Visit to the Certosa

The Certosa is a monastery outside of Florence where the monks live in silence. They are only allowed to speak for one hour each week. Fede, Jeff, Noah and I took a guided tour and Noah stayed quiet the entire time! After the Certosa we drove to a nearby town in the countryside for a glass of wine before heading back to Florence.

OUTSIDE THE CERTOSA

INSIDE THE COURTYARD

COLLE DI VAL D'ELSA

Noah at the Florence Pool

Saturnia Thermal Baths

We have been wanting to go to Saturnia for years (in southern Tuscany) and so we stopped on the way from Piacenza to Tuscania. Saturnia is famous for its thermal baths one of which is a cascading waterfall of flowing warm pools. It is now one of my favorite places in Italy! The cool thing is that it's free and completely tourist-free since you can't get there without a car. You just pull up and find a parking spot in a field and then walk down to the baths. It was so relaxing and fun and Noah LOVED it. He was enthralled by the water flowing over the edge of each pool and then the bubbles that the water created. He kept trying to grab them.

Cooling Off--Italy

The heat has been a bit oppressive so we've been hitting the water (pool, beach, baby pool, etc.) every chance we get...sometimes two or three times a day. You do what you gotta do right? As you can see from his face, Noah is a big fan of water in any form.

Italy Here We Come! June 26, 2008

We flew out of LAX at 6am on the 26th and Noah was such the trooper. We had 2 flights and he made it the whole way without crying. I was prepared with ear plugs and everything for our fellow passengers, but Noah did really well with a lot of constant distraction. Our goody bag of toys and books was well-used. Fede picked us up and took us to his house south of Milan where we hung out in the back yard on the swing all day.

Sara Gets Married! June 21, 2008

Sara's wedding turned out amazing. She was a beautiful bride and seemed to loved every second of the day. The ceremony took place outdoors and the weather was perfect...weeeelllll, it was the hottest day in Santa Maria's history peaking at 111 degrees, but did we let that bother us? NO! :). The reception was really fun complete with Santa Maria Style Barbeque and an elegant set-up. Candles and twinkling lights really dazzled up the hall. We all had fun dancing and socializing and the night was a big success.

6 Months

Noah has been having a lot of fun in Santa Maria, truly living up his 6 months. :) He's now sitting up and creeping around the floor like a little army ranger. He's definitely keeping himself entertained.