Day 135 - The Easter Planning Meeting, Homemade Hot Cross Buns and a Full Family Day in Italy

Day 135 kicked off as another slow one. Kia and I were still in bed chatting when we could hear the kids already up and moving around, clearly excited for Easter the next day. There was a bit of whispering, a bit of scheming, and then eventually they heard us talking and came charging in, telling us we had to come downstairs. Maddie had organised a full family meeting.

I wasn’t quite ready to get moving yet, so Kia headed down to get coffees started and called me when they were ready. By the time I got down, Maddie had everything set up. Papers laid out for each of us to write down what we wanted to do for Easter Sunday. Everyone got involved, wrote their lists, and then we handed them back to Maddie like she was running a proper boardroom meeting. We went through everything and voted, and while everyone was keen on pretty much everything, there was no way we were fitting it all into one day. So we shifted a few things into Saturday, which meant cooking, prep, and a trip to the shops.

Not everything went smoothly though. Maddie had some big ideas, great ideas, but a few of them just weren’t realistic with us travelling. We tried to explain that, but she didn’t take it well and stormed off pretty upset. After a bit of time, she cooled down and came back around, and we reset for the day.

We all headed out for a run, but I peeled off early because I wanted to stretch it out a bit after missing a few longer runs during the rainy days earlier in the week. Managed to knock out 5km, which felt good. Kia and the kids stuck to their usual shorter route, building their consistency.

Being Saturday, we decided to make the most of it and go out for a coffee together. The vibe is always better on weekends with more people around, so we headed to our usual spot. Maddie grabbed a chocolate croissant, and we all just sat and soaked it in for a bit. After that, Emmett wanted to check out another shop, so we wandered over there and ended up trying one of the local savoury pastries. It was one of those puff pastry, pie-looking things filled with ricotta and tomato, called a rustico leccese. Super simple, but ridiculously good. Kia and I shared one and could’ve easily gone back for another.

We headed back to the accommodation after that, and Emmett and I did our usual bread roll run, grabbing eggs as well while we were out. Back home, the three of us got stuck into another Tabata session. We’ve been pretty consistent with it all week, and it’s definitely catching up with us. Everyone’s feeling sore, so a rest or lighter day is probably due, but it’s been good to stay moving.

After that, I ducked upstairs for about an hour to keep chipping away at the website. I’m building out a new page and reshuffling a few things to improve the flow. Still plenty to do, but it’s slowly coming together.

Then it was time for a proper grocery run, so we all piled into the car and headed to Eurospin in the next town. Everyone had their own little list, so it turned into a bit of chaos with us all zig-zagging around the store trying to grab everything for Easter prep, baking, and meals for the rest of our stay.

Back home, Emmett went straight outside to kick the ball around while I jumped back on the website for a bit. Kia and Maddie got stuck into baking and cooking, including making hot cross buns from scratch because they just don’t exist here in Italy. Back home they’d be stacked in Coles and Woolworths straight after Christmas, but here, nothing. Not even a hint of one. The homemade versions though… unreal. Easily made up for it.

Eventually Emmett got bored outside and came in full of energy, which didn’t mix well with baking in progress, so I pulled him upstairs and we threw on a movie and just chilled out for a bit. It was actually a nice reset.

Dinner ended up being fresh spaghetti and meatballs that Kia had put together, and it was one of those meals that just hit perfectly after a full day. We all sampled the baking as well, cakes, slices, hot cross buns, the lot.

There was a bit of schoolwork squeezed in throughout the day as well, just building on what we started yesterday, but it definitely took a back seat to everything else going on.

Showers, bed, and that was day 135 done. Big day, full day, and with Easter tomorrow and Maddie’s full itinerary locked in, it’s shaping up to be another big one. Looking forward to it.