Ciao!

Our last afternoon we headed into the town of Lake Garda.  Even in the rain, it was lovely.  

Ignore the bare faced, slightly maniacal look and feast your eyes on this masterpiece.
Did I mention I joined the gym the week we got back?

G hits up the crepes again.  

Matts' spaghettini

This little boy owns us all and Reed caved to his requests for the butterfly gelato.  

Crazies on the pier.  

My boys.

Adorable G.  He was determined to find a satchel to carry all his valuables in.  At the last market we found the perfect one and he was pleased as punch.  He's been offering to carry my things ever since.

Biking at Lake Garda

After a gorgeous, welcoming afternoon we awoke to a drizzly morning.  But, living in London, we've grown accustomed to the rain, so we suited up and headed out.  

The Adventurers

The path was partially paved, but some of it was honest to goodness mountain biking.  Needless to say, we got a little muddy.

Persistent G with his faithful helmet.

Everyone was all smiles, even after 15 miles.

The real trooper who carried and extra 35lbs of entertainment, who kept urging him to "go faster, Dad."

I never would've imagined an Italian vacation filled with biking and hiking.  But, it was fantastic.  We got to see the beautiful countryside and have more adventures that I would've imagined.  

Lake Garda

I convinced Reed that after a working vacation we would need a real vacation.  So, he took a whole day off and we headed up into the Lake district.  At the recommendation of a friend, we stayed at an Agritourismo and it was the perfect way to relax and reboot after a whirlwind 10 day.  

We hiked up Monte Baldo to a church that is built into the mountain.  Monte Baldo is one of the "pre-alps" and as we climbed there were some crazy drop offs.

We had a stowaway on our drive to the mountain.

Enjoying the view

When we pulled into our Agriturismo it was absolutely beautiful.  The entire valley was covered in golden sunshine and it looked like something out of a storybook.  

G quickly bonded with the horses

With 10 acres to run on, horses, bikes and a pool, it was the perfect place to relax for the weekend.

Milan

Milan was the city I was most nervous about.  Reed was working most the time and with it's fashion capital of Italy status, I worried we may run out of things to do.  But, I've decided, give me a good transit system, a good hotel and some open spaces and we can entertain ourselves for days on end.  

Reed's old boss was in town for the conference and we got to meet up with him and his wife for dinner.
Honestly, some of the best people we know.

Side note:  in true European fashion we started dinner late and it went looong.  However, the boys were fantastic!  As we left the restaurant at 10:30pm all we could do was praise them and Apple for inventing the iphone.

Duomo 2.  Can you guess who got sick in the middle of our trip.  I swear, his cough is going to drive me insane.  

Brothers!

We love checking out all the different playgrounds.

Ching-Chinging our way through the Sforza Castle

Being in Italy really made me appreciate the museums in London.  In Italy we found an interesting mix;  the museums/sites were very hands-off and not really geared toward kids.  But, everyone we interacted with was so kind towards the boys.  Waitresses would take Christian away to entertain during dinner and the big boys gained a lot experience with the 'smile and nod" tactic of foreign languages.   

So easily entertained.

Like I said, another city, another arch, another battle.

Florence: Day 2

Touring a city with kiddos you get a completely different perspective.  We skipped the original "David" and instead visited the copy in the original location.  And instead of hitting up the Uffizi we enjoyed the carousel at the Piazza dell Repubblica, which has been entertaining kids for over a century.  Lastly, we enjoyed the wide open parks and views that Florence had to offer.

"Now this is Fun!"

Striking their manliet poses.

When Christian first saw "David" he declared, "He took off his diaper."
Yes, yes he did

The statue gallery.  After learning my lesson with the Gates of Paradise I began spouting random mythological tales that I thought matched the statues.  After finding the guide, I was 5 for 6.  

Not sure why we need more naked boys in our family :)

At 5 (almost 6!).  G still enjoyed the carousel.  With Matts we had our first tween "moment" as he declared the carousel "lame."

But at 2 1/2, it was absolutely magical.  

Beautiful view from Piazzale Michelangelo.

My favorite Italian city.

I love Reed.

The mandatory game of ching, ching.

G: faster than a speeding bullet.

A different arch, a different city, a different battle

Have I mentioned I love Reed?

Florence: Day 1

Back in the day when I toured in Europe with a school group I fell in love with Florence (and my first high school boy :).  I remember it awash in pastels and filled with twisty passages where you could loose yourself for hours, or until the chaperon demanded you return.  The Duomo, in all it's restored glory was even more wonderful than I remembered and I was lucky enough to return with my love and our three vagabonds.  

  

The Gates of Paradise, take 2.
(see below)

Meh.
The boys were a lot more interested when I described the competition that took place for designing the Dome and the doors.  

Our first night in Florence

Funny story; we pulled in to Florence in the evening, and even though we were tired we decided to get out and walk the city.  After enjoying the Duomo, in all it's confectionary glory, I kept looking to the doors right across from it.  I could SWEAR they were the Gates of Paradise, but wasn't quite sure.  Well, sure enough my Humanities brain retained a smidge and when we went the next day to "educate" our boys I decided that from then on I was going to spout whatever random facts come to my mind.  
It's not like my 8 and 5 year old will actually know it they're true or fabricated.

Walking the city

Approximately 1 minute before landing in time out.  Something about cars and curbs...

Drive through Tuscany

Early Friday morning we picked up a car and headed out of Rome.  Or, more correctly, tried to head out of Rome.  Between the new iphone map and my horrendous navigational skills, it took us over an hour to just get out of Rome.  In my defense, why on earth would you make a map that rotates?  Let's just say it's possible that during this time the phone was gently tossed at Reed as I gave up my position as chief navigator.  Then things got worse, much worse.  The fumes, twisty one way streets and general craziness led to three queasy boys in the back seat.  Which led to one pukey boy in the back seat (in the car seat, of course), which led to another close call with G.  Let's just say that cleaning throw up out of a car seat at an Italian gas station may go down as all time low of my mothering career.  Luckily, the people attending the station were oh so nice and donated cleaning supplies, paper towels and even shirts for Little C and G.  Two hours later (1 for misdirection and 1 for clean up) we were on our way out of Rome.  

Queasy kiddos.

On our drive we did the mandatory tourist stop at Pisa and the boys thought it was fantstic!

I love Reed

The tower in all it's glory.

And all the glory of road trips with a 2 year old :)