La Famiglia Italiana

 There are so many family members in Italy to see that one evening a cousin from Jason's Nonno's side brought the Lopezjoneses to Venice for dinner.

 Michelle and his family are true Venitians, living in Venezia and raising their kids Federicco and Eleonora. Whom the twins took to quickly and played with continuously. Eleonora has been studying English and has gotten quite good, perhaps one day she will come to San Francisco. Renata Nani also was at our dinner, she drove in from not too far away.

 Another day Paolo's daughter, Chanel, was having a birthday pool party. It was a hot afternoon and everyone, including the adults, were happy there was a pool to keep the kids occupied.

 The evening during the week are packed with dinners at family's houses. One night the Lopezjoneses headed to Mestre for a dinner with Maria Valenti, eight of her children and many grandchildren.

On another day the Lopezjoneses found themselves in Alano Di Piave, where both Jason's grandparents were born, for a lunch with Odonne and his family. Ermano and Elena both traveled in from their homes to lunch with us, it was great they did.

 In Alano there was a few more people to see. Bettina made her way up to Odonne's house after a quick rain storm to greet us with a few gifts in hand.

 Afterwards it was to Altea's home, at 93 she's living by herself, for a quick coffee and caramelli for the twins.

Another night brought the Lopezjoneses to Bassano Del Grappa for a dinner out on the town hosted by Gian Marco's family and his Nonna, Bruna. It was a long fun night.

Rosa, Italia

 

Leaving Lago Di Garda, via car ferry, the twins headed to a family BB-Q.

 Cate hosted a giant party and invited over 47 family members. Every kid there had brought their bathing suit, must be an Italian thing, and good thing they did - it was hot!

 They all showed up and it was a spectacular event.

 Of course there was a kids table where Ada and Navi ate with all their cousins.

 The party went really late into the evening. Ada and Navi had a big day tomorrow.

 The next day, after a little bit of sleep, Ada and Navi started camp. Ada went happily without any issues.

 They got to ride horses and probably many other things except of course the twins did not share much of their day.

 

After camp one day everyone went out for gelato.

 

 On another evening dinner was hosted at Luca and Olga's house, al'fresco. The twins have been having a great time so far and are really enjoying spending time with all their cousins.

Dalla Spiaggia Al Lago

After some time on the beaches of Jesolo the Lopezjoneses headed up north to Lago Di Garda. There was an 'old times' road, as the kids would say that they had drive through to get to their B&B.  Ada and Navi found it funny that they can touch the walls from inside the car.

 

After a quick check-in the twins went straight to the pool, located in a beautiful olive orchard.

That evening they walked down into a little town for dinner.

A great dinner at that. After walking back up the hill Ada, Navi and PapaJason stopped for a quick cool-down in the pool before going to bed.

The next day the Lopezjoneses headed to Salo for a place on the lake where you can pay an entrance fee for the day and relax in a full amenity park.

 One of them being a dock where you can jump into the lake.

 Another a pool in case the lake water was too cold for you - it wasn't.

 Afterwards it was time for a walk through the town of Maderno.

Everyone is enjoying themselves greatly. The temperature has been in the low 90's, but everyone seems to be okay.

Alla Spiaggia

 Ada and Navi have been spending a lot of time at the beach these past days. The beach has been great for all the kids in that they can comfortably walk out a few yards and still have their head above water.

 Navi, Alberto and Andrea started a soccer game with some other beach goers, everyone is very friendly and the beach is very family orientated.

 One day all the kids fished for clams and collected enough that Caterina made a delicious Pasta Alla Vongole (Pasta with clams) one afternoon for lunch.

 When the tide was low all the kids would look for sea creatures. They found a small fish, more clams, and crabs.

 Caterina and her family have been great hosts and everyone has been having a great time.

Ada is yet to show her Italian language skills.

Andare In Italia

 Last week the twins did a half day at soccer camp. Came home and prepared to go to the airport.

 After a 12 hour flight, a long customs line in Paris, a sprint to  the next plane and a two hour flight the Lopezjoneses were in Venice Italy.

Their first stop was the beaches of Jesolo where they met Jason's cousin Caterina and her family. Sadly their luggage did not make it, but lucky for everyone the dads packed the kids' most important item, their bathing suits. Their luggage made it two two days later, except for the car seats - who knows where those are!

 GianMarco also made an appearance with his family. The twins were excited to see him.

The next evening everyone joined together for a dinner. Ada and Navi are super excited to have their cousins' Gia, Alberto and Andrea with them to play with.  The dads are excited to start their holiday on a beach.  It's the perfect spot to get over jet lag and where you'd want your luggage lost.

From The (Soccer) Field To the Garden To The Table

 Soccer has been going very well for the twins. Both are enjoying it very much.

 Their soccer fields are just across the street form the ocean, it is cold in the mornings, but really warms up by the afternoon.

 After their camp Ada and Navi headed straight to the garden.  It was harvesting time. Peas were planted for GianMarco, but they were not ready in time for him to enjoy them as he is in Italy for the summer.

There were quite a few tomatoes ready and those were quite easy for the twins to determine which were ready for picking.

Also, the wild flowers they had planted in the spring were a little late to bloom, but did make it.

Thanks to PapaJason who took at these vegetables and incorporated them into a pasta for that night's dinner.

Soccer Camp

 This week the twins are attending soccer camp at their new location in the Beach Chalet Soccer Fields in Golden Gate Park. Six hours of non-stop soccer fun. Ada had an issue at drop off, she and her brother were in different groups so DaddyQuique stayed with her for a little bit, but knew it was best just to leave knowing for sure she would be fine at pick up.

 And she was.  At pick up Ada was found doing cartwheels with some new friends.

Navi was a bit more hard to find as he had joined some other group playing a scrimmage. They both can't wait for tomorrow.

The Lopez Camping Wekeend 2016

 The Lopez, Cerritos, Vega and a few Fernandez family members made to to Huntley Mill for a fun camping weekend.

 Ada and Navi, more Navi, was very excited to see and spend time with his cousin Benji.

 Ada found it fun to play with her cousin Ximena.

 A few other cousins of the twins made it to Huntley Mill as well, the Moore family.

 To add to Navi and Benji's excitement 4 of the Moore boys joined them on their games all weekend.

Abue was so happy to see all her grand kids at once. Everyone had a great time and ate fantastic food.