My Friend Valentina

Valentina was my tutor, my friend and my big sister. She is my big sister because she calls me her little brother. The reason I learned Italian so good and did so well in school in Greve was because of Valentina, or should I say my "big sister."

This is Valentina and me studying.

She came two times a week and she was a good teacher. In Italy we have a lot of homework to do and gramma and papa couldn't help me so I had to have a tutor and one of my teachers, Maestra Annamarie, recommended Valentina for a good tutor. And now, I speak very good Italian. Gramma just put on Craig's List for a tutor here.

I really liked her because when we were working we had fun. We laughed a lot. She helped me with the language (lingua) , science (scienze), math (matematica), geography (geografia), history (storia) and everything else.

One time she took me inside the ambulance to look at it. She was a volunteer ambulance driver. But now she works for the Red Cross.

The last week with her she took us out to dinner. Her boyfriend was with her--named Ricardo. She took us to a restaurant called Malborghetto which means "bad borgo." Borgo means little village. It's called Malborghetto because a long time ago bad guys used to hide in the little village. This was in the Renaissance times when Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were alive and they were painting.

This is the restaurant with Valentina and Ricardo in the picture.

Across from the restaurant was a park where I got several mosquito (zanzare) bites.

I miss her. But the good thing is that next summer I am going to see her again. I hope I get a good tutor here--just like Valentina.

This is me with Ricardo and Valentina.

I MISS YOU VALENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The Last Time at Cantinetta di Rignana

A week ago was the last time I went to Cantinetta di Rignana. But next year we are going back. I might even work there. Here's a picture of everyone there with me. They let me use the cook's bandanna for a few minutes.


We went there with Brad and Palma, the Skittle lady. When my grandparents and Brad and Palma ate, I was playing in the playground with the boy in the picture. I didn't eat anything. Joke! I had pappardelle al cinghiale.

See you next time when I tell you about Valentina, my friend.

My Newest, Newest Best Friend

Sorry Palma and Judith but you're no longer in first place.

Here's a picture of my newest, newest best friend.

This is Max. I think he is a Golden Labrador. He's Diana's and Micha's doggy. We were at Diana's place in Piemonte for three days.

Diana let me do some work with clay because she makes stuff out of clay. She makes pottery.

Breakfast at their house is spectacular. There is berries, melon, French toast, eggs, cereal, yogurt and bread fresh from the bakery. The plates were made and painted by Diana.

Max was really, really fun. He listens to me very well. Tell him to sit, he sits. Tell him to lay, he lays. Tell him to fetch, he fetches. Tell him to stop, he stops and right away sits down.

Here's a picture of a little monster thing I made with the clay.

And here's a picture of a cup I made.


Next year when we come to Italy, we are going back.
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My Super Cool Sunday

Today was the best Sunday ever--in the pool. Here's three pictures and two movies of me and Camilla in the pool and one of Alessandro and me playing ping pong. Alessandro is il babbo di Camilla (Camilla's daddy.)

Camilla and I have really a lot of fun in the pool together. I am going to miss her when we leave and she's going to miss me. And you're going to miss my blog when I go home.

Here are two videos of us playing in the pool. We had so much fun.

Meet My New Best Friend--Palma

See why she’s my new best friend?

She gave them to me when we went to lunch in Buonconvento. She brought them all the way from California.

Camilla and I really, really, really really, really like them.

Thank you, Palma.

This is Palma and Me.

The Orthodontist and the Madonna

Yesterday when I went in to Florence to go to the orthodontist, I also went to the Uffizi which has the Ognissanti Madonna. Signore Giotto painted it. I wanted to see it because I have a little model of it which you have seen on my blog--here.

I saw also the Tondo by Michaelangelo. It's a circle painting with a picture of Mary, Baby Jesus and Joseph. They don't have very much paintings by Michaelangelo. They are very old and so most of them have been lost.

I saw the La Nascita di Venere and also La Primavera. Those two were painted by Botticelli. I saw several annunciations. One was painted by Leonardo da Vinci--da Vinci means from Vinci and I have been there. An annunciation is when the angel is telling Mary that she is going to have baby Jesus.

We saw hundreds of others and I don't know who they were. I like going to the Uffizi. Lippi knew how to draw very pretty Mary's.

At the end I bought a puzzle block with a lot of the pictures of things. All the ones I talked about already. I also got one little drawing book and a regular size one. One has a picture of David on it and the other is Leonardo di Vinci. I am learning to draw. I also got a book about the Ognissanti Madonna.

Papa also got me a Fiorentina hat. My birthday is tomorrow so these were all birthday presents but I'm allowed to use them now.

Here's a picture of me with my Fiorentina shirt and Fiorentina hat.

Dr. Floria, my orthodontist in Florence, is really nice and here's a picture of him. I'm not going to see him anymore because this was my last time to the orthodontist here. My orthodontist back at home is Dr. Hirsch.

This is Dottore Floria.

I'm going to miss Florence. This is at a little fruit and vegetable store in an alley there.



PS: Today we went to Buonconvento and papa and gramma bought me a nice watch for my birthday.
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Il Mio Compleanno

Il mio compleanno era l'ultimo gioro di scuola e io ho invitato gli amici di scuola a una festa a viticcio.

Io e i miei amica siamo andati in piscina. Abbiamo nuotato e giocato insieme. Dopo il bagno in piscina abbiamo fatto merenda con biscotti, patatine, pizza e bibite. Poi un uccello ha fatto la cacca in el mezzo di quattro pezzi di pizza.



Dopo la merenda é arrivata la torte,, sulla torta c'erano della candelina che si riaccendevano. Poi, io ho aperto i regali che mi hanno portato i mei amici.

Tommaso mi ha regalato un B-Daman. Valentina mi ha regalato uno zaino, un mini astuccio, un appuntalapis, un righello e una penna con tanti colori.

Christian: 3 macchinine; Camilla-un libro sull'Italia e 5 gormiti; Maestra Agata e Maestra Annamaria che me hanno reglato un memory game sull'Italia. C'erano tanti altri.

Poi la festa é finita ed é rimosto con mi solo Tommaso.

E stata una bella festa.

Fine.

My Birthday Party

On the last day of school, June 8, I had my birthday party. I invited all my friends in my class but they couldn't all come. Also, my teachers came at six o'clock. They also brought me a present. It's a memory game of Italy. I really like it.

These are my teachers--Valentina, Maestra Annamaria and Maestra Agata

The first thing we did was go swimming but it was raining so I didn't go in until the rain stopped. But all the other kids were in the pool when it was raining. While we were swimming in the rain, Nicoletta was under the umbrella watching us. It was funny! Also, my gramma was, too.


Tommaso and some other boys tried to peek in while the girls were getting their bathing suits on, in Italian a bathing suit is called a costume. When the girls saw Tommaso and the other boys, they pushed them away and said via via via (shoo, shoo, shoo).

One game that we played was a treasure hunt but my team never found the treasure. It was a jumping rope.

For dinner we had pizza. The pizza man got here just in time.


My gramma made chocolate chip cookies--yummy. It was a treat for my friends. They never have those here. We're able to do it because some people brought us chocolate chips and brown sugar because there's none here in Italy.

The candles on my cake when I blew the flames off went out but 30 seconds later they came back on--all of them. When Camilla's sister picked one up it sparked and went on fire and she dropped it on the table and then it was off. It was really weird.

I got a lot of great presents. Valentina, my tutor, gave me a humongous box, with another box in it, with another box in that one. Then a wrapped up backpack, I thought it was the present but there was even more inside--a mini-pencil case, a pencil sharpener, a ruler and a multi-colored pen. It was fun to open one box after another. One Christmas in San Diego I did that to my papa.

It was fun to be with my friends on the last day of school. That day my friend Tommaso slept over and next Friday I'm going to sleep over at his house.


I'm going to miss my friends when I go back to San Diego. But the good thing is that I am coming back here next summer.

Here's a funny slide show of my friends and my party.

Bye Bye

Cracker

Cracker is someone I've been wanting to meet. She makes comments on my blog. When my Uncle Jeff was here, she came to visit us. She was staying in Radda. Radda is twenty minutes away from us.

I think Cracker is a funny name particularly for a grown-up unless you're a parrot. I'm not going to tell you her real name.

This is me and Cracker

She was with her husband and a lady named Jan and her husband. They were all nice.

Cracker gave me some presents. She gave me two push-pops, one box of cereal and two boxes of transformers. She knew what I liked because her grandson told her. He's my age.

We went to Castellana for dinner. It's up the hill in Montefioralle. Montefioralle means flowery mountain. We sat outside because there was a pretty sunset.

Castellana and La Cantinetta di Rignana are connected because they are owned by the same family. Fabrizio's brother works at Castellana. His name is Francesco. They do not look alike --other than their noses.

Cracker lives in Florida. But next April I will see her in Savannah, Georgia. Some of my other friends will be there like Roz and Mike, maybe Colleen and Jim, Kim and Kevin, Jerry and Paul, Chiaro di Luna and a bunch of people I am going to meet in July.


Ciao, Ciao

My Uncle Jeff

My Uncle Jeff came to see us in Italy for two weeks. I had a good time with him. He's funny. He tickles me a lot. He likes to play with me. He likes to do stuff with me like play football and play with Roman army figures. He bought them for me. I liked playing with them and we also used pirate figures. When we played with the pirate figures he was using the cannon like a car. It was very funny and made me laugh.

We went to Rome, Herculaneum (Ercolano) and Pompeii. In Rome I slept in the same room with Uncle Jeff. I had my own bed but I was really squirmy because it wasn't my own bed at home. It was very hard. Uncle Jeff was just like a log he stayed so still.

Uncle Jeff and I went to the Colosseum and the Pantheon. One time we went to a restaurant and Uncle Jeff got 8 big shrimps and he used the heads for little puppets. Here's a picture of me and my silly Uncle Jeff with Mr. Bobby. He really makes me laugh.




We walked a lot and saw a lot of cats. We went and saw the prison where Peter and Paul were in. It was dark and had only one pee-pee pot. It was under the ground.

In Pompei I wasn't so squirmy even though I shared a bed with Uncle Jeff. But I was whining like a puppy dog.

We both like Ben 10. He gave me a DVD of Ben 10 and, also, while I was here in Italy he has given me almost all of the Ben 10 characters. I'm missing one and that is Grey Matter.

He's a good looking guy. How come no girls are chasing after him? If they did, I would probably have an ant (aunt) by now.

I wish he didn't go home. I really miss him. He had to go home because he needed to take care of my dog Scratch. I'll see him in two months. I love him a lot, a lot, a lot.

Which one do you think is Uncle Jeff?

I love you Uncle Jeff!!! Come back.

This is another picture of my silly Uncle.