Tag Archives: cold water

Day 16 – Calm before the storm

We took a rest day at Agriturismo Alba. After two cities in a row, we needed a bit of a breather for the next two cities ahead of us. With this in mind, we relaxed for a day.

She’s going to be a professional climber someday

Number 3 really wanted to spend some time at the playground and the Agent tagged joyfully along. We were the only ones on the playground this morning. Bringing our sand toys with us was enough to keep both of them busy for quite a while. The Agent loved the slide though and in no time started climbing up the ladder all by herself.

Doing laundry was overdue so we put on the washing. Unfortunately, the machine was broken somehow and all our clothes were dripping wet when we took them out. The sky was overcast for most of the day, so it would take forever for them to dry.

We had a slow morning with some blogging and then a nap. Well, the kids had a nap as they alternated their time asleep: The Agent started and sleep through 1 ½ episodes of Benjamin Blümchen (audio play for kids about the adventures of an elephant who can talk) which is when Number 3 fell asleep and the Agent was wide awake again. Oh well. No sleep for tired mamas. 🙂

Like this, the madness even looks pretty

When nap time was over, Flo urged us to jump into the lovely pool. I hadn’t even seen it by this point. The sun had come out though so I was persuaded.

The pool was immaculate, blue and surrounded by a lovely manicured green lawn. I got into the water fist, which was up to about my waist right next to the ladder. That was as deep as I would go in today, I decided, as the water was really quite cold. The Agent in her pushy manner nearly threw herself in before she realized how cold the water was and refused to be put into it at all. Her screaming quickly convinced me not to try again. So we got out, changed into something dry (or baby-naked in the Agent’s case) and watched Flo and Number 3 splash around until Number 3’s lips turned blue about 10 minutes in.

The pool excursion ended, a little earlier than expected, with a lovely hot shower. Flo even improvised delicious dinner with the asparagus tips we’d bought two days ago and the potatoes we’d carried since we left home. XD

The Agent of Entropy was in A LOT of pain because her molars and a few bonus incisors are breaking through at the same time. We prepped her a little with pain relief before bringing her to bed in the hope that we might get a quiet night as another gaming session was scheduled. Indeed, we had a quiet, kids-free evening and when we went into the tent later on both kids had crawled towards the middle of the tent and were cuddling. Sometimes, the little ones just melt your heart.

Day 6 – Recuperating

After yesterday’s long drive to get to Italy, it was officially our rest day today. Unfortunately, the kids don’t understand the concept of “sleeping in” and thus, we were awake way too early again.

It was a bit chilly when we got up but breakfast is a good way to cheer everybody up. Afterwards we just went to explore our immediate surroundings: The waterfall of Acquafraggia first of all. It is a five minute walk from our campground and we can see it from here through the trees. On the way there, we found a cool place with access to the river where Number 3 put his feet in already. He was generally amazed by the rapid flowing water.

The waterfall itself was loud and there was a lot of spray so Number 3 stayed back a little, while both Flo and I got ourselves a little refreshment when we got close. 🙂 The Agent of Entropy had no choice but to go with Flo but since she didn’t complain it couldn’t have been too bad.

With our spirits high and the temperature rising to a lovely 21 degrees, we started to walk to the next village over to see if we could find a little restaurant for lunch and a shop to buy some groceries. Though the walk was basically along the main road but on a pedestrian footpath, we saw lots of animals. The lizards especially fascinated Number 3. There was also a little chicken hut where we spent about 15 minutes trying to convince Number 3 to keep on moving.

The village of Prosto di Piuro is rather small. We still found the artisan bakery/cookie shop for me to buy some fruit bread, cookies, jam and a bottle of red wine in.

To be honest, Flo and I didn’t know how travelling would be during the pandemic and if we’d feel unsafe. We are really impressed with Italy at the moment as everybody seems to be “no nonsense” about the rules. EVERYBODY wears a mask. And correctly, too! Not just covering mouths or such silly business as I often see in Frankfurt. Everybody keeps their distance if possible and they just get on with it!

Shopping was a pleasure even if I had to stretch my almost non-existing Italian. We didn’t find a restaurant in our price range that was open but we found the little supermarket to buy some groceries.

We hurried a little on the way back as it was time for lunch and everybody was hungry. That turned out to be a bit of a drag for Number 3. Even so, he refused to have a midday nap after lunch. Chilling on the campground in the afternoon was an exercise for our patience. Only when Number 3 observed the guy on the lawnmower and started role playing it did things improve again.

By dinner time the Agent of Entropy was causing havoc while Number 3 redeemed himself by being a superb sous-chef.