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European Vacation with a Four Year Old, Day 4: Onto the Cruise Ship

We have embarked on the journey. The ship we are on is called the Epic, from the Norwegian Cruise Line. We got up pretty early and ate more delicious breakfast at our Rome hotel, which I will miss. Before we left, I took one more look out our balcony and pondered the building across the way. It was an old building, something I figured might have been important at some point. Turns out, it was. The building was just one of the several buildings of the Museum of Rome, which was itself a culturally significant complex in its time. The complex was created during the time of the Emperor Diocletian, around the end of the 3rd Century and into the… Continue reading European Vacation with a Four Year Old, Day 4: Onto the Cruise Ship

Europe Vacation with a Four Year Old, Day 3 – Stair Climbing and Pasta Making

Last day in Rome and over too quickly. So much left to see and taste and experience, but our time has unfortunately run out. Tomorrow, we will set off on our cruise to begin our lightning speed tour of the Mediterranean ports in southern Europe. If three days isn't enough time to experience enough of Rome, 12 hours at each other city on our vacation will certainly be a similar story. But we will get a good taste and see some amazing things, anyway. We began our day today heading to the Vatican, after another delicious breakfast from our hotel. (I will try to remember to discuss our hotel more tomorrow, as well as give links to it and a… Continue reading Europe Vacation with a Four Year Old, Day 3 – Stair Climbing and Pasta Making

European Vacation Day 2: Ancient Rome with a Four Year Old

Here we are at the end of day two in Rome with our four year old. For many of those back home in the US, you probably are just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel of your work day. For us, it's past 9pm and we are exhausted. The good kind of exhausted. Today was mostly awesome. We started our day with a guided tour of the Colosseum, the Capitoline Hill and then the Roman Forum. For me, this was outstanding. For Jodie, whose favorite subject in history is World War II, the latter part of the tour was just pretty good. For Declan, he loved the Colosseum and also chasing pigeons and seagulls away.… Continue reading European Vacation Day 2: Ancient Rome with a Four Year Old

International Travel with a Child: the Big Hurdle Followed by the Reward

I am officially wrapping up the first day of our trip as Jodie, Declan and I all make the sweeping adjustments to the new European sleep schedule. Declan passed out right after nightly prayers and bedtime story since he actually had a bed to sleep on tonight. Last night was a different story. I had always said I wanted to get Declan traveling the world as early as possible for numerous reasons. First, there's a lot that can't be taught in a book or by teachers and going somewhere and doing something is a great way to learn those things. Second, I just think the history and geography of this world is really neat and everyone should go experience it… Continue reading International Travel with a Child: the Big Hurdle Followed by the Reward

Afterthoughts – The Apostate Saint, Rome & What Comes Next

Well, here we are. The first book of The Apostate Saint is now fully released on this site. I delivered a chapter once per week in a similar way to that of my first book - the novelization of The Oro Goro, that some of you may remember. I am happy with how the story is unfolding, and I am also pleased with the way that my writing structure has adapted to the weekly installments.