Bonjour Paris!

For our fifth anniversary (I can't believe it's been five years), Rob surprised me with a romantic trip to Paris. (Thanks to KaRynn, we left the kids home.) For weeks, he had been teasing me with email clues -- little poems telling me what to bring and hinting at what we would do. It was a fabulous trip. Rob turned the whole thing into a sort of scavenger hunt. He took old emails that he had saved from when we were dating and combined them with new little poems containing clues as to where we were going. I had to guess correctly before we moved on to the next place. I must say that I had actually never been to many of the places. And he even took me to the Opera. What a guy! What a husband!!!
Here he is, my fab husband, looking not so excited at getting his photo taken in a charming Paris alley.

The Arc de Triomphe. We couldn't get any closer than this because it was closed for some national holiday celebration.

Our attempt to take a photo of ourselves at Sacre-Coeur. This was my first time actually visiting this giant monument. It's the crazy crowds and mediocre gospel singers surrounding the place that gives it charm.

A view of Paris from the top of Sacre-Coeur.

We also browsed through the Rodin Museum. We both loved it! Maybe it was the ability to see the evolution of Rodin's work, or maybe it was the romanticism of "The Kiss", or maybe it was just that we could see the entire museum without chasing after kids.

Do you like my pensive pose by "The Thinker"? I have a great affinity for this sculpture because another version stands outside the Stanford library where I studied away four years of my life.

I love this photo -- it's of a giant clock in the Musee d'Orsay, which peaks out over the river and the rooftops of Paris.

Hi Mom and Dad! My parents were in Europe and decided to stop through Paris to meet us. What fun!!! It was a treat to get their great insight in the Musee d'Orsay and my dad treated us to a delicious lunch! Here they are in front of Notredame.

Anna Claire's Preschool Program

While Rob and I were in Paris, Anna Claire performed in a play with her pre-school. KaRynn went and took pictures for us. Anna has been attending a jardin des enfants since last November. She loves it and has learned a lot of French from it. I love to hear her count in French and sing little French songs.
Here is Anna Claire with her best friend (and birthday buddy) Nicole.

Anna Claire with Nicole and buddy Rowan.

Johnny and Ashley are here!

We were experiencing withdrawal from family after leaving Grandma Judie and Grandpa Steve in Italy. Fortunately, my brother Johnny and his wife Ashley soon came to cheer us up. Aside from my parents and CK, I haven't had much family visit so I was thrilled. Plus, my kids absolutely adore both of them -- especially Ashley.
We took a little day trip to enjoy some Swiss chocolate and Swiss cheese. First, we hit the Cailler Chocolate Factory. The best part of the tour was the room at the end stocked full of chocolate -- all you can eat! As you can see, our girls weren't afraid to take advantage of this. They stuffed their faces until we dragged them out. (But then again, so did I!)
Next, we hit the picturesque town of Gruyere -- home of the famous Gruyere cheese. We skipped the factory tour and headed right for the town. Doesn't this look like a postcard?

We all enjoyed seeing the cheese producers -- the cows -- on the hike up to the town.
Skippety, skippety. Look at those mountains!

Of course, we had to eat lunch at a place that served cheese fondue!

Uncle Johnny and Mariah really hit it off. (By the way, I must mention that a few days later, Johnny hired a boat and skis so that he could waterski on Lake Geneva. Even I haven't done that yet! The boat driver was a little skeptical that he could even slalom. He doesn't know my brother!)
Mariah loved wearing Uncle Johnny's hat.

Anna did too!

Daddy decided to bike back from Gruyere. The girls wanted to join him. (By the way, check out the lady trying to get out of the picture. . .)

Bye bye Gruyere!

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!

Italian Summer: San Gimignano

We were having some car problems so we had to make a drive to the nearest Chevy dealer. Fortunately, the medieval town of San Gimignano was just about 10 minutes from the garage. It's called a Medieval Manhattan because the town's wealthiest citizens demonstrated their wealth and power by building huge towers. Although almost as crowded as Manhattan, the town was quite charming.

Entering the city gates.
The town center was quite charming -- with interesting old buildings all squished together. We enjoyed a delicious dinner here and topped it off with tasty gelato.

Rob, hanging out on the church steps, relaxing and people-watching.
Thanks to KaRynn, we did this trip without kids (just Rob's parents and us), which was quite a treat!

Don't you love those Tuscan views!

Aaah, life without kids!

Italian Summer: Siena

Here we are, back in Siena. This is the Siena Duomo. It's stunning from the outside and even more stunning on the inside.

Here's just a small sample of the inside view -- lots and lots of marble.
Hanging out on the steps. The men watched the girls while we women explored the Duomo museum.
Except for local traffic, cars are not allowed into Siena, so the girls did lots of walking. Swingie, swingie, swingie was Mariah's favorite activity!
Look how strong I am!

Entering the famous piazza.

Look at the cute couple!

Chillin' on the piazza, this time in the warm sunshine! We had a yummy Italian lunch at a restaurant right on the piazza and had great fun watching a clown play tricks on passersby.

Daddy, let me go. I wanna chase the birdies!

March, march, march, march.

Look who is worn out from all the running around.

Bye-bye Siena!