Happy Birthday Gabriel!!

Whew!!  Just finished a great party for Gabriel who just turned FOUR this week!  Sometimes when I look at him, I think of him as a little little boy, those pictures from when he was two and three.  But he's a "big" guy now with real opinions, likes/dislikes, interests and passions and real friendships.

We are so proud of our little guy in so many ways.  He is such a vibrant, fun-loving, intense guy who has a really big heart for his friends and family, especially his little sister, his shadow and forever playmate.  All his spirited-ness and energy mean we collapse into bed at night and almost completely fall asleep the second our heads hit the pillow.  But we wouldn't have it any other way, really, for that joie to vie and enthusiasm for life is one of his best and personal favorite qualities about him.

So with all of his personally chosen closest friends filling the house, we celebrated as he turned 4, incorporating his long-time (3 year) love of "Lightning McQueen" into his birthday theme.  There was plenty of shrieking and running and jumping around, balloons and toys everywhere, kids running a-muck.  But it was the happy chaos of children having fun.  And for some reason, nothing makes me happier than having a houseful of happy, rambunctious little people having a good time.

Thanks again, Sophia's Sugar Rush, you continue to amaze us all.

And thank you to our wonderful group of friends who came and my parents (who traveled all this way to be here and spend time with us and who did almost all of the behind the scenes work for this party).  Thanks for celebrating with us.  We love you dearly and cherish the friendships we have with you.  Thank you for making our day special with your presence and conversation and generosity.  Gabriel told me, "Thanks for my party, mom!!  It was the best birthday ever!!!"   

Arrivederci Italia! Guten Tag, Germany!

Okay, okay, these are the last pictures from our Italy trip, I promise!!!  We just really, really had the best time ever.  I almost (almost) didn't want to come back.  Except, honestly, I couldn't wait to have a little more room in the kitchen and for the kids to have a bath again.  Did you know that Italians (as a general rule) don't have bathtubs?  In the four places we saw, none of them had bathtubs, despite the bathrooms being bigger than the kitchens.  The bidet had a large honorary space in the bathroom along with other things, but our kitchen was so tiny only one person could fit in it at a time (and I am NOT exaggerating about this).  

Anyway, I digress!  We spent our last three days on a whirlwind of traveling--we finished seeing Florence, the Rome again before spending a few overnight hours in Frankfurt, Germany. 

When we were here in Florence 10 years ago, we missed seeing the Leonardo DaVinci Museum and I am pretty sure that, since I was the one with the guide book, that Jordan never quite forgave me for not telling him in was in Florence until the day we were leaving.  It was a good reason to come back!  The Museum was amazing!  It was so incredibly fascinating to see DaVinci's drawings recreated in wooden versions--these amazing forerunners to modern technology, centuries before their time. 

 An airplane

 A crane

 The Last Supper

Okay, so the whole time we were in Florence, we kept our eyes open for the little pizza place on the edge of a piazza where we had pizza for dinner one night in the pouring rain right before stumbling into the side of the Duomo.  As it turns out it was on the complete opposite side of where we remembered it to be!  (Gabriel took this picture)

Right next door......  J & S like it was meant to be.

Best pizza I had all trip!

After that, we hiked across the river, and up to the top of the hill overlooking the city of Florence--the best view of the city.  Jordan pushed a 50 lb stroller over cobblestones up the hill and I carried 40 lb Gabriel on my back.  I'd say we definitely had a good workout this vacation--enough to work off any calories from the delicious Italian food and any cake we may have had way back in November.

 Spectacular Florence!  So worth the hike!  And then we were off to Rome again before flying out.

Gelato for the littles. 

How we travel...  Add too ginormous suitcases (we have NO IDEA how to pack light).  In fairness, we actually wore everything we brought and were so glad for any "extra clothes" because between having the flu and no dryers in any of the apartments we rented, we needed all that clothing!

And that was it for Rome.  We had an overnight in Frankfurt, Germany and we were so thankful to have a hotel to spend the night and celebrate.   We barely saw anything, including the fireworks that were blasting off the top of our hotel from 9:30pm to 5:30 am (we could only see the reflection in the windows across the street).  We just didn't have it in us to wander around so late in the evening with an early morning ahead of us.  But we swore we would go back to Germany.  We loved it even from our less than 12 hours there. 

Germany is made with little people in mind!!!  What do I mean?  From the minute you get out of the gate, there are children's play centers made of interesting wooden structures, there are big baby changing rooms (Italy didn't even have change tables or spaces to change children).  The cars we taxied in had build in booster seats for children that popped right out of the seat and clicked into place. So, ya.  We are going back.

 

All of the restaurants in Frankfurt around the hotel were booked since it was New Year's Eve, so we had to order in room service.  Best idea ever!!   Fries and sausages and schnitzel and German beer. 

We didn't realize we would be without our luggage in Germany and ran out of diapers and everything was closed.  Diapers on a platter for us!  Hilarious!

A big bag of Cheerios and German Art.  What can I say?

Arrivederci Italia!  We loved you!