Addison - 1 year

I'm totally behind in posting these pictures, but that's partly because Miss Addison didn't cooperate the first time we tried to take her pictures. SO, we ended up with Session #2 and got these...good thing she's cute, because she's a handful!

A "Grand" Day at the Hall

Today was grandparents' day at Ainsley's school. My mother is home recovering from her shoulder surgery, and my grandfather was in town to help her out around the house, so it was perfect timing for them to attend!

The morning's events began with a concert by all the Montessori and kindergarten students in the theater. The theme was "Americana," so Ainsley was wearing her blue and white dress with a red bow. She was very particular that all three colors had to be in her outfit.


The kids sang several patriotic songs and even recited the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a great show!

The children had been working on paintings from a book their teacher selected. Ainsley's class worked on the book "Waiting for Wings" about butterflies. Each child selected a page in the book and created a painting from it.


Ainsley's painting is the one above her head.

In addition, the children have been learning a lot about plants. They've learned what plants need to grow and thrive. They've learned how to plant things in the ground, and they've even grown their own bean plants! They're also learning how water and food move through plants and flowers!


On our visit to Ainsley's classroom, she showed us her flower, which she's turning pink by placing it in red water. She's all about pink.

After visiting Ainsley's classroom we headed to the book fair where Ainsley selected "Pinkalicioius" and "Purpleicious," books about little girls who want to eat, sleep and breathe those colors. They're very cute.


Right before everyone left, we got a great picture of Ainsley with her great grandfather. She was SO excited he came to grandparents' day with her!

Exploring Roma - The Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel

Ainsley and I ventured out by ourselves today to visit the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The museum is lovely and fairly small, but there is a gift shop about every 50 yards inside the building. It was really kind of funny. In almost every gallery there was a kiosk set up where you could buy books about the Vatican, a 2010 Vatican calendar (I didn't actually see a 2009 option), a rosary or some other trinket. We avoided all of them (with the exception of buying Derek's great aunt a rosary that had been blessed by the Pope himself. She's a nun and will likely never have the chance to visit the Vatican in person), but I had to laugh when we entered the final gift shop and the woman in front of me said very sarcastically "Oh, no! It's my last chance to buy something!"

The museum itself was not terribly interesting to either of us (sorry...just being honest), but we did see some things we thought were pretty.


No idea what this is...just thought it looked neat.


Ainsley asked me to take a picture of this vase. I have no idea why other than perhaps the fact that it's pink?


Yet another item that I just thought looked interesting. A really pretty stained glass piece, obviously, but I have no idea who the artist is or why it's in the museum. Wanna hire me as your tour guide?


I thought this was really interesting. It's a letter from Galileo that was on display in one of the gift shops. I almost laughed out loud about it. Perhaps the Vatican is developing a sense of humor over being wrong about the whole sun moving around the Earth thing?


This room was roped off in the museum, so we couldn't actually walk down the hall and look around, but I thought this was really lovely.

After walking through the museum (Ainsley and I did it backward since I was forced to take the "handicap route" with her stroller) we headed into the Sistine Chapel. You're not supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, so I disavow any knowledge of how the following photos were acquired.

Exploring Roma - Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps

After the Pantheon we decided to head to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Our cabbie dropped us on this completely nondescript street with a bunch of multi-level buildings that looked like apartments. He told us to go a block or two to the right and we'd see the fountain. We came around the corner and saw the gorgeous fountain. Here is a video of the fountain - and of Ainsley throwing a coin into it.



We had our first gelato while near at the fountain. And, man-o-man...people were right. Gelato in Italy is amazing. Ainsley got mint and strawberry, and I got lemon and banana. They were delicious. Ainsley stole some of my mom's chocolate, so she got to try several flavors!

Then we headed to the Spanish Steps. We finally made it after a slight detour. We got a little turned around with all the streets that meander this way and that. We were exhausted by the time we got there, so we decided instead of climbing the steps to just sit at the bottom and admire the view. And, what a view it is.


The Spanish Steps from across the street. The building at the top is the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican, hence the name "The Spanish Steps."


Ainsley's favorite part of the Spanish Steps was this odd little key chain she scammed my mother into buying her from a kiosk nearby. She's named it "PJs" and its eyes fall out on a regular basis.

Exploring Roma - The Pantheon

After Saint Peter's Basilica we headed to the Pantheon. As the most well-maintained of all the ancient Roman structures, it's amazing to see how good it looks after hundreds and hundreds of years!

This is the outside of the Pantheon. You literally have to stand hundreds of yards away to take a picture of the entire facade. Beautiful.

This building was built as a tribute to all (pan) existing gods (theo). So, it was a pagan worship center in ancient Rome. It's now been turned into a Catholic church. We found that kinda funny...

The inside of the Pantheon. It was amazingly cool inside and really quite beautiful.

Exploring Roma - St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica

We decided to go to St. Peter's Basilica today. The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are closed on Sunday, and we didn't arrive early enough on Saturday to see them. But, St. Peter's is open all the time. The minute you walk into the square it steals your breath. The Vatican is splayed out all around you, and we were all struck by how beautiful it was.


Here is the front of St. Peter's Basilica from the edge of St. Peter's Square. The Square is a huge area, but my mother commented that it was smaller than she'd always imagined it. I can see why she'd say that, but it was still pretty big.


A fountain in the center of St. Peter's Square. A lot of locals sit around the fountain to people watch. It's really a lovely area.

We headed first into the Papal Tombs. Apparently many people miss this part of the tour, and I feel sorry for people who do. It's really cool and dark in the tombs, and each Pope is identified with his name, number and some information about his time as Pope. As you can imagine, the tomb of Pope John Paul II was absolutely crammed with visitors. They've even set up an area for people who want to pray in front of the tomb (the only one set up like this). Cameras were not allowed in this area, so unfortunately I will not be able to post a photo, which is a real pity.


This is one of the only photos I took in the tomb. They pretty much all looked similar - with a few exceptions.

I was so struck by the tomb of Pope John Paul that I literally started crying as I was passing it. I am not Catholic, but that man meant a lot to a lot of people. You could tell the way all the Catholics immediately crossed themselves, said a prayer - and by the HUGE group of people gathered around it.

Vatican security (managed by the Swiss Guard) dresses ridiculously (I'm sorry, but they do). They wear these really old fashioned ballooned breeches with matching boot covers. They wear black berets on an angle. But, it is the color of the outfits that really struck me. They're orange, red and blue striped. All I'm going to say about them is that they definitely would not be able to be inconspicuous in them.


Here is a shot of one of the Papal Swiss Guard. Need I say more?

Next we headed inside the basilica. St. Peter's is absolutely stunning. It's HUGE and gorgeous everywhere you turn. The carvings, the paintings...it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life.


This is the widest/longest shot I could get of the inside with my small camera. It doesn't truly capture the size of the place, but it does a decent job of capturing the beauty.



One of the small enclaves within the church that contained gorgeous pieces of art and carvings.


The cuppola/dome of the basilica. It's truly amazing and almost impossible to describe how big it really is. To give you an idea...the top of the dome is nearly 450 feet from the floor. Wow.

Here is a video of the dome of the cuppola.

When we were done with the tour of the tombs and the church, we realized we were JUST in time to be blessed by the Pope! Pope Benedict XVI blesses the crowd at noon on Sundays, so we joined the overwhelming throng of people in Saint Peter's Square near the Papal apartment to wait for him. He didn't disappoint. He gave the blessing and then addressed the crowd. It was truly amazing for many reasons. It was a little overwhelming to see him personally, but it was also stunning that he then addressed the crowd in at least five languages (Latin, English, Spanish, French, German and Italian)...and there were probably a few more. Quite the experience! Here is some video of "Papa!" addressing the crowd...

My mom and I both joked that we could really use a good blessing, but the truth of it is...we were both excited about it. It was a really neat experience even for non-Catholics. If you ever get the chance to visit Saint Peter's Square I highly recommend hitting it in time to be blessed. It's a great experience!

Exploring Roma - The Coliseum

We decided to visit the Coliseum first, as my mom only has two real days in the city, and the Vatican is closed on Saturday and Sunday. FABULOUS. So, we checked out one of Rome's oldest monuments. All I have to say about this is W-O-W. It's wild to think about the things that went on in this building, but it's also amazing to know you're standing on hundreds of years of history.

OK...I have to admit it. I'm pretty impressed with myself with this picture. Does it look like a postcard, or what? Anyway...this was taken before we got in line to buy tickets. It was surreal standing in front of it...I still cannot believe I saw this!


Here is a shot of the inside of the Coliseum. The boxes where the wealthy people sat can still be seen, but much of it is deteriorating.


Here is a picture of Ainsley inside the Coliseum before she started to complain that it was boring and she wanted to go home. Great.


I believe this might be the only proof my mother was actually on this trip! I guess we were both too busy taking pictures of Ainsley!

They have the underground tunnels and rooms (where they used to keep the animals and the gladiators) uncovered almost like an archaeological dig, so you can stand above them and see down into the spaces. It's grown over with ivy and weeds, but it's still stunning. We walked around the entire facility and went down to the lowest level they'll allow (still not underground) and checked out what we could.


Here is a shot of some of the cells where they held both gladiators and animals. It struck me that they were REALLY small...and they probably held dozens of men each.


This was taken from the "first floor" level and shows some of the stairways and passages in the lowest level of the building.



Another shot of the same area. As far as I can tell this is the main corridor of the basement area where the gladiators would have been lined up to go to the arena level.

Perhaps this is really silly, but it struck me that as much as my feet hurt, I was wearing shoes with thousands of years of technology put into them above and beyond what the average spectator did in the glorious days of Rome. My feet hurt bad enough...either those women had some serious foot problems, or they were tough ladies.


The cross you see in this photo is rumored to mark the location of the caesar's/emperor's box, but there is actually no proof this is true.


Here is the same box from the inside. It's easy to see that in its day this would have been a very impressive entrance.


Crumbling pieces of the facade and interior could be found all over the facility. Some of them were kept behind locked gates, but large pieces like this (I assume from broken columns?) were out in the walkways and could be leaned against for rest. Ainsley loved jumping up on them.


And, finally, Ainsley's favorite part of the Coliseum...the stray cat that roamed around the entire time we were there. It's a good thing I didn't have to pay to get her into this tour.