Thursday, April 24, 2014

March Trip to Florida

 We spent a lovely birthday week in Orlando in March! Dad rented a nice house on the water and we all stayed there together celebrating Laura's 30th, Dad's 60th and Giulio's second birthdays! That's a lot of cake!!


We went to the beach.

That's Giulio calling like a seagull to the left and us playing in the waves below. I very wisely didn't put Giulio is his swimsuit for that trip thinking it would be too cold to play in the water...

 









The guys did some fishing and some kayaking. 



We ate a lot of seafood and saw a Nationals' preseason baseball game.


And for Giulio's birthday we went to Disney World!!


Oh, and did I mention that dolphins and manatees swam by our dock every day?


Space Coast Stadium

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Mottsteins are Moving!

Some of you have already heard, but we're moving this summer!! We looked for houses around Saluzzo for almost 2 years and didn't find anything that we liked at all, so we decided to change towns (which is a really big deal here in Italy) and we're moving back to Savigliano. We're very lucky to be able to take over and renovate Fabri's parents' house; the house he and his sisters grew up in; the house where we lived for 2 months after we were married; this house:

We'll be doing a little work inside. Opening up the main floor to reflect a more modern floor plan, changing the doors and a complete overhaul of the kitchen and bathrooms, well 1 kitchen and 4 bathrooms. That's right, it's a BIG house with more than one kitchen and more than 4 bathrooms. That means more places for me to dust! It also means lots of space for house guests!! My parents have already booked their travel, have you started looking?

Here are a few before pictures and I'll post more photos as the work continues.

Foyer
Fireplace in main living area
Living/Dining Room

Master Bath


Kids' Bathroom









Kitchen











I'm most excited to have a yard for the Olney pup and the kiddo to play in and for me to garden in. I'm also really, really happy to have guest rooms again. Lastly, it will be great to simply have more space so that I don't have to tiptoe in the kitchen when Giulio's asleep because the kitchen and his bedroom are connected here in Saluzzo.