Back to normal

Life pretty much returned to "normal" in April and I can't believe that the month is over. Where does time go?  Only three more weeks of school and only six until baby boy is due to make his appearance!  Here are a few things we have been up to...

Our cute girls Easter Sunday

Curly teaching her "pupils"

Ready for soccer - so fun to be on the same team

Inspired by mom, Curly and Lou have been playing "cooking club" lately.  They put on aprons and whip up all sorts of concoctions in the play kitchen.  One day we had real "cooking club" and we learned how to make tomato soup and cheese sandwiches.  They did a great job.  I figure this is excellent training, maybe they can make lunch all summer.

Cooking club girls

Berry was not so impressed by their skills - or maybe just tired

Berry loves dress-ups!

Fisher decided we better not delay a camping trip any longer - it is getting HOT!  So we headed 30 minutes north to Lake Pleasant.  The girls had a blast "wading" in the lake.  They were not quite so happy afterward when they were freezing in their sopping clothes.  We roasted hot dogs and s'mores and then Berry and I went home to sleep in our comfy beds and Fisher had a really good nights rest with two girls snuggled up to him :)

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So many treasures

Heading out in the kayak

Lou's preschool took a fieldtrip to Wildlife World Zoo.  Berry and I tagged a long.  Berry loves animals and was so excited.  She jabbered away happily at every animal we saw and "woofed" at anything with fur.  We are still working on differentiating between different animals.  She has "quack", "moo", "woof", "meow", and "oink" down.

Feeding birds at Wildlife World Zoo

Feeding the giraffes

Washing the van

Curly the bee for her school "Bugz" play

What they were up to

While Fisher and I were traveling, Curly, Lou and Berry were having a ball! They never even missed us.  Really!  Well, maybe Berry did.  I don't know all the details of what they did, but from the pictures I've collected - it looks like they kept busy. 

They were able to visit their Oma and Grandpa Lake, Grandma and Grandpa Lovell, Great Grandma and Grandpa Woodbury, Aunts (Brianna, Lynette, Stephanie, Jenny, JG, Elyse, Pika), Uncles (Ryan, Stephen, Tim, Bryce, Paul) and lots of cousins.  They stayed at Oma's house for a week and Grandma's house for a week and even had a sleepover with the Waters cousins.

Picnic on the drive to Utah.  They were supposed to fly, but that didn't happen - long, sad story.

Berry and cousin Wren

Curly at Tracy Aviary

At the Park with Anni and Wren

Helping Wren walk at Oma's house

Going on a ride with Great Grandma

Baking Pizza with Aunt JG

Pizzas for lunch

Berry and cousin Nels

On a walk at the U with Aunt JG

Swinging with Grandma

Crafts with Aunt Pika

Singing with Grandpa

Rain!!!  A seldom seen sight

Cardboard boxes are so fun!

Visiting baby chicks at CAL Ranch

Ready to fly home with Grandma and Grandpa

Roma - The Finale

Our final destination was "the eternal city" - Rome.  I think Rome is amazing.  It is so old!  We started with the antiquities - The Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill.  Archeologists have recently unearthed Caesar Augustus's humble home (it really was small) with 2,000 year old Fresco paintings well preserved - very cool.

 

 - As stated in previous post, our camera broke, so these poor pictures are from a camera phone -

Colosseum

The Forum

Caesar Augustus's house

View from Palatine Hill

On our second day we visited the Vatican and St Paul's Massive Basilica.  We also tracked down Michelangelo's Moses and visited the sacred steps, which are said to have been purchased from Pontius Pilot's palace by Constantine's mother.

Swiss Guard

St Peter's Basilica

Our final day in Italy, we took a train and then a bus to Tivoli to visit Villa d 'Este.  This Villa was built by a Catholic Cardinal who was excommunicated before making it to Pope.  He built a large mansion with immense grounds covered in hundreds of gravity powered fountains and water falls.  Many of his statues were taken from the excavation of Hadrian's palace which was being excavated at the time (1500s).  The fountains all still work and were very impressive.

Villa d 'Este at Tivoli

Looking towards Rome

Villa d 'Este

The Pantheon

Art sellers at Piazza Novano

Dinner at Piazza Novano

Crazy tourists! :)

It must have been spring break all over Europe because Rome was crowded with teenagers - smoking and kissing.  They and their smoke were hard to escape.  We finished our day with a walking tour to plazas, fountains, and the Pantheon.  We enjoyed dinner on the Piazza Novano and then walked by the Trevi Fountain to throw in our coin - hoping someday to return.

Trevi Fountain - Goodbye Rome!

Florence

Aaah Florence - we loved Florence.  It is a beautiful city and you can walk pretty much everywhere you want to go.  We stayed in a B&B run by a darling Italian grandma.  From her home we would walk past the Accademia to the heart of Florence.  We visited the Medici Chapel, the Duomo, the Uffizi Gallery, Bargello Museum and of course did not miss Michelangelo's David at the Accademia.  A lot of places we visited did not allow photography so there are not as many pictures to share.  Once again, our "good friend" Rick Steves took us on an audio walking tour that included the great history and art of Florence . Oh, and let's not forget the gelato - we enjoyed quite a bit of that as well :)

The Duomo a.k.a. "Wedding Cake Church"

Ponte Vecchio

Dusk on the river

Enjoying a street band on the Ponte Vecchio

Ghiberti's Bronze doors - impressive 3D illusions

The last picture we took
before our camera was broken :(

Sunset on Piazale Michelangelo -
phone camera does not do it justice