Lago di Como - DAY 2

A cold rainy day in Michigan seems like the perfect time to look back through some Italy pictures and remember more beautiful days. But don't think my kids aren't punishing me as I write this. Oh what a mess I will  we will have to clean up afterwards as a price for such indulgence :)

The second day of our trip we traveled north to Lake Como. I decided that Lake Como was where I would want to live if we ever move to Italy (I didn't realize I was going to say the same thing about almost every city we went to). Andrew served 8 months of his mission in Lake Como and it is probably the place he is most attached to.

We went to church since it was Sunday and watched a little bit of General Conference. The church  house is literally a huge ancient villa with a great view of the lake. I wouldn't mind going to church there every Sunday. 

We also took a little stroll over the border to Switzerland. I really appreciated the signs (probably for lame Americans like me) that made it clear we were no longer in Como.

From the little I saw of Switzerland, I can definitely see why people describe it as being so clean. I didn't see any overgrown shrubs or a single piece of trash in the street. I liked it but I still preferred Italy. It is a little more romantically messy (if that makes sense).

Back in Italy...

We went and visited the Rosetti's, a family that Andrew taught on his mission. This was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. It was so fun to see how much they love Andrew. I didn't understand much of what they said but it was obvious how important he is to them even after all these years.

Below is rumored to be Santa's workshop

Here is the mailbox where you put Santa's letters:

The Rosetti's own a clothing shop in a little town called Cernobbio. I wanted EVERYTHING in the store. Italians have great taste. Since I didn't understand Italian I pretty much spent most of my time ogling over all their clothes. If you're ever the neighborhood, check it out and bring your euros.

Ricardo's rockin' skinnies made me want to get Andrew a pair of purple pants. But if there is anything that would probably never ever happen, it is Andrew in purple skinny jeans.

This was Andrew's mission apartment. He focused a lot on showing Marika and I a good time, but I'm sure his mind was flooded with memories the whole time we were there.

The Duomo in Como

Yeah, I could definitely live here. Nestled up in the hills with a view of this beautiful mountain lake. There has to be a way to make this happen.

We started to drive to Lezzeno where we were staying for the night, but we had to stop for some sunset pictures. We just pulled over randomly and caught this amazing view.

I have some more pictures from this night but they are on Marika's camera (she had a great low light lens). So I will have to add them later.

When we got to our bed & breakfast (more on that later) we walked down the street to a little Italian restaurant and had the most amazing pear-stuffed raviolli. It is one of my goals in life to replicate it. Perfect day.

Other Italy posts here and here

Up Next: Bellagio, Varenna, & Bergamo

Fall Leaves

I have been dreading this post a little because I know I have absolutely no ability to narrow down my selection of pictures. I CAN'T DO IT! I just love them ALL. Andrew just saw all the pictures and even he thinks I went overboard. Sorry. I'm in love with these boys. I think if you scroll through them quickly it might actually play like a movie :).

 These little men love fake glasses.

Cam: I'm a doctor
Mom: Don't let Daddy hear that. He doesn't want you to be a doctor
Luke: Why doesn't Daddy want us to be doctors?
Mom: If you really wanted to be a doctor he would be proud of you. He would be proud whatever you wanted to be.
Luke: I want to be a dog.

[silence.]

And now for a LOT of pictures I took while our family raked leaves last month. I was a little nervous when we moved to a street with a lot of trees. I thought that raking leaves was going to be annoying. But turns out it is my absolute favorite thing to do in the Fall. Little boys + crunchy leaves = LOVE.

Cam. is. so. cute. He is also as strong-willed as an ox. He is so vocal, I can hardly believe the things that come out of his mouth sometimes. I feel like I can communicate with him so effortlessly.

About 100 times a day, Cam says, "Look at me Mommy! Look at me!" and then he will do something cool like jump or dance a little jig. He makes us all laugh.

Luke adores his little brother along with the rest of us. In fact, Luke has been rallying for more siblings. A recent conversation:

Luke: I want another baby. We should go to the baby store and pick one out.

Me: You think it's that easy?

Luke: Yeah, we go to the store, the girl babies are in the back and the boy babies are in the front.

Me: [trying to ignore the part about girls being at the back of the store] Hmmmm...which one would we get?

Luke: A girl baby. We already have boys.

If only it were that easy.

"ta-da!" He says that a lot lately.

Luke was not so interested in being photographed.