Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter this year.  Collin gave the sermon at church which inspired us all to reflect on Christ's death and resurrection.  Caden got a basket of goodies Easter morning and a few books, a ball, and a stuffed duck and blue bunny.  He enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs around our living room.  We took some family pictures after church at the Schwetzingen Gardens, then we went on base for an Easter egg hunt.  This year was neat because he knew what he was doing.  He ended up finding 9 eggs and the limit was 10.  Of course he wanted to stop and play with the eggs as he picked them up. We spent the afternoon/evening at our neighbors, Steve and Jana's house.  Caden loves playing with their daughter, Michelle, who is 9.  Michelle and Caden hunted for eggs in their backyard and both loved it.  We feel so blessed to have such great neighbors and friends.

The suit Caden is wearing is very special.  His Opa (Granddad) Jim gave it to him.  Opa Jim never buys clothes for grandkids so this was extra special.  He looked like a child model in it and the color was perfect. Thank you Opa Jim and NeNe.  By the way, Opa Jim is 85 and still dresses very well, so does NeNe. 

Here are a few pictures from our Easter.

Easter morning.

A few Easter pictures

Caden with Matthew and Maddie

At the Easter egg hunt on base

My good friend, Kristine, with her son, Matthew

My stylish cute kid

Caden even met the Easter bunny and a yellow bird
(I don't remember the yellow bird, does the yellow bird come to the States?)

At our neighbor's house

One of the few pictures of Caden and Michelle together hunting for eggs.  They are both so fast!

Caden is 22 Months Old!

I can't believe in just two short months our darling son, Caden, will be 2! At that time I will probably stop my monthly updates. Until then, here are some of the things Caden is learning and growing in as well as loves and dislikes.

One of the biggest change this past month is his verbal communication. He is using longer sentences and uses a wider variety of words. He seems to pick up on the meaning of words very easily and later refers to what ever it was we were talking about. He also frequently refers to people who are not around. Such as his grandparents, Collin when he's at work - he'll go to the front door and say, "Daddy?" He asks for his friends and for particular toys and food. He also frequently tells us he loves us. He'll say enthusiastically "I luv, lou, Mommy!" Those are the sweetest words a mother could hear!

New phrase he says often: "I want ____, Please. Yes!" As if to answer for us. It's pretty cute. He says "yes" so fast I don't have time to answer him first.

LOVES!

Singing - especially the "ABCs," "The Lord's Army," "Jesus loves Caden [Me]," "Wheels on the Bus," and Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

Dancing - he loves to move and do the movements to some of the songs listed above.

Counting - throughout the day he'll count to 10, sometimes 12. Just randomly.

Alphabet - he loves pointing out letters and spelling his name. If you ask him how to spell his name he'll say proudly, "C-A-D-E-N, Caden!"

Colors - he enjoys pointing out the different colors he sees when we go out. This makes keeping him busy a little easier because I can ask him, "what color is the ___."

Drawing - he loves creating beautiful pictures.

Food - his appetite is back and he is once again willing to try new foods. Some of his favorites are: rice pudding (he seriously asks for this every night, not that he gets it every night), yogurt, cheese, peas, sliced turkey, ravioli, meatballs, bananas, bread, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, pancakes, Cheerios, crackers, fish, cheesy broccoli, chewing on raw carrots, grapes, oranges, apples, potatoes, and peanut butter.

Milk - whether that's whole or 1% cow milk, rice milk, or almond milk. He also loves drinking water.

Playing - especially outside. He loves going to the park, the slide, swinging, biking - riding on the back of our bike and his little bike. One new thing he is doing is role playing. He loves pretending to pour us a drink, fix us a meal, as he puts his play fruits and vegetables in a pot and mixes them around as he "cooks." He loves his cars, both riding around in his big car and pushing his little cars around and watching them go up the elevator and down the ramp. Playing basketball and kicking the ball around. Using his bat to hit his t-ball. Talking with his stuffed animals.

Potty Time - we have not officially started potting training but he does love sitting on the potty. He has gone a few times in it but always wants to sit on it before his bath and throughout the day if we are near the bathroom. I need to get more patient and let him sit there longer.

Reading - he has quite a few books memorized and loves "reading" them to us. He also is able to sit through longer stories now which is a great change of pace for us.

Animals - if only we had a pet...he enjoys playing with friends dogs, watching the birds and cats that come in our yard.

Water - he loves baths and playing with water. If I'm not watching he'll climb the chair to the dining room table, take a glass of water and drink it spilling most of it while he laughs.

His family and friends.

DISLIKES

Naps - we don't fight him on them. He just doesn't seem to need them as often. When he does take them he goes down pretty easily. More often than not he waits it out so he can go back to playing.

Taking him away from an activity - he has become quite strong willed and would love to do what he wants to do.

Shopping for clothes - he's fine with the grocery store but if I take him to a store that sells clothes he is sure to cry and throw a little fit.

Schwetzingen Gardens - he now loves wearing a hat

Schwetzingen Gardens

Showing me the Easter Bunny he made



A night in Pisa

We spent our last night in Pisa.  We really liked Pisa and liked the B&B we stayed at.  It was called Michele Guest House in Pisa.  The owner, Michele, was a very nice man.  He gave us a lot of great advice and recommendations.  Our favorite Italian food we have ever eaten in Italy was in Pisa.

The day we arrived we walked around the city and had our fancy lunch.  It consisted of four courses, a bottle of water, Chianti Classico, and coffee with our dessert.  Not cheap but a very nice treat.  We walked around the town, saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and enjoyed the city.  That night we went to a pizza place that the owner of our B&B recommended.  It did not open until 7:30pm so it was a really late night for Caden.  He took a late nap so he made it but sadly was pretty tired the next day.

The next morning Emily and I climbed the Leaning Tower.  Children 10 and under are not allowed to climb the tower.  Collin could have easily carried Caden but we didn't even try since we read beforehand that he would not be allowed.  While Emily and I climbed the tower Collin and Caden hung out.  Collin walked around town a little bit and then played with Caden in the grass near the big baptistry.  Caden was watching some boys from Spain play futball [soccer] amd wamted to join in.  When he got up close to them they were really nice and let him kick the ball.  It made is day and he walked around with the biggest smile.

After the tower we ate lunch, picked up our bags from the B&B and took the 5 minute train ride to the airport.  Pisa is not a very big city and you can easily walk from one end to the other in about 30 minutes.

Emily and I at the bell part of the Tower

Views of Pisa from the top of the tower

The Duomo in Pisa

Marisa at the top of the Leaning Tower

Pictures of us "holding up" the tower coming soon...

Tuscany Tour - Siena, San Gimignano, and Chianti

We took a bus excursion tour from Florence to Siena, San Gimignano, and Chianti.  It is pretty easy to find a tour in Europe.  We found several at the main train station in Florence. 

We met our bus and tour guide Friday morning outside the train station and our first stop was San Gimignano. San Gimignano was a cute city situated on a hilltop.  It is famous for its numerous towers, frescoes and other art treasures. 

Our next stop was Siena.  Originally we had thought about spending two nights in Siena.  After visiting we were glad we didn't.  It was a neat town but Florence has a lot more things to do.  We ate lunch then had a guided walking tour of the old city centre, the Cathedral, Libreria Piccolomini, and the Piazza del Campo. 

Siena

Piazza del Campo

Cathedral

The last stop was in Chianti.  We stopped at a Farm and had a tour of cellar where famous barrels of Chianti Classico are kept.  After the tour we had a snack-tasting, two meats, some bread with olive oil, and a selection of about 4 fine wines.  We learned about the strict standards of Chianti wine and why it is so famous.

Caden fell asleep on our way to the bus from Siena.  He slept until we got to Chianti.

Chianti

Barrels of wine at the vineyard

There were not enough seats together at the wine tasting, so Emily sat with these nice people.

Tuscany was beautiful

Florence, Italy

My first impression of Florence was what a dirty and loud city! We stayed 5 nights in an apartment in a suburb of Florence near a hospital.  We heard sirens throughout the night, dogs barking, people talking, etc.  We went from peaceful Cinque Terre where I heard the waves right outside my window to uncontrollable dogs, sirens, and what sounded like people arguing. 

However, as we started visiting the main city, Florence grew on me.  We went to several museums - Pitti Palace, Academia, Ufizzi, and walked around the Duomo, Collin climbed the Duomo, while Emily and I took Caden to buy some fine jewelry for ourselves.  I am glad we got to see the statue of "David" which is located in the Academia Gallery.  We were not allowed to take any pictures but let me tell you, "David" is pretty impressive and a lot bigger than I imagined it would be.  As far as the other museums go, I would have preferred to stay outside and enjoy the weather and just walk around the town, sit at a cafe, eat gelato and drink coffee.  Although it was interesting looking at the workds of art by Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello, Giotto, Cimabue, Masaccio, and others.  Probably the most interesting painting in the Uffizi Gallery was the "Birth of Venus."  I say that partly because it was the only major painting I could remember from my Art History class in college.  We took a bus to the edge of town and saw wonderful views of the city and walked along Ponte Vecchio, the "jewels bridge." It is basically one of the oldest bridges in Florence and is filled with shops that sell jewelry.  I like museums to an extent, however, I'm more of an outside kind of girl.  I loved Rome because most of the things we saw, the Colleseum, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain, etc. were located outside.  My desire to be outside has increased since living in Germany since our weather keeps us indoors half the year.  And the weather was perfect in Florence.

If you were going to spend a day in Florence I would recommend eating gelato, visiting the Academia Gallery, Uffizi Gallery, walking across Ponte Vecchio, and taking a bus or cab to Piazzale Michelangelo where some of the best views of Florence are.  If you had time and energy, Collin would suggest you climb the Duomo and see the views there.  If we didn't have Caden with us I would have climbed it with him.

Florence is a pretty city.  It is a great place to go shopping and visit some interesting museums.  The best gelato we had was in Florence.  It was accompanied with a waffle.  Collin bought me some very nice jewelry and an Italian leather purse.  I bought him a belt and us both leather book marks with our initials stamped on them.  Emily went to Florence last year on a cruise excursion so she was familiar with the city already.  Overall we had a great time. It is not a city I recommend taking a young child to.  Caden did great because he's used to traveling a lot but I could see a little older child being bored.  Caden got bored at times too.  He was not fond of shopping and since it was so crowded he had to hold our hand or sit in his stroller unless we were inside a museum.  Then he was allowed to walk next to us.  His freedom was quite limited.  Thankfully we were able to cook dinner at our apartment most evenings so that allowed him a chance to play freely there.  Collin also took him to the park early one evening and he loved that while I went to the grocery store.

Outside Pitti Palace

View from the top of the Duomo

Collin at the top of the Duomo

The Duomo

Caden and his monkey friend at our apartment in Florence

The square by the Uffizi Gallery

The "fake" David

View from Piazzale Michelangelo



Ponte Vecchio

5 Villages in Cinque Terre

Boat ride from Monterosso to Riomaggiore

Collin and I have wanted to visit Cinque Terre for several years.  It is a beautiful rugged portion of coast along the Italian Riviera.  There are "Five Lands" which make up five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.  We stayed in an apartment in Riomaggiore, which ended up being my favorite village.

Traveling with a toddler, too much luggage, and a stroller is tiring, especially when arriving and departing.  We took the train from Pisa, which was super easy.  After making several trips up and down the stairs to get to our apartment we were set to enjoy the beauty.

Emily and I made it to all five villages.  Collin took Caden back to the room for a nap one day because he was still sick and needed to rest.  So Collin and Caden went to every village but Corniglia, which really they weren't missing too much by not going.  Emily and I took a bus up the mountain there and walked around the small town.  If you ever go to Funchal, Portugal, it is similar to that but a lot smaller.  Lots of hilly vineyards.

Our favorite villages were Riomaggiore, Vernazza, and Manarola.  Although visiting all five is worth doing if you ever go.  There are a few parks in various villages.  We saw one in Vernazza and one in Monterosso.  Needless to say, that was probably Caden's favorite part of Cinque Terre besides hanging out with us.

Hiking is popular in Cinque Terre as is relaxing.  There are few things to see besides the beautiful coast and villages such as a black and white church in Monterosso and a church in Vernazza.  Other than that, enjoy the food, rest, and bring a book.

Here are a few pictures from our time in Cinque Terre.  We walked from Riomaggiore to Vernazza along the shore.  Our apartment overlooked the coast and was in a great location.  We found an apartment recommended by Rick Steve's through a company called Edi.

View of the village we stayed in, Riomaggiore, behind us

Vernazza - Cinque Terre

Vernazza

Vernazza

Emily and Marisa in Corniglia

View of  Corniglia

Walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola

Manarola

You can see the trail behind us

Walk to Manarola

Manarola

Manarola

Black and White church in Monterosso

Park in Monterosso

View from boat