Italy Trip: Day One - Florence and Pisa

After a terrible night's sleep, we were up early leaving our hotel at 5:00 am to make our way to Florence. We received a bagged breakfast with interesting, packaged, Italian pastries, juice, orange, and water.

It was our first chance to view the Italian landscape as we rode in our tour bus for four hours to get to Florence.

We did take a rest stop at a gas station where we could purchase fresh pastries and where Mom and I marveled at their giant Pringle cans.

And then on the road again, looking at the winter, Italian landscape.

Once we were in Florence, we walked to the Accademia Museum and I snapped some shots of our walk. It was our first experience with the streets of Italy.

 At the Accademia museum, we were able to view The David, Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, and tons of other sculptures and artwork.

I felt more impressed with The David than I thought I would be. In person, it is huge! And the personnel keep it quiet with a hushed, reverent atmosphere around the statue. Once I got over the fact that it was a giant, naked man, it was easy to be awed by the art and size.

Some of the unfished sculptures were very interesting as you got a glimpse into the process of sculpting.

Another room was filled with sculpture after sculpture from another artist. We walked through and picked out our favorites.

Someday, maybe someone will sculpt a bust of me. Ha!

After the Accademia museum, we had free time so we set out to explore the city of Florence on foot.

The first place we stopped and checked out truly reveals the nature of our family: The Lindor Store!

This place was covered wall to wall with different kinds of truffles. And the middle of the store had more bins with even more different flavor selections. We picked out different flavors we'd never seen or tried before and bought a bag full of goodness before we were off. Later we all agreed that purchase was probably the best one of the whole trip and that we should have bought a whole lot more!

Right across from the Lindor Store was the famous Duomo - a giant cathedral that is beautiful and amazing to look at.

You can't even capture a decent picture of the building because the scope and majesty of the structure are too large for a little camera. Choosing not to go inside this church due to lines and knowing we would be seeing plenty of other cathedrals in the future, we continued through the streets until we found our desired place to get lunch.

 I Due Fratellini is a tiny, little shop off the main road that would be really easy to pass by if you weren't looking for it. However, locals love this sandwich shop with its baked-fresh daily bread and different meats and fillings you can layer on top. We each chose a sandwich that had a pastrami-like meat and truffle sauce. It was the first time we tried truffle sauce. The flavor was good, but strong and salty, and Brigham ended up finishing all three of the giant sandwiches as we made our way to Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio is one of the bridges that cross the Arno river. This bridge is specifically touristy as it's the main drag filled with diamond and jewelry shops and other stands where you can buy souvenirs and get your picture taken.

Playing our part well, we took our own pictures and bought some keychain souvenirs for the kids.

It was beautiful and I wished a had a moment longer to enjoy the view.

But! There's too much to see and do and so little time. Shortly after crossing Ponte Vecchio, we turned a corner and arrived at the Pitti Palace where the Medicci family and others used to reside when they reigned in Florence. Not many people talk about visiting the Pitti Palace and so I was nervous it would be sort of a bust. But if you put the word palace next to something and have it open for visitors, you better believe I'm going to want to see it!

And I'm so glad I did! It was everything I imagined a palace to be. I didn't take hardly any pictures, and the ones I did take don't do it much justice, but the rooms were ornate and grand and impressive. Every ceiling was painted. The furniture was handcrafted with exquisite details. Marble columns and doorframes were around every corner.

The palace had so much to see, and we didn't even have time to explore the gardens. Peeking out the window, they looked beautiful as well.

The Pitti Palace had an interesting fashion display of apparel themed around animals, bugs, and creatures taking place as well, and we took a picture of these crazy shoes for my sister, Sadie.











After Pitti Palace, we walked through a small market area, stopped for our first round of gelato (probably my least favorite out of all the gelatos we tried), took a bathroom break, and headed back to the bus so we could continue on to Pisa - an hour away.

A quick tiny-train ride from the bus and we arrived at the leaning tower of Pisa.

Here we wandered around the various buildings.

Our first interest was the Campsanto, a monumental cemetery. Lots of important people are buried here and I enjoyed making up stories about the different types of characters based on the markings on their graves.

In my research before leaving for Italy, I read that the Compsanto was built around a field of soil brought back from the crusades. Legend has it that a body would rot in 24 hours in the soil. We looked everywhere for said soil and never found it. We asked for help finding it, but the Italian/English language barrier got in our way. And then on the bus on the way back to the hotel, when it was asked if anyone missed anything, Mom said, "We didn't find the dirt." Everyone looked at us like we were crazy, and suddenly it was left to me to explain about the crusader soil I read about. Apparently, no one (including the local Italians) has heard of "the dirt" and I became the joke of the tour with my research binder and our tromping around to find legendary dirt.

I still think the story is true. And if the building was built around this holy soil, then the grass is probably growing where it used to be. Right??

The baptistry at Pisa was neat to explore.

Previously, it had been built in order to do baptism by immersion, but in later days it's been altered to only perform the sprinkling of the water on the head baptisms.

We climbed the stairs to the top of the baptism tower and it was like we were climbing winding stairs in an old castle. I loved it!

At the top of the stairs, we could look down into the baptistry and enjoy the views of the stripes and symmetry.

We were able to sneak into the Duomo at the last second before leaving Pisa.

 Another impressive cathedral full of artwork and architecture.

















We couldn't leave Pisa without taking some of the classic leaning tower pictures. Brigham wanted to look like he was holding it, and Mom wanted to look like she was tipping it back up.

On our way back to the train we were scammed by some vendors selling souvenirs, and totally bought into it. We thought we were doing a good job of haggling the price down, but as we got further and further away, we noticed the same items were on sale for even cheaper than what we had haggled for. We could have paid one Euro for the same statue of the Leaning Tower that we just paid three Euro for. We laughed about it for the rest of the trip.

That night we ate dinner at the hotel and fell exhausted into our beds, trying to push through our jet lag to sleep so we start day two in Italy in the morning.

Italy Trip: Almost Snowbound

It's about time I got around to documenting our epic trip to Italy and the Mediterranean! I went with Brigham and my mom, and it was the first time any of us had traveled abroad. Our trip consisted of a few days in Italy followed by a seven day Mediterranean cruise, ending with one last day in Rome. We had a tour company while in Italy, and then we were on our own to plan what we wanted to do on each of our cruise stops since we didn't want pay for the cruise excursions when we could do it for a fraction of the cost on our own. The research was left to me and it became a serious full-time job trying to figure out WHERE we wanted to go and WHAT we wanted to do and HOW we were going to accomplish it all. I ended up putting together a binder of over 60 pages of information full of maps, bus schedules, places to eat, sites to see, and extensive day-by-day itineraries.

The week before we were to leave things started to fall apart. First, Kendrick hurt his leg and we thought it was possibly fractured and we were going to have to try to juggle medical appointments before we left. He was splinted and unable to walk. This meant we were leaving the burden of our immobile three-year-old with babysitters for two weeks.

Then I dropped my phone and shattered the LCD screen under the glass, which causes a dark pigment to leak out and blackout the entire screen. So my phone worked great, I just was incapable of using it. We were rushing around trying to get replacements or trying to fix the LCD. Adding to the struggle, we were in the middle of a huge snowstorm which was delaying all shipments. Shipments of new phones or new phone parts weren't going to come in time to get me a new phone before we left. And since I am the primary photographer and my primary method of photography is with my phone, I needed a working one stat.

And finally, two days before we were to leave, my mom's dogs pulled her down on the ice on a walk and she hurt her shoulder. She went to the ER for x-rays and tests and was told that she would be ok, but to wear a sling and take it easy. However, Mom was skeptical because her shoulder was very painful and she knew something was off. If she had known how bad the damage actually was, she very well would have stayed home so maybe it was a blessing she didn't know it was dislocated and fractured with a bone fragment floating around. Instead, Mom hoped it was going to get better and unknowingly traversed continents and countries with only basic pain meds to cope with a shattered shoulder. She was a trooper and I can't believe how much she did with all the pain and discomfort.

On top of those three predicaments, we were in the midst of the largest snowstorm Maple Valley had seen in a loooong time. We went through one bought, but a larger storm was approaching and as we watched flight after flight get canceled we started to feel nervous we would be able to get out of Maple Valley and catch our connecting flight in LAX. Day after day, we scrolled hour by hour weather predictions for Monday morning and studied flight patterns and airport sites, calling the airlines multiple times. We called and texted, bit our fingernails down to nubbins in worry, analyzed storm patterns and cancelation trends, cursed every snowflake that fell as it began to pile up around us. As we watched the weather change for Monday, we decided we'd better change our flight. We lucked out and a lady in our ward worked for the same airline we were flying and was able to change our flight for us. It was a lifesaver! I don't know that we would have made it out on our original flight.

So a day early, with Kendrick's leg miraculously better, a new phone in hand, and Mom's broken shoulder in tow, we watched snowflakes falling through our airplane windows while we waited on the runway for them to de-ice our plane and held our breath that we would make it out. A sigh of relief as our plane left the ground and a couple of hours later we were in Los Angeles ready to check in to our hotel for the night.

Monday morning we had time to kill before we needed to head back to the airport so we decided to walk to El Segundo Beach.

We walked past fresh lemon trees and soaked up the sunshine and green grass, taking pictures to use to brag with all the family stuck in the snow.

We enjoyed the sunshine and waves for a small while before we had to head back.

Grabbing our bags at the hotel, we headed back to LAX to prepare for our first long flight to Munich, Germany. Over ten hours of flying through the night.

Here we are, all fresh-faced and anticipatory.

That flight was SOOOOOO long. We tried sleeping and melatonin and movies and tylenol pm and holistic jet lag medicine, but my mom's shoulder kept her up and both of us are not apt to sleeping well in cars or airplanes so we probably got a few hours of sleep between us all. Plus the flight attendants chanting, "Coffee, cooofeee. Tea, black teeEAA," weren't conducive to an ideal sleeping environment.

We saw what little of Germany we could from the airport windows on our layover before we were back on another airplane to complete the last leg to Italy. We did enjoy the delightful German sandwiches served as a snack on the hour and a half flight.

Italy was approaching dusk as we landed. We were now nine hours ahead of our usual time and very tired despite it being morning time back in Washington.

After retrieving our luggage, we scrambled around trying to find our hotel shuttle while navigating the foreign Italian language all around us. Eventually, we managed to get to the right spot and rode to our hotel and collapsed in our beds. Despite our exhaustion, we couldn't sleep! Jet lag and a painful shoulder kept us up despite desperately wanting to rest up for our first day in Italy. We never ever wanted to fly again. Our minds raced: we were in Italy!

Tappana Times: February Before and After

Most of February this year was taken up by a trip Brigham and I took with my mom to Italy and the Mediterranean. Posts on that trip are to come, but here's what happened before we left and after we came back.

We spent our week as usual. The little ones and I go over to help my Grandma Busby on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

A huge snow storm was headed our way the same time as our trip was approaching. I went to the store to get a few essentials for my kids for while I was gone. It was like the apocalypse was approaching! The store was a madhouse! People were stocking up on everything - the bread, the produce, you name it, it was nearly gone. The lines were crazy long and after searching for the shortest line, I was behind twelve people! It took over forty minutes to make it to the checker.

I entertained myself by taking cute pictures of Ivy.

I know that Maple Valley hardly ever gets snow and that roads can get bad, but I did not expect people to freak out like they were. Even if you couldn't leave for a couple days, why were people stocking up for a month's worth of food?

Little did I know, the craziest snowstorm was headed our way. Luckily, I missed most of the storm on my trip, but we did have to bump our flight to a day earlier to make sure we got out - they were canceling flights left and right - and we saw quite a bit of snow before we left.

The storm lasted way longer and dumped way more snow than expected. The kids were out of school the entire two weeks we were gone on our trip!! The city was covered in snow and ice and everything was canceled. Everyone was aptly calling it Snowmaggedon and we still refer to when it was Snowmaggedon or Snowpocalypse.

Good excuse for more babies in bear suits!

Before we left on our trip, I took a bunch of pictures of the kids to have while we were away from them.

I love how Ivy looks like she's trying to eat Lydia's hair.

Oh, it was hard to be away from these four for so long. It helped us appreciate each other a bit more.

Two weeks for a nine-month-old is a long time! I feel like they change so much in so little time and I was sad to miss all her changes while I was gone. So I took a lot of pictures of Ivy before I left. Ah, I love that baby and my heart ached for her.

And that's February: snowstorms and epic vacations. Next up, our trip to Italy!

Tappana Times: Fun in the Snow Fixes a Leg

January always starts out with us finishing off Christmas break. This year we went to the mountains with our friends, the Thompsons. We love going places with the Thompsons because they have all the right gear and know how to have a good time. With tubes, sleds, snow shovels, etc, we were set.

I haven't had that much fun in a LONG time.

First off, it was a joy to bring my pacific northwest children to some real snow. And it was so much closer than I realized! In only forty-five minutes, we were in a magical winter wonderland!

Second, the thrill of good sledding is a childhood must. And, sadly, my children have missed out. It was awesome watching them zoom down the hills. I missed having the fearlessness they naturally come with.

We dug routes, improved routes, reinforced turns, slicked down pathways, and tested our hills over and over again.

The Thompsons were the masterminds and we were only along for the fun of it, but boy did we love it!

Along with the fun, the kids also got to feel what it's like to get snow down your boots, or have toes so cold they ache and then burn until, finally, they go numb. There were a few tears shed, but the excitement usually helped them forget the cold limbs pretty fast.

Ammon lost his boot a couple times so his socks got wet and he was pretty uncomfortable, but it did not deter his rides down the hill.

Lydia stuck her wet hands back in her gloves which led to a lot of cold fingers. Luckily, we had the Thompson's thermos of home-made hot chocolate for a reprieve. Like I said, they were prepared. It wasn't until the trek back to the car when the cold and tired tears spilled down Lydia's cheeks unchecked.

I could have come back every day for a week to keep sledding and playing in the snow. The scenery is just so beautiful and it was just so fun. Unfortunately, Brigham, who doesn't do cold at all, had to go back to work so he wasn't available to watch our littles. And you couldn't pay me to take Kendrick and Ivy sledding. That would be the opposite of fun.

Once school got back in session, we enjoyed Lydia's end-of-winter-semester piano recital.

Lydia was hoping to play last, and when we got the schedule of performances she was scheduled as the finale. And she did amazing. I was trying not to burst my shirt buttons with pride. To hear this girl play is such a treasure. I'm so glad she loves the piano because she has skills that she can practice and hone. I had multiple comments about how the best was saved for last and how well Lydia played. I know I'm super biased as her mother, so I enjoyed hearing validation from others. It was a room full of talent that night, and Lydia was right there with them all.

It's a new year, and Ivy is also learning so many new things. She started scooting, eating new things and falling in love with veggie straws.

I came out of my room after getting ready one morning, expecting to see Ivy and Kendrick right where I had left them playing. Kendrick was still there, but I couldn't find Ivy anywhere. I searched the house thinking, How far can a baby scoot?! But in all the rooms I searched, I couldn't find her! I started calling her name pretty frantically, even though I knew she would never answer. It was like she disappeared into thin air!. On the brink of losing my cool, I stopped to think about where a nine-month-old could possibly escape to. Checking between the couch and wall, I discovered Ivy happily (and silently) playing. She could scoot herself in, but not back herself out, and she was just the right size to fit. It was her own little hideout. Behind the couch became a common area to find Ivy and I started putting pillows in the way to block her from getting stuck.

Ivy got more teeth, and she and Kendrick and I enjoyed our trio during the days.

Babies in bear suits rank among my top five favorite things, by the way.

One night, while at my parent's, Kendrick decided he didn't like Ammon being in his way on the stairs. So Kendrick pushed Ammon who then fell backward onto Kendrick's leg. Something wasn't right because Kendrick couldn't put weight on that leg.

We took Kendrick to the ER (he was terrified and made sure to tell anyone who was listening that he didn't want a shot!) and they did a few x-rays. It was pretty baffling because he could bend his leg, and move it. It didn't hurt when he just laid there, and nothing showed up on the x-rays. But when he went to put weight on it, his leg buckled and he cried with pain every time. The ER doctors were stumped. They agreed something was going on, but they didn't know what. So with a full-leg splint and a follow-up appointment scheduled with Kendrick's pediatrician, we went home.

Kendrick refused to put weight on his leg that whole week and follow up x-rays didn't do much to show anything. The splint also started to give him problems - his leg would go into painful spasms that weren't relieved until I took the splint off. After having Kendrick go without a splint for a couple days, and watching him closely, I realized that most of his issues were probably mental. I knew something had been wrong with his leg, but that it had probably healed because he was doing much better. He still refused to walk on it, but I thought it was because he was more afraid of the pain than something actually being seriously wrong. I was on a mission to turn things around.

That Monday it started snowing and Kendrick wanted to play outside in the snow with Lydia and Ammon so badly. I told Kendrick he could only play outside if he stood up. There was no way he could just go out and sit in the snow. He agreed, and after watching him stand in the snow for an hour, I knew he could handle weight on his leg. When he came back inside he tried to start crawling around again but I said, "No, remember your leg is better now. You can walk on it." And throughout the day I chanted, "Oh, your leg is better and you can walk now. That's great." His leg buckled a bit at first and he had a slight limp, but by the evening he was running around like nothing ever happened. Ha! We jumped that mental hurdle and, even better, canceled all future leg-related doctor appointments.

So the snow is good for some sledding AND for fixing a little boy's leg. Little did we know the amount of snow that would be in our lives this winter.