(from May 18, 2012)
These were taken on an evening when we met another family from our church LifeGroup for dinner and playing in the fountains. We stayed for the show, where the fountains are "choreographed" to a few songs. Kate loved the music and showed us some new dance moves...
PS- You can tell this was before I got my camera fixed on a couple of these, but I'm sharing anyway!
That evening we went to the park to eat our dinner and play. It was a happy first birthday!
But day of the party was WINDY. I mean SUPER windy. I had bought balloons, but the second I got them out of the car, all the strings wound up around each other and they were all in one huge clump. The wind was so strong that the balloons kept popping at random even though there was nothing near them! I had banners to hang that I couldn't hang, and all of these cute decorations that I just couldn't use in that weather. I couldn't even put my cupcakes on the cute stand I had for fear the wind would blow it over. Everything pretty much just got thrown on the table. I was so sad! A lot of time and expense went into all of that, and I was so frustrated that it all went to waste. Not to mention I was disappointed for the lack of cute decoration photos! I had to keep reminding myself that everyone was having fun, and that was really all that mattered.
(from May 14, 2012)
Caroline and a couple of her Lens Baby pals modeled for our group to have a "cake smash" shoot. It was really challenging for me to keep her contained and shoot. I had icing all over my camera!
These first ones of her with the strawberries were inspired by the top image here on this blog. With her first birthday party being a strawberry theme, I was dying to try this!
And some balloon shots...
And finally a few cake ones. I was really disappointed in these, but I can't begin to tell you how difficult it was to wrangle her and shoot. Also consider there were several other moms around me taking pictures, so I couldn't exactly move into any position I wanted! But this girl got INTO this cake. I mean, she pretty much dove in, and she even had it all in her hair by the end.
I can't believe it's been so long (2 months!) since my last phone dump. The first one in this set was from Father's Day!
I'm done with the Europe pics!! YAAAAY!! Here are a few from our last day there...
Thursday, February 9
We decided to try and sleep in a bit this morning, knowing it was our last chance to do so. What a luxury! At home we're always up by 7 at the latest, so I treasured the mornings when we could sleep in! We had just a little time to walk around in Florence before leaving for Milan, and I was thrilled that a children's clothing store I had seen on a night stroll (TAF) was open. In the window they had beautiful smocked dresses far out of our price range, but I spotted sweet, monogrammed handkerchiefs. What a sweet keepsake those could be for our girls (and from Florence, too!). I chose the white ones thinking that they might someday be used in wedding bouquets. Maybe I'll frame them until then. :) We strolled along the Ponte Vecchio, and I snapped some final shots of Florence.
We made our way to the train station and nearly missed our train to Milan. We had to run all the way down the platform to the LAST car. We were seated all of 1 minute before the train pulled out!
The afternoon was spent in Milan. We saw their duomo with many spires and over the top architecture commissioned by Mussolini. We went from there to find the location for our reservation to see The Last Supper and on the way found a place called "Shockolat," a gelato and chocolate shop. We ran in for a quick gelato (we hadn't had any lunch), and coffee. I, of course, ordered a cappuccino (which pegs you as a tourist when you order it after breakfast time), but I ordered it all the same, and got some funny smiles and smirks! What do I care? It tasted great!! The dark chocolate gelato was definitely my fave of the trip - I wished we had had time to really stop and enjoy it (and maybe get another cup!!), but we had to get to our reserved showing of The Last Supper.
It wasn't far. We waited our turn, listening to the audio guide recount the history of the art and artist. We were called up with a group of 15 or 20 - they keep groups small and visits brief to help with preservation - and walked through 2 rooms to be de-humidified. The art is not a painting on a canvas, nor is it a fresco. It was painted on the wall of the chapel after the paint was dry, so it has been restored several times. It's amazing, though, that has survived bombings and pillaging through the centuries. It was incredible to be so close, to see it span the length of that wall - to study the light, the hands, the gestures, the scene as a whole.
We were beat and enjoyed some down time (and free Internet) at the hotel for a bit before going to dinner at another Rick Steves suggested place (Ristorante da Bruno). It just so happened that it was super close to our hotel! We enjoyed a bottle of Chianti Classico, spaghetti carbonara (for me) and oso buco (for Nick), and FINALLY got my first and only tiramisu of the trip! I was so glad they had it!
I'm almost embarrassed to keep posting these pictures from Europe. I'm SOOO close to finishing the edits, though, so bear with me! Once I get these done, I'll be on to edits for photos from May (like Caroline's birthday). Sheesh.
Since our trip was 6 months ago, I had to refer back to my travel journal to help with the details! This was one of our favorite days of the trip - a tour of Tuscany with a private driver! We used Verbena Blu Viaggi Travel Agency and went on the "Chianti Classico Wine Tour, Tuscan Delights, San Gimignano and Siena" excursion.
Wednesday, February 8
At 9am, our driver, Carlotta, picked us up at our hotel for our day trip around Tuscany. This was a neat experience! We first stopped at San Gimignano where we toured the medieval city's gates, walls, and towers. Carlotta explained a lot of history, and while Nick paid attention, I took pictures. :) It was quite icy as we made our way up, and the views were far reaching. Unfortunately, they just weren't the traditional Tuscan views I'd hoped to capture; instead, I caught a much rarer landcape - Tuscany loaded down with snow!
Carlotta drove us back to Florence, dropping us back around 7:30pm, a 10.5 hour day! We mapped out directions to our restaurant, "Antico Ristoro di Cambi" and walked along the river to it. We were, by now, figuring out how to order; splitting antipasti and ordering just a main dish (usually pasta for me and meat for Nick) was all we could manage. We wondered how it would be possible to eat all of the courses you were supposed to!
I bought a package of strawberries today at Whole Foods. I overpaid for them because they smelled that good. I started cutting them up for the girls' dinner and sampled one. It was the best. strawberry. ever. And they looked perfect, too. So what do I do? Bust out my macro lens.
There are definitely times I wish the girls were a little older so they would hold still and let me position them, but we'll be there soon enough! I'm pushing my luck with Kate as it is... she said to me the other day, "Mama, stop picturing!" I guess I'll have to take what I can get.
