Italy - Day 25 (Tuscany/Cortona)

My day began with an early morning run around the fields of sunflowers and some quiet time in the hammock :)  Life is good.

We decided to have our breakfast, from the paticceria in Cortona, at the picnic table.

Caden and I set off on a bike ride after getting packed up.  There is something about this photo of Caden on the bike that tugs at my heart.  Maybe the fact that he is getting bigger, and someday he will look back on this photo of himself as a little boy in Tuscany.  Whatever the reason, I used it as an excuse to give him a great big squeeze and tell him that it made me kind-of sad.  He patted my back and said, "It's okay mom.  We will always take care of you." Such a sweetie.  I will hold him to it.  What he didn't realize with that promise is that taking care of me will require trips to Italy!!!

Daddy joined us...

Lily in her new dress - the perfect color for riding a red bike among fields of bright gold sunflowers :)

Love this series of shots...

Gia getting rescued from the "pokies"

After we left our beautiful apartment we headed to Montepulciano to enjoy some wine.  First stop was a little cafe that was advertising crepes.  Little did we know, it was called Sandy's Cafe - in honor of my mom I am sure.

Lily wrote Grandma Sandy a note on one of her cafe napkins.

Notice the cabinet of meats behind Corey's head, as he studiously studies where to wine taste on the map.

Crepe time!

 Our first wine stop.  Wine was okay, but being in the cool cellar carved into the hillside was marvelous on this hot day!

One for each of the kids!

Heading back out into the heat of the day

Gia is pointing out where she thinks our Tuscan house is.

The kids decided to sit in the shade in the middle of the road to discuss their strategy for a game.

Love these cute little cars.  Corey next to it as it drove by helps to give the perspective of how tiny they are.

Just before this, we were chatting with a family from MN (the son had on an ND backpack).  Turns out the woman's cousin was Fr. Sean McGraw who works at ND.  Such a small world!

 We skipped out on our Florence portion of the trip as we were able to find another great house - with a pool (the key) here in Cortona.

The road to our new Tuscan house

 We rented out the bottom of the house from a lovely couple that had a wonderful basket of Tuscan treats for us, including a homemade apricot tart.

There is a family from England, that are ex-pats in Switzerland right now, staying in the upper floor of the house.  They have an 8-year-old boy that the kids started swimming with as soon as we could get our bags unpacked.

The house

Our veranda off of one of the bedrooms

Looking up towards the pool

The pool

Our rental car

Our outdoor table, just off of the other bedroom

The view from the driveway

Gia was a bit tired from the day's festivities, so took a little poolside nap.

Notice the half-eaten apricot tart in the foreground of the photo.  Yum!

The side yard has terraces of olive trees.

The view from the pool

Lily (and our new neighbor in the pool)

The house

 We were treated to a thunderstorm later in the day, which I enjoyed with a glass of Montepulciano wine and a book, sitting in my bed propped up on pillows.  Below is my view.

Corey went out for pizzas and came home with a parma and mushroom, a cheese pizza, and an arugula/tomato/parma pizza which cost $5.60 Euro each.  All was delicious.  We played some games and went off to bed, sleeping soundly from a day of swimming and enjoying air conditioning!