we have dinner plans at a pizza place. But we're also pretty worn out.
Dan and I decided to go to the grocery store, get a bunch of meats, cheeses, crunchies, and other things to snack on for dinner instead.
Thankfully, Jim and Sherrie agreed that it was a good plan when we got home and told them about it.
Our Airbnb host gave us a bottle of bubbles, a cake, and marzipan good luck pigs. It was very sweet of them. I think we were all asleep by 1030.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
01-Jan-23
First post of the new year!
Today we are heading home.
The mountains at the Merano train station were very craggy.
Another lizard with some art on a building at Bolzano, where we switched trains.
And the festively lit-up hotel by the Termini train station.
I'd say we had a good adventure, but I'm happy to be home.
Note: There is at least one point in every trip with the girls that I think "This is amazing! I'm glad we're doing this. I love it!" AND there is always at least one point where I think "What are we doing?! It's just not worth traveling with them. It's too hard!" Lest you think our travels are all sunshine and happiness, I assure you, they are not.
