Out with the old, in with the new!

Our landlady’s son, Claudio, brought us this broom recently and told us it is traditional to sweep the entrance to your home on New Year’s Eve to sweep away the last year and welcome the new. There are a few parts of 2013 I’d like to sweep away forever: the death of a fellow Nickel Pilot, “Gaza” Gruenther, and the passing of both of my paternal Grandparents, Bunny and Lefty.

 

We had plenty of fun times as a family in 2013 including tons of skiing, a visit from Steve’s parents, and lots of traveling to include Israel (Steve), California (once just me for my grandpa’s funeral, and the kids and I for most of July), Germany (Spangdahlem, twice to Garmisch, Steve and I to Munich for Bier Rafting, and Steve to Munich for Oktoberfest), Switzerland (skiing in Zermatt), Austria (Salzburg twice, Stubai Galcier for skiing, and Kirchberg in Tirol area for a weeklong ski trip), and of course lots of exploring in Italy: Venice, Pisa, Castelrotto/Dolomites area, Verona twice (once for the Opera and once for wine tasting), nearly a week on the Amalfi Coast, and a week on the island of Sardinia.

Brian will turn 7 in exactly one month. He is doing great in First Grade. He enjoys reading and math and of course recess and PE since he loves to run and play. He’s in his second year of Spanish at school and his first year of Italian and really enjoys learning new languages. At home, his dream day would include building Lego creations and drawing/coloring all day long. He is staying busy with Cub Scouts and played Baseball and Soccer this year. He enjoys skiing as long as the blues are easy (he’s like his mom that way!). He’s laid back and easy going most of the time and really only gets in trouble for pushing his sister’s buttons!

Emily turned 3 in April, with a very no-frills birthday in Zermatt, Switzerland. I didn’t even have room to bring her presents on the trip with us and she never asked for any, she was only concerned that she get cake! This coming year, she will spend her 4th birthday on a cruise to Greece! She’s our little International girl, always singing songs in Italian. She is doing well in Asilo and is learning some of the language. She’s high energy and is passionate about whatever she is feeling. She doesn’t throw fits very often but she is strong willed and clever. She still gets into everything. She’s our kid that we watch to make sure she’s not painting on the walls with glitter glue or cutting her own hair or eating something she found on the ground! She loves intensely though and everyone is her friend (until you get on her bad side, then you are black listed!)

Steve is staying busy with the squadron. He’s a Lt.Col. select and an Assistant Director of Operations. When he’s not working or with the family, and if it’s winter, he’s on the ski slopes. He’s got Brian and I skiing this year, and is working on Emily, who is not quite ready to learn technique but we are just hoping to get her used to the idea, so one day in the future, we will be tearing up the powder as a family. I have future visions of my family fighting over who has to stay behind with slow, old Mom! I’m staying busy with stuff at home, mostly cooking and cleaning and all that jazz. Now that I have most weekday mornings free with both kids in school, I’ve been hitting the gym on base hard and have fallen in love with Spin class.

 

In with the new! We are excited for many things in the upcoming year, which will probably be our last full year in Italy. We are planning out some trips already, including a week long ski trip to Cervinia (the Italian side of the Matterhorn), and a cruise to Greece for Spring Break. Steve will be going TDY to Portugal soon and will pin on Lt.Col. sometime in early summer. We are also hoping for some more visitors! Happy New Years to all of you!

Turkey and Skiing

We spent actual Thanksgiving with our friends, the R Family, enjoying fried Turkey and all the fixings. Then we loaded up the next morning and drove 5 hours to the Stubai Glacier in Austria and spend the rest of the weekend in the beautiful, Austrian winter wonderland. The resort was great, with lessons for Brian, a play place for Emily to hang out in so Steve and I could ski together. It was our first skiing this season, and my first time on actual skis (last year I was on ski blades), so it was a rough day for me. I felt okay in the morning on a few easy blues, and then in the afternoon when Brian was done with his lesson, we got a little too aggressive trying some unknown blues that ended up being too steep and narrow for two beginners. But the scenery was amazing and it was snowing all morning, so the powder was fresh and everyone had fun. Steve skied on day two and then we returned home. It was a short trip but I think we found a great place we’d like to return to for a longer trip someday.

Thanks to the R Family’s oldest daughter, we got a night out with adults, our friends Khan and Tisha, and Darla and Casey.

Castagnata a Scuola

Chestnuts at school! Emily’s Asilo (Italian preschool) held a small performance and chestnut festival back in November. The older class of students performed a song and dance, followed by a dance to a fast-paced classical song from the little ones (Emily’s group), where they flapped their arms like little birds, after much encouraging and demonstration from the teachers. Then the whole group sang a cute song about chestnuts together, which Emily will still sing for us when asked. Then we all ate some roasted chestnuts and enjoyed some dessert treats. As far as the Chestnuts themselves, they are huge here in the fall, with many towns in the mountains holding Chestnut festivals to celebrate the nut. Emily will eat anything, so she enjoys a Chestnut here and there, although every time she asked for another, she called it a “Macadamia nut!” Brian does not enjoy any sort of nut, unless it is well-hidden in chocolate, so Chestnuts are a no-go item for him. I struggle somewhere between “I must eat this to set a good example for my children in trying new things” and “I would eat more of these if they were hidden in chocolate!”

 

Emily is doing great in Asilo. Most mornings she goes in willingly and she is always happy and talkative about her day when I pick her up. She has 3 American friends that she sticks to quite a bit, but the Italian kids always offer her a "Ciao, Emily!" She is learning a little Italian and has the accent down. We joke that her language skills consist of about 90% English, 2% Italian, and 8% gibberish with an Italian accent! I asked her a question in English tonight and she answered me with "Si." She knows most of her colors in Italian (English too of course) and can count to ten in Italian. We are loving that she gets to experience the culture through school while we are here! 

Emily and her amica helping to turn the chestnut roaster thingy.

Above: In any playground, Brian can always be found at the very top. Below: sometime that same week, the mountains behind us got their first snow.

Cub Scout Rocket Day

This last saturday was Brian’s first Cub Scout Rocket Day. All the scouts paid $5 for a rocket and then built and decorated them with help from their parents, and the entire pack got together to launch them. Steve and Brian used to build and launch rockets together in Arizona, so this was not their first experience, and their rocket shot straight up every time and came down intact. The same cannot be said for many of the other rockets, which were coming off the launch pad going all sorts of directions, including right into the crowd, burning the leg of one of our den’s moms. After the first accident, the kids were moved behind a fence, unless they were launching their rocket. Brian was able to launch his 3 times and on the final (and largest engine) launch, it came down and landed in a very tall nearby tree. Steve and Brian were bummed they didn’t get it back but overall, they had lots of fun and are looking forward to the Pinewood Derby in January! 

2013 Jet Pictures

It’s that time of year again, time for our annual Jet Pictures! This time, our talented photographer was Kirby “Fuel” Sanford and he did a great job over 3 days, sometimes in the pouring rain, taking all the squadron families’ pictures. And we also did a wives photo shoot this year! One of these years, we are going to get both kids in the intake for a photo. This year, Emily came at Steve like a spider monkey when he tried to put her in it. The intake is like the Santa Claus of the jet, you just never know if they will want their picture with it until it’s go time!

The Amalfi Coast {Day 3}

On Day 3, we drove into the town of Amalfi, parked the car and explored a little bit. Then we decided to take the public bus along the Amalfi Coast drive (instead of braving it ourselves). We hopped onboard and headed in the direction of Positano. We were absolutely amazed at the curvy, narrow road and the bus driver’s ability to maneuver a full-size city bus through tight streets and hairpin turns against impatient opposing traffic, all on the face of a sheer cliff. The ride itself was the adventure of the day. When we finally made it to Positano, we took another bus town into the cliff side town and found a cute café for a light lunch. Then we hiked back up to the main road, stopping to take some pictures behind us of the amazing town. We boarded the bus back to Amalfi just as a rainstorm started dumping down on us. The rain was moving towards Amalfi so when we arrived, we stopped in a café for ice cream, did a little Lemoncello shopping and then headed back to our rental house. That night for dinner we drove one town up the cliff and found an unassuming little pizzeria with the best mushroom ravioli I’ve ever had! It was a family-owned little place and the desserts were homemade and insanely good. You just never know when you will surprised by some delicious Italian food! Luckily it happens to us quite often!

The Amalfi Coast {Day 2}

Since Day Two of our trip was supposed to be the last day without rain, we decided it would be our Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii day. We got an early start, hoping to beat the clouds to the summit. But Emily had a car sickness related eruption of her own on our way to the volcano. We did what we could roadside to stop the flow and clean what could be cleaned with a roll of paper towels and some wipes from my purse. Then we found an open (but luckily empty) restaurant where Steve was able to manage a better car cleaning and I was able to wash Emily’s clothes in the restroom sink while she sat in just her rain coat. Luckily, the day was warm and sunny at that point, so Emily wasn’t cold and her clothes dried a little in the sun. We finally made it up the mountain, with no more sickness, and then hiked about 20 minutes up to the crater summit. We didn’t beat the clouds though and we couldn’t even see five feet into the crater. But we were there, so it counts! Brian is obsessed with volcanoes, the reason for this whole trip really, so he was beside himself with joy at actually hiking up to the summit of the infamous Mount Vesuvius! Emily was excited but her excitement was tempered by her nonstop fear that the volcano would erupt with us on it. Steve and I had never summited Mount Vesuvius before so we were happy to bring the kids to hike it, but our happiness was tempered by the vomit soaking into the car seat of our car. 

After we came down from the volcano, we headed south to the ruins of Pompeii, which was buried in ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The town was buried by hot ash and rocks, after the volcano exploded 12-20 miles into the sky. Because it was buried, the town was extremely well-preserved and great example of a town in Roman times. Steve and I visited Pompeii on our Italy trip in 2004 and spent all afternoon there then. We spent 3 hours at Pompeii with the kids on this trip and while seeing a 2,000 year old Roman town is incredibly interesting to us, it kind of went over the kids’ heads. And while they enjoyed climbing around on the ruins, I don’t think they can wrap their brain around how old the town is and how amazing it is to be able to see a Roman town so well preserved. Maybe we can come back when they are older and have read all about it in history class!

The Amalfi Coast {Day 1}

This last weekend was a 3-day holiday weekend for Steve for Veteran’s Day and Brian had 5 days off school, so we decided to waste the days away on the Amalfi Coast. We rented a beautiful apartment in the cliff side village of Furore, situated between Amalfi and Positano. We spent thursday morning packing, loading the car, and then attending Brian’s first parent-teacher conference of 1st grade (rave reviews by the way: he’s smart, nice, and cute). We were finally able to hit the road about noon and it took every second of the daylight hours and into the night to arrive at our weekend getaway at about 830 pm. We grabbed a late dinner at a nice restaurant right next to our rental and then threw ourselves into bed at 11pm. The first full day, the kids were up with the sun, so we all got up and going, and headed into Sorrento, where we immediately caught a ferry to Capri to see the famous blue grotto! Except, it wasn’t meant to be, the Blue Grotto was closed for high tide, which we would have know had we chosen to pre-plan this trip. Opps, lately I’ve been more into a go-with-flow approach to trip planning and this was one time it came back to bite us. But the day was gorgeous and sunny and warm compared to our chilly Northern Italy weather, so we hopped aboard a bus and walking tour of the island. We stopped at many viewpoints for pictures, explored the two towns, Capri and Ana Capri, toured the August Gardens and saw the Fire Cliffs of Capri. Next time, however, we check tide schedules! (Pictures above: our rental in Furore. Below: Sorrento from the ferry and the road in Sorrento down to the marina. The rest of the pictures are on Capri)

Mount Vesuvius from Capri. We would be summiting this the next day at noon!

Halloween-ish

So Halloween-ish came and went again. I call it Halloween-ish because we don’t actually do anything on October 31st. No trick-or-treating from house to house. The schools (both off and on base) don’t allow dressing up. But, the weekend after real Halloween, the base does put on a pretty cool Halloween-themed block party with all sorts of fun for the kids and lots of trunk-or-treating, so they did get to dress up and get way too much candy. Brian is clearly Obi Wan Kanobi (I had to google how to spell that). He’s clearly not Luke Skywalker (“Mom, Luke’s not cool!”) or that other guy, Hans Solo (“Mom! Hans Solo is not even a Jedi, gesh!”). And Emily was happy to just pull some Princess dress from her dress-up collection on the day of and call herself Princess Leia, although I think that’s Sleeping Beauty’s dress. Needless to say, Star Wars is super cool in our house right now!

The Aviano Blue Sharks

Brian’s Soccer season just finished up last month. His team was the Aviano Blue Sharks and he loved playing. He learned a lot about soccer strategy this season, but just never really got up the nerve to break into the group of kicking children to chase down the ball. He says he enjoyed it and wants to play again next year and we think as he learns more about the game, and gains confidence playing, he’ll love it since he loves the running part. We had fun watching him all season and the highlight was the last game, which was Blue Sharks vs. Parents. Let’s just say I found out that Steve doesn’t believe in going easy on children and scored on the kids several times to, as he says, “teach them to guard the goal.” Oh man, it was funny to watch.

Cub Scout Campout

Brian is officially a Bobcat Patch wearing Tiger Den Cub Scout! And Mommy and Daddy are officially the busiest they have ever been. Between sports and two different schools and Cub Scouts and traveling, it seems like we always have something going on. Brian has 3-4 den activities per month and then at least one pack activity, Cub Scouts alone is keeping us busy. Last month, Steve and Brian had their first Cub Scout campout, about 20 minutes from our house. Emily and I went home to sleep in real beds after the camp fire ended. Brian and his Den earned their Bobcat Patches (it goes on upside down as you can see below). They also performed a cute skit and we all got to watch the Boy Scouts perform a Flag Retirement Ceremony, which I’d never seen before and it was very interesting. We will have another pack campout in the spring and also a possible camping trip in Normandy, France in April. So far Brian is having lots of fun with Scouts.

Prosecco Road

So, another opportunity popped up for a wine tasting bus trip, this time to the Prosecco Road. This area is just west of where we live, Prosecco being the common wine of our region. Prosecco is basically Italy’s answer to Champagne. And since I love a bubbly wine, it’s a favorite of mine. Before this trip, I assumed all Prosecco was the same and I found out I was wrong. There is brut and dry and extra dry and on and on. But I still don’t know the difference. Let’s just say its all good. We were lucky to have a beautiful fall day for our trip and made 3 stops at different wineries along the road and then ended the trip with dinner at an all-you-can-eat Pizzeria.

Brian Habla Español y Baila!

Brian has been taking Spanish at school, starting last year in Kindergarten, and the first and second grade classes get to perform a dance to Spanish music twice a year. He’s been both excited for and nervous about this dancing since he was an audience member last year. The dance performance was amazing. The costumes were great and all the kids were super prepared. Brian did really well and was concentrating on the steps so hard. He has decided after this that he does not like performing for the public! He is catching on to Spanish so fast and now he also attends a “Host Nation” class where he learns Italian. He teaches me something new in both languages daily!

Shopping in Italy

I’ve taken advantage of some amazing shopping opportunities in Italy lately. The first was a day trip to the Piazzola Sul Brenta antique market, the second largest antiques market in Italy! A group of 4 of us went and although no one bought anything large, we got to see what kinds of things they sell. It was antique heaven. I love antiques, but also like to mix in new with old. Also, I’m super picky about what I like when it comes to antiques, I prefer a super simple look over the really gaudy, ornate stuff. I did come home with a few items though (below). The red striped linen tea towel was about $12, the wooden bucket about $50 (I’ve wanted one for years and the big ones are great for kids junk and umbrellas), and that little step stool was $12, and is being painted a yellow-y shade of milk paint right now to replace an old Target step stool we had in the kids’ bathroom that Brian broke while testing out a “what happens if I do this” theory. Now that my purchases have settled into their new home, I want to go back for more but I’m pacing myself.

And then of course there are the Bazaars. We were introduced to these in Germany. Basically, the spouses groups on a base will get together a hanger full of vendors from all over Europe, selling everything from furniture to wine to cheese to chocolate to soap to pottery to shoes to jewelry. Basically anything you could want from Europe they have there. It lasts 3 days, a friday to a sunday, and the vendors pay a percentage of their earnings to the spouses group, which then uses the money for scholarships and other great things around base. Our fall bazaar, hosted by the Aviano Officers and Civilian Spouses Club, just happened the first weekend in October. The Enlisted Spouses Club hosts one in the Spring too. Below are some pictures of my haul from this bazaar and past ones. The pine furniture piece I got in the spring and later found out it is called a Panera, which Italian bakers used to keep their bread in. It hinges open at the top to reveal some divided storage and then has 3 drawers at the bottom, which American children keep hordes of crayons and drawings in. The yellow wood bucket that says “DF” on it is a grape basket. The antique pizza board in the back was purchased at the fall bazaar. The metal pumpkin is not from the bazaar. And the green glass demijohn was a $5 winery purchase. The Italians still use demijohns to hold their wine. We know of a few wineries near us where you can fill a demijohn from a giant vat of wine. This little one will hold 5 liters. We have some friends who were recently cracking me up telling me how they filled a 25-liter demijohn with wine and then had a hell of a time pouring a glass of wine from it! The Venetian glass lamp was a Germany bazaar purchase back in 2004, ironic. And the Dutch wooden cookie molds are reproductions and came with a recipe and instructions on how to actually make cookies using them, which I will be trying soon!

Not long after the bazaar ended, I started having the shopping shakes. (It’s genetic, thanks Mom!) The only cure is more shopping and so when my friend Beth asked if I wanted to go to Nove with her, I knew a trip to Italy pottery mecca was just the right prescription. There are many factories in Nove, some little mom and pop shops, and some large producers, like the one below (La Ceramica VBC). VBC makes pottery for Tiffany & Co., Lenox, and Williams-Sonoma, Fiesta ware, and other fancy pants brands I can’t remember. The entire second floor is a factory outlet full of rows and rows of cheap pottery. And I mean cheap. I wish it was also cheap to mail so I could buy it for gifts!

My haul from my trip to Nove below. I picked up a few serving pieces and a small cake plate from VBC (about $70 total for everything in the top two pictures). I just looked up the online price for the small white and cream bowl and the retail price is $72. I paid $12!

 

The personalized pitcher is from Larry’s and was $12. And I also picked up the medium sized Demijohn at Larry’s for about $25, which is not a great price, but the medium-sized ones are hard to find. Happy Early Birthday to me!