That's Amore

Once a year Reed and I have the fantastic opportunity to escape our kiddos. It's the perfect time to reflect, set goals and reconnect. This time we didn't accomplish any of those. Through the haze of babiness/preschool/gradeschool/church/sports/work that is our life all we could manage was just enjoying our time together. And you know what? It was exactly what we needed.

The best part? Well, other than my Kindle (Kendall's Kindle ha, ha which I LOVE) was the fact that Reed planned the entire trip. Hotel, flights, destinations, cuisine. He researched it all, scheduled it all and paid for it all :).

A week with no decisions (other than what 3 gelato flavors to mix) made for the best vacation EVER.

Not bad for a 30th birthday.

Our good friend Ivan

After a quick (or not so quick) nap we met Ivan for a tour of the city. Who is Ivan? A great guy that Reed has done deals with at the GSMA and who was raised in Rome. Basically the perfect guide. It was a completely dizzying, delicious and enjoyable day.

The Colosseum

Just down the street from our hotel. Fascinating and tragic.

Boca de Veritas:

I'm completely confident. Reed not so much. What does this say about us?

Trevi Fountain

So romantic

***Yes, I'm wearing sunglasses in 75% of the pictures. But, we celebrated my 30th birthday in Barcelona at Cafe de L'Academia with a fabulous dinner that went into the wee hours of the morning and then pushed straight through to catch our flight to Rome the next morning. ***

Giolliti's

Completely delightful. Ivan graciously took us here. All other gelato pale in comparison and yes, nociolla, chocolate, fruit with creme is the winning combination

Never far

Reed thought it would be amusing to document the fact that I couldn't go 24hours w/o checking in on the boys. I know I was at the Pantheon, but in my defense I was coordinating a doctor's visit/pharmacy/insurance for a miserable 9mth old.

A GINORMOUS thanks to my mom and sister for taking the boys. Our sitter's Grandpa died 48 hrs before I was flying out. After a few frantic hours I resigned myself to leaving Cath with 5 kiddos under the age of 6 for an ENTIRE week. In her defense, I didn't doubt her ability, just her sanity. In my defense I left her a 'sanity' budget. As for Grandma Candi, apparently even with a sick baby she's waay more cool that I am.

Well that's the short version of our trip. Spending a week in Rome with my love was perfectly perfect. I'm so grateful to be married to such a hardworking, FUN man.

And that concludes my one lovey-dovey post for the year.