Things to Do - Grateful List (July 2015) & Cherish This Day

The photos above are from our arrival in Venice on the overnight train from Paris. The kids COULD NOT WAIT to get out and explore. I'll post more Venice pics on Monday.

Regarding July's grateful list, not to sound cheesy, but really, what an amazing month.

On a macro level, I no longer have friends that are gay married. We're all just married or not married. No adjectives necessary. And this is pretty amazing. Further, our friends had a party for the last game of the Women's World Cup and watching how seriously everyone took our win made me feel like women's sports are no longer a sideline attraction. The Arlington Cinema Drafthouse played the game and seating sold out minutes after they opened the doors.

On a micro level, I spent three days in Lake Indian NY at the Foster photography retreat. And we took our kids on their first (but hopefully not their last) trip abroad.

Just feeling so blessed for everything lately. I hope you all had a great month as well!

In the meantime, have a fantastic weekend and don't forget to click on over to Cherish This Day, lots of amazing photos this week.

ARTS

* Arlington Art Center's Play exhibit (REALLY, GO SEE THIS! ESPECIALLY WITH THE KIDS, IT IS SO. MUCH. FUN!!!)
* Shirin Neshat's "Facing History" at the Hirshhorn (Washington DC)
* Attending Peter Pan 360 in Tysons
* Watching the US Women's team win the World Cup at Hector's party
* Watching 10 Things I Hate About You with the girls
* Watching Inside Amy Schumer, Season 3
* Reading Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
* Reading Outline: A Novel
* Listening to Outliers: The Story of Success on CD during the drive to NY

FOOD

* Peach sangria at Kelly's house
* Chipotle with the kids (they finally like it).

STUFF

* ThinkFun's Composer Yourself cards (so. much. fun.)
* Our new block rocker (thanks Hector!)
* My new moscow mule mug (thank you Colleen!)

PLACES

* The kids still liking the National Mall's carousel (they're not grown up yet!)
* The Building Museum's beach
* Ben Sasso's Foster Workshop in Big Indian, NY (I learned a TON!!)

ETC.

* Walking past F's closed bedroom door to find a sign on the floor saying "don't come in. meditating."
* The girls constantly playing chess together
* Dan, Hector, Lee, Doug having "fun" with the new crossbow
* A 4th of July weekend full of barbeques with friends
* T constantly singing "Shut Up and Dance with Me"
* "We're not gay married anymore, there's no such thing. We're just married. Like everyone else." - Julia (thus making me tear up)
* Maggie's postcards from Greece

VACATIONS (for our Europe trip I decided to make a daily list, because it was a once in a lifetime sort of experience. Wow, that just sounded totally overdramatic).

Day 1 (Paris - arrive)

* T drinking water out of shot glasses, "look mom, this apartment is so great, they have these cute little glasses everywhere."
* Real french bread
* Travel chess and backgammon
* Kindles, kindle fires, and the ipad (because nobody would nap on the same schedule)
* Walking to the Eiffel Tower

Day 2 (Paris - Louvre and Sacre Coeur)

* The great hat fight between P and F (P bought a new hat, F wanted a similar hat, P told F she copies everything, etc. etc. This went on ALL DAY LONG. Eventually we all started laughing because what else can you do?)
* Our private Louvre tour through Context (esp. the Botticelli fresco and the medieval castle)
* Crepes sucre
* 6 mini-Eiffel towers and counting (love that allowance money)
* Cheap, wonderful french wine

Day 3 (Paris - Champs Elysee, Arc De Triumph and the Carnival)

* The kids' excitement over the Jarin de Tuileries' summer carnival
* The haunted house
* The perfect Pimm's Cup

Day 4 (Paris - Pompidou Center and Notre Dame, overnight train to Venice)

* The Pompidou Center (I love this museum)
* Jardin des Plantes' sculpture garden (and a walk on the Seine)
* Notre Dame and the (newer) lock bridge, which fascinated T
* T losing his second tooth ever in the Paris train station
* T vs. the pigeons
* Our train "roommate" Sophie, who ended up being super nice and T saying, "I feel bad for Sophie and her boyfriend, they're trying to have a moment and everyone keeps interrupting them."

Day 5 (Venice)

* Exploring the uncrowded (and shady) backstreets
* Dan's amazing navigation skills (never tell your husband that it's impossible to find your way in Venice, because he'll prove you wrong)
* Dinner on a square at sunset
* A rental house with toys and air-conditioning

Day 6 (Venice to Milan)

* We figured out how to reserve train seats!
* A relaxing and easy travel day after a stressful morning in the over-crowded Venice station
* Teaching F backgammon and a lazy night in our new apartment

Day 7 (Milan)

* The Last Supper (the DaVinci code was right, Peter is a girl!)
* Shopping with the girls (huge sales at Zara)
* Gladiator pillow fights between P and T because the internet is super slow and they have no friends here
* More backgammon

Day 8 (Milan to Sala C. [Lake Como])

* The view of the lake from our rental house; P - "wow, this is the nicest house we've ever stayed in."
* Dan reading his Kindle on the balcony while P swims in the lake
* Cooler weather (85 degrees)
* Trying new foods with F - the salted fish (a local specialty) tasted gross to me, but F ate it all, even the heads (whereas T continues to live on pizza margarita)

Day 9 (Ferry to Varenna)

* Hiking to the castle and T's thrill over the weapons
* Dinner at the pizzeria in Sala, we shared everything family style - grilled fish, risotto with fried perch, tomato salad, pizza, "chips", and SO. MANY. DESSERTS.
* Another night at the beach while P "teaches" T to swim

Day 10 (lazy day in Sala C.)

* Lazy mornings
* The Pocket Yoga ipad app
* Swimming with the kids in the lake
* Dan making a "fancy" dinner of roast chicken
* T and P playing on the beach at dusk

Day 11 (Lake Como to Rome)

* P's happiness over a facebook message (through my account) from her best friend
* A relatively easy travel day (the ferry, to the train, to another train, then taxi to our new apartment)
* Piazza Navona at night - street performers, graffiti artists, an amazing toy store. The kids loved it here.

Day 12 (Rome - Gladiator Training and a Kid-Oriented Tour of Ancient Rome)

* Family gladiator training
* Making it to the Colosseum right before the rain storm began
* The Swizzlers picking T out of the crowd to dance with them (best dance crew ever)
* "What I love about mimes is they're really nice." - T, while we drank cocktails and the kids ate gelato in Campdo de Fiorni square (our new favorite place)
* Planning the imaginary underground world with T

Day 13 (the Vatican)

* Castle D' Angelo
* A random organic smoothie store with swings
* P and her new Pinnochio puppet
* Our Friday night Vatican tickets and the kids' love of the children's audio tour
* Roma Beer Company's margaritas and Obica's salads (both on Campo de Fiorni's square)

THE KIDS' LISTS:

F - dogs, Peter Pan, drawing, Europe, the english language, my friends, a nice house to live in and food to eat, backgammon, chess, Venice, breezes, clean laundry, nice apartments to stay in, our house [in Sala C.], the view [in Sala C.], swimming at the beach [Lake Como]

P - that Hector is okay [he hurt his knee], sleepovers, Janeese's desserts, having friends for dinner, the Eiffel Tower, the view from Sacre Coeur, Paris, that you took us to Europe, going shopping with mommy, seeing Venice, gelato, Teen Beach Movie II, facebook messages from my best friend, the squares in Rome, the awesome toy store in Rome, my Kindle, the audio tour [at the Vatican]

T - going to the [National] mall, guns, the Eiffel Tower, the cool light in our apartment [Paris], the little water glasses [shot glasses], the Louvre, my new light up Eiffel Tower, going to the carnival, going in the Haunted House, my new knife, the castle [in Varenna], the armor at the castle, swimming in the lake with P [Lake Como], Coco and Happy