howard family blog

One of Tucker's treats is when I let him listen to the iPod and listen to music... On his own he finds Micheal Jackson and plays his faves... Which include : beat it and dirty Diana...

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I couldn't have missed the live concert from Pasadena's rose bowl this evening...

Seattle, Portland, and countless concerts in my head... and now Pasadena. thnx bono.

Lori is in Seattle this weekend visiting her close friend Diana and Travis. They had a baby recently...
so VERY cute. It's amazing to remember when your kids were that small.... I guess we were all that size, once.

We decided to take a bike ride and go fishing for a bit... If we're lucky, we'll get slushies too...

We didn't catch anything but more fishing stories...

That time of year where we spend the weekend doing an old fashion fair... Rides, popcorn and too many tickets...

But it's all for a good cause... The annual fund raiser for the local school...

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We hit Italy in 13 days... and we did 6 amazing cities. Here's part 2 of 3. Italy organized by city.

Milan - ( see photos ) :::::::::  3 nights... the Duomo was insane and beautiful. The best was the corner butcher that gave us great eats every night.

Lake Como - (see photos) :::::::::: A day trip filled with amazing images. We took the Ferry 2 hours to cris-cross the lake until we hit the little town of Bellagio.

Venice - (see photos) ::::::  2 nights. We walked everywhere. Highlights were the Campo (plaza) that we had dinner while we watched the local children play... not to mention the Gondola ride on the last morning was treat-filled.

Florence - (see photos) :::::::::  3 nights. Amazing local advise from a friend / designer. A lovely town and place to stay.... and a portrait to remember. Don't forget the 400+ steps we climbed to oversee everything.

San Gimignano -(see photos) :::::::::: 1 night. Amazing little town. Quaint and filled with magic. Great dinner and lovely light. Chloe had her first scooter ride... she was thrilled.

Rome -(see photos) ::::::::: 4 nights. Epic. History, Forum, Vatican, Rome coliseum. So many great walks, Campos and fountains. The pizza and pasta was amazing and so was the history.

I took over 4500 pictures over these 6 cities and 13 days... these are some of my favorites...

I've put up a first batch of pictures from our Italy trip. It is good to be back at home. 13 days can go by in an instant. I'm getting my bearings and going through some of my favorite images. I'll begin to extract the themes soon. It was some amazing sites from some epic cities: Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Florence, San Gigmignano, and Rome.

Part 1 is located on both my Facebook album and Picasa Album

We had a nice dinner this evening... On the eve of us leaving Italy... The backdrop was a typical pedestrian street lined with cafe's, music and kids playing. We recorded a few of our thoughts and reflections being in Italy for 13 days... We are so very lucky.

I've been completely amazed at how my little 9-year old seems to be beyond her years... In how well she adapts, observes and sees the world around her. It's been such a pleasure to experience this part of the world and see her soak all of it in. She spent time with her grandparents and now we all share how special and brilliant this little gift Chloe is. Thanks Chloe for making this a great trip. Dad loves you...

Tomorrow fly home...

One of our most busy days today. It was nanny's birthday today and we did a lot of siteseeing. We started on the metro and got off at the 'collosseo' station... 8:30am was when whe started in the forum and walked all through it... Then we went to the collusseum and bypassed the big line... Pretty amazing. Even in today's standards.

A birthday lunch with nanny and papa and then a quick ride o. The metro to the Spanish steps and some over-priced gelato. From there it was the Trevino fountain and finally the Pantheon. The long walk back brought the amazing piazza Navona and a walk by the castle.

We're all pretty beat. One more day in Rome... Then home.

After the Vatican today we walked over to the ancient castel de Angelo to take in the sites... What I liked the most was an exhibition of stolen works that were then retrieved. They were displayed in such a way that you could walk right up to them and get really close to them. Displayed was the year it was stolen and the year it was recovered. The longest I saw a piece 'missing' was 27 years.

My favorite pieces were the two van Gough's that were recovered.

Afterwards we sat in a open-cafe in the castle and rested. We had a nice view of st. Peters.