Wine Country

The Swiss Alps are beautiful, but the Tuscan countryside is absolutely breathtaking!!!

 We decided to spend a week of Hayden's Fall break in Italy, just outside of Florence.  For the full experience, we rented a house in the countryside with our friends - taking bumpy, dusty roads to get there.

  We started our trip by taking the kids to a theme park - nearly two hours away.  It was perfect for our aged kids.  Hayden was just tall enough for most of the rides.

Then we woke up to the worst storm the area had seen in a while.  Our dirt roads turned into rivers.  

  Thankfully, the weather cleared up by mid-week, just in time for us to enjoy a private wine tour and lunch and a trip into Florence.

  We also celebrated our 9th anniversary, going to a three star Michelin restaurant.  We nearly tried to catch a bus to the restaurant because we couldn't catch a cab.  Instead, the restaurant sent us a cab to pick us up.  The service was top notch.  The food unique and the best wine we had ever had (well, Marty had the pairings and I took sips).  It was a very unique experience for sure.

My favorite town was this old medieval town called San Gimignano.  Hayden liked it too.

And as usual, he made a friend.  This little boy did not want to say goodbye.

On the way home, we stopped in Pisa.  It really does lean...

It was not quite the relaxing vacation as our last one, but a memorable time. Marty was so happy to park our car in the garage, after all the driving he did that week!  And to celebrate, we opened a bottle of Italian wine...