One of Those Birthday Days: Isaac, 11

*: 11:*

I know we shouldn't be surprised but Isaac is 11.  

Sometimes at night, after hanging out with Isaac before he goes to bed I just get all tickly inside over how much I love him and how cool I think he is.  

For his birthday weekend we had planned to go to our favorite beach spot in Croatia.  But the weather forecast turned sour and it was a measly 60' and rainy.  We canceled it and had a little sleepover instead.  

This is the only photo I took of the whole shebang...big regret!

But if the video is working you can hear the rapid fire Italian while they played balloon volleyball.

The Actual Day:

Look at that hair!  He has sooo dang much of it.  Granted he needed a hair cut here and, thankfully, now, he has one.  Our hairdresser has to thin it for him everytime otherwise the stuff will never lay down.  

 For breakfast Isaac wanted crepes.  He's so sick of the breakfast and snack foods we have around here.  He likes to grumpily tease me about it.   We had to break out of the box so that he would actually eat something substantial for breakfast.  

As our oldest Isaac has been the path treader in our family.  He has taught me, as a parent, how much your kids are their own little people, how they have their own righteous ideas of honesty and consideration, of doing whats right and responsible and oh how those ideas thoroughly delight me.  Isaac is a rule follower, he's honest (sometimes he rebukes me), safety conscious and thorough (sometimes he rebukes me because I am not, strictly, any of those things, except honesty, sort of)  He's also funny.  I hope he knows how much I really, really like him.  

For his birthday dinner we had a picnic outside in the backyard.  Joey is finishing up the yard work over there in that back corner and the girls set up the pic-nic.  

The day after his birthday Isaac went to the dentist for, drum roll please:

*BRACES*

This picture doesn't do him justice.  He looks really handsome and, shockingly, OLDER!

 Isaacina, with pigtails and a mullet, before the much needed haircut.  

Another birthday wish for Isaac was to get the spaghetti cup at the gelateria.  

Big Momma delivered:)

We love you dude, and I love watching you become who you are!

xoxo

Mom et all

One of Those Birthday Days: Georgie, 9

Georgie is 9

Look at that good morning face

For breakfast in bed we didn't even have to ask Georgie what she wanted because I already knew:  

Uncle Walts' Poached Eggs

On her way to the bus stop in her favorite sweater

On the eve of her birthday we met family friends at the park for pizza and then headed over for Gelato at Il Gelato in Aviano.  It was heart melting for me to see all of our friends come out and show love for my daughter.  I could tell by the smile on her face and the spring in her step that it gave her a boost as well.  This is Marienell who's daughter Lana was in her Italian class.  Their family, the Narciso's, have become pretty close to us, the reliable, good hearted neighbors who you know you can call when you're going to be late picking up your kids from school or your car dies or when you just need a friend to eat lunch with.  Good folks.

And here's Greg and Griffin Trifilo, friends you've seen a lot of on our blog, who just adopted Griffin from China.  It's been a beautiful process to watch.  We're all pretty grateful to be a part of the whole process.

Charlotte and Luca Crandall.  Another part of our Italian "Famici".  They leave in December, a little earlier than us and we'll be sad to see them go. But not before they add a baby already named Jessica (after their sister in law who just died of cancer) to the family.  We can't wait to meet her!

A beautiful sight to see:  Gorgeous Georges, a bouquet of flowers from a friend and mmmmm, gelato....

Georgie got some triple stacked chocolate nut butter, whipped cream cone concoction.  She couldn't even finish it.  And that's saying a lot;)  I think her "human trash can" Dad polished it off.
See that little blue necklace she's wearing.  Isaac made it for her at school for her birthday in his pottery class and a twin one for him.  They decorated it with black dots, like dice for their ages in 2015, 5 for our family and 3 for the number of kids in the family.
 Be still my mother loving heart.  

Some more of our people (the Joneses)

Happy Birthday Georgie!

Georgie's Theatrical Debut

I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited about Georgie's performance on opening night of her school play. I was bursting inside with pride for her accomplishment and so excited to see it again on Friday and Saturday.

Whereas Isaac is into classic rock and playing the guitar, Georgie is into musicals and theater. She loves Phantom, Wicked, Les Mis, etc. and was so excited to try out for the play.

The play is "Winnie the Pooh" and the cast is from the elementary school. The majority of the main characters are in the 3rd grade: Georgie is Rabbit, with the second-most lines (48 - Pooh has 68). Pooh is Georgie's best friend from Altus and Aviano classmate, Samantha Jones. Tigger is another boy from her class. Owl and Christopher Robin are fellow 3rd graders. Eeyore and Kanga are older girls, and Piglet and Roo are adorable younger kids. Plus there is a supporting cast of various narrators and other animals.

Georgie front and center while the gang is trapped in a hole, one of the major plot points. She is so expressive and dramatic, perfect for a grade school play where the default is often flat and monotone.

The final act, where the confusion is cleared up and Rabbit pins the blame on Owl. All of the kids did really well and there were no major mistakes. Georgie's platinum curls escaped from her rabbit ear hat during the show, and with her make up and costume she looked stunning. One of my friends from work commented on how lovely she was.

This is her friend Sage congratulating her afterwards. You can see on Georgie's face just how happy she is and how much she loves theater.

Lana and Destiny, her American friends from Italian school, came with their mom and sister.

Tigger did a great job, but I thought he was a girl at first because of the make up! What a champ to wear make up at that age. Samantha was excellent as Pooh and really carried the show well.

Owl was likewise excellent and is the most poised and professional of all the actors. There is great comedic interplay between her and Georgie.

Georgie was very confident and looked out at the audience very well. In true Merback fashion, I had to give her one piece of constructive criticism because, also in true Merback fashion, she delivered her lines a little too quickly. I remember my parents telling me to "slow down" many times when practicing for a talk or performance.

Kudos to Ashley for making the costume and Georgie for sticking it out through all of the practices. I can't wait to see it again. Unfortunately there was a fire in the school cafeteria today, so the performances for tonight and tomorrow are cancelled! We are all heartbroken. Hopefully they will reschedule for next week. Congratulations to Georgie, our resident thespian!

May Day in Tuscany

We had a three-day weekend in conjunction with May Day, the European Labor Day, so we planned a trip to Tuscany. Or so we thought. We arrived at our hotel near Montepulciano to find out that we had booked the wrong dates. Three hotels and four hours later, we found a more expensive but still highly desirable Agriturismo outside of Lucignano. I kept my cool pretty well, but still we all needed to blow off some steam before dinner.

The building on the left is where we stayed. Ashley took this on her morning run.

There was a kid about Isaac's age tearing around the compound on his bike. The kids were shy at first, but after some prodding from Ashley, Isaac started playing ball with him. I refereed their soccer match amongst the olive trees, which Isaac won 10-8. One of the rare Italian kids we have met who wasn't amazing at calcio.

I entertained Georgie and Juliet by playing the "trust exercise" game.

I like the dramatic effect of Juliet closing her eyes.

Georgie putting her trust in her dad's back.

The lighting was perfect so Ashley took a few shots. Georgie still hates taking pictures.

Sweet mother of Mary that little girl is gorgeous.

My girls in Tuscany.

Just to ensure that we don't get any delusions about what Juliet is like the other half of the time...

Or the other other half of the time. The mom & pop that own the Agriturismo fed us one of the best meals we have had in Italy. The tagliatelle al ragu was divine, but the roast tacchino reminded me just how good animal flesh can taste. My rule is that I eat veg at home, but will cross the line for the sake of a cultural experience or social propriety.

Buon appetito!

The next morning we were up and off to Pienza, a medieval town designed by Pope Pius (some number), which also has a great view of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Val d'Orcia. Gratuitous photo taking of Tuscan countryside to follow:

 That's quite enough of that.

There was an exhibition of a local artist who had passed away recently at the Duomo annex building. Ashley loved his work, which was mostly of people and landscapes in that region of Tuscany.

I took the kids off Ashley's hands briefly so that she could indulge in some shopping for the local specialities, namely pecorino cheese and olive oil. She also bought bread and other fixin's and we had ourselves a lovely picnic under some Cypress trees in front of an old church next to the wall that overlooks the Val d'Orcia. And did I mention that I didn't even have to take time off for this trip?

Check out that backdrop.

 The church.

Next stop was the town of Montalcino, famous for Brunello red wine which is made there and only there.

 Solo in Italia.

If it weren't for the safety issue I would be all about Vespas.

Too dang cute.

Nothing says primavera in Italia like wisteria and Tuscan bell towers.

This is in the center of Montalcino, but the entry to climb it was closed.

We took a tour of a local vineyard and learned all about the wine-making process, from growing the grapes to the finished product. These are the vats where the wine is fermented. Once that process is finished, it is moved into oak barrels to age in the cellar, the door of which is under the hanging bicycle.

The vineyard we visited.

Next stop was a smaller town called Bagno Vignoni, famous because in the center of town there is an ancient Roman hot spring pool. It sounds too good to be true, and it is. No swimming allowed.

This is the path we walked from the parking lot into the center of town. In the distance is Castiglione d'Orcia, which we admired from afar but did not visit.

The hot springs. Rumor is it is full of leaches, but we didn't see any. The restaurant to the right is part of a complex that also has a bar, gelato shop, and spa.

Under that curved pavilion on the right they were setting up for a big party, I think it was a wedding reception. Not a bad spot.

Next up was a wild goose chase trying to find an olive oil company in Montichiello, back near Pienza. We found the place, but they were completely sold out of olive oil. 2014 was a horrible year for olives because it was too cold and wet. But we did see some more amazing views.

Our final stop on this Tuscan marathon day was Castiglion Fiorentino, which is not a tourist attraction but it is where our famici, the Crandalls and McDowells, were staying that weekend. They had a huge festival with an international food court, a carnival, and a market. We ate Spanish, Greek, Sicilian, Argentinian, Mexican, and other foods that I can't remember but Ashley sure can.

I have never paid to do these bungee trampolines, but Georgie was so excited about it that she bought a ticket with her own money.

Isaac followed suit. I am telling him to do a flip and he is yelling "No!" back at me.

The next morning we decided to finally hit up Montepulciano, the most popular town in this area, to see what all the fuss was about.

A very cool old well in the main piazza. Ashley really wanted a family picture at this well, but as you will see, she was to be disappointed.

One of the many huge wine cellars in the town where they make Nobile di Montepulciano.

The old palace which is now the town hall.

So I asked this girl to take our picture at the well. I showed her exactly how I wanted the shot framed.  What does she do? Cuts off the lions on the top and gives us a good view of the steps and bricks in front. Well done, Ms. Ansel Adams, well done.

After Montepulciano we packed up and headed home. It was a quick three-day trip to Tuscany but we had a wonderful time and ate some great food. We have at least one more Tuscany trip before we leave. Until Thanksgiving, Toscana.