Biking in Italy!

Rob and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Riccione, Italy (on the Adriatic Coast) where we stayed at a biking hotel on the beach. We left the kids with Mara and spent four days just biking, walking on the beach and eating scrumptious Italian food. We took the train down, which delayed us significantly. While Mussolini may have made the trains run on time, the current government is not doing the same. An eight hour trip ended up taking about 20 hours for us. We spent the night in a wonderful Marriott in Milan, but hopped on a train promptly the next morning, only to wait again in Bologna. Anyhow, when we finally arrived, it was all worth it. The hotel offers bike tours with tourguides for different levels. I did the easier stuff while Rob went with the former cycling pro and did all the really hard climbs. Mine wasn't easy -- we did about 50 km a day -- but it only involved a little bit of climbing. We rode into the tiny country of San Marino one day -- up the mountain to the castletop and then rode back out. Rob and I did a couple bike rides together and that was great fun. Best of all, the food was all-inclusive and absolutely delicious! I think I ate too much of the all-you-can-eat gelato.

Sadly, I broke my camera at the Museum of Transport so I haven't been able to take any pictures since. My bike guide took lots of photos, though, which I'm hoping he'll someday email to me. :)

Baptismal desires. . .

Today we went to the baptism of Tate, the daughter of some friends in our ward. The baptism was after our three-hour church session, so the girls were a bit wild by then -- especially Mariah. After the baptism, we returned to the chapel. Everyone was quiet and reverent during the rest of the meeting, except Mariah, who kept repeating loudly, "I want to get baptized, I want to get baptized. Jesus got baptized. I want to get baptized." She did not want to wait another 6 years, she wanted to do it right then! We all admired her sincere desires, but after hearing it for the entire meeting, it wasn't quite so cute!

Luzern: The Swiss Museum of Transport

Rob did another long ride again today (taking advantage of the long weekend) so we set off to meet him in Luzern at the Museum of Transport. The museum had fantastic views of Lake Luzern. (Whenever I come here, I think of yogurt, because growing up we used to eat "Lucerne" brand yogurt from Albertson's. Weird thought, huh.)

Mom with the kids at the yogurt lake.

The Museum of Transport is fabulous -- it covers the history of cars, planes, trains and space. Everything is in four languages -- including English. Anna Claire and Mariah loved seeing all the old trains.

Mariah and Anna Claire playing in front of the giant airplane.

A little ride in the airplane. . .

Mom's trying it too.