Firenze

The weekend before Maisie's birthday we road-tripped it to Florence (6 hours).

I had just finished reading Brunelleschi's Dome (a non-fiction account of the building of the Duomo) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (a biographical novel about Michelangelo) so I was really excited to see the real life version of all the things I'd been reading.

Here it is, Il Duomo.

Our first afternoon (Thursday) was great.  We visited dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David (no cameras allowed) and then we saw these guys hanging around the baptistry (hello bronze doors by Ghiberti, sorry no photo) of the duomo,

 

Next we went to l'Uffizi to buy tickets for the next day,

Michael and Maisie at the Uffizi

 

and finally, we had a delicious dinner of steak Florentine

Yes, she ate this (OK we helped a little):

We went to our hotel after dinner and went to bed but the night didn't go well, in the middle of the night, Maisie came down with the stomach flu.  We spent the entire next day in the hotel.  Michael went to the Uffizi by himself and then when he got back I walked around the City for a while.  

On Saturday she was feeling better so we visited Santa Maria Novella before heading to Siena.

Here we are on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

When we got to Siena, the weather was awful but we only had one day so we visited the Piazza del Campo and tried to climb the Torre del Mangia but it was closed because of the rain.  You can see below that we had fun anyway.

Here is a photo of Maisie feeling better at the Palazzo Pubblico.

After this we packed it up and drove home with a stop in the lovely town of Stresa on Lake Maggiore for some lunch.  Our losing streak continued though with some yucky food but amazing weather and a beautiful little town.  I hope to go back someday.

So overall, it was great to get back to Tuscany after 15 years but it wasn't an ideal vacation (I'm sure you all feel terribly sorry for us).    Maisie has 4 more weeks of school and then we'll be making up for lost sunshine in ARIZONA!

Stay tuned for photos from International Day coming up on Saturday.

Guess who is ELEVEN?!

MAISIE

I made another batch of these (minus the coconut)

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/coconut-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

and she got this http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

plus she got to hang out with this guy who made her a cheeseburger for dinner

What more could a girl ask for?  

How about another trip to Europa Park 

http://www.europapark.de/lang-en/Vorschaltseite/c1548.html

with the Edmonds?

OK

Let's Go!

View from the ride Atlantica. 

Michael, Sam, Maisie and Noah after a harrowing ride on the Silver Star coaster

Maisie and Noah on Atlantica

As you can see Michael came with us this time so he was the designated Coaster Chaperone since he likes them and I don't!  Of all the rides at the park, it turns out Michael's favorite was the short stint on the German Autobahn that we had on the drive up.  

We have a year to recover before it's time to celebrate her 12th birthday.  Thanks to everyone for the birthday cards and wishes.

Happy Mother's Day!

I come from a long line of very excellent mothers.  I'm just lucky that way, I guess. 

4 generations

My Mom has been there through it all...

The Good (New York, NY May 1999)

The Bath (Mesa, AZ August 1999)

And everything in between

(Strawberry, AZ April 2000)

(Mesa, AZ 2002)

She's the best Mom in the world and I hope she has the best Mother's Day!

Anyone who can raise this crew deserves a good day once in a while!

(Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Mesa, AZ 2010)

I love you Funny!!!