Italian Summer: Settling In

Finally, time for another trip to Italy! But this time we had sunshine, Grandma and Grandpa and KaRynn with us. A much more pleasant experience.

We met Rob's parents in Florence and, from there, drove down to our beautiful farmhouse between Florence and Siena in the Le Crete area of Tuscany. The setting was picturesque--rolling clay hills topped with cypress trees surrounded our medieval farmhouse. Plus, the place was a real, working farm, with flower and vegetable gardens and fruit trees everywhere. Here is the whole gang (except KaRynn who is taking the photo).

A side view of our farmhouse -- and, most importantly, the play area.
Who cares about all the Renaissance stuff! Anna Claire and Mariah found their favorite things in Italy right in the farmhouse yard -- slides. . .
swings . . .
trampolines. . .

chickens, cats, dogs and other farm animals. . .

and lots of stuff to hang out on. . .
Check me out!

Yet another comfortable chair.
And who can survive Italy without the PASTA!

The area surrounding area our farmhouse produces most of the Travartine marble in the world. Check out this mine!
The first evening here we drove to a nearby monastery. Here are Daddy and Anna walking down the cypress path to the monastery.
The monastery had some of the most incredible frescos of Biblical scenes. We could have spent hours there!