We took a 2 year old to Rome...and survived

 I don't know about you, but traveling for us is like a test of our marriage and humility.  Brady and I often get stressed about different parts of the trip which sometimes drives the other one crazy...:).    With Parker, we almost always have some embarrassing moments that make us stop and laugh.  Rome was no different. Here are a few of the highlights...and lessons learned(I'll post pictures soon)!  I apologize ahead of time for the randomness of my thoughts!

First things first...I got my first non-UK stamp on my passport...WAHOO!!  Seriously, I was really excited!

Did you know that any bad weather in England means delays in every area of public transportation?  It took us 12 hours to get to Rome because of train delays, flight delays, etc.  We also learned that flying out of London Gatwick is not the best option if you live in Norwich...I love learning lessons:).

Did you know that Rome is usually blessed with mild temperatures so that if you want to travel in, say February, you should be fine?  Did you also know that Rome had its first real snow in 26 years this weekend?  Did you know that we were there this weekend?  Ha, we have terrible timing.

Parker loves to travel (thank goodness), but was slightly disappointed when he couldn't find the "tv" on the airplane.  I love to travel with him, partly because we get to look at his super cute passport photo, ha!

Rome has lots of stairs...lots.  Even our hotel had a ridiculous amount of stairs and the elevator only held 1.5 people (lucky for mommy and Parker when daddy carried the stroller up).

Parker had his first overnight accident since wearing 'big boy' underwear to bed (I can't lie, I'm not that sad it happened when someone else had to do the laundry).

The Metro system in Italy is actually super easy to navigate.  We didn't intend to use it, but because of the snow, we couldn't take taxis.

Almost everyone in Rome speaks English...thank goodness.  I tried to learn a few phrases before we went, but then got busy and didn't get very far.

It is worth it to get a hotel in a great location.  If we would have been any farther away from the centre of Rome, we wouldn't have been able to see anything.

Not only is ancient Rome spectacular, but the people who live there are beautiful and their clothes are amazing.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was listening to Parker tell us the story of the Three Bears as we went to sleep.

For some reason, we had a group of about 10 women stop and squat around P and take his picture while we were in St Peter's Square (Parker posed of course).  I didn't think to get out my phone until there was only one left...

Parker was AMAZING.  We dragged him all through Rome in the snow and sleet and he was great.  Seriously, I am still kind of amazed.

                                                                       

The hot chocolate in Rome is spectacular...seriously, thick enough to eat with a spoon, and we did.  Oh, and yes, I may have used it to bribe P to get in his stroller a few times. The spaghetti was amazing too.  Just ask P...:)

           

If you have a toddler, a "little baggie" full of small toys is essential (thank you for making a K-State baggie, Gram Gram).  Especially, when you are in a city where dinner lasts at least 3 hours.  

Sometimes, when you are in Rome, and it's snowing, do as the Romans do...take a nap. We had planned on letting P sleep in the stroller as we walked around, but it was just too cold and his feet were so wet that we all needed to thaw.

Because we went through around three pairs of socks a day, we ran out for P...these work too.

P makes friends everywhere we go...he actually asked if he could sit next to the girl below (instead of us) when we got on the train...

All-in-all, we had an amazing trip.  We didn't get to see everything we wanted to, but we also knew before going that we would probably want to go back...now we just know we do!