O Sole Mia!!

Last weekend Tom and I left the boys at home to be spoiled by my parents, while we went for a weekend away to be spoiled in Venice. The treats started early - a 2 hour flight spent reading without being interrupted by a child wanting something; not having to wait for checked bags since we both took only a backpack; and finally stepping foot onto the streets of Venice relaxed!

First things first, finding our hotel in the midst of the winding streets and canals. We stood on a small bridge for five minutes trying to get our bearings, only to walk the other way while our hotel was on the other side of the bridge. That is how easy it is to get lost in Venice and that is probably the best part of Venice - getting lost and finding a small pizza joint where they make the pizza three feet away. Yum. Or getting lost only to find a some great shops or one of many amazing views. Yep, that is the best part of Venice. But, there is more...

San Marco Square. We visited here on Sunday. The sun was out and it was beautiful. We climbed up Campanile to see the city from above and see just how crowded this place is! Then on to Doge Palace with so much extravagance. We walked through with our mouths wide open - gold, gold and more gold. So Venice. Then we walked through the Bridge of Sighs, which leads to the prison - the exact opposite of the palace that it is attached to. Barren and dark, I wouldn't want to spend an hour in those cells! The final 'major' sight was St. Marc's Basilica. Since it was Sunday, church was on, so we sat and listened to the choir in this mammoth church. Amazing.

A stop for lunch at a local sandwich spot and then we wandered to the local side of the island. You must remember that we are severely sun deprived living in rainy England, so with the sun beating down we sat on a bench in a square and just soaked it up! We only moved to get a cappuccino at a nearby cafe. Ahh, the sun. How we have missed you!

We needed to do one last thing before we left. A gondola ride. We got on close to our hotel and were whisked around for the next half hour. We even lucked out to have our gondolier sing to us!
We left the next morning after walking through the local side of Venice. We watched the town come alive with shop keepers sweeping off the sidewalks and the locals heading to the cafe for a quick espresso. Tom and I decided that while the sights were amazing, it was more about experiencing the culture. There are a lot of places that we have visited to 'see', but Italy is definitely one to 'feel.'

View over Venice

Bridge of Sighs

Entry to the Palace

Over the Grand Canal

Our Gondolier by the Rialto Bridge

View from our hotel

A Surprise Visit

Back in December, my mom and dad called to see if we'd be okay with another visit since it was feeling like a long time since they had seen the kids. The bigger news was that they wanted to bring our niece, Halle. We didn't tell the boys and today was the day that we picked them up at the airport.

I thought Jacob would be screaming, but he just stood there in shock. And after a minute, it was like no time had passed at all. That is the magic of a special friend...

Shocked!!

Finally a hug.

Pancake Day!

Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day here in England. Since the boys are out of school, they decided to go to church for their annual pancake races. But, a sickness got in the way.

Aiden complained of a headache all day and at 5 oclock I finally had to hand him off to Tom so I could get ready for a girls night out. I was away from him less than a minute when I heard it...Aiden puked all over Tom. My first reaction was feeling so bad for Aiden, my second, was that I was soooo glad it wasn't me he had puked on! Sorry Tom. Anyway, that is what led to Pancake Day festivities being postponed.

Ash Wednesday turned into Pancake Day. We had races outside after dinner. It's not just racing with the pancake, it's flipping it while running. Aiden was the fastest, but no flips. I, as the mum, won. Of course, I'm the only one who can multitask!!!

Cadbury Chocolate Visit

Last week Saturday we finally went to CadburyWorld, a thing that has been on my list of things to do for the past two years! It wasn't exactly 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' but we had the best time! Aiden is still saying that it was the best part of his day, even though it was 7 days ago! As a big fan of the Cadbury egg, I was just as excited. We saw how it was made via video - too top secret to show first hand! But, it was still fulfilling the big dream! We walked out with bags full of chocolate and tummies full of warm chocolate straight from the tap. And, yes, we crashed on the way home after coming down from our sugar highs!

All the flavors of dairy milk (the sugar high has begun)

Watching the real thing (his eyes are beginning to glaze over...)

Chocolate straight from the tap! (full on sugar high & time to brush teeth)