Saturday 26 June 2010

Clever Mia

A few weeks ago, when I would feed her lunch, or a snack of raisins or something similar, she started to fuss when I ran out of whatever it was she was enjoying. So to show her I wasn't hiding anything, I would show her my palm and back of my hand (and move it back and forth) and say "see, all done". That would appease her and she'd go off to play.

Shortly after that, I noticed that she would wave her hands and say 'duh duh' during different times of the day. She'd do it when I was changing her diaper, when she was eating lunch and even in the bathtub. I would nod and smile, but I didn't understand why she was doing it. I thought she was waving to 'da da' (she has conversations with Matt all the time, even when he's not there). She would then get frustrated and start fussing that she wanted down/off the changing mat/out of the tub.

It finally occurred to me that she was saying 'all done' and using her version of what I'd done with her earlier. So I started taking note of when she did it, and sure enough, that's what it means.

So we have our first 'sign' even though it's not proper sign language, it works for us. She uses it very appropriately and when she's all done...she's definitely all done.

I think the rest of the video is pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy!




Mia helped me make Matt's father's day cake, she enjoyed it very much as you can see.



Monday 21 June 2010

Happy Father's Day

Fun at Hyde Park








Other random pics


Saturday 12 June 2010

World Cup Fever!

World Cup Fever has taken over our house! We've got our wall chart hanging proudly over the couch, our TV constantly showing matches or analysis of matches. We've got our gear to support our favorite teams. We're ready!

When we say everyone has got the fever, we mean everyone.








Matt and I think our individual attempts to woo Amelia to choosing either the US or Australia to support has backfired.





(busy watching the game)

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Venice

As promised here's a few more pics.

On the grand canal


Oldest bridge in Venice


View from the bridge down the river and over the market





Enjoying the cuisine



Out and about in Venice






New toy for Amelia

Monday 7 June 2010

Ciao Italy...the final part

Whew, are you still with me? Part of the detail I'm giving is so that we have a record of this, as well as a chance to give you as close to the experience as we can!

We arrived in Venice and it looks just like what you see in the movies. It's very pretty and there really are canals everywhere...it's really cool. At the station, we went to the tourist information booth and asked the best way to get to our hotel. We were told a particular water taxi stop so we bought our tickets and off we went.

One thing about Venice, is that it's like a maze. There are a mixture of long and short narrow streets winding everywhere and it is very, very easy to get lost, especially if you add the throng of tourists into the mix. The stop we were told, ended up not being the right one and we walked around the crazy streets asking no less than 7 times where our hotel was. Needless to say, our first impression of Venice was not a positive one. No one knew where anything was. This was the most stressful time for us on the trip. But we did decide that this would make a good challenge for the Amazing Race, since it is so bloody hard to find anything!

Eventually we found our hotel. We were checked in by a snooty desk clerk and when I asked about a cot for Amelia, we were told that it is an additional 25 Euros per night. No way. We could buy her a travel cot for that cost! So we knew we wouldn't be getting much sleep at night in Venice!

Our room turned out to be pretty nice, the windows opened right out overlooking a canal and you could see the little bridges each way you looked out. Once we got settled in, we decided to go exploring and grab a little dinner.
(View from our room)


Venice feels very touristy. If you've been to London, it feels like Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square everywhere you go. Lots of shops selling the same stuff, lots of people and it feels like the historical aspects are almost an after thought. We weren't impressed by that aspect. Also, the people (meaning the Italians) weren't as friendly, I'm talking about the staff people etc. I'm sure it gets tiring dealing with tourists all the time, but it just wasn't cool.

We found a restaurant that looked like it had a decent menu. I was ready to try some pizza, Matt had one in Florence that was so good, so I thought I'd get one. The menu advertised pizza, but when I asked the waiter about it, he rolled his eyes and said "We are not a pizzeria, we make good pasta". Something like that in a very condescending voice. They also placed us in a back room, because of Amelia, and didn't seat anyone in that entire section while we were there. I wanted to leave, but we'd already ordered and opened our water. So Matt insisted we stay.

Since I was shamed out of ordering pizza, I ordered the lasagna, I'd wanted to do it eventually to see how it compared to Matt's famous lasagna. I'm pleased to say, that while the homemade pasta is good, Matt's is about 10x better. So take that snooty Italian waiter!

After dinner we wandered around a bit more and then headed back to our hotel room for a night of Amelia sleeping right on top of either me, or Matt and at times both (her head would be on my shoulder, her foot on Matt's face...).

The next morning we decided to see what Venice had to offer us so we decided to explore St. Mark's Square, which was right by our hotel and we grabbed a map and walked to all the sights near us. It didn't take long, Venice isn't that large, and we even explored some back streets and saw how the residents of Venice lived. It was very interesting seing the locals out and about on deserted streets and alleys a few blocks away from the crowds of tourists. We had some takeaway pizza for lunch, and it wasn't ideal. In fact, it was pretty nasty. Good thing that wasn't our first introduction to Italian food!

I don't mean to be vague about Venice, but there isn't a whole lot to write about. Most of our time was spent visiting churches, exploring the island and poking around in various shops. There were some shops we loved, like watching a man do some glass blowing, we bought our ornament there. There was also a wooden shop that was so fun, we wished we were really rich, because we would've bought everything there!

One thing about Venice is that there are a lot of stairs due to the many bridges. Whilst picturesque, it certainly wasn't stroller friendly. We got it down to a science lifting Amelia up and down stairs. We found the oldest bridge in Venice, and Matt even climbed up the bell tower and took some pictures overlooking Venice.




(St Mark's Square)



We also visited the Doge's Palace, that was probably the neatest thing we did in Venice, it reminded us a lot of the palaces in Versailles and Hampton Court. The interior was very stylish and elegant with the grand council room particularly impressive. You could also explore the prison in the palace as well. Interestingly enough, it was Amelia's favorite part. She was kind of just hanging out during the fancy parts, but once we were underground, in the raw stone area, she started pointing at things and babbling. Crazy girl.
(Doge's Palace)




Overall, whilst Venice was a pretty city, it wasn't our favorite place in Italy. It felt overcrowded (cruise ships would offload hundreds of people every day) and too commercial. You can't argue that it's gorgeous and so unique, but it just didn't capture us like Florence did. However, I've always wanted to see it, and I'm definitely glad we did.

The trip home was uneventful (thank goodness) we took a water bus all the way to the airport, that's probably the only time We'll go to the airport by boat! The flight took off on schedule, and we made it home in good time. We're definitely happy to be home.

(on the water taxi to the airport)


Now, onto what I know you love to hear about, Amelia. She was such a good girl this trip. Other than that one day where we struggled, she was an angel. People would come up to her all the time and say things like 'Amore' and 'Ciao'. She learned to wave at them, and grin at them. We even had people come up to us and ask us if they could take her picture! She loved walking around and pushing her stroller and it was so surreal sometimes to see my daughter in a centuries old cathedral just walking around. I do wish she were old enough to appreciate this trip, but I'm glad we took lots of pictures to show her, for when she does get older.

She also picked up some new tricks on this trip. She's recently started clapping, (because I realized a couple of weeks ago that I've never clapped with her and that surely my 1 year old should know how to clap...so we've been working on that). We always call her a 'good girl' also. Like when she eats her dinner or whatnot. So now, she'll hear us say 'good girl' or 'good job' and she'll look up and clap for herself. We'll try to get it on video, it's very cute.

She also has started pointing things out. She loves paintings and light fixtures especially. Not the priceless Renaissance paintings we saw, she doesn't care about those. She liked the paintings on the wall of the hotel, like one of a horse wearing a scarf. We'll have to work on her taste in art!

She is also starting to repeat phrases and can say 'bye bye' and 'good girl' (at least that's what it sounds like).

We couldn't have asked for a better girl on this trip. She was great all the way through. I'm so proud of her and grateful to be her mom. Having all those people coo over her, just made me appreciate her all over again!

Well that's it! Sorry it's so long, thanks for reading. We'll probably post pictures in the coming blogs, without commentary. We took a ton...

Thanks for reading!

Ciao!


(more Venice photos to follow)

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Ciao Italy (part 2.5)

The next day was our roughest one, as far as Amelia was concerned. It was our fault though, we thought we could get her to sleep in her stroller, instead of having her take a proper nap in the cot. We didn't make that mistake again! That morning we headed out to find Michelangelo's David. The museum that David resides in was within easy walking distance from our hotel. We found it, got in line and eventually went in.

It was awesome. It's much larger in real life and very impressive. We appreciated the fine detail of the carving and appreciated the hours of work dedicated to carving each and every part of the statue. It amazed our mind to think that it started out as a block of left over marble. It was definitely worth seeing. No pictures of it though, they don't allow it. Sorry.

Amelia had a pretty big meltdown in the museum, which caused us to see the rest of it in a hurry (there really isn't much else there, thank goodness). So we headed back to the hotel, got her a nap and when she woke up, we decided to get on the 'hop on, hop off' bus and tour Florence in style.

It's such a great way to see the sights of Florence, especially, if like us, you're not sure what the sights are! We sat on the top deck and Amelia LOVED it! I suppose it beat being her stroller. But she would wave at the buildings and point things out (she really started pointing things out this trip, maybe because she saw us do it so often).





The route we took, brought us up a hill which showed the entire city of Florence below. It was so gorgeous. We got off at that point and stayed to take lots of pictures and videos. It was a beautiful day and such a treat to see.

Here are the pictures, but they don't do it justice at all!









After the bus, we headed out to find some dinner. And we stumbled upon our favorite restaurant/meal of the entire trip. We ate calzoni's and they were huge, but oh so yummy. Here's a picture!


(on our way back to the hotel after dinner)

After that wonderful dinner we toddled back to our hotel for the our last night in Florence.

The next morning, we decided to take the other longer route on the "hop on, hop off" bus, so we stored our luggage at the hotel and hopped on. It was even more spectacular. It also took us to a nearby town called Fiesole which lies on a hillside overlooking Florence. On the way there, we passed other parts of Florence that we wished we could've explored more. Unfortuntely time got the better of us as this particular route had buses coming every hour and we didn't have the time before we had to catch the train to Venice. If we could redo this trip, we would've given ourselves an extra day in Florence. As is, we decided that we need to come back some day!



After we hopped off the bus, we picked up our bags and walked to the train station (we were closer than we thought when we first arrived. As we entered the train to Venice we bid a fond farewell to Florence!

(scooter city)


(inside the Duomo)