The school year came to and end this Friday and Italy is getting ready for the 2 months summer time out … Just in time Julius brought home this class picture …
While I don’t think this is his most charming smile .. I think it took quite a while to get all 11 toddlers looking somewhat towards the camera .. judging by one of the teachers’ faces .. it must have taken some time. But what a great memory.
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We gathered together at the not too far away Cantina Risso to wish Adwoa a great farewell … Julius had become very attached to her and we will all miss her.
We had some great food, nice outdoor seating and Julius loved it
At some point one of those rose sellers came buy and they now also have cheap, probably hazardous toys for kids .. this is how Julius ended up getting this blinking PVC ring (not from me) and I made it vanish as soon as we were home.
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When I get a phone call from Julius’ school around lunch time it can mean only two things: a) they want me to play St. Nicholaus again or b) Julius has a fever.
In June it was pretty certain to assume that it was b) … and gladly I was with Adwoa and her car and we went to pick him up.
He was surprisingly peachy and once we got home he was all about play .. though I confirmed the 38°C (100.4°F) fever. He had a nice nap and after that he was pretty much fever free again and towards the evening, when it was time to go to bed … he was all about hopping around like a bunny … not looking sick at all.
So … best guess .. it might be teething … there is still one molar left to come out
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… someone is starting very early with the heavy stuff:
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This could be an open letter to those #$%@^&* who came up with the idea to put all those last minute candy displays around the cashier lines … it is hard enough to wait in line with a kid in tow … but it is getting much harder once they see all those colorful items and they know exactly what it is …
Julius has taken a special liking to the Kinder Surprise Eggs (My biggest surprise there was, as with Nutella, that this is an Italian invention, not a German thing)
So .. he starts to yammer and whine … and most of the times I either distract him or explain calmly to him that he cannot have something every time we go shopping … but often I am just too tired to fight, especially when I am getting evil glances from co-shoppers who wonder what this evil man is doing, or not doing, to this very cute boy …
This is an example of his pleading look … which in reality is much more puppy-doggy … and he breaks my last straw when he gets out all his language skills and forms the full sentence “I want .. to have … egg … pleeeeaaase!”
And then he will point in the direction … and when he has the feeling daddy is ignoring him .. he cranks it up a notch …
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We picked this one up last Monday when we dipped briefly into Switzerland for some shopping … and Julius loves it .. well, he is a Leo …
And I know … I am terribly behind with updates … the one for last Sunday will be a big one with lots of pictures,I just did not get around to do that yet … Hopefully over the weekend.
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The day started very nice and sunny, but the weather forecast said something about thunderstorms … and they had no idea what was coming …
I have not seen weather that bad here yet (and this is also the first time that rain and hail managed to seep through the windows and I am glad I was around to spread out towels all over the place).
A little youtube video as to what it looked like (and this was not the worst) … notice the car in the last second coming in our one way street the wrong way 
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Ritsu was stuck at work as the taxi service would not even pick up the phone and taking the bike was out of the question. Since we had Adwoa’s car, me and Julius set out to pick her up. The traffic was a chaos, streets were flooded and manhole covers were open to help with the draining … it was crazy and we moved very slowly. Here some fun pictures I took on that drive.
We ended up meeting at our Asian restaurant and got some food to go …
We had to leave our hotel by 10AM and thus had plenty of time before we had to be back home.
Como is very close to the border to Switzerland and Chris told us that there is a big outlet mall on the way to Lugano. So off we went and after our GPS device guided us to what appears to be the office address of the mall (They really need to change websites with a link ‘this is how your GPS will find us’ .. same thing here with IKEA in Torino .. they publish their mailing address) after some more asking around, we found the mall … with a gelato stand
While very nice, we realized that we are just really not label queens .. and it was not really cheap at all .. it looked cheaper, since they publish the ‘official’ price .. but I doubt that many shops outside of the mall ever really ask for that price .. anyways .. we ended up buying nothing, we got hungry, but the only restaurant in that mall was a boring self serve place, so we headed back and Julius started to ask for ‘cheeseburger’ … and luck had it that just before the border to Italy we saw the golden arches high on a pole .. and even better .. we found a mall with shops like C&A and H&M … which are somewhat way more what we like these days .. H&M had some great stuff for Julius.
The drive back took us a bit more than 2 hours during which Julius and Ritsu slept most of the time. Traffic was icky but ok and finding our way back to Turin was fairly simple.
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We are spending the weekend at Lake Como to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary (who would have ever thought Ritsu would endure me for so long? ) and today we took a boat to get to Bellagio and we had a fantastic seafood lunch.
Our Sunday started fairly early since there is a church right next to the hotel and the bells started chiming around 7 AM … also, we had not discovered the pretty much light-tight shutters … but that was maybe a good thing, we got up and running and caught the first speed boat to Bellagio.
A recommendation in terms of boats on Lake Como. The speedboat only takes 45 minutes, but if it is crowded you might end up sitting below, where the windows have gotten blind by the constant spray water. And the crew keeps an eye out and wants everyone to stay in their seats. On our way back we too the slow boat, which is 2 hours, but much more relaxed and scenic. Next time (and for first time visitors) : Take the slow boat first, the weather is usually better in the morning and you are fit enough to enjoy the scene … and then take the speed boat to hurry back home.
Anyways. We bought our tickets and then we had some time to kill and discovered a mini-ferris wheel and Ritsu&Julius took a ride. We arrived in Bellagio just before noon and started strolling around and looking for restaurants. There are quite some but some looked like ‘cheap tourist menu here’ or ‘taken over by bus load of tourists’ places.
We ended up at (need to find receipt to verify name) which is part of a hotel. No shiny ‘special menu’ sign, but a nice looking menu with lots of fish options. We got one of the last spots right at the water and enjoyed the marvelous scenery.
Villa Balbianello, which was used for location shots for Star Wars Episode 2 (i.e. the scene where Anakin and Padme are getting married) and the most recent Bond movie. A beautiful place, which we want to explore more next time.
When we finally returned to Como we met again with Lucca, Chris and Cris to have some nice ice cream. but a) the weather turned and it started to rain and b) the place we found .. well .. I was in the mood for some ice cream with fresh fruit … what I got was sweet ice cream with even sweeter preserved-in-syrup cherries. Well .. we were also pretty beat and headed back through the rain to our hotel, where we dropped dead fairly quickly.
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What a weekend trip … and actually too much to write all about it .. but anyways .. I am trying … lake Como is one of the largest lakes in Italy and the deepest in Europe .. besides that .. gorgeous scenery! .. you have some of everything .. mountains AND water.
The drive was a bit more than 2 hours (thanks to our new, confusing co-pilot, Jane) and the ride up to Brunate, where I had booked a hotel room, was hair raising … but it all went fine. We found our hotel, settled in and then took the funicular down to Como, where we were a bit late for the general rush and our waiter was a bit pushy, but we ended up getting some very nice food (I had pasta with lobster while Ritsu had the salmon trout)
Then some further walking around and then we met our new friends, Chris, Cris and Lucca for gelato and from then on we hung out together. The 2 toddlers took their sweet time to warm up .. but once that happened .. they were just crazy .. they raided a lingery store and kept bouncing all over the floor … highlight was when Chris did a double decker turny thingie with them … (I did that afterwards and was immediately scolded by some old Italian lady that this might be bad for the kids’ heads .. why always me?)
Also of note, one of the reasons we went this very weekend was that Como had the ‘Notte Bianca‘ festival .. which basically meant partying until morning (not so much if you have kids) … but the inner city was getting very crowded and we ended up nibbling here and there and the 2 boys just had way too much fun ..
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Julius loves mobile phones and he loves everything from apple .. may it be my iPod or the several computers we have … but he has a bone to pick with the iPhone offering … and it does look grim right now for the European market to get it anytime soon.
But based on my experience with Julius and small, expensive and easily destroyable devices, I think the iPhone will not be a part of this family in the near future. Looks nice though. [video] |
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It is time the little one earns his keep by lending a hand in the household. E.g. he can bring out the trash.
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Still one of his favorites, rice, lots of it.
For today’s dinner I had marinated some chicken in yogurt and tandoori spices all day long, but he was not too interested in this very red looking piece of poultry. (Which was not spicy at all, which he would not even mind) But he ate a bunch of tomatoes.
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Finally some fine weather and after a double yoghurt breakfast we headed out to the playground. There were actually a bunch of kids around … but Julius took some particular liking to a girl, probably a year older then himself, all dressed in pink. And he kept chasing her up the silde, down the slide and all the way around again ..
After some total playout time we made our way back and Julius knows what is in that direction .. our favorite gelato place .. so .. sure enough we sat down for some Italian ice cream … and he is getting really good at it … nearly no mess on his shirt …
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One of the many dangers I have to teach the little guy about … at least those are his baby proof finger nail scissors … and it would take a lot of strength to actuallypoke an eye out …
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It has been a crappy week in terms of weather … when I grew up my idea of Italy was eternal sunshine … and even the downsized version that we are in the north of the country .. ok .. but in June?? when summer is supposed to show up ?? (watch this space for me bitching about it being too hot in a few weeks )
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Anyways .. I was all determined today that no matter what .. I would go to the playground with Julius … so .. I head his raingear ready and he was very much willing to go … and as if he had a notion, he had asked for his sunglasses …
Sure enough … 5 minutes after we had left the house .. the rain stopped and the sun came out .. (hence “Murphy’s Law“) and in general Julius had a blast … and I was positively surprised that even in rain gear he would not jump into puddles … for the sake of video fun I would have liked that in this case .. but the (sometimes) good boy has obviously learned THAT lesson.
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For some weird reason Julius insisted on wearing gloves this morning (In June … )
But I was able to talk him out of it later on … so he kept reading his newspaper while we were waiting for the bus.
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Julius was invited to his school pal Simone’s birthday party (and I am so glad I did not buy a gender specific present, as I found out that in Italy, Simone is a boy’s name). It was a very short term decision, first I misread the invite as the party being on 5th July, not June, then I could not find the mentioned street on any map and on top of it, the weather looked kinda icky.
But I called, got the correct address, some rays of sunshine showed up and off we went. Again in the hills a bit atop of the kindergarten’s location, nice big garden which prompted Julius to go rather explore than playing with the other kids (and me following him rather than talking to other parents, daddies being absent as usual) .. later he warmed up a little and he was very excited about all those big garden sized toys .. especially that play kitchen … not sure if he learns that in kindergarten .. but he was very much about securing goodies and then proclaiming them as ‘mio’ (mine) … and got in some fights over that eventually.
We left just in time before the next big rain came down … the weather this week really sucks !!!
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One of those days I did not get around to get a good picture .. other than when he was finally asleep
I am actually doing some progress on the ‘you can fall asleep by yourself’ routine. Julius still sleeps with us in one bed and demands to have at least one of us present (to touch ears) … I am trying to break this habit and it is kinda working … some nights I had him down in no time .. others again .. long struggle .. and one occasion that he woke up at 2 AM and he needed to check if spongebob was alright (I tried to tell him for half an hour that we do not watch TV in the middle of the night .. but I was too tired to fight any longer and he really just needed visual confirmation) .. ah .. kids
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Notice his very Italian hand gestures
Bathing fun followed by some very enthusiastic teeth brushing.
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