Not As Outnumbered

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Venice, Part 2

Eating Lunch on the edge of the canal.

Everywhere we travel we pack Tuna Packs. Tuna packs are small, light, flat and filling. The kids all enjoy them. We've eaten tuna in Turkey, London, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and on... Darin has decided to document all the tuna eating adventures. One day the boys will associate tuna with travel. Here the boys were feeding tuna to the little crabs that were on the stairs where they sat.

Our Favorite Part of Venice.
We sat on the edge of the Grand Canal and dangled our feet in the cool water. We had a germ-a-phobe friend who was disgusted that we'd done this, but really in the Grand Canal wasn't dirty. We loved doing this.

Anya refused to get out.

My turn to work out and hang Anya in the water.

Gelato! Another favorite thing.

Love his "fierce face."

Realto bridge from the water. Looks less crowded from here.

Not everything about Venice was great! It was EXPENSIVE to pee! (Think almost 2 dollars)

Visiting with our great friends at their house.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Venice, Part 1

Italy is hot. Everyone told us that Venice was crowded and dirty. That the worst time to go would be in July or August.

We went to Venice in July and we loved it. Yes it was hot, but we haven't been Hot in a year, so we didn't mind it too much. We loved Venice. We tried to stay away from the crowds and we didn't find it to be too dirty. I think having "low" expectations helped us to have a fantastic time. It was quite neat to wonder all over the bridges.

We wondered the back alleys. The boys loved getting "lost" in Venice.

Notice: Nobody is around us! It was wonderful.

Got all my ducks in a row.

Refilling our waterbottles at a fountain. We weren't quite sure that it was safe, but didn't end up getting sick.

By the Rialto Bridge. Now we find a lot of people around. We saw and then got lost again.

In front of San Marco. We wondered for half the day trying to find this place. With all the people around, I was glad that we chose to walk and not take a boat to the Plaza.

San Marco's plaza is packed with pigeons that will eat out of your hands. Darin threatened and scared the boys about all the diseases they would get from the birds, but I told them to go ahead I had hand sanitizer. They loved this part.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Deutsch Dienstag- We'll call her Heidi

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Italy-Verona and Padova

Before school starts again, we wanted to take a family trip to Italy. Everyone warned us that it wasn't the best time because of the heat and the crowds. We, however, haven't had heat for a year and it was a nice change. We really had some good family time. It was a great week.

Verona

Darin said that I got suckered in by the "Gladiator." I let him start posing the kids and act all goofy. Darin said that the man only wanted money. I didn't even think about it. I thought he was just a part of the Verona Welcome Committee.

Here we are melting! It was nice to be hot again, but wow was it hot.

Darin in front of the Roman amphitheater. It was completed in AD 30. It is the world's 3rd largest and the oldest one that is actively being used. The entire population of Verona could fit inside.

This area of Verona had a lot of street performers like the Statue of Liberty, King Tut, a floating lady (still don't know how they did that one) and of course the Gladiator.

Padova

Basilica di Sant' Antonio

Noah is always chasing the pigeons. There are always pigeons. I'm sure the Europeans love us.

I love the colorful buildings and the little balconys in Italy.

Darin with Ed and his daughter, Chelsie. They are our friends that moved to Padova for the year. He is doing geneology (dedicated!) and they are just living the Italian life. We had a wonderful time visiting with them. They are amazing people.