More on the farm

My dad did send me a few pictures while we were gone. He got her out in the tractor some and she loved it. I love this picture with her looking up at him. She occupies that buddy seat well. 

Ah, the sign of a true farm kid.....getting a little tractor nap. She apparently slept that way for 2-3 rounds. At least she can sleep sitting up and didn't need to rest her head on the window. I used to wake up with such headaches! 

She made some trips to Shoppers (or whatever it's called now) and she enjoyed the baby chicks. 

And she took our pinwheel out to the cemetery for her Great Grandpa & Grandma. 

"Kelly, you can't see me now"

Addy and Makena playing with her new Troll figurines. That kid loves little figurines! 

Venice, last post

It's hard to see, but both the photo above and below are chocolate fountains. Italians love their chocolate fountains! 

Doesn't he look like he belongs in Mary Poppins? Ha! He bought himself a giant chocolate cannoli. It was really cheap too, he was so excited. I however waited outside while he made his purchase because the doors to the bakery were open and there were pigeons in there. Italians go about their business and ignore the pigeons, they freak me out. haha! 

Well I can't get this photo turned for some reason, but this was our meal at our farewell dinner. Venice is known for their seafood. There was sardines, octopus, egg squid, and I can't remember the rest. That's what I get for doing this 6 months late. I tried the egg squid and the octopus. I was able to swallow them but can't say I enjoyed it. haha! I'm definitely not a seafood person. Ryan does slightly better than I do. We did eat fish a few times on the trip (at group dinners with no options, haha). Some wasn't too bad. Thankfully they serve you such large meals that you were still stuffed without eating the seafood!! 

Well that's it. 15 days in Italy. I know this blog is supposed to be dedicated to Addison, but I thought someday she might like to read about our exciting trip to Italy. It's a trip we probably could never or would never do on our own. I remind myself of this awesome opportunity during some 16 hour days or 60 hour work weeks on repeat. It helps me get through sometimes. haha!! I'm told this is one of the best trips we offer by some co-workers who have hosted it. It was amazing and the travelers were great. We see some of them at football games and a few at basketball now. And we keep in touch via Facebook. We have the best travelers! 

OH - and we got home about 9pm and my parents and Addison were waiting for us. Addison acted the same as she would if we were gone for work that day. The next day or the day after, she asked if it was time to go back to the farm. Ha! Even though she was sick, she apparently had a good time. She has been talking for 3 months about how she is going to have her 4th birthday on the farm. She's going to take a helicopter there. hhmmm...... anyone want to help me out with that one?  

Venice Part II

Venice was by far the nicest hotel room we stayed in. It was so nice! The bed and pillows were super comfy, which was needed as we were exhausted! 

The bathroom was huge and fancy. The shower was giant!! The first place we stayed had a shower you where you hit your elbows on the wall when you shampooed your hair! This bathroom even had color changing lights. Don't know the point of that, but they did change colors. 

The lobby of this hotel had the longest couch we had ever seen. This thing was huge! And there was no seam or place were the place split in two. We have no idea how they got it in the building - ha! 

We were standing on the bridge watching the traffic one day. It was interesting to watch the merchants deliveries arrive and how they handled everything. 

There are bakeries everywhere in Italy, we actually stopped and bought something. They love lemon over there so I was happy to get a lemon pastry. 

Our appetizer one night, fried mac & cheese with some potato chips that came with our wine. 

Guess what? Another cheese pizza! Italians also love their cheese. I think this pizza had about 5 different cheeses. It was delicious as always! 

Venice

Well, we made it through almost the whole trip with good weather. Until the last stop, Venice. It rained the whole bus trip there and then we had to get a boat taxi to take us to Venice. Another perk of group travel, the boat taxi was waiting from us so we didn't have stand in the rain any longer than necessary! 

A wet water taxi ride

All the transportation in Venice is done by water canal. There are no streets for cars whatsoever. So people either walk or take water taxis. 

This was the first hotel on the trip to have donuts. Not as good as Casey's, but it was a nice change. Ryan loved them because the donuts were infused with chocolate. I was happy because they had mimosas for breakfast :)

We did a water taxi tour of Venice. If it wasn't raining, we could have had the top/sides open on the boat so it would be more visible. But unfortunately it was raining this day too, so the roof was on. It was very hard to see anything :( 

A cold, rainy, walking tour of Venice. I don't know what the temperature was, but my toes and fingers got pretty cold. 

Our tour took us through some winding alleys. It was hard to pass people in these alleys, they were pretty tight. You had to put your umbrellas away, they didn't fit. It appeared you could navigate through the whole city in alleys, it was so confusing! We had to find our way on our own from one end of Venice to the other back to our hotel after our free time. The whole group managed to make it! 

Minnesota Birthday Party

Perfect birthday lunch, mac & cheese! 

I can remember why they said she started crying, I think it was because she didn't get to sit in the chair she wanted, ha! 

Troll birthday cake

She loved her birthday card from Parker, he had Gil from Bubble Guppies on the inside. 

Parker & Makena playing with Addison's toy - a box full of squishies. 

They made a game of making the squishies stick to their foreheads. Ryan and I tried, we couldn't do it. 

Grandpa Ron & Uncle Hugh putting together Addison's new bike. Uncle Dave helped Addison put the stickers on, she was pretty excited. 

She had a pretty good birthday party, I don't think she missed us one bit! She played hard all day and slept almost the whole way back to Humboldt. 

Addison's 3rd Birthday

Ryan and I missed Addison's 3rd Birthday while we were in Italy. Addison didn't mind at all. It's been 6 months and she's still talking about her birthday on the farm and how she's going to have her 4th birthday at the farm. She's going to get there by helicopter too...... hmmm....

She had candles in her cheese popcorn and then she also got 3 cupcakes. No wonder she wants to have her 4th birthday at the farm!
They were going to go to go MN the weekend of her actual birthday, but since she had been sick they postponed her party.

When you won't go outside, Grandma lets you play ball in the house. 

Playing at the park

So Addison has gotten to the age where she's scared of dogs. So while she stayed at my parents, they couldn't get her to go outside for anything. So just to play outside my mom had to drive her to town to the park!

When she did go outside at the farm, my dad had to carry her the whole time. He was trying to plant the pumpkins with her, but it was hard to hold her and try to work the ground - ha!

This was her first time on a merry-go-round and she discovered she loved them. We found one at a park in Altoona so we took her there a few times this summer.

Florence then San Gimignano

Florence had some bridges that had shops and housing on the bridge. Kinda crazy. 

Many of the streets were walking streets and not wide enough for cars. They did have a lot of traffic in Florence, but just in certain areas. 

Next, we moved onto San Gimignano. It was a beautiful little town that we spent a couple hours in. 

This was another town with a wall around it and an entrance. 

Mid-Evil look-out towers built high above the rest of the town. 

It wouldn't be right without a stop at the Gelato store. Apparently this store has won many awards, our tour guide gave us all coupons for free gelato. Couldn't afford not to! 

We bought our souvenirs in this town. We looked and looked throughout all the towns but couldn't find anything that screamed our name. Leather is a popular souvenir but we just didn't have the desire for anything leather. I looked at the purses, but they were still $200 (although I'm told it would have been $400-$500 in the US). I've used the same coach purse for probably 8 years.....so I figured I shouldn't buy a purse I probably won't use. Ha! 

I bought two unique, funky rings that were inexpensive. I had been wanting some fun jewelry and found the perfect ones there. We also bought some alabaster eggs, apparently they are known for their alabaster and the eggs are pretty popular. 

Amazing view! Great weather too. The rolling highs and cottages made a great landscape.