Motley Crew

Who are all these hooligans??? This is actually of the kids last Sunday when we had Linda's family over for dinner - we got together again tonight too because we celebrated Bowen's birthday - we always get together for birthdays and with 10 kids & 4 adults it means a whole lot of celebratin'.

I finally found where my pictures were hiding, if I can just find it again later that will be the clincher! It was a nice weekend - I did my mini Triatholon practice - it was tough - the water was so cold!!! But I think in 2 weeks when I have to do the real one I will be okay. I thought I was actually going to drown during the swim portion - my coach gave me a wetsuit to try and it constricted my chest so hard I couldn't breathe, I swam on my back the whole way! But I had great friends that stayed with me just in case. So I'll try the Lake on another day...

1700

It was supposed to be 1700 meters not 1600!!! Yikes! When I got to the pool - did I forget to mention I signed up for Tri-Training? a few of my friends were there, but it was tough to swim after 2 weeks of carb-overload in Italy. There were only 5 of us there, so our coach got in and she said to practice "bumping", so I thought, okay - Bumper Swimming! I took it literally so she made me go with her, it was so hilarous! I was toatlly ramming her into the side lanes, cutting in front of her, we were both laughing so hard I thought we were going to drown!

We had Open House at the school today - Mike got home early from his business trip to the city (SF) which is only 45 mins away, but he stayed over night for 2 nights - but man it is tough going to 3 classrooms in an hour! Chandler's was the hardest, his class had a checklist for the kids to do with their parents, a whopping 29 items to look at!!! It's so funny to go to the different grades.

First Ian's 1st grade class, with all the cutesy artsy stuff hanging on the walls, ceiling, every surface is artwork. They have butterflies and pictures of the kids and STUFF everywhere. Then 2nd grade - I gave the preview - but they too are stacked to the Hilt, this teacher is known for writing, the kids have a Writer's Workshop, they published 3 books too that the kids wrote (one book with a short story from each kid, the other two are individual stories by the kids, their pick and a class pick) So Cool, but with that 29 item list we had to move......

Then it is on to 5th grade - plus a male teacher - they have a few art displays - and I mean few - they had their monster Scale Model project we worked on - some books, maps, but overall pretty institutionalized. Very fun night. Now it's off to make some popcorn I've been craving for the last 3 weeks and watch the Tivo'd AI - but I already know who was off'ed last night - really liked the top 3 though so I can't complain......it is my first season of AI so it is exciting!

I'll add pictures later....

I survived

Well I barely survived yesterday's windstorm. I forgot to even mention that I also had to make an airport run in the morning! Got all the kids off with their homework in hand. I will have to show the "project" Tyler had to do...but I can't figure out this stupid Mac computer. I put pictures on, but can't find them.... I need a Mac Genius apparently.


Tyler had to make a "scale model" of her bedroom - literally - it was a monster of a project. More later when I can figure out this computer! I'm off to go swim 1600 meters in the pool!!!

What day is it??

I have been back now for how many days? It seems like I never left. I started to blog at least 4 other times and never was able to send anything out! It has been crazy. So many things to do in the day. My headaches were starting to go away, but I noticed today they were starting to creep back.

And laundry, another creeping thing - it is crazy how it multiplies itself daily. My kids were really cute today - and my hubby didn't have to go into work until late so we cheated and had a very yummy lunch and In & Out Burger - I could feel my cholesterol levels increasing with each yummy bite!

Tomorrow will be a crazy day - not looking forward to it. Baseball game, in charge of the Potluck, so I have to make stuff, plus after school I have scouts - and no husband....Tyler has had a huge project which is due Thursday - she had to make a scale model of her bedroom, it's crazy!!

I need to go back to Italy!!!

The party's over....

Well, all great things must come to an end..... we go home tomorrow, what a great trip! It's time to plan the next one...

This is with the lady in Venice that made the one of a kind handbag I purchased!

Max's family - Irene and Beppe

On Murano Island just after our glass tour....

In the lobby of our new hotel in Venice

Genova

Today we went to Genoa, or as Italians say it Genova - it was our best weather day by far. We wish we could have gone to Cinque Terre but I will have to save that trip for when Mike comes with me.

Louise kept giving MaryLou the description of Genova as a Port City, then she'd say, "Like Oakland" and let me tell you, the first part of our walk, we definitely were walkin' Oaklanesque type streets!! Yikes!

It was a cute college area so tons of cute little fashionable chain smokin' young things running around the streets.


We did the touristy things, we let MaryLou ride a boat tour in the harbour, standing by the waves were enough to set my ongoing vertigo into full swing. I feel like I'm swaying right now just writing about it.

We ate lunch, found Cristofo Colombo's house he may have lived in, maybe not, wasn't born in but was this old building we think they just picked out because it was still standing, threw in a few pictures, put up some papers saying they certified the place, and some sewn garments they must have made 10 years ago to try to "resemble" what they might or might not have worn during Columbus' time!!!!! It was 4 Euro!! The squarefootage was about the size of my master bedroom - ha ha.




In the Duomo there they had a their own rendition of the Last Supper, so if for some reason we don't make it to the one in Milan, since we don't have tickets, we can still say we saw "A" Last Supper!! (sorry forgot to write down the artist)

During the downtime Louise gave me a tutorial on my camera so we kept taking lots of pictures of nothing but just to test the settings!!!

San Giacomo & Cuneo

We had a great weekend. The great thing about coming to Italy is seeing my friend and seeing her so happy. The even better part is seeing her with her family....and that they are Italian is an even better bonus! We got to go to Cuneo where Max grew up. Most tourists get to go to Florence or Rome (good thing I've already been to those!), but we get to go to where the locals eat and sleep. His family has a Mountain house which is in San Giacomo - about 1/2 hour from the triangle, plateau city of Cuneo. It was breathtaking up there, the house is beautiful and the mountains! It is about 45 mins from the French boarder, next time we'll be go into France! We are so lucky to see all of these places off the beaten path....

Here I am with Nonna Irene helping her make authentic Lasagna! No more ricotta or cottage cheese please!

A view of our mountain hike

Downtown Cuneo

Tomorrow we are off to Genoa! Ciao!

Venice

We had such a fabulous time in Venice - it is truly a beautiful city. Unfortunately the first rains of the year came on our first and last days there, but we did get to enjoy a wonderful middle day - the sights were fantastic, Piazza San Marco, the Rialto, Giovanni e Paolo Church, the Canale Grande, beautiful, can't wait to come back with Mike!



We had a really great hotel, Louise & Max had a great idea and recommended that we stay near the train station instead of dragging our luggage through town. We stayed at the Hotel Antiche Figure - our concierge looked like a European Richard Gere, but younger and cuter (just don't tell Mike) - Alessandro helped us find all kinds of great local things to see and eat. He even said MaryLou and I could have a job at the front desk if we wanted to stay in Venice.....

Our New Villa

This is the Villa we're going to retire in, we couldn't see the ends of the grounds.....

Como Lago

Today was very fun - we got to see what it really looks like in Italy - we went to Lake Como and visited the city of Como then took a Water Ferry to 3 other picturesque towns: Cernobbio, Torno & Moltrasio.


Lake Como looks like an upside down wishbone, with the city of Como being at the bottom left bone. We snaked up the left side but didn't make it to Bellagio this time. Sorry George, we didn't have time to make it to the Villa this trip.

Mary Lou and I went solo, Miss Sophia was under the weather so she had her slave, I mean, her mommy tend her. She's been excellent, so we thought we would let her have the day off. We got to practice our Italian today and all of our food, drink and most importantly, our gelato were all ordered correctly!


We ran into some English boys on the ferry who told us they were on the Manchester UK Football (Soccer) team in town to play against the Milan team in the semi-finals, a huge game tomorrow - I was slightly suspect as they were on a ferry with beers and cigarettes in their hands - we took a picture of them anyway to make them feel good!!


Our only fiasco, which wasn't our fault by the way - was that on our way home we thought we were so lucky just making boats and trains, then when we rolled into Milan, we went to hit the Metro and lo and behold...... it was closed!! I think it was close to 7pm, well apparently since it was the Labor Day holiday - ALL of the public transportation closed for the rest of the day - there weren't any signs and we didn't hear any announcements yesterday - cabs were very scarce too. Luckily Super Max had the evening off so he saved the day and drove into the city to pick us up.

Now we're packing our bags - we're off to Venice tomorrow!!