Walks to Remember . . . Lucca, Pisa, Cinque Terre & Verona

The Tuscan town of Lucca is the perfect place to take an afternoon stroll--whether atop its medieval wall which still surrounds the city or just around town.



And I had to take a picture of this sweet little man filling up his green glass water jug at a public fountain. I only wish I had known how to say in Italian “will you look at me and smile?” as he mounted his bike and rode off with his treasure in tow.



The next day we ventured out to Pisa and its Leaning Tower . . . good thing we had Bryant along so he could hold it up while I took a picture!





And later that day, we spent some time in the warmth of sand and sea at the American Beach in Tirrenia. Between paddle boating, canoeing, beach volleyball (which soon became beach soccer), shell collecting, sun bathing and relaxing, only a little more TIME could have made the afternoon more idyllic.

Here are Christian and Taylor setting off in the canoe . . .



Jacob and Bryant triumphantly displaying their battle trophy . . .



And the Allred, Clark and Hibbard kids at the end of the day:



We knew that the next day we would be down near the water again as we hiked along the famed Cinque Terre (five beautiful coastal towns just northwest of La Spezia). The highlight was being witness to our very own cliff divers -- Bryant, Christian, Taylor, Brent, Jessica, Heidi, Hailey and Dallin . . . love that clear Mediterranean water!

The cliff . . .



Here are Lissie & Erin in their sun hats (if you look closely, you can see the Cinque Terre in the background)



Our last stop in Italy was Verona. We spent an afternoon there as we journeyed from Italy back to Germany. We were impressed with the centuries old coliseum (still in use for operas, concerts and plays), marble sidewalks, and the fabled Capulet home (we couldn’t miss seeing Giuliette’s balcony). In the end, we decided that a couple of hours was just not enough . . . so fair Verona is on our “must see again” list. Ryan Air must fly close to there, right?





Here is what Bryant, Christian and Lissie think about that . . .

Lugano Revisited

Several years ago (April 2003) we took a family trip to Lugano, Switzerland. Our original motivation for this excursion was Lauren's desire to attend The American School in Switzerland (TASIS)-- the setting for a book by Sharon Creech entitled Bloomability. We toured the school (a much less expensive alternative to actually attending), paddle-boated on Lake Lugano, played chess in the city square, hiked Mt. Bre, and toured the chocolate factory. We were enchanted by the city's beauty coupled with the Italian language . . . the best of two cultures really and a European paradise.

Who knew that we would become acquainted last year with a wonderful LDS family (The Hibbards from Iowa) presently living in Lugano? Two of their children even attend TASIS. Unbelievable! They graciously invited us (and the Clarks) to come for a short visit while we were enroute to Italy. As we revisited the sites in beautiful Lugano, our love for its charm was also rekindled.

Here are Erin, Rachel and Lissie outside the gate at TASIS:



. . . and the same beautiful girls down by the dock:



. . . the kids down at the park:



. . . and my dream house!



GRAZIE, Hibbard Family!

Please Come Again . . .

For the past few years we have had a tradition of camping with our good friends, The Clarks, in the Black Forest on Memorial Weekend. And since they arrived back to Germany just in time to continue the tradition, we went camping the day after they got here. Sorry guys . . . no time for jet lag!

Here are Ezra and Taylor enjoying dinner . . .


such nice boys.

Many of the youth from our ward also joined us on our excursion. There is so much for them to do: Soccer, basketball, swimming, running, getting lost (ask me later), roasting marshmallows, making new friends, etc.

Here they are enjoying some time out on the raft . . . little did they know that Bryant and Christian had more than floating on their minds. Just what were they thinking? Let's get wet? Let's get everyone wet? Let's rock the boat? Let's SINK the boat???



We had such a lively group that even the Germans were out taking pictures. After all, there's nothing quite like a few rambunctious American youth to make things interesting. The owners of the camp actually wrote me last week asking us to . . . PLEASE COME AGAIN!

What My Mom Didn't Tell You . . . (by Bryant)

Trip to Italy

I, Bryant Allred, went to Italy for an adventurous soccer tournament with my VFB Rauenberg German team. We left on April 1st and and were there over the weekend.

As I was preparing to write this news report, I was complaining at my mother for stealing my idea since now there was nothing interesting to write about my trip. I told her she stole all the good ideas. So while I was pondering, I decided to just write about my trip from my perspective, since I was the one actually there, not my mom.

In my mother's newsletter, she wrote about my “dream soccer ball”. Well, I am just going to elaborate on this a little. This ball was the coolest thing in the WORLD! I am going to show you exactly what it looks like.



So you look at this ball and say: “WOW, this thing looks awesome!” To my disappointment, this actually isn't my dream ball, because I own it. You are probably asking yourself: “How does a ball get any better than this?” Well it does. My dream ball is this same ball except with the yellow being a neon orange. Not to offend Lissie Allred and Erin Clark who bought me this ball for Christmas, but my dream ball looks like the the most awesome, cool, amazing, wonderful, revolutionary thing in the world. Get the picture? I wish I had a picture of the real thing, but I couldn't find one and I looked for it all over the internet. I was so mad! I would have paid all my money for that ball (not really).

So by now you are probably bored of my “dream ball,” so I am just going to take you through some of the main facts of my trip. In the tournament we got ninth place out of 20 teams. We won three games and lost two. We were staying in an absolutely terrible three star hotel. Why was it so bad? Well, first of all, the shower was connected to the bathroom, so when you were taking a shower you got everything in the bathroom wet! The rooms were tiny. The food was nasty, especially the bread and the ripoff Nutella they gave us.

Another great thing about this trip was that we were right next to the beach. We didn't have enough time to go swimming, and I forgot my swim trunks anyway, but it was really beautiful and we wrote REALLY BIG in the sand: “VFB RAUENBERG.” It was awesomely cool.

Here are some more pictures if you want to see:






If you look carefully, you can see my dad videotaping my game to the right of my head. He was very excited about that.

So all in all, this trip was great! I had a lot of fun!

Bryant

By the way, this was for school.

A Picture of the Tower . . .

Here is the castle ruin where the boys spent the night last Friday. They slept at the highest level of the highest tower . . . under the stars!

Trances, Fainting and Meltdowns . . .

When I picked the boys up today from the stake father-son campout (this time without Tracy), Bryant was so drowsy he wouldn't even hug me! WHAT? Christian said he had to “shake Bryant like ten times” before he would wake up once they arrived back! And while Bryant was in his trance, Christian and I decided we were very thankful that Bryant doesn't really sleepwalk – that could have proved perilous last night as they camped in some castle ruins near Trier. Our ward boys decided to sleep in the tower, 300 feet up?, under the stars. Okay, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't sleep under those conditions (let alone under the stars), so I'm just not convinced that they really slept . . . hence, the trance-like state with which Bryant greeted me this afternoon!

Which reminds me . . . Bryant actually fainted last Sunday! I was lying on the couch, taking a rare Sunday nap, when I heard a THUD (like someone had slipped and hit their head)! I rushed over to find Bryant lying still on his back with his eyes closed . . . SCARED ME TO DEATH! As soon as I touched him, he woke up and said, “that was weird.” Apparently he had compromised his circulation while he had his legs propped up (at the computer), and when he got up to walk out to the living area . . . he fainted!

Soon after I arrived back from my stateside trip last month, I helped Bryant make his final Eagle Project preparations – coordinating a clean-up of the Heiligenberg Amphitheater. I was on hand to give some helpful tips on what equipment he might need, how to advertise for help, etc. I even wrote a plea to the district boy scout representative seeking timely approval of Bryant's project since he would like to make a positive impression (of Boy Scouts and Americans in general) on our local German city officials. But the height of my helpfulness included a highly merited “scout meltdown” (something akin to the meltdown I had last year when I learned that Christian's well planned project might not get approved). I don't actually yell or scream, I just shut down, cry (a LOT) and cease to be logical. The boys, of course, have great sympathy for me (lots of hugs) and that is when Tracy steps in and helps make some pertinent phone calls. And yes, Bryant's project was approved – just two scant days before the actual project, and he did a bang-up job leading his troop and other volunteers in a service project for the city of Heidelberg. Good Job Bryant!

CeLeBration! News April 2010

Hello Everyone,

Yes, I know it is May (not April) and that I said I was graduating to a blog (and I will), but since I am behind by a month in CeLeBration! News, I thought I would just focus on April before I launch into May and the much anticipated first edition of www.daysofcelebration.blogspot.com (thanks to Marie).

April was definitely a month to be remembered . . .

Bryant experienced a highlight of his soccer career -- a tournament in Cesenatico, Italy. He loved playing against other teams from Italy, Switzerland and Germany. In his free time he got to play on the beach, and he spied his dream soccer ball -- a black with orange design Nike. He says he has since "looked all over the internet and could not find it!" . . . I guess we'll chalk it up to one of the elusive wonders of Italy.

The day after he and Tracy returned, I left for the states . . .

I spent a week in Seattle with Marie -- met sweet little Juliette Claire (just a week old), did a total sewing marathon blow out (a.k.a. makeover of Isabella and Juliette's room and duvet cover and pillows for Liam's), and had my first ever makeup makeover. Too bad I had an allergic reaction to that "all natural makeup" or my face might have been transformed for more than a day!





Then I was off to Utah where first I attended Emily's graduation from LDSBC, and then a week later -- Lauren's graduation from BYU. In between I did a little shopping (had to check out the mall and Costco), studying (took a final for one of my classes), and hiking (to the Y). It was such fun to be with my girls and in Provo again, fondly remembering my college days. I'm even considering spending a term at BYU next summer to finish up my degree . . . I guess my college years never really ended. I must be on the 30 year extended plan!




Next, Lauren, Emily and I set off for Boise where we quickly said hi to Aunt Julie and CJay and then spent a night and a morning with Grandma Minnie. Everyone was so gracious to get near us at all since Emily and I had the flu bug. Lauren did most of the driving and somehow she miraculously did not catch our bug . . . oh, the wonders of determination and hand sanitizer! From there, we were off to Seattle where Marie met us in time for me to catch my plane back to Germany (with a long layover in DC where I spent several lovely hours with Matthew).

So, yes, April was definitely a special month for us. It was great to see so many of you too. Thanks especially to those of you who came all the way to Provo for the graduation/goodbye party. It was a real treat to be with you again, even for short time.

And a special thanks to Tracy, Christian, Lissie and Bryant for taking such good care of each other while I was gone. It is good to be home again.

Love, Lisa