Look who is crawling!

Julia is crawling!!!! Loads of fun with our tile and marble floors. More pics to follow.

Nothing much

I sharply took in my breath as I walked out the door yesterday morning. Snow was on the mountains right behind our village. I thought, "This is going to be a cold winter." I haven't ever lived in the mountains before so the snowfall is really a novelty to me. You can see the pine trees with the snow surrounding them. I really could have stood there forever, but the girls needed to get off.
Our stuff finally came on Thursday. It has been so nice sleeping on my bed. We still can't find any screws to put the crib, etc. together. Filing a claim will be interesting for screws. I also made it to Ikea yesterday. I need to get some lights and long drapes. I struck out on both those items, but oh well. It was a fun trip.
My nephew should be here today! YEAH. Mom is doing great.
This past spring I got to have dinner with the Aviano Reunion Group. I laughed when they told me the hardest thing at Aviano is deciding where to go on your next trip. It is indeed true as we can't decide where to go for the T'giving holiday! Vienna or Salzburg. It is also someones very BIG birthday and our anniversary so... Any votes?

Tutus and Tiaras

Well, the rest of our stuff finally arrived. Thankfully, it arrived a few days before M heads back to the states for a conference. I only have two more kitchen boxes, but plenty left in the store room and our room. Tonight we got our playroom set up where the fireplace is. We haven't completely figured out the arrangement, but we'll continue to play with it. The guestroom is huge! We still haven't found the screws for the futon (or the crib, or my outdoor swing).

I didn't tell JD our things had come. She was so thrilled when she saw her toys especially her costumes. She wore her ballet outfit the rest of the day with the tiara and shoes. She insisted in sleeping in it, but I successfully convinced her that princesses don't sleep in their tiaras.

I love going to the Italian markets. It is delightful watching the daily life of the people here. It is one way for us Americans to break out of our ease of shopping on base etc. I went with some friends on Friday to one of the bigger ones in Congeliano (not sure if the spelling is right). I learned how to order a coffee "to go." I bought JD some cute mittens and a hat for JL. I also get flowers once a month at the market and they had many beautiful ones to choose from. We were in the food stalls and one of the vendors tried to sell us a skate. ICK. Squid was everywhere. I am just not there yet.

Early in the week I went to a dinner with some friends at a woman's house who owns a wine shop in Sacile. She hosts private dinners in her home for ten + people. It was wonderful. She served us the best Prosecco and red wine. We had bruschetta and cheese for our appetizer, bean soup for our primi course, game hen for our secondi and a wonderful dessert (I still have no idea what it was). YUM. She had the roaring fire going, which greatly added to the atmosphere.

MEN!

Michael came in and announced last night that he has lost 15 pounds since we've moved here. See, this is where the world is somehow mixed up. How do you move to Italy from the desert and lose weight? Seriously.

Jacqueline loves to get the car washed so yesterday I made my first foray into washing the car over here. I went to our local Agip station b/c I love the little old man that pumps my gas (yes, I'll be missing full service when we move back). I drove up to the car wash and put my money in, but it kept on coming back. I tried a couple of more times, but it just kept rolling back out. I went over to the sweet guy and he made me pull my car into the washer (now the car washer is out in the open with rollers and all - just a steel structure) then put my money in. Holy smokes it stayed in the coin collector. You also have to stay out of the car so JD and I sat on the curb and watched the car get clean. Julia did stay in the car asleep. All of a sudden the dryer went on and I picked up JD and threw her in the car and I drove up under the dryer. Well, I finally realized I didn't have to do that as the dryer goes to your car. I turned around and the sweet little man and his friends were laughing at me. Lesson learned. I do have to admit, it was pretty funny.

Another shot of Trieste, videos of the girls and gelatria in aviano

Trieste's lighthouse and Julia in our yard on Saturday.

Yes, I know Julia has keys...

Trieste - Saturday the 13th

We hopped in the car after JD's nap and headed to Trieste (on the southeast coast of Italy and the Capitol of our region). Oh my, when we turned the corner it was just breathtakingly beautiful. We haven't really seen the Adriatic since we've been here. The coast is rugged (as you will see from the pics). We didn't even make it into town as we were so taken with the drive in. There are a couple of castles and a terrific wide walkway into town. We just parked the car and started walking. We met some girls walking with their nanny (4th graders) and they spoke English. One of their names was Giulia (Italian spelling). They told us about the town and where to go eat. We had a terrific dinner and enjoyed walking along the shore.

wine tasting

http://www.contedattimismaniago.it/photogallery2_eng.html The count who hosted our wine tasting. He gave us a lengthy discourse on corks - the plastic ones aren't very good b/c they are too tight and don't let any air in. some are made with MDF and others w/ real wood. I just couldn't believe the variety of wine from one vineyard.

http://www.palazzodattimismaniago.com/ita/index.php This is where we had dinner and the tasting. The dinner was quite yummy with two appetizers then pumpkin gnocchi, pork, and green apple gelato for dessert. I met some more terrific people!

1st and definitely not the last trip to Venice

Well, we finally made it to Venice! We were going to go Saturday, but it was rainy and dreary so we went on Sunday. For those of you living in Dallas or Tampa we taped one of those holiday greetings on Saturday. I was terrible, but oh well. Jacqueline and Julia were cute.

We found the Sacile train station after not listening to our nav (we haven't figured out all the quirks of it yet so it tells you to turn when there is no turn). We hopped on the train for the hour train ride to Venice. We were the only Americans in our car. These young (20ish) kids were sitting across the aisle from us. I just wanted to giggle the whole trip. No American 20 yr old man would be caught dead in what they were wearing, and I know they thought (and by Italian definition they did) they looked cool. They were wearing huge sunglasses, black shirts and white pants (tight not baggy) with spiky hair. The girls were wearing their Dolce and Gabbana big belt buckles. I guess everyone from the surrounding area goes into Venice for a day too.

The train drops you off in Venice so it was terrific. We saw the long lines at the vaporetto station so we decided to keep moving forward and walk. We encountered our first of many bridges making this city very unfriendly for strollers. We felt we had to bring it in case JD wanted to nap. We won't bring it again as it was a pain in the rear end (I'd love to say another word b/c that's exactly what it was, but I'll be polite).

Venice seemed small at first. It's dirty, but I reminded myself it is old and sinking. Also, many of the residents have moved out and the apartments are owned by people who occasionally vacation there. Graffiti was everywhere and it was terribly CROWDED. We didn't have our map out as we were too busy trying to carry our stroller. Michael kept asking me if I knew where I was going, but I didn't, of course . I just followed the crowd as I thought someone in it would know where we all were going.

We eventually broke away from the crowd when jd spotted some cookies outside a church! Well, mass had just let out and they were having their fellowship hour. The people kept giving jd cookies and chips with a coke to top it off. Boy, that nap won't be likely now. In true Italian style, they also were serving wine. I thought I need KR here as she would love it! 8:45 fellowship would change if we did that!

JD loved all the bridges and boats. She kept asking me what they were for so I had some fun making-up things besides repeating over and over, "that's how they get around." I can't recall when they put railings across the bridges, but I can't imagine the number of people who fell in before they were put up.

We found a lovely piazza to have lunch in away from all the crowds. It was such a beautiful crisp fall day we chose to eat outside. What is so terrific about Venice, you don't realize initially, is that there are no cars! It is quiet b/c of this and there is no dodging traffic, just people. Our lunch wasn't spectacular, but the setting was terrific and our waiter was funny. The guy next to us had a fish for lunch, and they brought it out whole. JD watched the process when she saw the fish being rolled to the table. The waiter whacked off the fishes head, put it on a spatula and playfully pretended to throw it at JD. Then he whacked off the tail and did it again. JD screamed and laughed. Then he gutted the fish. Her eyes were big now and we had to tell her not to watch the guy eat it b/c her mouth was still hanging open. She also loved the potty. No squatter this time, much to her dismay. This one had the plastic on the seat where you push a button and it just goes around and around and around. Well, we almost stayed there all day watching a toilet seat in Venice.
Of course, when we finished lunch, JD had to find gelato. And what do you know, there was a gelatria around the corner with a big ice cream cone in front. She picked Vanilla. YEAH (not hard to clean out of clothes). There was a scrumptious bakery across the street. I gained 5 lbs. just smelling the cookies.
We wandered some more and eventually found the Grand Canal. I couldn't believe the size of the gondolas. I just always thought they were small, but they are huge. The strength to operate them is incredible. It was absolutely fascinating to watch.
The crowds got big again and we were jostled around going to San Marco Square. I wasn't too impressed with it, but it was maybe b/c the crowds were so large and it's dirty, but I could look past it and see the beauty of Venice. JD loved the pigeons. They were jumping all over her including her back, and she just thought that was the funniest thing.
After being poked and prodded enough we walked over to the vaporetto station and jumped on #1, like the guidebooks recommend, to head to the train station. Michael looked and me and said, "Uh, the max occupancy is 215 and there are way more people on this boat than that!!!" as we were being squeezed to the side. Luckily, we ended up standing on the outside of the boat for the 40 minute boat ride back. It was a lovely boat ride back to the station.
We can't wait to go back sans a stroller and explore more of Venice. It is a charming city with many nooks and crannies, right in our backyard plus it was only an 8 E roundtrip ticket!
Guess who was on our train again? The boys with the white pants! What better date for a Sunday afternoon than Venice?

Get Well Soon Grandma!

Mom goes in for her surgery today! We wish you well and that the doctor gets rid of all the cancer! We know you will get well soon, but don't rush it! Here are some videos to entertain you!

Turn up the volume on the computer

video link - October

I got connected to this on You Tube - a video with nice music of our town and surrounding area. I'll have to figure out how to do music sometime. http://youtube.com/watch?v=VVDzbpYOJbk&mode=related&search=Remida%20Dardago%20bugo%20luce

video

Jacqueline showing her favorite sign at the lake.

I drive through this town regularly - Castello d'Aviano. Beautiful.Our town and the mountains again, but in video.

October 3rd

Over to the far left is our town (I am on my way back from dropping JD off) with a little snow on the mountains. Next, our swing covered with hail. Jacqueline and I had just been reading about hail so it was so funny that we had this hailstorm (I am hearing they are a frequent occurrence).

Jacqueline and I spent Sunday afternoon watching over 45 para gliders sail over our house. We had fun guessing the colors b/c you can see they are pretty close! Then we went out and saw them land within 1/2 mile of our house!

It's beautiful again here (rain last week and snow on the mountains in Piancovallo). No, we still don't have the rest of our stuff, but we are still settling in somehow. We should hopefully get it by the end of the month. Many of you have e-mailed and I am so sorry I haven't responded, but we don't have Internet at the house yet. I am hoping by the end of the week. I only have about 30 minutes to do e-mail when I can get to the community center. I did have a little shopping excursion to Sacile, an absolutely beautiful town about 15km from our house. It is built on a river. I even got to have my favorite - gnocchi - for lunch. The fall bazaar was this past weekend. I didn't do any furniture purchasing, but I did buy alot of wine and cheese. I realized at 1 o'clock I was a little tipsy as I hadn't eaten b'fast or lunch (trying to do too much) and this sweet wine lady wanted me to try all of her wines. I did break down and buy white chocolate wine - yummy- and you serve it in miniature ice cream cones. They also had glass from Murano.

Last night, JD wanted to play with the neighbors kids so we went over into their yard. We all just stood there b/c I didn't know how to ask and they don't know any English. Somehow after about 5 minutes of gesturing we figured it out and she had a good time. I did start Italian yesterday - flexing parts of my brain that haven't been used in awhile! We'll see how much I learn.

Rough week

It's been a rough week. Julia starting throwing up on Monday night and hasn't really stopped (now I'm just down to once a day and I'm better at not getting it on me). We walked into the hospital and she threw up all over me and all over her and these teenagers sitting there said, "that's disgusting!" I, of course, replied, "Why yes it is!" I then proceeded to the check-in counter and she wanted me to take a seat and wait in the waiting room. I was literally standing there dripping. I stood there looking at her. She told me again to take a seat and I politely replied, "Don't you think it's best if I go to a waiting room right now? I can clean both of us up then." Stomach flu - no surprise there.

The next evening we received the most unfortunate news that one of Michael's stellar paralegals husband was killed while riding a motorcycle. He was doing everything right and someone ran a stop sign. Please keep her in your prayers and their two young kids - 2.5 and 8 months. She's doing a good job of putting one foot in front of the other right now.