And it is back to reality. Back to juggling life with 3 screaming kids and tonnes of things to do... I can't quite decide if I missed them or the getaway more.

It was nice to finally see them after being away for 9 days. Grace cried for a few nights while we were away and my mama had to think of many ways to coax her to sleep. 三年学好，三天学坏. Think in the midst of trying to prevent WWIII from happening at her place, she just gave in to them. Hopefully we wont have too much problems doing the re-training in the weeks to come. Nevertheless I was still glad that she and the girls survived ! Hahaha..

About the trip
It was nice to revisit Italy again after 15 yrs. Nothing much has changed since then. The places of interests were the same. The gelato were there, the crowds etc. What i noticed during this trip was that Rome seemed to have aged so much. She wasn't as clean as before. It seems that spore has moved forward in a span of 15 yrs while rome has stopped. Many monuments were covered with dirt n there were always traffic jams. Each time I travel abroad, I come back feeling appreciative of the place we lived in- Singapore. Though she had nothing when she became independent, a span of 50 yrs made her transformed into a city of greenery, good security and good governance. One can say all abt the lack of speech / freedom but this is the only place that I know where we can go out at 2am and still be able to find good food SAFE. Hahaha..

It was nice to travel with the group of colleagues.. haha.. it's rare when most of the kakis made it for this trip. Some , like me, had skipped it for a few yrs bcoz of family commitments etc. Though the itinerary or planning by the people upstairs always seem v jialat, the companionship certainly helped covered the loopholes. If u ask me, most of the time I enjoyed myself only bcoz of the friends on the trip, not the food or the sights or the shopping. And bcoz we were such a big grp this time round, there wasn't any occasion where I had to make small talk with strangers (those awkward moments)

It was also one of the few times in many yrs where Mr choo was with me- to be a witness of my achievements. Many a times, he could only see the pictures or trophies when I bring it back. But this time round, he was there as a partner. It was nice to have him around. Though I'm not sure if he would say the same thing.. Hahaha.. cox it felt that he was still "working" on the trip, having to take care of me and pack and everything. . Hahaha.. I told my colleagues that I have 3 daughters but my hubby has 4 bcoz he had to take care of me..hahaha..

It was good to spend some time together , just eating gelato at the Spanish steps and watching the people walking. No rush for anything. Just taking our time to enjoy the ice cream and presence and chatting away.. it would be nice if we could do it frequently but the girls have alrdy said that our next couple trip would only b when they are 20 yrs old.. hahahaha.. perhaps it's easier if we just do a weekend getaway next time.

Had walked so much during the trip..i probably walked more for this trip compared to the whole of this yr.. Hahaha..  there were 2 days when I crossed >27000 steps when I hardly hit 5k/day in sg.

Thank God for his Providence and allowing us to go on this trip.. thankful for the many blessings He has provided..