The islands

The “Dreambouse” I rented is actually 2 separate apartments on top of one another, so that’s kind of a bummer. Our dream housers decided to meet at 10 for some island exploring. But first stop, the other Airbnb across the island to say hi to the NY groves. We hung out there for a bit and then after some machine headaches and long lines for Frey and Lu (I bought our tickets online) we headed out on the Vaporetto. First stop St Michele Island, which is the cemetery. We took this group selfie as soon as we got off the boat. 

It was really beautiful, so as we walked I took this one, and then we read about how we should be respectful and not take pictures, so we didn’t take any more. The kids got to water some flowers and it was peaceful and beautiful. 

And we were on our way! Adi didn’t get the memo about the picture. 🤣

Next stop Murano for their Fsro!

Faro = lighthouse. 

We walked around a little bit, bought a few souvies, and then we were off to our next island.

Goodbye beautiful lighthouse!

We had a 30 minute boat ride around several islands. 

 Venice is made up of 118 islands, and our next stop Burano is considered an northeastern suburb. 

It was so lovely on the front deck so that’s where Matt and I hung out. 

Burano is SO cute!

Frey found a restaurant with gluten free options and we had the nicest little lunch! They set up an extra shade umbrella and we had a nice breeze blowing off the water, it was amazing. 

I had to laugh at Quinn’s French fry pizza. 

After lunch we spent several hours touristing it up. 

And also gelato. Sooo yummy!and the owner was cute and amazed that we have 5 kids. And she said Lexi and I look identical and she’s my younger sister, sooooo. 🤗

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to share - on our walk to the other Airbnb in the morning we passed a fruit stand and Damian bought some fruit (delicious plums!) and as he was finishing up his peach, a giant seagull flew in from behind and snatched it!!! He drew blood and all! We were walking behind and saw it happen, but didn’t know he’d stolen the peach until we talked to him. It was the craziest thing! And while I wish it didn’t happen, I’m so glad it didn’t happen to one of the kids. Or me, honestly. 🤣

Anyways, we walked all around, the girls and I got cute skirts with lace, because that’s what Burano is known for. 

Matt was enthralled with this leaning church. We walked all the way around it. 

These 2. They have souvenir money and they buy the dumbest things. Venice is big on Mardi Gras style masks. They say the aristocracy wore them so they could go out and party without being recognized. I don’t know, but Delaney was all in. She really wanted one. I had to talk her down from several because they were big and had lots of pieces and could potentially break in our backpacks. And then max bought the most ridiculous glasses. We spent about 20 minutes in this shop chatting with the shopkeeper/artist and telling him how beautiful everything was. It was cute. 

Frey and Taylor headed back after a bit and Lu and Damian were shopping around. 

Matts not always the greatest group selfie taker. 🤣

The houses are all so bright and pretty. The video we watched said because the houses are so small the use their front yards for space too so the make sure the houses are all different colors to differentiate. 

I felt like I didn’t have any pictures with my little sister, so we grabbed one before we left. So many cute alleyways!

And here they are with their souvenirs. Happy as dumb little clams. 

We missed our boat by about 30 seconds. It was supposed to come 2 minutes later, but 🤷‍♀️ So we hung out at the dock for 20 minutes and played the number game and alphabet game. 

Such a beautiful place!

We met back up at the other Airbnb and welcomed Kristi and headed to dinner. Papa grabbed an aerial shot. 

And a from behind shot, even though he’s not allowed to take these kinds of candies anymore. 🤣

We ate pizza and pasta and risotto and after dinner they brought everyone limoncello shots and the rest of our table made out like bandits because of Matt and I. We washed some clothes in the tub, because even though I swore this place had a washer, it does not, and then everyone needed a shower so I got to bed around 2am. 🥱 I’m pretty tired but wouldn’t skip any of this for a nap. 

Goodbye Paris, Hello Venice!

We had watched a YouTube video and written down some restaurants and bakeries we wanted to try, and one was Du Pain et des Idees. Matt humored me on our last morning and went with me to pick up goodies for brekkie. 

We had to take the metro and walk, but I think it was worth it. 

We got flan, escargot, croissants and chocolate croissants and then juice from the Intermarché and took them all home to wake up kids with. 

We opened the windows and cut up our goodies and it was so magical. 

Aaaand then it was go time to pack up and leave the apartment with all our gear. We said goodbye to Lu and Damian since they were flying out of Charles de Gaulle and we flew from Orly, and headed out to the Paris temple in Versailles 

It took an hour and a half and several metros and busses to get out there, but it was a beautiful ride. We just stared at the Eiffel Tower out our window, so amazing. 

I had tried to make baptism reservations, like I’ve done for lots of other temples, but that’s not available for Paris. So I tried to email them several times to no avail. So we showed up with faith and prayers that it would all work out. 

And at first, it didn’t. We talked to the temple matron, who spoke beautiful French and Spanish and a little English, but Matt was able to speak Spanish to her. She said their morning shift had already left and they didn’t have anything till the afternoon, but maybe she could talk to the temple president who happened to be her husband. He offered to let us talk to one of his counselors who was in charge of the afternoon shift, and he pretty quickly told us there was no way because he didn’t have any workers. 

That’s when that beautiful temple matron talked quietly to her husband and told him he needed to make this happen for us. I don’t know for sure that’s what happened, but being a wife to a wonderful husband who always means well but doesn’t always get it right, that’s what I think happened. Because after we talked to the counselor, the president came back and said he would be willing to stay and help us and he’d go see if he could get someone else. He told us to go out and meet him outside the baptistery doors. 

And he found someone!

I was so happy and thankful I had tears in my eyes. And I gave her a big hug and told her how thankful I was. Because that transfers no matter what language you speak. 

Matt baptized and she and I were the witnesses and it was just so special. Then when the girls were done she made sure to give each of us 3 names so we all got to be confirmed. The temple president came in and confirmed Matt. 

We have been so blessed with amazingly generous temple workers going out of their way for us and our girls. In Frankfurt the couple that helped us were there right before Christmas and just for us. We can’t wait to be temple workers and help cute little families like ours. It means so much. 

We took pictures quickly and then hustled across the street to our bus, and then waited for 20 minutes. 🤣

We ate our leftover croissants for a snack and getting to the airport was a little bit of a fiasco because somehow even though I knew we needed a specific bus to orly to be able to us our weekly metro pass we got to the point where we had to take the special orly metro for $11 each. So frustrating. 

And then our flight was delayed but we got food and napped and finally our flight left and was quick and easy and we got to sit together. 

I thought we might have time to see the gardens or palace of Versailles, but no luck. 

And because Matt and I never get solo pictures:

We’re traveling, and tennis shoes and dresses go together when you’re traveling. 

We took so many different metros and busses. 🤣

Delaney has been using one of my old phones to take pictures and videos and would like to start a vlog, she’s loving documenting our trip. It’s both adorable, and annoying. 

We walked a million steps to the water taxi, rode 45 minutes in the dark, walked in the sprinkling rain for 15 minutes and finally made it to our Airbnb in Venice. 

We were trying to be quiet since it was late, and at one point Matt was navigating us and a man poked his head out from one of the doors and said something about night in Italian. I said sorry and ushered the girls away, and when Matt looked back he recognized Frey. 😂 I thought we were being asked to keep it down and it was dark and I didn’t recognize him, it was pretty funny. We walked together for a late pizza dinner and got to bed for our first night in Italy. 🇮🇹