I'm SO thankful that Kent was so willing to let Kylee and me go on a big trip to Italy to celebrate her 18th birthday with her friend Emma. I'm also the most thankful for how well he took care of things around here while I was gone- he even hired a cleaner so the house was perfect when we got home!! He's just the best. Him and the boys waiting at the airport to pick us up was just the sweetest thing ever and we were SO excited to see them!!
I'll tell you all about our adventure!
Met our friends at the airport and had a smooth start to our trip.
Until..their were storms in Atlanta so we couldn't land. Didn't have enough fuel to keep circling so we had to go fill up in Alabama. This caused us to miss our connecting flight to Rome.
The girls sprinted through the airport like in a movie and we originally thought we were going to have to take the flight the following day which would put us there a full 24 hours later than planned. We found out there was a chance we might be able to catch a connection through Paris so I snapped a quick pic of the girls saying a prayer in the Atlanta airport while Missy and I chatted with the ticket agents.
In the end, we did get the flight through Paris and the girls had so much energy hearing this news- Kylee was having fun on the train through the airport. We didn't have much time though so we quick got to the gate and were so surprised to find out it was almost an empty flight! We all got full rows to lay down in for the whole flight- what a blessing!
None of us really slept but we did get to rest. We arrived in Rome only about 6 hours later than our original flight was scheduled for. We checked into our super cute hotel near city center and the girls were ready to hit the town.
First stop, gelato! This ended up being one of our very favorite places of gelato we had the whole trip- and we had A LOT!
Every street was cuter than the last and the girls just had so much fun wandering and taking pictures together.
The Pantheon was our first tourist-y stop.
Then we had a great dinner recommendation from our hotel!
The girls took pictures of each other with their food almost every meal and made a cute TikTok at the end.
Love these sweet girls.
Next we went to the Trevi fountain! Crowded, of course, but actually this was a really fun stop. Great people watching and we never felt unsafe or even really worried about pickpockets. We stuck together and watched out for each other!
We went to bed fairly early that night as we were tired from traveling. Great first afternoon/evening in Rome!
This hotel had my favorite breakfast. And Kylee's! Ha. She peeled an entire mango each morning to eat.
This day we headed to the Colosseum and Kylee spotted an Edward Jones group sign and then she was like, "Hey those people look familiar!" It was some friends from our Region- so funny!
I was pleasantly surprised how much the girls liked the Colosseum. It was super hot but we were all prepared with our fans and truly it was just a really fun morning!
This was one of our favorite lunch stops- we got four different kinds of pasta and loved them all!
That evening we went to St. Peter's and the Vatican. It was a bit of a haul to get there and a bit of a wait in a hot line so this ended up being kind of underwhelming for the girls but they were still very happy we did it. I think the travel the day before was catching up to us and we had been out in the heat all day .
The Sistine Chapel was cool to see but again, I wouldn't say this was anyone's favorite stop of the trip.
Dinner after, however, was a total win! This waiter was so proud to suggest dishes for the girls and Emma finally got some great tiramisu she had been wanting!
Then an evening walk to the Spanish Steps. So pretty at night!
The next morning we had a train ride to Florence scheduled. We arrived at the station and found out our train was a little delayed which was just fine- we had fun playing cards and getting the girls Starbucks while we waited!
So proud of these girls navigating the cities and train stations- Missy and I tried to have them do most of the work getting around and they did great!
Florence was so great. We all were so happy we took a day trip there.
Climbed the Duomo!
I didn't expect the girls to love this as much as they did but the views really were to die for.
Climbing back down was fun too!
Ponte Vecchio was beautiful and the market area around it was super fun. Cute shops for the girls and they got matching necklaces this day.
Missy had (and loved) her first affogatto! We all tried it and it was so good.
Had a bit of a snafu with our tickets into see Michaelangelo's statue of The David, but we were able to finally locate the correct ticket office and get in. I'm not sure what the girls were really expecting but I'm not sure they knew what to think of it- ha!
Still, a bucket list thing to do in Florence for sure and we had some good laughs here.
Seriously these girls are so cute and up for a picture anytime, anywhere. We had a great dinner in Florence before heading back to Rome.
Sleepy Kylee on the train.
Kent got Kylee's new car while we were gone! I'm so thankful he handles big things like this and it's just perfect for her.
I loved seeing updates from the boys. They all got along just fine without us girls!
Arriving in Sorrento after a train from Rome then switching trains in Naples to a more local, commuter-type train. The girls handled it well but it was a very budget friendly way to travel and maybe not what they are used to- ha! That last hour of the trip was hot and people were a bit smelly but Kylee and I sat by some people from England and had fun chatting with them. When we finally got to our hotel it was all worth it! This was the nicest of all our hotels for sure.
The girls were ready for a quick dip in the pool right away!
Missy and I found a cute little shop near our hotel and got ourselves some bread, cheese and fruit for a late lunch and ate it in our hotel lobby.
Then we all got dressed up for dinner!
Every spot was so pretty here.
Dinner was memorable this night- the girls ordered steak for two and it came out as quite a show! Hilariously giant piece of meat that they cut in front of us.
That view walking back to our hotel this night though was just unbelievable!!!!
You can't see it super well in the photo but these little lemon sorbet cups are super famous in Sorrento (well, they are super touristy at least) so we were glad to find one and we enjoyed it!
Sorrento at night.
More pictures from home! Keith and Cindy went with the boys to Clear Lake for the day- so thankful for my parents for hosting everyone!
Happy guys.
The next day in Sorrento was a planned beach day for us. It wasn't super sunny but the girls still wanted to go and it ended up being awesome because it wasn't crowded at all! We walked by the day after this when it was sunny and the place was packed. So we were happy we went when we did.
The girls kept wanting to take these floating pictures everywhere we went and it made me laugh so much they kinda look dead just laying there!
Kylee snorkeled and if you know Kylee, you know she LOVES snorkeling. She went back and forth as far as she could go and at the very end she did see some rainbow fish!
Then we took an afternoon trip to Positano- this is girls in front of our hotel before we left.
Waiting for the bus. We had planned to take the ferry but it was a bit too rough of waters this day.
Oh my gosh though- that view when we got off the bus!!!
I love this picture of the sun shining down on Kylee.
We found the cutest lunch spot with a view!
And a gelato shop right next door, of course.
Had fun trying on some dresses at the cutest shops!
Kylee and I sent a few px to my parents this day because I know they love Positano too!
We were so lucky and were the last four on the bus back to Sorrento! Girls had to sit on the steps even which unfortunately didn't make them feel so great but they rallied and were just fine by dinnertime
Missy is so good about chatting with people and making new friends and earlier this day she had met someone at the beach who recommended us a local spot for dinner and they even provided a golf cart to pick us up! We loved this!
The cutest lemon grove was right outside of the restaurant.
And dinner was truly amazing! One of our favorites for sure.
The next day was our boat trip to Capri! Our transfer driver gave us tons of great info about Sorrento on the scenic drive to the dock.
We got to stop at two swim spots and Kylee dove down and got some rocks! She was so proud and happy!
This was Kylee's favorite day of all. She loves being on the water.
Our boat captain was so great too. He even sang! And it was a small group- maybe only ten or so of us on board.
Just love, love, LOVE these girls and how much they love traveling and how much they love each other!
Unfortunately Emma didn't feel the best after the boat so she rested, Kylee got a massage and I explored the marina area of Sorrento that I wanted to see! The walk there was gorgeous and so peaceful.
Kylee and I got some gelato and people watched for awhile. The weather in Sorrento was seriously perfect.
That night we all got dressed up for our last dinner in Sorrento. Our hotel had the most beautiful rooftop spot for photos!
Dinner was great and the walk home was gorgeous too.
The next morning we headed to our final stop- Venice! The girls knew to grab food before we boarded the train as we always seemed to be hungry!
The funny thing about this picture is supposed to be that it's such a huge peach (and it cost three Euros!) but the really funny thing is that I am twinning with the guy in the background- ha!!!!
We arrived in Venice late afternoon and it was a bit gloomy which was perfect since we had decided to walk the thirty minutes to our hotel. We stopped at shops along the way and the girls found these adorable matching sweatshirts!
Had a fun dinner this night too- our waiter found out we were there celebrating the girls' birthdays and treated us like princesses all night!
Our first gelato in Venice. We had to try it in every town!
Meanwhile at home Kase kept conquering the big rides at Adventureland and was so proud!
Our last full day was in Venice and it was just perfect.
Went to St. Mark's and the girls were super impressed with it! And the square there is really fun .
Then the one thing they reeeallly wanted to do there was a gondola ride. It was so perfect- our hotel set it up for us so we weren't on the busy, main areas but rather in the quiet canals that were just beautiful and so peaceful.
A little more shopping- found the cutest guitar store and had to take a picture for Kael!
This was THE gelato, you guys. I know it's Instagram famous and yes there was a line....but we calculated we had gelato 12 times while we were in Italy and this one was BY FAR the best. And that picture of the girls' gelato while on a bridge in Venice with a gondola in the background? Come on. So perfect.
Then headed to the Rialto bridge where Kylee just loved seeing all the boats in the Grand Canal.
Beautiful spot!!! And the sun came out for our pictures!
Meanwhile Kent still holding down the fort at home!!!
One last dinner out. The girls had fun "getting cute" and doing a full photo shoot on some beautiful bridges.
Love them.
Dinner was somewhat underwhelming but honestly we had all eaten so very much pizza and pasta I'm not sure anything would have sounded great by that point in the trip! We went back to Suso for gelato (yes, we were there twice in a matter of six hours) for the perfect end to our trip.
The next morning we sadly said goodbye to Venice but were so happy with our decision to get a private water taxi to the airport! It was such a smooth transfer and started our long trek home off very easily.
In the end, our travel day was about 23 hours and we were exhausted when we got home. Imagine my joy to see Kael and Kase waiting at the bottom of the escalator at the Des Moines airport for us at 10:30 PM when we arrived!!! And Kent was right outside the door in the car waiting for us. I couldn't wait to just hug them all and talk to them- it meant so much that they all came.
It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm just so thankful we got to do it and also so proud of Kylee for how well things went! Long travel days and hot, smelly places can make ya crabby but not Kylee at all- she was truly a joy to be around the entire trip! And so thankful for our awesome travel buddies too! They made the trip extra special.
