day 1 or 'looking for signs'

i really wasn't sure how to start this blog post. how do you summarize a trip of a lifetime in a short and entertaining way? not sure i have the answer to that. but i realized, thanks to sarah, that i couldn't do it in one post. so i will be posting over the next few days with our trip memories, anecdotes and some of our 700 pictures. so here goes.

i was nervous, to say the least, about leaving our three kids for 10 days, to travel across the globe, to a foreign country, where we really didn't speak the language, and miss the kids' first days of school, with bobby, to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. a few times i thought to myself that we were crazy and no matter how much it cost we should just cancel our plans. i mean really it is only 15 more years before sofia will be off to college and we will be empty nesters ready to start a new life. right? wrong. oh, so wrong.

this trip was an experience that was needed and greatly appreciated. let's not talk about the fact that the new lens i ordered didn't come until 8:15 pm on thursday. and there was no way i was getting on the airplane without it. we spent the night at bob and d's and at 4:00 am on friday morning bob drove us to the airport. kissing the kids goodbye was a lot easier to do while they were sleeping.

the days before the trip i was looking for signs that would tell me it was ok to go. nothing really clear came my way. but when we landed in detroit, (yes, detroit people), for our 5 hour layover, (that's right i said 5 hour), i saw this sign and something inside said it would be alright. that and the fact that our plane landed in one piece.

so what does one do for five hours in an airport, in detroit? i'm not going to lie, we thought about getting a cab and going to a movie. but logic got the best of us and we stayed in the airport, had lunch at tequila joe's, no alcohol was consumed, and watched '17 again' on the laptop. cute movie by the way. then we boarded our airbus for the 9 hour flight to rome. we took sleeping pills to help with the long flight. and because it was an international flight movies were free! so we watched 'he's just not that into you' and 'wolverine.' when we woke up in the morning we were in italy.

next step was getting the rental car. we rented a stick shift to save on money and hopefully gas. we ended up with an alfa romeo 'mito.' cute little car, and i mean little. i had complete confidence in bobby to get us around town, but getting out of the airport parking structure was another story. in his defense, the turns for the ramps were hard to get around, but the car stalled . . .a few times. now i have to admit that i do not do well in pressure situations and i promised myself that i would use this vacation to relax and make an effort to laugh at stressful situations. well, it didn't work this time. i wanted to walk away from the car and pay the extra money for an automatic. but bobby reassured me that it would be ok. i think his exact words were, 'calm down, you're overeacting!' not the best way to start our romantic getaway.

the other thing i have to admit is that i am terrible with directions. so map in hand i was going to help bobby navigate the crazy road signs for the 3 hour drive to allen's house. we saw the beautiful sights of italy, ate at a roadside autogrill, and decided to take a side road that lead us to the natural sulfur springs. it was incredible and of course we had to get in, even though it smelled horrible. sign number 2 was this grasshopper that landed on bobby's back. they are good luck, right? and we needed it as we got back on the road. we followed the map through some windy but beautiful scenery. then we were back on the highway. the street directions which came at us way too fast said to turn on the toll road, which was a mistake. the toll road had no exit so we had to stay on it and ended up driving in a big circle to get to our exit. 45 minutes later, and frustrated, we met up with allen who took us up to his village.

when you think of tuscany you think of little hilly towns with old buildings, laundry hanging from the windows, little old ladies sitting outside their homes gossiping or sharing recipes. that is exactly what rosignano marritimo is. we were shocked and felt like we had stepped into a dream. allen showed us our room on the third floor of his 14th century home and let us settle in. then he took us to the restaurant across the street, literally 10 feet away, for our first authentic italian feast. prosciutto and melon, potato ravioli, balsamic vinegar braised pork, fried rabbitt and torte with frutta de bosco, oh and wine. and the third sign was that our table number was 3. and 3 just happens to be my lucky number. we were in heaven. and we were exhausted. so it was off to bed.

that was day one. stay tuned for the next post...

in other news:
we took the boys to school on tuesday for their 'unofficial' first day of school photos. they had a great first week and their teachers are awesome! this will be a good year.


today was sofia's first day of preschool. despite the fact that she told me she was not really excited about going to school she had a great time. she will be going 3 days a week.