Final Days with Nonno & Nonna....

Gio and I just returned from driving Nonno and Nonna to the Bologna airport.  It was only upon returning home and not finding them here that Gio panicked.  "I do not WANT them to go back to Washington.  Go back and get them NOW!".  Tears, sobbing and hysterics for a good hour followed.  They should take comfort that their visit was certainly one Gio enjoyed thoroughly.  And now the long wait for our own visit to Washington.  How does one explain "two months" to a 3-year-old??

Here are some images from our final week with the "Nonnies".....

One afternoon we drove up to Lake Ventasso.  Yep.  You have seen this before.....

Nonna taught Gio the fine art of rock skipping.  

Enzo spent quite a bit of time swimming.  Here he is drying off his beautiful fur in the sun,
hoping for a few highlights, no doubt. 

This just about sums up Gio's summer.

We hung out at the town pool quite a bit. 

 This past weekend we took a road trip through Piemonte region and then on to the Alps for a dose of cooler air.

Dinner our first night at a very fancy restaurant.  Yet they allowed Enzo to sit at the table with us. Love love love Italy.  

Our hotel in the Alps was so high up that we needed to transfer ourselves and our luggage to this Land Rover to do the final leg of the journey.  Gio tickled the driver the entire ride up.  He was a very good sport about the pest. 

Here we are in this fantastic setting.  The hotel is actually built into what was once an abandoned village. On the outside the buildings appeared weather-worn and rustic, yet when we entered there were beautiful rooms with cozy beds, large tubs and everything you might expect in a 5 star hotel.  Amazing.  

Yep, they are at it again.  This water was COLD.
  Neither fellow seemed to mind in the slightest.

Yep, a huge glacier.  Gio wanted desperately to "go play in the snow."
We somehow convinced him that it was just too far away.  

Inside the first building here is a luxury spa and indoor pool. You can guess what Gio did the next morning.  2 hours of swimming = a good long nap in the car on the way home.  

Dinner again included Enzo.  He lay next to Paolo the entire meal (2+ hours), unleashed.  

And then it was time for one more coffee with Nonno and Nonna before they departed. We soon will be leaving Italy ourselves.  Friday morning we will hit the road for the 3-day trip back to Kyiv.  It all went by too fast, as summers tend to do.