Part 3 Tuscany

The next morning we went for a drive through the Tuscan hillsides. We had a scenic route planned with a bunch of stops in these hill towns that were scattered around everywhere. They are ancient,walled villages set high on mountain tops. So amazingly quaint. They were divided by these amazing valleys with olive fields, wheat or vineyards.

 

I took a TON of pics that day too. We also stopped at this abandoned abbey San Galgano, built in 1218, where the roof and windows were gone but you could walk in it with the birds flying around and dirt and grass covering the ground. It was eery but soo very cool.

The missing ceiling made the shape of a cross. My lens wasn't wide enough to capture it.

Breathtaking.

Italy part 2 of 6

After Rome we boarded a bus to Siena. It was a VERY rainy day and we were glad to be leaving Rome and get away from it.

 BTW, trying to figure out the Italian train and bus system is not for the faint of heart, let me tell you. Especially when everything's in Italian!

Anyway after a very scenic ride to Siena, we get off the bus in the middle of town and are now tasked with finding our rental car company. 

 These are the streets of Siena. Does it look to you like there is a car lot around? Nope, we didn't see it either. We had to lug our ridiculously heavy backpacks down that street on the left. I stopped to take a pic halfway down. The one on the right was where we came from. At the bottom, and out of the historic district was a wee little lot where we picked up our car and our crazy GPS.
So we type in the address of our "Beauty Farm" (yes that was the name of our "hotel" that I found on hotels.com) and we hit the road. It's supposedly 15 minutes away. We find our way out of town and through some hills and beautiful countryside until our GPS tells us we'd arrived. Yeah right, not even close. We ask an old Italian man for directions and he speaks no English but Josh managed to pick up enough words to at least point us in the right direction. So we head down another few seemingly endless roads and were about to turn around, lost, when we decide to take this dirt path just for kicks because it has a word on it that matches what we were looking for, and would be a good spot to u-turn, and of course at the end of it was our farm. Oh My Goodness. I fell in love immediately.

I guess you can tell I LOVED it here. I probably took 100 photos. The view made me speechless. Hannah and I ran around absolutely giddy, taking pictures as fast as we could. In the mornings they served breakfast out by the pool. It was so charming. The rooms had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen and living area. I would absolutely stay here again. After we settled in and calmed down we headed back to Siena for dinner and fell in love with that town too. The quaint shops and cafes were just magical.

Siena at sunset

Italy - part 1of 6

Vatican City selfie

Sorry it's been so long, summer is flying by.

We just returned from our family vacation to Italy!
Due to severe jet lag, I have zero desire to post 800 plus photos on here, so I'm going to post maybe a couple per post.

This first post will be about Rome. We stayed in the weirdest "hotel", it was so hard to find because it was an apartment building. I didn't know this when I booked it on HOTELS.com.

 This was the entrance. Yeah, that's graffiti. 

Anyway, Rome was hot and crowded but it was fun to see all the sights. We were there 2 days and saw the Coliseum, Forum, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, some fountains and went to Vatican City and saw the Sistine Chapel and the cathedral. In the Pantheon, there was a choir giving a beautiful performance and then walked into the crowd telling them about Jesus. Very cool experience.

Rome was my least favorite part of the trip but I was very grateful for the chance to go.

Hannah and her soldiers

Pantheon

She did it. She graduated. I'm grateful for the family and friends that came, and I'm very proud of her.
I now have two college kids.

Today I sold most of the remaining homeschool stuff at a used curriculum sale. Today was Hannah's last day of high school. I am no longer a "homeschool mom". Seems surreal that she graduates Saturday. Jordan and I decorated her car while she was in her last class..

 

But, exciting news - Josh comes home tonight!!!!!!!! He has been in California all week. I think we need to celebrate a 20 year accomplishment of educating our children all the way through. We stuck it out and actually pulled it off. It's so funny to remember my thinking when we had just begun this journey, that it would only be for a couple of years.  :)

"Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees"

We had a fun Mothers Day weekend. The kids surprised me Saturday taking me to The Melting Pot and the Ballet! We got to see Sleeping Beauty and it was so much fun. Sunday we visited Nana for a while then went to my moms. It was great spending time there visiting my family. I so wish we did that more often.

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Grammy gave the kids their first wedding present!

pics from the last 2 weeks

ADRN banquet

Jerry Seinfeld live

Jerry Seinfeld

The Key2Free gala

cool pic of them playing together

It's been a fun few weeks. Our gala went off amazingly well. The place was packed and we sold almost all of the 55 donated auction items for amazing prices. We were beyond thrilled at the results. I managed to win Josh and I some Seinfeld tickets so we went Saturday night. It was THE BEST SHOW EVER! I have never laughed so hard at a stand up comedy routine. It was just soo good.
The kids are good, they're in the middle of finals. Hannah's about to graduate ya'll. And Jordan will never again be a student in my home. By fall classes, she'll be married. :(

Gonna be a wild and crazy summer.