Italian wedding

And so, to the main event.  We were in Italy to celebrate Shanti and Giovanni's wedding, and they put on a great weekend of stuff for friends and family.  We were so honoured to be invited to be part of it.  So good to be a tourist and to get some involvement in local traditions.

The highlight was Saturday evening, with our two friends and their friends and family on a Tuscan hilltop as the sun set, celebrating their love through their wedding blessing.  Followed by a fabulous feast (and later, as we understand, dancing.  We didn't last quite long enough for that).

It was beautiful.  Thank you Shanti, thank you Giovanni. 

Explora - il museo dei bambini

We only paid for two tourist attractions in Rome - the Colosseum and the children's museum.  We didn't want Risky and Tom to just be dragged around historical sites, and so we had an afternoon 'just for them' at Explora.  Although it challenged my accepted definition of a museum (does a museum have to be about historical stuff?  Nah), it is basically a great playground for children.  There were sciencey things, engineering stuff, musical things, a farmer's field and a mini supermarket, a fire engine, and even a bank.  

Are we pleased that of all the toys on offer Marisca best enjoyed the one with archimedes screws, pulleys, scoops and conveyor belts to shift stuff from one place to another?  Absolutely :-)  Her second favourite was tidying stuff away, so we seem to be breeding a tidy engineer.  Could be worse.

And Tom's favourite was the musical bashy things as seen below - he had a smaller selection of age-suitable toys but enjoyed each one to the max.

When in Rome

We started our holiday in Rome.  We're not really city people, but it seemed silly to travel so close to one of the most famous cities in the world and not pop in to say hello.  

We arrived on Wednesday lunch time and settled in to our apartment near St Peter's.  We then went for a wander that encompassed quite a lot of the key sights/sites in the city, as it happened.  We passed through St Peter's square and enjoyed the fountains and the columns.  The basilica and the square looked great from the outside but we didn't fancy the queue to have a look inside, and nor did we bother with the rest of the Vatican.  Maybe next time.

We ended up in the Piazza Navona, a lovely square with multiple fountains and artists selling their wares.  And many ice cream cafes, of which more later.  Here we went into the church of Saint Agnese to cool off, and found it to be incredibly ornate compared with the churches we're used to, with great frescoes in the dome.  Who needs the Sistine Chapel.  We got Marisca on board with Catholic rituals, lighting a candle to say thank you to God for holidays.  

We then headed further east to the Pantheon, once a temple to Roman gods, now a church just the one Roman Catholic God.  There's amazing stuff about the dome's construction which you can read about on wikipedia or somesuch. We were impressed.  Each of the pillars at the front is made from a single block of stone, and as Marisca demonstrates below, they're quite big.

Our last stops before heading back for tea (pizza) were the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps.  I expected to be underwhelmed by the fountain but developed a grudging respect when I saw just how, well, big it is.  Not quite sure why it's quite as popular as it appears to be, but hey, it's big.  The Spanish steps were just steps, don't really get that one either.  Tom enjoyed half an hour sitting on the steps out of the sling though.

That was quite a lot in one afternoon really, and we felt we'd seen enough of the bits and pieces in Rome that we could slow down for the other days.  We were never going to see everything, and we didn't want to try either.  We did take an unnecessarily extended stroll over the Janiculum hill on the way home after dinner.  It was an unexpected treat do to navigational guesswork, with great views over the city and the first of many monuments to squashed fly biscuits.

On the Thursday we had already booked to visit the children's museum (that's tomorrow's blog post), and in the morning we pottered around St Peter's, had a lovely drink and ice cream (not really ice cream - so it doesn't count in our tally - more later) in a local cafe, and then wandered along the river over to the museum.  Tea that day was a recommended pizzeria after a recommended ice cream place: the latter our first experience, of quite a few, of waiting to be served for a few minutes before realising there was a take-a-ticket system in operation.

St Peter's dome from the cafe:

Friday was our last proper day in Rome, and we decided to do a bit of ancient Rome before meeting up with Giovanni & Shanti and their overseas wedding guests for a picnic and ice cream on the Aventino hill.  The forum was fallen over and old, and the Colosseum was big and old and mostly fallen over.  WE're glad we saw both and went into the latter, but it was really too warm to spend too long standing around trying to conjure up the feeling for what the place must have been like.  By the way, if Marisca asks, we focussed on the fact that it was a place where they had animals to watch.  Cos, you know, that's entirely true even if not exactly the full story.

Dinner was with Samir and James, more pizza and a rogue risotto.  And another ice cream.

And that was Rome.  I don't think there are any cities that Elspeth and I *love*, but we liked Rome well enough and won't be surprised if we come back.  Just maybe not at the height of summer next time.  

Off to Italy

We are just back from our first family foreign holiday - the first time either child has been overseas or on an aeroplane.  We were invited to Giovanni & Shanti's wedding in South Tuscany, and having avoided visiting Giovanni in Rome ever since university, it seemed the right thing to do.  Of course we were nervous about taking Risky and Tom overseas, how they would cope in the heat of Italy in late July, how they would cope with disrupted routines and with the flights.  But we had a really fantastic time, and although routines were disrupted and it was very very hot, nobody seems the worse for it, and Elspeth and I certainly feel the better for it.

Marisca loved the 'aeroport' and the planes, enjoying sitting by the window, seeing the teeny tiny houses, and having a little table to play with.  Regular snack and toy infusions kept her happy on the flights, and Tom was his normal chilled self.  The Paddington backpack was a great idea (although not so great to be dragged through the streets of Rome).  More flights can follow without fear.

More posts to follow through the week! 

Eight months

Two thirds of a year!  As a celebration of turning eight months we have got out the 9 - 12 month vests, mainly to make sure they for over his chunky cloth bottom. Other clothes stay in the drawer until they are too small, regardless of label size: might as well enjoy them for as long as possible...

This has been a consolidation month. No spectacular new skills to report, but Tom is consistently improving on existing skills. He can sit for ages now and has started leaning forward over his legs and getting on to his front, a precursor to crawling. He can also flip from front to back and back to front now, as well as rotate around when he is on his front. Nappy changes are interesting as he flips to his front as soon as you put him down. Once he starts crawling I suspect I will be chasing him around rather a lot!

Tom has definitely got the hang of food this month. Mealtimes are still messy, but he will grab whatever is in front of him, chew and swallow it. Bread is still a favourite, but juicy fruit such as apricots or oranges run a close second. At mealtimes he and Marisca sit next to each other, grin and giggle together. They are going to be very cheeky and thick as thieves as they get older, and we are looking forward to it.

And what a lovely smily, giggly boy he continues to be! He is very ticklish and will giggle if you tickle his tummy and coo hello when he sees us. While this is lovely, it isn't great at 5 am when he decides it is morning. Tim and I take it in turns to get up with him in the early mornings, and this is one of my favourite times : he plays happily while I surface gradually with a cup of tea, then we have cuddles and play until Marisca gets up. When he sees her he grins from ear to ear and we are ready for another day as a family!

Catching up: more camping and friends

We seem to have been busy and my camera hasn't been out much.

Last week we had our third camping trip of the year, to a different campsite in Settle.  The weather was much better than last time we camped in Settle: no hail as we were pitching, enough sun for a barbecue, and almost enough to stop us climbing a hill.  No photos of the walking, unfortunately, as it'd have been great to capture Marsica in full flow up the scrambles at the top of Pen-Y-Ghent.

Instead, we have a couple of pictures of campsite frolics

and all of the boys drinking beer and tending the cooking.

And then today we went over to Temple Newsam for a catch up with the Houghtons.  Marisca had great fun until crashing with tiredness.  Trying to keep up with Charlotte obviously tired her out!

Happy 6th July

A little late, but perfectly timed for the gorgeous summer weather over the weekend, we were invited to the Lawler's American 6th July party.  Marisca had lots of fun playing with Oscar (as always) and the other children, Thomas had a good long sleep, and Elspeth and I enjoyed having our hands briefly free.  Nice beer, great food, passable music: thank you, Mary, Michael, Oscar and Adair!