Lago di Como II (due)

Day Two (Monday) was was a rainy one, so we couldn't do too much with the boys. We ended up going to nearby Gravedona to visit the beautifully preserved church (11th century) and walk around. Here are some photos and, yes, that is Nils wearing a Batman mask in the church. Some arguments are just not worth having. We also went rock collecting (I have two rock hunters) and threw some pebbles into the lake.

After the church, I wanted to see if we could get to a church up in the mountains that we could see from our balcony. So we took a small, winding road (the turnoff looked like a driveway, we almost missed it!) to a church in the clouds.... only to find it was a different one than the one we could see from home! But this one was much higher and had an amazing view.

Lago di Como I (uno)

So here we are, back from our Italian holiday. It was nice, but I think that Switzerland was a bigger hit for the kids. One more church or scenic view and we would have had a rebellion on our hands! Linda, Sacha and Soffian (my sis and her family) came along and it was great to hang out and have fun together. We have to plan another trip together again!

Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful and our house was great. We had a nice view of the lake (only 500 m away) and a private pool. The kids loved the pool, but it was cold. The day we arrived was horrific, with pouring rain almost the whole day. Sunday was beautiful, then we had another two days of rain and clouds. Finally, for our last few days, we had beautiful, sunny weather.

Here are a few photos from Day 2 (Sunny Sunday). We went to a city called Lenno and visited a villa known for its gardens. We go for walks on the woods quite often and it was strange to me to see woods with pam trees and ferns in them. The kids enjoyed running about and looking for lizards. We then took a water taxi from the villa back into town, a bit hit for the boys (all five of them!). We (they, I don't eat ice cream) had ice cream overlooking the water and everyone was happy.

Last of Soccer

Soccer for this school year has just finished. Here are some photos from the last week. (Including when Nils "lost" his pants while running!) The photo of me is, once again, by Nils. He is really turning into a good photographer!

Nils and Nolan II

Another play date with Nolan, this time at his house.

Play Date with Alexander & Katarina

The day after we got back from Oma's, the kids had a play date with our friends Alexander and Katarina (their parents were not there this time). After a bunch of playing, we all grilled and had dinner together. It looks like Jay and Nils have been instructing Alexander and Katarina on how to use a light-saber.

Visting Andre

Andre, Michael's cousin, is Jay's godfather. We went to visit him as well during our visit to Oma. He has an 18 month-old son, Max, and a newborn daughter. (Ouch!) Andre got extra points from the kids for giving them a whole bunch of light-sabers from Kelloggs. I think they must eat a lot of cornflakes in that house.

Visiting Oma

We went to visit Oma and Kurt last weekend. Here are some photos from our visit to a huge park. There were a lot of different playgrounds and one garden in the park with a koi pond. The kids got the fish to come and "kiss" their fingers. By the way, what is with Jay and Nils touching the statues' bottoms?