Here we are at the airport, me, Karen and Rejane – just before checking in. It took me a while to figure out how to take a picture of myself with the phone, but I finally got the hang of it.

I also learned that this is NOT a flattering angle!

Our adventure begins! 2 hours into our flight all of a sudden the oxygen masks came tumbling from the overhead thingumajigs. We put them on and the silence and tension on the plane was thicker than the thickest person you know. I (literally) made Karen take this picture of us to distract her.

I didn’t really work. We had to make an emergency landing in Madrid where we spent 8 hours before we were able to ge on another plane to Lisbon.

me, Violante and Vera

Once we finally got there (we were suppose to be the first to arrive and ended up being the last) we all went for dinner at a restaurant inside a museum dedicated to pharmacies and apothecaries.

"Medicinal" instruments used to serve at table

me and Hayley

me, Isadora (our Lisbon hostess) and Siobhan

On Saturday morning we all got into a bus and drove to a town called Sintra where we toured the private gardens of Quinta da Regaleira, but first Isadora treated us all to a Sintra pastry that was RIDICULOUSLY good.

Puff pastry, butter, eggs, sugar and almonds. Oh. My. God.

Then we headed off to visit the gardens.

The group

After the tour we went and had lunch on the beach and then headed back into Lisbon. That afternoon, some went shopping while others went napping!

Then it was time to eat again!

All dressed for dinner

We had our Saturday dinner at a restaurant next to the National Theatre.

Siobhan & Joanne

After dinner we held a draw to choose next year’s hostess/destination.

Samantha (founder and fearless leader of our weekends) and Isadora (our Lisbon hostess)

And the winner is: Hayley and Amsterdam!

After dinner, some went dancing, some went back to the apartment to go to bed (and it’s always the same ones every year!)

Sunday morning, those that didn’t have early flights went on a bus tour.

Me and Hayley on the tour bus

After the tour we had brunch here:

Since all good things eventually come to an end, here is my last picture taken just before take off on Sunday night.

A much more flattering angle!

Here are the pictures

Luca admiring the cars

Luca knew all the cars, which amazed me, where did he learn this stuff?

Checking in

Waiting for the cars

Luca trying out the driving simulator

Getting into ‘his’ car

Vroom Vroom

And they’re off …

On the track

That’s me on a segway, it was a lot of fun!

Can you believe that we are finished with elementary school already? Tomorrow morning we have a meeting with the middle school teachers. Yikes, time is going by s0 quickly.

It seems like only yesterday that he started elementary school, now it’s over.

Waiting for it all to begin

Next in line

Getting his cap.

Getting his diploma

Posing with the class

He wanted to give his curiousity free reign and took it apart piece by piece.

Maurizio plans to keep all the screws and everything else will get recycled.

If you have ever wondered what the inside of your laptop looks like … wonder no more.

Luca was pretty determined to help me make his cake this year, so I actually *let* him do all the work. So he did all the measuring and mixing and I stuck it in the oven and decorated it when it was done.

Here are some pictures of him hard at work.

Unsweeted coco powder being disolved in hot water

Adding vanilla extract

Making sure there are no lumps in the batter

Prepping the pan

Decorated and looking pretty

We served the kids mini pizzas and fries and caffine packed soft drinks to keep their energy up.

Then of course the cake was served with the traditional singing off key and blowing out of candles.

And then Luca opened his presents.

Now I am enjoying the silence that has returned to our home. Honestly those were the three loudest hours of my life, but the important thing is that Luca had a good time and that the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow!!

Luca likes it because you can choose your ingredients and they cook your stir fry to order right in front of you.

Luca decided to try his with a spicy Thai curry sauce!

Biting into his first Thai curry

It was probably a little spicier than he was expecting.

And the heat kicks in

He finished it and he said that he liked it so next time I think I’ll take him for Indian!

Of course a birthday isn’t a birthday without presents.

We are planning a birthday party with friends for next Sunday, until then it’s back to life as usual.

Maurizio and a few others spent the day making lasagne for 60 people. The appetizers were potluck and a couple of people brought lentils and dessert for after midnight.

The church hall was still decorated from the annual soccer banquet and we had the whole place to ourselves.

All the music was pre-1990 (yeah!) and there were enough kids so that they could entertain each other and leave us adults to enjoy ourselves (double yeah!)

Me and Lorena

We finally got home around 3 and took New Year’s Day easy. Maurizio is back at work this week while I am on holiday. Luca and I hope to take in some movies – if he gets his homework done!

Santa Claus was very good to everyone and is continuing the tradition of stocking full of personal hygiene products and school supplies!

We still had our open house on the 26^th.

Friends and neighbours stopped by for some Christmas cheer and left with a box of cookies under their arms. This year I made:

Lemon spritz

Almond spritz

Orange spritz

Double chocolate

White chocolate, macadamia

Coffee cookies

Fig cookies (kind of like fig newtons)

Sugar cut outs (Christmas tree shapes only this year)

I had actually planned to make more different types but procrastination is my downfall.

The celebrations aren’t over. We are planning to spend New Year’s with friends and then there is La Befana to celebrate too – even though she doesn’t come to our house, she and Santa have a deal, he makes the deliveries – she gets a spot on our tree.

I’m looking forward to the first week in January, which I have off – hurray.

No snow, just frost. Would much rather have snow, then it wouldn’t be so cold.