Ever since our (Michael and Ning’s) first trip to Italy in 2013, 2017 has been sort of on our family calendar for a family trip to Italy. The rationale was that both of our older kids would be in college and the younger two would be old enough to really appreciate a trip to Italy.
However, we really didn’t seriously start to plan the trip up until two months ago or so, when Carmen got the news that she was accepted into the UW Honors Summer Program in Rome this year. We took it as a sign that the time was ripe for us to make the trip to Italy this year. And of course, we can pat ourselves on the back and tell our friends that we are really “organized” and “goal-oriented”, even with our daily hectic lives. Not really! Besides, we especially feel that a few milestones in our family this year are themselves good enough reasons to go and show our kids one other part of their heritage (being 1/4 Italian):
- Rachael, after a year upon graduation from high school, finished her AA degree at Bellevue College and got accepted into UW, starting her junior year this fall.
- William, after nine years at St. Louise School (his second home), graduated from middle school and is going to TESLA STEM High School this fall.
- Lucia “graduated” from elementary school and is continuing her middle school education at St. Louise School (also her second home).
- Ning, after 15+ years at Microsoft, decided not to go back to the corporate America and started her own business. We are opening our first Jersey Mike’s Subs in Issaquah later in the fall.
- Carmen is more than half-way done with her college education. This year, she declared two majors: Law, Society and Justice, AND Philosophy. Her dream stays the same: going to a kick-ass law school and becoming one of the best legal experts in constitutional law.
Our trip to Italy this year will be a two-part affair:
- Carmen will start her journey to Italy this Sunday, when she flies to Rome from Vancouver International Airport. She starts her summer program on June 19th.
- A month later, the rest of the family will join Carmen in Rome to celebrate her 18th birthday. From there, we will travel through Italy for three weeks, concluding the trip in Venice before flying home.
Carmen will start chronicling her experience for the first part of our trip to Italy, starting this weekend once she commences her solo journey. We are SO looking forward to a great experience and sharing it with our friends and family!
Grisaffi Family Adventures 