Italian Capers

The tallest of the small is 6.5 years old. We had the usual half-birthday fun. At school, on her half-birthday, one of her friends told her that half birthdays aren't real. She mentioned this to me when she got off the bus. Then she asked me if half birthdays are "real." Hmmmmm. "What do you think?" I asked her (love that parenting technique). Well, she explained that lots of people don't celebrate their half birthdays, most people probably. But since we do, they are real for us. Sounds good to me : ) You get to celebrate their lives twice as many times- how can I resist, besides, it involves CAKE people! Happy half-birthday!

Not even a week before spring break, I had a conversation with a good friend during which I mentioned we used to take vacations without reservations. We would just "hit the road." Of course, the other mother and I agreed, we would never do that with children. It wouldn't be prudent. Then we did : ) We had a vague notion where we wanted to go and worked out a rough plan the night before our departure. I did secure our first few nights stay and away we went. We headed south to Sorrento . The kids did great with the travelling- our fun started long before we arrived at our destination. They loved the adventure! It's a nice city on the coast- I thought it was very congested with cars and vans full of tourists. We were there during the off-season, and I cannot imagine the droves of people who must visit during peak season. The wooden motorcycle was a big hit. There were beautiful views around every corner. Fun! I think the only hitch we hit on the way down was an accident

We were walking along at the festival in Slovenia, when I noticed the girls were eating something. When I asked what they had, they said, "Nothing," and quickly hid their snack behind their backs. Panicked, I ran over to them and grabbed for their hands, only to see they held partially eaten bright pink mushroom with green spots. "Ahhhh!" I shrieked, but it was too late. Something was happening to the kids....they were getting smaller and smaller! Luckily they returned to their normal size a little bit later : )

We went to a tulip festival My Man wanted to visit- he loves tulips (little-known fact) and he really LOVES Slovenia! Really. When we are there he makes comments like, "These are my people." Hilarious. Of course there were rows and rows of flowers, but it was in a lovely park with walking trails and activities for children. The cultural differences between Italy and Slovenia are obvious. The children WAITED in line for a turn to play on the dinosaur. Oh, and before that, there were people in the parking lot helping festival-goers park in an orderly fashion.