We are enjoying hiking in Sedona. Today is the last day. We'll be back soon! Here are some pics. 0f our trip! :)

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with a friend and his family. We saw some cool cacti that actually looked like the cacti that people think of when people think of cacti. These cacti are not the most common cacti, as some people would believe. We have not seen very many at all.

Spent Saturday at the Grand Canyon! It was cold and the wind was crisp. The day was clear and we could see the Canyon clearly with very few air pollutants clogging up the beautiful view.

The Zoo

We went to the zoo a week or two ago. Holly won a coupon from the library for the zoo, and she got in free, and half price for Lloyd and a friend from the conference, Jim. Lloyd took Jim to lunch earlier on and he bought Lloyds' and his tickets. Jim is 73, or older, and a buddhist. We saw many different kinds of birds, gorillas, a tiger, a hippo, two alligators, flamingoes, orangutans, monkeys, a peacock and peahen, a huge family of wild hogs, then we went home for dinner and to drop Jim off. We went back after dinner, and saw a gigantic snake, a hedgehog, and something that looked like a hedgehog but wasn't, a giant lizard, which is called 'the Komadora dragon, koala bears, something that looked like a joey, (baby kangaroo) giraffes, rhinos, elephants, llamas, two lions, male and female, play fighting, a fox that looked more like a dog then anything else, eagles, and a panda.

Califonia!

Lloyd and Holly are successfully installed in California. We headed to the beach twice last week, first time we got wetter then expected! Second time wasn't as great. Went there early evening, as high tide was coming in. Shadowed by a cliff, we made camp on the highest ground to be found, five inches above everywhere else. Holly stood on some rocks, with a friend, Lloyd went for a walk, when suddenly, a gigantic, fluke wave tried to steal our stuff! Holly yelled at our friend; Sarah Jane, "your bag! Your bag!" And both, unintentionally, got wet again! Sarah Jane, a fellow Aristotilion, wrote on her facebook page; Aristotle floated like a witch! Lloyd, who was returning from his walk, cried "where are the keys? Where is my cell?" Luckily for her, after Holly's watch was stolen, it was returned, with the next wave. Searched for the keys, but, to late! Lucky us, Holly forgot her cell at the house, so we still have it. Dinner, two margaritas, two hours, and five failed attempts at making keys later, we were able to get into the car! The house was a different matter. Holly squeezed through a tight window and unlocked the door. Broke into the landryroom the same way. Had to change locks on the mailbox though, and we all have a key now!!! Let this be a lesson for you all!

Hope you enjoyed reading about this adventure, keep posted for more!

Let's hope that they aren't as difficult as that one was to get to you!

Lloyd & Holly

The Grand Canyon

June 17, we visited the Grand Canyon, on our way to our friend's house, where we are spending the night on our way to California. We walked down the Grand Canyon, part way, because we were running out of time, but we think you can walk all the way down to the bottom! We are going to enjoy a fun day today, before we drive six miles to San Diego tomorrow. We are enjoying ourselves, and hope that you enjoy our pictures, as much as we enjoyed the Grand Canyon!

Back to the Daily Grind

Today we celebrated Alexander's tenth birthday. He was surprised to see a cake in the shape of R2 D2 waiting for him on the kitchen table. Mom was worried that he might not recognize it. But he did and he loved it. Instead of singing happy birthday to him, we all hummed the Star Wars theme as he blew out all the candles.

There's no place like home!

Home at last!

Maggie's First Communion

Yesterday Maggie received her first Holy Communion at St. Paul's outside the walls in Rome in the year of St. Paul.  

Papal Audience

Yesterday, despite threatening rain and cold winds, we waited about 3 hours for the Pope.  It was really great to see him and the kids were excited too.  I got a few good pictures, which I will be uploading shortly.  I don't have the best internet connection here.  

We are staying at a Catholic guest house just on the outskirts of Rome where we have a 2 room apartment and three meals a day.  I have to say, Italian food is excellent, but it is just too much.  For dinner, there is always a pasta course (called "first") and for the "second", there is usually a meat, a vegetable and a salad.  Usually wine is served with dinner.   And fruit for dessert, and of course coffee or cappucino.   The meal times are different, too.  Lunch is served around 1pm and lasts at least 30 minutes, and dinner is usually served around 8pm.  

Ronald McDonald's David

Need I say more?  Thankfully, Michaelangelo was born in Florence, not the U.S.

Okay!  I'll admit it.  During my five months in Europe, I did see two severely obese people.  However, one was American.    

View from the Top

Went to the top of the highest building in Florence this weekend--the duomo, or Cathedral.  You can see the shadow of it in the picture. 

A Room with a View

We went to an Olive Oil farm to learn how olive oil is made.  It was a surprisingly small farm, but the results were beautiful.  The tour included a lovely lunch, complete with fresh olive oil and gourmet dessert.  Part of the farm was a large manor house that was originally built about 200 years ago and updated 100 years ago.  It is the house that was used in the film "Room with a View" and "Tea with Mussolini" which were both set in Tuscany.

Tree Experience

Yesterday we decided to have a little fun.  We all went to the "Tree Experience" together and put on harnesses and tested our bravery and strength.  Even Maggie climbed up.  We all had a great time.

San Gimignano

On Saturday we went to a walled medieval town called San Gimignano.  It was a beautiful day, and the town was really nice.  In medieval times, in many cities (Forence is one of them), people built tower houses for safety.  I guess there was a lot of thievery and fighting going on and living in towers kept people safe.  It would be a lot harder to break into a tower than a house.  Anyway, San Gimignano still has 15 of its original 72 towers.  

On the day we were there, we heard a free outdoor concert by a Canadian high school brass band.  At the same time, there was a special festival going on with all the artisans from the city showcasing their art and even performing art for us.  Opa bought a leather belt from a leather crafter and we watched a man create things out of alabaster, and Maggie was given a small bud vase.  There was a potter who created a beautiful hand made vase in only 10 minutes.  When you watch them, they make it look so easy!  There were some people preparing a temporary wood-burning kiln for firing the pottery.  

We saw a castle ruin and we had a glass of wine at a "wine museum" and then we walked around the old wall that bordered the city.

Michelangelo's David

We went to the Academia today and saw the famous statue of David.  Stunning.

The Character of Italy

I recently read that it is an 'insult' to an Italian's intelligence to comply with a regulation.  The following is the explanation, which pretty well summarizes Italian culture. 

"Do you see that red light?  It looks the same as any other red light anywhere in the world, but it's an Italian invention.  It's not an order, as you might naively think.  Nor is it a warning, as a superficial glance might suggest.  It is actually an opportunity to reflect. . . .  

"When many Italians see a stoplight, their brain perceives no prohibition (Red! Stop! Do not pass!).  Instead, they see a stimulus.  OK, then.  What kind of red is it?  A pedestrian red?  But it's seven in the morning.  There are no pedestrians about this early.  That means it is a negotiable red; it's a 'not-quite-red.'  So we can go.  Or is it a red at an intersection?  What kind of  intersection?  You can see what is coming here, and the road is clear.  So it's not a red, it's an 'almost red,' a 'relative red.'  What do we do?  We think about it for a bit, then we go."  

On another note, in America we have the old proverb:  "You can't have your cake and eat it too"  (Of course, as I've always said, you can have your cake and eat it, but you can't eat your cake and have it."  But that is beside the point.  The Italian version is much, much better.  

To get the same point across, the Italians have the following proverb:  "You can't have your bottle full and your wife drunk."  

Cinque Terra

Dad arrived yesterday after a mostly uneventful flight.  Only a short 4-hour delay in Boston.  We are glad to see him again and he was very happy to be here with us!

Today's title is Cinque Terra, but we only made it to Una Terra.  We took a couple of wrong turns and only reached RioMaggiore, the first of the 5 cities, it was 1pm, then we had to find a parking spot, that took 30 minutes, then we had to walk into town from the parking spot and that took another hour, so by the time we got there, it was 2:30 or 3:00 and then the water of the Mediterranean lured us to itself.  We started by putting our toes in, but the waves were big and we all got wet.  So we sat in the sun to dry off.  Then another hike to get off the beach, stopped for gelato, walked a little further, realized Maggie's sweatshirt got left behind, went back to get it, and got sidetracked when we stopped to watch the dolphins jumping in the sea.  That was pretty cool.  By then we were all too tired to go to the second terra.  Quite an adventure.  It was made even more interesting by squeezing 6 of us into a 5-seater car!   But the one we saw was very beautiful and I hope you can see some of the beauty by the small pictures attached. 

Florentine Art

Another week in Italy, another adventure.  Friday was Holly's birthday, and she was a trooper to have to spend the first half of it in an art museum.  We went to the Uffizi with our class to see up close the many pieces of artwork that we have all seen so many times:  Lippi's Madonna and Child, Michelangelo's Holy Family and Botticelli's Birth of Venus.  These are the three pictures above.    Learning about these famous artists and then seeing their work in person is very exciting.  It's also exciting to know that Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Cimabue and many other great artists were either born or trained in Florence.  Go to www.uffizi.com to see more info.

We're also working on a couple of projects in art class, one being to represent a piece of art.  Mine is San Lorenzo church, which is an amazing church, and famous world-wide for being the first church built in Florence, then the first church to be rebuilt in the renaissance style.  It houses some very famous works of art that are just awesome to see.