What in the world happened to April, May and June?

Ok, so after my parents left, Graham and I got brand new jobs as tour guides here in Rome. We take people through places like the Coliseum, Vatican Museums and the city center. Most of you know this :) But it basically consumed (and continues to consume) our entire lives. We didn't really go anywhere, we didn't really take pictures for about 3 months. So this little post here is a hodge-podge of what we did in that time...

We saw Feist! Again! I took Graham as a surprise when she played in LA, so as a tradition we have vowed to see her each and every time it is possible. She played at a tiny little club here in Rome and we were THISCLOSE... big difference from the Universal Amphitheatre in LA.

This is NOT zoomed in at all! We LOVED it! At the end we even got the set list which she attempted to translate into Italian for the evening. It's hilarious and one of a kind :)

We had a colleague work-outing in Campo di Fiori... so I am sorry that in the first picture you are seeing of our co-workers, we are all a little intoxicated :/ Hence our thinking it would be a great idea to try and pick up Naomi for the shot. I held onto her feet and when she started to fall, Graham held onto me. It's all about teamwork!

Graham and Suzanne. She's from Tahoe, so they bonded over Northern California things.

We went on a Scavi tour! Scavi means excavations in Italian, so we went into the excavations underneath St. Peter's basilica and saw the ancient cemetary where St. Peter is buried! It was cramped and humid and absolutely amazing! Pictures weren't allowed, so the only thing we have to document it is this picture of Graham after the tour had finished in the back sections of the Vatican city that the public does not typically have access to.

Before my children that I tutor took off for Summer vacation, I went up to Bracciano with them to their "country house" for the day. I use country lightly. They own a huge section of land, and we sat out on the terrace at a beautiful table overlooking Lake Bracciano where lunch was served to us on beatiful china. Life is tough being the children of a princess...

Edoardo loved me to take pictures of him as he jumped off the swing.

Much to Graham's amusement, Edoardo has a bit of a crush on me. He calls me his fidanzata which is something between girlfriend and fiancee in Italian. He went and picked a bunch of wildflowers and brought them back as a gift to me. Yes, they start the swooning early here in Italy. Enrico decided to be Tarzan and climbed trees in their little orchard. Unfortunately for him, he could get up.. but not down. And everytime he wanted to descend he needed me to help :) But he's all boy!

The boys then went for swimming lessons. Yes, even when they are off from school their days are packed: swimming lessons, tennis lessons, horse-back riding lessons... they are busy children!

Again, jumping pictures seem to be a hit with the boys.

Graham's stepmom and niece, Marian and Nicole, came to visit us at the end of June! We took them literally all over the city. What we didn't cover in the tours they followed, we took them to personally. Graham even took them up to Florence! I was ill, so unfortunately I could not come along.. though my protest was complete with feet stamping and multiple 'its not fair's. But mamma Marian wouldn't hear it, and I was left in bed for the day. Unfortunatley, and ironically, they were the picture takers of our group and literally just before they left I realized Graham and I had not taken a single shot, so I snapped this silly shot as they were about to leave in the bus. So this is, quite literally, the last memory we have of Marian and Nicole in Italy. For pictures of the rest of their time here, we'll need Marian's camera, hehe. But we had a fabulous time with them, and their visit was like only getting a little taste of something you really want, and now we miss home even more than ever!

Without internet at home, it's been difficult to keep the blog updated, but we do have another post on it's way of our vacation to Nice and Southern France a few weeks ago. So get excited, it's coming soon!!