Sesame Street - Buffy Nurses Cody

Operation "Wean Sammi" is underway. Dan and Cindy arrived in Rome today. I go pick them up tomorrow, then it is 'tourist' stuff until they leave on the 6th. So, my blog will probably be on hold until then.

Their visit is perfect timing. I've been worried about weaning Sammi - since the 2 year mark is coming up soon. 2 years was my goal, since GOD and the WHO (world health org) both say 2 years. 20 months is close enough, right? (I know, I know. Some of you are all like, "OMG, she is going to nurse that baby forever!" But, I'm ready - she is dealing with it - and I need a break before the next one!)

Oh, why the visit is perfect. Because at the end of their visit I am going to Rome with them for 3 days, and...and...AND....I am leaving G with Daddy! That will be it! I'm slowly cutting back. Actually, I'm wearing a shirt in the tub with her so she is only getting the pookies in the morning. She'll be fine by the time the 4th of Nov rolls around.

See you after the visit!!

Weekend Trip (from HELL!)

So, on the 5th and 6th Sammi and I went with the whack-job Canadians to Orvieto and Bagnoregli. It was interesting, but the guy who plans these trips couldn’t plan his way out of a paper bag. Case in point: we were supposed to be staying IN Orvieto. That is why I went alone with G. I was going to bag the tour, let her have a nap, go out exploring the town, get some wine and a to-go meal, put her to bed and read a book. This was what one other lady was going to do, too (bag the tour part.)

But noooooo, we are staying somewhere 45 minutes away! He changed the hotel on Monday without telling anyone. He said because 5 rooms would have had to use shared bathrooms, and he couldn’t find anyone who would do it. We actually got into a huge argument at the hotel, in front of everyone. Since I’m not Canadian I don’t just take crap like that without saying anything. When he told me that, I said, “Well you didn’t ask me! And you didn’t ask ____! We would have done it because this is Europe, and that is what you DO! This isn’t the trip I signed up for, and I would have cancelled if I had known we were NOT staying in Orvieto.” OMG – I was so mad. I wanted to punch him. (He was all, "Who me? I did not know. I thought we were 2 or 3 clicks from town." And I was all, "It's YOUR JOB to know!")

After already being on the bus for 5 hours we drove another 45 minutes to get there, then had to hang out until everyone was ready to leave at 8:30 pm. Sammi was exhausted and sick from too much junk food on the bus (and it turns out, an ear infection) so she threw up all over me just before we got on the bus. That was great for the 45 minute ride back to the hotel, what with me reeking of barf. We were then supposed to eat supper, but I made them bring me something in my room because I couldn’t keep G up another minute. The next day was better, because it was what I expected. But he still inadvertently made me carry my whole bag of supplies with me, needlessly, because of another communications mix-up. Damn ESLs! Those French-Canadians really bug me.

When we made it back to Naples that night I had never been so glad to get back to Naples in my life! It was an interesting trip, and I would like to go back some weekend with Jack, on our own schedule. But it will be a cold day in Hades before I take another group trip with these folks!! Whewwwww.

The top 2 pics are from the hill town Bagnoregli. The church is the Duomo in Orvieto. It was cloudy and rainy that first day, so the pics weren't that great.

Thor! God of Thunder (insert thunder noise here.)

Our trip to Norway was awesome! Jack had to go to Stavanger for a couple weeks, so we joined him the last 5 days. When we landed in Olso I knew we were in a different place. I spotted about 15 mullets on my way to the next terminal. In Stavanger I even saw a toddler with one. (sad.) I wanted them to have Viking hair! Not mullets. In the end, I did see several men with long Viking hair, so that's ok.

What a nice break from Bella Napoli. We didn’t hear a siren the entire time we were there. And – they have immigrants!!! That means we could get ANY kind of food we wanted. Crazy. We ate meat every day (something we don’t do here) and one night we even had Turkish food! I almost died when I saw the menu was in Turkish and Norwegian at the Kebab House! Mmmmmm!!! I never was brave enough to try the fish in tubes that they squeeze out and eat for breakfast. It looked like grey fish mayonnaise. Ewww.

We were lucky because the first day and a half we were there the weather was beautiful. Sunny skies, perfect for feeding the ducks in the pond across from our hotel. We did that every day after breakfast because Sammi loved it. We would take bread and feed the ducks.

The next day is was rainy, but not too cold. We wanted to do the fjord tour so we did it anyway. It was gorgeous and we just stayed inside for most of the trip. We did go up top once to eat our 1-kilo of fresh shrimp and drink our smuggled cans of beer. At one point the boat pulled over to a waterfall and put a bucket on a hook out to get some of the water. Then they gave it to everyone in cups. It was pretty good!

On Sunday we had a rental car so we took the ferry to Tau and then drove all around the area. It was gorgeous. Luckily, we had brought a picnic lunch because everything was closed. We found some picnic tables by the water and ate leftover Turkish food, leftover shrimps, hotdogs and pizza. Then, we fed the fish there. Sammi had fun throwing the shrimp heads into the water and watching the big fish get them.

The next day we had to get up early for our 0600 flight back to Naples. It went ok and when we landed it was still like 90 degrees F here. We were looking forward to some pizza but it was Monday and a lot of restaurants are closed on Monday. Our normal one is, and the other one we use said “forse” on the menu – which means maybe open, but probably not. We were lucky, though, and found some pizza to enjoy on our evening back home.

Jack left for a wedding in the UK today, and tomorrow G and I are going on a trip to Orvieto! Yay for gallivanting!