Barcelona, Rome and Capri - Oh my!

If you had asked me ten years ago if I thought I would ever visit Europe, this South Georgia girl would have dreamily said "Hopefully one day... "  Never would have I ever imagined I would not only visit Europe but live here and cruise around the Mediterranean Sea visiting places like Monaco, Livorno, Rome, Capri and Sicily.  It was a dream vacation, no doubt.

In the beginning of this year, our good friends, Matthew and Kim Cabe, invited us to go on a cruise with them.  It sounded like a great idea but, being that it was our first cruise, I really didn't know what to expect.  When you talk to people who have been on cruises... they either usually love it or hate it.  I wasn't sure where I would fall on that spectrum. 

As you will see, we all loved it.  The children say it was their best vacation ever.  And, I think Freddie and I would have to agree.  Sun, water slides, unlimited delicious food, housekeeping twice a day, pretty drinks with umbrellas, ancient ruins, azure blue water, exceptionally fun and safe childcare, family activities, consecutive date nights and days with the hubs, hot tubs and real Italian pizza and wine.. what more can you ask for? 

Thank you so much Matthew and Kim for inviting us to join your sweet family on a vacation of a lifetime... so many wonderful memories made.

 A little pre-cruise excitement..  Freddie went to park and the kids and I hung out outside the Barcelona cruise terminal.  It was a lot like an airport terminal.. I had no idea.  Such an exciting time full of anticipation!

 Our friends.. The Cabes!

 The ship was setting sail.. what a strange sensation to start to see and feel the ship move away from the dock. 

Our little dancing stars after the Camp Carnival dance competition.. which our little J-man won!! 

 Monte Carlo, Monaco.. gorgeous city.  Sophia and I visited here last summer when we vacationed in St. Raphael, France so the kids and I stayed on the ship and enjoyed the scenery and the water slides.  Freddie and Matthew went into the city to visit Casino Royale and play a little blackjack.

 Sophia hanging out on the side of one of the two salt water pools on the ship.

 Ahh.. bellissimo!  My favorite part of the entire trip - Capri, Italy!

 We took a private boat tour around Italy with Capri Boat Tours.  We cruised around in this adorable little boat with an Italian tour guide who spoke great English.  I really cannot put into words how beautiful this island and it's surrounding waters are... the pictures are great but don't do it justice.  There were moments where I was simply speechless.  We pulled into a cove about halfway through our tour and were able to dive into the gorgeous aqua green/blue water.  Matthew, Freddie and I climbed up on the rocks and jumped about 15 feet into the cool sea then dove down to swim through an under water arch with all these adorable little fish.  Fabulous.

 Aunt Kim and sweet baby Jacob.

 

 Formal Night on the ship

 Our sweet babies - Sophia, 5, Joshua, 6 and Emily, 3

And, next, stay tuned for...  Roma!

Just a Taste of Italy..

I am super busy packing and cleaning for our trip to the US tomorrow.. but I am dying to share a few of our pictures from our cruise up and down the coast of Italy last week.  It was a dream vacation... family, sun, pool, sea, Italy, friends, quality supervised "as needed" child care, unlimited good food... need I say much more?

 

 

Celebrate Good Times

There may be a shortage of cheddar cheese in the land where air conditioning is virtually non-existent, and you may have to side step doggy poo all day long except when you are risking your life on the "rules are made to be broken" roundabouts, but the french can do many things really well and throwing a good party is one of them.

At this year's Kermesse, we discovered that our son has a talent for hip hop (much to Freddie's chagrin), Emily doesn't have stage fright and Sophia has dance moves that MTV might be interested in (and, frankly, I am not sure how I feel about that nor do I have any idea where she gets them from as I only dance like that around our house when they are napping or at school). 

This was the perfect end to a successful school year for our children.

Joshua had his ups and downs with adjusting to the french school culture and typical 6 year old friend issues but we were able to work on some key behavior and heart issues with him and, for that, I am truly thankful. He did have some good friends in his class which helped make his transition much easier.  Academically he did really well this year, too.  He is speaking and reading french but still struggles with vocabulary and can read chapter books in English... "can" is the operative word as we still need to work on mustering up some desire.  I was very pleased with Joshua's teachers.  He had two teachers - Madame Volle for French and Mrs. Stevenson for English.  Joshua has also been taking tennis every Wednesday for the past two years but this next school year he will be trying baseball for the first time.  Yep, baseball in France, who knew??

Sophia adapted very well to school.  It helps that she had a fabulous teacher - Madame Arnaud - the same teacher Joshua had for 4K when we first moved here.  Sophia loves to speak french and do her exercises at school.  Sophia simply loves to learn.  She has one best friend at school from the UK, Rose, along with many other playmates from all over the world.  Like Joshua, we have been able to work on some character issues with her through her experiences at school and ice skating.  She will continue to do ice skating as her extracurricular activity next year.

Our little Emily Claire had a great year, as well.  She had the same teacher Sophia had the first year we were here.  I had a very hard time saying goodbye to her on Friday.  Part of me really wishes we had another baby so that I would have another child with the opportunity to have her as their teacher.  She is incredible - Madame Demerson or, Pascale, as the children call her.  She loves the children and she loves to teach and, as a result, the children (and the Moms) love her.  Emily isn't speaking french but she is starting to understand and she can repeat, albeit her pronunciation needs work (as does mine!).  She has a bestie from the UK, sweet Ava.. the sister of Sophia's friend, Rose, and they are literally inseparable at school (or anywhere we may be together).  It is really adorable.. I don't think I have ever seen three year olds so enamored with each other.  This year was more about play and meeting friends and having fun.  She really enjoyed her time in her "school class", as she called it.

So, I am sure you have heard enough about how wonderfully smart, talented and over achieving our children are (aren't everyone's?)... so on to the pictures we go!

Joshua's French Class dancing and singing to "Do-Re-Mi"

 

 

 

  

Our very own Hip Hop Dance leader leading his English class to "It's a Hard Knock Life"

Sophia's French Class doing an African Dance

Emily Claire dancing to "Je m'appelle Emilie Jolie" (quite appropriate, don't you think?)

 

 

 

 

Inseparable from her forever friend, Ava.

The Pages Have Talent... Maybe?