HAPPY JULY THE 4TH!!!
We celebrated the holiday by the pool. Preslee and Caroline made us all appetizers for the party. They even had decorations and games! They did it all with what they could find around the house, which wasn't much. They were very creative!
 |
| Pres & Caroline with their fancy appetizers |
 |
| Connor, Drake, Ryan, Preslee, Caroline, & Kade |
 |
| Happy 4th!!! |
 |
| This is the little town across the mountain from us. It was very cute and empty! We only saw one little girl running through the town. We figured it was siesta time... |
 |
| I love the doors in Italy |
 |
| Love this pic! |
 |
| Town vet |
 |
| This is the house we stayed in |
Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre, "The Five Lands", is a beautiful area on the Italian coast. It was about an hour and a half drive from our house in Tuscany, and an update on our GPS situation...we found one in the car!! It was inside one of the compartments that I found when trying to figure out how to turn the radio off! Needless to say, weird car with lots of weird doors. But we were happy to find it (and now kind of know why they run out at the rental office, because they don't know they are in the cars!!!) and felt better about our future drive to Rome. Anyways, Cinque Terre consist of five different villages built on rough cliff sides. Paths, trains, and boats can be used to reach each village, but cars can't really reach them from the outside. The first village we went to was already full of people so there was no parking, so we decided to drive to the next one and there was plenty of parking, it's just a short walk from the lot to reach the village. We went to Manarola, a beautiful place filled with colorful houses built on the cliffs. It was small and easy to get around on foot.
 |
| We even saw a duck and her babies in a small stream |
 |
| I think Drake is doing a yoga pose... |
 |
| Market full of yummy stuff |
 |
| Huge jelly fish!! With a lot of people swimming by.... |
 |
| The couple sitting at the last table is Joel McHale from Talk Soup and his wife, they also had their two sons with them. A little strange to see a celebrity in this town... I stood up and looked out the window of our restaurant with Emerson because she was fussing, and they were pointing and smiling at her. She gets all the attention... |
 |
| At our restaurant. Can't remember the name but it was pretty good. |
 |
| Yummy lobster linguini... |
 |
| Across the way is the train that can take you to the other villages |
 |
| Of course the kids find a playground |
 |
| The Mediterranean looked too good on this hot day not to jump in! |
 |
| Preslee standing by some hot Italians! :) |
 |
| Time to take the plunge! |
 |
| I don't think Drake liked that too much. He kept spitting the salt out of his mouth |
 |
| Preslee's turn!! |
 |
| And Kade.... They had a blast! |
 |
| View from above. That's Preslee floating on her back. |
It was a another great day, but it was time to head back to the house. I think the kids would have stayed a lot longer and the adults agreed that this was a definite adult weekend for the future!
 |
| We had some great scenery on the drive back.... |
 |
| Mike had been eyeing this stream all week. We passed over it every day that we drove somewhere. One day we tried to get to it but couldn't figure out a good way. On this day he finally made the right turn and we were right there. |
 |
I stayed in the car with E because it was not easy to get down to the stream. Mike was showing them how to skip rocks.
|
 |
| Just another few pics reiterating our scary drive down the mountain from our house. Skinny road, curves, a mountain, and.... |
 |
| ...a BIG cliff on the other side!!! This is me taking a pic from inside the car while going down, so yes, we were that close to the cliff. Scary! |
Another day in Lucca...
We loved Lucca and wanted to go back to walk around some more. They had great little shops and a fun atmosphere.
 |
| Entrance to get to the town inside the wall. |
 |
| Lunch time! |
 |
| These are the biggest smiles I got all week and I'm pretty sure it was because Drake just burped as I took the shot.....boys |
 |
| Cathedral |
 |
| Artwork made out of newspaper |
We got back and the kids wanted to swim for the last time....little did they know a friend was using the pool before they got there.....
 |
| Scorpion!!! EEK!! I'm just glad it was the last day and I didn't see him alive! |
 |
| Last lazy day at the pool..... |
Now off to Rome!
Great Pictures! Great vacation!
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun time!!
Delete