One of the great things about our hotel was that breakfast was included, and served from 7AM-12noon every day (it’s like they knew we were coming)…so we could sleep in each morning, wander down to breakfast – which would generally be pretty empty by the time we got there and enjoy the spread and the patio all to ourselves. We’d have croissants, Italian meats and cheese, fruit, yogurt – Aaron would have a cappuccino (or two), and then we would head out for the day. Our first day of exploring we literally walked out of the hotel and just randomly picked a direction. Walking without any specific destination, we found a number of beautiful churches and campaniles (bell towers). One of the churches was putting on Vivaldi concerts in the evenings, so we bought tickets for later in the week. We continued to wander and found ourselves in the area of the city that used to be the arsenal. There were these huge warehouse buildings right on the water and one of them had been converted into a gallery, so we went in and checked out a modern art exhibit. At the end of the day we headed back towards the hotel, stopping for some gelato on the way of course .

So, here are the photos from our first day in Venice. We arrived after an overnight flight and took a private water taxi into the heart of the city. It’s a total splurge, but such a great way to come into the city. We sped across the lagoon and then took the Grand Canal to the southeast section of the city, where we were staying. After we got dropped off, it was a short walk down some narrow alleys to our hotel, Hotel Le Isole. We got a great room that had a huge window at one end and french doors with a little balcony at the other and overlooked a little canal. It was perfect. Gondoliers would float by, sometimes singing, sometimes playing the accordion – we felt instantly immersed. We unpacked, got cleaned up and went out in search of our first meal. After dinner we explored a little bit and then returned to our hotel, exhausted, but excited to get out and really see the city the next day.

Hi all, yes we did make it back from our fabulous vacation in Venice. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos to post yet, but they are coming. Aaron is trying to teach me some new software for photo editing and you all know how good (insert sarcastic tone here) I am about change and learning new things. Anyway, so it’s a little slow going – but we are working on it and we will have tons of photos to share. In summary we had an absolutely wonderful vacation. Venice was fantastic. The photo above (I cheated and used my good old Photoshop to edit this one) is of us arriving in Venice, by water taxi down the Grand Canal.

A few weeks ago we flew out to Portland to spend some time with our friends Bonney and Patrick, to meet their new son Calvin and of course visit their older son Rowan. We had a laid back visit hanging out with the kids, venturing out a bit in Portland – hitting a few shops, a few parks, etc. Rowan is a great little guy with tons to say. And Calvin seems to be pretty easy going. He basically oscillated between eating and sleeping and was quite accommodating to our eating out by sleeping through entire meals without stirring. It had been quite sometime (more than 8 yrs) since Aaron had been back to Portland and the city has become quite a foodie paradise since then – so we spent much of the visit hitting as many of the eating highlights as we could pack in. Bonney and Patrick laid out a pretty ambitious tour – including food carts, charming cafes, packed, out of the way places and downtown-city restaurants. And I have to admit, the food did live up to the hype. It was a great visit and we hope to see them again soon.

We recently spent a fun and relaxing week on the island of Nantucket with our good friends Bonney and Patrick and their son Rowan. We rented a house on the beach and took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather. We spent lots of time outside on the back deck, down on the beach, exploring the island and took a hike in Squam Swamp. Aaron brought his kites and flew on the beach a couple of days. We windowed shopped (everything on Nantucket was island priced, which means it cost at least 20% more than usual), read books, played games and ran around with Rowan. We also visited a windmill on the island that was built in 1745 and is still used to mill corn. The island was beautiful, almost all the houses were covered with weathered shingles and no matter where you went the sea was never too far away. It was a lovely vacation and great to have the time with Bonney and Patrick, and Rowan.

We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary with a long weekend in Portland, Maine. We stayed at a great hotel, The Inn by the Sea and had fun exploring the area. We spent a day with Meghan, Louis and Huck – together we visited Portland Head Light and Fort William. Later they took us to The Lobster Shack at Two lights, a fish fry place with outdoor picnic tables and incredible views. Aaron and I spent the rest of the weekend exploring downtown Old Port, eating some great meals at Caiola’s, Miyake and Duck Fat and relaxing on the beach. On Sunday afternoon, we stumbled upon a kite flying event at a park across the harbor from downtown Portland and guess who just happened to have his kites in the trunk of our car? So on a beautiful sunny day Aaron flew kites while I looked on with my book, lounging on a blanket. It was a great weekend.

A few weekends ago, Aaron and I met up with Bonney and Rowan in New York City. The weather was fantastic, and we spent a lot of the weekend walking around the city together. We visited the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned World War II aircraft carrier that is the permanent home of the Sea-Air-Space Museum. The flight deck of the carrier was filled with a variety of planes and helicopters. The carrier itself was amazing to see in person – we really enjoyed ourselves. We also visited Central Park, The Highline and of course did plenty of eating. My favorite meal of the weekend was at Kyo Chon, a Korean fried chicken restaurant – yum. We also ate Thai, Austrian (food truck) and a couple of good brunches. Oh and a thanks to Aaron who helped me label all the photos from the Intrepid – it’s amazing (and a little weird) to me that he can identify all the military planes and helicopters by name – but he did it quite easily.

Here’s the second half of the photos from our time at the shore. Peter and Maria and their girls came down for our last weekend as a surprise which was great. As our family continues to grow, I am grateful for any opportunity when all my siblings are together and for it to happen at the shore makes it all the better. Above the family on the point (a photo I borrowed from James and Chrissy :) and yes, my eyes are closed. And below a very proud Nana with all five of her grandkids. I think the joy in her face says it all.

Posting these photos is bittersweet. As many of you may know, Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Irene hit our beloved cottages on the Long Island Sound very hard a couple of weeks ago. Major damage was done to the entire property and as a family we are just starting to look into our options in terms of repair and/or rebuilding. It seems there is a long road ahead. However, this album of photos and the 2nd part (which I hope to post next weekend) were taken back in early August before the storm. Aaron and I were fortunate to enjoy a week and a half of pretty good weather, lots of family together time and a lovely break from regular life surrounded by the ocean and sand.

The city of Oslo, Norway was our last stop, and my favorite of all the cities we visited. It is absolutely beautiful, from the architecture to fjords – the history is fascinating and the people are lovely. The recent massacre that befell that city is impossible to comprehend, shocking and very sad. It’s hard to believe such a peaceful and tolerant city was the site of such a tragedy. It is truly heartbreaking.

Our time in Norway was spent in several locations. After a quick tour of Oslo, we traveled out of the city, through beautiful wooded countryside to the Hadeland Glassverk. The glassworks was founded in 1762 and is the oldest industrial company in all of Norway. While there we saw an interesting demonstration in the glassworks (including glassblowing and the use of ovens ranging from 1200º C – 1500ºC), explored the company’s grounds and checked out their shops. After our time at the glassworks, we traveled back to Oslo, and en route saw some of the beautiful Norwegian fjords I had heard so much about. The blue of this water was so rich and pure – it almost seemed fake. Once back in Oslo, we went to The Viking Ship Museum which was pretty amazing. It featured three different ships that had been dug up from burial mounds and date back to 800 – 900 A.D. I’d love to return to Oslo in the future to experience more of the city and to see more of Norway. It was a fantastic trip. Thanks Becki!