While we were in the Palazzo Vecchio's bookstore, I told m to pick up a few kids books on Florence. It wasn't until we were eating in the restaurant across our apartment (which is REALLY good) that I realized that she purchased one of each kids books they had! Which is kind of cool because you probably can't get these in the US-so, if you ever need kids books on Firenza, just come by and borrow them.
I am enjoying my 100th bottle of ciante but am drunk over how blessed I am. I have a great family, from my grandparents, down to my parents (sorry mom for yelling at you today), my brothers, their spouses and of course my own family, including M (sorry for being crabby at u today), the twins and Nico, who are all sleeping now.
My relatives, as quirky as they are have blessed me too. Lest not forget my friends, from my elementary schools, my kollege, b skool and colleagues, former colleagues, and of course my church friends who are family to me too.
THANK YOU LORD!!!
Look at this picture! Is that not what brothers and sisters are? Should be? Is that what makes fathers and mothers proud, happy and blessed? I KNOW this celebration was M+E's day, their wedding day, but if I only want steal a second away, to honor my kids THIS moment so that they can remember that they are also responsible now to each other, to their family, to their church and skool friends, their aunts and uncles, their future spouses, to God, to Jesus, then let them know that they are blessed too.
PRAISE the Lord and I wish you a great New Year.
Have hit us, not M and E.
The kids want to go home and I was super crabby (first time for everything) not at anyone but by Nico locking himself in our room, by the almost 2 hour line for the Academy )where David is), by my wife buying a sweater (though I got her a similar one in Ecuador just a few weeks ago). Noy even Grom's gelato, Florence's best could boost our spirits.
Strangely, the kids are enjoying this random pizza place (pizza is good actually). So hopefully things will improve.
is totally worth checking out. It might not be as famous as Italy's or even Tuscany's other cities, but is full of interesting sites and arts. Can see why James Bond came here.
But we missed Catherine de Siena's place! Will seeing Catherine de Pleasantville substitute?
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If you're going halfway around the globe, spend a few Euros to see what's inside a museum or church. You might miss a Donatello if you don't.
I am glad my brother's wedding is in 2 days-so we can really start eating in Italy :)
Seriously, I hope that tux, which I wore on my wedding still fits-otherwise I will be attending it dressed in my Virgin sleep suit.
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The weather is cold but we are still enjoying ourselves. Pisa was much better than I expected but we didn't maximize our time there. We missed a few closeby and free sites. Don't make that same mistake if you go there.
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Our apartment in Florence is on the via di Melranciano, which is 50 meters away from the Church of San Lorenzo, which in some ways in cooler than the Duomo. It has works by Michelangelo and Donatello. We're also close to David. Cool!
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Not so cool-though we have a good reference book about Firenzia and its museums, I totally just glanced over some paintings by Raphael, which I had seen here 12 years prior on our honeymoon. But I somewhat justify this miss as I was really talking to MJ while we were in the museum. MJ's conclusion: Rapheal isn't that cool-he's not in Star Wars.
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The boys like citylife, but CA likes where we live better. But NY seems so far away-and I do admit that sometimes I wonder if our kids are missing something, if we're missing something, being the typical NY-centric people we are.
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I have'nt really read the paper since we got here...though I have been following this Madoff scandal closely on my bb. What an embarassment. What a shame.
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It would really cool to have a small station wagon. Maybe an Audi S4 Avant is in the works. Maybe a diesel VW! Maybe a Fiat! Maybe a Smart car.
Christmas in Florence started off with us all jetlagged. And it didn't help that I forgot to set my bb clock ahead one hour. Forgot about the time difference to continental Europe.
Instant Nestle coffee didn't help M and I-and our villa was too cold. Nobody wanted to get out of bed. But we had to-to get to mass and lunch.
Before we did, Italian Santa brought gifts to the kids. Only MJ was disappointed. "Italian Santa only brings clothes?" Santa didn't want you to lose the Star Wars Lego pieces in Italy was one of our arguments in colsoling MJ. We reminded him what Christmas is REALLY about. Still, he was a bit sad and asked how long it would be until we went home.
My family purposely didn't tell me we were eating Chinese on Christmas. My disdain for buffet parties, especially on Jesus' birthday, is well known. But I didn't complain that much because I wasn't hungry-and my mom wanted it.
But walking around Firenza with my family was good. It was good weather to wander, take in the sights and chat to people and what brought them here for the Holidays--the four Fs: family, friends, food and Firenza. You only need the first three for Chirstmas but Firenza isn't too shabby and it is more family friendly than I expected (so far).
D made a wonderful Christmas dinner. He's a great cook. His tomato sauce recipe was probably from the "Godfather" but that's all ingredients you need. But try it on grilled polenta as we did tonight-a simple switch that yields smiles.
Desserts here are just too good. CA has developed a hankering for cannolis, and a special dance. Chiante is good also, especially when you can find great wines for €2.50! That is cheaper than water.
M and I were here 12 years ago on our honeymoon. But the memories we are making on this trip will be just as cherished.
My family vacations have lots of the Griswalds in them-more than I care to admit both in good and bad ways.
Blogging on my bb now in our quaint but cold villa in Florence-we can't quite figure out heating system-seems a world away from what we experienced the last 24 hours getting here.
It was a most interesting trip. The leg to Gatwick in London was easy and as expected. Kids did well on the plane all things considered. MJ is gonna be a world traveler. He's obedient, thoughtful and helpful as the oldest typically are :)
We won chocolates at Gatwick Airport-the elves were smoking hot and yes I was Clarke-like while talking to them. The game was pick a numbered Christmas ornament and if it matches the number posted on a board you win! So the elve give each of the kids an ornament then says to me "You wanna have a go?" Of course! I say, with a Clarke like smile :)
Later on the kids colored with angels on the lounge. The angels were super nice even though they kind of looked like....errr... Not so angelic.
Our flights to Florence were cancelled due to heavy fog so Meridiana (or whatever their name) Airlines told us we'd be going to either Pisa, Bolonga or some other nearby place-they winged it!
At Bolonga, we had to wait 1 hour for our luggage and it came out on on our conveyor belt but next one over-so Italian! Then we took bus to Florence a 1.5 hour ride away.
Our villa is in nice area near Central Stazion and Duomo-but my parents and Dennis' villa is really really nice and in a great location also, near the bridge whose name escapes me (pontico...blah blah blah). Their owner gave them nice basket of food/ chocolates and wine. I ate half of it-beats plane/airport food.
Had nice Xmas eve dinner with my parents and brothers and Emy, Mike's fiance. But we decided not try midnight mass-thought kids were jetlagged. We walked home and ate gelato-kids got energized :)-should have gone to church.
We're now off to mass now then my parents villa to eat! Looking fwd to that as Dennis knows how to cook Italian.
Weather here is actually nice. You need a winter jacket, but it is comfortable to walk around.
Buon Natale! as the Duomo bells chime...
It's a mess out there driving with all this REAL snow. I was simply trying to get home from work--only reason why I was out there. Yet I can't believe that people STILL try to pass on one lane highways around a bend even though there is clearly an accident up the hill with on coming traffic. Unbelievable. And this dork is in a car w/o AWD. So stay home folks. There are tons of idiots out there. But try to enjoy the snow and QT with your family and kids.
It is snowing and though my beloved BMW is terrible in snow, I want it to stick and stay around until Spring 2009.
Everytime it snows, I think about that time when S. R. and I drove up in college in the middle of the night while it was snowing, slept in the parking lot in order to have fresh powder.
I think about the time we got home from Florida, and the twins ran to a nice spot on the lawn, plopped down and made snow angels.
I think about the Blizzard of 78 and how my dad, brother and I walked to the grocery store to get provisions. A 30 minute walk normally took half the day.
I think about the time we assumed we HAD no school-sledded all day then realized we had when our teachers asked where we were the day prior.
I think about the time we watched "All In!" a 25 hour (or so) Korean mini-series in one long session.
I think about the time M and I trudged through NYC to see her baby doctor.
I think about the time I was stuck in NYC for 2 days delaying my ski vacation to Steamboat Colorado (which is another story in itself).
I think about the time J Lee and I decided to golf in Feb and it started snowing when we were on the 7th or 8th hole (farthest away from our car).
So snow, stick around please-and make more fun memories.
I worked from home today so that our nanny, A ,could hang out with her mom and sisters in NYC. The day turned out ok but I got to admit that I didn't think it would.
It has been a crazy few weeks....errr...make that months. It isn't easy being a banker these days. Did someone tell you that we've been in a recession for a year now? So I was stressed out all week thinking about everything I'd miss working from home. I don't miss the "Oh, you're 'working' from home" looks however.
So today was the first day I dropped off the twins at their bus stop, which is a short jaunt through our front yard to our neighbor's driveway. Of course, CA HAD to go potty as soon as we got there, but luckily, our neighbor said that CA could use their bathroom. MJ was a good boy. He held the umbrella for B, our neighbor's daughter, and his sister.
I dropped off NC at his nursery school, and I STILL love that school, though it's unbelievable to me that starting next September, none of my kids will be there. It's such a good school--and the parents we know are just so awesome. I remembered to pick up NC 10 minutes after his class ended--but his teachers were fine with that. Plus, I wasn't the last parent there.
NC was so good. I told him that I had to work, so after he ate his Easy Mac, PediaSure and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup lunch, he agreed to a nap, and didn't put up a fight. He asked for music too! I couldn't find the CD he wanted (country music--A's influence) so I turned on the TV and put in Cars. But he slept for 2+ hours, which allowed me to work.
I continued working even after the twins came home. Err...I was on a conference call while waiting for my kids to come home on the bus, which stops at the bottom of our driveway. I was still on the call 2 hours later, but all three kids were good. They let me work upstairs, with minimal supervision.
I envision doing this again but it isn't much easier than actually going to work. It isn't despite what people think.
I just concluded the worst business trip of my life. London is fine-but when you arrive and find out the meeting has been cancelled and there is a pile of work to be done , it is not.
Seriously, everything that could go wrong did. This among other things included delays in the plane, long lines for taxis, having a drunk passenger puke on a plane, the car service guy going to the departure area when I was arriving.
But Matthew's lecture that "London is the worst place" or "I am supposed to come home everynight" did not happen. He smiled and hugged me upon my return and said that he was glad I was home.
