Halloween

What a stressful Halloween this has been!  I am still jet-lagged people!  These costumes were put together in minutes flat.  Alexia's Little Mermaid outfit was borrowed and Cara-Li's Minnie Mouse outfit was purchased.  No time to make costumes this year...  But by the end of the evening, the girls were going through their stash and every one was happy.  Happy Halloween!

Halloween Preparations

Twas the night before Halloween, and everyone was busy carving pumpkins!  Of course, if you are at our house for this task, you are entitled to a pumpkin-filled evening.  Pumpkin and apple soup and pumpkin gnocchi.  Oh yes, it was pumpkin all the way!  Thanks for your help guys!

Alexia's Cupcake Birthday Party

This year's birthday party them for Alexia's 5th birthday... a cupcake party.  And since I was not in town much prior to it, off to Loblaws we went!  I must say that this was my least elaborate attempt at party planning.  Must get back to it next year...

While waiting for all the guests to arrive, the kids jumped in the bouncy castle.  Funny.  The older kids enjoyed it as much as the little ones.

Then, Alexia, dressed up in her baking outfit, decorated her little cupcakes, one to eat right away and one to bring home.

The busy little bunch.

What else would you have as a cake at a cupcake party but a giant cupcake made by Auntie Loula!

Mommy and Daddy with the Birthday Girl.

Dinner that night was at Alpenhaus for fondue.  Yummy!

Alexia turns 5!

I made it home just in time for my little monkey's 5th birthday.  Happy Birthday my sweet littel Alexia!  May you always be this precious!

Milano

And after 4 days of drinking and eating and sleepin a little, I was off once again this time to Milan.  This is where the work came into play on this trip  :)

I was headed off to visit a show that was geared to restaurants and hotels.  My main interest was the coffee pavillions of which there were 2.  And it took me 2 days to get through them.  This show is huge!!! 

I did take some to time to sightsee and shop of course.  The Duomo is the landmark of Milan so that was stop number one.  Also, a quick stop on the roof as it is amazing up there but the day I was visiting, it was raining a little so not quite as delightful as it had been 16 years ago.  I also managed to get a ticket to see The Last Supper by Leonard Da Vinci.  What a score!  15 minutes with the famous painting.  Also visited La Scala Theatre but was not able to get any tickets for any opera.  Next time.  There was some art thing going on in the city.  Giant painted elephants.  So I had fun trying to find them as I toured around the city.

A great trip all in all, but after 10 days away from home, I was dying to get back home to my girls!

The Duomo

On the rooftop of the Duomo

A cool statue inside the Duomo.

The Duomo at night.

Area surrounding the Duomo.

The Galleria (shopping mecca)

Cool coffee cup display at the tradeshow

A gimormous coffee roaster!

Trento

After my 2 day jaunt in Rome, I grabbed a high-speed train for a 4-hour ride and headed off to Trento in Northern Italy where all my family is.  I was picked up by my cousins and whisked off to dinner.  It had been a while since I last saw them so we had lots of catching up to do.  Also, it was my first trip back to my parents' home town that I did not have a place to stay.  We used to have my grandparents, house but that had been sold some years ago  :(  So I was going to spend my stay at my aunt's house.  Very nice.  I had my own 2 bedroom apartment!  Mental note... must come back with Gord and the girls...  There is something about this sleepy town of 400 people.  I get sucked in everytime!  I am such a country girl at heart.  I would be able to live that lifestyle no problem!  There is nothing wrong with waking up and seeing the Alps from your bedroom window. 

The town church

 

Directions to all the neighboring towns.

 

View from my bedroom

View from the living room.

Neighboring area

Mountain flowers.

 

Castel Thun

Snow!

Rome

It was decided very last minute that I was to go to Italy for 10 days.  Poor me  :)  Well, in fact, I went for work purposes but seeing that I had not been there in 16 years, I went to spend some time with my family in Northern Italy.  And since I had a supplier in Rome, I made a pit stop there too!

So first off, Rome for 2 days.  I was picked up at the airport by my coffee supplier who then took me to visit his present factory and then his new one.  He then dropped me off at my hotel to settle in but of course, I did not stay there long.  I needed to get out there and explore!  My hotel was just around the corner form the Colisseum so I grabbed my camera and headed off by foot.  I explored the area a little and made a plan for the next day.  Later that evening, I went out for a typical Roman dinner with my supplier and thenit was pass out time.  Jet-lag had finally gotten the best of me. 

The next day, I purchased a hop-on, hop-off bus  pass on a double decker bus and made my way around town with that.  These are some of the stops I made.  My time in Rome was very short so I chose to not visit any museums or any of the sorts.  Will save that for my next trip.  I chose to ride the bus and just walk through all the neighborhoods and just simply hang.  Loved Rome!  Can't wait to go back...



Colisseum

Colisseum area

Colisseum area

 

St. Peter's Basilica

The Vatican

 

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Navona

Spanish Steps