This summer the girls have been helping a little boy with his reading. They have been teaching phonics instead of word memorization. He is making huge improvements!
For the 4th of July we took our traditional day trip to the beach to celebrate. WE passed by this cute little cafe covered in beautiful flowers.
There's a castle on every beach, right?
It's not crowded at all. We got our spots for the day. We are thankful for umbrellas in the hot mediterranean sun.
We were glad to have Hadassah here with us this year!
Lauren finally got to use her pink flamingo floatie at the beach! I have to say, it's a brilliant idea :)
Katherine and Kaden
Hudson taking his turn chillin on the flamingo
That smile :)
Enjoying our time at Nettuno Beach
It's perfect for families because there is soooo much sand and the water is shallow for quite some time before it gradually gets deeper
taking a break to dig a hole with Capri
Hanging out with the Cloins...we have so enjoyed getting to know them this year!
American flag fruit pizza...yum!
This explosion happened not too far from where we and the Cloins live. We had already left early that morning heading to the beach, but they were still home. Their windows slammed shut from the force of the explosion. So crazy.
Well, this girl got an early 18th birthday gift. She had been eyeing this skirt for a while, and I finally went in and bought it! Then she was determined to find it (because the store was sold out near us) and wanted me to go with her all over town searching for it so that she could buy it with her own money.
I finally gave in and just gave her the gift early :) She was surprised and liked it a lot
Jonathan and I went to our first wedding here in Italy. It was a beautiful ceremonyh.
The view from the parking lot
taking a selfie before we go in
the ceremony
afterwards at the reception
There was soooo much food! This one part of the appetizers
my appetizer plate
The sunset over the town was beautiful
The dinner
first course...amatriciana
first course (again)....cacio pepe
2nd course!! Then there was still cake and an entire dessert buffet!!! We didn't leave the wedding until midnight!
The cake and bride and groom...CJ and Mary Claire (daughter of Roy and Jenna McIntyre)
the dessert bar
San Giovanni at night
Hadassah's last night....we decide to walk back down to the Colosseum to see it at night. I am so glad we did! It was so fun to do that again.
Lauren
Hudson
The moon was so pretty that night, too!
Someone offered to take our photo for us
nice view
Hudson
group shot (with a yawning Hudson)
It's ok, we took a selfie after we saw the picture that the other guy took for us
Lauren
Katherine
One more photo spot....still trying to decide which spot we like best for photos ;)
So glad these 2 have become such good friends!
The wall near our house/in the San Giovani area
Castel Sant'Angelo
Where Julius Casear was assassinated
walking to see the mouth of truth
finally made it down here to see it in person
The legend: if you stick your hand in here and tell the truth, nothing will happen. If you lie, it will eat your hand.
Crazy fact about where the legend came from...there used to be a guy that stood behind the wall with a sword. If he thought you were lying, he would really chop your hand off!!! Yikes!
Temple of Janus....on the list of places Hadassah wanted to visit. It was our first time here. We really didn't see that much since they were doing construction on teh inside, but Hadassah was super excited all the same (I think they had been studying this place in her school)
looks like the Colosseum but it's not....it's a theater
saying goodbye at the airport!
Breakfast with the girsl after dropping off Hadassah
This was a neat event that we got to help host. Some Christian NFL players came to Rome to hold a camp and share their faith.
After the event, they ask our family to take show them where to eat, so we ate with them and then split ways...half went one direction and the other half went with us for gelato as our family was walking back to the metro.
Ruth has been in the US the past year. She was in town for a week. It's really crazy though because her English has gone downhill because she said she didn't need to use it in America....what?!
2nd coffee of the day...I just couldn't though, so I had water
Awe! Hudson! This photo went to the end of the blog for some reason. It goes with our Nettuno pictures :)
