Bike ride on a wall

Today we had some yummy breakfast at our hotel for the first time, since we'd slept in yesterday. We had some juice, a torte, homemade biscuits with jam and mommy and daddy had coffee & cappuccino. After that we walked to the train station because mommy and daddy had to change their night ticket to Paris - we booked it for the wrong night! On the way back, we stopped at a park nearby to watch some kids play. I got out for a little bit and tried to play, but i was so small they almost didn't see me and nearly ran me over :(

We stopped by the cathedral before having some lunch at Caffe Europa. Look at the cool gargoyles in front.

After lunch we decided to go for a bike ride around town. Our B&B has bikes we can use during our stay, and they even had a special seat for me!

After a nice long ride on the wall around Ferrara, we went home, took a nap and then went out to eat at Ca' d'Frara. i thought it was taking way too long for our meal to show up (mommy and daddy both got the tourist menu), so i made them take me outside to run around, even during the meal.

15 hours of sleep

Wow - we all slept for about 15 hours - no joke! We woke up at 1pm today. We eventually got up today and went for a walk around the city. We went and had a pastry and saw the Castello Estense, the big old castle in the center of town, just down the street from our B&B.

Then we went to see the Cattedrale di San Giorgio and i had my first taste of real, authentic gelato. I couldn't get enough! After i scarfed down my gelato, we kept strolling around time, trying to pass time before the earliest-allowable supper time in Italy. we found a hidden park that had mostly rocks, rather than grass, and i threw them all over!

For supper tonight we ate at Leon d'Oro. this restaurant has two "fronts" - one on a main street, and one in a plaza. we sat in the plaza because i was being difficult, and didn't want to sit down AT ALL. Mommy had some yummy green lasagna, and daddy has his favorite - gnocchi! i had about 2 bites of each and thew a fit while running around the plaza. ;)

my first international flight

This weekend we stayed with my mimi and papa in Chicago, where we flew out from. Yesterday (8/28) papa Rick dropped us off at the airport at 1pm (Central). Our flight arrived to our gate late, but we all survived, because there was a play area right across from the gate! Mommy and daddy were very thankful.

we finally left the airport around 4:30pm. when we got on the plane, it took mommy and daddy 2 tries to get me to wear the harness. It was a little difficult because it doesn't have a strap to go between my legs, so i kept slouching down. Eventually i let them put it on me, and i fell asleep before we even took off! But, i only slept for 1 hour. i slept on and off...it was kind of hard to sleep, because i am a wild sleeper and roll all over the place. as you can imagine, mommy's lap and those airplane seats don't allow for much rolling room!

We eventually got to the Rome airport around  8:30am (Italian time) this morning. We had to take a train from the airport to Termini (30 minutes), the main train station in Rome. There we got on another train to go to Bologna (about 3 hours), and yet one more there to go to our final city of Ferrara (about 30 minutes). We decided to walk to our B&B - Locanda Borgonuovo, which mommy found out about on Budget Travel! We finally got here around 1:00pm (Italian time). We had a quick snack and went to the Plenty Market around the corner. Now, it's time for an early bedtime, since we didn't sleep very well on the plane.

last post before our trip!

here are a few pictures from a week or so ago:

 mommy even put up a giraffe "mosaic" in my room. i love it!

And, here's our veggies from this week! 3 corn cobs, 2 muskmelon, 1 watermelon, 5# taters, 2 tiny leeks, bag of 'maters, 2 large onions, 2 cukes, 4 zukes, 1 pt sm 'maters, 1 funny eggplant w/ a nose, 1 jalapeño, 1 bulb garlic, 1 sm head broccoli!

So daddy's work decided to send him on a trip 1 week before we leave on our big vacation. He left last thursday, and comes back tonight. This trip took him to LA, and usually when he gets back, i am in bed and don't get to see him until the next morning.

But i did get a surprise this weekend - Grandma came to visit! Mommy was very happy because Grandma helped keep me occupied and helped mommy get stuff done for the trip - lots of shopping, cooking (of CSA veggies!) and other items crossed off the before-the-trip list.

Tonight before i went to bed i had some abeebee (applesauce). it is yummy!

Lots of nummy veggies!

we've been busy lately - mommy has been trying to figure out what to do with all of the veggies we get from our CSA. a few days ago she made some zucchini basil muffins, and i like the more than bananas!
Last week we got 3 melons, broccoli, green onions, green peppers, white onions, 8 cobs of corn, 4 cucumbers, 4 zucchini/summer squash, green beans, an eggplant and some basil.

This week (last night) we got zucchini, beets, corn, carrots, 3 melons, cucumbers, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, garlic and onions!

i've also been very independent. When daddy asks me to change my diaper, i say "NO" and run away (while giggling, of course); and when anyone asks if they can help me with my spoon, i say "NO" and take it out of their reach.

The other day, I showed mommy and daddy my new trick - i push my lego bin over to the ottoman and climb on top. I'm also able to get down off the couch all by myself. The other thing i like to do lately is "nest" - i take a blanket, put stuff on top and cover it all up. then i lay on top of it!

We're also finalizing all of our plans to go on our trip to Europe. This week we received our Eurail passes.

a rash and some corn. but not because of corn.

Sorry, no new pictures yet this week, but here's another one from my visit to grandma and grandpa's.

yesterday i had to go to the doctor for a short bit - the daycare told mommy i needed to get my rash checked out. mommy wasn't very happy, because i have such sensitive skin that i get rashes for lots of things :( luckily the doctor did say that it's just heat rash on top of my extra sensitive skin. i am also working on my 8th tooth (to finally be symmetrical), and he said that could add to it a little as well.

today i had some more corn. mommy said it's nice i like it, because 1) i can eat it by myself, and 2) we have and will be getting lots from our CSA. tonight, though, i felt like sharing with wrigley. after i was done with my cob, i threw it on the floor. wrigley did not want to give it up and mommy and daddy had to wrestle her to get it back.

i'm saying a new word every few days now... this weekend i started to say "nu" and point to my mouth or my nuk if i can see it. i also pointed and said my version of "Truck" when i saw trucks or big vehicles. i know that mommy has a red car, and if it's the only one in the lot, i can point to it. i still get a little confused if there is more than one car, though. give me time :)