Florence Day 4

If you can believe it, we spent our fourth day in Florence going to museums again.

We started out Sunday morning at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello.  Bargello comes from a Latin word that means castle or fortified tower.  This building, now housing the museum, used to be a palace for the first Captain of the tower.  It later housed the highest magistrate in the Florence City Council.  It is the oldest public building in Florence, being constructed beginning in 1255.  It also was a former barracks and prison.

Florence Day 3

Our third day in Florence, Saturday March 21, we spent at the Palazzo Pitti.

It is named for Luca Pitti who was the original owner and banker in Florence.  Later the powerful Medici family bought the palace and it became a great house full of art and treasures.

Florence Day 2

Our second day in Florence we visited more museums.

We started at the Uffizi Gallery Museum.

Florence Day 1--Thursday March 19

Thursday March 19th, we started our day walking across the river Arno from our rented apartment to the downtown area.  

We had a beautiful view of Ponte Vecchio--the old bridge.

On to Florence

After a few hours in Rome, we caught a train to Florence.  We were excited to see the countryside.  Because of where our seats were, it was difficult to take pictures to show it off.  We did see quaint little towns and vineyards and castles on the hill.

Rome, Italy

Wednesday morning, March 18th, we were up really early to catch a flight to Rome, Italy.

Paul had scheduled a airport shuttle to pick us up around 3:45am.  When we went downstairs to wait, we found out that it had come and gone without us.  Apparently we were a couple minutes too late.  Paul had been looking out the window periodically, but never saw it.

So there we were on the streets of Madrid at 4am with no way of getting to the airport.  We walked to the next block, in hopes of finding an early taxi.  Thankfully one came after only a few minutes.  Even though we were bummed about missing the shuttle and being awake that early to catch it, taking the taxi that early in the morning was just as good.  We got there soon and without problems.

We had a couple hour wait at the airport and noticed they do things a bit differently than in the States.  I don't know if I could even describe it necessarily, but it is different. :D

Soon enough we were off!  We were on our way to Italy!!

Retiro Parque--Just Glenn and I

Tuesday March 17th, Glenn and I went to Retiro Parque on our own.  It really is an easy walk for us--just 7 blocks south of where we live.  Glenn was really happy to have his scooter and it helped us get there a lot faster.

Hanging Out with the Hubers

Saturday we called our friends, the Hubers.  We had met them two years ago when we were here last, and they were really good to take care of Paul when he came on his own.  They were really excited that we were here again in Spain and wanted to hang out.

We went over in the afternoon, after they had soccer games and flute recitals.  We rode the metro to the bus station, and rode the 193 bus out to San Agustín del Guadalix where the Hubers live.

When we first arrived, we stopped at a doner kebab place for a late lunch-yum!

"Guys, we are IN Spain!"

Tuesday March 10th, we awoke around 7:30am, ate breakfast, washed the dishes, got dressed and made sure we had everything that we needed for the next 2.5 months.  We had arranged an airport shuttle at 9:00am and off we went.  We checked our bags and went through security easily.  We got tickets for our first two flights, but not for the last.  We figured we would get it from the desk just before boarding.  On our flight from Austin to Dallas, Paul's seat wasn't with mine and Glenn's.  Not sure why, but he wasn't far--just diagonally behind us.  We got off that plane, walked to the next gate and immediately boarded the next plane to Miami.  That flight we were all together.  Then when we got off in Miami, we had enough time to exit the plane and get right to our next gate.  They had had some issue with the plane, but they were about to board.  Paul went to the desk to get our tickets printed.  It seemed to take him a long time, so Glenn and I went over to see if everything was okay.  No, it wasn't.  Paul had asked for our tickets and we were all in seats all around the plane--not close to one another.  Um, that's not going to work with a 5-year old!  So he asked if they could find seats that were together.  She said she'd work on it, but in the meantime she had helped about 30 other people--who were after Paul--get their seats together.  I guess they were originally going to be on a plane with a different seat configuration a 3-4-3 I think, but this new plane was a 2-5-2.  So I'm not sure why all the seats got messed up, but apparently they did for a lot of people.  

She finally gave new tickets to Paul, but they were still not all together, and even the seats for Glenn and I weren't right next to one other.  We were in the same row, but across the aisle from each other.  Still not going to work.  Oh, and the ticket that was for Paul didn't have his name on it--it was another person's name!  So he had to ask her to fix that.  Eventually we boarded the plane--one of the last ones, but we still didn't have seats together.  When we got on the plane I asked the stewardess about seeing if we could ask the person next to Glenn to switch with me so I could sit with my son.  She said that she wasn't allowed to make any changes.  Grr.  But thankfully the lady who had been at the ticket counter was on the plane and she took control.  She went to our seats and asked the girl who was sitting there to move over.  In the end that was the best because she had been split from her mom.  So now Glenn and I were together and she and her mom were together.  And Paul was about 20 rows behind us, at least on the same side.  We were bummed about that, but in the end there was nothing we could do about it.

Before Spain

I can't believe how quickly our week and a half left in Texas went!  We had a lot to do to get ready but we still packed in some fun.  March 1st in church, Glenn was chosen to be a helper during Primary.  He got to wear this big, thick white beard and wig--I think the entire Primary was giggling!  We sure were!  Paul took a picture with his phone and another friend snapped one on her phone.  Any guesses on which prophet he was?

Baptisms for the Dead

Saturday March 7th Paul and I took Nicole and Amy to the San Antonio Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  This was Nicole's first time and Amy's second time--but her first time bringing family names!  We were so excited to be a part of this special day.

Jell-O Party

March 1st was a special day for us, or rather it was a special day for our sister Nicole.  March 1st marked her one-year anniversary of being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She had given a talk in church a couple weeks before that and mentioned that.  When she said that, the idea came to my mind that we needed to go something to celebrate.  I talked with Paul about it and we came to the conclusion that we would host a JELL-O party in honor of her.  We happen to know that she love JELL-O--and did, long before becoming a Mormon!  :D  So we thought it would be fun to have a JELL-O dessert potluck.  We invited a few friends who have helped her in this journey and told them to keep it a secret-we wanted to surprise her.  We had invited her to our home Sunday evening for some JELL-O, and so that's what she thought it was--just us and some dessert.  Little did she know that we had 20+ people waiting there to congratulate her!

When she finally arrived--we had told her a later time than everyone else to make sure everyone was there before her--she was completely surprised!

President's Day

Mark and Bonnye came up from San Antonio to spend President's Day weekend with us.  We were happy to host them--and Frodo!  Sunday night we finished off the oil and cheese fondues, but again were so full that we didn't eat the chocolate.  The next morning we decided that it was time:  so we ate chocolate fondue for breakfast!

It was really yummy--and yes, Bonnye is hiding under her sweater.  She said no pictures can be taken of her in the morning... :D

Valentine's Day Part 2

Playing mini golf took most of the morning and early afternoon.  When we got home, we relaxed a bit--we weren't used to being in the sun that long since it's been cold.  I even got slightly sunburned.  (But that isn't too hard for me.) :D

Paul went grocery shopping in preparation for his part of the day.  While we waited for that to be ready, our neighbor Judy stopped by.  She had a little something for us and asked Glenn if he would be her Valentine!  So sweet!

Valentine's Day Part 1

When talking about Valentine's Day, I told Paul that I had an idea for the morning.  He was good with that because he had plans for the evening.  Perfect!

My plan was to get special Valentine doughnuts from Krispy Kreme.  Yum yum!

February Fun

February came so fast!  January was full of fun and February was no less busy, perhaps even busier!  The days and weeks seem to fill up so fast that before I know it, the month is over!  That definitely happened with February.  Not just because it is a short month, but also because we had so many fun activities and things going on.  

Remember last March when I posted a video of Glenn reading his first chapter of the first Magic Tree house book?  Well Glenn finished the entire series at the beginning of this month!  All 52 books!!  And actually a new book--a Super Edition--came out in January 2015 and he read that one too!  He probably could've completed the series in January or possibly December, but every time we went to the library, the last books were checked out; then we went on vacation and didn't read as much.  But when we got back, we made it a priority to get the last books read!  

Congratulations Glenn!!  That's 53 books in less than 52 weeks!

(Plus that doesn't count all the other books he's read.  He also started a new series called A to Z Mysteries and had read a few of The Secrets of Droon.  Plus a ton other books too.) 

He is a great reader and we are so proud of him!!

A Date in Downtown Austin

On the evening of January 24th, Paul and I again headed downtown-this time for a triple date with some good friends in the ward.  We got tickets to see Brian Regan and we were so excited!!

We started off the evening carpooling down together--quoting Brian Regan practically the entire way. :D  We got some pizza at Home Slice.  It was so busy and crowded, so we had to walk across the street where they had More Home Slice--a place where we could get individual slices a lot faster.  

A Day in Downtown Austin

January 24th we headed downtown again, this time for a Kid's Spring and Summer Camp Fair.  We wanted some information about possible things that Glenn could do here in Austin and the surrounding areas.  We parked the car on the top level of the parking garage and had this great view of the buildings downtown.

A Day at Zilker Park

We had a beautiful day mid-January and we took advantage of it by going to Zilker Park.  We wanted to ride on the Zilker Zephyr--the little train that goes around part of the park.  

Back at Home in January

We sure had a great time in Utah and on the way home, but it also felt really good to be home too. 

One of the things we missed was having Monday dinners and Family Home Evenings with Nicole!  We were happy to be back and have her in our home again.  We also got to have the sister missionaries over one Monday.  We have loved having them frequent our home as well.