Everyday Life

Lest you think all we do is travel and sight see I decided to dedicate a post to our everyday life. Townsend and Emerson joined Tiger Scouts this year. Daddy takes them to their meetings twice a month and I think the boys enjoy the time they get to spend with their Dad. They recently had a "rain gutter regatta." I missed out on this event because I was visiting Paige that weekend but Hyrum said the boys had fun.

Townsend concentrating on painting his boat for the "rain gutter regatta"

They had fun, I promise...even if Emerson looks sort of grumpy

Townsend's ship sets sail at the "rain gutter regatta"

My day starts at 6:30 AM when I get the boys up for school. They catch the bus at 7:10 AM and then Julian and I have to find something to do with our day. We usually clean up a bit around the house, do some laundry and watch some You Tube videos of Sesame Street. On most days we go shopping just for something to do. One particular day, on my way home from shopping, we past Burger King. Julian pointed to it from his car seat and said "bok, bok, bok" like a chicken. I guess maybe I go there too often to get him chicken fries but it is something to do to fill up our day:)

How cute is he?

For Veteran's Day the boys school put on a "Soldier of My Life" assembly. The boys got to wear their scout uniforms and stand up on the stage while the flag was brought in and then they led the school in the pledge of allegiance. It was pretty cute seeing all those boy scouts and girl scouts up on the stage. All of the soldiers that were there, mostly the parents of the students, were then invited to come up on the stage and then all the elementary school students sang patriotic songs for the soldiers. It was really cute. Some of the soldiers on stage were crying when the kids sang "Thank You To Our Soldiers."

Emerson on stage with his uniform

A friend from church works in the pharmacy at the clinic and every once in a while a package gets delivered with dry ice. He gave the ice to Hyrum and the boys had so much fun being mad scientists for the afternoon!

My two crazy scientists!

The weather is turning cold and rainy so we headed to Play Mobil Land to spend the day at the indoor play area. It's a real bargain during the winter season, only 2,50 Euro!

The boys hangin' around the indoor play place

So, my life isn't all about exploring Europe. We enjoy doing regular family type things here in Germany as well:)

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?