Day 143 - A Slow Morning, Tennis Lessons & Late Nights in Italy

After another late night and a big day yesterday, everyone was due for a sleep in. Everyone except me. I was up around seven while the rest of the crew didn’t roll out of bed until closer to eight.

It was actually nice. I made a coffee, sat quietly, and had a bit of time to myself. Caught up on some blog stuff, got back on top of a few things, and just slowed everything down for a bit. It’s not something I get a lot of, so I enjoyed it.

Eventually Emmett and Maddie woke up. Maddie came out, had a quick look around, and then went straight back to bed for a bit more of a lay down. Kia came out not long after, and before we knew it, the three of us were sitting outside in the sunshine with coffees, just taking it easy.

Maddie eventually joined us, and then Emmett and I ducked down to the local supermarket to grab some ham, bread rolls, and eggs for breakfast. Pretty standard by now. But by the time we got back, the morning had already gotten away from us.

Emmett had spotted tennis lessons here and was keen to give it a go. They started at 9:30, so instead of sitting down for breakfast, it turned into a bit of a scramble to get him over there on time. I dropped him off and missed breakfast, but Kia brought some over for me not long after, which worked out well.

Emmett loved it. There were a few other kids there, and they were running through drills, hitting balls, just having fun with it. It’s a daily thing here, so I reckon he’ll be back again tomorrow.

Maddie was happy to just take it easy. She made herself some breakfast, had a cup of tea, and just chilled out.

After tennis, Emmett wanted to show me this kids’ activity area he’d found. It’s about a five-minute walk from where we’re staying, and honestly, this place is huge. You keep finding new things everywhere.

Inside was unreal. Air hockey tables, foosball, this bike game where you pedal to race and do jumps on a screen, and another setup where you stand on mats and control games with your body, kind of like Wii Sports. Soccer, skiing, kayaking, all sorts of stuff.

We played around for a while, then I got a call from a mate back home. Ended up chatting for about 45 minutes, just a good catch-up.

By the time I got back inside, Maddie had already headed back to the room. She’d gotten hungry again and wanted to make more food. Emmett was ready to head back too, so we walked back and just slowed things down again.

While we were out, Kia had gone to a yoga class with our Australian and Norwegian friends, so we all met back up not long after. Kia and I sat down to go through a bit of budget stuff for our time in Italy. There are a few things we want to do with the kids, so we just wanted to see where everything was sitting.

While we were doing that, the kids took off to the water park. No hesitation. Straight into it.

We kept working through things, chatting, planning, and one of our Norwegian friends came past and joined in for a bit. Somehow that turned into organising tennis for the afternoon.

We booked a court for an hour and played doubles. Such a good time. Lots of laughs, no real structure, just hitting the ball around and enjoying it.

The kids stayed in the pool, came back for a late lunch, then headed back down again while we played.

There’s a lot of that here. Everyone just doing their own thing, but it all kind of comes together throughout the day. Lots of chatting, laughing, and just being around people.

I also spent a bit of time in the afternoon looking into something that got mentioned yesterday. A guy I met was talking about buying property in northern Italy near some small ski fields. It got me thinking, so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole looking into it. Definitely interesting.

After tennis, we grabbed the kids out of the pool and headed back for dinner. While dinner was cooking, Emmett and I went and checked out a calisthenics area nearby, just to see what was there.

After dinner, the kids weren’t ready for bed at all. It was around 7:30, but the sun was still fully up. They headed down for a walk and ended up finding a big group of kids playing tiggy in this trampoline area.

We told them to be back by 7:30. That got pushed to 8:00 pretty quickly.

Maddie came back just after eight, but Emmett was nowhere to be seen. I had to go down and drag him away. He was having the time of his life, running around with all the other kids.

It’s a different rhythm here. There are performances on a big stage that don’t even start until 7:30 or 8 at night. Kids everywhere, families out, everything just running later than what we’re used to.

We might have to lean into that a bit while we’re here. Stay up a little later, start a bit slower, just go with it.

As long as the kids don’t end up completely cooked.

We’re planning to get back into some proper schoolwork tomorrow. It’s been a few days with the good weather, the move, and everything else going on. We’ve been doing bits and pieces, but not a proper sit-down session.

That said, they’ve still been learning a lot just through everything we’re doing.

Living, learning, figuring things out as we go.

It was a full day without really doing anything major. Just being active, being social, and enjoying where we are.

Body’s still feeling the run from yesterday, so I’ll see how it pulls up in the morning. Might try and get out for a run if the legs come good.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.