No Time to Sleep!!!

Sixteen cities in sixteen days...yes, we have been busy.

Quick update.  After returning from our Roma tour we took 3 days to rest/go to Lake Barcis and drive up Piancavallo and then hit the road again.  This time to Cinque Terre and the Tuscany Region. 

We drove 5 hours to Camp Darby.

Saw Pisa for three hours...you only needed one.  Took the classic pictures...everyone was doing it.

Drew for Heisman!!!

Spent the next day hiking, hiking, picture, picture picture, hiking, hiking, swimming, hiking, picture, cliff diving, picture, and more hiking.  Five miles and one kilometer (that's our lazy conversion attempt!) and 5 towns later we had a gorgeous day.  We were sad for the clouds when our day began, after hiking uphill kilometer number one (of about 6) we were very thankful for the overcast weather and we all agreed it allowed us to complete the whole 5 miles!!

Sunday we left for small medieval towns in Tuscany...Volterra and San Gimignano.  Yes, that is Volterra, home of the Volturi for all you Twilight fans.  Don't be ashamed, we're fans too, and thought it was pretty dang cool!  So cool that Megan ordered New Moon gelato...yes, the town is capitalizing on its new found fame!  We spent the day exploring, shopping, and browsing the stores full of Alabaster...made in Volterra!  Climbed the Torre Grossa in San Gimignano (the Gross Tower or the Huge Tower...hmm)  But it was gorgeous!  Beautiful views of the rolling hills of Tuscany...wine country.  Took lots of pictures and tested the durability of sunglasses.  Drew's sunglasses fell off his shirt from 6 stories up in the tower.  They went bouncing all the way to the first floor with only a minor scratch on the lens.  Megan, however, dropped hers from her shirt to the ground while hiking Cinque Terre and they busted into 3 pieces...Drew won that battle.  Funny thing is they both bought them for 8 Euro from a street vendor in Rome!

Arrived home from that adventure around 10pm on Sunday night, but we weren't done yet.  We came home, re-packed and headed out for Croatia on Monday morning.  Papa, our grandpa, has family from Croatia so we thought it would be cool to see the country while the three of us were together.  We found a campsite on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia and we rested.  We cooked our dinner and breakfast on the beach with our mini Weber Kettle and enjoyed the sunshine and the ocean. 

While it was nice and relaxing, it wasn't the beach like we know it.  Siesta Key has spoiled us all with white sand and beaches the size of football fields.  We decided it was a combination of Siesta Key with the ocean and the Farm with the rocks by the river.  Hence a small rocky beach, but a beach is a beach.  And true to form, Drew and I bought Kadima (paddle ball) and played a few games out on the beach while Megan counted our hits.  We learned long ago that playing paddle ball with Meg was a lost cause!  She has now accepted that fact too, so we're all in happy agreement! 

While in the family spirit...you won't believe what we found there.  A playground in the ocean...yes, with an iceburg, a water trampoline, a slide, a seesaw, AND a blob!  You better believe we paid our 5 Euros for the hour (best 5 Euros we spent ALL trip :) to splash, jump, climb, and flop around the playground for the hour.  Hilarious.  We had no one to take our pictures while playing so our documentation is in the form of soreness and slight bruising.  It was well worth it! 

We bartered at the market and received a bracelet for a Bud Light and a Mikes Hard Lemonade.  They don't see many/any Americans in that area so the people were quite fascinated with the culture and anything "American" they could try!  Drew bought a pair of swim trunks and some sunglasses with 3 different currencies.  The Kunah (the Croatian currency), the Euro, and a 10 dollar bill.  The lady was amazed with the $10, she said she'd never seen that before!  Although for not meeting any Americans they spoke quite good English!  Drew asked the lady if she knew of anyone with the name Brmblic (Brombolich) because we had family there, but she didn't know of anyone :)  That was for you, Mama!!

We attempted to re-create a picture we all have framed of the three of us on the beach when we were kids walking in the water at sunset.  This was our closest attempt!!

We returned home on Tuesday night, Drew packed his things and we headed to the airport on Wednesday morning.  We left a sick Megan behind to rest and recover (I can't imagine why she would be sick!!)  Drew made it onto a flight to JFK and that's the last I've heard (his phone was a small casualty of the trip).  I assume he's arrived home by this point (fam...give us a call...hint, hint!).  I was sad to see Drew go, maybe a few tears.  We had such a fun trip with the three of us together...who would have thought we'd be able to spend all this time together and in ITALY!!!  This is the most time I've spent with Drew at one time since before I left for college and Meg since her summer at camp with me!  I'm a lucky girl to have such great family come to visit me!!!

So after many extra hours of sleep, some DayQuil, NyQuil, and vitamins Meg is beginning to feel a bit better.  She has 18 more hours to recover before we head out to Barcelona tomorrow morning with Taylor for the weekend!  More updates to come after our final trip! 

Buona famiglia, Buoni amici!!