29/12: Stefano is born!

29 December 2011: Welcome Stefano!

5 days later than due date (but only 6 hours later comparing to my spreadsheet), Stefano came to life!
He was waiting 4 kg (8 pounds and 13) and he was the bigger of ours baby!
Mum and baby are fine and all of us are very happy.
Agnese, Rachele and Paolo gave him the warmest welcome at home!

21/10/2001 - 21/10/2011

10 Years anniversary!!!

21st October 2001

....

21st October 2011

..... and counting!

16/10: Natural History museum

On Sunday we paid a visit to the London Natural History museum.
Children found it very interesting and we did too.
The dinosaurs department was one of the most popular attractions, with T-Rex being the top hit.
The model was a real size one and it was moving so smoothly that it was very realistic.

Paolo was horrified and holding us very firmly wanted to go away from that room as soon as possible.
Rachele was much more diligent and she pretended everything was fine until when she was few meters close to the exit door: at that point she run away at full speed!
Agnese was fine and she took these pictures.

It was interesting to see dinosaurs eggs...
I wonder if anyone in history has every made a dinosaur-eggs omelette.

Agnese and Rachele standing in near a dinosaur skeleton... we did give up trying to get Paolo into a picture too...

They found very interesting the bird area too.

I saw a dodo, and I could picture very well these sailors being in sea for months and finding themselves in front of these big chicken like birds... no wonder they disappeared so rapidly.

The earth forces was quite good as well, including the earth quake simulation.

The girls found attractive also the geology area.

In particular (I do not wonder why), the precious stones section: a diamond is always a diamond for a woman... apparently even in the case where a woman is just 8... or 6...

Finally the big mammals area was amazing as well. In the back of the picture a big blue whale.

It was a very tiring day, but so nice and interesting!
Surely worthy!

21/9: Paolo starts at nursery

The 21st of September Paolo has started going every day at nursery.
Last year it was in a play group 3 times a week, now he is in a different one, and regular.
He seems to enjoy it so far...

28-29/8: Leicester

We spent a long week-end in Leicester, as an "end of summer vacation".

We had the chance of visit few attractions there.
First day we went to Conkers forest, a wood plenty of attractions for children.
They enjoyed most the "Enchanted forest", a play room with fairies... but also with spiders, creepy sounds and a troll!

In the picture (taken from Agnese) the train that would have taken us for a tour was coming.

We spent the evening in a very nice hotel with swimming pool.
The day after we went to the National Space Centre.
There were many interesting simulators to try and play with, in addition to other attractions.
A very enjoyable one was a particular 3d theatre: it consists of a 360 degrees planetarium style screen... it is like to be inside an half sphere and watch everything happening around you.

Obviously there were also satellites and a real rocket (in the picture).

Agnese (on the right) and Rachele (left) got caught under the rocket before it was leaving....

And finally Paolo landed on the Moon...

22/8: Novalia, a new working adventure begins!

Today I start my 4th job in 5 years of living in Cambridge.

Although it is not totally abnormal in here, it is a kind of extreme, or at least too much.

But it was a step to be done at this time and a challenge to be faced.

I join with enthusiasm and motivation to Novalia, leaving Telecommunications after 10 years and half.

"Hope it lasts!", commented Anna Maria... sharing a quite sensible thought!

In the picture... I enter into new world experience!

20/8: Wrest Park

We had a one day trip to Wrest Park, in Bedfordshire.

The weather wasn't really supportive as one would expect in a summer day, but between one shower and another one we managed to have a walk in the beautiful park and forest of the property.

17/8: Audley End

We have spent a day at Audley End.
English Heritage was running children & family activities during this week, with the theme: "Time travelers, World War II".

There were several stall where to learn about something specific about the World War II and also activities and games for the children.


Here Agnese is learning how to milk a cow (no, milk doesn't come straightly from supermarket).

Then it was time to run through a military training path... (oh don't forget to call him 'Sergent Major', or he would be disappointed).

In case you wonder, Agnese is the squashed blue thing inside the net.

Then was Rachele's turn. She was really worried:
"What should I call him?".
Sergent Major...

And finally into the chicken wire... but now the difficult bit was done: she managed to remember to call him Sergent Major!

16/8: Last day at Polatis

After 10 months this is my last day at Polatis.

I feel it is now time to go towards new adventures and taking some risks.
But I also feel I would regret not doing it.

I thank all Polatis team for having me on board.

July/August: Italy

We spent our summer holiday in Italy.
It started with Davide & Alessia wedding (where this family picture was taken).



Then we moved to the seaside.
First week the weather was quite bad, second week Paolo got the chicken pox and Anna Maria and me we had to stay home with him in turns.
Luckily we had 3 weeks and last one was great!

12/6: Agnese's 1st Holy Communion

The 12th of June Agnese received her 1st Holy Communion.
She prepared for the event all the year and it was a very touching day.

30/5: Agnese is 8!

Happy birthday Agnese!

(Party was at Denny Abbey)

18/5: Rachele is 6!

Happy birthday Rachele!

2/5: Histon/Impington fun run

Today we ended this long break taking part at Histon/Impington fun run event.

Agnese and Rachele run a 1 Km race, while I did a 5 Km one.

This is the 3rd year in a raw we do it.

Girls have changed a bit :-)

Same event in

Year 2009

and in

Year 2010

The only thing I didn't find so amusing was that when I subscribed, I asked the men registering my name if he needed my date of birth.

He said:

"No, don't worry: after 40 everyone goes in the same category!".

Thanks.

1/5: Southwold

We went visiting friends in Southwold, in a lovely cottage were they had a fantastic time in a covered swimming pool.

Then we moved to the sea side where the wind was blowing quite strongly making the water not exactly blue... (rather brownish really).

Another great day!

30/4: Audley End

We spent most of the day at Audley End house and gardens.

The weather was gorgeous again and we had a pic-nic in the gardens, then went to visit the house with a great interest and wonder from Agnese and Rachele.

Then there were several events like a falconry show (in the picture), some story tellers theatres were the kids had a part, music, horses, various games etc.

A really lovely day.

PS: I wanted to publish a picture of a Peregrine Falcon, but it was to fast to be caught on camera! (it's not a joke!)

29/4: Fen Drayton lakes

Taking advantage of the Royal Wedding holiday, we spent a nice afternoon at Fen Drayton Lakes and bird reserve.

I found this place because of a 10 Km race that is going to happen there... and it is quite a nice walk between several lakes and lot of birds to be observed (if you don't have noisy children).

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/f/fendraytonlakes/index.aspx

24/4: Easter

We spent Easter at home with few friends, 8 adults and 8 children.

The weather was fantastic, and we have been al the time in the garden.

It was around 26-27 degrees.

Just for comparison, this post was written for Easter 2008:

http://famiglia-marchetti.blogspot.com/2008/03/233-white-easter.html

18/3: our article published!

Our article (and pictures) about a portion of the holiday tour we did during last year, has now been published.
The magazine is "Practical Motorhome, May 2011 issue".

(If interested, PDF is available on demand - 4.3 Mb).

25/1: 10th anniversary of emigration

25/1/2001 - 25/1/2011: I celebrate my 10th anniversary of being an Emigrant.

I still remember that cold evening of January when I landed in the snowy and icy Finland...

I suggested Anna Maria that we should celebrate this event.

Her reply was:

"What are we supposed to be celebrating about?"

...

...

...

Suggestions are welcome!!!

...

(really)

13/1: Paolo starts at nursery

13/1: Today Paolo started at nursery and it is going to be for two mornings per week.
He seems very happy to be in an environment with other boys and boys toys...

He had a training period of once a week together with his mum, but it hasn't been regular... (because we tend to forget about it).