Italy

This year during the kid's October break from school we packed our bags and headed to a farm! We really have enjoyed living in a little city during the last year, but thought that it was time to head to the country and get a taste of farm life. What a taste we got! This post is pretty long so I've broken it into two, good luck to all those who make it all the way to the end... After all, you know what they say about looking through other people's vacation photos..

We spent five nights at an agroturismo farm just outside of Siena in beautiful Tuscany, and it was truly an experience we will never forget. The farm, Tenuta di Spannocchia is a working farm dating back to the 12th century. We stayed in a rustic tenant cottage with a long history of sheltering hard working farm families under its roof. Look at that cool turret!

Our days were spent biking, tromping around the farm and gardens, eating delicious farm food, and "helping" the farm interns with their work. We did take a few day trips, but by far our best times as a family were spent at Spannocchia.

One afternoon we took a walk hoping to find an old church on the property.

While we never actually found the church, the country roads were a little tricky...

We did come across Spannocchia's heritage cows and pigs in two far away pastures and had a great time trying to get them to come over for a visit.

We also came across several groups of truffle hunters looking to spice up their evening meals and Quinn snapped this of their loot. I was hoping for a dinner invite...

 I think that day we walked about three miles around the property and Quinn walked the whole way most of the time carrying a giant dinosaur egg shaped rock with him. Somehow this rock made it all the way back to Switzerland with us.

We took lots of rest breaks and Anna had a nice nap, but it was hard to keep the little guy on solid ground with so many neat things to explore.

Back at the farm, Kevin and the kids had so much fun feeding and checking on the chickens and pigs. One day the pigs escaped and they bravely rounded them up and put them back into their pen. This was by far Quinn's favorite part of the trip, I hid behind a tree while the brave ones in the family got down and dirty with miss piggy and her friends!

Here are the hunters in action searching in the olive groves for lost pigs.

Apparently these little ladies are very "food motivated" and with a small handful of feed were easily coaxed back into their pen, I don't blame them.. after all who isn't "food motivated"?

I love Quinn's power stance above, and Kevin bravely showing his "farm" hands after the pig wrangling.

At last the ladies are safely back in their home.

One day we ventured off the farm and spent a great day showing the kids around one of our favorite Italian cities, Siena.

That Piazza del Campo is the best place for people watching, kid chasing, and gelato eating that I've ever been to, I could spend hours there.

This picture might be my favorite of the bunch because it shows the shear dedication and love that these two have for a good bowl of pasta. Mangia!

Another day we took a drive to the Abbey of San Galgano which is a massive skeleton of an old monastery, such a sight!

 While it has fallen into quite a lot of disrepair over the centuries, it's awe inspiring to walk inside this massive roofless building.

The Abbey was built as a tribute to Saint Galgano who gave up his violent early life for peace and solitude when he stuck his sword in a stone and the two became one. We hiked up the hill to have a look at the Italian sword in the stone and yup, it's still there..

While the sword was a fun story, the views, local wine and playground at the top of the hill piqued the interest of our group!

One of the perks of staying at Spannocchia was the farm box that arrived on our kitchen table at the beginning of our stay. It was so fun to cook with all the fresh vegetables and meats from the farm each day, we used their recipe book and made some terrific meals.

Oh Italy, take me back. I'll continue this lengthy vacation saga in another post so as they say...Arrivederci!