Little Italy

       Thank you Ami, for posting up the new lead photo of Kim, walking towards the ocean and beginning to look back over her shoulder - this was always one of my favorites - and, even today, when I pull up her blog, it has the same affect it has had on me over the years...

          June 15th...our last day in Cali...once again, I woke up before the bambini, and ran Bella...this time, up hill - for those of you who just returned from this area, you can attest to the grade of some of the hillsides...I started off pretty strong...slowing down as gravity worked its will against my body...slowing, feeling as if I wasn't going very fast...Bella, showing little effort 'why ya slowing down???'...Not going to let this hill beat me - and I'm at the top - my heart feeling like it stopped for a minute...coming back down, not too much easier, as I fought to not go too fast!  Shin splints!!

           We got to the beach by 8...the bambini wanted as much time as possible in the sand and surf...the dolphins were there to greet us, playing in the waves - again, at least a dozen of them - it was so peaceful and tranquil to sit there and watch them...

                        Autumn was so proud of this sea weed bulb thingy!  They dug, swam and played until around noon, raced back to the hotel to get cleaned up, throw our stuff in the car, including Bella and head over to Little Italy!
                        We ate a great lunch at Fillipi's,

                       Autumn...pasta, what else?  Tonio and Cody split a pizza and I got the torpedo sandwhich...
                       Then, we walked down to the corner of Beech and India, to Bella Stanza. 

             Kim and I had visited Bella Stanza together nearly 18 years ago - Kim loved the items in this shop.  Over the years, we looked forward to our visits with the owner, Jeanne - and Kim would pick a new item for our home.  Jeanne has unique pieces, as, she will travel to Italy, for a month or more at a time and traverse the back streets, looking for that talented artist, working out of their home and purchasing their art to bring back to her shop.
          Jeanne has literally watched the bambini grow, and we've seen the photos of her grandchildren as her children have had them...
            Here were a couple of Kim's favorite items she picked up there:

                   Kim used this for freshly grated parmesian cheese (Tonio had just picked that cherry tomato from our garden).  We have a little matching finger bowl that she'd put oregano or sea salt in or sometimes olive oil for dipping.

                        She chose this salad bowl on one trip and the utensils on another.  The handles are made of Murano glass.  The little dish with the blue dove, she used to put our salt and pepper shakers on.

                   The Madonna, she actually bought for me one time and it hangs in our kitchen.

                   Another piece of Murano glass work - set on the chest as you enter our house.  Kim kept, guess what?  Sea shells in it...that we found in San Diego.

And a nice pitcher, that she liked to put water in for us...

There were many others, each punctuating our visit to the coast....

                        
               We visited with Jeanne for some time, as we caught up and she had a chance to talk with the bambini.  I told her I needed to pick up a fruit bowl.  In all the years we had visited, we never got a fruit bowl.  Jeanne had a beautiful selection, and, with Autumn's help, they chose this one:

          It looks perfect in our kitchen on the breakfast bar (hey, there's even a runner!  didn't know we even had that, thanks Janene!) and is 'functional' as Kim used to like to joke when we were picking out something for the home.
         If you get a chance, next time you are in San Diego, check it out.  It's just two blocks north of Seaport Village...Bella Stanza's website is http://www.bellastanzagifts.com/ ...sadly, it was time for us to leave - it was already about 4 in the afternoon!

                   Jeanne sent the bambini home with gifts...a pinocchio for Tonio...

       
                             A 'Ciao Bella' pillow for Autumn and Cody got a Italia key chain...Jeanne has a big heart...

                     Jeanne snapped a photo of us around the fountain in front of her shop...something Kim did each time we visited...

                   Prepping for the loooonnnngggg drive home...Ice Tea/Lemonade Monster...not too bad.

                 Autumn got this photo of the sun setting as we raced across the desert...

                  Arriving home around 10ish to a completely clean house...

                                Janene detailed the kitchen...took everything out of the fridge...spotless.

                            The oven!  Kim had been meaning to get to this....

                                     Even the laundry room....

                                 Her son, Brendon, nailed the hall closet, while Angie scrubbed base boards, bathrooms, Kim and Andrea decorated, did the sheets,  wash, etc, etc...in fact the house is still looking pretty darn good!  All of the kids rooms were cleaned and Angie has told them that she'd do 'surprise' inspections....and they are keeping up with their rooms, too!  These guys had 'snuck' into our home, a couple days in a row and cleaned everything, with vacuuming help from our neighbor Betsey!  Have I mentioned that we are blessed?
                           It was nice getting back to our home, especially not having to worry about cleaning!

                           And our trip was a good one, for us...and to 'visit' Kim - I have so many good beach memories...so many - the new lead photo of Kim on the beach - it's from 1985...Beach Haven on Long Beach Island N.J., where all of our greatest beach times began...

                            Love,
                                    Dave