More Tuscany

The last pictures from Italy! We fly to London tomorrow.

This is my favorite shot of Sam, just outside the restored cloister where we're staying:

We spent an afternoon in San Gimignano, amazingly overrun with tourists even in April.

On the way to Volterra, we stopped at a farmhouse for some agriturismo: delicious food and a place for Sam to run.

We were tempted to stay (forever) at the farm, but eventually made it to Volterra.

Today we went to Montalcino, for some famous wine.

Siena

On one of our last nights in Florence, we three got caught in a thunderstorm on the Ponte Vecchio. Dreamy beyond dreamy and Brian shot the perfect picture:

Now we're off to the hill towns. En route to Siena, we stopped in Monteriggioni.

Amazingly enough, Tuscany actually does look like this, from pretty much all angles:

We LOVE Siena. You can keep Florence; I want Siena.

Pearls before swine, redux

Sam at the Uffizi: "I don't want more art. I want more CHOCOLATE." (Yes, that's chocolate around his mouth. Yes, I brought bribe-chocolate into the Uffizi. If you can think of a better way to get a two-year-old to spend an afternoon looking at Giotto, I'm all ears!)

What else am I gonna do while the kid naps?

In the picture below, Sam and I are checking out the scuptures that adorn the Piazza della Signoria, which include the famous Rape of the Sabine. Just around the corner, there's some construction going on at the Galleria degli Uffizi. As we're perusing, he says, "See it, Mama? Looking?" "We are looking," I told him. "No, Mama. FORKLIFT."

Pearls before swine, I tell ya.

Ciao, bella!

We made it! Three flights and three utterly exhausted toddlers later, we're here. And turns out, it's *wonderful* here.

New brother

Last weekend, my sister and her boyfriend became engaged. Nick blessed our whole family by inviting us to witness and participate in their engagement. We gathered at a vineyard in Napa, watched him kneel on one knee, and then celebrated all together over a gorgeous meal with an even more gorgeous wine pairing.

As it happens, I was the one who introduced Alison and Nick. It seems like forever ago -- six years! -- that I sent Alison an email telling her about a single classmate of mine. At the time, I didn't expect them to be a match, which just goes to show what I know. After watching them grow together these past six years, I couldn't be happier for them, or for the rest of us. I feel so blessed to be gaining such a wonderful new brother. Congratulations, you two. I love you both so much!

PS. Brian took some really lovely pictures of the occasion. My favorite few are below; many more are here.

Puddles

It's taken a little longer than I expected, but Sam finally *gets* boots.