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.

We're In The Army Now...

Hyrum is in Utah for a week and a half and so the boys and I had nothing better to do with our Friday night then head over to Netzaberg to enjoy their "community fest." This was an Army sponsored event but it's purpose was to allow Germans from neighboring communities to come and experience what the US Army is all about.

The boys had a lot of fun (see pictures below)! HOOAH (Hooah (pronounced /ˈhuːɑː/) is a U.S. Army battle cry used^[1] by soldiers)

The boys exploring one of the tanks they had on display

They had 45 seconds to apply their camouflage

Townsend's end result

Emerson's end result

Townsend learning how to fire a gun. They actually got to fire some sort of bullet but I'm hoping it wasn't a lethal type bullet...who knows?

Emerson takes a "shot" at using the rifle

The boys doing push ups for their PT test

They had 30 seconds to do as many sit ups as they could. I was pretty impressed. They just pounded out the sit ups like they were professionals. There was one kid who was crying and he looked like he was older than the boys

This is a video of the boys doing the obstacle course run. I'm glad they got to have a little taste of what soldiers experience when they go to work.

Labor Day Weekend

Hyrum was on call for Labor Day weekend so we couldn't travel very far from home. Lucky for us there are lots of fun things to do just minutes from our house. Here are the highlights from our four day weekend.

Friday: Hyrum had the day off of work but the boys still had school so we got the rare opportunity of hanging out together with just baby Julian. We headed down to Regensburg (about an hour away) to walk around the old town, enjoy some sushi at our favorite sushi bar and watch Julian enjoy gelato on a warm day.

After we picked the boys up from school we went for a family bike ride to the Grafenwoehr duck pond. It's a pretty easy bike ride on the way to the park because it is mostly down hill but the way back is slow going with two 6 year olds. It was beautiful weather and we just enjoyed being together as a family and took our time on the bikes. What a great way to start a long weekend.

Julian and mommy by a fountain in Regensburg

Mmmm...gelato

Little man Jules was worn out by the end of our busy day

Julian and Daddy by the duck pond

Saturday: We headed out to Nabburg (about 45 minutes away) for a hike and a trip to an open air museum. The museum had about 12 houses they had restored and brought from all different parts of Bavaria. There were little houses with small gardens and chickens and big houses with flour mills and water wheels. It was a great place to walk around and enjoy the beautiful day as well as some interesting history.

On our hike we found some donkeys that loved the attention (and fresh green grass) the boys gave them.

My four boys hiking

It was a great day for a walk through the woods.

At the top. There was also a lookout tower at the top which is always fun for the boys even if it makes my heart race when I see them peering over the edge for a look down...200 feet down!

Lunch at a park near Nabburg. Hyrum and I have decided this is the only way to eat out with kids...bring a picnic and let them run around!

Daddy and Julian on the slide

The boys playing in the goat house at the open air museum

Daddy and Emerson in the kitchen of one of the museum houses

Oh the fun of chasing chickens!

Sunday: After church and Julian's nap on Sunday we headed out towards Kemnath (about 25 minutes away) for a hike. Once again we were blessed with great weather. Some of the hikes that Hyrum finds are very hard to locate just exactly where they begin. The instructions were to head to this small town, find a small Catholic shrine chapel and head up the hill. Needless to say we had to ask a few people for some directions and even then we got lost on our way up to the top. It was worth all the hassle though because the view from the top was amazing!

Emerson and Townsend at the top of the hill

Family photo

Monday: Our four day weekend ended with a trip to Bayreuth (about 40 minutes away). We headed to the beautiful Ermitage garden. I had been there twice before but Hyrum had never gone so we decided to make a family trip of it. The garden is so well taken care of and the fountains are neat to see, it was a fun afternoon.

The boys in front of one of the many fountains.

They loved floating leaves down this stream and running along watching where they would go

Posing for a photo

Julian loved getting wet under the spraying fountains (daddy wasn't such a big fan of getting wet!)

Once again we had great weather. Overall it was a great four day weekend and it turns out we don't have to travel far from home to have a wonderful time.