Family Portait 5/10

May's family portrait was taken at Cabrillo National Park this past weekend on Saturday, May 29th:


I recently did a blog post about how the month of May pretty much swallowed me alive. Its been a crazy, hectic month; a blur. Im not super excited to go into more detail about it. I feel like I normally update whats going on with us throughout the month on this blog so for now on Im just going to share the monthly family picture. Thats my favorite part anyway.

I also wanted to quickly comment on how grateful I am that Tara started this family portrait project. I take tons of pictures every month, but before this year I never took pictures of me with my family. I was always the person behind the camera and my subjects were the kids, Matt, our family and friends. I was never in the pictures. How could I be? It wasnt until Tara started this project on her blog that I finally learned how to use the timer on my camera. Ive been shooting with the same camera for 7 years and I am just now feeling confident using that feature . More profoundly, I now identify opportunities to take pictures of the four of us on a regular basis. I never did that before. I never saw those possibilites. But now my eyes are open to this new idea and it feels so right! I actually get excited about the possibilities of a new picture each month. Its been so rewarding.

I feel like all these years Ive been absent in our photographic history, but now Im showing up in our pictures every month. That is waaaaay cool. :)

If you're even slightly interested in this monthly family portrait, Im encouraging you to take the leap. You wont regret it. Check out Tara's blog here for more details.

Happy Sunday, peeps.

Performing Arts Night: May 14th

At the end of each school year St. Francis School puts on a show for the parents called "Performing Arts Night." It is fast becoming my favorite day of the school year. The students at the school sing or dance as a class and the parents/friends/relatives eat and drink on the lawn while the children perform. Its one of those functions that, as a parent, makes me well up with pride. This year's theme was "dance" and each class had to perform a dance routine for the audience. Initially, both Seamus and Finn displayed alarm at the theme. One day in April, Finn came home in tears because he couldnt dance the routine without messing up. It really concerned him. He dug in his heels and insisted to me that he would NOT dance for Performing Arts Night. Finn's class chose to do a country western line dance and in the beginning it was hard for most of them to catch on. Finn in particular is not very coordinated so Im sure those first few weeks of learning the routine were hard. Im proud to say that he finally caught on and I never heard another complaint once May arrived. In fact, Finn looked like he was enjoying the heck out of himself the entire time he was up on the stage. He was beaming from ear to ear.

Seamus sixth grade class performed Irish step dancing. If I had a nickle for the amount of complaints I heard from Seamus' classmates about their chosen dance genre, Id easily have $40 in my pocket. It didnt help that the 5th graders got to dance hip hop. Irish step dancing was not only hard, it was (in their mind) definitely not cool. Ironically, Seamus didnt seem phased about the type of dance he had to perform. He was however concerned about his class's ability to do it correctly. I think here lies the difference between my 3rd and 6th graders: Finn was afraid of doing something new while Seamus was afraid of being embarrassed. During Seamus' performance, he looked pretty stressed out the entire time. He didnt smile much. However, Seamus' performance had Matt feeling very prideful of his Irish ancestry. After the dance, a teary eyed Matt told me how proud his grandfather Walter would have been to see his grandson dancing Irish step dancing on that stage. It seemed to touch Matt immensely.

Jennifer, Barry and the kids accompanied us to the performance this year. Abbey and Eli were dancing in the aisle with each new act. It felt great to have them there with us, and even GREATER to think that next year Eli will be performing with the kindergarden class.

That picture of Abbey kills me. I imagine she looks just like Ramona the Brave from those old Beverly Cleary books. I also wanted to share one shot of the four of us. Matt and I are wearing brand new St. Francis Friars hats.


Happy Saturday.

Day Five: Palatine Hill, Forum and Colosseum

Our fifth day in Italy was all about ancient Rome. We planned to walk with the kids a few miles away and visit Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Like their father, Seamus and Finn share an interest in history. Before we left, we tivoed lots of shows on The History Channel and the Travel Travel about various ancient Roman themes. They were familiar about the Rise and Fall of Rome. They knew the history behind the Colosseum. They were familiar with the famous Roman emperors. We also allowed them to watch Gladiator, which Seamus loved and Finn slept through. As we ate our last breakfast at the B&B, I felt confident the day was going to go well. The boys were excited and seemed prepared for the days events.

Palatine Hill was our starting point for the day. Matt and I didnt visit this landmark when we traveled to Italy in 2007. We were looking forward to seeing its attractions: namely the home of Octavian/Caesar Augustus and his wife, Livia and the ruins of the famous Circus Maximus. Palatine Hill is exactly that - a hill. We would have to hoof it a bit, but from from its lofty elevation we were promised beautiful gardens and a fantastic view of Rome. We would also be able to easily access the Forum from the Hill's location so it seemed the most logical starting point. After a small wait, we entered the area and started climbing. The boys took the hike in stride, though it left me a bit winded. Along the path up the hill were many remnants of ornately carved marble columns. Seamus enjoyed climbing and sitting on them - much to my horror. More than once I chided, "Do you have any idea how old that is? Get down NOW!" Sometimes he listened; other times he pointed to another guest doing the same thing and used it as reasoning for his behavior. Unfortunately, we were dealt a small blow upon arriving at the top. Some attractions including Caesar Augustus and Livia's home were closed. It seemed we picked the wrong day to visit Palatine Hill. The mood of our group plummeted and the boys meandered around the top of the hill with an aimless, restless energy. Matt stood shell shocked. The stories he had prepared to share didnt have the the same "wow factor" without the landmark to accompany it. Though the gardens and views were quite beautiful to me, Palatine Hill left the boys feeling disappointed and irritable.



Our spirits rose upon entering the Forum. There was so much to see there - so much history to process and absorb. Though some attractions were closed due to restoration efforts (Matt was particularly upset with the The Curia's closing,) the area as a whole did not upset. The kids were particularly impressed with the small area thought to be the location of Julius Caesar's assassination. Matt walked them to the altar area where flowers are always present in remembrance for the slain emperor. My favorite parts of the Forum were the large arches dedicated to Titus and Septimus Severus. The detail in each illustrates such extraordinary precision. A small personal note: the past two times we have toured the Forum, we have done it by ourselves with the aide of guidebooks. Matt always does his homework and gave us great tid bits about the area, but the next time we visit Id like to see the Forum with a tour guide. Both in 2007 and during this past trip, I overheard guides sharing bits of information about the ruins to their paid groups. Their stories quickly captured my attention and I only heard a tiny bit of their knowledge. Given the immense breadth of information and history focused on that one spot, Im guessing a tour guide would be a beneficial way to experience the Forum.



By far, the highlight of our day was touring the Colosseum. For the boys, it totally lived up to the hype. Even before we got inside, the mere sight of that famous building had us giddy with anticipation. Because we had read and seen so much information on the Colosseum before leaving the US, the impressiveness of the building and its history was not lost on the boys. They got it. At one point while we were inside, Finn and I talked at length about how architecturally brilliant the colosseum was built. He said to me "The Romans must have been really good at math to build it so well." He's right! When you see the Colosseum up close and understand that it was built over 1900 years ago, the impressiveness of its engineering and subsequent survival is powerful. Its a remarkably, solid slice of history and its aging quite beautifully. We should all be so lucky. ;) For Matt and me, it was really gratifying to share the Colosseum experience with our sons. Taking them there was something I never in my wildest dreams thought Id be able to do. It was a dream come true.



Touring Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum took us the better part of a day. We were hungry and tired after several hours of walking among the great Roman ruins. We grabbed some pizza and paninis across the street from the large Vittorio Emmanuel Monument and snuck in a couple more pictures before catching a late afternoon train back to Florence.




It was sad for me to say goodbye to Rome. It was/is my favorite city in Italy. The people in Rome were stylish, funloving, helpful and kind. The city felt alive but to me it never felt scary or too large. I think one of the key reasons I loved Rome so much was the neighborhood and the B&B where we stayed. The B&B Locanda all'Orologio was situated in a lively yet quiet neighborhood centrally located between Piazza Navonna, Camp di Fiore and the Vatican. There were pedestrian only streets in neighborhood that were lined with great places to eat and shop. When we walked the small alleys and streets, we felt like we were among real Roman poeple going about their day. It was lovely. Matt and I knew the area so well; it almost felt like our neighborhood.

We stayed in Rome for 2 days - not even close to being enough time to do the city justice. However, I feel confident we made the best of every minute we had in that beautiful city. I will always be grateful for the memories we made together in Roma.

Hello? Is There Anybody Out there?

Have you ever had one of these kinds of months? (see photo below)

May came so suddenly this year and before I knew it I was completely swamped and overwhelmed with many obligations. So many important dates occurred this May.
-Seamus' sixth grade camp.
-The big school festival.
-The school's Performing Arts night.
Those three events take a lot of planning and preparation. They require care and attention. This year they occurred during three consecutive weeks. It was kind of brutal.

In May, Matt had to leave to Quantico for a week on USMC business. Talk about a bad week... it was ugly. Matt's week away coincided with the school asking me to work everyday in the school office. I was clocking in 7 hour days/five days that week and then coming home around 5pm (sometimes later) to no husband and no plan. I have always stated that I would not make a good single parent, but now I can also attest that I would not make a good single, working parent. That gig is tough! I never thought I lived a spoiled lifestyle until I survived that week. I was tired all the time. At night, the exhaustion became taxing and I quickly lost my patience with the boys. I just wanted to be left alone; to lift my throbbing legs up and veg out in front of the television. That wanst meant to be. Since I couldnt do what I wanted to do, I yelled a lot. I did not act like a woman of 39 years. I seemed to succumb to my own "witching hour" between 8 and 9:30 each night. It wasnt pretty. In addition to my exhaustion and childish beahvior, we ate out 4 days out of seven that week. McDonalds. Burger King. Albertos. Souplantation. I know... Im ashamed. My problem was two fold. Firstly, I couldnt figure out how to squeeze in a trip to the store to buy groceries. Seriously! I wasnt expecting to work all week and once I added that time to our normal, crazy post-school schedule, I couldnt easily swing it. Secondly, I lacked the energy to actually make dinner. One day (I cant remember which day) I left the boys together at home to grab some quick groceries for dinner. However, once I got home it was already very late and I was too exhausted to actually make it. I know. It was bad. Definitely not my finest hour.

Also in May, my Uncle John became critically ill. It was unexpected and very scary. My uncle lives up in LA and when we first heard of his hospitalization we rushed up there to stand vigil with the rest of my extended family. We didnt know if he was going to make it. My mother, my sisters and I made numerous trips up to visit him in the hopsital this month. Uncle John (who is also my godfather) has been in ICU for several weeks now but he appears to be getting slowly better. Thank God. For a while there, the emotional toll was pretty difficult for me to deal with.

So yeah... May has sucked the life out of me, but I promise I will get back on the wagon and start blogging tomorrow. I actually began writing my Italy Day Five post on May 12th, but I never finished it. Look for it Friday. Ive also been taking pictures of this month's events so I'll try to get pictures up in the next couple days. There are some cute ones.

Ok. Thats it.

Happy Thursday. :)

Oh, I forgot: this month I also packed on some pounds. Uggggh. Im blaming it on the stress of a chaotic month. I havent been eating well and my clothes are fitting very snugly. Perfect timing - summer/swimsuit season is pretty much here. Sooooo not cool.

Its Coming...

My Italy posts have not been abandoned. I promise. Life is just super busy right now. May brings about lots of activity regarding school. Its been kind of chaotic.
To tie you over, Im sharing a picture of Seamus the morning he left for camp. Yes... he went dressed in his Italian uniform. He wanted to wear the leather jacket, but I made him leave it at home. He wore the bomber jacket instead.

Happy Tuesday.

Badges? We Dont Need No Stinkin Badges.

We made a quick trip out to Joshua Tree this weekend. It was eventful. I should write more about our weekend, but I have so much on my plate this week. Im finally getting over the cold I brought home with me from the dessert. I really dont like being sick and this cold hit me hard - my second in a month. However, I wanted to quickly post this picture for you.

Seamus, Finn and Eli earned junior ranger badges this weekend! So cute!!! When we entered the park, the ranger asked if I wanted a map and I told him no. I kind of know my way around and figured Id save the pamphlet for someone who really needed it. Upon refusing, the ranger keyed in on the kids and asked "Well, would the kids like a couple Junior Ranger booklets?" The boys and I were stunned. We have been to Jtree dozens of times in the past 10 years and the ranger has never offered Junior Ranger booklets to us. The boys eagerly exclaimed "YES!!!" and then proceeded to spend some time diligently completing the booklet. Both boys confessed that they sort of felt like they were cheating. We've been out to Jtree so much - they knew all the answers without even trying. Actually, I think Seamus got stumped on a word scramble, but other than that our boys were golden. Barry and Eli drove out for the day and with Barry's help Eli completed the booklet too. They were all so proud of their badges. I couldnt resist making them pose with them proudly displayed on their chests.

FYI - Seamus is at 6th grade camp this week. Im trying not to think about it. After all, no news is good news and we've heard nothing so far. Its is quiet without him around and I must admit Im enjoying the calm that has permeated our home in his absence.

Happy Wednesday.

One More Thing: Our April Family Portrait

Here it is:

The shot was taken in Rome with the timer. My camera was sitting on the ground.
Im so tired (and sick... again!) so I'll have to fill in the details of this month later.

Goodnight, sweet prince.

Day Four: Vatican City

Our fourth day in Italy was all about the Vatican. Most Wednesdays, the Pope has his papal address for the public in St. Peter's Square. We planned our days in Rome so that we would be there for this event. With the kids in Catholic school and Matt a newly converted Catholic, the Wednesday audience quickly became a highly anticipated event.

We got up early and walked over the Tiber into the Vatican. Even though we got there about an hour and a half early, there were crowds forming. Before jumping in line, I bought a ton of rosaries in a shop bordering St. Peter's Square. The Pope gives a blessing during his audience and I was determined to get some items blessed while we were there. I didnt think to bring rosaries from home. That would have been a smart move on my part, but it completely escaped my attention. Matt practically died when he saw the amount and price of the rosaries I bought. It was a hefty sum, but I felt I didnt have much of a choice. I wasnt sure Id ever be back to attend a papal audience and I knew I had to stock up on some blessed rosaries as gifts for my kids, godchildren, holy communions, confirmations, etc.

Our seats seemed ok - not in the front section but not in the back. We had to wait a while for the event to begin but the boys behaved fantastically. The weather was perfect - sunny, but not hot. That definitely helped their mood and ours. I also think the setting had Seamus and Finn pretty awestruck. Many among the crowds were singing and jumping around with anticipation. There were tons of banners and flags waving in the air. It was all very festive. Everything at St. Peter's was super sized. The statues in the square and on the buildings were huge - like two and three stories high. The basilica, which stood as the backdrop for the papal audience, was gigantic and looming. There were alert swiss guards dressed in colorful costumes with swords holstered at their waist. There were also dozens and dozens of priests and nuns walking among the crowds in full uniform. At one point, Finn asked me "Why are there so many priests here?" When I told him that they probably came to see their boss, the Pope, Finn commented, "Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

There was a surprising lack of fanfare announcing Pope Benedict's arrival, but within seconds the band kicked in and the audience responded with resounding cheers. He drove in on his "pope mobile" and slowly made his way between the various sections of the audience. By luck, we happened to get super close to him. Although we were in the second section of the audience which was far away from the altar area, we were practically standing on the road where the Pope was traveling. When he drove by, he was literally within 10 to 12 feet of us. It was nutty! I was kind of shocked how accessible to the crowds Pope Benedict seemed. When we came in, we didnt go through any metal detectors; they merely checked my bag. His "popemobile" didnt have any glass surrounding it like John Paul II used to have. If someone had the ambition, they could run right up to his vehicle and grab him! Of course, Im positive they've got this particular event down as far as security is concerned, but to the casual eye the Pope seemed uncomfortably vulnerable.

After about two and a half hours, the papal audience concluded. Although it was long, it was a neat experience for all of us. St. Peter's Square was really jammed packed with people afterward and we were wiped out by the end of the service. We decided to go rest back at the B&B for a bit before returning to tour the inside of the basilica in the late afternoon.

Did I mentioned that Matt and the boys decided prior to our trip that they were going to geo-cache their way around Italy? I didnt tell you that? Well, that's probably because I didnt fully realize their plans until we got to Rome. Once we were in Rome, many of our walks from one landmark to another included sniffing out nearby caches. The pictures taken below were taken geo-caching at the Castel Sant'Angelo. We passed the castle on our way back to St. Peter and Matt thought it would be fun to hunt down the cache on the way. Let me take a small moment here to say that I wish I could describe what geo-cacheing is to those of you who dont know, but whenever I try I dont seem to find the right words. I dont seem to describe the activity well. You can go here to get a proper idea of what the hobby entails, but essentially geo-cacheing is a lot like treasure hunting except there isnt always a treasure at the end. Sometimes you will find little trinkets or coins in an altoid box, but most of the time you just find a log and sign your name. Matt had a geo-cache app on his iphone and he had made notes to himself where to find various caches in Italy. All in all, I believe Matt and the boys found 10 caches in Italy. I must admit that this activity made the incredible amount of walking and sight seeing very fun for the boys. The possibility of a geo-cache around every corner kept my sons (and husband) very happy and alert.


What can I say about St. Peter's Basilica that hasnt been said before? Nothing, really. Its all been said a million times by a million different people, you know? I will say this: The mastery of artwork, sculpture, mosaics and architecture at St. Peters is mind blowing. Its so over the top. I actually felt guilty the day I saw St. Peters and the Vatican Museum for the first time. The amount of wealth and privilege required to create such an impressive place is shocking. We didnt think Finn could make it up to the cupola (the dome at the top of St. Peters) so instead we headed down to the vault where the tombs of the popes are kept. That was pretty cool. We saw the supposed tomb of St. Peter, the first pope of the Catholic church. Pope John Paul II's grave was also among the tombs. It was guarded by two men and there were many pilgrims there praying and paying homage to it.


Back in 2007, Matt and I toured St. Peters and the Vatican Museums in one day. It was exhausting and it took us all day to complete. Once we were done, I wanted to do some shopping in the square, but Matt had had enough for one day. He went straight up to the first vendor he saw, bought a large beer and proceeded to drink it in the shadow of St. Peter's Square. As I recall, Matt even followed me into a shop while drinking his beer straight out of the bottle. I acted like I was mortified, but secretly I got a chuckle out of it. Matt loves beer and he had certainly earned it following his Catholic wife all over the Vatican. This year, we didnt tour the Vatican Museums. We didnt think the kids could handle it given its large size and even larger lines. But Matt wasnt about to break with tradition. After we toured the basilica, Matt made a bee-line to the exact same vendor as in 2007 and bought his beer. As I was taking the picture below, a couple of nuns walked by and apparently they acknowledged Matt and his beer by smiling at him. I didnt see it, but Matt swears it true.

For dinner, we made our way to the Campo di Fiore - a smallish piazza near our B&B. We ate dinner at a restaurant there called La Carbonara. They have really good pasta carbonara (pasta mixed with eggs and bacon) and I was anxious to taste their succulent version again. After dinner, Matt lead us on another hunt for another nearby geocache. It was kind of spooky going down dark side streets in pursuit of the cache. Once we found it, we grabbed some gelato and took some pictures in front of the large Bruno statue in the piazza. At this point, the four of us got separated. It wasnt planned; it just happened. I had Finn and since we were somewhat close to our B&B I made the decision to walk home. I felt confident I could navigate the streets successfully. It was a little unnerving not knowing what had happened to Matt, but I guessed that he would also make his way home after a short search for us. For a few seconds, I started to panic hoping that Matt was with Seamus and that the two of them werent separated as well. But I quickly put the thought out of my mind, and continued on with Finn's hand grasped firmly in my own. We were about 4 blocks from our neighborhood when I heard Seamus call out "Mama" from behind. We had just crossed a main street and waited for them to catch up. As Matt got closer, I noticed he had a worried look on his face and tears in his eyes. He grabbed on to me and held me tight for a few seconds. Clearly, he was freaked out not knowing what had happened to us. I assured him everything was fine.

Before we went to bed that night, the four of us walked a few miles over the the Trevi Fountain to throw our coins into the water. The legend says that if you throw a coin into the fountain, a return trip to Rome is in the future. The Trevi was super crowded with tourists and teenagers, but it was also so beautiful when lit up at night. It was a lovely way to end our fourth day in Italy.

Phew - day four over! Im telling you, these blog posts take a long time to write and put together given our eventful days. I wish I could write them better, but I think you get the gist.

Happy Monday!