St. Louis

I am still alive! I was so busy getting ready to go on our trip to St. Louis to visit family, then I was so busy on our trip, and I have finally settled back in from our trip! Who knew that it would be so much work traveling with two kids under the age of 2!


Here is a snapshot of what the plane ride was like with Luca...

If you take a look to the right of the photo, you will see Hailey ducking her head in complete embarrassment!




Anyhow, after that experience and the experience on the plane ride back, who knows when we will attempt such a trip again! Nora of course, was just a sweet angel!
On the way back, at one point the flight attendant stopped and asked me if I knew what the problem with Luca was..."maybe his ears are hurting" he said...my emotionless response (at that point I felt numb!) was "frankly, he is just throwing a tantrum..." Fifteen minutes later, he was sleeping and I was thanking God!

We were greeted at the airport by Gino and Linda, Alessandro's brother and sister, and then Alessandro's dad surprised us with a huge Italian feast at his house! That man can cook! We ate too well the entire trip and our waistlines probably show it.

It was freezing in St. Louis! Our thinned out blood is not used to that kind of cold. Luca is not used to wearing so much clothing and he wasn't a fan at first! Here he is with his Uncle Sal...so upset...he looked like Ralphie from the movie A Christmas Story!

Once we got him outside, he was happy as can be playing with his cousins!

 

Nora was all bundled up and passed out while we went for a walk in Sal and Josephine's subdivision.

Alessandro and I stayed in the same room at his dad's house with Luca and Nora. This made for a complicated bedtime routine and lack of sleep. It was interesting with the two kids, to say the least.

Luca and Nora with Nono Alu

This is one of the only pictures I have with Hailey in it. She left early and spent a lot of time doing her make-up work for school.

Nora and Aunt Linda

We also celebrated Luca's 2nd birthday while we were there. He was more interested in his cake than he was in the gifts!

One night, we bundled up and got on a wagon ride to see some Christmas lights. It was so much fun! The kids loved it. Hailey had already gone home to Phoenix, so she missed it. I really missed having her with us.

 

 

Here are all of Luca's cousins from left to right: Noah, Sal Jr., Dominic and you are familiar with the other two!

Our time was not all go, go, go! Hailey and I did manage to sneak away with Josephine for some manicures and pampering with Paula! Alessandro kept the little ones and we indulged! If you live in the St. Louis area, or you are planning on visiting, an appointment with Paula is a must! She is so lively and made sure that every minute of the hour and a half that we had with her was spent being pampered. All three of us were having some kind of wonderful treatment the entire time! She is a one woman outfit and she does it all! A true treasure she is. I need to find one of her here in Phoenix.

Her contact information is:

Seriously, she is an amazing woman!