Christmas Break

After we returned from our Austria ski trip, Christmas break began. The kids were out of school and Steve was working just a few days a week because of the holidays. We decided to host a Tamale Party on Christmas Eve. My family in CA has one every year and I miss it, so why not start our own Tamale Party tradition. In preparation, I made 137 tamales! We even got a piñata for the kids! Overall, it was a good time and although I dread making more tamales, I think we’ll be hosting again next year.

 

Our Christmas Day was quieter, we just stayed in, ripped open all the gifts first thing, spent the whole day playing with the new stuff, and I made a Turkey and all the fixings for dinner. A few days later we put on real clothes and took the kids to the slopes in Civetta for the day for our friends, the R and M families . They had a great practice area for Brian, a nice sledding hill, and a free play area. Steve and I each got in a few runs and the kids had a great time. We also went bowling and to the movies, but our break was pretty low key overall. 

Austrian Ski Trip

We did the same Squadron ski trip to the Kirchberg area of Austria that we did last year. Once again we stayed at the amazing Hotel Landgut Furtherwirt. This time our family stayed for the whole week. We skied a lot even though the snow was just okay this year. I had a skiing breakthrough on this trip and felt like I really got the hang of it. The kids weren’t interested in skiing at all, but were happy to try out a pony ride, go sledding and just play with their squadron friends in the “Happy Place.” We all took turns with a stomach bug on this trip, but even so, we managed to have a great time once again. We took one day off from skiing and headed an hour east into Salzburg to visit Red Bull’s Hanger 7. It’s a free museum of sorts with all kinds of planes and cars and even the capsule that took Felix Baumgartner to space, where he jumped back to earth, breaking the speed of sound on his way. The kids thought it was really cool. Then we visited the Christmas market, where we all tried a variety of sweets: donuts and these pancake-like things covered with different sauces. We always really enjoy this trip just before Christmas and are looking forward to doing it one last time in 2014!

The busiest day of the year….

On December 7th, we had a day jam packed with events, as weekends leading up to the holidays usually are. Steve left the house early to fly all the way to the North Pole in an F16 to pick up Santa Claus and bring him to our Ops Group Kids Christmas Party. Both the kids were so excited and proud that their Daddy was assigned this duty. When Daddy and Santa were arriving, an announcement was made in the hanger that Santa was being taxied to the hanger in a jet piloted by a “World Famous, Highly Respected Triple Nickel Pilot,” and our kids screamed “it’s our Daddy!!!!” And Daddy had lots of time to talk to Santa about the kids because before Santa even climbed down the ladder, he waved in our direction and said in his jolly way, “Hello Emily!” It made her month. She went running up and monopolized the conversation with the Jolly Old Elf. She not-so-subtly went through her list of gift demands and prattled on about a few recent and slightly embellished good deeds. One of us eventually dragged her back through the crowd so the other star struck kids could get a word in. Brian was slightly more shy (or maybe a little skeptical) and was content to play some party games while we waited for our turn on Santa’s lap. We got the standard Santa’s lap photos and he gave each kid a book, and Emily once again chatted his ear off. Overall, the kids had a blast and Emily basically fell head-over-heels for Santa. It’s so cute to see the magic of Christmas excite the kids so much!

 

Right after that party, the kids and I headed over to the base Ballet Recital, since our friends “S” and “A” from the “R Family” were performing and we wanted to support them. Emily was dancing along in the aisles, she wants to join Ballet sooooooooo bad. So bad, in fact, that we’ve been on the wait list since May with no luck. Then, just a few hours later, Steve and I attended our Squadron Christmas Dinner Party (minus kids). A super busy day but everyone had a blast!

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!