havearadsummer

Tuscany is slow but incredibly not boring. We were worried 7 days in the Italian countryside would be a little much. I worried about the kids wanting to be on their ipads the whole time and just bored to tears by the extraordinary rustic beauty and sense of peace we adults long to experience.

After renting a car in Pisa we hit the road for the 2-hour drive to Monsignor Della Casa - a place we decided to stay after much research on the World Wide Web, aka, “the other woman.” From the moment the tires of our Fiat Punto crunched down cathartically on the pea gravel of the driveway, I knew this place, with its sights, sounds (or lack thereof) and smells was the type that imprints itself fiercely upon you so that you are bombarded with happy memories at the faintest hit of rosemary, or sight of olive trees. It was, to me, idyllic. But I am rather sloth-like. And with the rest of my family tends to have the energy of equal parts hummingbird and tween at a Justin Bieber concert. So we would have to see how this would go.

After checking into our apartment we hit the pool, which, upon just first sight appeared to be a watering hole for the youth of the northern countries of the European union. We had picked this place because it looked like there would be lots of families and a chance for our kids to meet other kids. It would just be a matter of cutting the cord. Fortunately, Ingrid, after being stuck with her parents and no peers for the last week, hit the friend making trail with the persistence of a Jehovah Witness solicitor and the people skills of, well… Ingrid. Watching kids make friends with other kids that speak very little of the same language is kind of like watching a baby being born. I mean, you might support on the sidelines or worry that it’s not gonna happen but one way or the other that kid is comin’ out. Or in this case, your kids will run off to the soccer field and play. Because of the language barrier, Noah and Ingrid’s new friends from the Netherlands, were known as “the girl” and “the boy” for an embarrassingly long time. But it didn’t seem to matter – they swam, played soccer, made bead necklaces and it all seemed to work. While Ingrid was ready to slumber party at their apartment the first night, Noah was a little more reserved. And in his defense it is hard to find motivation to make new friends when your dad is like the most fun dad in the world. It’s a hard act to follow. As has pretty much always been the case though, soccer is the equivalent of the mom who shows up to the park with a cooler full of those red, orange and purple popsicles on a 90-degree day. It brings people together. The soccer field was awesome. Close enough to the pool that they could hop out and play and hop in when it got too hot. That is where Noah really became buddies with the other kids and Jeremy logged in the majority of his fitbit steps for that leg of the trip.

It cracks me up to think that, prior to booking this place, we had a reservation for another that had a kitchen but no restaurant. I thank my husband for realizing that this would not be as relaxing. I’m sure he rightly imagined seven days of going to the market with me and the kids banging his head against the wall as I tried to wrestle my way through the analysis paralysis that is “what should we have for dinner tonight” in our house. The food at the restaurant was amazing – people make reservations to eat there even when they are not guests. The staff and servers know you and your children by name and remember what you like. Complimenting this was the fact that we could put our kids order in for our kids and send them off to play with other kids and enjoy one of the aperol spritzers we had come to look forward to. In addition to the great dinners, we also enjoyed having a cappuccino or two with fresh bread with butter and jam, eggs, croissants, ham and yoghurt for breakfast every morning – the Italian version of cocoa pebbles for the kids. You do whatcha gotta do folks. We did also make a couple trips to the Penny Market to get supplies for lunch along with some water bottles. This is also where we got the random bead set that served as entertainment during parts of the day.

When it came time to leave, I was kind of emotional – the kind that feels a little over the top and embarrassing. I tend to cry at people’s weddings that I am not particularly close to and then am totally dry eyed at the wedding of good friends. Kind of like that. I can’t guarantee that we will be back there soon to visit, but am already looking forward to that rush of sensory flashback when we do.