The steps of Santa Croce

Italy is so beautiful in the summer. Riding a bike around Florence with little Elena is so much fun. Now she doesn't even want to approach the stroller.....like no mom, we got real wheels now. Then she waddles over to the bike and proclaims "Loodiloo". It's the season for tank tops and skirts, salads and the ocean (if you can get away from the city) and lots of yummy ice cream. I don't want to leave the city because I've discovered the new joy of playing the Florentine streets at night. There are so many people here- all concentrated in the center. On friday and saturday nights I've been ending up on the stairs of Santa Croce where tons of young people from all over the world hang out. It was encouraging to play for all these people. A fire juggler came and threw his fire next to me. Then some random guy asked to see my viola. He proceded to play through the violin chaconne on viola. The same piece a drunk Irish guy kept begging me to play the night before- "CHHAACCOOnE". Made me feel like learning it. Then some more musicians appeared and listened and asked me to come play in their trio. Yippee!
The new English speaking mommy group is less interesting. A mixture of American, English, Irish, Austrailian moms and their kids. It felt a little akward and a bit high schooly. Maybe it's just all the chit chat.."so what's your story? Italian husband huh? Are you here on vacation or are you a lifer?." The Australian moms were a little snobby and generally avoided the group of American moms. I told an English mom that half of my family is originally from England, but she wasn't amused. There was a very hip fashion designer girl with a nine-month old and a girl from Rochester. Some funny looks I received are justly credited to my attractive he he viola marks. The one on my neck is actually pretty faded, but I have another one on my collarbone that looks like a permanent scrape. It's not a hickey ladies!
Starting to get ready to head back to the States for two months..ahhhh! You girls have to come visit sometime.

sorry about the fragments... its how I think

I think "our spot" is getting lonely... what is going on out there in the worlds of you all? Come on something interesting has to be happening... like maybe you watched the worst episode of Scrubs ever? Does anyone watch that show.. it is so funny... but the last episode I don't know was a little hokey... I mean seriously floating heads? Okay bad example. We have been super busy which is probably the case with all of you. After camping with Jo, I have had a wisdom tooth pulled without being put to sleep (not by choice, only by necessity of pregnancy), went to Seattle again to see my sis-n-law's first art exhibit of possessed bunny paintings, and most recently tore down the walls in our soon to be kids bedroom. As for the surgery I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy hearing the sound of tooth being ripped form your gums, but enjoyed the pampering afterwards and appreciate being able to eat ice cream again without extreme pain that makes your eyes water. Yes, it really did need to go. Seattle was cool as we spent a lot of time by the water in the sunshine, and it was cool to support Stacy in her first show. Her paintings are really pretty cool, the bunnies do have meaning, which to me makes them valuable. We also visited IKEA, which was a little less fun than it used to be when were not accompanied by a two and a half year old at nap time. This was the result of very bad parent planning, we took a fun leisurely ride on a ferry first to the store which resulted in a hungry and tired Ephraim who thought the store was some kind of maze meant for pushing child shopping carts into things... not a good scene. However we did survive and managed to leave with new furniture for our soon to be new addition to our family. NO we don't have a name yet??? Any suggestions? Did I mention, it is only SIX weeks until the due date!!! It is going way to fast, although that can be a good thing. So now it is mud the drywall time... thankfully many friends came over this weekend and helped Ryan with the electricity, insulation, and walboard hanging. (Our house is over 100 years old and without insulation, and the upstairs walls tend to crumble if you drive a nail in them, so they needed to be replaced, this is our last bedroom to complete!!! YEAH!!!) Then we can paint, I just need to figure what colors/designs we are doing. Thinking sky blue, grass green, with maybe some yellow and bright orange??? Who knows... maybe I will post pictures. Anyways there is my lastest...anybody else???

I got emails from Esther and Sara yesterday! Esther found our blog by googling her own name one day. Yay for google!

Here's their emails:
embaker@hotmail.com
ssnelson1@hotmail.com