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Three Kids and a…Time We Didn’t Stay (Our Family Travel Warning)
The view as we waited for the gate to be opened was breathtaking. And barren. It was a combination of our first stunned sightings of Mount Etna, its steam puffing into the dusk sky, and the damp dark rolling in over the empty, treeless hills we were perched upon. It was cold excitement, nervous anticipation. The views off the side of the hill probably seemed so inviting because the one before us, of shuttered gates and dirt roads disappearing around the folds of the hills, was so secretive. In retrospect, we should have known. We should have listened. But we didn’t, and, instead, we followed the man bicycling in torn…
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Three Kids and an…Italian Doctor (a Tale of Traveling with Sick Kids)
The moment our pediatrician saw the bottle, her eyes widened. “Just throw it away” she hastily replied as she swept her hand through the air. “I have no idea what that is, but you shouldn’t keep it,” she scolded. It had been hot in Italy that summer, but I can’t say we didn’t expect it. In fact, we had planned for it. It’s sort of what you have to do when you’re the proud mother of a child who is basically a tiny, squishy, sweaty oven. On a good day. Anyway, I had spent days researching and locating baby-safe sunscreen that didn’t leave a thick layer of butter on her…