May 2019: Wedding in Italy!

Halfway through June and I am only just now getting to the May blog.  That is how crazy these last 6 weeks have been.  Always the end of a school year is overwhelming and in the midst of that frenzied activity we also had a whirlwind trip to Italy....

                 A sweet Mother's Day from Maria's class....

Maria's class took a field trip to see this sailing boat made mostly out of flip-flops washed up on Kenya's beaches.  For more on the project see: http://www.theflipflopi.com/

Recess fun in Kindergarten....

Most exciting news of the month: Our new puppy Gioia ("Joy-ah" which means "joy" in Italian) was born on May 6th.  We love the meaning of the name but also find it fun that it starts like Giovanni's name and ends like Maria's!

A visit from Honey who will move in with us for a few months at the start of June.  She LOVES to steal Jagger's tennis balls!

A group playdate on a school holiday.  We all survived!

                                         

Wiped out after a long walk in Karura Forest.  
Ready for the ride home...

Second set of school photos for Grade 4 & Kindergarten!

Swimming in Lilly Lake at Karura.

The odd couple.

Pippi Longstocking

Maria made it into the school art show!

Gio's swim banquet and awards night.  He took the direction to "dress smart" very seriously.

PE Friday!

Maria's final Saturday Scientist.  She will be the first to sign up for next year!

When you invite one of your best buddies over for a playdate and she comes dressed just like you!

Rainy day crafts.

Silly Hair Day (not actually an official event at school but Maria declared it so!).

Ready to head to the airport for the wedding in Italy.  We left very late on a Wednesday night and would return on Sunday.  Crazy!

Arrived early Thursday morning but our apartment was not ready so we wandered around the Duomo in a bit of a travel fog.

Pizza helped!

Dinner with Zio Guido.  Guido is Paolo's older brother.  It is his daughter Cristina getting married tomorrow.

Dressed for the big event.

With our cousins from Castelnovo.

Gio getting instructions from Giacomo (the groom!) on carrying the rings.  Gio took his job very seriously.

And guess who got to be a flower girl!?

The wedding officiant.  Yes, Paolo would be in charge of marrying the happy couple!

Waiting for the bride.  Fashionably late, of course.

The ceremony.

The gorgeous couple (and a certain flower girl who raided the matrimonial table!).

The morning after.  Roaming around Milan with Marina, a family favorite of ours. 

And then in the wee hours of Sunday morning we found ourselves back at the airport.

An update on Gioia, now 3 weeks old...