A pony party, and a visit from La Signora

Charlotte did not want to get out of bed this morning. She was exhausted and wanted to sleep in. I was not in favor of the idea; it was in part her own fault for getting to bed late last night when she was home by 9:30. But, in the end, it was hardly worth a yelling match.

I took Olivia and Avery to school. Later, I drove Charlotte part of the way to school -- even after I said that if she was going late, she would have to walk. By then, Kathy and Jack were ready for their first true Roman excursion. I drove them to Capitoline Hill, where I tried to give them an brief introduction, and get them oriented. They ended up joining a guided tour at the Colosseum, which also then covered the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.

I drove home to check in with Josh who had been dealing with domestic issues all morning. The electricity in the villa had partially gone out, and was affecting the operation of the gate. He also had to get the houseman to re-install the air-conditioning so the unit wouldn't fall off the ledge and kill someone. Then, we discovered that our housekeeper, who showed up at 8:30am but couldn't get in the gate (because of the failed electricity), went to her next job -- outside of Rome and didn't know if she could return in time to help us. Finally there was the issue of the unexpected prospective tenants that showed up last Saturday morning during our absence, and Josh was trying to get to the bottom of who authorized the houseman to let them in. It's Italy. Someone is always passing the buck. In any case, it was highly burdensome morning.

I felt the need to stretch out somehow -- my right knee was bothering me again, so I couldn't get on the elliptical machine. I decided -- for the first time since I can remember -- to swim. What a novel concept: swimming for exercize. I should do it more often. The outdoor 50 meter pool at AquAniene is really nice.

As I was leaving AquAniene, Josh called. He was able to get an earlier appointment to see the doctor so I went straight home to pick him up and take him to Clinica Sanatrix. Dr. Ticca unwrapped the bandages and I was surprised to see a part of the incision that looked open. It looked to me like Josh had busted through a stitch again -- since this had happenned the last time. But Dr. Ticca was reassuring, said it all looked normal, and that he would see Josh again on Friday. He also gave me a quick examination and concluded that it was my meniscus that was bothering me. Good to know.

We returned home for a late lunch. It was very hot and I wasn't too hungry. Josh ate the left-over curry. Then, I picked Olivia and Avery up from school and brought them home -- not realizing that Avery had one more lesson of calcio (I thought the session concluded last week). Well, it was all the same, since Avery had been invited to a birthday party today in the pony park at Villa Glori -- if he'd stayed for calcio, he certainly would've been too tired to go to a party.

When we got home, Olivia accompanied me to pick up Kathy and Jack in the Villa Borghese. They had taken the subway and a bus and made it almost all the way home on their own. Charlotte got a ride home from school with a friend.

We all changed and went to the party. The kids were thrilled to go on pony rides (yes, plural, they each had a few turns). The heat dissipated and it turned into a lovely evening. The kids played and became extremely dirty. Charlotte, who came with us to the party, was dropped off for swim practice midway through. There were lots of snacks at the party, and everyone was happy.

Once we returned home, we were paid a visit by our landlord. She had returned from Paris and we weren't sure why she was coming by. It turns out, she wanted to discuss with us whether we could vacate the villa early because she has new tenants that would like to take occupancy on the 27th of June. She offered to put us up in a hotel. When I explained that we had a lot going on until the very day of our departure and that we didn't want to have to pack up and move into a hotel, she continued to ask if we could do it. By the 8th time, I became irritated. In the meantime, I was trying to cook dinner for the kids who had to go to bed soon. All I can say is this lady is a real piece of work. Furthermore, she had no recollection of Josh's conversation with her when he told her that we would not be vacating on the 30th of June but rather at the end of that week. She is now insisting that we vacate on the 30th. This is all going to get very interesting -- and not in a good way.

We were finally able to all sit down, although not surprisingly, the kids were not very hungry. Once Avery was in bed, Kathy, Josh and I could sit peacefully and have dinner. But, that too was interrupted when Charlotte needed a ride home from swimming and Olivia needed to go to bed.

It had been a long full day for everyone!