Small joys

What a treat it is to just be able to drive over to Trastevere and go out for Pizza. Charlotte did not have swim practice today so we decided to celebrate by taking the kids out to dinner. At least two of the kids. Olivia went home from school with a classmate and was invited to stay for dinner. So it would just be the four of us. We found that our favorite pizza spot was closed (actually, we've only been there once but it was good) so we strolled around and picked another place with a charming outdoor terrace. You don't have to look too hard to find a good pizza place in Trastevere, or in Rome for that matter.

After meeting Avery by the pizza oven, the pizza man made him a special pizza in the shape of Mickey Mouse, with eggplant discs for ears and zucchini discs for cheeks and 1/2 a cherry tomato nose and black olive eyes. A shame to eat - but tasty.

Here are a couple of Avery quotes from this evening.

Upon telling him that we are going to go on vacation in a couple of weeks: "We already are on vacation." (He has been referring to school as camp so, apparently, life is good in Averyland)

Upon hearing Charlotte ask Josh if we can go out for gelato: "Ask mommy, she's in charge."

That's my boy.

The weather has continued to be absolutely amazing. It can get a little chilly at night - like in the 60's - so it's cool when the kids go to school in the mornings. But by midday we're up to 85. So we eat lunch and dinner outside every day.

Earlier, after running a few errands this morning, Josh and I dined (outside) at our new favorite neighborhood spot for lunch. When we sat down at 1pm, we were the only guests. "Everyone comes around 1:30" the owner said. He was right, by 1:30pm it was full. They put out quite an impressive buffet spread for lunch with all kinds of salads and grilled vegetables, carpaccio, pasta, eggplant parmesan, and today....beef stew. All this for 10euros including your choice of water. And, it's just down the street from our villa. Perfetto!