Rome Trip Part III

OK, I promise this will be the final post about our trip to Italy! We drove the four hours from Rome to Sorrento encountering crazy traffic the entire time. I am so glad Hyrum was driving and not me!!! We got to our apartment rather late so Tuesday evening we just went right to bed.

Day 6: Julian is usually the first one up when we are on vacation and Hyrum is always so great to take him for a walk in the stroller and let the rest of us sleep. The plus side of this is that Hyrum always knows his way around the town we are staying in because of his morning walks with Julian. He found the grocery store, a yummy bakery and the town center...all of which came in handy while we stayed in Sorrento.

We walked around a bit in the town of Sorrento but our main goal for this day was a trip to the island of Capri. We hopped on the ferry boat in Sorrento and enjoyed the 45 minute trip across the Bay of Naples. Once in Capri we took a bus (once again a life threatening experience!) to the town of Anacapri. From this town we decided to take the chairlift up to the top of Monte Solaro. This was a one person at a time sort of chair and the boys weren't allowed to go up by themselves so I took Townsend while Hyrum hung out in the town with Emerson and then we switched. It wasn't ideal to split up like this for 2 hours but the view from the top was simply amazing and I'm really glad we did. After our adventure we took a bus to Capri Town and walked around a bit and enjoyed window shopping around the very expensive boutiques. We took the funicular back to the boat dock but had just missed a ferry so we had 45 minutes to wait. Lucky for us we were right next to the water so the time flew by as the boys played in the waves and threw rocks and sticks in the sea. What a wonderful way to end a fun day!

A view from Sorrento

The boys bought these swords in Rome with money they had saved up. It was great they had something to do while we waited for things...like the ferry boat. I love Emerson's pose in this photo, what a crazy boy:)

Our ferry boat trip to Capri

Townsend and I 1,900 feet up at the top of Monte Solaro. You could see around the entire island of Capri as well as across the Bay of Naples to the big city of Naples and we could even see Mt. Vesuvius looming in the distance.

Family photo in Anacapri

The boys by the water waiting for the ferry to take us back to Sorrento

Playing "chicken" with the waves and throwing rocks in the water

Julian LOVES water. It was all we could do to try and keep this little man dry:)

I like this picture because it reminds me of how dogs stick their heads out of the window of a car. The boys loved the trip back to Sorrento and, as you can tell, loved the fresh cool air from the sea.

Day 7: While in southern Italy we had to visit the ruined city of Pompeii. I wrote a report on Pompeii when I was in 8th grade and the whole time I was walking around I kept thinking, I would have never dreamed in 8th grade that I would actually get the chance to visit this city. It really was amazing. To realize the buildings and frescoes and tile floors were created 2,000 years ago is mind boggling. I mean, Christ was around when Pompeii was prosperous...how cool is that? The boys once again loved exploring all the ruined houses. They looked at the city as one giant maze that needed to be solved and they were determined to look in every corner and through every door.

The streets of Pompeii were flooded every morning to wash away the grime of the city. These stones were placed as crosswalks for pedestrians when the streets were wet. The boys loved these stones and hopped across each set we came upon.

Some of the victims of Mt. Vesuvius's eruption were preserved in the moment of death. These casts were simply amazing to see, to imagine what their final moments and thoughts were before the ash engulfed them completely.

Food vendors would display and sell their food in bowls which they placed in the holes on these counters, sort of an ancient type of fast food...would you like fries with that?

The frescoes were probably the most fantastic part of Pompeii. To see something that old completely preserved was wonderful and awe inspiring.

After Pompeii we headed over to Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano whose ashes and pyroclastic flow sealed and preserved Pompeii so wonderfully. It was a short hike to the top of the volcano where we could look down into the crater and ooh and ahh over the steam rising up from the center.

Daddy, Townsend and Julian at the top of Mt. Vesuvius

Can you see the steam rising from the crater?

Family photo on top of Mt. Vesuvius. The boys kept hoping they would see lava flowing out of the volcano but we just weren't that "lucky" I guess!

Day 8: We packed up and made the four hour drive back to Rome to drop off our car and catch our airplane. What a fun and memorable vacation but at the same time we were happy to be on our way home. Thanks for the memories Italy!

At the airport, all tired out and ready to go home:)

Rome Trip Part II

Day 4: We found that Rome is divided into three main attractions. 1) Ancient Rome 2) Baroque Rome and 3) Papal Rome. Saturday we did Ancient Rome, Sunday we visited Baroque Rome and so Monday we headed off to explore the cradle of Catholicism. We started with St. Peter's Basilica. What a beautiful church. To stand in the square and be surrounded by sculpture, fountains, architecture and to be enveloped by the immensity of it all was simply amazing. We decided to climb up St. Peter's dome before the kids got too worn out...537 steps will wear even grown ups out! The boys loved going up the stairs. You start off with a fairly large stairway and by the time you are almost to the top you are winding around a very narrow metal spiral staircase with just a rope to hang onto. I have to give a shout out to Hyrum who carried Julian up the entire way!

A view from St. Peter's square

Hyrum hiking up the stairs with little man Jules

The view of St. Peter's square from the very top of the Dome.

After enjoying the view from the top we headed down all those stairs and walked around St. Peter's church. This is by far the largest church I have ever been in. You walk in and are completely amazed by the sheer size of this place. Of course we stopped for a moment to enjoy Michelangelo's Pieta and we saw Bernini's High Alter. The alabaster window which is the focus of the apse was amazing. Bernini was so talented in so many different ways!

Bernini's window

Even though our guide book told us not to attempt this with children, we headed from St. Peter's right to the Vatican museum. Fortunately for us we had reserved tickets online the night before and so we were able to avoid the 2 plus hour wait in line! We knew this museum would pose a challenge for our young children, there is just so much to see that it could take hours. What we decided was to tackle just the main attractions. For us this meant the Egyptian mummy, the Raphael rooms and the Sistine chapel. To get from one place to another we had the boys hold our hands and we would "fast forward" through the crowds. They loved weaving in and out of all the tourists as we rushed to our next exhibit. We were in and out of the Vatican museum in 45 minutes...pretty amazing! Of course we will have to come back at some future date when the kids can appreciate all this museum has to offer but for now I am so pleased we got to see the main attractions.

The Laocoon sculpture, not exactly on our list to see but still amazing to see in person this item that I had studied so much about in Humanities...plus it was on our way to the Egyptian mummy:)

I really don't know why my boys love skeletons and mummies, maybe all boys do, but they sure were enthralled by this person.

Raphael's School of Athens. Another amazing piece of art history.

And finally we fast forwarded our way to the Sistine chapel. When you stop to remember that this whole ceiling was painted by one man AND that he had to lay on his back the entire time AND he couldn't see the big picture from the tiny spot where he lay...this is truly amazing!

Family photo op with St. Peter's in the background.

After taking the boys through St. Peter's and the Vatican museum we needed a bit of R &R so we headed to a nearby garden and let the boys throw rocks and sticks into the Tiber river. As long as there is water nearby Julian is happy:)

Townsend sleeping on the floor of the bus sums up exactly how the boys were feeling by the end of this day!

Day 5: After the long day we had on Monday we decided to narrow Tuesday down to 2 main sites. The Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The day started off pretty crummy, pouring down rain and cold. We finally got wet enough to buy umbrellas off a street vendor and then five minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out!

The Pantheon. It was actually kind of cool to stand inside the Pantheon with rain pouring in through the oculus. The Pantheon is Rome's only remaining intact building from ancient times.

We truly needed this hot cocoa break, we were all wet and chilled to the bone.

On our walk from the Pantheon to Piazza Navona we stopped quickly in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi for another Caravaggio treat, The Calling of St. Matthew.

As you can tell the sun came out and made our final moments in Rome fabulous. We stayed in Piazza Navona for a few hours just eating pizza, gelato and pastries. Our boys loved chasing the pigeons and tempting the birds with pizza crust until there was a hoard of about 20 birds the boys could then run through. I enjoyed walking around the piazza and seeing all the artists and musicians. This piazza is famous for the Bernini fountain The Four Rivers, once again an amazing sculpture.

From Piazza Navona we walked to the central train station in Rome where we picked up our rental car and headed south to Sorrento, but we'll save that for another post.

Rome Trip Part I

Day 1: We flew into Rome Friday (October 22). We had arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport because we didn't want to haul our luggage and tired kids around an unknown subway and bus system. I figured the hired driver would be a more relaxing introduction into our vacation...what a crazy idea. What we didn't realize when we arranged for the driver is that people in Italy are completely crazy drivers and our driver was no exception. He sped, weaved, zig-zagged and merged into oncoming tourist buses until we reached our apartment. I was never so happy to get out of a car!

Our apartment was fine. Three bedrooms, a full kitchen and bath. Traveling with children is so much better when you have an apartment to come back to and relax. We headed to bed looking forward to the days ahead.

Day 2: Saturday we woke up and looked outside at the beautiful day and decided to head straight for the main attraction...the Forum and Colosseum. As we had imagined, the boys enjoyed running around the Forum and climbing all over the fallen structures. The Colosseum was also fun because we had told the boys beforehand about gladiators and lions and they were excited to see the underground tunnels that all the performers would have walked through to get into the arena.

Trajan's column.

Townsend hanging around the Forum

Hyrum and I in the Colosseum

After the Colosseum we hiked up to Palatine Hill which is believed to be the first residence of the citizens of Rome. The area was covered with ruins of elaborate houses and the boys loved exploring the ins and outs of every door they came to.

When we were through exploring Palatine Hill we took a very long walk to Bocca Della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. Legend has it that if a liar sticks their hand into the mouth of truth it will be bitten off. The boys were excited to try out this legend. Emerson said, "I'm going to tell ten lies to the mouth of truth and then put a stick in it's mouth to see what happens." I thought that was pretty clever of him to come up with that plan. When we got there we had to wait in line for about 15 minutes while other tourists took photo ops with the mouth. It was finally the boys turn and they eagerly reached their hands and arms into the mouth at which point they both said, "mom, it's a fake!"

The Mouth of Truth

We were done walking for the day so we took a bus to our final destination, the church of San Clemente. This was on our "to do" list because you can purchase tickets and then walk down a staircase through time. You begin in the 12th century with the modern day church. A flight of stairs brings you down to the 4th century where you can explore the excavated ruins of another church. One more staircase brings you to the 2nd century AD to the remains of a Mithraeum church and school. This was very cool for the boys, they loved exploring the dark passage ways and running up and down all the different stairs.

Day 3: We took the subway to the famous Trevi Fountain. On our way we stopped in a bakery and I bought the most delicious treat ever. It was like a ho-ho from Heaven filled with yummy cream and wrapped in chocolate...mmmm. We tossed a coin over our left shoulders into the fountain which means we'll be back to Rome someday. The boys loved climbing on the outside wall of the fountain and Julian LOVED splashing in the fountain.

Julian at the Trevi Fountain

Next we were off to climb the Spanish Steps. Our guide book , Rome with Kids, suggested you have your kids stand up on the steps in the crowd and take a picture. Then when you get home play your own version of Where's Waldo. See if you can find Townsend and Emerson in the photo. We had the boys count the steps on our way up to see who got closest to the number of steps, 137. I believe Townsend counted 136.

Can you find the boys? Hint: you can click on the picture to enlarge

After the steps we had a long walk to the Borghese Gardens. It was wonderful to step into a peaceful quiet green space filled with trees and other plants after being in the craziness of Rome's streets. We enjoyed lunch under the trees with our own private fountain. The boys liked chasing after the birds. Julian wanted to pet every dog that came past us, he really likes dogs. After lunch we went to the Galleria Borghese which is an art gallery inside the gardens. WOW, I knew that Bernini was a famous sculptor and I remember learning about him in my Humanities classes at BYU but I was still in awe of his talent as we walked around this museum and saw four of his most famous sculptures.

Bernini's David

After dragging the boys through a museum we rented some go carts for them to cruise around in while we walked through the garden enjoying the beauty.

The boys pedaling around the park

We left the hilltop garden and walked down to Piazza del Popolo. This was a wide open square for the boys to run around in. The boys had been keeping track of how many Egyptian Obelisk's they could find and Piazza del Popolo helped them add one more to their list. We quickly ducked into the church of Santa Maria del Popolo for a quick look at Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St. Peter. A quick glance at these treasures is all we could hope for with three children and we were soon on our way.

Piazza del Popolo

You simply can't visit Italy without having at LEAST one gelato a day!

One more long walk to our final sight of the day, the Capuchin Cemetery. This was probably the boys highlight of the day. There were five rooms filled and decorated with the bones of old monks. They covered the ceilings and walls. The bones were made into shelves and chandeliers. Some of the bones were set up like people wearing the long brown robes of a monk. It was pretty spooky in there but the boys really liked it.

Spooky huh?

Halloween Fun

Our Halloween was sort of interesting this year. We began the season with a trip to a pumpkin patch...not easy to do here in Germany. In the States there are pumpkin farms all over with activities for the kids and fun corn mazes but here in Germany we were happy to find someone that had planted about an acre of American orange pumpkins and we could go out in the field and pick some up. Don't let the blue skies and sunshine fool you in these photos, it was freezing!!

Each of the boys picked out a pumpkin that was just their size.

Julian and his pumpkin. He thought it was a ball and kept throwing it, I'm surprised it made it home in one piece!

Daddy and the boys carving our pumpkin.

Emerson and Townsend removing the "guts"...why are boys so enthralled by everything yucky?

Our finished jack-o-lantern

After our fun pumpkin patch experience we headed to Rome for a week and we sort of missed the school Halloween parties and our church Halloween party. Because Halloween in on Sunday this year we weren't going to have the boys trick or treat so they were going to miss out on the Halloween fun altogether! But, because they have such a great mom (come on, I come through sometimes!) I decided to invite a few of their friends over for our own Halloween party. The neighbor kids that live next door came over as well as Laney and Ty Campbell. We don't do huge parties at our house but we did have fun with the few people that came. We started with lunch, hot dogs and yummy cranberry/marshmallow salad and then we played games and decorated cookies. The boys didn't dress up too fancy, we just told them to go up to the dress up box and grab something to wear. Townsend was a king and Emerson was a knight, but I don't have a photo of Emerson in costume. The robe was driving him crazy so he only wore his costume for a few minutes.

Townsend with Laney Campbell

Trying to eat a doughnut off a string without using their hands

Frosting and decorating cookies.

Farewell, Our Beloved Opa

Hyrum's father passed away on October 3rd. I can't really describe the emotions that I have felt over the past few weeks as I have let it all sink in. I flew out to Utah for a few days to be there for the funeral. It was so hard to walk around the house and the yard and have so many reminders of Opa everywhere and yet know that he wasn't going to walk into the room or come in from the garden.

May 1st 1999, on our wedding day. I don't think I realized fully on this day how much Opa would mean to me.

Opa with Townsend and Emerson, doing what he did best, making others happy.

Little man Jules won't remember his Opa and this makes me very sad. I know Opa loved him as he loved all his grandchildren.

I can't adequately describe how much he has influenced my life. First of all he taught Hyrum by example how to be a wonderful husband and father and for that I will always be grateful. He taught my boys how to enjoy a good hike and how to build things. They worked with Opa to build a bird house and then also a swing that hangs in our yard. Mostly I will remember how kind he was to everyone. He made everyone feel at ease when they were talking with him. He had the best laugh and always made me smile.

I know he is in a better place, free from pain. I know I will see him again some day and on that day I will give him a great big hug and tell him once more how much I love him.

The boys were not able to come to Utah for the funeral, it would have been miserable for them to make that flight twice in just a few days time. Because they didn't get a chance to say goodbye I had the idea for them to write notes to Opa and then we would tie them to a balloon and send them to heaven. Here are a few pictures and a little video of our boys saying farewell to their Opa.

Here are the pictures we drew. You can sure tell from these pictures that we all knew he loved being in nature and hiking up mountains especially!

The boys ready to release the balloon with our messages tied to it.

We all watched the balloon float up into the sky until it became a tiny silver speck and then finally disappeared.