Alps and puke

We get up relatively on time, head down to breakfast, force food into the girls and before we could leave the table Penelope starts puking, oh yes welcome to vacation with a three year old.  Wouldn't typically be a big deal if we didn't already have an eight hour tour of the Alps already paid for and waiting for us.  When P gets sick it always starts with the puking, but usually she gets it all out and rebounds like a champ.  We walk to the elevator to get her cleaned up and she pukes two more times in the lobby.  We go upstairs, get cleaned up, back down the stairs and yep, she does it again.  Surely by this point there can't be anything left, right?  Oh yes, this child went on the trip and I spent the entire day literally catching her throw up in baggies the ENTIRE day.  Go ahead and be impressed that not one drop hit her clothing or the car and yes, we made it through the entire trip.

Here is the part that you really want to know about though...

Absolutely incredible views outside of our windows and also one of the coldest days I have ever experienced.

We traveled through the Veneto region with our first stop being Pieve di Cadore, a quaint little village known for being the birthplace of the Renaissance painter Titian.  I could have spent hours there, but it was a short stop to see Titian's painting in a church, a quick stroll around town and of course a gelato break and then back to the car.  Just in case you were confused, it is never ever too cold for real gelato.

We had multiple opportunities to pullover and take photos, which I need to mention that most of what I post are pictures my family took because of my unfortunate camera debacle, but the most picturesque had to have been from Lake Misurina.  It was also the coldest place I have ever been.  After we got back we realized it was zero degrees minus whatever the windchill factor was, when the wind was blowing across the frozen lake it took everything I had to run the girls from the car to the restaurant.  While we were in the Dolomites we stopped at a local trattoria for lunch.  It wasn't until this stop when I was looking at the menu did I realize just how close to Austria we really were.  The influence on the food and then later when we traveled through other local towns you could really see the influence on the architecture.

Next stop was the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, I now understand how this is the locale for the movies Cliffhangers and For Your Eyes Only because it was incredibly beautiful and swanky.  I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there that weren't dressed in either real furs or full ski gear.  Apparently this is where the Italians who want to "be seen" go skiing.  

It was a long drive back to Venice and despite the puking by P and the frigid weather it was an incredible trip to take in the sites and of course see snow.  This was also the day that P declared that Elsa made all of the snow and we were really in Arrendale, yes we have a little Frozen obsession in our house.

Oh and for those that read this and are horrified that we took P on the trip, I do have to mention that she had no fever, usually pukes a few times and feels better after a little nap and is aggravating her sister in no time.  Though this wasn't the case for this day in particular she did have moments of feeling better and  arriving back at the hotel she ate everything she could get her hands on and was up until midnight playing.

Only the beginning...

We did it, we made it through Christmas and now it is off to vacation land which will be Venice and Paris!  Unlike most vacation time hy where I am running around trying to finish my work-work and my home-work I did the unthinkable, two weeks of vacation at the holidays.  I've never done this before for a list of reasons: 1. I never have that much time left, 2. I like being at work at this time of year so that I can try and catch up and 3. I start to go crazy being at home this long.  Despite the time off we of course were still running around last minute trying to get everything packed in our carry on bags when it happened, I broke my favorite toy at the worst possible time - my favorite DSLR dropped from a whole two inches from the ground and broke my short lens.  As you can imagine this put me into a fabulous mood and now WAY behind in getting all of the bags into the car and off to the airport.  No worries though, we got there on time and from that point on everything really was smooth sailing.

First flight from Jacksonville to JFK = 2 hours of snacking and iPads.  It also ended with a 5 hour layover in the Delta Crown Room where we managed to keep the kids corralled enough that we didn't get kicked out - yay us!

Second flight from JFK to Paris = 6.5 hours of not one tantrum which was shocking when you consider there were no naps that day and only two hours of sleep for the kids on the flight.  We did manage to movie hop every 30 minutes and P dropped every other bite of food she tried to put into her mouth.

We made it through immigration, rechecked our bags and now for an hour wait and we were onto our third flight.  By this point Grant nor I had slept a wink, P was still in good spirits, but A was starting to have enough of this airplane business.  Thank goodness for YaYa and Grr who came to the rescue with entertainment for the next 1.5 hour flight.

We have arrived and so have our bags, now to find our transfer to the hotel which was a cold 15 minute walk to the boat.  Correction - the longest 15 minute walk to the boat you can imagine.  Picture 4 adults, 2 children who at this point can't walk, 5 checked bags, 4 carry on roller boards and three backpacks.  Once we arrived to our dock and got on the boat it was like an energy boost you can't get from a Red Bull.  It had just finished snowing an hour before we arrived, we had the wind in our hair and were entering one of the most incredible cities you can see in a lifetime.

Smooth checkin at the Hilton Milano Stuckey which is a converted warehouse across the canal from the island of Venice.  We arrived to our rooms which were upgraded and included an incredible view.

We all took quick showers, unpacked a little bit and as much as I wanted to crash after being awake for what felt like days we put our boots back on and were off to explore for a little while before heading back to the hotel for dinner.  The girls fell asleep at the table before eating and secretly I wanted to do the same thing, but we were all excited to have gotten through the worst part of the trip.

zoo Lights

One last holiday surprise before we head over the pond, the Jacksonville Zoo did a great job with the holiday lights.  Everything was going well until we decided that Florida ice skating was a good idea.  We couldn't stand, Adelaide was practically a limp noodle and just when we thought it was bad enough we looked up and found our friends cat calling us.  Oh yes, Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas 2014

This is the first year that Adelaide has woken up before me on Christmas Day and she was so excited to tell us that "he was here!"  It took everything she had to wait on her sister to wake up, eventually we let her go and wake her up.  She really almost went crazy when we made them wait until Yaya and Grr arrived.

Best gifts of the day included a purple elephant tea set for Noop, lots of superheroes for A, new Pottery Barn sheets for Grant (I swear they beat out the golf bag) and Venetian masks for the folks.  The girls also got iPads so that we could have a little bit of peace on our upcoming vacation, but that's the next post.

After too many presents and a few muffins it was time for Part 2 of the day at YaYa and Grr's.  The girls were spoiled rotten, but most importantly we were able to spend time with some of our favorite people.  Some of those people were with us and others were there via FaceTime.  Grr made a fabulous brunch for everyone while we watched with hunger pains.  We were also entertained by the boys and their new toys in which we learned that Grant doesn't know the difference between and negative and positive side of a battery.

Pure exhaustion!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone!