Just a Catch up

Things are busy and crazy and fun over here! My parents came for a few weeks and will bel eaving for home on Wed. The visit seemed like a long time but it flew by and we have had a lot of unforeseen adventures. Torino did not go as planned because Chris had to work so we went without him. Then Lisy did not sleep at all for two days so none of us did either. We left two days early due to a huge snowstorm coming in. On the way home, the brakes on the van sort of died (only mostly- it was a scary drive for a few hours till we hit the driveway, but we made it). So we rented a car to try to keep the plan to go to Salzburg for the Chrsitmas market, but there is a new law that requires snowtires on every vehicle during winter in Austria so that was out. We drove to Slovenia instead. 4 hours. to a Chrsitmas market that got rained out almost as soon as we got there. We stopped at a mall to warm up before the drive home where my Mom slipped and sprained her ankle. So, we all decided to add a stop on the way home at the ER where she got wrapped up. Then we stayed home for a few days.
Things got sunnier after that in every respect- Mom and Dad took a short trip by train to Vienna and came back saddened that they got lost on the way to the museum but happy that they got to see that beautiful city.
We rang in the New year with a day in Venice and the next day at the festival in the center of our city, Portobuffole.
While in Venice we all took the ferry to Murano to see demonstrations of glass making/blowing. That was really cool and Mom went a bit nutty in the shops on that island. Dad took Chris into a hat shop when we got back to Venice and bought him the Brown fedora he has wanted for a year now. He looks very handsome in it and he FEELs very handsome in it too. I can tell. lol
The girls have had a great time getting to know Grammy and Grampy. Grampy has read enough stories to May to last at least for the next year.
I have not had time to go through and consolidate all of our pictures yet but I will share them as soon as I can.
Buon Anno! (Forget resolutions- accept a covenant of grace WITH the God of grace instead- it lasts a lot longer).