22,206

Grandma Mary Lou came out Sunday. She arrived all nice and lookin' refreshed. You couldnt even tell she just got off a plane. It was incredible. Max broke out the BBQ and we grilled some steak, chicken, sausage and some fish. It was really yummy. My man, the gourmet chef! Today we went to the city center and walked around the duomo. Poor Holly, all she has talked about are the panzerotti (my best kept secret, i hope rick steves doesnt come and ruin it for me!) and gelato. Max went and got us gelato last night, so that got satisfied, but the panzerotti store was closed! I hope we get a chance to go back or H may go postal on us! H and ML went to the roof of the Duomo, Sophia and i had a walk around. We had a little snack and then went to look at the inside of the cathedral. After that went to the Galleria and a quick peek at la Scala, then over Panino Giusto for some sandwiches. We walked over to Castello Sforzesco, which of course all the museums were closed because it was monday. So we had a walk around the park instead. S was such a good girl and she needed to stretch her legs and run a little bit. There is a 'art show' of painted cows/bulls around the city by various artists. In the park there was a kids show, where kids had decorated baby cows (vitellini) and the were displayed in the park. The cows were so darn cute, we had to get S to go in the middle and pose with the cows. Unbeknown to us the little cows were not nailed down to the ground. The pictures tell the rest of the story...

After that it started to rain. We risked going over to St Maria Della Grazie to see if there was any way to get in to see the last supper in case of cancellation. Of course being monday that was closed to... Got back home and Super H and ML helped set the table, clean up, do the laundry so there was plenty of time to write tonight. PS had the pedometer on 22,206 steps!

Lago Maggiore

Drove out to Lago Maggiore and had some lunch in Stresa with Holly and Mike.



Took a little boat to Isola Bella, as usual Sophia is not happy to be in a picture with her mom and dad...




Got to the island and ran into Mom and her Posse. Unfortunately I dont have a pictures of that and someone will send me one! I knew that they were staying in Stresa, but I thought that they had already visited the islands. We didnt get to chat much as they were leaving and we were just arriving. Max is such a good Daddy, he played with Sophia and carried her around the island there isnt much room for a stroller and there are too many steps. Note to self, bring the baby wrap instead of leaving it in the car. Luckily the museum was nice and they held onto the stroller at the entrance until we finished walking around. Unfortunately we arrived late and so poor Max had to cut his garden tour short and run back to the front and get the stroller.

Auntie Holly's Here

M surprised H with a stop-over from Dubai to Italy! Hooray! Been fighting a cold and allergies so ive been drinkin lots of vitamin C and water...was a long trip to Malpensa. Ran in, went potty and saw that H's flight was delayed. (Lucky for us, cuz we were late!). Ran back out, we parked the car and found sophia was kind of stinky. Murphy's law, thought she pooped. Luckily it was early enough to go to the pharmacy and i could get some diapers (used the emergency diaper in the car last time and i forgot to replace it!). I was afraid to let her sit on the counter, because her diaper was pretty full, i didnt want to leave any trails and the pharmacist was not that friendly/compassionate. Back to the bathroom again, and i didnt notice the first time, but there was no changing station, and since she was already leaking and fussy i didnt want to drag her and find one. so i just dried off some counter space, and changed her. luckily she was just full of pee (she did a little vomit from coughing, hence the stinky smell). Cleaned her up and we waited for H. S was so excited to see her! Well i suppose M was too, not sure who was happiest. And as usual H is too smart for her own good, she already had an inkling M was comin! But she was happy anyways! Good thing we got the diapers because after that another one was needed, and this time it was the real deal.

The Amazing Race

Mike flew into Malpensa at 9, Friday morning. We hung out and I actually DROVE to the Carrefour. Since Holly wasn't here yet, M was my stand-in shopping buddy. We got back to CM and since M didn't want to go to sleep, we got the bikes out and went for a little ride into town. M got some Geox runners so he can keep the European look when he got back to the states. Then it was off for some gelato. Yum! Went to go and check out the cost and look of Corona hotel, then we rode to Sophias pre-school, back home again and then raced to go get H because we were running a couple of minutes late and I was stressed about the traffic. Luckily M wasnt, he's a great driver! I couldnt believe he actually drove thru rush-hour traffic....and we lived!!! M and I pretended we were in the Amazing Race to get thru it, but since we didnt really fight we faked it so it would be like the real AR.

;op

Ugh...woke up feeling like crap and with no voice. the allergies have turned into a cold. Couldnt meet mom at Cimetero Monumentale, so we just met them for dinner instead. Drowning myself in airborne, vivin C and allegra so i can try and enjoy everyone's visit.
Went to really nice place on the corner of Via Muratori, called Casa Tua. We asked what used to be there, since i used to work just down the street and didnt remember what was there before. They told us they combined to stores, one was the old sartoria, and i remember that. The food was pretty good, its the same owner of Giulio, pane olio thats just down the street. I dont think their food as good at Giulio's. It's supposed to be romano, but i found it just to be garlic-y. Casa Tua is tuscan, and you know max and his tuscan roots, he's picky about other's so called tuscan cuisine. But it was good. They serve panzanella (a salad with bread and tomatoes and raw purple onions with olive oil) and some salami and pecorino. the best thing on the menu was the pistachio pesto (altho i dont think thats typical tuscan). The service was excellent and they were really kind and friendly to sophia, which is unusual for restaurants here. they arent usually kid friendly.
Mom is off to Stresa at Lago Maggiore tomorrow, so this is the last we will see her until we go back home.

Moms Here

Mom is on a tour with Mrs Colbert, Auntie Lil and Uncle Harry, they did a tour extension in Milan before the 'real' part of the trip began. Sophia had Martina's 2nd bday party to go to at piazza libia, which happens to be near Mom's hotel. How lucky is that? after the party we just walked over to pick everyone up and took the metro back to CM. Had a simple dinner of aperitivo, them some lasagne Genovese and chocolate fondue for dessert. Max had to work early, soph was tired, and everyone had to get up early for the tour the next day. we called it an early night and max drove them home.