The Florissant Life: Oh Darlings, Let's be Adventurers!

Dear Kenzie & Lexi,

When you are grown and think back to your childhood, I hope that you will remember that we were always up for an adventure. I will never forget the adventure that the three of us had this past weekend. Daddy was in the US for work and you had Thursday & Friday off from school, so on Wednesday at noon I picked you up from school and we set off for a mother-daughter weekend. We ate lunch in the car as we drove into France, and then passed through the Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy (after over an hour wait, but no complaining from either of you). We then drove (through tunnel after tunnel, and endless construction sites) towards Milan before making our way north to Lake Como. As we drove along the narrow winding road from Como to our hotel in Lezzeno, Kenzie was the first to spot the lake and said, "Wow! It's so beautiful! Thanks so much for bringing us here, Mom!" Not only did this simple statement make the somewhat stressful drive more than worthwhile, it also made me realize that you two aren't babies anymore, you are amazing, appreciative, interesting (& interested) little people!

I am so lucky to be your mom and feel such enormous gratitude for the experiences that we get to share. We make a good team & have such fun exploring together. I am so proud that we navigated buses, boats, ferries & even kayaks on our own.

First we took a bus to Bellagio, where you led me up narrow cobblestone streets & asked if you could buy a scarf so that you could be "just like Mommy." How could I say no? You then proceeded to charm the Italian storeowner into giving us 2 scarves for the price of one and 2 free fans.

We then hopped on the boat to Varenna, which was refreshingly quiet after Bellagio which was starting to get quite crowded even on a Thursday morning in May. We enjoyed lunch with a stunning view, beautiful bruschetta, and "bread as big as your head!" After exploring the cute town with colorful shops & houses for a bit we realized that we had to sprint back to the harbor to catch the next boat (as otherwise we would be stuck for another 2 hours as the boats take a siesta break). We made it and Kenzie declared that the sprint "was good practice for my triathlon!"

Our next stop was Menaggio, and our main goal at this stop was to track down some delicious gelato. We succeeded and then proceeded to find the one newspaper shop in town that sells bus tickets so that we could buy a ticket to take us to Villa Carlotta. The shopkeeper told us how to get to the bus stop and that the next bus would be there at 2:15pm. We waited and waited and it finally arrived at 2:31pm and you girls must have asked 1,000 times why the bus was late. Clearly you are used to Swiss precision timing, and this laid back Italian nonsense was not cutting it ;) !

When we made it to Villa Carlotta, you both gladly took the guide books and told me that you would be my tour guide. I will gladly follow behind you two anytime!

After a beautiful tour of the gardens & villa we took another boat to Lenno, and then a final boat back to Lezzeno. After 2 bus rides, 4 boat rides & over 8 miles of walking, when we arrived back at the hotel I was ready for some relaxation (& a drink) & you were ready for some fun! The hotel owner had set up the trampoline on the shore while we were gone just for you two, and while that was exciting you were really tempted by the trampoline that was out in the lake. So my relaxation was short lived, as you quickly convinced me to kayak you out to the trampoline. It was so worth it just for the giggles! We made quite the kayak team!

In addition to this fun packed day, I will remember the many conversations that we had on this trip, I will remember Lexi dancing & serenading me with a made up Mother's Day song out on our deck after dark, I will remember playing silly games as we walked through the various town and laughing so hard that our sides hurt. Thank you girls for making this such a fun & memorable girls' weekend!

The next morning we spent some more time playing by the lake & you convinced me to take you on one last kayak ride out to the trampoline (fully clothed, suitcases already in the car, "pretty please because it is our last day," thankfully we did not capsize). When it was time to check out of the hotel we drove back to Bellagio to catch the car ferry to Cadenabbia, so that we could take the slightly longer but more scenic route back to Geneva through Switzerland. We stopped for lunch in Lugano and enjoyed beautiful lake views & a playground break before getting back in the car and making our way to Lucerne. While there wasn't quite as much construction on this route we did hit some traffic, but eventually arrived in beautiful Lucerne.