Traveling With Kids

I admit we hesitated when discussing whether or not to bring the kids with us on this vacation. It was only after we decided to stay a month did we make the firm decision to bring them with us, partially because it would have been more than a little difficult to organize family to take care of them for an entire month and mostly because we couldn’t imagine not seeing them for that length of time.

We knew that with kids our experience would be much different. There would be no museum after museum after church after church tour. There would be no quiet romantic dinners. We would have to try to plan for naps and bedtimes, although both have relaxed significantly. And whereas it’s 9:20am and Hugh and I would have been up and out of the apartment by now if it were just us, both kids are still sleeping and we won’t get out before 10:30am today!

The pace is much slower, but one which we are very much enjoying. One of my biggest concerns (other than the plane ride, which was fantastic) was whether or not Vinny would enjoy himself. He is, after all, six years old and when at home is often telling me he’s bored when we haven’t made plans to see one of his buddies. Thankfully, he is loving this vacation. The castles, the knights, the beaches, and most of all the locals. He has become a regular at the deli outside of our apartment. Every morning when they see him walk out of our door they practically have his panino ready before he steps foot inside their establishment.

At the restaurant under our apartment there is a young 14 year old boy named Matteo who is far beyond his years in social maturity. Every day when he sees us he yells “Vincenzo!!”. Vinny has taken a great liking to Matteo – as well as the three year old who lives in the apartment below us – and is constantly saying “buon giorno” and “ciao” and any other Italian word he’s picked up along the way. With Matteo, he hangs out of our apartment window and vies for his attention below … and has even given him a special drawing of knights fighting on one of the local Lucca towers. Matteo has taken a liking to us as well and has already given us his email address in hopes of keeping in touch.

We know that Fia will have no memory of this journey when she’s older which is one reason I’ve taken over 1,000 pictures so far and have been trying to capture the moments via this blog. Together I hope they will give her a great big taste of what she experienced. Something in the air here has inspired her to sing her heart out. Every day she sings. On the train. In restaurants. In bed. She has made up several songs including “Lotta Gelatta”, “The Princess Song” and “Starfish, Starfish”. I’ve really got to try to get the singing on video as it’s a whole new side to her personality!

In the last two days she has started speaking her own language. We are pretty sure it’s her version of Italian as we catch certain words like basta, ciao, buon giorno and bambina. Today during lunch she barely spoke English but rather this new language which is quite entertaining!

We are already planning our next visit as a family which we decided would be when Fia is six years old. For as easy as this has been so far I know it’s in large part because of the fact that we have kept her in diapers. I can’t imagine – nor do I have any interest in dealing with – a three or four year old in these European public restrooms!