Italy, finally.

Boy, did time get away from me! Summer is over, we're back in school, I've already run my first fall program (orlando, yuck...) and I haven't even begun to share the fun of our trip! So, here goes.... in chapters, from my journal.

Italy, Day One - Departure from Boston

Red eye flight. 8 hours long. 6 year old boy. The math is pretty simple. However, a little benadryl helped him get a few hours of sleep on the plane. He was the only one though!

I knew this would happen... so I booked...

Day Two - Rome (sort of)

We landed in Rome right on time at 8am on Friday morning. We had to wait nearly 40 minutes for our luggage, then customs, an immigration... but then there was our trusty driver, Luigi, waiting for us outside of customs. 4 bottles of water and 20 minutes later, we were checked in to our hotel (Marriott Rome Park - not anywhere near the city, but a nice pool, a comfy beds) and crashed. Yes, I have always given the advice to get out in the sunlight.... get the seratonin levels going... beat that jet lag! But having not slept even ONE minute on the plane, we were all ready to sleep. And sleep we did!

Peter was first to make Italian friends - two boys who were the sons of the (so VERY hot) lifeguard at the pool were the only ones swimming. They spoke NO English, and Peter can say Grazie and Bun-Journo.... but play is the international language and they got on just fine.

Dinner, a little television and bed finished day one.

Day Two - Civitavecchia

The Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas is a really nice, mid-sized ship. We had sailed to Bermuda last year on the Grandeur (twin sister), but I found the Legend to be nicer. The rooms are a little bigger, the storage a little better and the public space much nicer. The ship guests were 90% Brits - which made it feel very international, yet with the comforts of home (i.e., chicken nuggets at dinner). The first night was lovely, a beautiful Mediterranean sunset, a cool breeze and the promise of great adventure lay ahead.

Day Three - Portofino

I've long said that if I eat my vegetables, hold back on the potty words and behave myself, heaven will look like Portofino. It was as I remembered - a fairy tale town of villas on steep hills tumbling down to the blue waters of the Med. T has decided she wants to live there, and plans to open a branch of a friend's boutique, even. Sounds like a good plan to me!

After wondering around a bit,

shopping, climbing one to many hills


then relaxing for a cold drink, we were back on the ship ready for our next adventure.

Head Like a Lump of Unbaked Bread Dough

Can't. Stop. Laughing.

See what happens when we leave the country?

I know it's time for a full summary of the fun stuff we did it Italy and Croatia, but I have to get this in before the chance disappears....

Seriously, what is McCain thinking? Who is this woman from Alaska? I know who she is, she is McCain's willingness to pander to the very far, conservative right. I am willing to bet 100 Kunas to anyone who is willing that she will not be on the ticket by Saturday of this week. Faster than you can say Thomas Eagleton (the 18-day running mate of McGovern in '72 - now there's some good reading!), she will be off "spending more time with her family" in Alaska, and we will be considering Lieberman or some other of his ilk as the man "a heartbeat away" from the Republican Nominaton.

So before my opportunity to weigh in on this is gone, I have to say my piece. Personally, I don't care if her daughter is pregnant. I don't care if her husband had a DUI 20 years ago (I mean, what the hell else is there to do in Alaska but drink?). What I do care about is that she is an anti-choice, gun toting, opposed to same-sex partners getting benefits, hard-assed Republican who wants to push her hyper-conservative agenda on my country.

On CNN the other night:

"Before, they were excited about her, with the Down syndrome baby,” conservative, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said. “But now with this, they are over the moon. It reinforces the fact that this family lives its pro-life values.”

Over the moon. Because the best time to move across the country and take on one of the most demanding jobs in the world is six months after you have given birth to an infant with special needs? Is that what they mean by focus on the family? Or maybe because seventeen is the ideal age for motherhood and has no effect on the lifelong earnings and opportunities for women who reproduce at that age? Or is it because the success rates for teen marriages is high?

Oh? None of the above? So what exactly are they “over the moon” about? I guess I’m part of the “liberal left” who doesn’t get it.