Italy- VENICE! : Apr 9

VENICE! The entire reason for the trip (for me anyway). 

The boys were super excited to ride the train there, and were remarkably good for the nearly 2-hour trip there!

Cameron-- master of silly faces. 

*love* this boy. 

It was so fun for the boys to be with Daddy 24/7 again. We definitely *love* vacation time!

Nina diligently watching over Andrew. That kid has her wrapped around his messy fingers (and he adores her as well!). 

I think this is him mid-saying "Itawee!!!!" He was super enthusiastic for most of the trip. 

Waiting for the train to leave the station, Daddy kept the boys attention with a story... probably about cuddle monkeys. haha!

N convincing W that to get the train moving you had to: put your thumbs in your ears and wiggle your nose and tongue. haha! It must have worked-- the train left the station immediately after. ;)

He's such a faker for pictures! Always pulling a sullen or silly face when he's in a totally normal mood. 

... and again. haha!

VENICE!!

 I was soooo excited to be there! Everywhere we looked there were the teensiest "streets", but not a single car or moped, TONS of canals and bridges. It was absolutely fascinating. We didn't do any research on the area, preferring with the kids to just wing-it rather than have high expectations that might not be met, and so we just happily wandered wherever we felt like it...

People LIVED in homes, with front doors right off this "street". Good luck getting a new sofa in there!

Many of our wanderings led us only to a waterway. A pity we didn't bring our inflatable raft!

No one was disappointed with our  constant "dead ends" though. 

Don't bother knocking on that door. :) This was in the courtyard where we stopped at a closed-for-the-winter fountain to eat some authentic Pizza (for the record: Allegros, in Carmel, CA is way better). 

I like Fanta in the states, I don't like the German version. My sister and I were crazy about the version in Spain, and in Italy it was just as awesome. Yum!

Busy Boy! Charming the locals. I was worried that the boys running around and scaring pigeons would bother the locals (who all had open windows into the courtyard), but then I happened to look up and see an admiring old man watching them with a big grin on his face. I stopped hushing the boys after that. :)

Sweet old woman hanging out her laundry to dry. 

This scene-- was everywhere. *amazing*

This Italian version of an eclair was amazing too!

Faking sad faces together!

The public toilets in town cost 1.50€, which seemed like highway robbery (usually public bathrooms cost about 0.50€). Afterward, when I thought about it-- the entire town is build on top of the water-- I hate to even think of how they deal with waste! In the above picture, Andrew is flirting with the bathroom attendant. :)

I have no idea what bridge this is, but it was awesome. This is when we finally found our way to the heart of the city and it made us all gasp in awe. 

I love Venice.  

Taking another little break. The kids were troopers. 

Beautiful mosaic on this building. 

Checking out the gondolas. At first we saw that they were 29€ per person-- which was not gonna happen. When we got to this port it was 80€ for a whole boat. Perfect! It was incredible (but, I'm a water baby!). 

Family shot-- you can even see the mark that #4 is making on my waistline, so technically s/he is in the picture too. ;) 

Aw. #4, we love you!

While on the boat ride... 

Our Gondolier (just looked up that word-- thanks Google). He was born and raised in the Venice and it sounded like he came from a family of gondoliers (he has parts from his grandfather Gondola built into his). It was impressive how he could keep that boat one INCH from the wall without even bumping! 

Seriously. How cute is this boy?

I thought this was so funny! Pointing out of an old bookstore into the canal. 

Our last water view before pulling back into the port. 

The leaning tower of Venice? Makes you feel crazy disoriented just looking at it, doesn't it?

Finally! I was relieved when he passed out, but the silly child waited for the wrong moment to do it and missed out on Gelato. 

But these two didn't. :)

Waiting for the train. The ice cream made these boys very silly!

Oh dear. haha. For the record, the sign says "TRENITALIA". Nathaniel still thought it was an unfortunate name. haha!

Don't you love the poses they strike for the camera?

William's favorite part about our Italy trip right here (not C photo bombing-- again): his keychain. At the beginning of our day, we told the boys they could pick one out before we got on a train to go home. All day he kept asking if we could leave yet so he could pick out a keychain. Bless you, my child! MY favorite part was just being there... and the gondola ride. :)