Mia Famiglia!

Mom, Dad, and Jen have been in Italy for a few days now! I still cannot believe they r here, in what has been my home for the past 4 months. They not only brought more love than i could have ever imagined but they brought snow too!

It has not snowed in Italy in 4 years and before that 10 years! And the night they came it dumped! Big fat flakes all over, covering Florence with so much snow. People we out walking around laughing and enjoying the snow at 2:30 am because what else would you do when you do not see snow on a regular basis.

Mom, Dad, and Jen have started getting the hang of Italy and i am very proud of them. Just the other day Dad made a great observation when he went to flush the toilet: the 2 big buttons on the wall are for right handed flushers and left handed flushers! Although this is not true it was a good observation. Even after i told him that each button was for a different toilet business he preferred to think of it as a right and left handed flusher friendly toilet. Mom is loving the coffee and wine here. It is different than what we get in the US. The coffee is really only for hard core American coffee drinkers, which mom is. And when you share a good bottle of Chianti with people who really know how to enjoy wine it makes the meal so much better! Jenny insists on trying to speak Italian which i appreciate a lot. Italian is not a easy language and i love teaching my family how to say things correctly and without such an American accent. Jenny has not quite been able to get over the American accent though. When ordering the pasta called 'gnocchi' she insists on saying 'nacky' which is one of the most American ways of saying a beautiful Italian word there is. Mom is also having a little trouble with the American accent. She has decided that the Duomo is no longer called the Duomo but more like the 'drromo.' Im not sure where that one came from but its close enough. They all have been trying hard to get the hang of the Italian culture and they are doing a great job so far :) I think the food has been the easiest to get used to!

Two nights ago i had dinner with two of my families! My Italian family and my wonderful American family. It was one of the best dinners i have ever had. Full of delicious food, Italian language, English language, wine, and laughter! Dad had more pasta than i think he has ever had in his life, in fact they handed him the platter that the pasta came on so he could lick it clean. Mom loved eggplant! I cannot blame her i asked them to make it special because i knew she would love it so much. I think Jenny liked the pineapple cream dessert we had, the best and i totally did too. Giovanna makes amazing deserts, Valerio cooks up some amazing pasta, and they both make delicious meats that melt in your mouth. I was so happy to bring my American family to meet and share an evenly with my Italian family! I was worried that the language barrier would be a problem but i had nothing to worry about: the Connelly's are the type of people who can communicate, eat with, and have a great time with Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! I was so proud to have them representing me and the US! Just reminded me even more how much i love them and what an amazing family i have :D

I am loving Italy more and more now that i have been able to walk all over Florence and Not pull out my map once! It is such a beautiful city and being able to share it with my family means so much to me, so so so much!

Love and Miss everyone at home!