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.

Lago di Garda

Or Lake Garda.  We headed there after church with our friends and spent a few hours enjoying the lake and celebrating Ted's birthday!!  Here is the proof in pictures.

The wake from ferries made a few waves for playing in

So many rocks, so little time

Jumping off the dock!

All the kids

At dinner--some look ready for bed!  We got a very late start on dinner--after 8 (not really late by Italia standards).  The adults were still at the table at midnight.  Luckily, the restaurant was part of the hotel where we stayed, so the kids could go to bed.

Ted and Jeff

Good times.

Daytripping

While we had visitors we took a fun day trip to one of our favorite places:  Aquileia.  The weather report indicated rain on the mountains here but beautiful at the coast in Aquileia, so we opted for beautiful.  You've seen pictures from here before, so I'll try not to belabor the blog with hundreds more.  Here's how our day went:

A little bit of geocaching does a body good...

Checking out the mosaics and the crypt (with bones!!) in the Basilica...

Hanging out with a new buddy while we walked the path of the Roman canal and looked at ruins lining the path...

Grabbing a gelato snack on the way to the beach...

Enjoying the sand and the water with friends...

And a bonus air show while at the beach...

To quote our buds, what an "awesome-sauce" kind of day!

Different

While a friend was visiting recently, we made note of many things that are different in Italy--being sure to note that it wasn't necessarily better or worse, just different.  Which reminded me of a few pictures I've taken of things here that are different.  In that spirit I bring you today's installment of Different.

We definitely lament not being able to run to the donut shop on Saturday mornings for a fun treat.  So one Saturday, Ted went to the pastry shop (Pasticceria) instead and came home with this package:

They definitely take a lot of time to wrap and present their products.  Hope you weren't in a hurry.

 Luckily, it's worth the wait.

Gelato can also be purchased in larger quantities to take home.  It comes looking like this.

And you can pick and choose the flavors you would like.  Stracciatella, nutella, caffe, limone, melone, vaniglia, menta, fragola...

Kind of fun, no?  Definitely different.