Day 5-- Venice, Italy

For the last day of our trip, we drove from Rome to Venice. It was about a 4-5 hour drive, I can't even remember for sure now. LOL But anyway, we got to Venice and it was cold and rainy! Nothing like it had been in Pisa or Rome! So we had packed long sleeved shirts and coats, so I changed the boys and we started walking to the main part of the city. It was SO beautiful there! There was only one problem, they had bridges everywhere for people to cross the waters (walking) from place to place. Well, on every single bridge, it was all steps. Now, keep in mind we both had a stroller!(didn't bring the sit n stand because we both just wanted to have a stroller for the little shops and narrow spaces, it's just easier that way here in Europe) LOL We had to start out with this massive step bridge, just to get across to the main part of the city! But we made it work!We crossed SOOO many bridges as we were walking but Caleb would just get out of his stroller and walk up the steps, and Darryl would hold the light umbrella stroller up, while he helped me pick up mine with Ay in it. It was an experience! Haha. But we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so peaceful there, and just sooo gorgeous. My favorite kind of place! The most awesome part of Venice was riding a gondola!! IT was amazing. I told Darryl it could have been a potentially romantic situation, but we had a kid on each of our laps jabbering away! Hahaha. But it was an awesome family moment, and we wouldn't have had it any other way. We even saw the house where Marco Polo lived at one point! That was pretty cool. The shops there had really good pizza and awesome gelato too!

And No, Eric, both ice cream cones are NOT mine! Hahaha.

We got back to the car, and headed home around 7pm. We love to trave at night because the boys sleep the entire time and it's super peaceful. :)

They were worn out too! As you can see! And Caleb's face was dirty as ever, LOL. But anyway, we had an awesome trip all-around, and made it home around 2 in the morning!

Day 4-- Rome, Italy

The next day we got up pretty early and ate breakfast, (which was awesome at the hotel we stayed at!) and then headed to get to the bus we'd be taking all day. It was the neatest thing, this bus took you to all the main places in Rome, dropped you off, and would have a bus coming back every 15 minutes to pick up if you wanted to go somewhere else. It was really cool! First we headed back to the Vatican to see the museum. I REALLY wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, and we did! I snuck a few pictures in in there but I'm not posting them, because I wasn't supposed to take any in the first place. LOL Anyway, that was pretty awesome. Then we hopped on our bus, and headed to the Trevi Fountain. (Caleb just LOVED riding on the bus! Ay didn't mind it much either :) )
The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous! We all loved it! There were these guys all dressed up and so Darryl took a picture with them, only to end up paying 5 euro for them being IN the picture! Haha. But they are funny pictures.

Then we headed to the Spanish Steps..

And look! There are even Saints fans in Rome! Hahaha. Kidding, kidding.
Then we hopped back on the bus and went a couple stops down, so it would drop us of by the Hard Rock Cafe'! It was sooo yummy too!

This is the face of Caleb's when you know he's up to no good.
We then headed to the Coliseum. It was so awesome to see in person!! We totally loved it. The inside was so much different than I pictured it too, though I was just thinking about the movie Gladiator. Hahaha. Now we must go buy that movie!!


Then we hopped back on the bus but this time rode on the top, since we weren't going to have to get off for awhile. Caleb and Ayden loved riding on the top! It was pretty cute! It was amazing to get to see all of these things that I only thought I'd ever be able to see in the pages of a history book!! We really enjoyed Rome.

Day 3-- Rome, Italy.

So it took us like 5 hours to get to Rome from Livorno. We kept getting stuck behind all these SLOW, huge trucks! Darryl & I were having fun singing to the iPod though, and Ayden and Caleb kept us entertained as well. How can you not be busy with these two? :)

Ay loved banging on his piano!

We finally made it to our hotel there around noon. It was a really nice hotel too! The boys were glad to be out of the car and stretch their legs a little. After we were all checked in we ate lunch and headed out to catch a bus to the city. We only made it to the Vatican on the first day, but that's all we figured we'd need to see the first day because a. the lines were so long, and b. the next day we had it worked out for a bus to bring us everywhere we needed to go! Anyway, it was a cool thing to see. We'd never want to go back to it because it just didn't mean that must to us, but geez it was GINORMOUS! And it was awesome to see all the history there. But it was totally freaky when we went down to the popes tombs or whatever, there were a ton of people kissing the cascets and everything. That's when Darryl & I jetted and went outside for a breather, LOL. But it was really neat to see, it was a beautiful building.



We caught a bus back and made it to our hotel around 7. We were all pretty tired, so we played a bit and then fell asleep pretty quickly!

Italy! Day 2- Florence.

On the next day of our trip, we headed out to Florence, Italy. It was only about an hour away from where we were staying in Livorno, so it wasn't bad at all. It was a beautiful city, with some awesome buildings.a really fun carousel!

Totally cool bridges
and like the most awesome ground ever! Haha
We all really enjoyed the pizza. (still like Papa John's better! Hahaha) And of course, what would a trip to any city be without GELATO?After seeing the city, we headed back to the rocks on the beach to see the Tyrrhenian Sea one last time. It was so gorgeous, and Caleb once again LOVED throwing the rocks. And there was a beautiful sunset there for us to enjoy as a family!

AMAZING!