The Pride That Comes With Building Your Own Legoland

Preschool Graduation

I 100% admit I used to be a person who said, "OMG preschools have GRADUATIONS?? How ridiculous." Because it kind of is. 

On the other hand, marking an occasion is important. Call it whatever you want to call it - graduation or whatever. The more funerals you go to, especially the startling, out of nowhere ones, the more you realize how important it is to stop and reflect on life changes. Funerals, weddings, graduations - or more simply - transitions from one part of life to another. Stop the world from it's wild spinning for a second, reflect, breathe, applaud, enjoy, cry, celebrate. Celebrate where you started and how far you've come. It makes a difference.

So, cut me to crying at Harper's preschool graduation last Friday. The "graduation" consisted of the kids singing all kinds of wonderful "I've done it!" songs and taking lots of pictures, then dancing. Each child got a one line description and Harper's was "always the peacemaker." My heart melted with joy. What a wonderful thing to have said about your five-year-old!**

 

Mark those moments. Celebrate them all. 

 

 

 

**My preschool or kindergarten year end report included the line "Julia has to learn she can't always be the boss." I have almost learned that. Still working on it. 

One Of Our Favorite Spots - Villa Reale di Marlia

We got lost one day, looking for our 2nd rental. (Ever the producer, I thought it best to scout the new location before actually moving there. So glad we did!) It was out in the country where all roads seem to be named Via delle Villa and therefore tough to nail down with google maps. We pulled into what looked to be a tiny parking lot/ticket office for a huge villa. I popped in to ask for directions (being the most fearless of our group with my .05% Italian language skills.) The two women there were almost able to help me but more importantly, I learned we were at the Villa Reale di Marlia. I promised we would come back for a tour and I'm so glad we did. 

Upon our return, I went back into the tiny ticket office and the two same women were there. One turned to the other and said excitedly, in Italian, "This is the woman who was lost!" I laughed and bought tickets. At first it was disappointing to learn that all the buildings were closed. They are being restored and will be closed for probably years. (They only started restoring in 2015.) We went in anyway to view the gardens and man oh man did my disappointment disappear quickly. The tour map smartly takes you away from the buildings down to the lake first. Then you get this stunning view back up to the main house. 

Then you walk back up to the main buildings via all the amazing side gardens.

The wisteria was stunning and smelled soooo good.

There is a pool and pool house tucked away on the side. I can't wait to go back and see this fully restored. 

There is a Grotto, of course. All the best villas had them...

Inside the Grotto it was about 10 degrees cooler and looked like it used to spray water from all the fountains into the center. I suspect on hot summer days this would be the place to relax and cool off as you walked from the lake back to the house. ("house")

There were many other gardens and pathways - the Spanish Garden, the Green Theater, etc. But my favorite is the Lemon Garden. Kurt estimated it is a bit smaller than a football field. Half is lemon trees in pots (so you can move them indoors during winter!) and the other half is a big pond with a fountain. 

A view from behind the fountain looking back at the Lemons:

Turns out, my favorite painter, John Singer Sargent, came here to paint. And he painted a few watercolors from this very Lemon Garden. 

When you arrived in a carriage to the main house, this is what you saw when you exited the carriage - a huge fountain with multiple levels of water coming down. This photo does not do it justice except to show how large it is! 

Here's a close up of the center. Also surprising, you could walk along that upper level next to the statues and giant urns. There were lovely little secret pathways through the trees and bushes back there. Excellent fun for this old romantic. 

The huge water fountain (they call it the Water Theater) is behind this main building. We stopped halfway to empty rocks from our shoes. 

The whole time we were there, walking the grounds, we saw one other family. Total. In the whole giant place. 

When we left, I thanked the women again and they said they were having an event on Easter Monday - a Botanical Treasure Hunt for the kids! Um, yes, sign us up. So we came back! This time with a picnic and blankets (because you are always welcome to come in and picnic any time you want) and Harper really enjoyed the treasure hunt and of course the gift at the end. (Amazingly she wore the exact same outfit!)

Here she finds Boxwood and Lemons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She hugged and kissed many of the trees and plants we found.

SWAG

I love this place and I can't wait to go back often to see how things have come along. I want to picnic there all the time.

The true joy of spending a long time in one place is visiting wonderful things you find more than once. I highly recommend it.  

Please visit the link of the villa - their photos are stunning and give you some better views. Villa Reale di Marlia 

I Just Like This Picture

Dinner one night with Puccini. Always Puccini.

Meet Apple, My Badass Daredevil Of A Daughter

I'll get to the Apple part at the end...

Kurt and his brother went to Rome for three days. Harper and I stayed behind to chill in/around Lucca. We went to a zoo yesterday (another unexpected treat) and today we went to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi. I've never read the book, only seen the Disney movie, which, honestly, is quite creepy and disturbing. Puppets turning into boys? Boys turning into Donkeys? Talking crickets? W E I R D. But hey, let's go to a park in honor of Pinocchio. The author was born in Collodi, hence the connection. 

I'd read that it's a funky old fashioned little park but good for an outing. Little did I know what modern updates awaited! we got there around 11 and it had been raining a little so it was pretty empty. There was a school group as well, maybe 3rd graders, and they made a lot of noise, so it didn't feel totally empty. We walked in to the area with little rides and met Pinocchio himself. Kind of. I mean, he was dressed as Pinocchio and waved at the school kids as Pinocchio, but he also had the key for the three little rides and helped you on and pushed the start button. So. 

Harper tried all three rides. They are hilarious in their antiquity and (lack of) speed.

First she tried the cars - not bad! I love the design of all these vehicles. 

Then the carousel. Uh... yeah. Not really her speed. 

Then the boats. Harper seemed really unclear on why these rides were so (let's be honest) lame.

Then we moved on to a play place with stuff to climb and a fun little mini-zipline thing. Little did we know it was a foreshadow of bigger things to come!

Then we had a snack and then watched a puppet show - all in Italian of course - but we were surrounded by 30 school kids who laughed and howled and shouted at the puppets. I didn't take a picture, but it was a plywood box with a window and some red "curtains" and one guy doing two hand puppets at a time. It was the story of Pinocchio with Geppetto and Pinocchio at the start, up to the point of where Pinocchio has run away and the Fox and Cat show up. Then it ends...Uh, okay! Now, that part took about 20 minutes, so thank goodness it ended, because OMG.

Anyway....then we grabbed a sandwich and a popsicle. Harper fit right in with the kids eating their ice cream. I loved that.

After frozen treats we walked through the mini forest filled with sculptures of characters from the book - but not happy Disneyesque type sculpture with color or joy. No, these were like 1970's retro Post WW 2 Neorealism commentary on life. This is the statue of the Blue Fairy, which Harper clearly dug, so what the hell do I know?

But there were fun little secret paths and then you end up at/in the whale! Check that fab 70's Italian Design!

After the whale, in which you go into the mouth, then climb up a spiral staircase out the blow hole, then down some back stairs, there was a small hedge maze. We cranked through that pretty well. 

Then. Then we got to the brand new adventure portion of the creaky old park. There are two parts - a smaller Ship thing for the kids to walk around, balance beams, swinging mini bridges, etc. All while on a harness and clipped onto cable. It's for ages 5 - 14 and Harper wanted ON! So I signed our lives away and she got buckled in and had instructions on how to clip in and out - made simple for kids.

And she was off!

Just freaking going for it. 

Please note, I am far away - there is nobody else out there, no safety person, no monitor, nothing! Just my five year old daughter who clearly has been waiting for this opportunity for ages...(click for bigger)

But that was part 1. Part 2 is across the river. Over a swinging bridge. Harper, do you want to go? Yes. But the wire to hold onto is pretty high, do you think you can reach it? Yes. You have to swing across the river to come back, is that okay? Yes. I can't go with you, just the safety woman, still want to go? Yes.

I wasn't afraid she would get hurt, I was only afraid she might get all the way over and halfway through that course and something would scare her. I mean, there are times on a regular playground in LA where she asks for my help. But this??? She was on her own. And damn if she didn't freaking do it all. 

Then the big finish! No hesitation, she just went! ZIP!

When she landed, she did look a bit pale, and I said are you okay? She nodded then smiled and I burst into tears and hugged her and told her how proud I was of her! She is my BADASS DAREDEVIL GIRL!

Then she want back to the ship 2 more times. She didn't want to do the zip again...fair enough. For the rest of the hour I hugged her and said how amazed and proud I was of her. DAMN!

At the end, there was a coloring place and the Blue Fairy (a young woman in a cheesy costume - Cheesy withe a capital Cheese) made her a little fairy wand to color. She asked her name and I had to say Harpe. P. Har--p -- er. And we got this: 

APPLE!

Holy crap what a day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House Before And After - Kitchen Money Shot!

The kitchen. Oh boy the kitchen! I'll let the pictures tell it.

BEFORE:

AFTER: (From same spot)

The inspiration for the style of Kitchen (found online somewhere):

Our actual Kitchen:

More before:

NOW!

 

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House Before And After - Quick Bathroom Tease

Our remodel is almost complete. Still some odds and ends going on, but most of it is done and we've moved back in!

Here is the main bathroom Before and after pics. Not sure why I took so few before pics! Also we are still in the process of putting up towel racks and artwork. For now, please enjoy the pics!

Before:

After!

Before:

After!

Before:

(Not sure why I didn't take a wider shot...)

After!

 

 

More Things Harper Says

Harper has settled into some phrases in her 4 3/4 years (and she'll say "I'm 4 and 3/4" because she cannot wait to be 5!). My favorite is when she is telling a story and she starts with "One time ago" as in "One time ago, we went to the big trees and I climbed a rock!" or "One time ago, Ethan made me laugh at school."

She says "alligator" for elevator, which is charming, but I know won't last long.

She says "Surprise" for dessert. Which is my unintentional doing. When she was late 1ish and 2ish and eating in a more grown up style, I would say after dinner "Do you want a surprise?" because dessert was a whole new concept. She took that to mean surprise = dessert. Even cuter back then, she would pronounce it "soapy prize". I was hoping that would stick, but alas, no. Now she also days dessert, but still will say while standing in front of the freezer "Papa, do you want a surprise?"

The other day, out of the blue (well, out of the blue to me) she was getting her shoes and said, "This is ridiculous!" I had never heard her use that word before! Cracked me up.

My parenting win moment:

The Scene: Dinner

Harper: Mama, I want more mac and cheese.

Me: There is no more mac and cheese. 

Harper: But I want more!

Me: I know, but there isn't any. You can have more rice or green beans.

Harper: Okay. I'll have green beans.

Me: {Inside} 

This has been another installment of "Things Harper Says."

 

 

 

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OK Go!

We let Harper watch YouTube videos of kids playing with toys, unboxing videos, etc. But lately we've turned her on to funny cat videos (ha!) and OK Go videos. Now I am OBSESSED with OK Go. Yes yes, I'm a little late to the party. But man, the work they put into their videos is fantastic. And I will be buying their albums.

 

Treadmill video √

Weightless video √

 

This video in particular made me shake my head with wonder at the design and set up. I also love it because it's the ULTIMATE singing while driving video.

Lessons Do Sink In

Very proud of Harper.

We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and I told her she could have a new toy from the gift shop. I also told her that meant when we got home, she had to pick one of her old toys to give away. (We say "to give to babies" for all things that she's outgrown.) It was a long drive home after the Aquarium and lunch but the minute she got in the house, she went straight to the toy box and picked out a toy for me to give to babies.

I had forgotten about in the hustle of getting home and emptying back-packs, etc. So when she went right to her room, it took me a minute to figure out what she was doing, digging through her toy box. Then she pulled a toy and said that one could go, but I had to convince her otherwise as it was the Totoro given to her by her cousin Jamie! Then she pulled out an old baby doll. Perfect. She then found the accompanying diaper and shirt and it was done.

Welcome new toy! Bon Voyage old toy!

Yay Harper.