Week 31

Whitney's Class Party!!

Whitney wanted pizza instead of cupcakes for her class party

The kids all sang Happy Birthday in English and then in Italian

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Baptism Day!!

Road Trip!!

Right after the baptism we all changed our clothes and hit the road for a quick road trip to Toscana!

First Stop:  Pisa!

Looking for the tower!

There it is!!

LOL!

2012

2015

They were having a cross fit competition at the tower while we were there!

My mom trying to talk these guys down

Mom fell for the Selfie Stick lol!!

Everyone trying to get their picture holding up the tower

Hahaha!!

Having fun with Grandma's selfie stick

Time to go

Dinner in Pisa

Vicopisano

We got to stay in the same old house that we stayed in in 2012 with Tara and Tamara.  It's in the most adorable little town and the house was part of the castle and is 900 years old!  

2012

2015

Whitney was thrilled to have the princess bed!!

Our backyard

This was how they flushed the toilets 1000 years ago. The lighter color was due to the acidity of the urine.   Someone told us that it was good luck if you rubbed it. 

Florence

Statue of David... well, not really.  It's a replica of the real one.  The real statue was inside (the Galleria dell' Accademia) but we already bought tickets for Uffizi - which was also spectacular!

These 2 liked the backsides of the statues the best

The Tribuna - this was the room that Francesco I had built in the 1500's to house his most precious belongings, including Aphrodite (in the middle), the Greek Goddess of Love dating back to the 1st Century AD.  

Cupid and Psyche (Amore e Psiche)

On the wall is the Doni Tondo (also called the holy family), it is the only known panel painting by Michelangelo.  In front is the Sleeping Ariadne.

Laocoon and his sons

Portrait of Giovanni de'Medici

Lunch!

Outside the Uffizi

Gelato!!

Outside the basilica.  I let go of Whitney's hand for a second to take this picture and then looked down and she was gone!  There was at least 2 minutes of complete horror until we found her.  So scary!

The Castle of Vicopisano

We toured this castle when we were here in 2012 and I enjoyed it just as much 3 years later!  

A few stairs behind our house and this is our view

Several very steep, narrow stairs to climb

These 2 were trying to get us kicked out

We weren't sure if she would make it up the last set of "stairs"

One of these are our house

A "luxurious prison room" with a bed 

And a toilet!

Notes from previous prisoners written on the walls

That night the town was having their annual snail festival

Eating her first snail (and being photo bombed by Aiden)

They had a live band singing American songs but they were all in Italian

Grandma taught Connor how to dance

Later that night we discovered the bug zapper.  Actually my Mom found it and turned it on. It shocked her and then she touched it again to make sure.  Jeremy then had to make sure everyone got shocked!