8/7 -- Rome

Last day in Italy.

We promised the kids a low key day today after a full day of tours yesterday, so we let them sleep in and then we just wandered around Rome buying souvenirs.  The square outside our apartment has a big market during the day where we bought fresh fruit for breakfast and pasta and sauces to take home.  (We once again didn’t haggle well and probably paid more than we should have, but I’m chalking it up to supporting small business/the local economy.) We also purchased a new suitcase in which to carry all the souvenirs home, something we had always planned to do because we only each brought a carry on bag with us.  After walking around for awhile and eating lunch, we came back to the apartment to rest/nap, and then get ready for pictures in the evening.  I know I will be happy to have the pictures in the long run, but choosing coordinating-but-not-too-matchy-matchy outfits for all 5 of us for family pictures is seriously the most stressful thing I do all year, and this year I chose to do it twice since we did pictures in both Venice and Rome.  Thankfully my kids *mostly* no longer complain about wearing what I tell them to wear.  It probably helped that they literally had no choice today since pretty much everything else they packed is dirty now but I had held on to the picture outfits separately to prevent them from wearing them beforehand and getting them dirty.

After pictures we had dinner, then got one last gelato (unless we can get some at the airport tomorrow), and watched the kids flick the spinning light up things they had gotten in Venice into the sky.  They (in particular the boys, since Julia didn’t practice as much as they did) got quite good at shooting them.   

We got home and packed a little and then went to bed after midnight.  We have to leave for the airport tomorrow at 8:30 so we’ll get up, finish packing, and go.  What an amazing 2.5 weeks we have had.  In retrospect, I/we should have built more down time into the schedule.  I kind of thought the trains would be built-in down time, but it turns out it wasn’t enough.  Even so, I know we made memories together and my kids got to experience lots of things different from home, and that’s really all you can ask from vacation.

A random gorilla statue we found while walking


Shooting their light up toys into the air


























Pictures from family photo shoot



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