One More Rite of Passage

Michael's going to be two in September.  Two.  I think if I start trying to wrap my head around it now, in June, I might be prepared by the time he's blowing out his dual candles.  All by himself this time around, I'm sure.  *Sigh*  There are very few 'firsts' left on his list, and today we marked off one more. 

I'm a World Cup widow most of today and so took the kids out on a fun adventure to the UPS store, FedEx Kinko's (don't knock either - both were big hits for the four and under crowd), then to Salon Red for Kids in Decatur for haircuts.  Ella is an old pro and was beyond hyper as we bounded into the salon...Michael was not so sure.  But he did great.  Not one tear, although he maintained a relatively cynical expression the whole time.  Hopefully his stylist, Shawntae, didn't take offense. 

Ella was up first, showing Michael how it's done. Not so sure about this operation. So proud of him for holding still. Even when Shawntae broke out the electric shears. Very brave of her!Almost done. The big reward. Now, off to Chick-Fil-A. Okay, this one has nothing to do with the post, but it's just a fun one I took this week after work one day. "Flying" is pretty popular around here lately.

Sweet Baby Julia Came to Visit

I mean, I was excited that Meg came to town to visit and we even got to see Meme (hope I'm spelling that right!), too, but this morning Ella was still talking about how baby Julia came over to see us last night.  This little girl has got some eyelashes I would like to superglue onto my lids.  But that might make her cry so I resisted. 

Julia was oblivious to Michael sneaking off with her binkie on multiple occasions. Kid's got an issue. Someday soon, these shoes aren't going to be so big on her. *sniff*I'm not sure how Wes managed to do it, but he got both kids to wait patiently on the porch steps while he put out the sprinkler for a little playtime after dinner last night. Of course, Michael couldn't take his eyes off the hose long enough for me to snap a photo. Oh well. Sprinkler time leads to bath time. Pure joy from a $5 pair of pink goggles.

The Last Wine Club Hold-Outs

It's almost here - the final couple in our coveted Wine Night group is making the leap into marrital bliss with the rest of us and we are so excited.  This weekend, we girls hosted a shower and bachelorette party for Elizabeth while the kids went to party with Poppa and Gigi for an overnight stay.  I'm pretty sure they had as much fun as we did, judging by the Sunday afternoon naps. 

The happy couple - Elizabeth and Paul.A few of the hostesses taking a break as the shower began to wind down. One party down, naptime ahead and one more party to go!Sugar cookie favors. Ella was convinced they were an "E" for Elizabeth Manning and used that as a ploy to get more than one as a treat on Sunday.

To protect our hard-earned reputations, I'll stick to only posting a blurry photo from the bachelorette party.

 

Sprinklers are F-U-N

Thunder was rolling in but the kids insisted on some time outside.  Rather than fill up the pool, we opted for the sprinkler and a beach ball.  Much less prep and clean up.  :)  We had plenty of neighbors offer to play goalie at the bottom of the driveway and toss errant balls back up to us on the top of the hill.  Personally, I think they just had eyes on our Coronas.

"Watering" the plants, um, pinestraw. Michael waiting for the beachball to come his way. "1-2-3...juuuuuump!!!"Did a very quick change on my settings, and ALMOST got a good panning shot of some bikers going by. Getting closer!

Three-Day Weekend

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend.  We had friends over Sunday night for smoked BBQ and had the best time catching up with everyone.  Too bad that all of the menfolk cheat at game night.  Us ladies need a rematch! 

The kids had more fun in the kiddie pool - so much fun,in fact, they headed back in for round two.  With their clothes on.  I think Ella is thinking "Sorry Mommy!  But I'm cute, right?"  in this picture. 

Drippy.

Happy at Home

We've had a good time goofing around at home this week.  Aside from freezing our children to death in the kiddie pool, I'd say all ended well.  A warm bath and some hot chocolate did the trick. 

Ella's been logging major, well yards, over on the "soft" part of the school pavillion this week.  Lazy Sunday morning

The afternoon wasn't much un-lazy-er. Ready for school...always waiting on girls to be ready, too. Tonight, we broke out the new kiddie pool. BIG hit. Michael was too busy with chattering teeth and watching Ella jump and splash to smile for me. He was, however, excited to show me his Barbie doll that Ella got for him to play with.

 

The Last Stop: Venice

In Venice, we began to tally up the damage, to look forward to major squishy hugs from the kids, our own bed, and - for me - a reunion with my dear 1875 Watt American hairdryer.  But before we headed home, we made the most of our final days spent in Venice. 

The crowds were out in force around Rialto and St. Mark's but we spent enough time lost and meandering through the back "streets" that we weren't bothered too much by them.  Can't imagine what high season in July must be like. 

We discovered the other gelateria (Gelateria San Stae - I'm now a Facebook fan) that tied with Giolotti's in Rome, and we also tested our theory that it is impossible to get a hangover in Italy.  If only the wines we buy at home could be sulfate-free. 

If you want to see more of Venice or the other cites, CLICK HERE for our gallery page. 

It was nice to catch a view from Rialto bridge without the big tour boats in the frame. Can you imagine being married in Venice? That guy is really going to have to step it up for anniversaries. Hope she didn't get pidgeon poop on her dress. Indigo Girls were in my head while we were at the top of the bell tower - Gallileo demonstrated his telescope on top of the first one that collapsed in 1902. Gorgeous veiws from up high. We knew something was up as we approached the square via the sidestreets. When we got there, we saw the mayhem caused by the quick flooding. It drained just as quickly and life went back to normal - if a bit soggy. Giggling girls dancing in the rainBehind the scenes - is there no magic left in this world? :)

The Fourth Stop: Tuscany

I used to wonder if there was just one really idyllc scene in Tuscany that was used over and over in movies and photos.  Now I know, after hours of driving around the countryside, that the ENTIRE PLACE is absolutely gorgeous.  The sky feels absolutely huge - I've never seen anything like it.  Be happy that I didn't post all of the 435 photos that I took from just that one day. 

A selection of my favorites, not only from our day out in the country but also our stay in Siena, can be found if you CLICK HERE for the photo gallery page. 

Unbelievable country

The view from our room at Villa Elda.

Inside the Siena Cathedral. Nice that they give directions on how to light a candle. ;)My new addiction. I need a home capuccino maker now. This stand is not near any homes or buildings - makes me wonder why and when they were planted here.

the third stop: florence

One more down!  Florence was our third stop but just for one day, so this is a short post.  Like for the first two cities, you can CLICK HERE on the gallery page to see the rest of the photos.  It was a rainy day but we packed in a lot and spent a good bit of time out of the weather in the Uffizi and the Accademia galleries.  Too bad you can't take photos in museums or churches - even without flash - any more.  Sad! 

The Uffizi Gallery entrance. Wouldn't recommend the audio tour, but it's got some great art inside. Next time, we'll plan for a full day of shopping in Florence. :)Beer had some pretty stiff competition on this trip. Alongside the River Arno, toward Ponte Vecchio.

The Second Stop: Rome

Our arrival into Rome was unexpected but hysterical.  First, we had a slightly suicidal cabbie drive us to our hotel - we literally held hands the whole way and didn't know whether to laugh or totally freak out - then when we got to our hotel, a street performer with balloons began messing with us before we could even get our bags out of the cab.  It was so funny. 

Wish I had a picture of it, but I don't.  I do have lots more in the gallery, though.  Below are a few favs. 

Inside the colloseum - it lightly rained all morning and we were the only ones on our tour with Lucia. Ended up being a really great day. If we had it to do again, we'd hire a private tour on purpose.

Tourists were wandering quietly around this church in Trastevere while their normal Sunday morning activities were going on. I was able to sneak behind the choir practice to see a niche and took the opportunity to grab this shot. They sounded beautiful with the acoustics of the nave - too bad you can't hear a photo. I couldn't hold a conversation with Wes while eating this gelato. Three times on our trip we were lucky enough to find local markets. Too bad these babies wouldn't have survived the trip home in my suitcase (or "soupcase," according to Ella.)

We returned to Piazza Navona a couple of times.

I tossed in a coin - that means I get to go back, right?

The First Stop: Amalfi Coast

Only one thing could keep our eyes open after being up for over 24 hours and taking the red-eye to into Naples - the view of the Amalfi Coast as we drove toward Positano.  Holy cow. 

I've posted a few of my favorites below but you can see more here in the gallery.

The galleries are being a bit 'buggy' today but if you are having any trouble seeing a photograph, click on it directly again, and there are no problems with bringing up the full-screen view of each. 

Nighttime Positano from our hotel balcony.It was late afternoon and most of the tourists had cleared out or, like us, were sitting down with a glass of wine someplace. We didn't know we were lost yet, but I was enjoying walking around Ravello, thinking we had almost an hour to spare before finding our way to our class. The butcher shop on the left had some amazing looking goodies inside. Loved this fountain in Amalfi. Also loved the gelataria being right behind it. :)

 I want to go back. 

 

home again, home again

Still suffering a bit from jet lag and refusing to completely buy in to the whole "back to reality" thing this week.  We arrived late Monday night and enjoyed taking yesterday to catch up with Nana and Rocket, kiss and hug the kids - a LOT, and start figuring where we left off on things like paying the phone bill, getting the kids enrolled for summer camp and finding clean socks. 

In short, the trip was amazing and it's hard to know where to start recounting what we saw, what we learned, what made us laugh and what made us realize each day how incredibly lucky we are. It will take me a while to get through all 1600 photos (promise not to post them all!) and I'll do it one stop at a time.  Hopefully I'll get the Amalfi Coast posted before this weekend. 

In the meantime, here's one shot taken from my iPhone as we boarded our final vaporetto, heading to Marco Polo airport on Monday morning. 

However wonderful the past two weeks may have been...it's so good to be home. 

The best sunday

We've camped out on the porch this afternoon, ate a big Sunday dinner and now the kids are fending off bedtime by bringing 'beds' outside to jump on. Days like these are hard to beat. Hope you're having one, too.

watch out - she's got wheels

The entire neighborhood should officially be on alert.  Ella is the proud new owner of a Barbie bicycle and it's only a matter of time before she'll be popping off the training wheels and careening down the sidewalk.  We took her over to the school's pavillion (read: flat, big cement slab) and she did really great. 

this is a girl who knows she makes her princess helmet look goooood.

ms. speed demon in action. working on learning how to pan photos - I've got some work to do!

Barns, beer and cake

We got home last night from a too-quick trip to see our Texas family members - and we had the absolute best time.  I've posted a more full gallery here.   But here are five (okay, seven) of my favorites from the weekend.

 taking a walk by the car barn going for a gator ride

 the lincolnheather and baby hadleycelebrating Matt's 38

ella and her BFF kateup in the air

The farm

I just downloaded Pano on my iPhone and tried out making a panoramic of Nana and Rocket's living room. Love it! This will come in handy.

porch weather has arrived

It's my favorite 3 1/2 days of the year.  The majority of the pollen "bloom" has passed, and the mosquitoes have not yet arrived in droves, and so we're spending lots of time on the front porch this week. 

i think i'll start small

When I say "I", it's me, Anne.  I'm totally new to building a Web site or launching a photoblog but it's long been on my list of things to learn about.  So here it is!  My very first attempt.  I'm sure I'll tinker and figure out more along the way, but thanks for being among the first to check out what I've put together.

I welcome all forms of input, criticism, suggestions and encouragement.

My goal is to create a space to share the pictures (and maybe I'll figure out video, too?) of the people and places I love, and also share a little of our story.  I'll post our favorites here on our photoblog.  You will find more pictures grouped in galleries, as well as a page dedicated to more about me and all of the many hats I wear throughout the day elsewhere on the site.  

I think that's good for now.  I'll try to remember to keep it small.  Bite-sized chunks.  Cheers!

Sunset Beach 2009 - In full disclosure, I didn't take this picture.  Check out W. Scott Chester Photography.