Italy

We set off for Italy last Sunday as a final family vacation before Hyrum leaves for Afghanistan this Friday. We broke up the 8 hour drive into two days, staying in Austria both on the way out and then again on our way home from Italy. I had romantic notions of sun and ocean and happy boys and yummy Italian food...I guess I should have done more research! I don't mean to be completely down on Italy, I'm sure it's a great place but it just wasn't what I was imagining it would be. The first day we were there we went down to the docks in Porto Venere where we were staying and took a small boat over to an island that we were told had a nice beach. Julian was actually sleeping when we got over there and so I decided to take advantage of a quiet baby and go in the ocean for a bit. Well, I guess I should have worn my sandals because I was only in for about 2 minutes when a stepped on something sharp and it turns out sea urchins were all over the bottom of the ocean. Needless to say the boys got freaked out and wouldn't go back in the water until we bought them water shoes. My time in the water was over for good as I had about 15 spines stuck in the bottom of my foot and it hurt really bad when I went into the salt water. Hyrum tried to get those little spines out with tweezers and a knife but it turns out they are really hard to pull out so I just lived with it...they are actually still in my foot and it's been a week now.

OK, so maybe I would have a different experience if my foot didn't hurt the whole time. I DID enjoy watching Hyrum and the boys swim out in the ocean. I loved all the Italian gelato (ice cream) and focacia with fresh mozarella. The weather was really warm, just perfect for a dip in the ocean. I enjoyed the ferry ride we took along the coast on our way to Cinque Terre. The cool breeze from the ocean made it so pleasant down by the water front. The atmosphere in Italy is completely different from Germany and it was fun to be immersed in a different culture. I really did enjoy my time but I wish I hadn't gotten hurt right at the start.

A sea urchin, just in case you didn't know what one looked like

I had so many great pictures and I couldn't decide which ones to post so I made a little movie for you. Enjoy!!!!