Christmas Markets with Uncle Bryant

Bryant came to stay with us in September and did not leave (permanently) until December. It was wonderful to have him here with us for that long. He did spend a significant chunk of time in the US, Malta, Tunisia, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, Latvia, and probably some other places that I am forgetting, but we had him to ourselves for a decent amount.

We took him to the Dolomites while the Monsons were here in October, but our big adventures with him were to various Christmas markets in December. It all started the first weekend of December with Juliet's ballet recital.

She was a "little princess" in a production of "Rapunzel." So cute. This is right before heading off to the show.

Keira Bailey is also in Juliet's class (known as the "Asilo class") Here they are showing off some of their warm-up moves.

The Funky Chicken?

Love Juliet's pose here. Classic.

Juliet was great during the show. She was very confident and did not have to look at her teacher offstage or the other girls to know what moves came next. After the show was over we headed to the Sacile Christmas market for dinner.

Georgie at the market.

Bryant is ready to fight off anyone who tries to take a bite of his salsiccia. They really had good food this year and we gluttoned it up good.

Juliet eating some formaggio fuso (yummmm). Love her face here also!

So this is a huge log of "mortadella", which is processed meat made in Bologna. Isaac is sticking his head in there so you can get a sense of the size of the thing. Apparently Americans decided to just call it "Bologna" because of where it comes from, but rather than say "boh-LOHN-yah" they mealy-mouthed the pronunciation into "baloney." Thank you Oscar Meyer Weiner.

The girls inside the Sacile Christmas tree. We called it a night after eating way too much (as usual).

The next morning was the setting for another classic Merback Christmas story. Bryant was dying to go to the Republic of San Marino, a land-locked country in central-eastern Italy. Ashley had found one-way tickets from Sacile for only 11 euro, which was a steal, and the train ride was less than three hours. The Crandalls were in for this day trip given the favorable logistics.

Alas, the train was destined for San Marino, Veneto, which is in the foothills of the Dolomites and which we could reach by car in about 90 minutes. The Crandalls decided to go to Treviso instead, but we doubled-down and decided to drive the three and a half hours to the real San Marino for the day. And I am glad that we did.

The old city is on top of a mountain, which makes sense from a "fortress defense" standpoint. We were lucky that it was foggy in the lowlands that day, since it made for amazing pictures.

The entrance to the old city. Obviously the sun was a little bright.

Jubie's face here! Classic!

This is the main square.

An old Citroen van parked in the square out of which the tourism service was handing out information and answering questions. Ashley fell in love at first sight.

I titled this picture "Two kids who have lived in Europe too long to care about spectacular views like this." Love how the hills poke out of the fog like islands in the sky.

Juliet flying above the clouds.

Georgie takes flight as well.

And Isaac. Normally you can see the Adriatic Sea from this vantage point.

There are several towers along the ridge of the mountain from which the watchmen would keep vigil. You can hike all along the ridge line to each of the towers. This is a great shot with the tower above and the fog below.

Family picture 2015!

We split up so that Ashley could take the kids ice skating and Bryant and I could explore the remaining towers. I love how the fog creeps up the town below. It was bizarre to be driving in thick, dense fog and then suddenly be in bright sunlight.

The last tower. Such a cool day to be in San Marino.

Meanwhile, Juliet was ice skating at the foot of the castle walls below. That penguin thing was very helpful and Juliet is pretty much skating on her own now.

The girls at a different spot along the wall.

We ate some street food for dinner. Bryant and I both suddenly rushed over to make sure we didn't miss the sunset while we were eating. It was a great evening.

Juliet enjoying the view. This was worth the seven hour round trip.

The central square lit up a night with a very odd musical trio: bagpipes, trombone, and snare drum. The music was...interesting. I appreciated the effort.

The next weekend Georgie and I had Friday off, so we picked up Isaac and Juliet early from school and headed to Klagenfurt, Austria, where Bryant had booked us a very nice hotel apartment downtown. It was literally a two minute walk to the Christmas market.

Enjoying some raclette (melted Swiss cheese) on a potato. The food was very good and we stuffed ourselves with potatoes, wurst, and cheese, but somehow we missed the one booth that had speztle.

That night Bryant introduced Ashley and me to "Game of Thrones" and we stayed up late watching the first two episodes. Needless to say, we are hooked. We went back to the market briefly the next morning before heading to Villach.

This booth was the girls' favorite. It had all sorts of decorative cats and dogs. Isaac bought two small dogs for Juliet and Georgie for Christmas. This mother-baby pair of cats matched Juliet's hat.

We had been to the Villach market the year before and they have a nice big skating rink, which the kids were excited about. It is one of Georgie's new favorite activities.

Georgie had forgotten her parka, but she is so warm-blooded like her Uncle Bryant that it didn't matter. I was freezing the whole day but she didn't complain once.

They also have a petting zoo at Villach which opened after the kids finished skating. The loved holding the rabbits and guinea pigs.

My kid wth the kid.

The girls especially loved this one's ears.

We headed back home from Villach that afternoon. Isaac and I split off to go to the Udinese - Inter game. The atmosphere was tremendous, but we got destroyed 4-0. 

The next day, Sunday, we went for a family hike up Col di San Martino, the evergreen hill behind our house. It was a lovely autumn day and the ground was carpeted with yellow and brown leaves.

I love the fact that we walk out of our backyard, past a cheese dairy, and almost immediately into a deciduous forest. This life is amazing.

The girls got a bit of a lift from Cross-Fit deficient Bryant. He had been reduced to doing pull-ups from our swing set and squat jumps up on Col di San Martino. That's probably one reason he was glad to go to Park City.

But not before we stuffed ourselves full of home-made Oreos with cream cheese filling chased with raw, whole milk from the latteria! Dinner that night was various cheeses, prosciutto, sausages, olive oils, balsamic vinegars, breads, veggies, and fruits. A perfect end to a perfect visit from Uncle Bryant.

Ashley and Juliet took him to the airport for the final time and 24 hours later he was at the cabin in Park City with tons of snow. He was the perfect houseguest, did our dishes practically every night, got us out of the house and on great adventures, and showed our kids the unconditional love of an uncle. We loved having you, Bryant, and you can come back at anytime!

Tuscan Do It: The Final Chapter

This is it. The last time ever. TuscanDoIt Part 4: The Final Chapter. The Edstroms long since departed, the remaining Famici reunite one last time for a no-holds-barred, all-out, super-sized Tuscany Thanksgiving. After almost disintegrating as a unit after the fiasco of picking a house, Megan found this amazing place called Villa Scoptello near Montepulciano. Charlotte finished making the arrangements and we were all set for our last Thanksgiving together.

Each family straggled in at various times on Wednesday and we were the last to arrive besides the Cathy and Ives Ebneter, Ben's sister and Swiss brother-in-law, who came by train (they don't own a car - so European!). That night I was not feeling well so I retired early. The next morning I was feeling better but had the chills. Being quite cold for this time of year anyway, I dressed in many, many layers that morning so as to not miss out on the epic yard games.

Several of us stood in a huge circle on the lawn while we threw the frisbee, kicked the soccer ball, and threw a football to each other. The object was to get one person with all three of them at the same time. The yard was great, best open play space we have had yet.

The place was leased by a German woman and British man, who had a lawnmower but preferred to keep the grass clipped by allowing their pony to graze freely. Apparently he starts sneezing uncontrollably if he eats hay so he prefers grass which Jubie tried desperately to feed him out of her hand.

"Look at the size of that fireplace!" It was huge! And good thing because the radiators did not work all weekend. It was COLD in that house! We kept a massive fire burning the whole time and used up almost their entire supply of firewood, but thankfully they didn't charge us for it since the heat was out. The mantel was also enormous with lots of cool bric-a-brac.

The hosts cooked for us for Thanksgiving dinner, which started shortly after two o'clock. These were some of the antipasti, which could have been a full meal by themselves. They were amazing!

The table set with the other antipasti. From R to L: Isaac, Georgie, Me, Gina, Tim, Mercedes (Gina's mom), Ives, Cathy, Ben, Charlotte, Greg, Griffin, Megan, Leah (Megan's cousin/Griffin's nanny), Trinity, Ashley, Juliet. Not pictured: Luca, Jessica, and Tristan. 11 adults and nine kids. And we all fit very comfortably in the house with room to spare. The primi consisted of penne arrabiate, tagliatelle al ragu, and gnocchi. The secondi were roasted chicken, pork filets, and venison filets. Dessert was tiramisu, panna cotta, and chocolate cake. The meal lasted about 4-5 hours and we would break in between courses for games, wall-sit competitions, and guitar sing-a-longs. Best part was: no cooking and no dishes! Total cost: 30 euro per adult, 10 euro per child. Worth every penny!

Greg celebrating his decapitation of a Prosecco bottle with my machete from Honduras. You put the bottle in the freezer for about 30 min. Then you take the machete with the flat side towards the top of the bottle and run it along the seam in the bottle so you hit the lip firmly. This causes the glass to break and it takes the cork with it out into the yard. This became one of our favorite pastimes after the Baileys introduced it to us.

We had a white elephant gift exchange that night. Ashley is showing off the "cleavage cover" that she won.

The evening was completed with two rousing rounds of our favorite game ever, the Envelope Game! L to R: Ben, Charlotte, Gina, and Tim.

The next morning the families all split up to pursue our varied interests and get some needed time apart to make us appreciate each other more. The Crandalls, Ebneters, and McDowells went to Montepulcian, the Trifilos to Volterra, and we went to a hot springs about 40 min south.

It is known as "Fosso Bianco" because of the white calcium deposits that form the backdrop along the small valley where the hot springs bubble up.

Dams had been built to form pools where the water bubbled up and they were just the right temperature: slightly over 40 degrees C or so. How does nature know to make it that perfect?

Juliet and I were the bravest and got in first. 

In a throwback to the original TuscanDoIt trip, I got myself a mud facial and then decided to go full Homer Simpson being mistaken for Big Foot.

The only selfie I have ever approved of.

Ashley was the last to enter, of course, but even she enjoyed it.

More calcium deposits on the way out. Being a Friday in late November there were hardly any other people there. This is my ideal way to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving - no materialism.

We returned to find Luca just waking up from his nap with Trinity babysitting. He started crying for this mom and dad then hid his face with his stuffed animal dog. He stood like that for about an hour, no joke.

Georgie holding baby Jessica, named after her young aunt who died from breast cancer in March 2015. Baby JJ was a little high maintenance but so adorable, whereas Tristan is not much to look at but the chillest baby ever.

On Saturday we played more yard games. They have an artificial turf tennis court with small soccer goals at one end so we took turns playing tennis and small soccer games. Proud to say that I dominated soccer, even when it was Isaac and I against four adults.

That night we went to Cordella winery near Montalcino, home of the famous Brunello. It was a lovely Tuscan evening and I was feeling especially close to my lovely wife.

Maddalena, the owner and hostess, gave us a tour and entertained us with stories about how her family was able to purchase the property, the hurdles she faces being a female in a traditionally male enterprise, and how she is able to keep her grapes organic and all natural.

I love the gesture she is making with her hand here. So very Italian.

In the cantina where her wines are aged in their oak casks. The glass contraption on top was invented by Leonardo da Vinci and it allows outgassing without allowing any outside air to enter and contaminate the wine. 

Love these Famici!

We exited the cantina to this, sunset over Montalcino. Are you kidding me?!

We were happy that night, for sure.

Another view of the sunset. Ahh, Tuscany!

Inside the main building we were seated for an amazing dinner. The antipasti were delicious, but the highlight of the evening was the risotto cooked in Brunello, an invention of Maddalena's fiancee who is a chef. She said she flipped out when she saw him cooking with her expensive wine but took it all back once she tasted it. Out of this world. Here lined up are her 2009, 2010 (best year recently), and 2011 bottles. 2011 cannot have a label until 2016.

This was one situation where my "waste not" ethic was challenged. She kept bringing out more bottles! For free! And this stuff is expensive! The 2010 bottle retails for 120 euro! Turns out we were able to take home what we didn't finish. Greg and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

As did Charlotte and Gina.

On the way home somebody asked Ives if he could sing the Swiss national anthem. He started it but forgot the words halfway through. We started booing him and he said, "I'll bet you don't even know the American national anthem!" Wrong thing to say to a bunch of Air Force officers and spouses after a night at a winery. We regaled him with a slightly off-key version while he repeated, "Nevermind! I take it back! That was one of the dumbest things I have ever said." over and over again

This picture is actually from a different event, but this was the theme of the weekend. Baby JJ would be crying and no one could calm her down, not even her parents. I would pick her up, hold her a certain way, and she would calm down easily. What can I say, I've got the touch.

Jubie was doing pretty well herself the next morning.

So cute! But being around JJ and Tristan absolutely convinced both of us that we are DONE having children. No question. I love where my kids are right now.

Georgie holding JJ outside as we all prepared to depart.

The little kids: Luca, Griffin, Jubie, and JJ.

Georgie and Juliet with their favorite babysitter, Leah. She went back to the US just a few days after this trip and is already very missed. In the background you can see the playground and zip line where the kids, especially Georgie, played for hours and hours.

Fellow theater aficionados.

And that's it!  The last Famici Thanksgiving ever. Unless we decide to reunite in Tuscany when all of our kids are grown and out of the house. Next year we will probably be in Houston or Park City, and it will be great to be back with family, but after four years we are convinced that Tuscany is the place to celebrate Thanksgiving. TuscanDoIt and did!