Doing Disney in Just Over One Day

In the beginning of June, our family had the opportunity to go to Walt Disney World. Our primary plan was to visit my grandparents but we also thought it would be fun to take a day or two to explore Florida. Our options were narrowed down between Disney and staying at a hotel and doing a few beach days. We ultimately decided to do Disney and once we decided that, planning was in full mode! Because we knew we would have limited time, we knew how important it would be to plan, plan, and plan!

Italy Adventure Days 1-3

Bonjourno friends! We're back from our 10 day adventure in Italy and I have a lot of pictures and memories to share with you all! Let's get started!

We left on July 3rd at a decent hour and took a quick flight to Chicago. We met up with some more family and Brooky, too to board the plane to Rome. The flight took just over 9 hours. Needless to say, no one got a whole bunch of sleep and once we landed, it was time to pick up the rental car. We were headed 4.5 hours away to La Spezia for our first overnight stay.

Day 1

Italy, here we come!! 

Will was our chaueffer to La Spezia and most of the roads were typical highways and the traffic wasn't terrible. The closer we got to La Spezia, the scooters came out and the roads got a little smaller. We struggled to find parking near the hotel but once we did, we got checked in, settled and took the train to the first village in Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. We took in the beautiful sights, walked around and finally settled in to eat our first Italian dinner! 

Riomaggiore

Day 2

After crashing, we woke up for our second day in Italy. We took the train to visit the remaining four villages that make up Cinque Terre. We shopped, ate, walked around and soaked up the absolutely stunning views. I would say this part was probably my personal favorite. 

Vernazza

Monterroso

This is the place you go to for a beach day. We walked along the boardwalk, snapped a few pictures and made our way back to the train. As beautiful as it was, this was really all there was in this village. If I were to go back, you'd definitely find me under an umbrella soaking up the sun! 

Manarola

My favorite out of all the villages

Corniglia

We got off the train at this stop, looked around and realized that you had to trek it up a steep hill to make it to the town that, according to the map, had only a church in it. We decided to skip this one but am sure the views once you made it to the top were beautiful. 

We decided to head back to La Spezia to make the 2.5 hour drive to Greve in Chianti (a villa in a winery that my grandparents were at) We couldn't NOT stop in Pisa, where of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa resides.

After being serious tourists, we hopped back in the car for the rest of the drive to Greve. We decided to stop in Greve to eat before heading to the villa. We got to the villa, said our hello's to my grandparents and the other family members were there and headed to our rooms to get settled in for the night.

View of our apartment (to the left) on the morning we woke up 

Picture of the main villa where my grandparents and other family members stayed in. 

Day 3

We woke up bright and early to head to the train station in Florence (about 50 minutes away) to take the train to Venice. 

Shot of espresso anyone? 

Venice, here we come! 

Our hotel, to the right (brownish-red building)

San Marco Square 

Beautiful bridges and walkways in Venice

We took a ferry to Murano, which is known for glass blowing. Unfortunately, almost all the stores did not allow cameras. 

Charming buildings all around

After leaving Murano, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for a gondola ride and dinner.

Ended the night with PIZZA!

So, there's day 1-3 of our Italy adventure! Come back later in the week for days 4-7! 

Also, I want to add that while we were gone, a lot of scary stuff happened that was in the news and that we continue to hear about now that we are home. It is a frightening place right now but I want to say that I refuse to let fear set in. I have a post that is in the works about this but wanted to say that I will continue to pray, remain positive and do my small part in the world by extending grace, gratitude and kindness in all that I do. I hope you can do the same. 

Happy Monday! 

Scholtes Family Summer of FUN List

It was Sophia's last day of school yesterday (Thursday) and that means, at our house, it's officially SUMMER! Despite the grown ups still having to go to work everyday we always try to make the summer months a mix of fun, activities and relaxation but mostly experiencing things together as a family. You can check out our summer bucket list from last summer here.

This year, we had the girls sit down and we all pitched in ideas and Sophia created our list for us!

1.) Go to the zoo (Blank Park Zoo and Omaha Doorly Zoo)

2.) Go to the park (Ledges, Jester Park, American Legion, Raccoon River are some of our favorites)

3.) Go to the pool (Grandma and Poppa's pool, Valley View Aquatic Center) I think it's safe to say we will be at one of these places all summer!! We love the pool!

4.) Go see Brooklin (Brooklyn) Aunt Brooklyn just moved to CHICAGO so we are planning a trip to visit her!

5.) Go get a ICEE

6.) Celebrate my birthday- Flamingo Pool party- we can't wait!!

And since we ran out of room, Mom and Dad added some more =)

7. Nitefall on the River

 8. Visit St. Louis (may be towards end of Summer- Sara, we need to coordinate!)

9. Iowa Cubs game

10. Jasper Winery Concert series 

What's on your bucket list this Summer!? Please share in the comments! 

Happy Friday! 

Weekend Recap- August Goals

It's Monday, already?! Say it isn't so! Monday came just as fast as the month of August. I can't believe AUGUST is here already and school starts in a little over three weeks! It's so funny trying to get back in school mode- after college, there was no more Winter or Spring or Summer break and now that Sophia is headed to school- those are things we have to think about. We are planning a trip to St Louis soon and we were going to leave around noon on a Friday but then we remembered Sophia will be in school- small details that we're going to have to pay attention to, now. :)

This weekend seemed to fly by even more so and we didn't even have set plans! Why and how does that always happen!? Friday was low key, we played with Odin outside, and had pizza and movie night.

Look ma! I can stand up!

Saturday started out slow and the girls played and watched movies. I headed to work swim party get together during nap time. It was a great time and nice to get out for awhile. I came home and we got ready and headed to the Indianola Balloon Classic. We have gone for a few years in a row now and this year was just as fun!

Sunday was pretty lazy, I'm not going to lie. We all pretty much stayed in our jammies. I cleaned in the morning while the girls played. Sophia has started to take a BIG interest in- wait for it- Barbies... I'm not sure how excited I am about this new development. For some reason, her interest in Barbies is another sign of how big she is getting. So far, she has kept interest in princesses and dressing up- but Barbies? She's stayed away from those for the most part. But all this week and weekend, it's all she has played. She has even given up Ipad time for Barbies.

It must be love- she's sharing her blanket

And since August crept up on me so fast- it's AUGUST GOAL time! You can read my July goals here. 

I did pretty good in July! Sophia's party was a success and thank you notes went out Thursday. We got the bathroom painted and fixed up the scratches on the basement stairwell (from moving furniture out). We got everything purchased for Odin's coming home. The only thing I did not get done was taking out the bushes and ordering prints of our family pictures. I hope to get those things done this month as well. 

Here are my August goals. Pretty simple and do-able. I have really failed at reading this Summer and I think with adjusting to a new job and now a puppy and planning a birthday party, things are settling down (just a little). One of my goals is to read at LEAST one book this month. Also, my 29th birthday is coming up and so I want to make a list of 29 things I want to do until my next birthday. Fun things. Serious things. Simple things. So, if you have any fun ideas of things I could try in the next year, please share! I do want to keep it realistic though so keep that in mind! :) 

So, there you have it! Hello August! Have a great week and I'll see you back on here Wednesday to share some of my quirks and how I am owning my crazy! :)