What a great weekend we had last week! We decided to be adventurous and do a two night stay in Genoa with Leigh and family, so that Liam and Stirling could go to the aquarium there. We had heard it was worth seeing, and thought it would be a nice idea for the kids. There are so many things that could have gone wrong with the trip and somehow nothing did. We had really easy drives up and down with a maximum travel of 2.5 hours, and our accommodation worked out great. We stayed in two separate apartments just around the corner from each other and they were rented through the hotel Palazzo Cirocala or whatever it is. The location was perfect. We parked the cars on friday evening and didn't get back in them till we were leaving on Sunday afternoon. We were right in the Porto Antico where everything we wanted to do was located. Stirling and Liam had such a good time together wherever we were, so we were able to sit down and have decent meal times. Even our dinners were at a regular time around 7pm and the kids were up till 10pm with no problems.
We had a one bedroom apartment so Liam slept in a crib in the living area and we had Eowyn with us in our bed in the bedroom. It was totally fine because we were basically all going to sleep at the same time anyway! Eowyn was amazing and managed to sleep really long chunks both nights. The first night she slept about 6.5 hours from when we were out at dinner till early in the morning. The second night she slept from around 8pm at dinner again, till something like 4:30 am. I couldn't believe it!
We went to a traditional typical Genovese restaurant the first night with homemade pasta and other tasty treats. Liam and Stirling were thrilled to be together. This photo was from when they thought it was funny to suck on lemons!
Playing around after dinner on our way back to the apartments. Not a meltdown in sight!
The next morning James and I discovered a cute cafe place right by our front door that made crepes and fresh squeezed juice. Perfect breakfast before a long morning at the aquarium! Here's Eowyn hanging out, as she did most of the trip!
At the port there were naturally tons of boats to keep Liam occupied, including this really old one behind us. Looks like a set for Pirates of the Caribbean!
The aquarium was bigger, cleaner and better than I had imagined. We even got to see the dolphin, which apparently doesn't always happen. Liam and Stirling definitely enjoyed seeing the different tanks of fish, but I think the best part of it was hanging out together. Here they are rolling around on the ground in front of the dolphin tank.
Grayson is so eager to be part of the big kids group. I love how they are all looking up to see the dolphin in this photo.
They had some great open exhibits with beautiful colorful fish from more tropical places. We got to see them from above as well as straight on. Here Liam and Stirling were looking down on one of the tanks.
The final bit of fun in the aquarium was the touch tank. They kids loved splashing their hands in the water and trying to touch the ray or fish swimming by. The photo is a bit blurry but you get the gist and at least you get to see Stirling with Gavin, James with Liam and Leigh in the background.
This tank had baby sharks in it. I'm sure they were the non biting kind. Or maybe they weren't sharks at all!
After the aquarium visit we had a lovely lunch at Eataly and then back to the apartments for a nap for everyone. Later in the afternoon when we were all awake again we went to this indoor play and explore place for kids called Citta Dei Bambini. Unfortunately it was closing just 30 mins after we arrived, so we made a plan to return the next morning. But here's Liam in his element in the construction site area. He loved pushing around the wheelbarrow and filling it with foam bricks etc.
We had a nice walk and some time outside while Gavin made dinner reservations (that's him in the background on the phone!). Here's a picture of the little ones who were so very patient with all the activities for toddlers and adults.
Love this photo that I managed to take of Eowyn in the bjorn. She's got the drool going on but the sun hat borrowed from Cassidy looks just adorable on her!
James had many fun games for the kiddos, including balancing on posts.
Sunday morning was a nice leisurely morning hanging out as I packed us up. Liam and Eowyn hanging out on the bed a bit:
We met up with Stirling and co for breakfast at our little crepes place. In this particular alley of Genoa there was no driving traffic so the kids spent some time dancing in the street waiting for their breakfast to arrive.
We spent a little while at Citta dei Bambini so the kids could explore the place a bit more. They had a chance to play with giant bubbles, look at an ant farm, do more construction, and test out a bunch of funky mirrors, including this human kaleidoscope.
After another tasty lunch at Eataly we were ready to pack up and head back home. We had a smooth drive back with two napping babies and made it home with a bit of time before dinner. Perfect!
It really couldn't have gone any better!
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