casa al mare

We had a pretty spectacular place to stay while we where in Cinque Terre, about 200 m above the sea along a rocky outcropping among the vines of local wine growers.

heading in the first day - the kids were the only ones who could keep up with Luca

We rented a small stone house perched along the terraced vineyards of the rocky slopes just south of Riggomiore.  However, the location came at a price - it was a good 30 min hike from where we could park the car to the house.

hiking through the terraced vineyards to get to the house

The kids were pretty impressed that we had only solar power in our centuries old stone house.

Supper with a view

That may not normally be much of a big deal, but when you plan on spending the day hiking, tacking on an extra hour to whatever else you do does start to wear on those among you with shorter legs.

It was a spectacular hike - past a fountain that Napolean had stopped at with his troops, along the terraced vinyards, then down the centuries old stone steps that seemingly drop right into the sea before we reached our house.

eating breakfast without a shirt - because....vacation.

"private pool"

A few times we would fill up a plastic tub for Alma (or her siblings) to cool off in - but (and this is strange for someone from the Canadian prairies) we had to run the 'cold' water from the outdoor tap - then let it cool off and even add cold water to it, as the water comes down the hill in black pipes and heats up so much by the time it gets to the house that it's actually quite hot. The outdoor shower was just 'cold' water - but the water temperature was often a bit too hot to be comfortable in late afternoon

Take Five

The week before Susan's parents left we took a trip together to Italy - to the Cinque Terre.  These are five small towns along the northern coast not far from Genoa that are either perched down along the sea at the bottom of a cliff, or hanging on the side of a cliff above the sea.

 
 We were fortunate enough to be able to borrow an 8-passenger car (Toyota Land Cruiser - which our kids christened 'the big rig') so we all drove together for about 6 hours through the Alpes (quite literally -the amount of time and km's we covered while in tunnels was beyond interesting, I started to feel like we were only coming up for air between them at some points)
We were also glad we had the Big Rig as the roads were not exactly passable by much, and it was reassuring to know that I could switch into 4WD and drive over a Fiat Panda if the need should arise.


Once we got there - it was a great vacation.  We had a lot of fun together, the weather was great, it was just a magnificent part of creation to be able to see.

The villages of:  Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore which collectively make up the "Five Lands" are a UNESCO World Heritage site, and pretty impressive indeed. 

We had fantastic place to stay with spectacular views (which we earned with the 30 min hike on to get from the car to the house) 

We found stuff for everyone to do: hiking, gelato eating, swimming, more gelato, strolling through the villages, eating, finding gelato shops.... 

We drove to one of the villages, we hiked between them, we rode the train, we took a boat from one to the other -and every time the view was a bit different.

Because these villages had been essentially completely cut off until the trains came through - and still they remained fairly isolated unti probably late last century.  They retain quite a bit of their charm and history - which is what made the devastating flood/mud-slide that wreaked havoc on Vernazza last October even more devastating.

(more to come...)

Grandma & Grandpa

yes - for those of you wondering - Susan's parents are in fact here. They have been for most of June now. It's 6.00 and I'm about to drive them to the bus station to catch their airport shuttle so they can head back to Canada. We have had a great visit  - and we are incredibly blessed to have family that are willing and able to come and visit us here.  One of the hardest things about living so far from family is looking up one generation and feeling like you are taking away their grandchildren, and looking at your own kids and feeling like you are taking away their grandparents.  We have been very blessed that my mom was here when Alma was born, and now Susan's parents have both got to meet her. 




I know I have basically posted nothing during the past couple of weeks - so here are some pictures of a hike we took when they first got here  - with more updates of our other adventures shortly.

American Village

Who says you need to go to the states to get a real American experience?
 Well, I do for one.

  But for a fairly reasonable facsimile thereof, you have the "American Village" camps to teach French children English as a Foreign Language.

And- if you are like Jonah - you can have a week where you go from being the kid who is always struggling to understand as well as the others - to being the kid who totally understands, and others ask for help.

Seeing as I'm the token Dad-without-a-real-job, I could arrange my schedule so that I could be one of the parents along on the trip. It actually worked out pretty well - as I had a fair amount of uninterrupted time to work while I was there.

It was a good week. It's good to be able to see your kids interact with their classmates, and I feel I got to see a side of Jonah that I don't always get to see.

That's not awful - it's a falafel

Last week we decided to head down into the city and spend the day there as a family.  So since getting there is always half the fun - we rode the tram downtown - which is something that never seems to loose its novelty for our kids












We hadn't decided exactly what to do (museum etc.) but we settled on eating lunch out somewhere.  Since we don't tend to eat out a whole lot - this is a bigger deal that one might imagine -and with 4 kids in tow - it seems like most things we do are now a bigger deal than one might imagine.

We settled on a Lebanese place on a quiet pedestrian street in centre-ville.

The owner  / chef came out and gave us royal treatment. He helped us choose what to eat -then started bringing out plate after plate of food.  Then some more plates of food.  Then some more.

He also insisted that the women (Susan and Matea) be fed their first bite from his hand.  I'm still not sure if that's some sort of tradition - or if the guy was just a bit of a creep - either way we write it of as a 'cultural experience.'

The kids loved it - and they were pretty excited (their first time eating most of the things that we had)

Including the grape-leaf wrapped somethings (below) and a whole bunch of other things.

We stopped in one of the big parks downtown to play for a bit- then headed home.

It was a fantastic day.  We were on our way home and were actually kind of shocked how much fun we can have with just the six of us (wow - I actually just said "just the 6 of us" - huh). We are blessed with fantastic kids. They are healthy and happy, and adventuresome and are really trying to take advantage of our time here.
Really couldn't ask for much more than that.