Sunday, April 22, 2012

what a day, I wanna stay for awhile...

There is no song to better describe the perfection of yesterday's Fort Mason frat party than this...


Weather like what we experienced yesterday - 82 and crystal clear skies - just doesn't happen like, ever all that often in San Francisco. We took full advantage and headed into the city for the afternoon. Life was exactly how it should always be: full of friends, smiles and laughter, sunshine, holding hands and champagne.


We forgot the camera - lame - but are happy to have some photographic evidence of such a happy day. Thanks ancient iPhone.

on to the next one...

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

a very ellie easter

It's been a crazy last few days - traveling back to Chicago, catching up with friends and family in Carol Stream, bopping up to Milwaukee to celebrate Easter with the Dranka/Diers/Holte crew, and finally heading back to California on Monday.

We were so happy to see all of our Midwest families in such a short time. Per usual, we packed each day to the brim with activities, errands and quality conversation. A few highlights include:

Some puppy time...


A serious Easter egg dyeing and decorating session...

And finally, a pre-church photo shoot...

We're already looking forward to heading back to Chicago in May and Milwaukee in June. Thanks for hosting us for the holiday, Anne and Brian (oh, and Ellie too!).

on to the next one...

Monday, April 2, 2012

Speaking English

After six months of broken "English" and communicating via Not American Sign Language, it was wonderful to have an English-speaking buddy (with a cute little accent to boot) visit for the weekend.

Claire, a lovely little lady we met at church in Switzerland, hadn't ever traveled in Italy so we had a blast showing this noob the ropes in Padova and Venice. We ate our way through the weekend with seemingly endless amounts of tasty Italian cibo - pizza, pasta, prosecco (my personal fav) and gelato.

We spent Saturday afternoon wandering the streets of Venice, feeding the pigeons and snapping bunches of silly pictures.


While Andy was prepping for his final match of the season on Sunday, Claire and I took to the streets for an afternoon in Padova.

Upon making our way into town, we saw groups upon groups of what we guessed were Sunday schoolers walking with their palm branches toward the central piazza. Curious and having no better way to spend our time, we followed and stumbled upon an enormous Palm Sunday worship service. The square was packed with people of all ages shouting out and praising God - it was incredible!


We left the party and headed toward Prato della Valle and St. Anthony's church. Spring was in the air and we couldn't have been more happy once the sun decided to come out.


It was a great way to spend our last weekend in Italy. Thanks to Claire for enduring the 5+ hour (each way) train ride to come all the way from Lausanne. Same time next year?!

on to the next one...