Sunday, January 25, 2015

Break shesh

Made GREAT use of our last 2 days before Christmas break ended!
I love how when we arrived at the hillside park, they asked what we should do. After an hour of playing with rocks, they still weren't ready to leave. And having an open stretch of car free path to run is priceless here in Malta. The sweetest part? It's just down the hill from our house. Love!

December Shenanigans

Rambling and roaming days in December. Crafts and staying busy!
 
 

Italy- Amalfi Coast


From Sicily, we boarded a ferry in Messina and crossed to Villa Giovanni, Italy. The crossing was quick and easy.
For 4-5 hours, we drove north along the coast. It was nice to drive fast for once, on nice open highways, but there was a lot of construction and it was much more mountainous than we anticipated.


We made it to the Amalfi Coast on a Sunday evening, just before sunset. The traffic along the windy road, perched unimaginably on the cliffside, was jammed with cars and suicidal motorcycle drivers.
 

Our hotel Hotel San Michele has a parking pad along the road in Ravello and then switchbacks down the cliffside with various buildings, staircases and a swimming pad at the sea. The little old woman at the reception speaks NO English and since our Italian is nonexistant, it was an interesting check in process.

From the hotel, we drove to Pompeii and walked into Maori to get some pizza and see the town. It was a nice chill place to stay, lots of character and a great price. The sunrises and sunsets from here are WOW!
 
Wish we would have had a chance to take more photos and see more of the Amalfi, but I spent most of the time either holding rumbly tummied kids (windy roads!), navigating or helping tired kids. Our ferry from Siciliy got moved up by over 12 hours, so we were uber rushed on that portion of the trip. Sadly, I don't know if I'll ever lure Chris there again, so the memories in my head might not ever see make it to print. 
 Most of my car photos looked like these, trying to catch beauty between kids and curves.
 
On vacations, I often try to rise before the sun and enjoy some quiet moments alone with the dawn. Sitting in the low haze just before dawn, the air feels so different and the day so full of potential. Ceiba crept out on one of my mornings, she sat on the floor and watched with awe while the sun woke the sky and sea before us. I could watch her wonder and vibrant eyes do that every morning.