Giro di Piemonte, Liguria and Toscana con McCann's

Claire on tour in Florence - we did a great guided tour of the Uffizi gallery seeing the key items like Venus rising from the sea by Botticelli.

Above - the sign of Florence, the lion and the shield here at the Medici Palace, old Town hall

One afternoon we went horseback riding outside San Gimignano - the little girls loved it, the big girls went along for a walk instead. Claire's horse decided to step up the pace at one stage and the guide was worried that it would head back to the barn with or without the rider.

Making Daisy chains in a garden in San Gimignano.

The towers of San Gimignano...

The leaning tower of Pisa with Lila, Ray & Claire

The small seaside village of Vernazza - one of the "Cinque Terre" or 5 lands on the coast just south of Portofino. We spent Julia's birthday night here and enjoyed a fun dinner all together at Il Capitano.

Another view of Vernazza - our hotel is the one on the far right in orange. This photo is taken form the old castle tower at the harbor entrance.

The beachfront of Vernazza with Lila, Ray and Claire.

Claudio graciously hosted all of us for a wonderful dinner at Casa Recchi on top of the hill of Portofino.

Coastine view from the church in Portofino.

And again with Jules.

Claire (above) & Lila (below) overlooking the Portofino harbor.

In front of the Hotel Eden - the three girls were insperable the entire week.

The top of Monte Mottarone overlooking Lago Maggiore, we did not bring up the skis, but plenty of others did!

A boat trip out of Stresa to the island was beautiful.

Oberlech, Austria - WOW is all I can say!

We took a long weekend and drove to Lech (& Oberlech) Austria for three days of awesome skiing and catching up with Portland friends Peter & Mimi Then and their children. The village of Oberlech, overlooking Lech and Zurs, was absolutely magnificent. The conditions could not have been better as the photos may show - lots of fresh powder (we had to don our chains on the drive up the canyon Thursday night), plenty of un-skiied terrain, fantastic hotels, delicious local food, entertaining company - it all made for a wonderful time... check out the snow below!

The girls are now so good with their skiing, particularly in the powder, that we can take them (or they can take us!) just about anywhere on the mountain. It makes for some really fun family adventures. Here Claire takes a breather after some beautiful "S" turns off piste.

And Lila does the same - Oh, how nice it is to fall into the powder.

Our ski gang - (L to R) Lila, Peter, Eva, Mimi, Claire, Julia, Jim (Max and Lenny stayed back at the pool this day)

The girls enjoying a hot chocolate at their favorite spot.

We skied the famous Weiss Ring which is a circular tour around the valleys connecting Lech, Zug and Zurs in Arlberg.

The sledding trail after skiing was very popular with the kids and adults - the track is fully banked, like a luge run - and the speed at which these sleds go is scary! Fortunately no one got injured, but boy did we come close a few times!

Lila here just ahead and holding off Claire on the sled run.

Eva on the medal platform - in first place - for winning the slalom run handily and beating all of the boys - and below with her gold cup.

Peter and Mimi enjoying their favorite spot for lunch.

Kids table at lunch in the famous Burg Hotel in Oberlech. (L to R) Max, Claire, Eva & Lila

Family Brady adventuring in Lech

Haute Nendaz with Portland friends for a week

Ski Week at Haute Nandez - 4 Vallee ski area with the Kuhns and Hanson/Kubiks.

This is a view over the chalets which make up the small town of Nendaz.

The lunch spots were fabulous - this one in particular had outside seating, good food and a view to die for.

The four vallee ski area is vast and has some of the best slopes in Switzerland.

Here Tucker is about to leap into yet another deep dark chute which is mostly vertical - he was the best at finding these little places which offered spectacular skiing.

Chris Kuhn on the top of Mont Fort - the highest point in the 4 vallees.

The girls at Mont Fort - Celine, Beth and Julia

Claire and Lizzy - at yet another great lunch spot.

The girls and their crazy Austrialian ski instructor, Travis - they did five days with him in the mornings and a vallee tour on Friday. They love to find the bumps and tree runs!

Awards day at the end of the week. Lila won the fastest speed contest!


This sign reminded me of what I looked like when I fell once down a really steep chute - and landed head first - good thing for the helmet and deep powder to soften the landing!


This was one of the fun chutes Tucker found for us... Pictures never seem to make the slope look very steep, but trust me this one was and when it narrowed, it only allowed enough room for a short jump turn back and forth.

Settimana Bianca in Verbier

We are in the midst of a fantastic week with the Hansons/Kubiks and Kuhns in Verbier, Switzerland. 20cm of snow on the first day, 3 beautiful blue bird days after that, plenty of of-piste powder skiing with Tucker as our guide, frequent fondue lunches and lots of good beer. We're staying at the Chalet Chocolat with a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and evening alpen glow.

Lila and Claire built a fancy fort for story telling and magic tricks.

And here they are with Lilly prepped for their first day of ski school with Travis from Australia.

Claire's and Lila's recent events

Here's Claire with her two best friends from school, Shelby and Haley, in the school playground. They used this picture on a Valentine's Day card for their teacher, Miss Travers.

Lila performed in the third grade ballet performance last week and had a blast.

She had practiced for weeks and did a good job channelling her nervous butterflies. You can check out the video of her performance in the sidebar as well.

Here is Lila with her Italian friends Maria Sofia, Marta, Helena and Valentina.

And here's Claire with her two best friends from school, Shelby and Haley.