Different

Another difference here:
Pizza--and this is one of those instances where different is VERY GOOD!  My kids still strangely choose to get Anthony's pizza from the base food court--which claims to be "the world's best pizza."  Where are the truth in advertising police?

However, as good as pizza is over here, the Italians aren't afraid to try some very odd combos.  A very common pizza choice is Viennese (or wurstel at some places) which is pizza with hot dog slices on it.  But, even crazier (at least to me) is what some places call Macdonalds pizza--or wurstel e patate fritte...hot dogs and french fries.  I kid you not.

Archery

After a few months of attempting to make his own bow and arrow like the Native Americans, Cory eventually found one to buy at a local sports store.  The begging commenced.

Ted and I decided to make him earn it by proving that he could be responsible--didn't want to make it too easy on him!  So, he wrote what he thought responsible meant and then looked it up in the dictionary.  After that, he spent a week logging anything he considered responsible actions on his part as a report to Ted.  Finally, he and his sisters came up with a list of rules that would be abided if we bought the bow and arrow.

Well we did.

And then, Riley decided she could buy one with her own money (she'd already proven herself responsible years ago ;) ).

And since rule number 5 says "Share always.  No buts." :

Are you singing, "Anything you can do, I can do better.  I can do anything better than you."?

And man, I don't have a picture of it, but Lucy's been running around with Cory's old Dollar store bow and arrows...  

Good times.

Poolside

More Adventures

After a night in Garda, we drove to a hike that promised to be kid friendly and full of waterfalls.  As the crow flies, it was probably only 15-30 minutes away, but we had to go the around about the mountain way, so it took over an hour.

We found a sandwich shop in town, picked up some paninis and then made our way through the little town and to the park area.

After paying for our entrance (by the way, they offered a military discount, which we were able to use. It saved us a whole 50 euro cents!!!  wow), we found some picnic tables and enjoyed our lunch and then we began following the marked trail.

The kids had a lot of fun here.  There were rocks to climb, a rock pillar to scale, a zipline swing to ride, and a swing that swung towards a waterfall.

And even though the water was FREEZING, the boys couldn't resist stripping down and jumping in.

Cory was a little nervous, but Dad eventually forced him into a waterfall...

Well, almost.  Just as they got to the fall, Cory bolted off of his back and swam out.

Before long though, he regained his courage.

Awesome time hiking into rock caves, too, especially for Mary who wasn't interested in getting soaked in the cold water.

A beautiful day.