the C O L O S S E U M

The highlight of our trip.

We got up early for our second day of Rome. It was our only full day to see the city. We intended to make the most of it.

Our hotel had a nice buffet breakfast on the roof with a beautiful view of St. Peter's Basilica.

Lemon and orange trees lined the roof-top terrace. Anywhere the lemons and oranges can grow outdoors in January makes me happy. I wanted to sneak outside and pick one, but resisted the urge.

Having booked a Colosseum and Ancient Rome tour, we had studied the Metro system and how to get from our hotel {next to the Vatican} down to the Colosseum.

Looks easy enough, right?

As we were walking out of our hotel, I asked the man at the front desk to point us in the way of the Metro was just to make sure we did not get turned around. He strongly suggested taking the bus instead of the underground subway.

Rather than being in the dark, we could drive above ground and see all that there was along the way. The crazy driving down narrow streets was an added bonus.

It was great advice and we took it.

sights we took in along the bus route

The bus station was around the corner. It was around 8:00am- early for Rome. The big city was still sleepy and peaceful. When restaurants do not open until 7:30pm for dinner, you know they stay up late and sleep in.

We jumped on bus 81 which took us straight to where we needed to go. No transfers, no craziness, no crowds. Rome has a very efficient and user-friendly local transportation system- we were quite impressed and especially happy to not get lost.

Again, we had no idea what we were seeing. There were fountains and monuments and enormous buildings out both sides of the bus. A very kind non-English-speaking priest helped us by pointing out where we would get off for the Colosseum.

It was not hard to spot- the structure is incredible. You can't miss it.

Early for our tour, we stopped in a little Café for a sweet treat and a little bonus Lionel Richie on the local radio.

Our tour was small {eight others} and the best decision we made to get the most out of our short time in the city. With kids, guided tours can be long and frustrating as our boys are not always patient.

They get bored, we have to shush them {something Caden can't stand} and end up missing all the history.

We can't blame them, so we avoid the frustration all together and rarely spend the money or time on tours.

Today, we were ready for our history lesson. We hung on every word and detail our truly Roman guide Damien offered for the entire three-hour walk through the Colosseum and Ancient Rome.

This fine man of mine even took pictures- something that never happens. I knew we were somewhere grand for him to take charge of a camera.

V A T I C A N city

Living in Europe has taught us a lot.

We were reminded again this week that it seems the more we see and experience, the more we realize how much we do not know. 

As we walked {less than ten minutes} from our hotel to Vatican City, there was a moment that we looked at each other wondering where we were and what was in front of us.

We were completely overwhelmed not knowing whether to turn right or left. It is usually safe to follow the brown historical signs to see the sights. In Rome, the brown signs are on every single corner.

Rome is massive.
Rome is H U G E.
Everything is on a grand scale.

It is not like there is one really incredible building, or fountain or sculpture in the middle of the city.

The entire city is filled with more sculptures, fountains, buildings, churches, museums and history than one can possibly take in even in a lifetime.

We knew we were in Vatican City, but embarrassing to admit- we did not know much more than that about this glorious spot on the map.


We definitely did not do our homework. Instead, our motto was to take as much in as we could and figure out where we were once we returned home.

What we did learn {right} before making this trip is that Vatican City is its own state, ruled by the Pope.

With only about 500 people living in Vatican City, the city has its own post office, banks, currency, judicial system, radio station, shops and daily newspaper.  

As with every other trip we have taken, visiting Rome has only increased our desire to learn more about the ground we walked on, the churches we walked through and the fountains from which we drank.

We arrived on a Wednesday- just after Pope Francis addressed the audience.

Masses with the Pope at the Vatican can be celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, in St Peter's Square or both together depending on the celebration and the expected number of people attending.

Mass is celebrated in the Church which holds up to 15,000 people or St Peter's Square, which is much larger and can host up to 80,000 people. The chairs were empty as we arrived, and the crowd minimal.

January is the time to visit as we did not wait in a single line.
We picked the right time to visit a place that sees millions of tourists from around the world each year.

As we stepped into view of the square, we saw metal detector lines.
Did we have to pass through them? Could we take pictures? Did we need to pay?

We turned right, only to notice that we could walk around the metal detectors and into the square and the fountain directly in front of us. What fountain? Not sure, but people were taking pictures, so we took one of our own.

Reading the signs, we followed the path and through the front doors of St. Peter's Bascilica- a massive, gorgeous structure. As Catholicism's most important shrine, the marble, gold touches, art and Michelangelo's huge dome are absolutely breathtaking.

The details are intricate.
The monuments and statues are too many to count.
A visit left us with more questions than we had going inside.

Impressive is an understatement.
We are changed from being here.

wonderful, but not P E R F E C T

We are still trying to wrap our brains around all that we were fortunate enough to experience in Rome.

It was beyond incredible. That does not mean everything was perfect.
Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.

I had that quote up in our home for a while. I forgot how much I loved it- I might have to put it back up somewhere.

For this anniversary trip, we started planning in October. Not crazy itinerary planning, but we found our tickets on RyanAir and committed to making the trip happen.

our incredible view of the Alps en route to Roma

If you are going to live in Europe, it is critical that you know about RyanAir.

RyanAir is a discount airlines. Cheap, cheap, cheap if you watch flights and have an open mind.

They fly out of Frankfurt-Hahn, a small {crummy} airport in the middle of the hills about an hour from our house.

The way they make money is in the fees. If you know this, you can easily avoid paying extra and experience really cheap travel to so many destinations in Europe.

There are also no assigned seats, so people get a little crazy rushing to board each flight. If you know this and go with the flow realizing the whole time it was so cheap- you are fine.

I'm still working on not getting worked up as these pushy Europeans cut in line- makes me CRAZY!

welcome to Roma

For us, we look at the days we want to travel, then see what destinations are cheap.

We had a few places we wanted to visit, Rome happened to be super cheap the week we could travel. Plus, it has been super high on our list.

With our tickets just 10 Euro each way {that's about $14 USD), plus airport fees and taxes we were able to both fly round trip to Rome for a grand total of $100. T O T A L.

Everyone knows if you check a bag, you pay. We pack light and carry it on.
If you want a coke, or bottle of water, you pay. We bring ours with us.

There are no warm washcloths to wash your face or hands.
Pockets in the seats in front of you do not exist.
There definitely are no movies.

For an hour and a half flight and a two-night, three day trip- RyanAir is the way to go.

As we parked in the parking lot and started to unload, we realized we had forgotten our backpack. Seriously? We have never forgotten a whole backpack.

We could live without the Italy book and itinerary I had put together and printed.
We could survive without the snacks we had packed.

our weather was perfect... this was on our return to the airport as the rain started

Our camera has video option, so it was no big deal that the camcorder was in there as well.

But, the one thing we really needed was the envelope that had all of the paperwork to go with our flight including our boarding passes. Yes, re-printing boarding passes is yet another way RyanAir makes money.
Once we realized we still had passports and could actually fly, we had to suck it up and pay for them to print boarding passes.

The grand total for two new pieces of paper to get on the flight: 30 Euro.

That's 15 Euro each, or $40.75 for them both. Boarding passes that cost more than the initial tickets.


I'm pretty sure on any flight we go on for the rest of our lives, we will never forget the backpack.

Kicking ourselves, we tried to move on and were fine until we realized everything else was in that folder including our hotel address, public transportation instructions {how to get from the airport to the bus to the metro line to walk}, and all addresses and phone numbers.

I had spent a lot of time planning this trip out and making sure everything was printed. Now, we were on our own with only our memory to rely on.

Walking a few circles around the underground Metro, we finally figured out which line to take. Fortunately, Rome's Metro is quite simple with just two lines- one red and one blue. It took me longer to recall which stop we were to get off at, but we did it!

Our first impressions of Roma... blue skies and perfect weather.

We bought our tickets and squished out way onto the crazy filthy Metro to our stop: Ottaviano- S. Pietro. How could I forget a name like that?

We got off avoiding all pick-pocketing, walked up the stairs and tried to get our GPS to work. By this point, we realized the hotel address was on Jim's leave paperwork in his wallet. Trouble was, our GPS never got past the searching for satellites screen. Ugh.

We just started walking and lucky for us- ran straight into the road. As we turned on the street, the hotel was right there. What a relief.

Not perfect, but we were ok and on our way- kinda.

Next, the hotel let us know that they did not have water {slight problem} and had rebooked us to another hotel. After several attempts at finding the USO office just around the corner from the hotel, we showed our IDs and were let in the door.

With this super small sticker on the door, I'm not sure how we missed it.

What a blessing the USO is to military members around the world. They are there to help with anything and a cold bottle of water and place to sit down was as welcomed to us as anything at that point.

With free WiFi, we tried to re-print our boarding passes to avoid the fees on our return. Hotmail noticed that we were in an unusual location and would not let us in without the code they emailed to my A Simple Impression email address.

I have not worked or used that email address in 3 1/2 years and could not even remember how to get to the site. At this point, I remember feeling that I was tired of thinking. We were on overload.

We decided to figure out the Internet thing later {Ty came to our rescue} and were on our way by foot to our new hotel. 

Only one or two wrong turns and we made it to Hotel Consoli.

Upgraded from a 3-star to a 4-star hotel at the same price, we checked in, took a deep breath and headed out for our first afternoon in Vatican City. We had sights to see and were on a mission. No rest for the weary on this trip.

Definitely not a perfect start, but a start to a wonderful trip.
Welcome to Roma.

as much as the M O O N and the S U N {and the stars}

Ten days ago, we had an anniversary.
This week, we celebrated.

In beautiful Rome.

Three days and two nights to experience this magnificent city together.
Thanks to Ty, we were able to make the trip alone.

Few people {especially new friends} know our family story. I like to think of it as our happily ever after.

Up until this anniversary, our little guys did not even know. As we have reached anniversaries, we have added ten years to our actual time married just to simplify things for the them.

Or, maybe it was to simplify things for us.

We knew they would eventually add up the years and the ages of the big guys and put it all together. Instead of having them so confused, this was the year that we broke it to them.

We really haven't been married forever, but instead eleven years.

As Caden and I were waiting for Coleman after school on the day of our anniversary- he asked me how long his dad and I had been married. I asked him in response if he wanted in on a big family secret. Of course, he did.

I kept it simple. I was married before. Justin and Ty were adopted by dad.
Everything was legal and perfect. There were no step-anythings.

He looked at me with his thinker face {if you know our little man, you know what I'm talking about} for a few seconds. Then, he asked if Coleman knew yet. He was excited to be the first to know.

Then, he asked if Justin and Ty knew that they were adopted.
That's it.

As soon as I told them that they knew everything, he was fine.
End of discussion.

Letting Coleman in on our family secret went about the same.
No big deal. No real questions and we went on with what happened that day.

As we returned home from Rome last night, this note folded and tucked perfectly inside of an envelope was waiting.

Our life is our happily ever after. No doubt, we have tough days and tough weeks.
We also have so much good to go with the tough.
My man is the love of my life; our boys are our joy.
So much life. I am one lucky girl.

F L O R E N C E , italy

We didn't see David.
I just had to get that out right away.
We should have stopped to see him, but we are ok that we didn't. Next trip.

There are those who travel here and have every minute mapped out. They have the need to check every single country and sight off the list. I admire what they are able to accomplish and see.

There are those who do not leave the base, have never driven the Autobahn and eating out is BK. Seriously. There are lots of them. I know- it sounds unbelievable. A shame.

I like think we fit somewhere in the middle.

We love to travel. We love to check countries and sights off our list. The boys are fairly easy to travel with as well. Easy as long as we don't go too crazy.

I have to remind myself that doing too much in a trip really can take the fun out of it for them. If they're not happy, we're really not too happy either.

Florence was one of those cities that I did not push on them.

We gave them the option to check out Florence with the adults, or stay at the villa and swim.

Ty took one for the team and stayed home with the littles.

They were happy. We were happy.

So- Justin, Ashten, Scott, Jazz, Jim and I headed out for an afternoon in Florence.

On my itinerary of our week in Tuscany, I had several day trips outlined. I like to have options. There were more things to see and do in a two-hour radius of our house than anyone can possibly do in a week's time or even a month's time.

Florence was a quick 45-minute drive from our villa making for an easy day trip.

Our greatest challenge with Florence was finding the parking garage. In researching, I was told to park underground at the train station. It was secure and easy to walk from there to see everything.

* click on photo to enlarge

We had it in the GPS but for some reason with six {6} of us looking we passed the entrance to the underground parking garage at least five times {maybe 10 times} before we finally spotted it.

Looking at this picture, it is still difficult for me to see where you drive under.

You can see the blue P signs, but the ramp going down was a little tricky for us.

In that space of time we drove in circles looking for the parking garage, we managed to drive the wrong way down road and were told we couldn't park in a spot because it was a blue spot {or wasn't a blue spot- can't remember now}.

It was more than a little stressful.

We also managed to keep calm and laugh along the way in this major city with crazy drivers.
Again, Jim's driving skills were at their finest- he is really incredible especially under pressure.

Florence is magnificent.
Florence is artsy.
Florence is old.

After parking and getting some food, we walked the short distance to the Dom, or Cathedral. As we turned the corner and saw the square- I could not get over how massive and huge and colorful the buildings were.

Oh, and the white, pink and green Tuscan marble. I loved the marble.

In spite of not being our first large city, it was still jaw-dropping and extremely impressive. With each large cathedral we have visited {Cologne, Carcassone, Notre Dame, Strassbourg...}, the feeling is the same while each has been so different.

They are extremely impressive especially considering the time frame in which they were built.

The dome of Florence's Duomo {Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore} was completed in 1436. The cathedral is Europe's fourth largest church and the city's tallest building.

The Baptistry is famous for the bronze doors and is one of the oldest buildings dating back to the 4th century. Each panel shows a scripture through pictures.

We tried to go through the Cathedral but were turned away because we were wearing shorts. Oops.
They weren't even short shorts, but rules are rules. Instead of purchasing the paper smock-like article that allows you to pass security into the church, we took a couple pictures in the entrance and headed back outside.

From here, we split up going different directions with a time to meet back up.

Justin, Ashten, Jim and I were excited to go up the Tower {Campanile di Giotto} next to the Dom. Jazz and Scott checked out the rest of the city.

The view from the top definitely made the climb worth every one of the almost 500 steps.

With a super narrow winding staircase, it was nice to have several landing look-out landing spots to take a break and take in the view.

With our fear of heights, both Ashten and I thought we were incredibly brave walking across this metal grate looking all the way down. Jim and Justin {along with the other people taking a break} probably thought we were crazy.

Even knowing it was secure and we weren't going to fall through, it was scary!

On to the top- it was nothing shy of astounding.

The view of the Cathedral along with everything else within the these hills of Tuscany was beyond impressive.

Love. Love. Love.

the C O L O R S of cinque terre

I love the colors of Italy.

How can anyone walk into a side shop with peeling lemon yellow paint, weathered green shutters and a lilac purple door and not be happy?

The buildings are beautiful.
The doors especially caught my eye.
It was love at first sight and I took a lot of grief for it.
I'm still compiling a collage of all the door photos I took.

I am thinking all of this brightness and color might help get me through our last German winter.
I might have to print, frame and plaster every colorful Italy picture all over our house.

Or, we might have to take a mid-winter trip back to Tuscany for some sunshine and color.
Maybe, we'll do both.

the beautiful C I N Q U E terre

I think Cinque Terre  (chink-a-tear-a) is perhaps one of the most beautiful places anywhere. The pastel colors, the DOORS, the water, the cliffs, the vineyards. All of it.

Cinque Terre is the rugged portion of northern coast of Italy on the Italian Riviera. The five villages, hillside and coastline makes up the Cinque Terre National Park.

Trails, trains and ferries connect the villages.

Only about an hour from our house, we decided it would be a perfect day trip. We figured we would drive to LaSpezia, then take the train up through the villages.

Sounds easy enough, don't you think?

It's not a region that you drive through, but instead buy a daily train pass to hop on and off at each village.

Even when you think you have thoroughly researched an area, things don't always go exactly as planned.

Finding the train station in LaSpezia turned out to be one of our greatest challenges as crazy as that sounds. I not only had the address, but also had the GPS and we still went in circles.

Luckily, we found a few Italians along the way to point us in the right direction. It was an adventure before we even got started. Believe me, the boys were thrilled.

Once we found the train station, we lucked out and caught the last train of the day only because it was running 10 minutes late. Whew.

The mood changed as soon as we were on the train and on our way. It was hot and crowded, but absolutely beautiful.

Food, gelatto and toes in the water helps everything.

I had read {again proving that things still don't always go as planned...} that you can walk along the trails between villages.

Friends had even recommended we do this in order to get the most beautiful views and see the most amazing countryside.

Things quickly went from tired and hot to more tired and hot. This was not a happy little guy below.

Looking back, I think we picked the most difficult trail to hike.

 After about 45 minutes {in flip flops, of course} of straight up hiking, we asked a group of young girls passing us in the other direction if we were close to the next village.

The laughed and basically said- not even close. Plus, it continued to be straight up and down. Ugh.

Jim made the good call for us to turn back with the little guys. Once again, the boys were thrilled.

Caden had blisters starting at this point and while Coleman didn't complain, he hit a point in the trail  and said, "I'm not going any farther."

Scott, Jazz and Ty decided to go ahead and finish the hike.

The rest of us turned around and caught the train to meet them at the next village.

We met up at the beach and spent some relaxing time playing in the water. There's nothing like a little beach time to turn things around and make happy kids.

All in all, we saw the area and had a fabulous day.
I'm pretty sure we all slept well that night.

perfecto S C O M P I G L I O

At the end of a long day of sightseeing or castles or beaches, finding a place to feed hungry kids is not always easy in a foreign country.

Dinner is something that is not rushed and can take a long time to get through. Most places also open later.

We rented a house with a kitchen so we could cook some at the house. This always seems to work really well for us. Everyone is tired and hungry and ready to stay home.
We did shop at the commissary and bought enough to grill hot dogs/hamburgers for a couple nights.

We had to try some pizza.
Of course, we had to get pizza.

We also decided to have one nice dinner out.

After a day at the beach, we dropped everyone off at home and drove around in search of a nice place for dinner.


Gardens where most of the vegetables are grown

Affordable, not too fancy so everyone would eat, and open at a decent time.

As we drove from place to place, Jim would drive up to the door I would run in and check out a menu and attempt to get any other details.

After checking out four or five different places, we finally found what we thought would be the perfect spot in the center of Tuscany.

They were closed, but as I walked in and found them in the kitchen, they told me they opened at 7:00 for dinner.

Best of all, it was a ten-minute drive from our house.

I let the cute older man {who I guessed was the owner} know we would be back with our family.

It was perfect.
Perfecto, as they say in Italy.

Cucina Dello Scompiglio.

The restaurant is actually an old barn of the farmstead, once a meeting place for outside workers. We sat outside overlooking the vineyard, vegetable garden and the Apuan Alps.

Most of the vegetables used are grown there.

The water is sourced from the springs within the Scompiglio estate.

The bread is prepared by the chef using white and whole wheat flour, oatmeal, cornmeal, sunflower seeds, potato flour and Puglia grain- all without preserving agents.

It was fabulous.

I could have made a meal of the bread alone. Dipped in their olive oil and balsamic vinegar was divine.

Of course, we were in the middle of olive oil country and the olive oil was produced there as well.

It was fresh.
It was peaceful.
The view was magnificent.

We sat out on the deck and asked for the shady spot being that we were all a little burnt from our afternoon at the beach. It was hot, but cooled off as soon as the sun set.

It felt as if we were in a fairy tale- enjoying fabulous food in the most beautiful setting under the Tuscan sun, of course.

As we arrived, there was a birthday party going on with little Italian bambinos running around speaking in their sweet Italian language.

We were the only other ones there until later on in the evening. It was nice to not be in the middle of a crowd.
It was a happy place.
We were all so happy.

The service was top notch as well with the owner/chef coming out during our meal to ask how everything was and to visit with us. The older man did not speak English, but had a younger Italian man with him to translate.

He did not stop smiling the whole evening. You definitely don't find that in Germany.

So friendly. I'm the crazy one who had to have a picture with him.
At least I can admit I'm crazy!

I am in love with Tuscany.

american B E A C H

Hitting the beach is always a priority while on vacation.

In Italy, the beaches are a little different. From the street, the beaches are all named and there are separate driveways to get to each beach.

Once you get in, the beaches all lead to the same coast/ocean. The only difference between beaches once you get on the other side is the color of the umbrellas.

Most beaches charge per person to enter. They charge for parking. Of course, they charge for an umbrella.

There is a section of beach along the Italian coastline called the American Beach, which is where we chose to go.

Using our military ID to get in the gate, we were the section of orange umbrellas tucked between the blue umbrella and green umbrella Italian beaches.


It was a little crazy to me.

We loved the beach.

The water was warm.
The sand was soft.
The sun was hot.

It was not crowded.
It was perfect.
Everyone was happy.

We are thinking we had a bad can of sunscreen on this beach day. Having coated and re-coated with sunscreen, we all had a little bit {or a lot} of sunburn at the end of the afternoon. Ouch.

Either that, or our skin just has not seen the sun for a L O N G time.

Jim's cousin, Scott and his girlfriend, Jazz flew in to Pisa from Illinois to spend a few days with us on their way to Croatia. They are above in the corner picture.