The Jewish Synagogue with Charlotte and Stefano's birthday

It was time to get serious about packing. So today, we started in earnest. Olivia and Avery went to camp, Charlotte went to swim practice, I packed.

Still, I wanted to take Charlotte on excursion. She had yet to visit the The Synagogue in Rome, and I didn't want her to leave without seeing the Museo Ebraico. She was tired after practice, and resisted. But I implored her to go with me. We looked through the exhibits in the Museum while waiting for our tour. The two sanctuaries may only be visited with a guide. I think once we were there, Charlotte realized the importance of it. Afterwards, we walked behind the Synagogue in the "Jewish Quarter" to get a snack before returning home.

Josh made a trip over to Stefano's office; he was allowing us to store our things there for the summer. The winter clothes and other items that will not be needed between now and our flight home are all going to be kept there in boxes and suitcases.

When Josh returned, I went to pick the kids up at the Bioparco. It had been another successful camp day. Both Olivia and Avery were beaming and both had enjoyed their activities today. It was a busy evening; Josh was running some last minute errands. He bought an internet key for us to use with our laptops while we are traveling, but after getting it home and trying it out, he had to take it back to Wind. It turned out the woman who sold him the key did not properly put the correct amount of credit on it. Josh also made a trip to Lazzaretti to get his spare bike boxed up for our trip home.

I made burgers for everyone for dinner and then Maria came over to babysit. Tonight we were going to Stefano's birthday party (he's turning 38 tomorrow). Not surprisingly, he has a very nice group of friends. We discovered that a couple whom we'd met through Stefano on several prior occasions were planning to visit Chicago in August and September. Hopefully we will be able to show them around.

It was an intimate party. A handful of friends and family sitting out on the terrace, eating and drinking. Francesco was up late. Italian kids always stay up very late. In fact, Josh and I were tired and left the party at 11:3opm to go home and go to bed -- likely ahead of the four-year-old Francesco.