Happy (Healthy) Sam

It's taken nearly two weeks to shake the flu (this was a bad one...the real thing), but we're pleased to report that the entire family is now healthy.  

Sammy is particularly happy now!

Flu Season

It's been a rough week for the Bedells. Thomas came down with flu-like symptoms early in the week (cough, fever, aches, and upset stomach). The sickness knocked him out of action and kept him out of school for days (note the photo of the nebulizer that our doctor prescribed for him). He still has a bad cough, but is showing clear signs of improvement. The bad news, though, is that he infected both Ann and Sammy. Ann's had it the worst, being essentially confined to bed for three days. Luckily, John seemed to make it through the week unscathed.

Hopefully we'll be fully recovered next weekend, and we can get out of the house..

Sun and an Art Museum

The snows of early January finally ended on Thursday of this week.  Actually, there was far more snow than expected, and we were effectively 'snowed in' for part of the week (until a tractor came by to clean our hill).  Now we're back to sun and relatively warmer temperatures.  Over the last year, we seem to have lost some of our tolerance for the white stuff. 

This weekend John went into the office to do some work on Saturday, so we didn't embark on any distant exploration.  Instead, we stayed close to home.  We visted a former monestary that's now an art museum.  The Monestery of Voltorre is fairly clost to our home, and originally dates from the 11th century.   We hadn't realized it until we arrived, but the museum had a showing of the work of Milton Glaser (who designed the original 'I Love NY' logo.  It reminded us a little of home to see the work that he did for many NY institutions and festivals.  

Snowman

We've had far more snow than we did last year!

Visited by a Good Witch

Last year we were too busy worrying about Sammy during his first days at home to notice all of the Italian customs around Epiphany and the end of the Christmas holiday. This year, though, we couldn't avoid it. The first clue is all of the decorations that sport an image of a witch riding a broomstick. There are witches in stores and on TV, and a lot of talk about 'La Befana'. The good witch tradition was completely foreign to us, but it's really very interesting. The witch arrives at homes on the eve of Epiphany and leaves gifts (just like Santa) to good children. The gifts are left in stockings no less! Naturally, we had to get some small goodies for Sammy and Thomas.

The Holidays in Tuscany

During the week between Christmas and New Years, we took Ann's mother on a holiday in Tuscany. It was a nice chance to get out into an area of Italy that we really haven't seen (except for Florence and Pisa). We rented a stone farmhouse near an old castle in the Chianti region for the week. Although the weather was occasionally cold and blustery, we really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity for Grandma to spend a lot of time with Thomas and Samuel, as well as visit some Italian tourist hot-spots.

We first visited Lucca, where we saw the huge battlement-like city walls and old churches. We also spent a full day in Florence. It was our second visit to this historic city. Florence, although still fascinating, was less impressive the second go-round. We did get a chance to go to a few sites that we hadn't seen on our first trip, and Ann's mom really enjoyed the city.
Our favorite excursion was a full day that we spent in two medieval towns: San Gimignano and Monteriggioni. San Gimignano is simply amazing. It's full of stone towers, little shops, and amazing
restaurants. The day was one of the sunniest and warmest of our holiday, so we really enjoyed the setting. Our favorite moment was climbing to the top of one of the towers and enjoying the fantasitc views. Monteriggioi, however, is smaller, but set on a tall hill and completely surrounded by fortified medieval walls.
To round out our trip, we spent a full day in Siena, a smaller, and certainly more charming, counterpart of Florence. We also meandered through the Chianti wine-country, getting lost among olive groves and wine-grape arbors. We had a magnificent dinner in Greve.
We spent new year's eve in our farm-house near the castle, and enjoyed dinner as a family. The skies of Tuscany exploded with fireworks on the stroke of midnight (similar to the skies of northern Italy that we experienced last year). Thomas got to stay up late to see (and hear) the show.
The drive home was also interesting. We drove through the first European blizzard that we've seen. As we drove through the Apennines on New Year's day, the snow swirled ferociously and the autostrada became covered in white-stuff. Just to make note of the experience, we even saw snowplows in Italy for the first time! Eventually, we made it home and Ann's mother embarked to the 'States. It was surely a memorable and enjoyable holiday. We want to express our thanks to 'Grandma' for making the trip, and also for making Samuel's first birthday so special.