Jaydon had a great time with these unfortunately we had used all 3 pages of them up before we even took off. 
My favorite part of the delay was when the pilot came on to say "Folks, due to an unforeseen delay we will be departing in 30-40 minutes". I guess the QA pilots and air traffic control crew don't read the newspaper... 
We've decided the best way to travel with Jaydon is by renting apartments, we found one in a great location just a few blocks between Piazza Nouvona and the Pantheon. It was very well located and surrounded by a lot of interesting things to see however, the 3 bedroom was more of a 2 bedroom with a loft over the kitchen so once again Jaydon got to sleep in the bathroom (which there were 2 of). 
The first site we had to see was the Coliseum. 
When Steve and I where there last (during our honeymoon) we remember having to wait in long lines to see everything and literally melting in the August heat. 
Travelling to Rome in December is a whole different experience, no lines anywhere you go (but be careful because sights close earlier than expected) and the weather was chilly and drizzly which was fine as long as you were dressed for it. 
It gave me a good reason to wear my wool jacket Steve bought me last Christmas. 
The Coliseum is also a great vantage point to see many of the other sights in Rome like the Arc of Constitene and the Forum. 
The next day we ventured over to Piazza Novona which was in full holiday spirit with a Christmas market and carnival set-up. 
With all the festivities you hardly notice the famous 4-seasons fountain which is usually the attraction for people to come to this Piazza for. 
Jaydon was much more interested in seeing the people, dancing to the music and riding the horses. 
We discovered one of Jaydon’s new favorite things – carousels. He loved them and would go round and round all day if we let him (this past-time is Jaydon - Daddy thing only, no spinning in circles for pregnant mommies – yuk!). 
Every one we came across had to be ridden and we single handedly made sure the carousel owners had an especially good Christmas this year. 
Jaydon also couldn’t resist the carnival game with Mingos! And the best part was after you caught and hugged the Mingos the guy behind the counter gave you a neat stuffed animal. 
After we had played the game several times on several different occasions the guy started ‘upgrading’ Jaydon’s toys to the higher valued ones, but Jaydon had no interest in the neat action figures, he wanted the stuffed fish and crocodiles…
We visited the Pantheon but didn’t get any good pictures of the outside since it was covered in scaffolding and always seemed to raining. 
It did make you appreciate the fact that roof is wide open to the sky and there are holes in the floor to assist with draining the water away. 
Jaydon enjoyed the fountain outside mainly because it was a gathering point for all the pigeons. 
This picture was from an adventure that Jaydon and didn't go on so not sure where it's from.
Towards the end of the trip once Steve’s parents had recuperated from all the flying they started to venture out on their own when Jaydon was having his nap. Here they visited the Forum again (I think). 
Italy is an ideal place to travel with toddlers mainly because you are guaranteed to find something they will eat on any menu in town. Jaydon ate pasta for lunch and dinner almost every day. We had to put him through a detox program when we got home to let him remember there is more to food than just pasta. 
Also B&W is the way to go for pasta eating pics, you can’t actually tell that his face is orange here.
Back to the Forum with the whole family; this place is so large that you could spend your entire trip just exploring all the nooks and crannies of it. Jaydon discovered the fun of rocks which is an excellent pastime in a city full of ruins. He usually had to have a rock in his hand or lap every time we strapped him in the stroller. Yesterday I used the travel umbrella stroller for the first time since the trip and there is still about 2 lbs of rocks in it from all of Jaydon’s collecting.
A trip to Rome isn’t complete without a visit to the Vatican city. We visited a few days before Christmas and they hadn’t quite finished setting up the nativity scene yet. 
The way you do the Vatican with a (almost) 2-yr old is spend 40 minutes outside in the square chasing pigeons. 
10 minutes waiting in line through security and the bag/stroller check. 
10 minutes quickly walking through St. Peters church (listening to the ‘crying’ church music) then back to the square to wait for the rest for the group. 
(This picture could so be an ad for GAP) 
Then you send daddy, grandpa and grandma back the next day on their own to do the museum and take a trip up to the view deck above the city.
The plan was for us to meet up with them in the afternoon and head to the zoo but that ended up being the worst rain day of the whole trip. We were soaked by the time we met up and had to cancel the zoo plans. 
If you might recall from an earlier posting Jaydon is not a fan of Santa this year. This was as close as we could get to a picture with Santa – note also Jaydon’s new found attraction of making faces at the camera (encouraged of course by Daddy).MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (though very late since I'm writing this in March...)
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