The day has arrived. We are now officially surrounded by the things we love and many, many boxes. I know what we are doing on this four-day weekend. Happy Labor Day!
Friday, August 31, 2012
We Got Our Stuff!
August 31
The day has arrived. We are now officially surrounded by the things we love and many, many boxes. I know what we are doing on this four-day weekend. Happy Labor Day!
The day has arrived. We are now officially surrounded by the things we love and many, many boxes. I know what we are doing on this four-day weekend. Happy Labor Day!
First Day Of School
August 27
It's hard to believe we have spent a whole summer in transition. The kids have been troopers, and hopefully will look back on Summer 2012 as an adventure. There were only a handful of times we all wanted to choke each other :) School started today. They went out the door with positive attitudes and butterflies in their stomachs. We are so proud of their courage. Both of them know of at least one new friend in their class, which always helps. They indulged the momster with a first day pic.
It's hard to believe we have spent a whole summer in transition. The kids have been troopers, and hopefully will look back on Summer 2012 as an adventure. There were only a handful of times we all wanted to choke each other :) School started today. They went out the door with positive attitudes and butterflies in their stomachs. We are so proud of their courage. Both of them know of at least one new friend in their class, which always helps. They indulged the momster with a first day pic.
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| Have a great first day! |
Cousin Time Again
August 18
Break out the air mattresses and paper plates, family's comin'. It's a good thing they don't mind that we still don't have our stuff. We had another great weekend together. We went on our first touristy outing as a family clan to the Royal Palace in Caserta. This is where a past king and queen of Naples lived, Bourbon King Ferdinand IV, and Queen Maria Carolina (her sister was Marie Antoinette). We hiked the gardens and toured the palace. The kids earned two gelatos!
I'm not sure how we got by all weekend without a cousin or family clan picture, but we'll do better next time!
Break out the air mattresses and paper plates, family's comin'. It's a good thing they don't mind that we still don't have our stuff. We had another great weekend together. We went on our first touristy outing as a family clan to the Royal Palace in Caserta. This is where a past king and queen of Naples lived, Bourbon King Ferdinand IV, and Queen Maria Carolina (her sister was Marie Antoinette). We hiked the gardens and toured the palace. The kids earned two gelatos!
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| That's the palace in the background. |
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| The boys dug this lion in the palace. |
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Meritorious Man
August 15
Will is going to fuss so much about this post, be it ever the humble man that he is, but he never ceases to amaze us. He was awarded a meritorious medal today for his accomplishments on his last tour. We are so proud of him...
Will is going to fuss so much about this post, be it ever the humble man that he is, but he never ceases to amaze us. He was awarded a meritorious medal today for his accomplishments on his last tour. We are so proud of him...
Jeep arrives
August 14
Not too much to say here, but it was an uplifting day for us. A piece of home arrived, my faithful car. This is a big deal in these parts :) Let's give the jeep a big hug.
We also received the mysterious "1 crate" out of 11 that made it here separately. It. Was. Our. Mattress. The boys handled it soooo well. Of course there were all kinds of hopes of what was in it. Will called this one. Life is good!
Not too much to say here, but it was an uplifting day for us. A piece of home arrived, my faithful car. This is a big deal in these parts :) Let's give the jeep a big hug.
We also received the mysterious "1 crate" out of 11 that made it here separately. It. Was. Our. Mattress. The boys handled it soooo well. Of course there were all kinds of hopes of what was in it. Will called this one. Life is good!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Cruise of the Amalfi Coast
August 11
Did I say in my recent post that we also have to deal with the humdrum of daily life here? Guess I can't complain when it is combined with a mini-cruise of the Amalfi Coast! Oh the suffering...
We took a tour, and made the bus this time, on a small day cruise out of a port near Naples. It stopped in Sorrento, to pick up more italians and tourists, then went to Capri for a swim call, then to either Positano or on to Amalfi. We got off in Positano. We had a great time! You have to check your annoyance with the whole cattle car process at the door and embrace the fact of where you are. I'll cut to the chase, here are the pictures.
First, a swim call at Capri
My snorkelers
Approaching Positano
Positano, on the Amalfi Coast!
Overpriced, touristy lunch, but it was yummy!
Some summer friends just happened to be on the cruise too, woo hoo!
Did I say in my recent post that we also have to deal with the humdrum of daily life here? Guess I can't complain when it is combined with a mini-cruise of the Amalfi Coast! Oh the suffering...
We took a tour, and made the bus this time, on a small day cruise out of a port near Naples. It stopped in Sorrento, to pick up more italians and tourists, then went to Capri for a swim call, then to either Positano or on to Amalfi. We got off in Positano. We had a great time! You have to check your annoyance with the whole cattle car process at the door and embrace the fact of where you are. I'll cut to the chase, here are the pictures.
First, a swim call at Capri
Ahhh, sunset.
What a great, full day. Wish Will was in this picture, I promise he was there!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Little lessons of daily life in Napoli
August 7
It has been a bit of a slow news week as far as exciting things to blog about goes. Life over here isn't all a bed of roses. Perhaps that is blogworthy though if you want the true picture and not the movie version. We have spent time in recent days just getting used to living here-where to shop for normal stuff, sports gear for kids, hardware, household items. I found the italian version of a Super-Walmart and even went on a Saturday. You'd think I know better. I don't even do that at home! Neat store though...during the week. I am super-excited about finding the local fresh wine shop (enoteca), cheese and meat market, and produce stand, yeah!
Everytime you leave the house it is an adventure, whether it's going around a roundabout three times because you missed the turn (after which you HAVE to laugh at yourself), or paying the same toll booth twice because the exit ramp just simply doesn't have a turn-around that would make complete sense (after this you want to throw your GPS out of the window). No! Things sometimes just don't make sense here. But it wouldn't be living overseas if everything was easy, that is the nature, and the sooner one succumbs to this fact, the easier it is. I did say this was not only going to be an adventure, but a journey. This journey will at a minimum make us appreciate home.
The boys and I set out to take a tour the other day with a base tour group. We were excited and had to get up and at 'em for it. We missed the bus. Why did we miss the bus even though we were there twenty minutes early? As we watched it drive right past us, we realized we were at the wrong bus stop. Oh? You didn't know that although this IS an official bus stop, that bus picks up behind that building, on the corner, in the back, behind the blue fence, next to the green sprinkler head, by the little ant hill? Thank goodness we got a refund AND my kids were watching me, because I was &*(^%! Life in Naples...better yet, me adjusting to neopolitan ways.
One thing we are learning to do more here is to make limoncello out of lemons (Get it? As opposed to lemonade out of lemons, come on people!). The silver lining of the missed tour came when we met the other person who waited for the bus in the wrong place, Diana. She lives in America, but her mother and father live here, she is Neopolitan. We had cappuccino together, had a great chat, and she gave us some great insight into Naples and life here. Here is a picture of her with the boys.
The day just got better. There was a parade and festival with local and military emergency personnel right here on base. The boys had a blast hanging out with their orientation friends (ones who arrived around the same time and our families went through the orientation together).
That's Ian taking his frustrations out on the padded robot dude. All in all a good day that started out poopy. Now, for that limoncello... :)
It has been a bit of a slow news week as far as exciting things to blog about goes. Life over here isn't all a bed of roses. Perhaps that is blogworthy though if you want the true picture and not the movie version. We have spent time in recent days just getting used to living here-where to shop for normal stuff, sports gear for kids, hardware, household items. I found the italian version of a Super-Walmart and even went on a Saturday. You'd think I know better. I don't even do that at home! Neat store though...during the week. I am super-excited about finding the local fresh wine shop (enoteca), cheese and meat market, and produce stand, yeah!
Everytime you leave the house it is an adventure, whether it's going around a roundabout three times because you missed the turn (after which you HAVE to laugh at yourself), or paying the same toll booth twice because the exit ramp just simply doesn't have a turn-around that would make complete sense (after this you want to throw your GPS out of the window). No! Things sometimes just don't make sense here. But it wouldn't be living overseas if everything was easy, that is the nature, and the sooner one succumbs to this fact, the easier it is. I did say this was not only going to be an adventure, but a journey. This journey will at a minimum make us appreciate home.
The boys and I set out to take a tour the other day with a base tour group. We were excited and had to get up and at 'em for it. We missed the bus. Why did we miss the bus even though we were there twenty minutes early? As we watched it drive right past us, we realized we were at the wrong bus stop. Oh? You didn't know that although this IS an official bus stop, that bus picks up behind that building, on the corner, in the back, behind the blue fence, next to the green sprinkler head, by the little ant hill? Thank goodness we got a refund AND my kids were watching me, because I was &*(^%! Life in Naples...better yet, me adjusting to neopolitan ways.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Gas Pump Winery
July 28
I had been so looking forward to this. For years Will has been talking about his time in Sicily when he would just get fresh wine from a gas pump, no kidding. Well today was the day. Our friend Chuck piled us into his wife's minivan and off we went. The drive was less than thirty minutes away into the mountains that we can see from our back porch.
This in-tact Italian Aquaduct just happened to be on our way there.
One day we will stop to read that plaque.
And sheep grazing in the countryside...
The grand finale, the winery, Cantina di Solopaca. You can taste and shop there. Here, have a taste.
I'll take what he's serving :)
On our way home we stopped at "the demijohn store" (a lady who sells stuff on the side of the road). Demijohn's are what the italians used to put fresh wine in. Some are handblown, some are machine-made, most are unique and pretty. Americans collect them because they aren't as widely used as they used to be, which makes them antique to us. Here is a picture of our first one. Notice above that Will is putting our fresh wine into a smaller glass vessel, it has a plastic basket around it for effect and is more practical.
All this talk abour fresh wine is making me crave a glass. Can't wait for you to join me!
I had been so looking forward to this. For years Will has been talking about his time in Sicily when he would just get fresh wine from a gas pump, no kidding. Well today was the day. Our friend Chuck piled us into his wife's minivan and off we went. The drive was less than thirty minutes away into the mountains that we can see from our back porch.
This in-tact Italian Aquaduct just happened to be on our way there.
And sheep grazing in the countryside...
The grand finale, the winery, Cantina di Solopaca. You can taste and shop there. Here, have a taste.
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