Podere Casanova--The Final Event--A PIZZA Dinner!

On the last night of our wonderful stay at The Podere Casanova, Lisa and her family offered to prepare a traditional Italian pizza dinner for us at the farmhouse.  She and her family had yet to disappoint us, so we were quick to say yes!

We placed our pizza orders inside and when it arrived, everything was as we had expected it to be: delicious! 

But wait, Lisa, Lara, and the rest of their family had a surprise for us! 

They had fired up the brick stone oven outside on the patio and were ready to give the little ones pizza making lessons! It was awesome and a totally authentic experience for us all and the kids had a blast!

Ok, get ready...I took a TON of pictures...(shocker, I know) but I couldn't help it.  The kids looked so adorable in their cute little aprons and hats!

Lisa and Lara's papa showing us the oven where the pizzas cook.  He was the nicest man--so kind and friendly.  I wish I had gotten a better picture of him.  He treated us like family the entire time we were there.

Trey and Jackson in their chef hats and aprons.  They were both pretty good sports about the whole thing.  I think Trey actually enjoyed it more than he admitted.

The boys rolling out their dough to make their pizza.

Lisa giving the boys some pizza making tips. 

                                         

The boys using the giant paddles to put their pizzas in the oven. I was surprised at how light weight they were!

 Papa helping Jackson take his pizza out of the oven.

 Preparing their Nutella Pizza!

I LOVE the look on Trey's face!

Delilah was tired and had been reluctant to join in (apparently she was "shy" on that night), but when she saw that there was chocolate involved, she jumped RIGHT in.

She grabbed that pizza torture device and went to town on her dough, like she knew exactly what to do with it. We were all cracking up!

Papa helping her with her pizza.

Waiting for it to cook in the oven

                       

Getting her pizza ready to eat!!

Apparently, it was good...

The whole gang after making pizzas!

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GRAZIE!

The BEST Artist (and blog post about it) EVER!

Yesterday, I received an email from Jackson's teacher, Mrs. Tramm.  We love her.

If you haven't met Jackson or don't know about his love of art, click HERE before reading any farther.

One of the things that we love about Mrs. Tramm the most is her awesome sense of humor.  She's a Kindergarten teacher--she's got to see the humor in life, right?  

Either that or take up drinking.  

At school.

Anyways, Mrs. Tramm sent me an email that read like this:

Make sure you check Jackson's folder today.  There's some art work in there for you.

I assumed that Jackson had drawn a picture, made a collage, mosaic, or fabtacular painting of something, most likely our cherry tree, which he is anxiously awaiting to bear fruit. 

I was wrong.

This was better.

But, I didn't realize it at first.

Because I found this:

I read it, chuckled that it was yet ANOTHER report on the status of said cherry tree, and flipped to the next page in his folder.

This is where I found it.

The most awesome drawing of all time. 

But, paper clipped on top of the most awesome drawing of all time, was a note from Jackson's teacher.

It said:

I nodded my head in agreement.  I love all the experiences that my children get from living overseas.  

Rock on Hip Awesome Teacher!

And then I flipped to the next page:

 That is EXACTLY what The David looks like! 

 Jackson remembers it WELL apparently, because he has SEEN it! (Make sure you look closely, just in case you may have missed somepart something impenis, I mean IMPORTANT!)

(Read about that experience HERE)

It looks like he kind-of struggled with the face, but he got all the important parts down!!

Way to go Buddy!

I Love Jackson, too!

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Podere Casanova Part Three

A panaramic view of Podere Casanova

Do you know how when sometimes you take a vacation and then you actually NEED another vacation to recover from the original one?  This trip to Tuscany was not one of those types of vacations.  We actually got to relax and enjoy ourselves.  The weather had a lot to do with it.  There were a couple of days where the weather was just too rainy and yucky and we didn't want to bother with dragging the kids out in it. Instead, we just decided to "hang out" and enjoy ourselves around Podere Casanova.  We drank wine--lots of wine, and we ate food--lots of that too, and we simply walked around and let the kids enjoy some slightly warmer weather in Italy.  

 Unfortunately, it was just too cold to swim...

The pots that these trees were in were HUGE

 The adorable road into town...

 Things were just starting to turn green a bloom

 Some of the vineyards on the property

 The kids loved the goats

 They were super friendly

I was scared they would fall of the ledge (see it RIGHT behind them)

Podere Casanova Part Due (Two)

 On Day Two

We woke up

To the most 

Amazing sunrise.

I was so thankful

to be living 

this fabulous dream.

Podere Casanova

Italians "sell" Italy by using Tuscany as its backdrop.  With its beautiful rolling hills of vines and olive trees and quant Tuscan farmhouses tucked between its valleys, the Tuscan region is what we as Americans expect Italy to be like.  Our family traveled to Tuscany in April of last year for our school Spring Break.  The weather here in April is still cold and rainy but we decided to give Tuscany and Florence a go anyway.  It was our family's first "real" trip since moving to Italy the December before and so we were a little leery of being too adventurous with our lodging choices.  Some friends had suggested Podere Casanova as the perfect place for our Tuscan vacation and so we took their advice and booked the largest part of the farmhouse, the Cipresso Apartment.  We were not disappointed!  Lisa and Lara, the sisters who own the farmhouse made our vacation amazing! Tucked away down a tiny rock-covered road in the Chianti hill country, the farmhouse was perched onto a hill overlooking the picturesque town of Montespertoli.  The views were some of the best we've seen in Europe!

We traveled up this dirt road between the olive trees 

The view in itself was simply breathtaking!  

We ate a couple meals at this table

 View of the town of Montespertoli

It really was this beautiful!  I am so thankful we stayed there.  We arrived on a Saturday evening specifically because our friends had told us the Saturday night dinner that the sisters provided was not to be missed.  It was amazing, with some of the best food we've had in Italy.