Tuscany Family Vacation - Part II

After leaving Milan we made the drive south to our Tuscan villa.  We wound up staying a few kilometers ourside of one of our favorite cities, Montepulciano.  The place was perfect for our large group of 18.  It was an old villa that was divided into a number of separate apartments and had a central courtyard in the middle.  The best parts about the villa were the amazing views of the Tuscan countryside.  Even the pool had an awesome view!

Our villa courtyard

The Birthday Boy

Our view for the week

The lavender smelled amazing!





Daisy the horse that lived on the villa property.  Estella was in love!

Estella

Ana Lucia

Cousin love

Tom enjoying life

Tuscany Family Vacation - Part I

Our dear brother in law, Mauricio, has a big birthday coming up next month.  And, in honor of this special occassion he had one request...for his whole family to gather in Tuscany for a week of fun this summer.  So, of course, we were happy to oblige.  This trip has been in the works since Christmas.  We started our trip with Tom's mom and headed to Milan to drop by the CH Robinson Milan office and make our way South.  We got to spend one day in Milan which was great because somehow we hadn't seen it when we were living in Italy years ago.  Milan in pictures:

The Milan Duomo

The famous shopping area

Pierogi Lessons

Last week I was fortunate to join some girlfriends to learn how to make blueberry pierogi.  It was so much fun and also a lot of work.  But, definitely well worth it!  We followed my friend Caitlin's mother-in-law's recipe which does not include exact measurements.  We started with a bunch of flour and added in a sprinkle of salt, a bit of oil, and hot water until the dough reached the correct consistency.  Then we rolled out the dough, cut our circles and filled them with delicious blueberry filling.  From there, we boiled the pierogis and then got to enjoy a few after all of our hard work!  I am looking forward to making other kinds in the future.  Tom has put in a request for his favorite kind....ruskie (potato and cheese).  Since they are so much work I am thinking that this will be a once or twice a year activity. 

A huge thank you to Caitlin for teaching us Pierogi Making 101!

Picking up Blueberries at the Market

Making the dough

Stuffing the pierogi

Making sure they are sealed tight

The finished product!

Enjoying a few...of course whip cream makes everything better (even pierogi)!



More Visitors...

A little over a week ago we were fortunate to have one of Tom's best friends come and visit.  Aaron Leavitt was travelling through Europe and came to see us in his travels.  It was wonderful seeing him and showing him around our new home.  He and Tom took a "boys weekend" and took the train to Krakow.  It was great for Tom to spend time with Aaron and to explore the city (since he hadn't made it there yet).  They definitely made the most of their two days in Krakow and saw the famous Salt /mine, took a tour of the city and took a day trip to Auschwitz.  Tom loved taking in all of the history!  And, the boys even got to meet up with Tom's old LaLumiere football coach, who happens to be living in Krakow for a few months this summer with some extended family.  All in all it was a great side trip.  And, we loved getting to see and spend time with Aaron.  Here are some shots from the "boys weekend".

Boys will be boys...Aaron had to lick the salt mine to make sure it was real!

Tom with his old football coach