Please excuse the grey...

Josh did admit that the food in England was better than he'd remembered, but sadly, the weather during our trip did NOT help to re-invent his notions about Britain's "grey" skies and rain-filled days.  We did manage to enjoy a few moments of blue skies and sun in the midst of mostly cloudy skies and showers of rain...with the passport drama and stomach bug in our company, the weather seemed to reflect the mood of our journey - but whatever...

I know it's technically the "Tower Bridge" - but it was still quite funny when Lucas exclaimed, "London Bridge NOT falling down, Daddy!"

...making his daddy proud...

Crossing the Millenium Bridge.

A little sunshine at the Tower of London.  The kids LOVED the crown jewels and armory exhibits...sadly our camera battery died part way through our visit. 

On to Big Ben and the Parliament Building...Elise and Caleb are still talking about old Ben!

Westminster. 

Next up:  Barcelona...but we had a few British pounds to spend so we treated ourselves to Krispy Kreme donuts in the airport. Yes, please!

Welcome to England...

...or not!  

Our arrival in the UK turned quickly frantic when the customs agent discovered a ripped out page (pages 13/14 to be exact) in Lucas' passport.  Lucas had ripped it out ages ago and we had kind of worried about it at the time, but actually had all but forgotten about it since (our bad!)  We've traveled with it several times since then and it was never a problem (hence we continued to forget about it) They were quite strict at the UK immigration station, but sort of by accident noticed the ripped page as they were handing our stack of passports back to us.  

News to us...a ripped out page renders your passport "a mutilated document" which must be immediately confiscated by customs officials... WHO KNEW???  

Of course, there's no way to actually get ahold of a live human being at the Embassy and our computer somehow stopped working during our flight, so we were left to find a computer/wi-fi kiosk in the airport, send an "urgent" message to the Embassy's e-mail address, and then wait to see what would happen...

After several additional hours spent at the airport (both being "detained" in customs and then being given a rental car with a door that didn't work) we did get to head west to Devon to see my friend Toni and spend Wednesday with her.  By early the next morning we'd gotten word from the Embassy and they were kind enough to honor our schedule and give us an emergency passport appointment on Thursday morning in London...that just meant that our day was spent at the Embassy instead of enjoying the city since we had tickets to leave for Barcelona on Friday.

Thankfully, we were issued an emergency passport that's good for 6 months so we could continue on to Spain and then home to Italy.  Would they have otherwise sent us back to the States...who knows?!? Ugh...the day was capped off when we were on our way to a restaurant for dinner and Lucas puked all over himself and Josh (from the Ergo) in the subway station...that was just the beginning of a 5 day stomach illness that kept Lucas under the weather for most of the rest of our trip - poor little guy.   

Okay...I think I have officially covered all the less favorable parts of our trip...so now I can start writing about all the great things we got to see and do...thanks for bearing with me!

A lovely day in Devon

Four hours west of London is the beautiful countryside of Devon county..a place I grew very fond of while working for a non-profit near the town of Barnstaple nearly 10 years ago.  There were many highs and lows for me that year, but the charming rural backdrop and fantastic seaside left their mark and I was anxious to return with Josh and the kids for a little trip down memory lane.  

My sweet friend Toni still lives just outside of Barnstaple and she was kind enough to clear her schedule to spend the day as our tour guide so we had the chance to visit a few of my favorite spots.  

Pubs and pasties and clotted cream, oh my!  What could be better than hiking and snacking our way through the day?!? 

One of my favorite places in all the world...what a treat it was to watch my sweet family enjoy it so much.

Next stop: Watersmeet - another picture perfect spot nestled just inland in a valley along the river.  I'm not sure if it's the quaint hike or the cream tea that put it on the top of my list of favorites, but either way...it was well worth the trip!

Just lovely.

** Josh said I used the word "lovely" too much in the this post, but I'm afraid I just can't help myself...

Family Rites of Passage: Our first broken bone

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually...so here's the story... Caleb fell and broke his collar bone - The END...okay, well if you must know...he was NOT skiing down the Alps or scaling ancient ruins, he fell off the toilet and broke his collar bone. (To his credit, the marble floors in our house are very unforgiving...and it's an easy mistake...right??) 
 The tears and drama lasted for about an hour and it seemed warranted, but for a four year old boy who may be prone to exaggeration...it was hard to know exactly what that meant.  Josh checked him out and we offered the usual remedies - our boo-boo buddy from the freezer, lots of hugs and tissues, and then some Motrin when he still actually seemed in pain.  Still...mind you...my very calm and knowledgeable husband didn't bat an eye or seem at all concerned about the situation, so I continued with the bedtime routine, gave a few extra kisses to Caleb and got everyone tucked in to their beds.  It was hours later before I said to Josh, "What should I do for Caleb tomorrow if his arm still hurts."  To which he (again calmly and without batting an eye) answered, "Oh, I'm almost sure his collar bone is broken, we'll get him an appointment in the morning and you can come in to have it checked out..."  WHAT?!?!?!  Josh reassured me (a few times) that there was nothing that we could or would do differently now and with a 3 am dose of Motrin (Caleb had refused it earlier, but woke up in pain then) we made it until the morning.  Sigh...

Caleb was beyond good for both the check up and the x-ray.  For all the whining and worrying he did with me in the morning, he was super brave while Dr. Jeremy checked him out and while he stood alone in the giant mechanical x-ray room to have his x-rays taken.

Go ahead, pretend you're a radiologist!  Can you find the break?

Brand new sling, dose of Motrin and we're back in business!  Apparently, so I'm told...the collar bone was "made to be broken" and is the best bone to break in your body. (at least for kids!)  It usually heals on its own without any interventions, so...let the healing begin!

Later in the day...and short lived, because I didn't really like the idea of him falling off his bike onto his arm - but he was a pretty good sport. 

A few days later, my handsome Easter boy...and FINALLY the real smile I know and love!!

Buona Pasqua!

The week leading up to Easter here in Sicily was filled with sunshine, warm breezes, and time spent enjoying friends (and treats!)...all these things remind us of the goodness, grace, and love of our Risen Savior!

Biscotti di Pasqua:  Made with love from our dear friend Pina.

An Easter party with our preschool friends - allowing 8 little boys to dye eggs was a BOLD move!

 Easter goodies from Grammie and Granddad!

Enjoying our last Uova di Pasqua...aka giant chocolate eggs with prizes inside...which also meant chocolate for breakfast on Easter morning!

Yes, please!

Enjoying a picnic at the park with friends after church.  We all wanted to be together, but didn't want anyone to have the added stress of hosting...this was the perfect solution!

Sweet friends on a warm and breezy Easter day.  (Lucas was too busy climbing to come and join in the picture.)

Family Rites of Passage: Our first pet(s)!

First, you should know that we are not "pet people!"  I have a hard enough time keeping our house clean with just human created messes...plus, though I may coo over tiny little things like kittens and puppies I KNOW that they get bigger and I'm just not willing to be into them for the long haul.  (Does that make me sound heartless?...ha, ha all my siblings and my parents just answered "YES!") 

Anyway, we now have ourselves a tank full of tadpoles...and though I'm still pretty grossed out by them, I'll admit that they have brought quite a lot of joy to our household these last few days.  Josh has fond memories of catching tadpoles and "raising" them with his dad growing up, so he was very excited to share the tradition with our kids.  (NOTE:  When he shows even the slightest hint of sentimentality, I MUST take advantage of these rare and sweet moments...even it is does mean having pond scum and wiggly squiggly things in my dining room!)

Here are some photos from our grand tadpole hunting expedition...

We expected the attrition rate to be high, so I'd say we collected at least a hundred tadpoles in the valley stream just below Motta.  We've shared a few with friends and we sent some in to Elise's classroom, but if we end up with 100 little frogs hopping around in a few weeks I'm not quite sure what I'll do.

I love spring!

...and by "stream" - I meant that some of them also came from puddles along the dirt road that runs through the valley.  I'm pretty sure we saved their lives.

Mission accomplished!

Casa dolce casa!

Springing!

Here are some spring beauties we found on our hike today!  More on the tadpoles later...

Sadly, I don't know what any of them are...not sure why I haven't purchased a Sicilian wildflower book yet?!?  Oh well, they're lovely just the same!