In June, both my parents turned 60, and Carrie turned 30.

In May, my brother Adam turned 30 and my sister Deanna turned 20.

This year, my Grandma will turn 80.

And so, we all decided to celebrate together by meeting up in Italy.

We rented a really nice villa for a week, which was a bit of a stretch for the price range a few of us are used to.

But by stretching, we grow. And so we stretched, and talked, and emailed, and called, and figured out a way for all of us to get together for one awesome and wonderful week in Tuscany.

The villa itself was pretty much everything we hoped it would be (minus consistent hot water due to an issue that we should have asked them to come and fix sooner).

However, the somewhat isolated location, as well as the availability of tours and things around the villa, made it necessary for us to take a bus, to a train, to get pretty much anywhere.

But that led to adventures as well, including getting two 40 Euro parking tickets (for parking two rented cars in an area where we didn’t know we needed to pay for parking) in the city of Modena.

We drove to the police station, where all 10 of us went inside to beg for forgiveness… they ended up dismissing the tickets entirely.

Hooray for nice people!

It has been a fun-filled time with family in Italy… full of the normal misunderstandings and challenges which come from time with family, but also full of the incredible love and support and caring that family is all about.

I highly recommend spending time with your family outside of whatever is “normal” and “comfortable” for you and those you care about. It leads to amazing opportunities for growth for everyone, and gives common experiences and enjoyment which can be shared for years to come.