SNOW!

We had heard from folks yesterday that it was going to snow in Rome today, but we didn't believe it. The forecast did call for a chilly 35 degrees, but that wouldn't be cold enough to see snow. We were wrong.

This morning as I was making breakfast, Josh yelled out "look" as the first snowflakes were falling. Of course, nothing was sticking but you could see the flakes in the air. By the time Josh dropped me off at the gym around 10:30am, the snow did start to stick. At AquAniene, everyone stopped doing whatever it is they were suppossed to be doing and stared out the window. In a short while, the parking lot and surrounding trees were covered with the white stuff. This was the first time in 5 years that it had snowed in Rome (and the second time in 10 years). Truly a novelty for the Romans.

Unfortunately, the timing couldn't have been worse for Josh. We had forgotten to return the 2nd key to the car yesterday, and so he was on his way back out to Fiumicino to drop it off with the Peugot office. Not being used to driving in the snow, it appears there was an accident (or several?) and the drive back took a LONG time.

Our kids were all dismissed at 1:15pm today ahead of the winter break. We are in the midst of the celebration of Carnivale here in Rome which takes place for 10 days from February 6th to the 16th. All of the lower school classes had parties for Carnivale and many of the kids had dressed in costumes. It seems kind of like a second Halloween. Certainly, there was a lot of sugar going around. As a result, there was a abundance of energy around the house in the afternoon.

We took Charlotte to the early swim training at 2:30pm today; when I picked her up at 4:15pm, we had a brief "outing together" before returning home to dinner. Charlotte has grown a lot since we've arrived here -- as have all the kids. She is now my height (maybe short 1/2 an inch) Avery is 4cm taller than he was in October, and even Olivia has grown a centimeter. But in Charlotte's case, she is also taking on more of the attributes of a woman. As such, part of our "outing" included hair removal -- somewhat essential ahead of the swim meet this weekend.

Tonight, Josh and I had plans to go into town. I wanted to go to the Anglican Church to listen to the best opera arias. Josh wanted to revisit the Calder exhibition which was closing this weekend. We started at the Palazzo delle Esposizione to see the Calder show. Josh had taken the kids in the fall when I was in bed with a bad back, so I hadn't yet seen it. It was a phenomenal exhibit. Soup to nuts. What's more, the exhibition space is spectacular. After seeing so many of Calder's works and learning a bit more about the man, we ventured downstairs where there was a National Geographic Photography exhibit. It was well organized and very provacative. We had such a good time at the Palazzo that we blew off the Opera. We can always do it another night.