Ciao Roma, Hello USA

On our last day in Rome, Wednesday the 19th, we went to a papal audience. It was our first papal audience as a family! Little George loved all of the people clapping and singing for the Pope. He joined along as best he could! Going to the papal audience was the perfect way to say goodbye to Rome.

After the papal audience, we visited St. Peter's for the last time. We tried to take in as much of it's beauty as we could before we left. The thing that we miss most about Rome is it's churches, in particular St. Peter's. I always felt at home there.

Giorgio misses these water fonts!

On our way home, we stopped and had our last gelato. Just thinking about it makes me hungry now.

We packed for the rest of the evening and went to our favorite pizza place in Trastevere with Rob for dinner. Oh Roman pizza, how we miss you!

On Thursday, we headed home! Our travels back did not go as smoothly as on our way over to Italy. We has a 2 1/2 hour flight delay while on the plane so much of Giorgio's patience was used up while sitting at the gate. TV and Benedryl were the heroes of the day. We also hit lots of turbulence that ended up making me sick. But after 22 hours of travel, we made it back to my parents' home! 

We all had a great visit and Christmas with my family! We were lucky enough to see the Meolas and Maricontis while on the east coast as well! Little George loved having his toys around, having lots of open space and being able to run around as much as he wanted.

Now we are back at Notre Dame and all moved in. It is wonderful to be back in our own home and all settled.