Sorry it's been so long...

We've been totally busy with my mom's visit, a trip to Italy and a budding toddler who now throws temper tantrums. It has been a busy week and it's only Wednesday! There's so much to tell you, but where to start?! I guess I'll start at the beginning, way back to when my mom first arrived.

My mom arrived on a Friday morning. I could not have been more excited and it was clear that Alexa knew something was up. The night before my mom arrived, she wound up in our bed...she hasn't left since. Clearly she doesn't do well with change.

As soon as my mom arrived the visiting, traveling and general grandmotherly obsessiveness began. Alexa is loving that her Gramma is here. She even gave her kisses today! A rare gift that she has only ever bestowed upon one other person other than myself, her Aunt Leslie.

We decided that on this visit we were going to show my mom a little bit of Europe. We decided on Italy and hit the ground running! We headed to Lido di Jesolo, a lagoon on the Adriatic Sea just north of Venice, for a short, but wonderful beach vacation. It was perfection. Seriously, per-fec-tion. In Linz, it had been rainy and cold and generally gross for days. When we drove through the mountains it actually was snowing at one point. This totally freaked me out. Who goes on a beach vacation in the snow??? However, as soon as we crossed the border into Italy it was like the gods knew I needed this vacation and the clouds parted and the sun started shining down on us. The closer we got to our location the more beautiful it became.

We had four days of sunshine, beach, eating, touring the area and family time. I could not have been happier with the way things went. Michael even loved it and he doesn't like the beach! I can't wait to plan a trip back to the area in the future.

After our return back to cold, wet and dreary Austria on Saturday night, the weather turned warm and sunny and we have been enjoying taking my mom around Linz, visiting the sites and experiencing a little Austrian culture and food. She definitely seems to be enjoying her trip. (Although I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy it even if we stayed home every day, just as long as she got to spend time with Alexa.)

Oh the tantrums...yeah, that's a whole blog entry of it's own!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the warm weather!