Parents, parents everywhere!

I love my children, but after 8 days with the boys I couldn't wait for Shane to get back. I also missed him terribly of course, that much goes without saying. So as he is due to arrive back from Spain at 11.30pm at Roma Ciampino airport, I happily leave the boys with Helena and Danilo next door to watch copious amounts of TV and drink juice and eat lollies, jump in the car at 8pm and start the ignition for my 2 hour drive to Rome. Surely there will be shops or seats for me to sit on and read my book while I wait, I think to myself. Without GPS and with my newly honed manual driving skills, I print out the directions to Ciampino (which isn't just next door to Fiumicino), and head off. I wasn't ready for it to get dark so early, so looking at my printout wasn't really on the cards, especially driving 120km/hr on the autostrada. Luckily 'the force' and the roadsigns are enough for me to go by and I make it with time to spare. Unluckily for me, there are no seats, Ciampino looks like a local police station and Shane's plane is delayed. Luckily there is a Soul2Soul special on the radio and this keeps me amused for the 2 hours that I end up waiting.

We get back to Monte Castello di Vibio at 2am, and Shane heads of at 5am to pick up his parents who are coming in from Australia. It's great to see Lyn and Bas, and the boys are so excited to see them and tell them all about what they've been doing.

The next few days we head to Spoleto (winding roads, air-conditioning only goes so far on a 40 degree day when there are 4 people in the backseat and one of them is sitting on your lap), Orvieto (Etruscan wells, underground cities and amazing roast pork panini) and Todi (eyes bigger than your stomach Mr Heslop ordering what seemed like the entire menu and then stopping for gelati on the way home - how could I refuse?!)

ORVIETO

A few days later, my mum, dad and nanna arrive from Perth after a day in Rome. Despite detailed instructions, they got terribly lost and my mother with her amiable style befriended a very helpful lady who chaperoned them to Monte Castello Di Vibio. The next few days we hung around the house in Monte, went to Massimo's restaurant where I did cooking lessons with all the parents, headed out to Montefalco for wine tasting (famous for Sagrantino), and I got to reminisce by going with mum, dad and nonna by going to Siena for the afternoon, where I ended up running into the lovely Chiara who used to run the internet cafe that I went to when I was studying there 13 years ago...you wouldn't read about it :)

DINNER AT MASSIMO'S

Aperitifs in the piazza

Ok, Sam's had enough 

Charlie taking photos of the grandparents

BBQ AT HELENA AND DANILO'S

My one contribution to the meal with much help from my mother in law...special mention also goes to my mum's amazing red wine pears with marscapone, amazing.

SIENA

MONTEFALCO

How cute are these colored pots?

Running off lunch