Al Roker isn't the only TODAY anchor living la dolce vita this August. Over the weekend, the NBC mainstay's co-star Jenna Bush Hager also revealed she is vacationing in Italy, sharing photos featuring her family. The TODAY with Jenna & Friends anchor is traveling with her husband Henry Hager, who she married in 2008, and their three children, daughters Mila, 11, and Poppy, nine, and son Hal, five.
On the Monday, August 25 installment of Jenna & Friends, Jenna was absent from the show — a pre-record aired instead — however fans still got an insight into her whereabouts via her social media. The book club founder took to Instagram and shared a round of Stories, starting off with one that shared her hotel, the Rome Cavalieri, which is a Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
She next shared a picture of the hotel's stunning pool, followed by its terrace, then a photo of her husband Henry sitting at their room's desk, helping their son Hal write a letter. Next up was glimpses inside the hotel's impressive art collection, followed by a sweet photo of her three kids sitting on a couch together, and last but not least, a snap of her and Henry on their terrace.
In addition to spending some days exploring Rome, Jenna and Henry's kids also spent part of their summer in Texas, where they go every year for summer camp, as Jenna, who was born and raised in Texas, did growing up.
Their time there was however marred with tragedy, as they were dropped off the same weekend that catastrophic flooding hit central Texas, during which Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, lost over 20 of their campers and counselors, as well as their director Dick Eastland.
Speaking on TODAY at the time about her ties to Camp Mystic, and summer camps in Texas, Jenna revealed that her mother Laura Bush, who was born in Midland, was a camp counselor at Camp Mystic. "Many of my friends had their kids there last week," she added, noting that she has grown up with plenty of women who are also Camp Mystic alums.
Reflecting on the extra tough farewell that came with dropping her kids off at camp that very weekend, she said: "Putting them on the bus, saying goodbye to them… and I know so many parents whose kids are at camp or going to camp feel that way. We send our kids into the world with the faith that they can have happy lives, joyful lives, and as adults we know pain, we hope our kids never face it."
Addressing Texas' and her own history with its camps, she further told her co-hosts: "So many of my friends were raised at this camp. Texas camps are institutions," adding that her home state "has a type of resilience," and: "They're generous people, where people want to reach out … Texas camps are really special because you're thinking about 90º weather, no air conditioning," yet people still yearn to be a part of it all.