Ciao everyone! We are back from vacation. Our time in Italy was so fun and we made so many memories. We ate a lot of delicious foods (pasta and desserts for the win!).
We walked a ton every day.
A few of my favorite pics from Lake Garda. We stayed in Malcesine . We visited the cute town of Limone.
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After we spent the first part of our trip in Lake Garda we went to Verona.
Then we went to Venice. We took a gondola ride!
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We spent the last part of the trip in Rome. Ahhhhhh. It was fantastico!! We started with a pasta making class. Yum!
We toured the Vatican museums.
We toured the Colosseum and got to see the underground areas of the arena. So cool!
… until it stormed. LOL!! We definitely won’t forget that tour.
Pasta every night. Yes please!
And then… back to reality. Here’s what went down in my week!
Mon – 5 miles. Back at it after vacation! My son started his summer internship today and he wakes up at 6am. The whole family woke up early and wished him well! The time zone change really helped out and we felt quite accomplished getting so much done by 7am 🙂 I’m going to try and get up early every day this week (remember, I only work 2 days a week so technically I don’t need to even set an alarm the other days!) It’s not so bad in the summer and it will be good to hopefully avoid the heat. There was no escaping the heat this morning though. Wow, the humidity is through the roof here in Ohio! I went to the gym after my run and then it was adulting all day long! Grocery shopping, unpacking, laundry, visiting my Mom. All the things!
Tues – 3 miles. Phew, another sweaty day of running! Day 2 of waking up early and getting it done. One exciting thing about coming back home was to see my irises in bloom.
Weds – 15 mins elliptical. Just a quick workout before an early morning meeting. Check out the cute skirt I bought in Italy. I got it at a market for only 1 euro!!
Thurs – 6.5 miles running. It was a beautiful morning!
I went to a botanical garden with my Mom. We saw two bald eagles flying together!
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Fri – 3.5 miles running. A short run before the fun began. It was a solid day of manual labor in the form of hours and hours of gardening! It started out as weed pulling in one area, which then turned into splitting hostas, day lilies, planting dahlias, relocating some iris plants, and much more! Before and after.
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I hate to throw out good plants so I posted on our local “free plants” Facebook group. I ended up giving hostas to 4 people – about 16 bags! My mom said she was not surprised that people were so willing to take them because most people charge at least $5 a bag for those. Who knew?! I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I dig some up 😉
After a long day of gardening I went to my Mom’s house and emptied out two attics, which meant an hour of being bent over. Yikes. The day ended with a well deserved treat!
Sat – 30 mins elliptical. OOF. Gardening is a workout! I woke up feeling quite janky after all of that yardwork and crawling around in my Mom’s attic. I shared the workout room with my son 🙂
Sun – on tap for today… a run! I signed up for the full marathon in October (Columbus marathon/ 22 weeks away) so it’s base building time!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Do you like Aperol Spritz?
I was told they were gross by my daughter, but I’m a fan! I do enjoy a spritz!
I so enjoyed following along on Instagram while you were on your trip to Italy! You posted so many beautiful pictures and it looked like you had a fabulous time! We also took our sons to Italy to celebrate the oldest’s graduation from college. Have you thought about where you’ll go for your son’s graduation?
I’m on the fence with Aperol spritz – it wouldn’t be my first choice, but if it was all being served… 😉
There’s just something about those sunny orange drinks that scream vacation! They will get me every time.
My son has told me a few ideas for his graduation trip, and he’s more of a mountain guy vs a city guy, so who knows where we will end up!
What an amazing trip to take with your kids!!! And now your son is home while he does his summer internship? As always I’m envious that your college-age kids stayed so close to home.
Oh yes- gardening is no joke. Which is why I don’t do it anymore and our yard looks like crap, ha ha (wait- that’s not funny).
Woohoo, a marathon on the schedule! You have a nice long training block for it. Have fun!
Oh, I like the look on the kids’ faces in the photo of the rainy Colosseum tour : )
Yes, we get Zach all summer long! His girlfriend is still back in Columbus for the summer, so he’ll visit her a few times but otherwise he’s here. Yay!!
I really couldn’t believe our luck when the thunder started on the Colosseum tour. So crazy! I’m just glad it did dry up by the end of the tour.
It looks like you had an amazing time in Italy — and you have a cute skirt to remember it by. I can’t believe what a bargain it was!
You sure didn’t slow down after your vacation. LOL on the mountain of laundry.
I love how people divide and share their hostas!
I think the market must have had sample clothes or something because they just had piles and pile of new clothes for super cheap!
Sharing plants is fun. I think all of my hostas came from my mom. She has a large variety of them in her yard. The irises came from my neighbor!
You know I also love Italy! We were in Lake Garda around 8 years ago it’s a cute little town. Nothing better than Italian food! Looks like a great trip
Lake Garda really was beautiful. So many outdoor sports to participate in! We were debating between Lake Como and Lake Garda. I think we made a great choice!
What a great trip, and how fun that your kids were all in on a family getaway! Did you plan it yourself or did you use a guide?
Good for you, signing up for a marathon! It’s always fun to have something to train for!
I planned the trip all myself, along with my daughter! We were happy with all of the accommodations and renting a car was easy. Other than a delayed flight, everything went off without a hitch!
Yes, I do love a training plan. I’m not sure the race could go as good as it did last year, but no matter what it’s a well organized race that we enjoy.
I love an aperol spritz! They are an acquired taste, but I find them light for summer!
Venice and Rome are gorgeous. I hope we can get back to Italy soon. It’s one of my favorite countries.
So glad you had a great time! Re-entry is hard, especially from that adventure!
Italy was beautiful. I now have a list of other places I want to go in Italy! I’d love to see the coast. We’ll save that for a parent’s only getaway 😉
I love all the pics from your trip, what a fun adventure for the family! I’m jealous of all your gardening! I miss having so many established plants (aka hostas) to divide and relocate every few years. I had a lot of irises as well ((sigh)). I just got back from buying flowers for the summer…hoping top get those in the ground (and in planters) this week.
We still need to buy flowers and vegetables. Maybe this weekend! Gardening is very rewarding (and tiring). The weeds grow far too fast!
What a trip! How can you duplicate that one?
I’m behind on my gardening. Thanks you weather. Started yesterday and may do a little more each day.
It’s going to be a great week for gardening, so hopefully I can get our flowers and vegetable garden planted. Everything is a bit behind due to the last cold weather we had.