the santoro life

We're settled into our new place - fully out of boxes and even have a few pieces of art on the walls now. The kids rooms are finished and looking pretty good - Finn LOVES having his own room. He got a Kindle and Nintendo for his bday so he loves being holed up in there! Off topic, but tonight he lost his fourth tooth - his second big one up top on front. His smile is pretty ridiculous at this point. Sophia and Emmett are sharing a room - he's out of the crib and in a toddler bed. Which has been pretty annoying because he comes out every night after we've put him to bed, saying "but Moooommmmmyyyy". Annoying but kinda adorable, too. Here's a few pics from the last week or two...  Truer words never spoken. We went to our old stomping grounds yesterday - Fanuel Park! It's been fun watching Finn and Soph rediscover some of these spots. For the most part, Finn remembers everything and Sophia has a few memories - she'll say "ooohh, I remember th...

Wellllll, we've had just a few things going on these past two weeks. Let's recap so that I don't forget five years from now....flew to Denver on August 24, flew to San Diego August 25th (solo, with the kids while Noah handled the move), lived in a hotel for four days trying to find a place to live, moved into a new place, enrolled Soph and Finn at La Jolla Elementary, celebrated Finn's 8th birthday, enrolled E at Little Steps, and started a new job. It has been a CRAZY two weeks and I can't believe how much we got done in such a short window. The kids are doing awesome. Finn has Mrs. Wallace for 2nd grade, Soph has Miss Jessica for TK and Emmett has Miss Andrea - Finn's original teacher at Little Steps. This wasn't technically the first day of school - maybe day 2 or 3. Soph has loved every minute - especially lunch - and Finn is so so on the whole thing. He is NOT a morning person and enjoyed sleeping in this summer.  Finn turns 8!! We celebrated w...

On our last day in Croatia we ferried back from Hvar to Split and stayed one night there before flying to Italy - mainly to do laundry! We preferred staying in Airbnb's for the laundry and the kitchen, but there wasn't much to choose from on Hvar so we did the hotel thing there, and then one last night in Split. We caught a 1 hour flight from Split to Milan, rented a car and drove 1 hour to Lake Como. No Clooney sightings but what a beautiful place. The lake is like an upside down Y, with small villages and larger towns spread all around. We stayed in the town of Lecco. It was ok - pretty sleepy, but we had a place right at the lake and walkable to everything in town. Viva Italia! Land of coffee, wine and motorcycles. Emmett says, "I really want a motorcycle." Buongiorno! The Alps meet the lake. Everywhere you look it's stunning. All that beauty and the kids favorite part was the trampoline park. It seems common for playgrounds in Europe to have...

Helloooo! Well, we've had a few things going on so the blog has been neglected. But I want to post pictures from our last two trips this summer - Croatia and Italy. The first week of August, we flew to Split, Croatia and stayed there for a night at an Airbnb. Split is a big city with a great downtown area full of outdoor cafes, a huge jewelry market and is a main port to a whole bunch of Croatian islands. We spent 5 amazing days in Croatia - we absolutely loved this place. Gorgeous scenery, friendly people, very touristy with people from all over the world and inexpensive.  One of the many beaches in Split...     Noah bought a sweet raft for the kids. He about passed out blowing it up. Afternoon at the beach. Me and Finnster looking for a lunch spot. Sophia became a little fish this summer. She loved all the hotel pools and lakes/oceans/seas we came across. She met a friend this day, Thea, who we played with at the beach all day and then coinciden...