Indebted

We just returned from a quick but amazing Italian Adventure.

We are INDEBTED to several families for allowing us the opportunity to go:

The Logans, the Franklins, the Reynolds, the Hasiuks, and Kirk Peterson.

You all cared for, fed, washed both boys and clothes, refereed, swam with, and kept them from harm while riding their bikes, along with many other things so Chris could attend the SPE Conference and I could cheer him on.

Our tickets had us leaving from from different countries. So after Chris left me in Dammam he drove on to Bahrain for his flight. I flew to Dubai and then met him in Amsterdam where we also met up with our dear friend Marjory from Alaska. We then all caught the last leg to Bologna together arriving just in time for lunch. Oh yeah paninni with fresh mozzarella di buffola and the real Fanta.

First we drove to Ascoli Piceno.

This is one of our favorite cities. It has amazing food, good friends, and very few tourists. Here you walk ancient streets where all the sights and sounds are truly Italian.

Chris was in desperate need of a new suit so we spent a bit of the afternoon shopping.
Then gathered with dear friends, some of whom had just arrived back into town as well, for a wonderful meal (except Chris who ordered Polenta, it took so long we were all done before his meal arrived). Unfortunately, the all night travel had caught up with Graham and I had to take him back to the hotel and we didn't get a picture of the grand reunion group. At one point G grabbed my camera and did take this one of the meal.

The next morning we set off for the Fortezza delle Armi (The Fortress of the Army) in nearby Civitella del Tronto.

It was a windy and twisty road that brought us here. Along the path we discovered that I am not the only one in the family who suffers from motion sickness.
Just where the road intersects with the brown field in the picture above is where Graham could no longer keep down his breakfast. Luckily I had extra clothes for him but his car seat was completely destroyed. As I took the car seat cover off Chris set out to find a towel to get things cleaned up. A women in a nearby house was kind enough to give us one. When Chris told her we had a sick kid and needed some help she responded, "Where did you find this sick kid?" Uh. Laughingly Chris replied, "He's ours." As if we just found some sick kid wandering around.
So with all the windows down and a somewhat clean padless car seat we made it to our destination.....

....only to be attacked by flying ants. They didn't bite but they sure where pesky. Once we realized what those strange black clouds were we avoided the swarms.

We learned during this visit that some of the prisoners that had been captured here were later taken to America to fight in the Civil War for the south. I thought that a bit strange to have people fight for something that wasn't their cause. I mean would they even fight at all since they weren't even concerned about what was going on. I guess they thought it would be better to be soldiers in America than be shipped off to Australia.

Graham found the two seater bathroom facilities very interesting.

After our tour we had no choice but to head down the same road we came up. However, this time G slept the entire way down and was ready for some lunch. He was so angry during this meal because whenever he dropped his pasta on the ground the pigeons would scavenge for it right away. He started yelling, "NO, No, Mine!" Even though he couldn't have it he sure didn't want them to get it either. Now he knows how Ethan feels all the time.

Since Marjory had never been to Ascoli our friend Alberto became our personal tour guide. He would stop us every so often and say, "Take a picture of that! Isn't it beautiful. It's very old and very important."

So we did.
These are Roman washing machines. OK so they aren't machines it was where the women gathered to do the washing.

He then took us INSIDE an ancient Roman bridge.

That evening while waiting for friends in Piazza Graham busied himself cleaning pillars and poles with his wipes.

These are some of the members the church from when Chris served here.

Our last morning we visited with the parents of Chris' friend Serafino. Each time we come we have more children and they just can't get enough of them. They weren't too happy that we didn't bring all the boys and couldn't stay longer but we needed to get on the road.

More to come.....