A program

Now the parties of the weekend are over, itàs time for Mommy to get down to business.  First, to get activities in line for Ava, and secondly to get activities in line for herself!  This morning we went to look at a school for Ava that I had checked out on-line before we left the States.  It's called Canadian Island, a daycare and language school for Italian or foreign children to go and learn English.  They have a Saturday morning 'camp' for 4 hours each week that I'm hoping Ava will love.  Though the lessons are in English, she will be with Italian children and teachers and be able to play games and interact with other kids weach week.  It looks like a great little place, and I'm praying she will be excited enough to be going to ''big girl school'' that she won't realize I've left her there!  I'm just pleased with the idea that she can talk to the teachers in English while learning and hearing Italian all around her.  We can sign her up for 7, 10, or 12 weeks and see how it goes!   Check out the school here:

After we checked that out, I went to look at a gym for myself.  I already knew the gyms here would not be on par with those in America, but this place was just a little sad.  I am sure there are other gyms around, but I would ideally like to find one close enough so I could run or ride my bike to get there.  If I could find a safe (read: mostly traffic-free) place near our house, I would probably be better off running outside and then finding some free weights to use in the basement.  But seriously, I need to find something to do because all thie pasta is already settling into my tummy quite nicely, and my legs have been restless every night!  Another option is to get in contact with a friend of a friend of a friend's cousin who has taught ballet in Firenze and knows most of the ballet schools.  If I could take some ballet classes a couple times a week, then I wouldn't need a sad little gym, or to get run over by the speeding motorini.  Though, I would have to buy shoes, tights and leotards since I left all of mine at home...and not to mention I'd need someone to watch Ava while I danced!  As the Italians would say, ''Ouffa!''

So, now we know what we would like to do in Italy, how do we get there???  It's quickly becoming clear why Florentines hate using their cars (if they even own one) and prefer their motorini.  But the options I have at this point are taking unreliable buses around the city, or learning how to drive a manual car, in a city where traffic regulations don't exist, while driving around streets I don't know!  Oh, I could also ride a bike and strap AVa on my back papoose-style whilst trying not to get run over by the buses, cars, and motorini who don't adhere to any traffic regulations!  Sooo...what to do...what to do?  I'm thinking that growing a pair of ''palle'' is in line.  Time to buck up and do what I gotta do so we're not stuck in a house or relying on a chauffeur all the time...although a chauffeur isn't always so bad!