Rome: Off the Beaten Path

Another recommendation from one of Reed's local business associates was to explore Appia Antica.  You know the saying, "All roads lead to Rome?"  Now we can say; been there, done that!  We rented bikes, picked up picnic supplies at a local bakery and headed out for an adventure.  22 miles, 3 crashes (all G), an aqueduct and some catacombs later we were exhausted, happy explorers.  

Off he goes!  The road was bumpy and tree roots plentiful, so we are now firm believers in the life saving abilities of bike helmets.  

Little C loved riding with Daddy and the bumpy, cobblestone roads kept him giggling.  

Stopping to explore a ruin.

Made to it the aqueduct.

Cheese

Family pic-Success

Reed and his wingman.  

Ready to go see some Roman ruins.

Gearing up.

A 22km bike and still plenty of energy to go around.  Welcome to the complete futility that is my life :)

Honestly, this was one of our favorite activities of the entire trip.  It was a great way to see a lot of Roman history, removed from the craziness that is Rome.  Although I never imagined touring the Roman countryside on a bike (I LOVE bikes), it was a fantastic was to get out some energy and enjoy a beautiful day in Rome.

Rome: Food, Glorious Food!

When Reed and I travel we arrange our itinerary around good food.  With the 3 kiddos we were somewhat limited, but with the recommendations of some local friends, were able to eat at some fantastic places and fulfill our 2x daily Gelato quota.  After all; pizza-good, pasta-good, gelato-good :)

See, I can sit still :)

Perusing the guide books while eating dinner.  

Recording the daily events in his travel journal

Brothers!

Who do you think originally ordered the Cotton Candy and who ordered the Fruita de Bosca and Peach?  Reed's a pushover and Christian was able to discover his sophisticated Gelato palate. 

G decided he doesn't like Gelato, "It's too cold".  Luckily, crepes were plentiful and delicious.

So began the daily request for "Gelato with Berries"

I take my Gelato very seriously.

Yummmm!

By the time we hit Florence the boys had hit a road block.  "Mom, I didn't think it could happen, but I'm sick of Pizza".  So, we caved to the tourist trap and went to Hard Rock Cafe.  Denny-you'll be happy know Reed is passing on his love of all things fried and split the appetizer platter with Matts

All the cool kids double drink

One of our favorite meals-Obika at Campo di Fiore.  The mozzerella was amazing and the pizza fantastic.  "Look mom, 5 pieces for the 5 year old" said our Ethiopian child.

Matts' introduction to Giolitti's.  Not sure if Matts or the Gelato won, but either way it was a huge success!

Rome: The world of Antiquities

One of the main things we wanted to see was the Colosseum and other major Roman ruins; the Forum, the Pantheon and an aqueduct.  We decided to go all out and have a guide take us around.  She was good and very interesting, but struggled a little in hitting the boy's comprehension.  She seemed to vacillate between teen and toddler.  Still, we all learned a lot and I continue to be impressed with the seemingly random facts that the boys spout daily.  

The little maniac wasn't impressed with the restrictive nature of the Colosseum.
Come on, this is where Gladiators were  made!

Our guide giving us an overview.

Crazy boys in a crazy place

Family pic, fail 1

Family pic, semi-fail 2.

Brothers!

"I kill you"

Brother pic-Success!

What Little C spent most of the day doing.

More brothers.

Kicking it at the Forum.

In his glory.

The Forum, or Farmer's Market as Matts likes to inform the world.

Family pic-Semi Success 1 in front of Il Vittoriano.  The real success is that everyone is still smiling after a long day of touring the sites.  

Learning about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire

Ending the day at Piazza Navona

We did it!

Off We Go!

To wrap up our Ancient Civilizations unit and to satisfy Matts' love of all things Roman we decided to accompany Reed on a trip to Rome.  Looking at his calendar, he also had to be in Milan the following week. So, we decided to go on an epic Italian Road trip.  It was long, definitely had it's ups and downs, but was a fantastic adventure and lifelong memory.
Get ready for picture overload.

After weeks of waay too much travel, the boys were thrilled to be joining Reed as he got on an airplane.

These boys are FANTASTIC travelers.  If you limit electronics at home, there's no limit to their zombie, I mean-well mannered child, inducing potential.

After a long wait for our luggage, we weren't too thrilled to get a flat tire on our way into the city.

He may look happy here, about 20minutes later we hit complete meltdown.  

These boys were super excited to be in Rome!

Chunky Monkey

We're still in the "practice" stage and have a long way to go, but nothing makes me laugh quite as hard as a chunky monkey running around in his undies.  What makes it even more awesome is how VERY COOL he thinks he is.  He'll spend minutes (an eternity for him) dancing, snapping the waistband and posing in front of the mirror.

Happy Halloween!

Although the pics were a complete fail (a result of trying to track 3 kiddos by myself), our UK Halloween was a complete success!  I felt very cultured as we studied "The Scream" in school and at 2pm we broke loose and partied the day away.  We started with a Halloween party, complete with pinata, then moved onto Trick or Treating (starting a 4:30 b/c it gets dark so early) with some ward friends and then back home for a spooky dinner and movie.  

Party Time!  C was more enamored with the skate board than his costume.

Can you spot a Tasmanian Devil, Verb (from BattleForce 5) and Tom (from Beast Quest)?

To make it all a little more excited we took our 9 year old neighbor out for his first time Trick or Treating.    As the boys ran from house to house (except Little C who would get a piece of Candy and then kick it in the stroller munching it until he needed more) I regaled his Dad with tales of king sized candy bars, 100's of kids coming to the house, and jumping off the balcony to scare them (Uncle David, of course).  

UPDATE:

Decent pics, for posterity.  

It's the Little Things

With just the right adapter we finally have our magic bullet up and running.  Green smoothies; Hello!  Colds and Coughs, Goodbye!