The Best Mother's Day in the World!

I wish all of my friends who are mothers a very happy Mother's Day and I hope your is as wonderful as mine!

My day was fabulous from before my eyes opened until after the kids were in bed. Things were kept quiet and I was allowed to sleep in. That only lasted until 7:30, but that's later than I've slept in a long time! I came out to a very excited little boy rushing to finish his handmade card for me! And next to it was the hand made card from Brian. The only thing on the front of it was a note scribbled in Brian's chicken scratch, "A very cheesy mom's day card". Perfect! Kyle's card was full a glitter glue, colour and even a flower from my scrapbooking supplies. He was even happier with his masterpiece when I told him he could add some buttons from my scrapbooking supplies.

This was immediately followed by a pancake breakfast - with the last of our coveted supply of American bacon (what better occasion to use it for!) But before I could eat I had to remove the box from my plate...the D&G box. Yes I know what D&G is, but I still had to ask Brian, "Is that really a Dolce and Gabana box?" And he after he confirmed this I may have had a thought about him tricking me. I would not be the first family member he has tricked with a fancy box of special packaging. It turns out Brian wanted my first Mother's Day as a mom of two to have a little Italian flare to it. I will say that my new shiny D&G watch with a whole lot of bling on it certainly added some flare!

Then Brian packed up the kids while I got ready and off we headed. Now those who know me, know that a trip to a volcano crater would make for a pretty special Mother's Day. And that's exactly what we did! We hiked up Mt Vesuvius and walked around the crater - as far as we could go anyway. It was amazing! When I visited Pompei I kept catching glimpses of the mountain that still stands tall over the area and pondering the power to what it did 2000 years ago (and on a much smaller scale 68 years ago). To climb up it's sides and look into it's crater was awesome! I loved all of Kyle's questions (OK maybe not the ones he repeated 37 times) and enjoyed answering all about how the rocks were made, where the steam came from, why the rocks have holes. Although I hesitated somewhat when he asked if lizards have steps in there homes. When I said no, of course he asked why.

The climb up to the crater from the parking area is definitely a steep one on a path of loose gravel and too many tourists - and too many of them probably shouldn't be pushing their pacemakers that hard. It was a beautiful day with clear skies until we got to the top. We got to watch some clouds roll up the side of the mountain and over the crater. Really an amazing thing to see. But not quite as amazing as watch the steam escape from the vents in the side of the crater.

We had some snacks, walked to the end of the path, took 164 pictures, rock climbed and counted 46 lizards before we found ourselves back and the car. And then my day got a special treat. It was almost 4 and we hadn't had lunch. We decided to give Kyle the choice. We could go to McDonald's on the way home or we could go home and wait a couple of hours for our favourite pizza place to open. Kyle chose pizza so we went home. Vika napped, Kyle played construction and then we went for dinner. Of course followed by gelato! (Who's idea was it to put a gelato shop right next door to the pizza shop?)

Truly a wonderful day. One I will remember and treasure for a very long time - and yes, it will be scrapbooked!