Calabria, Italy

REWIND… It’s July 4th weekend. While people are preparing for cookouts, watermelon, American flags, and fireworks, we are on the ferry bound for Calabria, Italy. In order to board the ferry, you must, of course, have a ticket. We drive into a line and people start jumping out of their cars to go buy a ticket. Greg was driving, so that left me to do the deed. At this point, my Italian is, well, I don’t know Italian. I can say hello, good-bye, I can point, and have become a master at charades. I stand in line at the ticket counter, which is really pointless because lines don’t mean much here. Three people jump ahead of me and while I’m standing at the counter a man behind me sticks his hand in front of me and yells over my shoulder effectively taking care of his business. I told the man I needed a ticket (I rehearsed the word for “ticket” over and over in my head while walking to the booth) and then he asks me a question. I feel that blank look come over my face. I know the feel of the look very well at this point because I get it quite often. In the end, I manage to buy a ticket that gets us across.


We drive onto the ferry and eat some terrible food on our 15 minute journey. After arriving in mainland Italy we look back at our island home. Strange feeling! We drive for a few hours and arrive at the agriturismo just in time for lunch! We sit down and they start bringing us food. No menu, no idea about what’s coming, just trusting that it will all work out ok! Boy does it work out ok! We ate some delicious food and I was very excited about what was to come during our stay. Our room is small with an attached bathroom. We are able to fit a bed, a cot, and a pack and play successfully in the room, what more do you need?

Having some time to kill before dinner (which started at 9pm), we headed for the beach. Everyone had a fun time, but Greg got water duty… it was too cold for me! We made our way back through the olive grove only to hear upon our return at the agriturismo, we didn’t have any hot water in our room! They assured us that if it wasn’t fixed by sometime tomorrow, they would move us to a different room. If a shower was necessary, we were free to use the outdoor shower area next to the pool. How kind!

The next day we took a drive trying to find a water park. We found it, but it didn’t open until August. That doesn’t work out very well when you are there in July. The manager at the agriturismo had told us about a nice town with a castle (not that unusual) so off we went. There’s not much to report… a nice town, great lunch, cool castle out in the water. There was still no hot water in our room, so we moved into a very nice room in the main building. Dinner, again, was amazing and this time we enjoyed our time with a family from Malta. It’s always fun to meet new people! We had a great weekend and I highly recommend staying at an agriturismo. The experience was unique, the food was great, the atmosphere was quaint, and you felt like family.

P.S.- Greg bought our return ticket!

                          Juliette loves food!  She finishes her plate, then eats what's left on Brady's plate!

                                                                Before...

                                                                 After.

Our Room

                                                      The library/ sitting room

                                              Lunch and Dinner were served under the tents

Partenkirchen- Garmisch, Germany- Last day of vacation

For the final day of our vacation, we decided it would be ok to take a 4 hour guided tour trip through Partenkirchen- Garmisch. This was where we were staying, so not much travel was involved- at least not much car travel. But oh, why didn’t I consider we were going to be on walking tours? I have mentioned before, and will mention again- because it’s necessary to know- We have quite possibly the slowest walker in the world living in our house. Brady takes his time wherever we go. He not only walks VERY slowly, he also gets distracted by rocks, sign poles, leaves, pretty much everything. He just lives in Brady World and is oblivious to his surroundings. It’s just something that makes Brady special! Anyways, we went through town and took a walking tour through Partenkirchen. Originally, Garmisch and Partenkirchen were two separate towns. Hitler decided that he wanted the two towns to unite for the 1939 Olympics. Neither town wanted to, but an ultimatum was given… Unite or the town leaders were going to be sent to Dachau Concentration Camp. So was born Partenkirchen-Garmisch.


Our second stop was the 1939 Olympic stadium. It was so small! I wouldn’t be surprised if the athletes didn’t fit inside the stadium today. Greg and Brady rode the summer bobsled ride. Brady loved it!

It was off to Garmisch for another walking tour. We meandered through the farmer’s market and had a delicious lunch. On the way to the van, we walked through a wellness park and I took part in a Bavarian foot bath. First you walk through ice cold water, flowing down from the top of a glacier. I’m talking ICE COLD. Then you walk a path with different sections- rocks, bark, small gravel, and wood beams. The idea is that if the feet are healthy, the rest of your body will be also. Stimulating the soles of your feet with the various textures promotes foot health.

We took one final walking tour with some beautiful views of homes and the Alps. Unfortunately, my camera battery bit the dust, so I don’t have many pictures. Walking tour+ Brady’s walking skills + naptime= we were ready to get home!

This vacation was amazing! We are so blessed to have the chance to travel and I don’t ever want to take it for granted.

Day at the Munich Zoo

This was the mandatory fun zoo day.  Who doesn't love spending time with family and looking at all the animals at the zoo?  Brady doesn't.  Yes, my 4 year old was totally unimpressed with the Munich zoo.  The day was saved when he played on a giant playground and wrode the electric car.  Oh yeah, the crocodiles, flamingoes, and penguins were ok too. 

                                           Juliette's so excited, she's pointing to grass!

                                                       Brady LOVES climbing trees. 

                                          This guy wasn't waiting for someone to buy him food!

                                                          Biggest smile of the day!

Me vs. Flying Insect

We have had a few flies and mosquitoes make themselves at home here in our house.  I was reminded of an encounter I had while in Germany, as I was swatting at a fly on the kitchen table, missing the fly, and sending peas soaring across the room.

The kids were finally in bed and Greg followed closely behind while I finished up some catch-up blogging.  We had the door open most of the evening because our cabin gets hot and we were letting some of the cool night air in.  At the time it seemed like a great idea until a HUGE flying insect started bouncing around the lights.  I don’t know what it was, but it looked dangerous to me.  Armed with a fly swatter and a broom- I’m not really sure why the broom, but it seemed necessary at the moment- I began swatting at my cabin invader.  In an ideal world, I would have swatted once and the monster would have been taken down, however, we do not live in an ideal world and I have terrible aim.  So I continue swatting hoping I’ll make it dizzy or I’ll just hit it in the air and my problem will be handled.  I did hit it and it disappeared.  I searched the ground and then stood very still hoping it was dead, but waiting for it to reappear.  Nothing happened.  I sat down at my computer and continued typing.  This bugger started coming out from behind my computer.  With the trusty fly swatter at my side, I quickly began making work to hit the thing.  Again, I have terrible aim, so my great plan didn’t work.  Instead of killing it, I injured it, this means that instead of bouncing from light to light it began bouncing from floor to my eye level.  In an ideal world, Greg would have come to my rescue and slayed the monster, showing his bravery and love for me.  However, we do not live in an ideal world and Greg continued to snore in the next room.  I found it again on the floor, attempted to hit it, I think I hit a leaf and then had no idea where it was.  Now it was certainly possible the monster was in the bedroom.  All I could do was pray a hedge of protection around us while we slept, praying we wouldn’t get bitten and that it wouldn’t take it’s revenge on me while I slept.