Castello Sforzesco

Tuesday, Dave traveled to Geneva by train to visit Alcon.  Instead of spending $250 on a roundtrip train ticket, I decided to explore the city.  Dave left early; I took the opportunity to sleep in.  I finally got up around 10, had a Cliff Bar and a Coca Cola Light (not at all as tasty as a Diet Coke), and hit the city to explore.

My first stop was Castello Sfrozesco.  I rode the Metro and walked right to the castle.  I approached from the side, but did walk around front to see the fountain and the statue across the way in front of the castle.

The castle dates back to the late 1300s and Galeazzo II Visconti.  Then in 1450 it was transformed into a ducal residence by Francesco Sforza. After serving as military barracks for various groups, the castle was turned over to the city in the late 1800s and is used as a venue for various cultural events.  The castle was damaged by WWII bombings in 1943, but has been restored.

The fountain is described as the most beautiful in Milan.

Giuseppe Garabali Monument in front of Castello Sforzesco

Piazza del Armi inside the castle

Ducal Courtyard

Moat around the castle walls

Il Duomo Milan

After we made it to Milan, we caught the train and rode into the Centrale train station, then walked a few blocks to our hotel.  After learning that you have to put the card for your door in a reader on the wall to have the lights turn on, we unpacked a bit, took showers, then headed out to the city center to see a few sights, have lunch, and meet Dave's class on the steps of Il Duomo for his second company meeting.

Dave and I were struck each place that we visited by the attention to detail and the age of the buildings.  We were also saddened by all of the graffiti we saw.

Each city's principal church is called "Il Duomo."  Milan's Duomo is impressive.  A concert was being held in the piazza at the church.

After a lunch in a restaurant in the Galleria adjacent to the Duomo, we walked through the Duomo before Dave met up with his class.  I chatted with a few of the girls as the group walked through the city to Hotel Bosco for a company visit.  While they toured the hotel, I did a bit of shopping.  There were many stores in Milan that are found in the US (H&M, Timberland, Dolce & Gabbana, Coach), but the most interesting store I went into was a department store.  It was at least 8 stories.  The first floor was home to cosmetic counters, very similar to what you see in the US.  The second floor was home to purses.  Each designer had a "store" that opened onto the square that housed the escalators.  The clothing was the same way.  There would be a "store" area that housed all of the clothes by that designer.  There was a floor with home goods; the top floor housed a restaurant and specialty foods. 

After window shopping a bit, I headed back to the piazza at Il Duomo, where I purchased my first of many cups of gelato to eat while I waited for Dave to finish his work.

Back at the hotel, we took a quick power nap then wandered down to the lobby, where we met other students from TCU.  We joined them for a tram ride down to a canal area of the city.  Once there, we chose a Greek restaurant for dinner.  The owner was very accommodating of our group of ten.  He spoke no English.  He did bring us a menu written in English so we could order.  He had one kind of beer in stock, Vergina, so we drank this Greek lager with our dolmathes and roasted lamb skewers.  Afterwards, we had another gelato for dessert!

Even the doors are intricately carved.

We're Back

From atop the Duomo in Florence

We used our passports and traveled to Italy this month.  The occasion? One of Dave's graduate classes.  I was lucky enough to get to tag along, and we were both lucky enough for the grandmas to agree to come to Texas to watch Gavin while we traveled.

We had a bit of an issue getting out, since yours truly decided that about 100 feet from the gate was the perfect place and time to have a fainting spell.  I was taken from the airplane, which was already 3 hours delayed due to weather.  We went to the ER; I was checked out.  Nothing wrong.  We were able to get rebooked and left on Sunday.  We had to fly into Laguardia and take a cab to JFK before heading across the Atlantic to Milan.

Dave missed his first company visit and his Italian language quiz.  We both missed seeing The Last Supper; I had purchased tickets in advance.  Oh well.  We made it.  We had a great time.  We saw lots.  We missed Gavin.

I'll work on getting posts up.

 

At Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Zoo

On Good Friday, Gavin and I went to the zoo.  I uploaded pictures at some point, but never added a story.  I just found this when I started working on posts from our trip to Italy.  Ooopsie.

Gavin and I had a fun trip--just the two of us.  Since it was just us, I allowed him to look at each animal as long as he wanted to before moving on to see another animal.  

One of Gavin's favorite was the bear because he was pacing back and forth.  

You can't go wrong with an Icee on a warm day.  Since we packed our lunch, we had an Icee and some blue cotton candy.  Gavin didn't know what to call the cotton candy when he spotted it, so he asked for "some of that blue messy stuff."  An apt description.

 

As much as Gavin enjoyed watching the bear, by far his favorite spot was this aquarium.  

The weather is warming up, so we'll wait until fall for our next Mama-Gavin date at the zoo.

This is What Happens When Dave Take Gavin to School

TCU Baseball Game

We had planning on going to see the Rangers play last weekend, but they were sold out and tickets were going for way more than we were willing to pay.  So we did the next best thing - we went to watch TCU play baseball.  It was fun, and cheap too.  Tickets were $8 for Miranda and Gavin, and I got in free since I am a student.  

 Miranda and I decided that TCU has the cutest and smallest bat boy in existence.

We had fun, Gavin watched the game for a little while, and then he got bored and wanted to walk around.  He quickly spied a grassy hill where all the kids were playing.  The kids were sliding down the hill on cardboard.  Gavin tried to do the same a few times, but couldn't figure out how to hold onto the cardboard long enough to get a good slide.  So instead he rolled down the hill and was just overall very silly.

 G was one tire little squirt on the drive home.  He had his eyes closed and was still stuffing popcorn into his mount for several minutes.

Easter Party at ECDC

Thursday, Gavin's school had their Easter Party. Wednesday night I made 16 carrot-shaped cheese sandwiches for the kids to enjoy.

I think they're cute open-faced, but they wouldn't have transported very well that way. So they all got carrot-tops.

As is the case, Thursday was a busy day at work. I was able to pop over to see the end of the egg hunt, then I went back to campus for bus duty. I missed the party, but Lindsey made pictures of both the egg hunt and the party.

Lindsey and Matt also made the t-shirts that the boys wore. The "dress day" for school was a bunny shirt; there aren't many bunny shirts out there, so Lindsey had Matt made the design for these cute Peeps shirts. The back says, "Hanging with my peeps" and has more Peeps.


Gavin was running for some eggs.

Gavin loved opening up each egg to see what was inside.



A kiss for Mama.Bring on the food. All that egg hunting makes some kids hungry.

Cheetos are always a favorite.



They made rice krispy treats (some sort of short cut, not like the ones we make at home) that were extra sticky. Gavin and Dean weren't big fans of the stickiness of the treats.

After snacks, Ms. Lorrie was the mystery reader. Her granddaughter is adjusting her bunny ears.

The kids at the ECDC had a big time Thursday.
(You can see the back of Gavin's shirt in this picture.)

Some Gavin Updates

Throwing rocks into the lake is one of Gavin's new favorite things to do.

We are going to have our first fishing trip soon. He already has his rod and is excited. We saw two people catch a fish at the pond the other day, and Gavin had to get a big stick "just like those guys" to catch a fish with. He picked up a stick and started to "fish" with it. So a real fishing pole was a big treat.
We also went to a party on St. Patrick's Day. They boiled crawfish and there were washers to throw and a cornhole board to play with. Gavin wanted really badly to be big enough to play the games with the men.

Student of the Week

Each day, Gavin can earn a sticker at school for being a good boy. I don't ever get there in time to pick him up from his teacher, Ms. Elaine, so I rely heavily on the sticker or lack of a sticker to know how Gavin's day was. Last week, on Monday and Tuesday, Gavin got stickers. On Wednesday, I got distracted when I was picking him up, so I forgot to look for the sticker. When we got in the truck, I asked Gavin if he got a sticker as I buckled him in. He told me that he did and that he might be Student of the Week. I'm guessing if you get a sticker each day, then you are eligible for this honor. We talked up Student of the Week. Friday, he received his Star of the Week certificate and got to select a treat from the treasure chest. He had an orange monster truck and a red race car in his cubby to bring home. He was very proud. We are extremely proud.

********

Some other funny things that have been happening.

********

Tonight I was washing dishes, Gavin was watching Team Umizoomi. He came running into the kitchen, grabbed me by the leg, saying, "Mama, come see." I hurriedly dried my hands thinking, "Oh no, he's going to show me some cool Hot Wheels toy that is being advertised." Oh, I wish it were a toy, instead, it was an Enfimil commercial; he wanted to show me the baby. "Oh, look how cute, Mama." He gets this sweet voice. I'm thinking he's going to be upset when he figures out that Dean is going to have a baby brother or sister in September.

*****

This morning, as I dropped Gavin off at school, he told Ms. Ashley, "I went kayaking this weekend in the red kayak. And, I threw rocks in the lake." After Ms. Ashley exclaimed how much fun that must have been, we turned to walk to his class and met, Ms. Molly. I asked, "Gavin, would you like to tell Ms. Molly what you did this weekend?" Gavin complied: "Ms. Molly, I went tee-tee on a tree." I could not contain the laughter that came out, "Gavin, you weren't supposed to tell that part." I guess Gavin knew Ms. Molly would understand the humor.

******

Over Spring Break, I had my hair up in a towel after taking a shower. I walked through the living room and took the towel off. Gavin looked at me and said, "Mama, I think your hair is kind of sloppy."

******

On morning over Spring Break, Gavin and I were out driving around, from the back seat I hear, "Mom. I think you're smart."

******

Driving home from the lake and Saturday's kayaking adventure, "Mama, will you love on me?" (He's been very affectionate lately; Dave and I aren't completely convinced that he didn't love his way to that Student of the Week certificate.)

First Time in the Kayak

Today's beautiful weather prompted a family outing in the kayaks. Gavin's favorite color is red, so he and Daddy went out in Mama's red kayak, while Mama got the benefit of the rudder on Daddy's blue kayak. I've owned the red kayak for almost 4 years now, and I've never paddled it. We bought it the same day we found out I was pregnant. Since Gavin was too small up until this spring, we've never gone out together in the kayaks. And, I still didn't paddle it.

Dave was pleasantly pleased that Gavin wasn't nervous in the 'yak. I was pleased that he didn't make too much fuss about the life jacket. He's bigger than he was a year and a half ago when we were in Minnesota and the life vest just seemed too big for him. Since's he's grown into it, it didn't bother him.

With the rain we received Tuesday, the rivers and lakes were up. If you look at the top picture, you can see that we had to slip the kayaks under the rail, which is not typically under water.

Since the weather was so beautiful, there were a few boats out on the water. I was nervous that the wake from the boats would bother Gavin, but he seemed to have fun riding the waves. A couple of times, Gavin helped Dave paddle. Sadly I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch the two paddling together.

And, the evidence that I was, in fact, out in a kayak on the lake.