Day 153 - Kids, Conflict and a Much-Needed Bike Ride in Lake Garda

Another slow start after a bit of rain overnight. We were all up around 8. Emmett wanted to do his usual run to the shop, but we didn’t really need much. We still had leftover ham and cheese, and Maddie wasn’t feeling great anyway. She’d woken up a bit snotty, and it’s slowly gone through all of us now. Emmett had it first, and now the rest of us have caught a bit of it too.

Maddie wasn’t keen on a bread roll, just wanted something lighter like eggs. Emmett still went down, grabbed himself a roll, and of course rode past his mate’s place even though he wasn’t supposed to. Eventually made his way back.

No tennis on Wednesdays, so once he was done, he headed off to find his friend. I stayed back, messing around with the website and checking a few work emails.

Kia headed into Lazise with some of the other mums around 11, so I squeezed in a quick gym session and a run. Tight turnaround, about half an hour for each, but got it done and back just before 11. Kia had already left, and Maddie was still in the room doing her own thing.

I made some late breakfast, early lunch, and Maddie headed off to find Emmett. I stayed back and got stuck into the website, pulling together the budget posts from Vietnam and Austria. It was actually good going back through it all properly. You see where the money really goes when you lay it all out like that. Some things were exactly what we expected, others not so much.

Maddie came back first with a half-told story about Emmett yelling at his mate. Didn’t make a lot of sense, so I sent her to grab him. Once he got back, we got the full version.

Bit of typical kid stuff, but it had been building. They’d been playing hide and seek, and again Maddie and his mate teamed up, hiding together and messing with him a bit. They’ve done it a few times now, parking their bikes in one spot and running off somewhere else so he’s left wandering around looking for them. Big place here too, so it drags out.

He eventually cracked it today, went and found another kid to play with, and they set up a little shop game. Then the other two came back and tried to jump in, and Emmett wasn’t having it. Got a bit fired up, did some yelling, and his mate got upset. Just one of those days where it all boiled over.

Later on, we headed to the pool to reset things. Maddie and Emmett were good again for a bit, just swimming and mucking around. Then his mate turned up again and it flipped straight back. Emmett felt like it was the same thing all over again.

So I pulled him out and said let’s go for that bike ride we’d talked about earlier. Kia had just got back from Lazise, so she stayed with Maddie at the pool, and Emmett and I headed off.

We went up to check out a dirt track nearby, but it turned out to be a locked, club-only track. We stopped to watch for a bit, but when Emmett rolled his bike just inside the gate to park up, an Italian lady absolutely lost it at him. Pretty full-on. We didn’t hang around after that.

Took off and ended up riding through the vineyards and gravel roads instead. That turned into the best part of the day. Just cruised along, chatting, letting him settle down and get it all out.

We found this awesome little trail that drops down through the trees to the lake behind where we’re staying. Proper downhill dirt track, bit rough, heaps of fun. Definitely going back there again.

Rolled along the lake for a bit and then headed back. By the time we got home it was getting close to 7, so straight into dinner. Kids had showers while it was finishing up. I was showing Kia what I’d done on the website, and we were just chatting through the day.

Bit of a weird one overall. A few ups and downs, kids a bit tired, emotions a bit higher than usual. I think it’s all catching up with them now. Late nights, full days, constant moving.

Got them into bed early tonight. They need it.

Only a couple more days here in northern Italy before we head to Morocco. Keen to see how we finish off here.