Hanging out with my cousins

Since the last time I updated, Henry's had lots of quality time with some of his cousins. In August we visited family in Maryland and New Jersey.

Zoey, Will, and Henry enjoyed playing cars with Pop Pop.

We got them to sit still (almost) for a group portrait.

The next day, everybody hung out at the beach in Atlantic City.

Sandy juice is apparently quite delicious!

Henry LOVED the beach!

Little waves!

Last weekend we had a visit from Grandmom, Pop Pop, and Cousin Zoey. Henry and Zoey dressed up for HallZOOeen at the Cincinnati Zoo. Zoey loved her ladybug costume. Henry eventually figured out that it was futile to try to get his off.

We had a great time, and ate lots of junk food!

Henry's been a busy big boy.

Here he is showing off his new "boy bed!"

Notice the "Bumbob" sheets--all part of the bribery.

The boys love their Guitar Hero.

"Rock, Daddy!"

"You rock!"

And here is photographic proof that our son does, indeed, eat turnips.

In other news, Dennis and I are waist-deep into our Couch-to-5K training. We just finished Week 4 (of 9)! We're planning to run the Constitution 5K on September 20th. Well, maybe hoping is a better word. If anyone wants to visit that weekend, you can hang out at the Constitution Square Arts Fest, then fight over who gets to babysit during the race.

No lollygagging today.

Henry does enjoy a good swing--just not necessarily in the primary way intended.

Sliding is still fun, too!

The garden is off to a good, albeit slightly tardy, start!

One can never have too much Thomas...

...especially if one's name is Henry!

Outside!

So if you've been wondering what we (and by we, I mean, mainly Henry) have been up to, it's "Outside!" Every evening when I walk up the stairs, Henry is waiting for me at the top, saying, "Outside, Mommy! Outside!" Then he grabs my hand and tries to drag me to the back door. He loves to do anything and everything, as long as it's outside. For example:

Helping tumble Mommy's compost bin.

Gipper enjoys "Outside!" too, just not as actively.

Watering the yard.

Check out my awesome new slide! Thanks, Mere and Doodah!

The inaugural run.

I've got this landing thing down!

Can you feel the fun?

Check out my sweet bike trailer!

Hmm, not sure they know how to ride those things yet...good thing I've got my Thomas helmet.

Whew! I survived!

Now I'll show them how it's done, and looking good while doing it.

Happy Easter!

Henry may not like the Easter Bunny, but he sure does like the stuff he brought!

Wishing you a blessed Easter season!

Yep, I'm a little behind on the blogging!

I'll just pick up where I left off.

Day 5:

We drove to Naples. After reading Rick Steves, we were all a bit scared of Naples. Once we drove into town, we were all A LOT scared. Totally crowded and grungy and impossible to navigate. After a couple of unsuccessful passes in search of our hotel, we decided that Napoli was better off left unexplored, and got the heck out of town. Whew! And we only lost part of a fender there.

So on we drove to Pompeii, where we found a lovely little motel just a couple of hundred yards away from the entrance to the ruins. Dinner was had at a quiet little place in town called Vecchio Americano (where of course they spoke very little English), and the owner’s brother even drove us back to the motel. That in itself was an experience--even Henry said “whoa!” a couple of times.

Sorry, no good photos from this day--it's better left forgotten!

Day 6:

Dennis and I got up early and had breakfast (this motel has a killer breakfast, by the way, and fresh cappuccino, and freshly made apple juice...) and walked down to the ruins of Pompeii. This worked out MUCH better than if we had day-tripped in; it was not at all crowded and not too hot. By the time we left at 11:30 the school groups were overtaking the area.

Three stepping-stones signals a main thoroughfare. Since the streets were flooded with water as a means of cleaning them, the stepping stones allowed pedestrians to cross without getting their sandals wet. Also, the chariots were made to span them.

The main forum with Mount Vesuvius in the distance.

Marble countertops at some ancient fast food joints.

Demonstrating the location of the ancient bathroom, which shared plumbing with the kitchen. Dennis calls this photo “Mount Vesuvius part deux.”

A bakery: to the left is a brick oven, the structures on the right are mills which were powered by donkeys or slaves to grind grain. Who doesn’t like their bread flavored with tiny bits of rock, really?

The amphitheater.

Here come the Irish!

If you ever visit Pompeii, definitely shell out the 3 Euro for a glass of fresh orange/lemonade at the tourist suck across from the entrance--so nummy!

After Pompeii, we all hopped back into the car again to drive back up to Rome. After orienting ourselves to the hotel, we stepped back out to pick up our Roma Passes and get started! Since tonight was a bonus Rome day, we decided to make one of our optional stops, the National Museum of Rome (Palazzo Massimo). Here we saw lots and lots of sculpture, as well as some very cool mosaics. Henry particularly enjoyed the frescoes depicting fish (“Ish!”). In the basement there are displays of Roman coins from current Euros all the way back to old chunks of bronze, as well as some ancient jewelry and dolls, and a mummified eight-year-old girl.

For dinner we stopped at La Gallina Bianca, which has excellent wood-fired pizza. Then half-price gelato from G. Fassi, which was huge and delicious.

And then bedtime.

European Vacation...

Day 4:
More Florence, aka the “cradle of Renaissance” (la culla del Rinascimento). [For more details on Florentine art, check out The Museums of Florence.]
Dennis and I got up a bit early for breakfast and walked around the Piazza Di San Marco, then on to the Accademia di Belle Arti for a viewing of Michelangelo's David. It’s much more amazing in real life--pictures just do not translate the awesomeness.
Back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the crew, and then we hit the streets again for The Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), which has the largest brick and mortar dome in existence. We spent some time inside the Battistero di San Giovanni (the Baptistry), with its beautiful and detailed ceiling mosaics. The north and east doors were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (although these are apparently replicas--the originals are in the museum nearby).

The mosaic ceiling in the Baptistry.

The Duomo.

Lunch on the Piazza Signoria.

Henry enjoyed his macaroni, of course!

After lunch we toured the Uffizi Gallery, where we were able to see some masterpieces such as Boticelli’s Birth of Venus and Caravaggio’s Bacchus, plus lots of other Renaissance works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael (plus some non-ninja painters).
And the day’s not over yet! Onward to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which is a beautiful church that houses the tombs of such guys as Michelangelo and Gallileo, as well as lots of other interesting pieces. It's also the largest Franciscan church in the world.

A relic from St. Francis of Assisi, from the collection at Santa Croce.

Henry and Grandmom were happy to head back at this point, but we pushed on to dinner at Trattoria ZaZa. Maybe the best meal of the trip so far. It was a party in my mouth.

European Vacation, continued...

Day 2:
The real trip begins. We drove to Strasbourg, France, for some window shopping and walking around. We saw General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, and ate lunch near the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady at Maison Kammerzell. The house wine was excellent!

Kleber

The very Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady

But France was not our final destination on Friday--we must power on to Zurich! Some have called the Swiss people gnomes, but everyone we saw looked to be of average height and attractiveness.

Our arrival at the first hotel of our trip.

The largest clock face in Europe.

Dennis and I had a lovely dinner at a lovely restaurant in an old guildhall while Grandmom and Henry chilled at the hotel.
Zurich was a little confusing because they don’t really use Euros; they have swiss francs (although most places do take Euros, but the exchange rate is crummy).

Day 3:
Really long drive to Firenze aka Florence.

Henry was happy to be out of the car!

The view from our hotel rooms.

We didn’t do much on this evening except walk around a bit. We checked out the outdoor market at San Lorenzo. Dennis and I had dinner out and more excellent house wine (are you sensing a pattern here?)

Chatham Tour '09 Part 1: flying, then Mainz, Germany

I know I'm a few days behind, but I'll update a bit at a time.

Day 0:
Catch the red-eye from Cincy to Frankfort. Glad we brought the Benadryl fast-melts and the SpongeBob videos!

Day 1:
Grandmom was waiting for us at the airport. We drove back to the house to shower and eat. Then the sightseeing began! We drove around (and around) Mainz, then parked and walked around the city center. Dennis and I ventured into 2 different yarn shops, where I proceeded to embarrass myself. And we will never mention that again.
We all made a brief stop in the Gutenberg Museum to sneak a peek at the Gutenberg Bibles on display. Then back to the house to eat and pass out, finally.

Remember this stroller? It was our best buddy on our last European vacation, and it survives still!

Hallo from Deutschland!

...for the moment. We're back in Europe for another Chatham family adventure, woohoo! Over the next week or so, we'll be driving down through Italy and back. Our internet access will be spotty, at best, once we leave the comforts of the household. I'll try to update with a couple of pictures here and there, but no promises of anything until we return.
Danke schoen!

A chilly Valentine's afternoon

Well, it looked a lot nicer outside than it felt. With the wind blowing, it turned out to be a pretty chilly day. Henry, however, barely seemed bothered a bit. In fact, he attempted to refuse putting on his coat. Good thing we're still stronger than him!

It's amazing what a big boy he is suddenly!

Doesn't he look so grown up?

He had to prove how big he was by climbing up the "ladder" over and over unassisted. Well, you can imagine that I didn't stand too far away.

Just in case anyone has never experienced an ice storm, I thought I'd throw out a picture of the aftermath. It was certainly a new experience for us, and hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime ordeal.