Weekly wrap up

It's Friday!  Wow, this week has gone by so fast!  Tuesday was our last day of swim lessons for Session I and I can't believe the difference in both boys.  Lewis will be moving up to Level II next time, his teacher said he could have been in that level this session but his confidence wasn't up to speed with his skills.  He's thrilled to be moving up.  William has made great progress with Miss Sarah and will remain in her class next session.  He wasn't happy about not moving up a level so I told him all the things he would have to do in Level I and he quickly decided that he will be happy in the Preschool class again.

After class on Tuesday we played at the pool when it opened for regular swim and Lewis learned some new tricks!  His friend was doing flips in the pool and he decided he wanted to do them too.  I helped him the first few times by flipping his legs over in a back flip, then he figured out how to do it all by himself - and a front flip too!  He really wants to go off the diving board, he sees some of his friends down there having fun and it's just killing him not to be able to do it.  I wonder if he'll work up his confidence and do it by summer's end?

We've been planning on taking the boys to LegoLand in Germany the first week in August - a special treat for them and a way to escape the heat for us.  Yesterday Lewis said "Mom, we don't need to drive all the way up there, just buy us some Legos online and we'll be happy."   huh?  I'm not sure what to do with that.  Maybe they are a bit young for amusement parks?  Shifting gears trying to think of something fun to do as Paul has already taken off two weeks in August.  Maybe I'll finally get him on a cruise?  Or maybe northern Italy in the mountains where it will be cooler?

Here's something I want to share about living in Italy.  Judy, you'll appreciate this.  On the road leading to my house a big pothole formed - BIG!  Knowing it would take forever to repair it some industrious person put a stack of tires in the hole to warn people since you couldn't actually see it until it was too late.  That's right, a stack of tires - does that tell you how big the hole was?  So, one day I'm walking with Judy (Oma, my MIL) to the market and we pass the pothole.  Looking closer we discover that not only is there a big hole but there's absolutely no foundation to the road!!  None!  For as far as you could see into the hole and all around there was nothing but air!  No wonder the hole was so big, no support whatsoever.  Anyhoo, weeks passed and they finally repaired the hole, yippeeee!  But, in true Italian road fixing fashion the hole came back just a week or so later.  Why?  They didn't fill it in!!  They just scraped a bit of asphalt over the hole and left it at that, no filling in no support no foundation - basically a bandaid.

You can see the dark spot is the "patch" -and  notice to the right at the top of the patch there is another small hole forming in the light gray area?  It's much bigger now, the whole area is collapsing.  What you can't tell by this photo is that on the other side of the manhole cover it's started to collapse as well.  So what do they do to warn you of this hole?  It's not big enough for tires yet so-

That's right, just pull a garbage can over there and stick the wheel in.

Perfect.  Heaven knows they don't use the trash cans for anything else.

This is how it looks while driving.

So now it's July 16th, August is quickly approaching and absolutely NO work gets done around here in August so I'm betting they won't get this fixed until the end of September. and even then it will only be another pathetic patch.  Viva Italia!

This is a picture of a bag full of bottles thrown onto the sidewalk next to the potholes.  Less than 10 ft. from a trash can and less than 50 ft from a glass recycling bin.  Seriously?

 

Just to let you know - it's hot, I'm sweaty and I smell like a camel.  And yes I've been close enough to a camel to comfortably make this comparison.  It's not pretty.

Have a great weekend!

Home Sweet Home

There's nothing like a good American holiday or a family event to really make you miss home.  As you all know Sunday was July 4th, the day we Americans celebrate our Nation's independence.  This was my 4th 4th in a row off of US soil (sorry if that's confusing) and with each passing year away I realize how blessed I am to be an American.  Say what you want about the current condition of our country, it's still the best darn place on Earth.

We had a great group of friends over on Sunday - a mix of old and new friends, a fact of military life as people are always on the move.  I looked around and thought about each family represented, each person at my home missing someone somewhere else - and being missed in return.  Military life sure has its' perks, but one of the obvious downsides is being away from extended family.

I started thinking of all the places I've spent the 4th of July, all of the fun I've had, but mostly it makes me sad to be away.  You see, the 4th of July is also the birthday of someone very special, someone I love very much - my Nana - Norice Osteen.  As a child I would soooo look forward to family gatherings to celebrate her birthday, wondering what crazy red-white-and-blue outfit she would have purchased to wear.  She would put on lots of red lipstick and kiss everybody leaving her mark behind.  I miss her terribly, especially on her birthday.  I was able to talk to her on the phone yesterday so that was a blessing, but she sounds old and frail, she almost cries when she tells me how much she loves me and my boys and how much she misses us.  I pray I'll make it home to spend some quality time with her - hang on Nana, I'm coming!

The boys were asleep when I called home last night so this morning I told them about talking to Ya-Ya and Nana and Uncle Ron- and Lewis said "Mom, when we move home to the States, I can't wait to live next to Ya-Ya and Oma and see them everyday."  Poor kid, he doesn't quite understand how seeing both of his grandmas everyday would be impossible- one lives in TN and the other in WA - not exactly neighbors.  Which got me to thinking (yes, this 4th caused a LOT of thinking)  Where is home?  Home sweet Home.  Geographically speaking I just don't know the answer to that question.  We own a house in MD, but that's not home.  We have family in TN and WA and while it's certainly our home States of record, they're not home for this family of four.  I've seen plaques in Navy family houses that say "Home is where the Navy sends us", so-

1.  Annapolis, MD
2.  Bremerton, WA
3.  San Diego, CA
4.  Yigo, GU (Guam)
5.  Lexington Park, MD
6.  Boeblingen, Germany
7.  Naples, Italy
8.  Bahrain?

But none of these feel like a permanent home, all temporary in our adventure.  Where will we land?  Where will we settle down?  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what God has in store for our future.  For now we'll have to say "Home is where the heart is" -  I never understood this saying fully until now, or at least this is my understanding of the phrase.

The human heart has the ability to be everywhere, loving lots of people in many different places.  With each "home" city, each group of friends, each family member- the heart is there.  Home can be anywhere you love and feel loved.  Because let's be honest, no home here on Earth compares to our heavenly home, it's all temporary and imperfect leaving us with a longing for more.  But the more we live and the more we love the more we feel at home here.
 
We leave a little piece of our heart with the people and places we love - Home is where the heart is.
Home Sweet Home.

On the Go...Crete

It's only been a few days since we've returned from Crete and it's still fresh on my mind.  The island was so lovely, the people so warm, the food so good and the sun so hot!  I've been raving to all my friends here in Naples telling them they must go- and soon.

I know I promised a summary of our trip, but here's the deal.  We did nothing.  Nothing.  Our entire trip was spent in the pool, or playing Uno, or going out to eat at yummy seaside restaurants, or a little shopping or just plain relaxing.  Well, except for Paul who actually had to work 2.5 days but someone has to keep us in this lifestyle, right?

The one thing we did do was take the boys on a snorkeling tour.  We went on a 2 hour cruise around some islands off the coast and then stopped at one to play.  You should have seen William!  This child will not swim in the "big" pool - WILL NOT!!!  But the bouyant little guy snorkeled around these rocks swimming and floating and having the time of his life.  And he wasn't even wearing a life jacket (both parents within 1ft).  Lewis loved it too and was really good at the snorkelling but, being Lewis, he decided to wear his lifejacket.

Oh, and Mom, you really should have come to Crete with us.

Dad, you reading this yet?

Paul is currently in Turkey on another business trip so when he gets back and checks his work email I hope we'll have some new information on our future.  There are lots of things floating around - trying to work the timing of everyone moving into and out of jobs, training, packing, moving, etc. - it all just needs to start hitting the calendar and giving us something concrete.  We'll keep you up to date.

So, instead of a detailed summary, here are some photos.  Enjoy.  (Note:  I wanted to add more photos but it's taking a LONG time. I'll try to add more later, or there's a few more on my Facebook page)

 

Deja Vu?

After another day of laundry and packing I'm starting to believe I may be stuck in a Deja Vu loop!  I'm not complaining, just observing.  We may have been a bit overzealous planning three trips in three months but time in Italy is running out so we have to get it all done!

I am looking forward to our time in Greece on the island of Crete.  The boys prefer these types of vacations- no big cities, very little sightseeing - this trip is all about relaxation (for us, poor Paul has to work a few days).  We've rented a villa with a pool so that will be the focus of our days and we're near a lovely seaside town with great restaurants and shops for our nighttime adventures.

This is a view of the pool as advertised, we'll see if it's as magnificent in person.

A quick update on "the future".  After several email swaps it seems we are a go for Bahrain. Now, keep in mind we won't get orders until October and with the military anything could happen between now and then- but I don't forsee it changing and I'm actually excited! 

Dad? You reading this?

Love to you all, we'll be out of touch for the week.  Here's hoping we can make it through a vacation without Paul getting hurt.

Feeding birds.... and prayer.

My boys are currently outside trying to feed leftover bread to the birds.  Their current plan includes waving the bread wildly in the air while shouting "come here bird, get your breakfast!"  I wonder how long they'll last before they figure this one out.  Maybe I should go help?  Nah... it's more fun this way.

On another note, we're still in the process of negotiating our future with the Navy.  Some of you may know we've been talking to the detailer (the person in charge of Navy jobs) about Bahrain - not optimal but of the choices he gave us it's the one that keeps our family together.  Just a few days ago a man Paul knows who works in Northern Italy called to say there was a job opening there and would he be interested?  Apparently Paul is really interested so we'll see where that trail leads.  It's not likely they'll give him that job unless some "power that be" asks for him - you never know!  And today a new list of jobs was posted so we'll be looking over those - so much information. 

All of this to say, please pray that we would be aware of what God wants for us.  We would be happy living most anywhere, some places would be easier and have better opportunities for us as a family - but ultimately we want to go where God wants us to reap His benefits.

Have a great day!  We're off to do a bit of shopping in preperation for our next adventure. I can't wait to get to Greece!

Photos of Paris

Paris, the summary

I just realized it's been a while since I wrote and I forgot to summarize our trip to Paris, sorry.  I have a little bit of an excuse - want to hear it?  good.  The day after we returned from Paris Paul left for Bahrain and doesn't return until today.  Needless to say that left me with a mountain of laundry, two very tired boys and a lot of housework to do so my brain hasn't had the ability to write.

I've spent the last few days doing laundry including all of the sheets and blankets, battling another mold infestation, switching all our clothes from winter to summer and sorting through to accumulate two trash bags full of donations and cleaning up the house from 3 weeks of neglect.  whew.  This weekend we will tackle the yard which currently resembles an overgrown jungle.

But let's talk about fun stuff for a while, shall we?  Paris, ahhhhh Paris.  We had a great trip.  I did a bit of research before going trying to find "kid friendly" things to do in the City of Lights and while I found lots of articles stating "Paris can be fun for kids" I truly had my doubts.  You see, if you've been to Paris as an adult and kid free you experience Paris a totally different way and I wasn't completely sure I was willing to give up my ideal version of Paris.  It turns out the articles were right, you can enjoy Paris with kids!  It's a completely different experience but one I'm so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy.

I decided at the last minute to take a stroller and boy am I glad I did!  We must have walked for miles each day and poor William is not able to keep up, we would have been absolutely miserable if both boys had tried to walk those distances.  We chose not to use the Metro system as it is so easy to stroll from place to place.  Our apartment was in the 15th arrondisement, just south of the Eiffel Tower.  It was the perfect location, close enough to the action but far enough out of the center to give us a feel for real life in the city.  We had a playground just across the street from our apartment and we played there quite a bit.  It was such a lovely scene, a variety of children playing together across language barriers and cultures.  I thought this would be our life here in Italy, multi-cultural experiences where my boys were able to play with children from all over the world; but alas, that was not to be.

Our first day we took the boys to the top of the Eiffel Tower, they thought it was so cool!  We had lunch at one of the restaurants on the Tower, yes I know that's a touristy thing to do but it was actually good food at a reasonable price and the view can't be beat!  We sat overlooking the Seine watching boats go by, sipping wine, eating salmon and finishing with a most divine chocolate dessert.  The next day we took the BatoBus, a shuttle boat that goes from stop to stop along the Seine river, and we went to Notre Dame.  The boys also liked seeing this as they had learned about the gargoyles on the church from Scooby Doo.  Yes, I'm a bit embarrassed I can't say they learned about it from an educational film during a homeschooling lesson, but it is what it is.  After Notre Dame we walked over to the Jardin de Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) and found a playground for the boys to run around.  This playground was fantastic!  Of course you had to pay a small fee to get in this one but it was worth it - the boys left covered head to toe in dirt and completely exhausted.  We walked back to the BatoBus stop and before the boat pulled away from the dock William was asleep in his stroller and Lewis had found two seats where he could lay down.

I've already written a summary of our Tuesday, it turned out to be a great day despite our visit to the clinic for Paul's hand.  On Wednesday Paul had his meeting (the real reason for our trip) so the boys and I had a rest day.  We hung out in our PJs for most of the morning and then went to the playground, had a light lunch out and waited for Paul to come home.  We went out to dinner that night, yummy Indian food and then went for a stroll around the city.  Paris is much different at night.  All the tourist buses have left, it's quiet, subtly lit and peaceful.  I wanted the boys to see the Eiffel Tower at night and also to experience the flashing that occurs on the hour.  For the millennium celebration they lit the Eiffel tower with flashing bulbs and they still use them each night.  Now let me tell you, it doesn't get dark in Paris until at least 10:00pm making it very hard to get little boys to sleep at a normal time.  By Wednesday night, 10:30 was their normal bedtime so it wasn't strange at all that we had them out and about at this time of night.  We were playing on a playground in the park in front of the Tower when she started flashing - the look on William's face was pure delight!  He just sat and stared and said "wow!".  Unfortunately I didn't see Lewis' reaction as he and Paul had gone to find a restroom but Paul said he was also amazed at the sight.

Thursday was a rainy day but we went out anyway, we had no plans just walking and discovering.  We were in the Jardin de Tuilleries just in front of the Louvre when the weather took a turn for the worse.  We went inside for cover and originally planned to only see the pyramid and get a snack but found out children are free for the museum so we decided to go in.  Now Paul and I are not museum people, needless to say neither are Lewis and William, but it's the Louvre and you need to do it once so we did - did I mention it was pouring rain outside?  We got our map and headed straight to the Mona Lisa, slowly pushed our way to the front and as she came into clear view I leaned down to the boys and said "look, that's the Mona Lisa, she's one of the most famous paintings in the world."  And Lewis said "yeah, I know Mom, I've already seen her on Little Einsteins."  Good grief.  Well, at least they're learning something from the shows they're watching?  I have to admit, I don't get all the hype about this painting.  We viewed several other paintings by da Vinci that I personally liked better, but what do I know about art?  Nothing.  Paul and I both agreed it was a bit anti-climactic to finally see her, but we can say we've seen her in person.  We moved on to the Ancient Egyptian exhibit which we all liked more, they had an actual mummy!

Friday we spent another long day at the Jardin de Luxembourg enjoying the playground, the fountains, a nice lunch (sushi again, yummy!) and a lovely snack on the way home.  All week I wanted to stop at a corner cafe, have a creme brulee and a glass of champagne and Friday was my day!  I convinced Paul to stop and bribed the boys with ice cream - it was a fabulous last snack in Paris!  I'm not sure Paul enjoyed it as much after paying the bill (eating in Paris is crazy expensive) but I'm very grateful for that little indulgence.

And Saturday we came home!  I will share this, for the first time coming home from a trip I didn't dread being back in Naples-answered prayer?  I think so.  I'm finally gaining peace about being here and for that I am truly grateful.

Wow, after not writing for a week I just talked your ears off (or eyes since you're reading it).  Now that we've unpacked from Paris it's time to start thinking about Crete!  We leave for Greece on Saturday June 12 and I can't wait!

Both boys are still missing their Oma - the distraction of Paris was good but as soon as we got home they remembered and said "let's go see Oma".  We all miss you! 

Day 3 in Paris

Remember yesterday I said we were going to have a kid day today?  Well, our intention was to get up and out early so we could enjoy the Dinosaur exhibition.  We made it to the Expo center around 1:00pm - would you like to know the reason of the delay?

My wonderful, ever so helpful husband Paul was doing the dishes this morning when he walked out of the kitchen and said "we have a problem".  The trail of blood running down his arm was NOT reassuring.  Turns out he broke a wine glass and cut his hand - a big deep cut.

 

So, I spent a few minutes on the computer looking for hospitals or clinics and off we went.  After walking for a bit I forgot the exact street number of the hospital and not wanting to go the wrong way on the street I started to look around for someone to ask directions.  Along came a lovely young couple and I asked in the worst french possible which way to the hospital?  Luckily they realized right away I speak English, and so did they.  Fluently.  Not only that but they had an Iphone with lots of information to help us.  They told us the hospital we were looking for had closed - strange since the website I found made no mention of that.  So, they took us to the Pharmacie just across the street to ask advice and after looking at Paul's hand the advice was to go to a nearby clinic.  The couple offered to walk with us to the clinic, we politely declined not wanting to take up their day shuttling bleeding Americans to the clinic.  They showed us the location on our map and looked up the exact street address on the Iphone and off we went.  Never ever let anyone convince you the French people are rude - we have had nothing but the nicest experience with the locals and especially this lovely couple today.

 
We found the clinic with no problem and went inside.  The nice lady at the reception asked us something and Paul uncovered his hand to show her the reason for our visit and she motioned for him to follow her.  Less than 2 hours later we were done and on our way again.  The Dr. gave Paul 3 stitches, one inside as he cut the tendon just a bit and two outside to hold the skin together-  a nice splint, some gauze, a prescription for antibiotics and instructions to not do housework for three weeks.
I told Paul there are easier ways of getting out of housework.

We go to Sicily, broken ankle.  Paris, sliced hand.  I can't wait to see what happens in Greece.

The good news - the boys were sooooo well behaved at the clinic and we all enjoyed the Dino Expo!

Bonsoir

Bonsoir mes amis!  (Good evening my friends!)  I'm writing from Paris!  By the way, Parigi is Italian for Paris.

It's been over 10 years since I've been to Paris and I'm thrilled to be back.  I knew I loved this city, but being here has reinforced why.  It's so beautiful!  Quiet!  Clean!  Paris is such a lovely city to stroll around, window shop and dream of life as a Parisian.

Today we took the boys to the top of the Eiffel Tower and also walked over to the Arc de Triumphe.  We are now the proud owners of 3 miniature Eiffel towers!  yipeeee.

Tomorrow I think we'll do a "kid day" and go to an exposition featuring - dinosaurs!!!!  yipeee again, but you have to do these kid days or they start to rebel.

I'll finish this post by sharing my little slice of heaven for the day - sushi for dinner.   YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!  and the best thing about it?  they deliver - right to your door - so I can have it again without the walk!!!!!  and I will have it again, maybe twice.

Ahhhhhhh, Paris.

Oma

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The good - tomorrow we're leaving for a one week trip to Paris
The bad - I have not planned one detail of the trip other than where we are staying.
The ugly - I'm currently on day 2 of a yucky stomach bug.

In other news, the crosses I ordered from Jennifer Hanson at http://nothingsandnotions.blogspot.com/ arrived and are absolutely beautiful!  As in, "order them now for yourselves or you'll be disappointed" beautiful!  Thank you Jennifer for a great product, I can't wait to mail them to their new homes with my dear friends.

The Rhinos go to Umbria

I'll try to write a brief summary of our trip to the region of Umbria.  Umbria is the only region of Italy that is landlocked - little trivia for ya.

It was truly a lovely trip.  We have established a good routine on our family trips.  We're up early (every single day despite my pleas for sleeping in) and we have our breakfast, shower and head out to explore.  We do our sightseeing while most people are still waking up and it's fantastic this way because it's not too crowded yet and you get to see the real city.  Around midday when the streets start filling with tour groups we find a restaurant and have lunch, enjoy people watching and beating the crowds as typcial Europeans eat about an hour later than we do.  A bit more looking around and maybe some gelato (ice cream) and then we drive back to our apartment/hotel.  This particlar residence was perfect as it had lots of outdoor space for the boys to run around and burn off energy.  Paul and I would relax with a glass of wine and enjoy the scenery and the sounds of little boys playing.  We would have a light dinner and call it a night.  Perfection.

We went to the towns of Assisi, Gubbio, Perugia, Orvieto and Panicale and we also did a bit of exploring around Lago Trasimeno.  Lago = Lake.

Assisi is of course famous for its' patron Saint Francis.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisi  It is quite interesting to me that St. Francis lived a life of poverty and the Basilica they built to honor him is rather fancy.

Perugia is famous for its' chocolates, though I never saw a single chocolate shop in the town.   I thought that was very strange in comparison to Belgium which is also known for its' chocolates and you can't walk more than 10ft. without finding a new and yummy treat to try.  Oh well.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perugia

Gubbio was quite an unexpected gem.  We hadn't heard much about this town but the guidebook made it seem interesting so we took a look.  It is a beautifully preserved medieval town and we really enjoyed wandering its' streets and exploring all the different alley ways.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubbio  We were very surprised to find a big kids' playground next to the Roman theater - it would have made a great place to take a picnic but we had already enjoyed lunch in the main town.

Panicale was recommended to us by our host family and we were thrilled we took the time to see this quaint little town.  It's what the other touristy towns were before they only catered to the tourists.  It was quiet, lived in, real.  And we had some of the best gelato of our trip right in the little square!  I tried to link a wikipedia article but there wasn't any real information to share.

We had a kids' day and went to a local park.  It was an amusement park of sorts, quite old fashioned and really a little boring but guess what?  The boys LOVED it.  There were petting zoos, things to climb on, cars to drive and rockets to climb.  It was here our boys rode a horse for the very first time and now they want to take riding lessons! 

On our way home we stopped in Orvieto to see the Duomo and it was very impressive.  But, of the other little towns we visited Orvieto was my least favorite due to the large amount of tourists.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvieto   

The local food and wines were fun to try.  Truffles are abundant in this region and are incorporated in very interesting ways into the food.  My absolute favorite was the pizza I had in Orvieto.  Light, crispy firewood-oven baked crust topped with a truffle cream sauce and mozzarella di bufala - divine.  I will say that the local breads we tried were very disappointing.  I'm not sure if our tastes have grown specific to the breads of our Campania region or if the bread was really bad but something was just "off".  Another regional favorite is Cinghiale (ching-GYAH-lay) which is the local wild boar.  Everything from sausage to meat sauces are made with this, interesting flavor - not my favorite but I think I could get used to it with time.  The local olive oil is very good, a light almost buttery flavor that's great on a simple salad with a touch of balsamic vinegar.

We enjoyed being here in Spring as we were treated to new blooms of gorgeous flowers everyday.  In particular we loved the poppies - bright red specks of joy amongst the fields, along the sides of roads and in the most unexpected places.  I think the poppy is actually a weed?  But what a beautiful weed.

In my humble opinion, Umbria is better than Tuscany.  Tuscany seems to be way too eager for the tourists whereas Umbria continues to live life and invites you to join right in.  The rolling hills are beautiful, the weather in late April is fantastic and there is enough to do to keep you busy everyday all-day or it's peaceful enough to do absolutely nothing but relax and take in the culture.  Umbria is the Italy I thought we were moving to, it's the Italy you visit and say "I could live here".

Trip Confirmation

There's something so exciting about taking a trip from the "should we do it?" phase to actually making the commitment!  I've officially inked in our Paris dates on the calendar and booked the tickets - yipeeeee!  I love Paris!  Now I just have to find exciting things to do with the boys - they're not exactly Louvre types (nor am I if you really want to know).  But we all love a good french loaf, french cheese, french wine (not the boys), french croissants - wow, that's a lot of yummy food to look forward to.

But now the "fun" really begins, the part of trip planning I absolutely detest - finding a place to stay.  If you only knew how much stress this part of travelling causes me you might actually volunteer to do it for me - hello? volunteers?  I thought not.
 
That's a task for another day, I'm going to go do some reading and go to bed early.

As predicted this morning, our day was not very productive.  I like days like today (don't tell the teacher but we skipped school too, oh wait....)  The boys played so nicely together all day, giving me some much needed time to do laundry and rest.  Allergy season here in Italy really makes me uncomfortable, I'm glad it will pass soon.

Here are three things I'm thankful for today

1.  The ability to travel and make wonderful memories with my family
2.  The ability to skip school and not get in trouble
3.  Fleece. 

Today may very well be......

one of the laziest days in Reinhart family history.  OK, maybe that's an exageration since my husband has actually showered and left the house to go to his job (overachiever) but the remaining three of us are not setting any productivity records.

09:34 and we're all still in our pajamas - and truth be told, I don't see this changing for at least another hour.

I made a feeble attempt to rally the troops by exclaiming "bath time! We need to get dressed and go to the Commissary."  Feeble as in as soon as the first "NO" came out of Williams's mouth I had already given up the idea and the next 3-4 minutes of loud whining, complaining, foot stomping and brow furroughing sealed the deal.  Today we stay home.  Which is all fine and good - I have a mountain of laundry calling my name and as the day warms up we can go outside and do some much needed yard work (after changing out of our PJs, of course).

We had a great but short trip to Rome.  Paul's full day of meetings on Tuesday left the boys and myself alone to find entertainment.  We chose to go to the Zoo and it turned out to be a great choice.  It's not exactly the nicest zoo but it's small and manageable and most importantly - Kid Friendly!!!!  A whole day of letting them run around, do whatever they want and not worry about traffic or dangers while being in a big city-priceless.  This trip also marked a milestone for our boys - no strollers - none - niente.  Please join me in celebrating the fact that both boys walked an extremely long way self-propelled!!!!!  Well, the last block back to the hotel from the zoo got dicey with much wailing and several breaks (and a small ride by Mom for William) but they did it - it's a whole new world stroller free.

And speaking of free- Paul's foot is not feeling as much love as we had thought being cast free. In a not very well thought out decision, Paul left his crutches at home for our trip.  He learned the hard way that a 'walking boot' is not intended to be used for a lot of walking and he still needs support.  But, he was a trooper and slowly hobbled his way through.  Needless to say this confirmed the need for physical therapy to help the leg heal and regain some strength so I hope he'll be making appointments for that soon.  And just for the record-I suggested he take his crutches to Rome.

Rome is such a lovely city, if you haven't been please put it on your to-do list.  I think it may very well be my favorite city to visit.  The first night Lewis declared "I want to stay here forever"  and I asked "why?".  He replied "There's no trash on the streets.".  Indeed.  Rome is SO clean compared to Naples - amazing how observant children can be.  William's favorite thing about Rome is drinking straight from the little fountains you find along the streets. 

As usually happens when I don't write daily, I don't have a list of three things for each day that I'm thankful for.   So, I'll just share a quick list of things that I remember saying an extra "thank you" for over the past few days.

I am thankful for.......

The laughter of my children
The character of my husband
The chance to see the world with my own eyes
The thoughtfulness of a good friend
The chance to help
The opportunity to "try it before you buy it"
Gelato
Riding on trains
All of God's creation and the beauty that can be found in the differences.

Andiamo!

Andiamo means "let's go" in Italian.

Today we're off to Rome for a few days.  Paul has a meeting there tomorrow and we're tagging along to enjoy a  much nicer hotel than we could afford on our dime and some fun on the train (for the boys, of course) and in the city.  I LOVE Rome!

This morning Paul got his cast off but he's still wearing a support boot so a small amount of hobbling continues.  But, he got his cast off!!!  So it's only a matter of time before he can finallly start helping again things are back to normal.

We'll be home on Wednesday-
Arrividerci!

I really shouldn't.....

I really shouldn't make fun of my Dad concerning his interest in weather when my last three entries are weather related - do you think it's possible I'm getting old too?  NO.  But, one more weather related thing - we had another crazy storm pass through later this afternoon bringing on more hail and rain!  What on earth is going on?  Lewis said "Mom, again with the ice?"  He cracks me up!

Today's funny story-
William comes to me and says "Mom, I missed the potty and made a mess.  I wasn't looking where I was peeing and I missed.  I'm sorry"  What a sweet baby!!!!  So I said "Don't worry honey, Mommy will clean it up.  Thank you for telling me"  Then I went to investigate.  I looked on either side of the toilet, nothing.  I looked directly in front of the toilet, nothing.  Hhmmmm, maybe he made a mistake?  and then I turned around to find a spot of pee about 3 ft. in front of the toilet - wasn't looking?  it was in the complete opposite direction of the toilet!!!!  I think "not paying attention" was a bit of a stretch?  How about "I was dancing a jig while trying to pee and completely missed!!!!"  ???  That would be a bit closer to the truth, in my humble opinion.  Oh the joys of living in a house full of men.

In other news, I saw first hand the joys of homeschooling  today.  Lewis, being the older and more educated child, helped his baby brother learn his alphabet.  It was absolutely the cutest thing!  He took on a very serious "teacher" voice and proceeded to help William get all of his letters in the correct order while writing them on the chalkboard for William to see.  I LOVE the dynamic that we've created having them together for the day - they learn so much from each other - the least of which is patience (an ongoing process) and they play so well together (other than the occasional spat over whose turn it is to play with a toy).

Did I mention our "let's buy and RV and travel the country for a year" idea is starting to become a real plan?  I've done a bit of research, looked into RVs - I think this may just work!!!  Paul really wants to take a sabbatical after working in the Navy 20+ years, we're already homeschooling, and we really love to travel - it's a win, win, win situation.  I don't know if it will actually come to fruition - but it becomes more appealing every day.

Here are my 3 things for today - March 11
1.  I am thankful for future dreams.
2.  I am thankful for my Dad.
3.  I am thankful for my house full of men.

TGIF!!!!!!!

Whew, another week gone by.  Sometimes it feels like life is flying and sometimes it feels like it's crawling.  I guess it all depends on what you're doing and if you really want to be doing it?

Tonight was family movie night and we watched Nemo.  I still love that movie, so many cute one-liners and such a good story.  Afterwards Lewis said, "Mom, this story teaches us not to give up"  yep.  And then he said "I'm never moving away from you, I'm gonna stay with you forever".  How sweet!  Luckily we had a great day yesterday and this thought actually seemed appealing, as opposed to those days when I think I won't make it one more with these little monsters in my house!  ;-)

Great day homeschooling, everything we did was art related - which to the 5 and under crowd means crayons!!!  It's amazing the stuff you can find on the internet to print for your kids.  My kids love worksheets - strange.  I have found these great pages for William where he gets to color all the things on the page that start with the letter we're studying.  I found a color by number clown for Lewis.  In order to know what colors to use, you had to do math problems and read the color word.  He loved it!

We're getting into the final phases of planning some awesome trips, I'm so excited!  Looks like we'll go to Paris in May, Crete in June, Germany in August and a trip to the Venice area in September or October.  We're trying to decide what to do in July and all those three day weekends.  I can't believe I have less than a year to do all of the travelling I want to,  time does indeed fly.

Hoping you all have a great weekend,
Sabrina

Friday's 3 things-
I am thankful for my travel opportunities.
I am thankful that my children think it would be nice to stay with me forever.
I am thankful for all of my homeschooling choices and for friends that help you narrow them down.

Lunedi

Lunedi is the Italian word for Monday.

Another gorgeous weather day!  I could get used to this! 

Today's 3 things-
1.  I am thankful for the library.  Free books!
2.  I am thankful for humidifiers and Zyrtec - may they help my boys sleep well tonight.
3.  I am thankful for my Ipod.

Here is a link to the property where we'll be staying the last week of April - I'm so excited!
http://www.collesanpaolo.it/home/index.php

I found it through this site  http://www.ciaobambino.com/index.asp  which is a fantastic source of information for those travelling with children.

Buona notte!

Ciao tutti!

Tomorrow we are off to Sicily!  We'll be taking along a very old laptop which does not have Wi-Fi capabilities so if we can plug it in we'll be in touch.  If not, I'll write when we get back.

Great day today!  The boys had fun with a bean/glue project.  They wrote their names in glue on construction paper and placed beans in the glue.  I decided to multi-task and teach poetry and art at the same time - you guessed it - the boys now know the "beans, beans, the magical fruit" poem.  Needless to say that got a lot of laughs!  It's times like these I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't be better off in public school.  On the plus side, Lewis did all of his +1 flash cards using the Italian names for the numbers.  All is not lost.

Must run, still a lot of packing to do.
Love,
Sabrina

Wednesday again!

I hope all my entries don't have day titles, how boring.  But, it's Wednesday again and here I am posting and I couldn't think of anything else to call it.

I'm glad I didn't promise daily updates (did I?) because it's harder than you think to post things daily about your daily life.  Life can be pretty boring and routine and I'm sure you don't want to read anything boring or routine - in that case you may want to look for another blog to read.

1st- the good news - both of my boys still have all of their teeth (despite their efforts to lose them in crazy accidents).  2nd - the bad news - maybe not for long.  William took a tumble while using the potty and fell in!  No, I am not kidding.  The stool he was standing on slipped out from under him causing him to lurch forward - he tried to catch himself but missed so one of his arms went into the toilet.  The poor little boy hit his mouth on the toilet seat and busted his lips up pretty good and knocked one of his front teeth out of position.  It wasn't wiggly so we didn't rush to the dentist.  But, one of our dentists attends our church and took a look at his tooth and thinks he should come in to be examined further.  It has turned very grey and the concern of course is that the tooth is dead and needs to come out.  We're going in next Tuesday to have it examined.  Lewis, not to be outdone by his baby brother, took a tumble in the playroom the other day and whacked his mouth on the train table!  Big fat busted lip, but no signs of tooth damage.  Why are they doing this to me?  Boys.

I'm busy planning trips for our last year here in Italy.  As I said before, we're heading down to Sicily with Paul February 4-13.  He has a training exercise for work and we're going to tag along.  In April I think we'll go to Umbria for a week and tour all the cute little towns like Assisi, Orvieto, Puglia, Deruta.  It was much easier to convince Paul to do this as opposed to a cruise, imagine that.  Anyone want to join us?

Today we're off for an exciting adventure at the Commissary, I can't wait.  This is the good/bad side of homeschooling.  I love having my kids with me all day, but I don't love having them with me for all of the things I need to do in a day.  Luckily the bakery sells pretzels so we get two of those and that keeps them busy and quiet for at least three aisles.  You don't want to know what the rest of the shopping trip is like.

Oh, my dishwasher is still broken.  Did I tell you my dishwasher has been broken since August?  uggghhh.  and secretly I blame it all on my sister-in-law Gretchen who had the audacity to open the door!   What was she thinking opening the door?  She was here visiting in July and opened the door!  Then it started acting funny and in August quit working all together.  oh, wait, you're supposed to open the door?  Well then, I guess it's not Gretchen's fault after all.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they screwed the decorative face plate on with non-coated screws that are rusting and that said screw is very close to the place where the electronics would be that make the stupid thing work?  Anyhoo, it's been a long process.  It was broken, then mysteriously started working again and then mysteriously stopped working again.  The technician was due to come on Monday or Tuesday of this week.  And what day is it?  ugghhhhhh.

Time to get moving this morning - two cups of coffee and I'm starting to feel somewhat human.

Have a great day!