The Vatican and the real religion in Italy- soccer

We spent the afternoon touring the Vatican.  There's a big museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's.   On our way there we had to cross a bridge, and we found the most curious thing. 

Big giant clusters of padlocks on the bridge.  I snapped a couple of pictures, then headed off on our merry way. 

Later I figured out that it's the thing to do in Europe. Basically, two people (best friends, soul mates, married couple, whatever) will write their names on the padlock, lock it onto a bridge somehow, then each of them will chuck their key to the lock in the river, thereby symbolically "locking up" their relationship forever.  Kinda cheesy, but whatever.  My question is though- what's up with the combination lock? Somehow I think that couple didn't get the memo on how it's supposed to work. 

(and no, John and I did not participate in this little ritual. Besides not having a lock, it's a little too cheesy for me, and I figured those marriage vows we took 15 years ago are still sufficient.)

We had an appointment to go on a tour of the Vatican.  That's the way it's done over there.  You can stand in line for hours on your own, or pay extra (about twice as much- sometimes more), get a guided tour, and skip the line.  (It's usually totally worth it- of course some tours are better than others. )

We saw some pretty cool stuff inside the museum. 

Supposedly though, the museum is supposed to be huge, like the Louvre, with all the Catholic church's acquisitions over the centuries, so my guess is we didn't see that much.   This really rare purple marble bowl was supposedly filled with wine during the days of Nero (if I got my story straight- it could have been a different emperor who was fond of the drink)

Recognize that ceiling?  Yep. It was patterned after then Pantheon. Told ya so.  

And that's the floor.  I kinda felt bad walking across it.  It's actually a mosaic comprised of tiny little colored tiles.  Crazy.

Apparently I have a thing for ceilings.  This was the ceiling in the map hallway, or the tapestry hallway.  I don't know, I was too busy looking at the ceiling.  I think though, it would be dangerous to have a ceiling like that in my own house.  I run into too many walls/furniture/door frames as it is.

The Sistine chapel was pretty cool.  Sorry, though.  No cameras allowed. 

Personally I liked St. Peter's Basilica. 

Holy Moley. Biggest and grandest church on the planet.  For reals. You just kinda stand there with your mouth open, trying (and failing) to take it all in  

Words and photos cannot express....   Every inch of it was carved and gilded and decorated with colored marble inlays.  Personally I don't know how people can actually go to church and listen to the sermon with so much to look at.  And all of it amazing and gorgeous and huge.  That brown canopy thing?  I think I heard it was SEVEN STORIES tall. 

Those words up there? Each letter is 6 feet tall. 

But a personal highlight for me was seeing Michelangelo's La Pieta.   A couple of years ago, I taught a lesson on this sculpture to Nick's 6th grade class.  Michelangelo was only 24 when he carved it. It's the only piece he ever signed.   It's really, really breathtaking in person.  It's behind bulletproof glass cause some nut job attacked it with a hammer screaming "I am Jesus Christ!".    

After that we had to run to participate in the real national religion.  Football.  Or soccer as we Americans call it.   

So fun.  Roma vs Atalanta (I think).  Roma (the home team, therefore the team we were rooting for) won.  I personally really enjoyed watching the fans (probably more than the actual game itself, although that was fun too.)  Mindy and I missed the singing, we were in line for concessions,  but apparently that was very entertaining.   John made a friend with a lady sitting behind him.  At first sight glance she looks like a conservative, well dressed lady in her 50's.  Turns out she's a rabid Roma fan.  Even though John speaks barely a word of Italian, even he could tell her vocabulary was pretty colorful.  I think she gave John a hug or a high five or something after the game was over.  She was pretty happy her team won.

  

  

Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time the day was over.

4th of July

Utah must have gotten tired of seeing all those tax dollars pouring into Wyoming every year, because this year they legalized aerials.  (the big ones that shoot into the sky.)

Anybody who is serious about their fireworks usually heads over to Evanston to get some "good" (read illegal) fireworks. 

Anyway we had a little show at the end of my parent's cul-de-sac.  It seemed as if most people were out enjoying their new freedom to shoot off aerial fireworks without fear that the local police department were going to confiscate (and possibly fine?) you for using "illegal" fireworks.  The skies were lit up with all sorts of colors, the smell of smoke permeated the air, and explosions were going off all around well into the night.

Madison celebrated in her usual artistic fashion.

This year she took advantage of the fact that for the most part in Utah you can't fry an egg on the pavement, and spent hours decorating the street in front of my parent's house. 

two beaches and a rainforest

No trip to Cali, or almost any coastal state for that matter, is complete without a trip to the beach. 

Even if you don't plan on getting too wet.

Since Legoland closed at 5, we picked up John, headed to the beach, and arrived at around 6 pm.

Too late to do any real swimming, right?

I mean, the sun would be setting soon,

the high that day was like 78,

so that's definitely not swimsuit weather.

More like, walk-along-the-beach-and-get-your-toes-wet-and-look-for-seashells-weather, right?

Clearly, my family had different plans.

Plus, there weren't even any seashells.  Just seaweed.

Of course, the next day while we dropped John off to take a test to renew his CCIE (which he passed- Go John!),

I let the kids don their swimwear, we grabbed the boogie boards, and we headed for a beach near Los Angeles.

Middle of the day, sun was shining, should be warmer than yesterday, right?

Apparently not.

The kids froze their tootsies off.

Madison was stubborn, and stayed out the longest, but even she admitted defeat, and we packed up and headed back to pick up John. 

We figured waiting for him in the parking lot would be preferable to hypothermia.

Since we were in the LA area, we couldn't not at the very least meet John's aunt Vickie and uncle Bob for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Normally we would stay with them when we are in town, but this trip was too short, and John had to get back to catch a plane.  We always enjoy seeing them, and as John and I always say "We have got to visit them more often." Hopefully soon we can make good on that. (and not just cause they live 15 minutes away from Disneyland!)

Pioneer Days

One of the little things I miss about Utah is celebrating Pioneer Days. (24th of July) Mostly because that's just a second day to do fireworks. Living in Arizona fireworks are illegal, so I miss getting together with your neighbors and watching all the fountains and flowers and tanks in the front yards. If you're really cool, someone will make a trip out to Wyoming to get the "good" fireworks. The ones they sell in Utah are lamer than the Wyoming ones, but still better than nothing at all in Arizona. One year we were rebels and smuggled sparklers into Arizona.

Pioneer Days is big here in Utah, obviously celebrating when the pioneers arrived here. People like to celebrate it with parades (along with blowing stuff up). When I was little I remember going to a "big parade" in downtown Salt Lake, but that was always crowded and you had to practically sleep on the sidewalk to get a "good spot" and we were never really "parade people". In truth, we've heard rumors of the Gilbert Days Parade, (I think it's in November) but in 9 years have never managed to make it there.

My parent's ward (the one I grew up in) had a kid's parade in the neighborhood the Saturday before the 24th. Fortunately we brought the kid's scooters so they could play around outside, and we decorated those and headed on down to the church. Nick hung back and walked stayed by Christopher's side, so he was a little late and they ran out, but Zach and Madison each scored bike helmets. (Christopher was already wearing his favorite hat) I don't know who donated them, but I thought that was pretty cool of them to do that.

We spent the next week in Vernal, Utah (more on that later) and they had a town parade there on the 24th of July. My friend Mindy, whom we were staying with, even made cute little bee costumes for one of the floats. Two of her kids got to ride on the float. (Their float was by far the best.) The kids thought it was fun, Christopher behaved on his "leash" we bought him, people threw candy to the spectators, etc. It's clear that it's been awhile since I've seen a Pioneer Days Parade because all the floats from all the different wards in Vernal through me off (every other float had a sign declaring which ward they were from- Vernal 8th ward, Vernal 27th ward... you get the picture) "Are there a lot of Mormons here in Vernal?" I asked. She replied no, they had one of the smallest populations of church members in the state. My guess is that the congregations from other churches didn't care to be represented in a parade celebrating the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers.-duh. (Do you ever feel like your IQ is shrinking?)

I enjoyed the variety of entries- the dance company on unicycles, the parade of tractors, the demolition derby cars, and of course the giant oil tanker.

We spent that evening watching Mindy's relatives blow up illegal Wyoming fireworks in their backyard. It was awesome.

Madison ♥ Nick Jonas

A few months ago we bought tickets to the Stadium of Fire on the 4th of July to see the Jonas Brothers. Madison has been totally ga-ga over them in recent months. Especially Nick Jonas. He's the love of her life right now.

For whatever reason I decided to keep it a secret from her, and see how long it would take her to figure it out. Even though I informed Nick he would be coming with us, (I didn't want him to miss out on the fireworks display because his male ego wouldn't allow him to admit he likes the Jonas Brothers, even though he totally enjoys watching their show on the Disney Channel) we still managed to keep it a secret from Madison until the moment we showed up at the Marriott Center at BYU yesterday. She noticed the big banner with the Jonas Brothers on it, and although it said "Stadium of Fire July 4 2009" I don't think she even noticed that because she let out a big sigh after staring longingly at the poster and then walked off. Leaving Nick and I totally stunned that she still didn't get what the big surprise was. (I had hinted that it might just be the best day of her life that day) She couldn't stop smiling and squealing when she figured it out. "Mom, I know, I KNOW I am the happiest girl in the world right now."I bought her a concert program.

I bought Nick some $1 earplugs. He was very grateful.

Madison must have thanked me a dozen times and given me a half a dozen hugs and kisses throughout the night expressing her thanks for bringing her.
The only downside to the evening was when they retired a huge 90 foot by 150 foot 26 year old flag. It was retired with military honors. Madison burst into tears when she found out they were going to burn it. She's such a sensitive little creature. It was a lot like attending a funeral. But a really neat funeral with a procession of military service men. And fire. Not something you get to see every day.
It was my very first "boy band" concert ever. And Nick's and Madison's first concert as well. There were more screaming girls than I could ever imagine. I enjoyed it, but it was hard to avoid the fallout from Madison's excitement.

Nick said he liked the concert, but thought the fireworks and the fly-bys were amazing. (Which they were). He also amused himself playing with the binoculars we brought (our seats weren't the worst, but they weren't great either.)