You & Me in the Mediterranean. Day 2

Day 2 Venice

Adventure 5. Breakfast at the Hilton. Amazing. fruit tart, different breads, mermeladas, a vast selection of cold cuts, over 10 different kinds of CHEESE??? New yogurts, fruits, grapes the size of a silver dollar. Sausages that melt in your mouth. Delicious.

Adventure 6.
The tours. Tour of the doges' palace or palazza ducola, a glimpse of venetian architecture, the art is ON THE WALLS, THE CEILING, BUILT INTO THE FLOOR. I was very impressed at the workmanship and craftsmanship in front of me. People really took their time to MAKE something BEAUTIFUL. I loved it.
The history. Different parts of the palace date back to the 1300's, 1500's etc. Our tour guide was spectacular. A great teacher and he really took his time to paint a rich picture of Venetian history. We saw state rooms, meeting halls, and even the prison.
Very interesting. We passed the bridge of sighs. We went into St. mark's basilica. Ancient building. Built in 1060 a.d. TEN SIXTY A.D.!!! Intricate REAL gold mosaics covered the arched and domed ceilings. There were even mosaics/tiling covering the entire floor. So many geometrical shapes, creating animals and patterns. We last visited the Murano glass factory. We saw a vase and a tiny horse be made out of glass. It was fascinating. The man had such skill as he molded and pulled at the glowing glass.
Did I say fascinating? The showroom made my jaw drop but everything was beyond expensive.
We took a second gondola ride, this time with 4 other strangers from our trip. It was fun but during the day the "streets" are crowded, the sun is hot and it's just a different experience. Our gondolier had a booming angry voice. And when we were caught in a real boat traffic jam, (1 narrow "street", 5 gondolas behind us, 2 in front, all waiting behind a motor boat trying to correct itself after having made a wrong turn)our gondoleir had something to say to the guys in front of us. I'm glad I didn't understand what it was. Adventure 7. Souveniers. Glass bracelets for those who helped us with our kids, a painting, 2 venetian masks, glass birds, necklaces for moms, whirley gigs for boys. lip gloss (because the bag with my makeup was still lost). 2 glass necklaces for me. 2 magnets. We wanted to buy a painting to take home with us. We met a man named Pichio? His paintings were GORGEOUS! He took his time to get a feel for the art we liked. He was very sweet. We eventually discovered he had L.D.S. family members (mormones as he said) he pulled out a pass-along card of Christ and some children. He was a neat man and gave us a 15 euro discout on our painting (in us dollars, that's like 20 bucks). I brought a Book of Mormon on the trip, I promised the girls in my ward that I'd give it to someone, and I was DETERMINED to give it to someone. You know, when you find something good you want to share it? Well I wanted to give my book to Pichio. When we got back to our room, I filled out a message, in english, to him and brought it with me on our return trip to venice, which is adventure #8.

Adventure 8. An unexpected trip back over to the fun. After the tour and souvenier purchasing day. . ., we well, I, was exhausted. WE got back to our room and I just LANDED on the bed. We found out that our luggage had in fact NOT been located and NOT been delivered. Let me refresh you, that means little to no makeup for me, no camera charger, no power converter, no jewlery, no laptop charger, no journal (hence my writing this using precious uncharged, unplugged laptop time), no hair accessories, no scriptures. The biggest emergency though was no camera charger. Hence no more pictures. (You'll notice that the pictures only cover the first part of this blog entry.) Alfonso got info from the concierge about where we could either buy a new camera or charger. And just minutes after landing on the bed, we discovered that in order to reach the shop by it's closing tmie 7:30 actually 19:30. We needed to book it over there PRONTO and we were off, jetting across the water on the hotel shuttle, running through the streets of St. Marcs. over bridges, through alleys, till we finally reached the photo store. . . @ 7:32. THE SHOP WAS CLOSED!!! Discouraged, we meandered around the streets till we found the Rialto bridge. We went to the top of the massive bridge to enjoy the view. Near the bridge we ate a delicious meal. Later we got some gelato and listened to some live musicians. I gave the Book of Mormon and note to a nearby vendor and friend of Pichio, who agreed to give it to him in the morning. When we got to the shuttle area, we discovered that the next shuttle wouldn't come for an hour. ayayay. We decided to try to walk to Zettara, the next shuttle pick up area in 20 minutes. It took over an hour to find our way. My dogs were barkin. My back was achin, but man, it was a beautiful place to get lost in. Some new friends through auto owners is lending us their camera. We talked briefly to our mom's on the phone and checked on the kids. I took a bubble bath and kept falling asleep in the tub. So so soo tired. But I eventually, safely, found my way to the bed and slept with visions of Venice dancing in my head.

You & Me in the Mediterranean. Day 1

Alfonso qualified for a mediterranean cruise this year through his work. Cruise, hotel, airfare, some excursions, all paid for. I was beside myself with excitement - I've been wanting to go to Italy since I did my 6th grade country report on it. I honestly didn't think I'd get a chance to go there til later in life, if at all. But for some reason the day miraculously came and has now passed. I wanted to keep track of all the memorable things we saw and did, so I wrote it all down, one day at a time. Here's the first day.

Day 1 From Utah to New York to Venice

Really it begins with a blurr of packing, entertaining, birthdaying (hence the crown below made by my sister and nieces), and preparing for departure.

Leaving Mia was so hard. I probably kissed her 40 times that morning and squoze her hand extra tight on the way to the airport. Mom gave me a hug, got choked up, and said, "Mia will be fine. Have a wonderful time. You may never have a chance like this again." I needed that.

Adventure 1. Luggage. We thought we could carry on 2 each. Not so. So we performed a total luggage rearrangement right there at the check out place. Checked 2 in and ended up taking the extra as a carry on. But right before boarding the plane, there was an announcement that there was limited carry-on room and passengers for that flight could check in any bags they wanted to for free. So we were able to check in that bag after all. . . for free. Well, they lost it. It was left @ JFK airport and is now being flown to paris and will then find it's way to my hotel room.

Adventure 2. The flight. I've decided that an international flight is like a giant sleepover. . . on a plane. . . with a bunch of smelly strangers. And that I really REALLY can't sleep on a plane. There were two 12 year olds making out in front of us. Lady bizzarly stomping her foot next to us. The touch screens on the backs of our seats were a real bonus. Except that they were touch screens and required considerable pressure. When I strangely found my seat being vigorously shaken (it felt like someone was punching it) by the person behind me. Serious poundage. I looked @ alfonso in bewilderment and he looked back @ the lady behind me. She was completely wrapped up in playing and winning her game on the back of my chair till she realized what she was doing. "Oh, sorry." She said. I'm just glad that she stopped after that. We got a good laugh about it anyway. Adventure 3. My inflight playlist and a magic landing. You could brows throught hundreds of songs. My favorites were Cee lo green's Bright Lights, Big City, Love Gun, J. Legend & The Roots', Compared To What. Stuff by Miranda Richardson, Tim McGraw, Norah Jones. I also got that main song from Tangled, Now I see the light?Whatever it's called. I really like it and the words were very meaningful.It was playing as we touched down on italian soil. "All those years, watching from a distance. . . . I know I'm where I belong." I've always dreamed of traveling to Italy. My hayfever started acting up. I was just so full of GRATITUDE for this INCREDIBLE experience and humility for having this chance. Adventure 4. The water taxi. After arriving in Venice, we dealt with our missing luggage issue (boooo), and were escorted on a short walk to our water taxi. WE boarded the boat (alfonso said to sit in the back per richard's request). IT was such a fun ride.
We felt the wind in our faces as an old venetian style motor boat cruised us along the coast of venice. Taking us to our hotel, the Molina Stucky Hilton. We saw so many beautiful buildings and began taking pictures. Lots of pictures. Our career as asian photo taking tourists really took off. How do you not take a billion pictures of the most beautiful place you've ever visited? The hotel was AMAZING, the dinner, amazing, and our mini excusion afterwards. . . amazing. Our room was perfect. The dinner was delicious. Buffalo mozzarella - my new favorite. We decided to venture across the Giudecca Canal on the hotels shuttle boat, to the Zattere. First item of business, GELATO!!! For me, 1 scoop Cacao, 1 scoop twix. Alfonso got 1 scoop limona, 1 scoop melona. It melted so fast. We ate it like 2 year olds, giggling the whole time. We strolled along the rios gasping at the architecture, the flowers, the alleyways, and I realized that I'd found a place where every ally was beautiful. Seriously. We stumbled upon a community gathering. A play of some kind? Everyone was celebrating and having a great time. They gave me a candle to light when it got dark. I don't know why, but I was so honored that they would chose me out of all the other people there. I'm wierd, I know. They play started, it was a comedy in Italian of course. We listened and couldn't help laughing at everyone laughing at something we/I didn't understand. Alfonso understood a lot of italian. I guess Spanish and Italian are very similar. We topped the night of with late Gondola ride. (I have to tell you we rode the gondola's at the Venetian in Las Vegas on our honeymoon, where we were told that it was good luck to kiss under each bridge. So we were experts at the gondola thing :))The water was so peaceful. (GAG ALERT, GAG ALERT)Just like on our honeymoon we kissed under every bridge. That was fun. We tried to take pictures but it was so dark, we just wanted to remember how beautiful everything was.

After the ride, we passed by the celebration and watched the local children dance to american pop songs on a stage lit up with lights and smoke. It was so fun.

I woke up in Salt Lake, I ended the night in Venice. It was a very long, but very GOOD day!

Last Day of School

On the last day of school we took the kids out for ice cream at a great new place in Midway, called Fillerup. We had a seriously rediculously good time. You should check that place out if you get a chance. We particularly enjoyed the jukebox, the games, the hats (of course) and the ice cream. Oh, the ice cream (Bees Knees) is dynamite. Happy summer!!!

Pot of Gold

Yesterday it rained and a huge rainbow, actually two rainbows formed over our house. We went outside to enjoy the view. I love rainbows. Alfonso got the song, "I'll Build You A Rainbow," and played in from our car in the garage. It was cool. The kids kept wanting to drive to the end of the rainbow to see what was there. But I think the rainbow really ended at our house, and in the words of Spencer, "Maybe the pot of gold was the fun."

The Gift of Gab and other Freebies

First of all, I want to apologize. I'm sure it seems that with all my latest posts and pictures it seems like Mia is taking over our world. Well, quite frankly, she is. And for some reason everyone around here seems okay with that. For some reason Mia just isn't "getting old." Here are a couple videos (hot off the press), filmed less than an hour ago. Just a glimpse of what we all find sooooooo entertaining from day to day. Also, I wanted to share some pictures with you. So, sorry, and yet not sorry. ;)


Da Da Da Da Blah Blah Blah Blah

With Abuelita Alfa on her 70th Birthday! Mia stopped crying in time to say goodbye.

This is Ben and Miss Mia saying "goodnight." Going in for those eskimo kisses.

I am surprised how often the boys will plop down on the floor and read to Mia. She LOVES it. On this particular night, each book Will was reading to her began like this, "Lets discover colors!" and then he'd read the book, "Lets discover animals. . . " and so on. Priceless.

Spencer is our professional Mia entertainer. He sings to her, dances for her, talks silly till we all go cross-eyed. She absolutely loves it.


Solid proof that Mia should always, ALWAYS wear a bib. And it doesn't hurt to have a burp cloth handy too.

New Tricks

Mia discovers not only how to bend and reach her toes, but to eat them as well.

Help of the Helpless

My friend Cristi gave me a great c.d. for Christmas this year, called "Sabbath Morning." I love it because it is so soothing and peaceful and meaningful. It is performed by the Jennie Phillips Choir, which Cristi is a part of. My favorite track is #10, Abide With Me. This is a great hymn anyways but with the arrangement, her voice AND the powerful extra verse she wrote at the end, its just that much cooler. I bring this up because I'm learning that like me, Mia has a thirst for music. In fact she loves it. One day a few months ago, I was driving and she started crying. . . a lot. In an effort to calm her, I turned on track #10, Abide With Me. She quickly stopped crying.

Time and time again, this has happened. I'd say 9 times out of 10, she hears the song and literally STOPS crying. It is amazing. Alfonso and I just look at each other in bewilderment each time. I don't know exactly what it is that she loves so much. It could be the resonating violin solo, it could be the gentle voices, I think it might be the song's message. These words alone are touching; "Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me."

I just need to tell my friend Cristi, thank you for the music, and you need to know that you have made a strong impact on this little baby. Know that there is a mom, not too far away, who plays your song daily, and a baby who adores it.

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to California. The earphones on her little head are playing her favorite song. You can see the effect it has:

Leg Godt

It's Danish for "play well" and for 5 days in sunny Cali, that's exactly what we did. We went to Legoland and it was extraordinary! The rides were great, the exhibits were BREATHTAKING, and the experience was our kid's dream come true. So, we have literally hundreds of pictures, all fascinating. All fun. But due to the super-needy-saddness of a teething 4-month-old whose name I won't mention, I'll be sharing only a handful. Perhaps it's for the best.
(Mia on the airplane. She was SO GOOD! Never underestimate the power of good music and a lollipop.)