Trips, Pics, and Tales

Backtracking again just a little bit!  I know I just posted, saying that I was going to continue along with our visit to Costa Rica in 2010...and I will!  Promise!  But as I'm getting back into this whole blog thing, I've thought about the title of the blog...Trips, Pics, and Tales...and I forgot all about the "Tales" part!  So before heading back to Costa Rica, I want to share a current Tale!  And going forward, that will be the new format of the blog!  The trip journeys may have some tidbits about travel or some current tales from my life mixed it - just to keep things interesting!  Otherwise I would never get back to the present, if you know what I mean! This post is all about Family, Friends and of course Food!  When we were in Italy this past summer, enjoying our day in Chianti at the winery, we were enjoying each other's company so much and the amazing food that we came up with the idea to have a similar event at home.  You can read a...

We had a little bit of time to relax after our whirlwind tour through Florence, so we spent some time at our hotel, which has some lovely courtyards and common areas. Megan and I hung out in the inside common areas. The gardens were way too hot. I took advantage of the free wifi and caught up a bit with home. Keith and Alex stayed in the air conditioned room. Oh, we had a loft quad room and my parents had a double room.  And once again, we kept thinking how amazing this hotel find was - it was so hard to believe that these gardens and tranquility were tucked behind one of those giant doors in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Florence! After our little bit of down time we were ready to go. So when I said Megan was ready for “fun”, it was time for our Pizza and Gelato making class! Before our trip, we had looked for something hands on for the kids. In the past our vacations have always been more of the “fun” type – you know, beach type, active type. Sure this is a...