When in Rome...

You know the saying, right? So we will be able to finish that sentence sometime tomorrow afternoon when we will be IN ROME. Cool, huh? Yep, we are going on our first REAL trip, none of that pansy-wansy day-trip-to-Venice stuff, no sir-eee. And if any of us remembers my LOVELY post after our trip to Venice (see: hot, sweaty, yucky, ucky, tired) then you can only imagine how much I am truly looking forward to our WEEK-LONG trip to Rome and Naples. << sigh >>

But seriously, we are excited that daddy has finagled a week off from work, which would normally be some miracle act of god but in this case is because he has a week of leave he will lose by the end of September so he was forced to take it - thank you U.S. goverment for MAKING my hubby take a vacation : ) But since he IS so terribly busy I was left to stress over the plans for our vacation for the last several weeks, aahhh, no problem, right? A week of traveling in assorted foreign countries, train schedules, hotel reservations, woo-hoo! It'll take me five minutes, no problem...

Actually, we decided a week-long vacation would be good time to do a big trip, like England or Ireland, sooo, I looked online for flights, read through a bunch of travel books from the library, seriously researched hotels and then... those terrorist threats in the UK kindof made us think we should postpone the galavanting to England bit, um yeah. So hubby said, let's do a big Italy trip, like Naples, Pompeii, etc., and after another few weeks of intensive online research into trains and hotels and the like I caved and went to a travel agent in town, thank god. An hour or so later and they had the whole thing booked - hotels, an inclusive tour from Rome to Naples, even had the train tickets printed right there in there office, whew - and not a moment too soon, that was only two days ago < blink > < blink > Nothing like last minute plans, or a matching pair of hubby and wife procrastinators : )

So, wish us luck on our FIRST big family trip cross-country here in Italy. We're excited about the trip but totally nervous about how Ella will do on the 5+ hour train trip, hmmm, restless toddler + stuck in a seat for what seems like an eternity = FUN! Stay tuned - we'll report back here next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel...

Family life in Italy, no longer UNplugged

Last night I futzed around with the internet settings on the computer and finally got our DSL modem here in Italy to work, that's right, you heard it first right here - WE ARE BACK ONLINE!!!

Aaaaaah, I relax and soak in the sumptuous sounds of Yahoo launching up, and the brilliant visions of fantastically gaudy pop-up ads. Who knew how much you could miss these wonderful electronic treasures, until you are stranded in a foreign country (cool and interesting, but still very foreign) without your precious wires to the world!

Our re-connection to the world comes none too soon as I have developed a two-month long list of all the things I daily discover that I can't find here in beautiful Italy. I crave for a Target-down-the-street like some kind of crazed shopping addict, and even occasionally dream of walking down the aisles at Kohl's, just a little creepy to say the least... Anyone?, anyone?, wanna trade some cool old castles and good wine for that 5-min drive to Walmart you take oh-so-for-granted?

So, thank god for all the online shopping that completely saturates the internet, I think I could lock myself inside the house for days now, holed up with my little DSL connected beauty until my eyes completely bugged out, but, Ella does occasionally need some sunshine, so I guess I'll just have to see what I can get done while she naps : )

In parting, we will tempt your visual taste buds with a quick glimpse of our lovely Italian house (yucky yard but give us time) and a snippet of Ella. More news and photos and maybe even video to come soon, now that we are happily "plugged in".

p.s. -- love to all our US fans, we miss you all TONS.....

Our little Italian "villa" (Ella acting as "Vanna" in the street)




Our one weekend excursion to Venice last month was disgustingly hot and muggy but we did capture a few choice pics of the little princess...

Even in the summer heat, Ella takes on Venice - with flair!
























Ella enjoying a quiet "seedy" repose with Venice's natives





Ella and momma, squinting in the July sun





Ella hangin' out on the porch in her festive July 4th 'digs', what a ham