Camden’s visit!

After way too long apart, we had such a great time with Camden visiting. It was so nice to hang out and spend time with him. After a full school year apart, it was so fun to see how much he has grown living on his own this year. We loved every single minute!! Such a great time!!
 

Hiking Monte Cengio - World War 1 caves up near Asiago

Pizza a canal in Venice

Kiwi loved every minute of having Camden here!

Exploring the caves

The famous bookstore, Libreria Acqua Alta, in Venice

My heart was 4/5ths full!!

A few months to go until he is 21, but at 16 here, he enjoyed the Birra Moretti :-)

Gelatto!

The Arena in Verona

One happy puppy!!

St. Marks square - still very calm due to Covid (although the German tourists were beginning to arrive!)

Monte Cengia 

Asiago

Beautiful Verona!

Camden's favorite place was Verona!

Monte Cengio

Just missing Bailey!!- overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice

The crazy drive up to Mt. Cengio

Venice

Verona

Vicenza!

Thiene

 We had a nice little lunch in a town not too far away, called Thiene. It is funny because this little town is adorable, yet fairly sleepy. The funny thing about this town is that they have a webcam.... When we first started researching the area we were moving to, we found the webcam and thought that it was the Piazza of our town. It was during covid and so it was extremely quiet. Come to find out our piazza is about 10 times the size, but doesn't have a webcam. It was fun to finally see it after all of that time seeing it from a webcam in Florida (and my Dad checks it out regularly still too!! :-)). A fun day with a gelato as desert. And of course Kiwi was able to join us too!

Mia is 16!!

Mia turned 16!! It is truly unbelievable to me that she is so old! I still think of her as 3 (no - I truly do!! ha - ha!). She is an amazing kid with such kindness, talent, artistic ability, and intelligence. Not to mention, she is beautiful - both inside and out! (and now for even more bragging.....She is attending college classes here and has become a nail artist influencer with over 700 thousand followers - yikes... all while her crazy parents uprooted her and moved to another continent during a global pandemic). We love you so much, Mia!! Happy Birthday!

16 in Italy! (She doesn't really like it, but just one for the memory books :-)

Gotta love the candle!! (we were a little worried it might burn down the 400 year old house!) Ha Ha!

Mia testing her new contacts - Sight is something easily taken for granted!!

16 gifts for 16 years!!

Happy Birthday!!

16 years old!!

 

Lazise - Lago di Garda

Another amazing town on Lake Garda is that of Lazise. It is another town with a castle on the water (truly amazing what they built so long ago - yet our buildings don't seem to last 50 years??) We braved it once again and had lunch at a restaurant with Kiwi. She did so well and the people were so nice! They even brought her a water bowl to sit beside her. She is such a trooper! 

An adorable little town!

Feeling a bit like she should have her own spot at the table!

adorableness every where you turn!

another dog beside us, that Kiwi could relate to! :-)

l

feeling a bit defeated!

Mia!!

Such a pretty castle!!

With Covid - we just were given the green light to leave our town again - with the crowds, I worry it might not last long!

Kiwi posing in front of the "grounds"

Mia and Kiwi!

begging Mia to save her from sitting still - that or begging for food :-)

Aperol Spritz is the quintessential part of an Italian experience! Kiwi knew it would be a bit longer!

Still patiently waiting :-) Such a great dog!

 

Sirmione - Lago di Garda

On the bottom tip of Lake Garda, there is a tiny town called Sirmione. We had been here before several years ago, but loved returning and just meandering a bit. We walked out to the very end Oof the peninsula. n a clear day, you see the Dolomites off in the distance. So many colors of blue and turquois in the water depending on the way the sun hits. We saw people laying in the water (a bit cold for early May). Bryan could see steam coming up and it turns out there is a natural thermal bath area. The people there told us to join them - (very kind), but will take a rain check. It is such a beautiful place!!!

The thermal bath is just in front of this dock by the shore....

Kiwi was a trooper!

It almost looks fake!

We loved this little dog watching the ducks...

You can see the water change a bit with the sun shining down

One side of the peninsula was rough water and the other side was still (just like in Florida where we live - it depends on how the wind is blowing)

Beautiful!

Vino!

Aperol!