Farmer’s Market and the Grove

One day Mom and I were getting the itch to shop and spoil the kids so we headed downtown to LA’s farmers market. It is basically a giant food court with every kind of food you can imagine and stores and booths with candy, stickers, and all sorts of other random stuff I can’t remember now. It really is a must-see place when in LA. We were there for lunch and the idea of wrangling the kids in this crowded place and waiting in line at like 15 different food booths (because everyone would surely want something different) just didn’t appeal to me, so we went to Dupars Diner. Dupars is a famous diner that’s been at the Farmer’s Market since 1938. They are known for their shakes and pies. That’s their pie lineup at the top. We helped make a dent in their pie supply.

The Grove is a very cute outdoor mall next to the Farmer’s Market and is home to the real reason we were there: The American Girl Doll Rip Off Place. This place is insane. The corporate heads at American Girl ought to be studied for their marketing skills. They’ve thought of everything. No stone is left unturned, no dollar left unspent. There is an actual doll hospital for treatment of various doll maladies. This seems a bit much. Back in my day, when your doll’s hair got nasty, you sucked it up and said the doll was “well loved.” You accidently colored its face with a marker? Doll baby was transformed into biker chic doll. You didn’t take it to the hospital! Nothing wrong with your doll? Great, you can have your professional photo taken with it for just slightly less than what your parents will pay for your first semester of college in 15 years. Is your doll in the mood for tea? Wonderful, doll and doll mommy and the whole family can have a sit down meal in the café. Just make a reservation first!
 

Anyways, Papa and Memo spoiled Emily with a bitty baby for her birthday in April, which she named “AFN Family Junior.” (That’s the name of our American TV Armed Forces Network kids channel. That’s right. One channel.) So, anyways, Memo wanted to treat Emily and AFN to some new duds. Emily was only interested in the equipment to make her baby some fake baby food. I was most excited about the little doll holders (below left) in the bathroom. You know, so you don’t have to set your doll on the dirty floor while you tinkle and risk sending AFN to the contagious diseases unit of the doll hospital. I’m pretty sure our insurance doesn’t cover doll MRSA.

I kid, I kid. Kind of. It really is all a bit much. But Emily, even with all her indifference for AFN and dolls in general, seemed to enjoy herself. She has been playing with AFN a little more since we visited.

This picture shows the real reason I suspect we went to American Girl Doll Place: Memo is actually the doll crazy one.

A Night At the Races

My sister, Laura, and her husband, Allan, both work in the corporate office of the company that is the master tenant of the Irwindale Speedway, which is very confusing. But it means they got the kids and I the VIP treatment with seats in the company suite for a race night. The kids loved everything from the cars, the ear protection “ear muffs,” the free soda, and the free glow sticks and flags. Their favorite was watching these silly cars that came out with skid plates instead of the back tires and they were crashing and skidding and sparking all over the track. Then a truck came out with a jet engine on the back and lit it into afterburner. They were all “meh, our Daddy does that all day long!” Just kidding, they loved it. I loved the baked potato booth. It was a 30-minute line but it was worth the wait for these giant baked potatoes, stuffed with all kinds of goodies and special sauce. I’m still having the carb shakes from eating two, yes two, giant stuffed potatoes. The kids wouldn’t eat theirs and someone had to. The night ended with fireworks and then two jet lagged car sleepers on the ride home. Thanks Aunt Laura and Uncle Allan for a fun night!

More Cousins

On our first full day in California, we went over to my Aunt Lynne and Uncle Kirk’s house for a cousins swim party. My kids enjoyed swimming with their first and second cousins and Uncle Kirk. And just a few days later, we drove to Palm Springs to meet up with the McCarty’s and our cousin J, who drove out from AZ to meet us. We had a blast at the resort’s pools and lazy river. J, who is 2 years older than Brian, finally convinced Brian to go down the big slide and waited for him at the bottom pool to help him get out! After that, Brian was a regular on the slides and in the lazy river. It was great to see everyone and let the kids play!

A trip to Palm Springs wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the outlets to shop until the kids drop!

Cousins

On July 4th, the kids and I boarded a plane in Venice and after about 15 hours, one Munich layover complete with airport running to make a flight, at least 10 potty breaks, many many movies, some super short naps, and two Emily vomiting incidents later, we touched down in Los Angeles. The day of travel actually was not that bad, the kids surprised me and surpassed my behavior expectations. Luckily I’d set my expectations low, basically no screaming, no fighting, and no kicking the seat in front of you. A few hours into the flight I asked Brian if this long trip was worth it to see everyone and go to Disneyland for 3 days and he gave me an excited “yes!” I asked again just a few hours before landing and he looked at me like he wanted to backhand me and mouthed a dramatic “no!”

 

It was sooooooo nice to be in the states for 3 weeks. We got to see lots and lots of our family and friends. We did tons of fun things and experienced all the American conveniences we used to take for granted, like Disneyland, fast food, the trampoline park, Palm Springs, stores being open all day and into the night, etc. I like Italy just fine, and I am enjoying another chance at living overseas, and the opportunity to teach our children about different countries and cultures, but I do feel like the U.S. is my home. Specifically California. And more specifically my parent’s house. There is no place like home.

 

My sister Julie and her kids, Grace, and twin babies, Brooks and Elise, were at my Mom and Dad’s house too for the first few days of our trip so the kids and I got to meet the babies and snuggle on them as much as possible since they will probably be huge the next time we see them in a year or two. Brian and Emily and Grace fit in as much play time together as possible in 3 days.

What our kids really do. All. Day. Long. But luckily not on the airplane.

Sardinia

We were in Sardinia for one full week, June 22nd-29th. After a 4-hour drive to Italy’s west coast, a 7-hour ferry ride to Olbia, and another 1.5-hour drive, we arrived at our rental house in Isola Rossa, Sardinia on the Northern Coast. Isola Rossa means red island, which was just off the coast of the little town. The town had a few small stores, mostly beach gear and markets, plus a few restaurants, a small harbor and sandy beach. The beach there was just “meh,” as the water was sort of rough and not a shallow beach. We found no shortage of beautiful sandy beaches all over the island that were warm and shallow for the kids. Overall, the island landscape was scrubby brush and the coastline ranged from sandy white beaches to rocky cliffs. It was still a little cold for beach season, and a few days were downright cold and windy. We wished we had maybe waited until July or August when the weather and water would have been warmer. But it was a fun trip and still warm enough most days for the beach, the Sardinian food was amazing, the company of the R family was perfect, and we are glad we saw the island. One really windy and chilly day, we drove into Alghero, a spanish style walled city, to sightsee.

One day when we’d had enough of the beach, we drove about an hour to the west coast to see the Grotta di Nettuno. We hiked down 656 steps to the cave entrance at sea level. The other option was take a boat from Alghero, which was a farther drive, cost money, and then you had to traverse a wood plank from the boat into the cave entrance, while the boat captain did his best to steady the boat in the moving water and waves. I’ll take the 656 steps down and back up any day, and twice on Sunday over that boat dismount! I didn’t take many pictures inside the cave because low light plus iPhone camera equals not so great photography. But if you’ve ever been in a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites, it pretty much looked like that.

Ferry Much Fun

Day two of our Sardinia trip started bright and early as we needed to be at the port by 6am to catch the morning ferry. We sat at the port waiting for the ferry to unload and then we finally loaded in with all the other cars, mopeds, semi-trucks, etc. They really squeezed them in! We grabbed what we needed from the car and then headed up to the passenger decks, which were complete with restaurants, a swimming pool, and a kiddy play place. The kids spent the 6-hour trip playing together in the play place, or eating, or napping, or watching movies and playing games on the iPad. It was long but much better than being stuck on a long flight because at least they could run around on the ferry. We arrived in Olbia, Sardinia at around 2 pm and then made the 1.5 hour drive to our vacation rental home on the North part of the island. 

Pisa

 ***Slowly, I’ll be catching up on blog posts. We’ve had a busy summer, including a 9-day trip to Sardinia, and 3 days after that trip, the kids and I flew to CA for 3 weeks. And since we’ve returned home, we’ve spent the last two weekends in Verona. Lots to share!!***

At the end of June, we took a 9-day trip to the Italian Island of Sardinia. Day one was a 4-hour drive west to Livorno, where the next morning, bright and early, we’d be boarding a ferry to take us to the island. We spent the night at an American Army Installation, Camp Darby, that is just a few minutes from the port. It is also just a few minutes from Pisa and it’s famous leaning tower. Steve and I had been to Pisa before, but not our kids or the younger kids in the R family, who we were traveling with. So we stopped off for the standard tourist pictures of us “pushing” the tower back in place. And some dinner too.

The R Family, our travelling buddies!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken on Steve’s birthday in June, which he was just thrilled about. He’s never excited to take pictures but they always turn out great and then we are both happy we did it. I wanted a few good family shots, but really wanted some good shots of the kids individually because I’d skipped over getting their annual birthday pictures taken. Mostly because the options here are limited and I like outdoor pictures and with Brian’s birthday being in January, outside pictures weren’t an option unless I was wanting the bundled-in-a-snowsuit-and-freezing-cold-look, which really isn’t in style right now. So, anyhow, that’s how it worked out in June. Beth Caporaletti took the photos for us in a few vineyards near her house. She was a combat photographer in the Air Force and she is amazing. We are so happy with all of them and there are a few she captured of Emily where she looks like a Hollywood starlet. I was worried that the kids would be bored and/or misbehave during the photoshoot, but Emily was too busy hamming it up for the camera and Brian was intrigued by Beth’s equipment and lenses and the lighting. He turned out to be her assistant and was helping her carry things and commenting on the lighting coming through the trees and such!