Catch all post

I believe I am officially a terrible blogger. I went out on Friday with Eleanora, a friend of Heather's, who lives in Milan and speaks English. She is a language major(?), as usual I am not sure what that means. We went to the castle in Milan. It was built by some rich family a long time ago. It was the first time I had managed to get there during the daytime. I have pictures which I will upload at the end of the week along with all of the others from this week. But I have to go back for more. It was my first vespa riding experience in Milan. So that was fun and then for lunch we had Chinese food. Eventually I wandered home like I always do and picked up the children from school.

Saturday was very low key; we hung out at home and then it all went down hill from there... but i already told that story, so onward and forward.

On Sunday we had a 2 year old's, Matteo, birthday party. It was a bit odd as usual because I do not speak much Italian. So as usual I played with the kids. Matteo's mom speaks English but I find it easier in group situations to play with children. Did you guys know I am magic? I amazed them when I made balloons stick to the walls. Also I met a nice French couple who live here in Italy and speak English.

It's kind of hard to seriously motivate myself to speak Italian because a lot of people want to practice their English with me. Even with this obstacle my Italian gets a little better every day. I speak more in the house now and Francesca is helping. Oh yeah and since my reading skills are so awesome, Alice now lets me try and read in Italian. She likes reading a lot. This is so wonderful for me and her. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss is now a close second to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. And she loves to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes too. Basically English is getting used more and more in this house. Like today when Alice tried on Asia's shoes and said so cute. Haha.

Back on track... For anyone who was wondering Molly's family always leaves the US for Thanksgiving and this year they decided to come to Milan. So yesterday I met up with them after I dropped off the kids then we did 18- 6 (backwards) on their walking tour of Milan. I think my unguided tours have shown me much more interesting parts of Milan. It was amazing to see Molls and hang out with her family. It is always nice to speak English at a normal speed and be understood. After #6 Teatro l'Scala (which was amazing) I had to run to the metro and catch the train back to Naviligio as quickly as possible. Picked up Alice and Jacopo (on time, which was no small feat) and went back to the house and played until Francesca and Andrea got home. By then I was running late for dinner with Molls and fam. So I again ran, this time in the opposite direction and met them for dinner. Then back to the house for sleep until this morning.

Today they went to Lake Como. It is about 45 minutes north of the city and I could not go, so hopefully I will see them tomorrow. But all in all it is a pretty awesome week. Oh and I found out today that the three legged cat I always see actually lives in our building and thinks it is a dog. How awesome.

P.S. Mom the weather is very similar on paper but apparently I either misunderstood the numbers or the weather is being weird this year. I think I just did not worry about it much before I came. On that note I must buy a hat tomorrow.