OMG – Dada found the most beautiful apartment for us to stay in for another week in Florence. It is next door to the Four Seasons Hotel, and honestly for the price difference I have no idea who would stay at the Four Seasons over here. It is a 2 bedroom with two outdoor terraces, two beautiful bathrooms and kitchen. There are so many quirky details and so much light. It is spotless and simply gorgeous. I mean really gorgeous. Def. one of my favorite airbnb’s we have stayed at yet. Sophie is so stoked to have a bathtub. We have only been here for two days and she has already taken 5 baths. So on to some pics.

We were all tired and getting comfy in our new space so we just hung out at the house, took some naps, played in the bath, did some food shopping and then went to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. After all the hiking the past few days we were all ready for a down day. The lady who manages the property, Caterina, left us some wine and goodies when we arrived.

Last night I was looking up events in Florence for the week and found out there was an annual food truck festival taking place. We went off on another journey in Florence and probably walked about 3 miles today but landed upon an awesome food truck festival, super cool park (my favorite yet), a walk along the river, and the kids favorite part…a carnival! Sabs rode her first rollercoaster and Sophie went on her first Ferris Wheel. Of course both loved both. And the little charmers struck again getting free dinner from a food truck for being so cute. They were dancing and hugging all around the festival. We ate some fried pizza, drank some good beer, and had the most awful vegan pasta that tasted like tea. Surprisingly Sabs likes tea pasta. I dont know how she ate it, it was seriously disgusting. The food trucks were all modern and trendy looking. It was pretty awesome.

Sophie wanted to sit down in this patch of flowers (and obviously pretend she was a disney princess). Well it didnt last long since she came running out screaming that a plant stung her. For the next 30 minutes we heard non stop about some stinging plant. I’m pretty convinced she got bit by some ants b/c i saw little bites but she was certain it was some stinging plant. She may have set some record for talking/complaining about a stinging plant. It prob. went on and off until she fell asleep that night. Every time we passed a plant that looked similar (and it was a long walk home), she was reminded of her stinging incident and of course had to remind all of us.

Now on to the food truck festival called Street Eats. There were trucks from all over Italy with all different types of food.

After chowing we walked back along the river until we hit the carnival

We passed this on the way home. Def. one of the coolest pieces of art that i have seen on the street. May be hard to see b/c it was getting dark.

And here are just a few randoms before we left the apt

Today we headed out to visit the Boboli gardens. It was a bit of a hike and a few steep hills but we made it. Here are some views along the way there

When we finally got there Sophie was so excited because they gave her a map. We all followed her lead and went off to explore the park. There were rolling hills and everyone (minus Sabs) took turns rolling all down them. Sophie is so happy that she can actually take her shoes off and run through rolling in the grass here. You don’t really get to do that in Costa Rica because of all the jungle creatures that lurk in the grass. She has taken every opportunity to lay flat (like a disney princess of course) and play in the grass.

The girls found a drain hole, some sticks, some rocks, and this was a highlight of course.

Then off to climbing and rolling down hills

Of course after this the girls slept on us for nearly the whole walk back and Will and I just sat on some steps outside listening to a street musician and people watching. Now I just have to figure out how to get grass stains out of everyone’s clothing. We’re racking up quite the number of victims around here.

Today we headed out on a journey to a big park that had a playground in it. It was about a mile walk each way so with two curious kiddos the way there it took about an hour to get there. We stopped in the big central market to check it out. It is best to go in the morning so we are going to go back now that we are all on schedule b/c we arrived as they were shutting down. We also walked through a little street fair and stopped to look around there.

Both girls fell asleep the second half of the walk so we ended up lugging their little butts around which seems to be a daily thing as they both keep napping in transit. I watch the people with strollers with envy. I dream about wandering along with two kiddies napping in a stroller and then quickly remember that my reality would be 2 kids napping on us while we pushed an empty stroller. These jungle babies don’t know from strollers. Anyway, Will has actually enjoyed it because it has been a long time since either of the girls have napped on him and he is getting his fill this trip since i can only carry one at a time.

When we got to the playground there were two little Italian girls there that immediately took to Sophie. It is truly amazing to watch kids play that are speaking two different languages the entire time. They start to try and imitate each other by speaking the other kids language too. One little Italian girl heard a mom ask Sophie how old she was in english. She must have thought she asked Sophie what her name was and so when Sophie said Four, the girl figured that was her name and started calling her Four. Sophie had no clue what she was saying and thought it was some sort of direction in Italian. Then she figured it out somehow and pointed to herself and said SOPHIE. The girl said her name which was actually SOPHIA! From then on all you heard around the playground was the two girls yelling for SOPHIE! It was super cute. They all had a blast and played for over 2 1/2 hours straight. They only stopped to eat some clementine’s and cookies together inside the little house above the slide. Sophie came back with all this information she knew about her little friends who didn’t speak a word of english.

Now on to the stories of the day that really made our hearts melt! It is beautiful to watch your children having a blast and playing with other kids, but it is truly on another level when you witness the bond between siblings. Sabi looks up to her big sissy like no other. She just wants to do everything Sophie does, and is so super lucky that Sophie is the best big sister anyone could ask for. So while it didn’t surprise me when the following unfolded, it still had me in tears…

Sophie was running with her little bud Sophia from the slide to the clubhouses. Along the way Sabi spotted them and stuck out her hand for Sophie b/c she wanted to play with them. Sophie stopped mid run to grab her little sissy’s hand and slowed down enough to bring her along.

When they go to the clubhouse I could tell Sophie was prepping for her buddy to deny Sabs inside. Instead of running in first she walked up with Sab and stepped behind Sab to usher her in and let her know it is OK. Also to let her friend know that her sissy is coming in and she is protecting her. When her friend said no babies (in italian) and pointed to the other clubhouse saying that clubhouse is for the babies and this one is for the big girls then tried to walk Sabi out of the big girl clubhouse, Sophie went with Sabi. She went into the baby clubhouse and stayed there with her sissy. The other girl kept yelling SOPHIE, SOPHIE to have Sophie come back into the big house and so since Sophie was torn she went and stood in the middle. Yes, she stood in the middle of both houses. Ugh, she has a heart of gold. Then not wanting to be bothered she took Sabs and ran off to pick flowers. While picking flowers a little boy baby came in and went into the baby clubhouse (Italian Sophia was still occupying the big girl clubhouse). When Sophie and Sabs came back Sophie saw the little baby and said “Awww how cute, look Sabs a little baby friend” and then brought Sabi up to the baby clubhouse and played peek-a-boo in the windows and gave them both flowers. She then ran to me and said look Mama, Sabs has a little baby friend (all excited for her sissy).

Then Sabs, being bold, determined Sabs (and always resourceful), put her flowers to good use. She walked over to Italian Sophia and handed her a flower. Italian Sophia couldn’t resist the act of kindness and invited Sabs into the big girl clubhouse. There you have it, stubborn little Sabs made her way in on her own and just look at her face. So proud.

Later on Italian Sophia found a ball that Sabs had found earlier and claimed ownership on for the past hour. Sophia went running up the slide with it and Sabs started reaching her hand out saying AH AH MINE MINE…obviously Sophia didn’t have any clue what she was doing but clever little Sophie picked right up on it. It was so interesting to watch because Sophie walked up to Sabs, put her arm around her and said “Don’t worry Sabs, I’ll get your ball back for you”. Then instead of just going and grabbing it from Sophia or asking for the ball, she creatively convinced Sophia to play a game and roll the ball down the slide to her. As soon as the ball reached the bottom of the slide she grabbed it and ran it over to Sabs and gave it  to her. She then ran back and just got them sidetracked into some other game. Ugh, she just melts me. Truly melts me. Below is Sabs and her ball. Or  rather, someone else’s ball she claimed for the afternoon.

And finally, if those two stories weren’t enough to make me ugly cry, Sophie did it again. She was walking along with Sabs and saw a little girl getting on the seesaw. Will and I were sitting on the opposite end of the park and just watching them from a distance. We saw Sophie walk over and wave to the other little girl, and then proceed to pick Sabs up and put her on the other end of the seesaw. She stood there and helped them get started and then came running back to us and said, “Hey, I found Sabs another baby friend. Look they’re playing together”. She then ran back to Sabs and her little buddy and hung out by them while they played. Funny how memories from trips sometimes have nothing to do with the country you are in, or the sights you see, etc. It is the simple things like watching your daughters interact and their little personalities blossom and shine through. I am just so proud of both of them. Here is Sabs and her little buddy.

The park filled up by the time we left and there were probably close to 40 kids running around. It was a great afternoon. We walked home, stopping for some gelato and picking up some dinner after. Another fun day in Florence :).

Today we walked over to these huge gardens where the girls ran around, picked lemons, picked flowers, rolled down hills in the grass and climbed all sorts of sculptures. For dinner we stopped into a random pizza place and brought some yummy vegetarian and margarita pizza. Later that night we took a walk and got some gelato- of course.

On this side of town all the street signs were designed by an artist. Super cool.

We found a Sophie size car 🙂

Love all the streets here and massive doors

Just hitting the streets again. Did some laundry, saw a puppet show, ate some sandwiches outside in the square, fed some more pigeons and then home and made some broccoli soup!

Happy Easter! Guess who made an appearance last night?? The Italian Easter bunny! That’s right! He emailed me to let me know that he was going to pop on over while Sophie and Sabs were sleeping and leave a little chocolate coin hunt for them in the morning because he spoke to the Tico Bunny from CR and heard that they were going to be in town. The Tico Bunny hid some eggs for them when they return but this bunny just wanted to hop on over with a little something. Yes, Sophie loves this story. She is so impressed that the Italian Easter bunny sent an email with clues for her hunt. She said that was so nice of him to visit her and she can’t believe it. Oh the magic of childhood- love it! Big props to dada for finding some chocolate coins and little treasures at the grocery store last night. Whew. If we got here a bit earlier and it wasn’t pouring we could have really stocked up on some Easter goodies. The bakeries and chocolate/candy shops ended up just having amazing bunny and easter creations. I guess the beauty of it all is that none of that really mattered. What excited Sophie most is the fact that the Italian bunny visited and spoke to her Tico bunny. What excited Sabi most was of course seeing Sophie excited lol. Never mind the religious aspect of Easter, we don’t get into all that since we are not a religious family. We are strictly a magical bunny family.

Sabi’s face below is the face she makes when she wants food or a drink. When we walk by ice cream shops or restaurants here she opens her mouth wide, says ah ah ah ah, and points her finger into her mouth. Sabi does it so much that Sophie has now started doing it too.

After our little Easter hunt we hit the streets of Florence for our first day out on the town.

We made no plans. Just headed out to see where the Easter day would take us. We saw an amazing musician, artists, street performers, fed pigeons, and then stumbled upon the antique merry-go-round. A perfect example of why we are such big fans of the no plan plans.

We wrapped up the day with a delicious Italian meal at a restaurant near the house (which we have already been back to b/c it was soo good). Actually we haven’t had a bad meal yet. Sabi chowed on some veggie soup i ordered, Pooks had noodies, and we all shared a caprese salad, pasta with eggplant, gnocchi and tons of bread. No pics since both girls were using my phone watching My Little Pony while we ate. It is amazing how affordable all the restaurants have been. Most things here are actually cheaper than Costa Rica (food, drink, toys, cabs, etc). Don’t worry CR, you are still numero uno on our list :). After dinner we headed back or maybe we had some gelato, I can’t remember. What I do remember is this face at oh I dont know, maybe 4am? Maybe after only sleeping 2 hours? This is what jet lag Sab looks like…

Thankfully I am writing this post on thursday morning at 8:15am and both girls are sound asleep since 9:30pm last night (a couple of quick wake ups but that is normal). It took one full week but we are good to go now! We also just decided to book another apt (this one is already booked next week) and stay another week in Florence. We are loving it! I will catch up on this blog today. It is going to happen. Sophie just woke up.