Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens is one of our favorite places to explore in London...and we love introducing friends and family to the gardens.

Fun with Pops
Autumn Color at Kew. The most vibrant colors I have seen here in the UK. I have to say, nothing beats the Fall colors of America!
The Mediterranean Exhibit. Brought me back to Italy as we passed all of the olive trees.
A squirmy Nicholas.

Our favorite Animals

My parents arrived in town on Thursday so we planned some "grandparent-ish" trips. One of those being a trip to the Zoo!
Nicholas' favorite animals right now are monkeys. We read "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" before afternoon naps and every night before bed. We can recite this book in OUR sleep! He never fails to laugh or make a monkey sound so......we thought he would just love a trip to the Zoo. And boy were we right!

All day long we saw him curling his arms under his armpits and shouting "ooh, ooh". He was just mesmerized by these little guys below! They had an open environment so they were up close and personal to him! My parents were thrilled that there was a Meerkat exhibit. They are Meerkat Manor faithfuls!
And my favorite animals---alpacas! Barry knows I really want one or two for Christmas, but his practical side is taking over. He won't justify the $10-20K alpaca pricetag. :)Here is our group minus Barry as he was home on the sofa shivering----sick with the flu. yuck.
We had a great day and spent it with 2 other families.

7 Years and counting

October 15th marked our wedding anniversary!

We celebrated by heading to Windsor for a great French lunch at a restaurant Thameside. And we had a perfect view of the castle. We had 2 hours to ourselves to sit back, relax and enjoy. It was a treat!

Our anniversary luncheon was complete with a Starbucks run. A Hazelnut cappuccino for me.

"Auntie Jean" came over to play trains with Nicholas. She is a Thomas the Tank Engine expert so he was on cloud nine!

A Big Hello from the Little Man

Playing with Dad....

Foot and Mouth

This sign popped up a few weeks ago a few hundred yards from our house. Comforting, huh?

No wonder why we don't eat the beef in the UK. :)

"Brudder"

This is Nicholas's 1st photo of his new sibling. The doctor gave him his very own copy last week!
We have been trying to teach him to say brother, but what comes out is the ever so cute "brudder".

This is Baby #2 at 13 weeks---due March 31, 2008. The doctor is 80% sure it is a boy. November 8th will be the final verdict when we have the 20 week scan.

Baby #2 has passed all his tests with flying colors. Thank the Lord! Mom will be feeling better soon as she is back on her thyroid medication---it wasn't just the 1st trimester exhaustion. :)

Back to Reality

We are back to the normal rhythm of life---meetings are in full swing, the computer sucks us in most mornings by 8:30am and we are catching up with London friends.

Also, we are back to house projects on our days off!

Barry is almost done painting the outside of our house.....just some trim work on the front windows and drainpipes, a repaint on our side fence, and then maybe our front door.

Nearly there! We have definitely moved up a few notches in the house appeal category---I'm sure the neighbors are equally pleased. :)

The Final Stop on our Italian Journey

Our final stop was Lake Como set at the foothills of the Alps. It is just stunning!
Our visit to Lake Como was short--just 1 1/2 days--but enough time to know that we want to return in the future. It seemed like the perfect spot for a week long retreat!

The lake is shaped much like the character “Y”. The northern branch begins at the town of Colico, while the towns of Como and Lecco sit at the ends of the southwestern and southeastern branches. The small towns of Bellagio, Menaggio and Varenna are situated at the intersection of the three branches of the lake. Hop on a boat and you can get to the various towns!

PS- George Clooney has a villa (or two) on Lake Como, but sadly we didn't have a George spotting. Next time!

Boat ride to Bellagio.

The town of Bellagio

Florence

The Duomo in Florence, otherwise known as Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore!


This cathedral was the largest in Europe when completed, with room for 30,000 people. It is now only exceeded in size by Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, the Seville Cathedral, and the Milan Cathedral.


If you have seen the Duomo (or photos) the green and pink marble panels of the building are quite memorable.

The family on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
Aunt Sarah with Nicholas. They really bonded on the trip! He couldn't pronounce Grammy or Grampy, but could manage Sarah quite clearly. :)

The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) is in the background of the photo---the most striking feature is the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. This bridge is the only one in the city to have survived World War II intact.

Toscana

After a few relaxing days in Venice we took a train to Milan to meet up with Barry's parents and sister. From there we headed South for a week in the Tuscan sun.

First stop off---Pisa. You get in, see the crazy tower and you get out!

We did have some good gelato so there is something redemptive about the place. :)

And finally our destination. Tuscany! Here are some more shots around our farmhouse.

Grammy and NicholasDinner in Pontasieve---one of the towns closest to our farmhouse.
Nicholas learning to pray. How cute, no?

One of our favorite Tuscan towns--Monteriggioni. Just a charming, small village set on a mountain top.

Venezia

View of San Marco Square
The Grand Canal
Before we met up with the family, Barry, Nico and I ventured over to Venice.
Barry has been raving about Venice for the last year, so the travel-addicted Schutters decided to make a side trip to the "city of canals".

It is simply stunning!

We loved wandering around the cobblestone streets, eating gelato (a daily event!), taking boat rides to the various islands of Venice and watching the pigeons in piazza San Marco (mostly Nicholas enjoyed that...)

Why the delay in Posting??? Italy!

Yup, that's right we were living it up in Italy!!

We had a special treat this year as it was Barry's parent's 40th wedding anniversary and they invited the whole family to celebrate on an Italian getaway.

One of my memories of the farmhouse was simply finding it!!

Our SAT-NAV was a lifesaver, as I kid you not, we had to plug in the latitude and longitude coordinates to find it! It was on a cliff, in the middle of an olive orchard, across a dirt road from rows of grapes!

Here is a photo of the whole family at our Tuscan farmhouse.